Kim Jong Un and His People at Their Best.

Daaaaaamn! I got a laugh out of a few, as they are truly creative and a nice change from typical political rhetoric. A real show of prose by the North Korean government. My personal favorite being...

"The United States, with its large physical size is oblivious to the shame of playing hide and seek as children with runny noses would"

Now, I've been thinking this one over and over and have come up with a couple of theories.

A) He is referring to a kid so engrossed in his game of Hide and Seek that he is oblivious to his runny nose, a over sight of personal hygiene that is, by all accounts, shameful.

B) He is claiming that hide and go seek is a shameful game per se, adding the kids with runny noses as literary imagery.

C) He is using hide and seek as a metaphor for the supposed attack on their 3G network. Implying that the states are like little kids, playing games, when really they should be a man about things. You call your enemy "a wicked black monkey" to their face and then promise "inescapable deadly blows", None of this internet hacking bullshit.

D) He is comparing the United States to a fat kid playing Hide and Seek; the kid being to fat to really play the game well, and the runny nose coming from the difficulty that fat kids experience when they physically exert themselves...and that it is all very shameful.

UPDATE: A friend of mine who majored in Asian History and Language Studies, specializing in North Korea, took the time to translate what Kim Jong Un actually meant by the above statement.

"The United States, with its large physical size is oblivious to the shame of playing hide and seek as children with runny noses would"

Translation: "TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL"

Biosyent Trade Opportunity

Looks like there will be a swing opportunity here from the $10.20 range up to the $10.90/11.00 point. The stocks' sideways movement over the last three months has been range bound between ~$10 too $11 with a few quick and short lived breakouts from the R/S levels. The last break had greater longevity, which can be seen by the relatively longer and slower climb back up to the $10 mark. It has now broken through the R line, closing just a bit above its 50 DMA. I expect it to climb up towards the $11 dollar mark and bounce around in a sideways movemeent before breaking out and up.

Like I have stated before, I came along this company from PS Daves now defunct blog "Vancouver Venture" where he claimed it to be a pump job. I've had a number of successful trades with V.RX and hope that it keeps on giving.

T.PLI Once Again

Going to get into this upon Monday morning, depending what happens of course. I think it could be prepared for another 15-20 cent run here, hoping I can play it off the 1.85 line a few more times.

Fairly simple chart, although I am drawn to the large amount of volume that occured on November 18th, where 30 mill shares were traded, inter-day trading from 2.06-2.21. Investor psychology can be very stubborn in regards to "getting out even" (actually I recall Edwards and Mcgees book having a good section on investor psychology and its role in creating resistance/support lines). I have a feeling that any advance will get held up there.

OceanaGold Update

Waited to see if it would break the line of resistance at 2.60 after taking a good and quick run up to it; it didn't, falling fairly quick through the previous support line. Interesting to see how quickly the price broke down once dipping below is 50DMA.

I suspect it will bounce off support at 1.90, which is also the bottom of its bollinger and retest the 2.07 level.

Anyways, this trade didn't pan out, but I strongly believe in an upturn once it hits the next line of resistance. This stock is swinging quickly here between zones.

OceanaGold Chart

Its looking like there will be a play here. We will have to wait and see if it breaks through the resistance line or not come Monday.

Don't know much about this stock to be honest...I've been pretty indifferent to the mining sector as of late, just stopping by for a few laughs here and there.

I have a feeling it will not break. A couple of the other indicators I like lead me to believe it will bounce back down to the support level, or somewhere near it. before attempting it again. Last days close did touch it on its interday trading high but, although closing higher on the day, was not able to break through.

My PLI trade worked out pretty well, and this is a similar set up. I will be keeping my eye out over the next couple of days to see what it does.

Clearwater Seafood

I was involved in the Aquaculture industry and for this reason any company selling seafood does interest me.


I have come across a company called Clearwater Seafood. I like them. They have a 660 million dollar market cap and have only 55 million shares out. They just released solid 3q financials.


Stock has gone up substantially this year but I believe there is still long opportunity to be made. Take a look at the chart.


Disclaimer: As of now, I do not have a position in Clearwater Seafood.

Ah...once again Sphere and Mexivada at the Same Old Game

I've written on Sphere resources a number of times now; in fact it is getting quite embarrassing that I would spend so much time talking about it. But...I like to point things out.

Remember when I called Mexivada a "real estate company"? Meaning that they basically option out moose pastures for the 10-40k cash that comes along with the option agreements, and any free shares they (Redfern) might be able to sell on the market. Well, they have done it again.

The Poker Flats is a property they have been screaming about for years now. It is adjacent to Gold Standard Ventures Railroad property where in the past they have hit some very nice grades. The border of the poker flats is actually about 75 meters from where where a series of promising holes were drilled by GSV, leading Mexivada/Sphere to believe that they could, or at least talk like they could, have drill few decent holes themselves.

Now...one would think that if they were actually serious about it, if they really thought they had a discovery, they would raise the cash to drill 3200 meters, but no, in over 4 years they have done only a aerial magnetic scan and nothing else.

Well, the option agreement ran out, I actually just wrote about it a week or so ago; the post where I pointed out that Sphere publicly stated they had earned in on their initial 51% interest, and then retracting the statement by saying they had renegotiated the option agreement.

