Earlier today we revisited former Texas Congressman Ron Paul's precious metal-heavy portfolio.

Paul is one of the most famous advocates of gold as an investment, so we took a look at how his 64 percent precious metal portfolio was handling the recent crash in the price of gold.

We took a look at the three major mining stocks that the Wall Street Journal described as the largest of Paul's holdings. Here's what has happened to them in the past six months:

Newmont Mining Company: –24.17%

Goldcorp Holdings: –24.21%

Barrick Gold: –27.14%

While those were reported as his largest holdings, Paul did report owning shares of a swathe of "junior" mining companies, considered smaller and riskier bets.

We took a look at how those mining companies performed in the past six months. The result is a series of brutal losses:

Agnico Eagle Mines : –20.6%

Allied Nevada Gold Corp: –49.03%

Alumina Common: +51.28 %

Anglo Gold Ashanti Ltd. –29.55%

BrigusGold Corp. Com MPV: –23.39%

Claude Research Inc: –46.67%

Coeur D'Alene Mines Corp: –24.92%

Hecla Mining Co: –26.94

El Dorado Gold Corp: Not Listed

IAM Gold Corp: –54.54%

Kinross: – 17.42%

Lexam Explorations Inc: – 29.41%

Mag Silver Corp: –17.39%

Metalline Mining Co: Not Listed

Pan American Silver: –17.55%

Silver Wheaton Corp: –15.57%

Virginia Mines Inc: +5.15%

Vista Gold Corp. –48.32%

Viterra Inc +0.62%

Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd: –38.21%

Looking at the twenty-one publicly listed mining companies in the Ron Paul portfolio, the average return on investment was a dismal –22.62% over the past six months.

Given that the Wall Street Journal reported that Paul's portfolio was worth between $2.44 million and $5.46 million — and that 64 percent of his assets were in these precious metal stocks — a very loose estimate is that Ron Paul has lost between $353,204 and $790,366 over the past six months, based on the average loss of his mining holdings.

The moral of the story: don't just be in gold related assets.







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