| In the early 1980s, interest rates were still very high by current day standards and contangos were simply too large to forgo. |
| In addition, underperformance by the stocks of heavily hedged producers, rising gold prices and materially lower contangos have reduced the incentive to hedge. |
| We believe there will be some hedging from producers as high prices and contangos start to interest them in securing some profits. |