So, lets begin with the stupidity:

Mexivadas Sept 8th news release regarding the newly negotiated terms of the option agreement.

"Optionee can earn a 51% interest in Poker Flats (the "Property") by compensating Mexivada and underlying lessor in 1) a payment of$10,000 in cash on signing to Lessor(paid), 2) Payment of $10,000 to Mexivada on or before October 31, 2014, and 3) issue to Mexivada Mining Corp. 750,000 common shares of Sphere Resources Inc. to Mexivada within 60 days of its earning a 51 percent interest in the property and 750,000 common shares of Sphere Resources Inc. within 60 days of the Optionee acquiring a 75% interest in the Property"

 So, they have renegotiated the terms on a property that, while holding such "promise", has seen no work done to it at all in 4 years? You would think that they would prefer to actually explore the property themselves, given Spheres current track record of actually doing exploration work.

But no, the $20,000 cash and the 1.5 million of 0.005 cent shares is preferred.

Interesting, because here is Mexivadas Dec 22nd 2010 release which states the original terms of the option agreement 4 years ago.

 "Optionee can earn an 51% interest in Poker Flats (the "Property") by compensating Mexivada in 1) a payment of $25,000 in cash on signing (paid), and 2) issue to Mexivada a) 200,000 common shares of Sphere within 60 days of the Effective Date of December 20, 2010, and b) investing a sum of $500,000 into the property in exploration and development expenditures (inclusive of assessment work) over a 36 month period from the Effective Date. Optionee must issue 300,000 common shares of Sphere Resources Inc. to Mexivada within 60 days of its earning a 51 percent interest in the property."

So, I reiterate, no interest at all at in conducting exploration on this property. Redfern from Mexivada is happy with the cash payments (which have totaled $40,000 so far) from the option agreement and the cheap paper he can sell. Sphere is happy to be able to continually tout the Poker Flats property to retails investors, hoping to raise some cash for "management fees" and sell their free paper as well.

To further make my point, lets take a look at some of Spheres press releases. One will notice that these PR are purely IR hype rather than the release of any material information. Lets begin with 2013...

-September 04 2013: Sphere resources confirms strategy and updates efforts to identify existing gold and silver resources in Nevada. If you find yourself asking what this actually means, you are not alone. I would recommend reading the press release as it is quite hilarious. GSV had put out some decent results that day so Sphere used it as an opportunity to use a publicly dessiminated news release as an IR move. Seriously..read it, it sounds like a bad junior PR move, which it is. You will find that no material information is announced.

-September 23 2013 : Sphere Resources Has Engaged a Senior Geophysicals Consultant to Initiat a CSMAT On Its Poker Flats Property. Of course, engaging doesn't really mean a whole lot, nice choice of words. And did this scan ever happen? No.

-September 19 2013 : Sphere Resources on its Poker Flats Property Adjacent to Gold Standard Ventures Railroad Property. Another news release put out the same day as GSV releases exploration results on their Railroad property. Again, no material info is being disseminated.

- October 2 2013 : Sphere Resources on Its Poker Flats Property Adjacent to Gold Standard Ventures Railroad Property. Yes...same release following another GSV drill results release. Not that I need to say it, but no material info.

-October 23 2013 : Sphere Resources Outlines Specifics On Its Phase 1 Drill Program On Poker Flats Nevada. Here they outline nearly $500,000 in projected exploration costs, of course, they still have no money with which to conduct said "outlined specifics", although it does mention something about their "new york advisers" and their $10,000,000 bond financing (Another funny news release which can be read Here )

- September 18 2014 - Sphere Resources Outlines Financing Approach and Phase 1 Drill Program at Poker Flats: Still outlining financing and drill programs a year later. Not a single whole drilled...


There are more releases to this effect, and some starting before 2013, but for the sake of brevity I chose only enough to make my point, which I think can be clearly seen.


To give further evidence to my claim that Mexivada is a "real estate company" lets take a look at some releases from Mexivada regarding their "properties" and how they have optioned them out.

- February 1 2008 : Mexivada options Jefferson Options Gold/Silver Project to Stoneshield Capital. The release states " Under the terms of the Option agreement, StoneShield can acquire an initial 51% interest in the Property by incurring a total of US$3,500,000 in exploration expenditures on the property as follows: a minimum US$100,000 in expenditures on the Property to be incurred in the first year following TSX Venture Exchange acceptance....In addition, StoneShield will make cash payments of US$50,000 to Mexivada on Acceptance and US$50,000 to Mexivada on the first, second and third anniversary dates of Acceptance". Much like Sphere, stonesheild "commenced" work on the Jefferson Property but...no results to be found.

- December 22 2009 : Mexivada Options Goldstorm Gold Project to West Kirkland Mining. From the news release "Under the terms of the Option agreement, WKM can acquire an initial 56% interest in the Property by incurring a total of US$2,900,000 in exploration expenditures on the property, $340,000 in cash payments". The payment scheme is broken down into payments over 4 years, with a 90k payment upon "acceptance". Kirkland has a release stating it has commenced drilling, but I cannot find a release where any results are stated.


