Orofino Gold Corp. (ORFG.PK)

Gold comes out of the ground in different purities, depending on the location of the mine. Typically, natural or ‘placer’ gold ranges from 65% to 98% pure, with most around 85%. Gold can also be found mixed with silver, copper, or other metals in varying percentages.

Despite a gain of more than 10% in the S&P 500 over the past three months, there's still a real buying opportunity in growth stocks: Our 10 best for 2011 are expected to bolster their profits an average of 61% next year -- vs. 14% for the S&P -- and yet they trade at an average 12 times next year's earnings, vs. 13 times for the S&P.

Following news of yesterday's Q2 slashing by Potash Corp (POT), the stock sold off as much as 10% after-hours. But today the stock is trading nearly flat, as investors seem to be around the consensus that the bad news is already "in the soil".

If copper doesn’t stage a big rally today, there seems little to protect the price on the downside. Freeport-McMoRan’s news of copper cutbacks yesterday did nothing to prevent steep declines in the front month, and all the promising news of infrastructure stimulus from China & the U.S. seems to be months away from putting real dollars (and yuan) into real hands.