- May 31 2010 : Mexivada Options Yecora Gold/Silver Property. They optioned it to a company named District Gold inc. In addition, DG will make cash payments of $50,000 to Mexivada within 30 days of the Effective Date and $50,000 to Mexivada within 90 days of the Effective Date, and $25,000 on the first anniversary of the Effective date, and the sum of $40,000 by the second anniversary of the Effective Date, and $50,000 by the third anniversary of the Effective Date, as well as issue to Mexivada 200,000 shares of DG


- May 25 2010 : Mexivada Executes options of Tellurium Gold/Silver Property : They optioned this property in Mexico out to a company called California Gold Corp, which traded on the OTC board. The structure was the same, cash payments of 40k and 50k. This company is actually quite funny as well, as they ended up becoming part of their subsidiary MV Portfolios; a companies whose current corporate activity includes suing Google over a virtual realestate mapping/viewing program that was, allegedly, stolen from them . The agreement between CLGL and Mexivada has since been terminated.





 

Trading Prometic (T.PLC)

I've been watching Prometic for a while, trying to get a feel for it. It seems to be on an intermediate uptrend. The Bollinger Bands contracted before the last move towards the intermediate line of resistance, which it tested before bouncing off.

Notice how at 1.70 the price moved up to the diagonal resistance line, bounced off it and came below its 20 day moving average before going above it again and repeating the same process. It has done this twice now, and has tested resistance 3 times.

Here we will see if it breaks the line, as the third time is generally considered the charm, or if it goes back down below its 20DMA to again test the diagonal support line before moving up. It does seem to be in a trend, making higher highs as well as higher lows in this trend which has lasted a bit under a month.

The TSI does indicate that it is running out of steam, and its exit of the BB and subsequent lower close does ssuggest it will retest the support level again before breaking out of its trend. Either way, I cannot tell and will have to wait for confirmation. If it breaks the resistance line by an amount equivalent to 3% or more of the stocks price, and opens higher on the following trading day after that break, I will see it as a strong up movement and would go long. If it goes back down and resumes this intermediate trend I would assume it to be doing just that and play it as such.

One last item to consider is that the stock is testing is year-to-date high as well. As can be seen, it failed in its first attempt to go higher, closing lower the following day, albeit with a very small candle body (and no higher than opening price). Either way, whether it goes through a small down movement or goes to new highs right away, I see a long opportunity here (the stock has been in an uptrend for the last couple of years so, either way...not a hard call).

Anyhow, here is that chart.

 

EDIT:

Was helped by a bit of news, but today it has seen a good break through. Very good Long opportunity in my opinion (please read disclaimer at bottom of blog)

 

A Post about Joran Van der Sloot

Yes..I'm a little late to the party when it comes to the whole Van der Sloot case. I heard about the case when it was receiving news coverage but never really looked into it.

Natalee Holloways' unsolved disappearance, the murder of Stephani Flores, Van der Sloots strange confessions, their subsequent retractions, and schemes, has been of great interest to me as of late.

Having spent the last 3 years living in Nicaragua, I have seen a number of foreigners who are not quite right in the head commit rather serious crimes and become the subject of local interest for it. The majority of these people, I found, had many similarities to what has been written about Van der Sloots character, basically a problem with vices (whether is be Gambling, booze, drugs, or women).

Anyways, I ended coming across a copy of the love letters that he had sent to a women he impregnated and married while in one of Perus toughest prisons..or supposedly so.

So..what does it say?

For the love of my life:

Each day that passes I realize something very, but very, important, the beauty that you are, the extraordinary that you are with me, you make me very happy. I truly love you, and it is not only an obligation, I have already decided to love you with all my soul. I want to spend the rest of my life together with you, and for this I am very happy. I can imagine, think, believe but there is nobody better for me then you, in my eyes you are perfect. I only ask one thing of you, that I be your reason to be and exist as well, that you love me with madness if possible and that you give all of yourself to loving me. That you don't let anything stop you from loving me (I'm going to translate it this way as I think its the closest thing to what he is trying to say in English) and that you do not lie to me.

I know that it sounds very egotistical; it is only because I as as well am ready to do the same, love you with madness, passion, respect, compassion, support, and all that is necessary and that you ask of me. I am going to give you all that is within my reach to make you the happiest women in the world, that you do not desire anything but to be together in this life with me.

By yours always, Joran

Quite fantastical indeed. Granted, it does sound a little less up in the clouds in Spanish then it does in English, as Spanish does make much more room for romanticism that English, but still...a bit much for a women he only met through the visiting hours.

The women to whom Joran is writing has stated that she does not fear him, that she sees him as a changed man. Many believed that his marriage was an attempt to circumvent extradition to the USA, and, apparently, the Peruvian laws change if the person is a resident.

I knew a guy in Nicaragua who ran over a man in his truck one morning after a night of drinking. He owned a hostel outside of the city in the woods which was notorious for the same things that he was known for, drinking and drug use. He ran over the man, then assaulted a few people who tried to stop him from fleeing the scene. Rumors also state he assaulted police officers when they arrived and tried to detain him.

Either way, he went to jail, and they put him in the worst of the cells, before his lawyer finally got him moved to a better place.

When the man was released (his family had paid the victims family some amount of money was the story) there was a large group of people waiting outside with rocks and bottles, which they threw at him as he got into his transportation.

He was public enemy number one for a while. The man was not right, he had issues which were obvious to any half way sane person who had spoken with him. Like Joran, he was a compulsive liar who was victim to him own vices but, above all, by no means a stupid man.

Anyways...there was no point to this post, but its my blog and I can write what ever I want on it!

Pentagon Briefing Suggests Canada to Buy 4 F-35 Fighter Jets

I guess we need some now, we can't wait for out 65 planned jets in 2019...with Putin making all his claims to the Arctic, maybe we do need them.

Either way, Canada will be part of a handful of nations to have these radar evading air crafts.

Have a read here!

USD Chart

I don't post a whole lot about currencies because it was out of the scope of this blog but, as previously stated, I'm going to start writing about things outside of the junior mining/resource sector because, frankly, not a whole lot to write about in regards to the juniors.


Anyways, I pay close attention to the USD for obvious reasons.


The Fed printing the inflation apocalypse aside (and, pardon me, but where is that all that inflation exactly?) the USD does not actually look bad. A number of the economic indicators are actually very encouraging, but there are people who do cover that stuff better then I. Anyways, heres the weekly chart for the USD.

As you can see, it played around with that resistance/support channel for a while before breaking through with some authority, hitting the next resistance level, bouncing off of that back down to the new support, retesting the resistance level and breaking that (looking at it now, the horizontal line should be a bit lower, my mistake. I thought it would need to test it 3 or 4 times, as it did previously, before it broke through, but just one test then through.

I have decided to use the TSI here because it shows less lag than the RSI and shows a point more clearly that I would like to make. The initial breakthrough and testing of the 87 line was accompanied with quite a surge in the TSI and the second test, which broke the resistance line, was characterized by much less activity in the TSI, having it reside in a much more convincing area then it was when it tested (do you follow me?). May be a bit over bought, but I believe it will settle down as the support is subjected to a quick test or two before continuing up to the next test at 89-90.

Here is the monthly chart, which I think shows the R and S zones more clearly. Used the RSI becuase given the fact that it is a monthly chart it seemed more appropriate. Here, the RSI is much more tame, being almost in the middle of the indicators index despite the break through.

The USD has looked really quite good since 2011, despite the common rhetoric of many writers, commentators and analysts. It is hitting its 5 year high and gives no reason to believe it will not push above it. Of course what do I know..the whole thing could crash and burn tomorrow..but I don't think so.

Timber! Oh, How the Might Have Fallen!

Now, I know these posts have absolutely no value what so ever, but over at My Own Market Narrative he is posting tell all, uncensored, graphs of carnage.... (Graphs of brutal destruction, shareholders clutching their bags, uttering incoherently over their folly for not selling. Junior mining execs wandering down Howe in fugue looking desperately for money, while execs of majors shoot past their starved, angry, share holders in golden parachutes. Humanity goes on, money flows into ETFs and Biostock companies, people realize the American economy isn't actually that bad, that no one really cares about what North America thinks in regards to gold; That the imminent economic collapse, the one that would make that ol' yellow metal oh so powerful (why wasn't there a subsequent rise in Tuna canning companies?) never really happened. "Its real money, its real money" they shout, clutching their paper shares and futures contracts. The lizard people move into the final phase of their take over, laughing as they hack the heads off of each defeated, downtrodden, gold bug "Its not money you god damn asshole" they shout just before their steel machete comes down).....I thought I would as well.

Lets begin with Barrick...ouch, what a dive. I guess that is what you get for sucking.

And...next we have I Am Gold....how about I Am Shit. That what you get Steve Letwin for going on BNN in a black muscle shirt. And what about that "touting low grade" business? I'm pretty sure it only works if you practice low spending as well.
And how about your assault on costs?...More like assault on share price and shareholder value (Baamm!) Oh...and were you not brought in because the guy before you loaded the pipeline up with shit projects? Nice job.

Next Up..Tower Hill Mines. Now, this wasn't so much a victum of market conditions as much as it was a victim of being a scam, but still..its graph is like seeing your best friends wifes' bush. You know you should look away but you cannot find the resolve to do it.

Here is El Dorado gold (I changed it too weekly chart to make it look better). I don't actually know much about them except for that their chart sucks. I would like to make a snide comment or two, but I cannot. Anyways, let let the graph speak for itself.

This one isn't really fair as it is a Bobby Genovese company, and as such was never intended to make money or be a positive investment for shareholders, but none-the-less I will include, if only because a number of people in the news letter writing world, and few people on the board of directors actually believed that you could take a mine that was no longer operable at silver prices 35 years ago could be profitable now. Without further adue, Libery Silver ladies and gentlemen.

 

Here is SAMEX mining, it was also a scam and I actually did do a write up about it but never finished. Anyways, it took an even bigger kick in the nuts that it got delisted to the nexus board of the venture exchange. Thats like...your not even legit enough for the V, which is a hard concept to wrap your head around. 

 

I would do more..but maybe later.  I'm going to go watch Law and Order and drink beer.

Until next time... 

UPDATE:

How could I forget Kinross. God lord! May god have mercy on their share holders. But..seriously, if someone was dumb enough to hold on all the way until now there isn't a lot of sympathy on my behalf.

 

Oh God, The Humanity, The Carnage; The Clive and his Bema2Gold

What a fall. Remember when everyone thought that the Clive and crew were immortal, that they could create shareholder value even at $12/oz gold. That they could keep on taking out loans to buy out projects and everything would be peachy, that they could release almost 1 billion shares (yes...that's what I said 1 fucking billion shares) and everything would be nice and rosy. That everyone would join hands and dance around in a circle.

I suppose if you bought at 25 cents you are still happy, but still. The market has left even our greatest, most infallible heroes sunken and trodden upon. And yes, the Clive was a hero of mine. But how the great have fallen. Market sucks, gold price sucks..yes, we all know, but BTO did weather the storm quite well for a while. I think people are getting cold feet by the amount of paper being printed for projects who PEAs have been a bit underwhelming in the past (*cough* Gramalot *cough*)

There is no reason or point to this post, and I recognize that...I just...don't know what to say. Only saving grace is that I don't own any BTO.

Duluth Metals to Be Aquired by Antofagasta for 45 Cents

So Duluth Metals is to be taken over by a company called Antofagasta. The take over big, which Duluth metals has agreed too (pending a 66.66 % acceptance), will give 0.45 cents per share. Which, if you had bought the day before the news at 6 cents is a very nice gain.

Of course, if you bought at anytime before mid-late august (where the horizontal line intersects the historic price chart) you got a pretty shit deal. Or did you...

This is a project that reminds me of so many projects where they outline a nice big resource, tout it about, only to come to the conclusion years later that its just not economical.

The project is in Minnesota and actually does have almost 2.5 million oz of platinum and nearly 5.5 million oz of palladium (not to mention 1 million oz and change gold).

Unfortunately, the capex was something crazy like 2 billion dollars and the after tax IRR was 11% (using higher then current metal prices in their PFS).

Now Antofagasta, a company from Chile, was actually a JV partner on the project, who pulled its support right around the time the poor pre feas study came out, then came back and bought out Duluths part.

Biosynt and possible quick penny flip.

Now, I do watch this stock and I have seen patterns, as anyone who watches and/or trades a particular stock for a while picks up on.

The stock dropped 59 cents (~5% drop) yesterday on quite only a few trades trades. Typically when I have seen this stock drop a significant amount in one day, the next day or two of trading normally sees a rebound of at least 10 cents and usually more.


Disclaimer: I will not be doing this because I am busy


Update!

Probably not a very difficult call, but it was true, today is the 6th, trading not over. But if you had bought when I posted, and sold right now, it would have indeed been a little penny flip.

Trading V.NES on Some Technicals (cue the laughter)

You might be thinking, did he just say that? Perhaps I should have phrased the title as a question rather then a statement. "Can you trade V.NES on Technicals?". But I won't. In anycase, you may think it is ridiculous but I'm always looking for new and exciting ways to loose my money in the Junior Canadian Mining industry. Anyways...Newstrike Capital. They have their Ana Paula project in Mexico which was all the rage when people actually seemed interested in gold, The yput out a number of really exiciting drill results then lagged around to any type of PEA, Pre-feas or NI 43-101 (although they just released their PEA last month, something I will write about shortly.)

Well, heres the chart, let me explain...

As can be seen, the chart has 3 secondary trends which are all very similar, in an overall uptrend which has gone on for about a year and a half. The trend breaks each time when it penetrates the upper bollinger; going down to retest the bottom trend line before breaking it as well. (If you really really wanted to stretch your TA one could almost make out the case of there being an upside down Head and Shoulders pattern.)


If the pattern continues, I believe it will make a higher low this time before moving back up. At what point, I can't say, but I'm going to take a guess at the 0.90 point...assuming things stay more or less the same. They had a good 43-101 report out a week ago which was generally well recieved and saw the stock up on the day, so there is a decent amount of new holders.


I like this stock, and I watch it constantly as it does go on these type of runs quite often.

Ohh... Poor Old Boy Malcolm Stevens and His Sphere Resources

I wrote about this stock a couple of times. I remember it fondly because I made some money off of it. If you don't recall, they are the company with a grass roots property next to Gold Standard Ventures Railroad property called the Poker Flats, the company who tried to raise $10,000,000 on corporate bonds with a share price of 0.01. Well, they had an option to earn in (iirc, 50%) then another 25% on the poker flats from Mexivada, another junior who rivals Sphere in its all out ridiculousness (although at least sphere is currently trading).




I have a number of posts on both companies.


So, on February 18 and many months after the closing date of the supposed bonds, the company releases a press release stating that the "Sphere Resources Group has achieved 51%  interest in the Poker Flats property by incurring $500,000 in exploration expenditures". Which is odd, firstly, because one has to wonder where that money came from, as they had none, and secondly, if they did indeed spend that much money where are any of the exploration results? Lastly, and perhaps much more disconcerting, is that the money needed to be spent by December 20th and the press release was put out 2 months after the fact. Read press release here.




Mexivada, without even enough to put out a release, sends out a corporate update via their website stating that the agreement has expired due to Sphere Resources not meeting the terms of the contract. I would find the link, but the website drives me crazy with it poor navigability.




So..stalemate. Out of sheer curiousity I actually sent an email to Malcolm Stevens asking him exactly whats going on. The jolly Australian fellow, who in the past has warmly referred to me as mate, gave me this response

"Mexivada’s last gasp! Quite inappropriate as you will see from Spartan’s audited financials next month.

 

Poker Flats,

Mexivada has a detailed list of Exploration Expnenditure which met the 51% requirement as per the Agreement."

Yes, their last gasp indeed...
Well, on September 8th a Sphere News release reads that they have renegotiated the terms, giving them until Dec. 31 to incur 300k exploration expenses for 51%, then another 250k for a further 24% by Dec 31 2017. Here is the press release.


So...wait, on February 18th you came out saying that the company had spent half a million dollars on exploration on the Poker Flats and then on September 8th a news release comes out stating that the terms have been renegotiated; as if nothing had ever been said about the supposed and previously announced earn in. Seems highly dishonest, if not illegal, to lie in a publically disseminated news release. As well, I would imagine lying in financial statements, as Stevens told me I would see the breakdown of expeditures in Spartans financials, is something of an offence. But... With the SEC or the OSCs limited power and resources to go after these things, and with much bigger fish to fry (which they usually don't anyways) these type of small OTC pump deals will get little attention. Its for this reason I like to bring attention, because the investor himself must look out for him. Usuaully if someone does it again, he'll do it more.




Happy investing!

More Mahdia News

Lets return to the subject of one of my most popular posts, a post about Mahdia Gold. Its not a very unique junior story, but its one that I cover and that not a lot of others do. I was also an investor at a time. To get a background on Mahdia, or re-read my previous post on them, click here.


So..whats new in the Mahdia saga? Well its working are striking for unpaid wages, which makes perfect sense considering that they have no money to pay them. here is the video Capitol News for your viewing pleasure, which shows the unfortunate individuals asking for their money. Interestingly enough, Stabroek News has an article (or partial article because they want you to pay for the reading beyond the first couple of paragraphs..granted only 25cents) which states they have been unpaid for 6 months and that Alan Zaakir "the former Chief Executive Officer who is now described as MGC’s Managing Director" has been contacted, but since I didn't pay the fee I can't read his response. Okay, so Alan Zaakir is still part of Mahdia Gold, which just goes to show how little hope there is for the large number of shareholders holding the bag on this joke. Oh, and what more, Mahdia Joint Ventured with a local company called Roraima Mining (Mahdia only has prospecting permits for the Omai property whereas Roraima has actual alluvial mining license) which someone on the ground tells me is actually owned, or at least in part, by Zaakir, although I am still trying to confirm these reports. As well, when he was exiled from the company, much to the joy of the angry investors who had been calling for his head for some time, it was basically a lie. Now that he back with the company one can only believe that he has always been behind the scenes.


It really is quite hilarious that this man can continue in this. When Andre Duchane came in, many investors thought it was a new dawn for the company. The man did very little other then set up a joint venture on a small scale alluvial operation which focused on the tailings on the past Omai mine, which was washed away once, and never produced any significant amount of gold.


The company still needs to pay their 7 million to the Guyana Mines department which will, in this market likely not happen. They have already gone over the set date, and over the extension, so who knows what will happen.

Checking up on Biosynt and other TO Biotech stocks

I wrote up on this country in response to a PS Dave post where he bashed it as a pump and dump. Now, I never said it wasn;t but I looked at it more seriously then he did and really did think it had some potential.


I got in and out, but, have been checking up on it as I normally do with stocks that made me some money. Well, it has taken off. This is the chart when I first wrote about it




And this is how it looks now (without any Indicators as I don't need them to make my point here)

I've been looking at a number of medical/biotech companies lately,mostly based off of technical, although its not a bad area for me as it is more or less what I went to school for, but never did anything with.


I've been looking at T.GUD and T.PLI (this one I feel is good right now and can a quick buck can be made off a week long swing trade)

Michael Sata Dies!

If you do not know who Michael Sata is, don't be to hard on yourself, he was the long reining "president" of Zambia. A guy who started off sweeping streets in London and went on to become the president of his native Zambia. A story competed with only by Nicolas Maduros rise from local bus driver to President (to his credit he did serve as Minister of foreign affairs and, vice president iirc). Anyways, regardless of his spectrum of employment, he has died. Which wouldn't be an item of great interest given the that he was 77 and the human death rate being 100% but..the vice president Guy Scott is now standing in as president (some reports say he has been named intern president, other say that he has not been officially sworn in). What is significant about this? Well, it is Africas first white leader in many years since the last white guy in South Africa.


Now, I know how this might seem. African national dies and this cracker blogger is concerned about the fact that a white guy is now president. The fact is, my family has ties to colonial Africa, there are still many members of my family (which I have never met) who live in South Africa (which should concern me I suppose), and, growing up, I heard lots of talk about African politics, so it has some relevance to me.


The other day a statement came out from Obamas office stating that he was "saddened by the death" and that he hoped Zambia could "make a peaceful transition" into the new presidency. A statement I find somewhat funny as Zambia is one of the few nations where tribal opposition does not exist, Sata having genocided his competition near the beginning of his rise to country leader. Almost all power struggles in Africa exist as tribal disputes and Sata, having eliminated his, has made Zambia a somewhat peaceful nation...as far as Africa goes anyways.


If you would like to read an actual article search for it on google.

Maybe I'll post a bit again

I used to have 3 daily readers but then I stopped blogging. Was quite busy and, quite frankly, bored and uninterested in the junior scene. If I do maintain this site like I was doing for a few months about a year ago, I would change the name, or start a new one altogether. As much as the market does give me a plethora of opportunities to make snide, sarcastic, and generally useless comments about the horde of junior mining executives learning to live without access to free money, it has gotten old and..well...there are a number of guys who already do it better then I do; presumably because they still care and still have some heart to put into their bashing. I think a blog more loosely centered around my economic and market interests, not pigeon holed to the junior resource market, and anything that really interests me. That being said, there are already good, intelligent, people who do it much better then I. but I digress...



That being said, I may just become lazy, and leave the blog altogether. No promises because its my little corner of cyber space and, seeing as I do not believe anyone still checks the site, all this mulling over of the blogs direction is earnestly in vain.


Anyways...lets get on to the exciting news. I wrote a post on Bobby Genovese a while ago (can be read here) and, one of the three comments pending after months of inactivity is a reply to such post, succinctly stating that "To avoid legal pursuance regarding Defamation Law and harassment this blog much be removed immediately", posted by an Anonymous individual. I aint scared on no honky lawyer. Especially since American defamation law does not extend to Nicaragua!


Now, you may be wondering what all this incoherence actually mean (have you picked it up, I'm trying a Faulkner influenced stream of consciousness approach to my blog right now...Before you scoff and say Joyce did it much better, I will tell you not to bother because I disagree. I think Faulkner was like James Joyce is some of his endeavors, but he could tell a story)


Hasta Luego!

Does it gain me street cred that I used to play hockey on this street?

Saw this on IKN, but wanted to re post as it has a special meaning to me.


This is the area in which I grew up, I know exactly where this house is, and I used to play hockey with some friends on this street.


Interesting that it got shot up..or not really that intersting. I haven{t even looked at the companies, so I wont say anything, but its not surprising considering the general quality of character that makes up the junior mining world. You can read the vancouver sun article here.


And, just a quick search came up with this...which the Vancouver Sun article failed to include..and guess what, its from stockhouse. read it here for a little more info on his past.

Mr. More was a top-producer at Canaccord Genuity Corp. until 2008, when he left the brokerage business and became a promoter. He is a director of three companies, Aldrin, Mira Resource Corp. and Athabasca Nuclear Corp. At the time of the shooting he was believed to be in Saskatchewan, where Athabasca has a drill program under way.

He has also served on the board of at least one OTC Bulletin Board company, Mainland Resources Inc. Unlike the TSX-V companies for which Mr. More is a director, Mainland has attracted some controversy. On Dec. 9, 2013, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada launched an enforcement action against Mr. More’s sister, Nicola More, for dealings associated with the company.

IIROC claimed that Ms. More, who was an adviser with Canaccord at the time, disclosed confidential client information to people not authorized to receive it. The recipients included her brother (only identified as “JM”) and an individual IIROC only identified as “BP.” (IIROC said that BP had a serious regulatory history. The description of that history matches that of Brent Pierce.)
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/v.aln/aldrin-resource-corp#AD9cDpkJBGvz153R.99

Mr. More was a top-producer at Canaccord Genuity Corp. until 2008, when he left the brokerage business and became a promoter. He is a director of three companies, Aldrin, Mira Resource Corp. and Athabasca Nuclear Corp. At the time of the shooting he was believed to be in Saskatchewan, where Athabasca has a drill program under way.

He has also served on the board of at least one OTC Bulletin Board company, Mainland Resources Inc. Unlike the TSX-V companies for which Mr. More is a director, Mainland has attracted some controversy. On Dec. 9, 2013, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada launched an enforcement action against Mr. More’s sister, Nicola More, for dealings associated with the company.

IIROC claimed that Ms. More, who was an adviser with Canaccord at the time, disclosed confidential client information to people not authorized to receive it. The recipients included her brother (only identified as “JM”) and an individual IIROC only identified as “BP.” (IIROC said that BP had a serious regulatory history. The description of that history matches that of Brent Pierce.)
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/v.aln/aldrin-resource-corp#AD9cDpkJBGvz153R.99

Mr. More was a top-producer at Canaccord Genuity Corp. until 2008, when he left the brokerage business and became a promoter. He is a director of three companies, Aldrin, Mira Resource Corp. and Athabasca Nuclear Corp. At the time of the shooting he was believed to be in Saskatchewan, where Athabasca has a drill program under way.

He has also served on the board of at least one OTC Bulletin Board company, Mainland Resources Inc. Unlike the TSX-V companies for which Mr. More is a director, Mainland has attracted some controversy. On Dec. 9, 2013, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada launched an enforcement action against Mr. More’s sister, Nicola More, for dealings associated with the company.

IIROC claimed that Ms. More, who was an adviser with Canaccord at the time, disclosed confidential client information to people not authorized to receive it. The recipients included her brother (only identified as “JM”) and an individual IIROC only identified as “BP.” (IIROC said that BP had a serious regulatory history. The description of that history matches that of Brent Pierce.)
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/v.aln/aldrin-resource-corp#AD9cDpkJBGvz153R.99

Mr. More was a top-producer at Canaccord Genuity Corp. until 2008, when he left the brokerage business and became a promoter. He is a director of three companies, Aldrin, Mira Resource Corp. and Athabasca Nuclear Corp. At the time of the shooting he was believed to be in Saskatchewan, where Athabasca has a drill program under way.

He has also served on the board of at least one OTC Bulletin Board company, Mainland Resources Inc. Unlike the TSX-V companies for which Mr. More is a director, Mainland has attracted some controversy. On Dec. 9, 2013, the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada launched an enforcement action against Mr. More’s sister, Nicola More, for dealings associated with the company.

IIROC claimed that Ms. More, who was an adviser with Canaccord at the time, disclosed confidential client information to people not authorized to receive it. The recipients included her brother (only identified as “JM”) and an individual IIROC only identified as “BP.” (IIROC said that BP had a serious regulatory history. The description of that history matches that of Brent Pierce.)
Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/v.aln/aldrin-resource-corp#AD9cDpkJBGvz153R.99

BanPro is broke

You heard it here first (all of my 4 unique readers a day) BanPro Grupo Promerica (one of the banks here in Nicaragua) is broke.


I thought they were just messing with me, not giving me the money I foolishly deposited into the bank so I got a number of reporters to go in and publicize the story on the radio. It was meant to be just a 30 some odd minute segment but the station was flooded with calls from viewers stating that they too are having the same issue.


The bank, at least the one here in Granada, has been embargoed from receiving any deposits or opening up new accounts. Of course, they already weren't giving people their money so their activity has been reduced to nothing.


Now, the government backed FOGADE (the deposit insurance) only covers up to a measly 10k across all banks accounts. Lots of people will loose a lot of money here.


Another well run bank

Sbb breakout

Well, the sabina chart has shown a nice break above the $1 mark. Its by more than the 3% of price that I like to use as one piece of confirmation.

California Gold Corp Hilarity

As can be seen, there are a couple of companies I like to pick on and Mexivada being one of them. If you would like to know why, read some of my previous posts on them, if your too lazy to read my previous posts  on the matter (and I don't blame you because I'm to busy to provide the link) they are basically run by one old asshole who options out parts of the desert in Nevada and collects the thirty some odd grand  option payment he receives from other juniors. Kinda like a cheeky real estate company. Oh yea, they also been halted since forever (still collecting "management and general administration costs" though)


Anyhow, one of their moose pastures is optioned to an OTT stock called California Gold Corp (CLGL), who announced a few days ago that the company has "completed a proposed private placement and will continue operations as MV Portfolios". Well, I'm not sure if the company is called MV Portfolios as stated in the title, or MVP Portfolios as stated in the rest of the news release. Lets go with MVP.


MVP doesn't even have a website. A search of their name comes up with the California gold corp news release, not a website or anything else to give the impression that they actually do anything. Fortunately Corporatewiki.com exits. Interestingly enough




"Mvp Portfolio LLC filed as a Florida Limited Liability in the State of Florida on Friday, July 26, 2013 and is approximately one year old, according to public records filed with Florida Department of State. The filing iscurrently active as of the last data refresh which occured on Sunday, September 01, 2013.Key People."





"William Meadow serves as the Manager and has interests in other corporate entities including Visre Inc, National Image Link, Inc. and seven more corporations. William's past corporate affiliations include Top FUNDS1, LLC, Digital Design, Inc. and seven others."

Interestingly enough, California Gold Corp does not list any directors or management on its website (actually it doesn't say a whole lot of anything) but with a little bit of looking it turns out that William Meadow was director.

So now, we get this great piece of hilarity. You can't make this up. this is a excerpt from this press release posted on the CLGL stockhouse page....






JACKSONVILLE, FL--(Marketwired - Mar 17, 2014) - Visual Real Estate, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of California Gold Corp. (OTCQB: CLGL) and company founded by Jacksonville inventor and entrepreneur William Meadow, today announced that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Google Inc. in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The lawsuit claims infringement of three of Visual Real Estate's patents: U.S. Patent number 7,389,181, entitled "Apparatus and Method for Producing Video Drive-By Data Corresponding to a Geographic Location";Read more at http://www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2014/03/17/visual-real-estate-inc-files-patent-infringement-lawsuit-against-google-inc#xuGZZIvuhCHZeUmD.99|

Interesting volume on Calibre

I know, I should walk away, just leave it out of my life, but I found it interesting that the stock has traded higher than normal volume on Thursday and Friday and has had a positive close for three straight days. Something that hasn't happened in this stock for well, at least two months, but probably longer.


Will be interesting to see if someone got hold of any trenching results that CXB so loves to put out and figures the market will like them. They move quite a bit of news, only question is which direction.

Does Radiohead really suck?

Seems to be what IWNATTOS is on about right now. Posting excerpts from the angsty David Thorpes "your band sucks column" over at Something Awful, a site that the internets have essentially forgotten by all except their resident neckbeards and  hentai/tentacle porn aficionados.


I've been a fan for many years and quite like the majority of their work. That being said, I'll agree Thom Yorke can be quite annoying when hes doing anything other than playing music. I went to a show once in Vancouver and the fucker broke out into political/save the environment speech.


That being said, musically, they can be quite good. Even Brad Mehldau agrees, having done his own renditions of a number of Radiohead tracks. Not going to appeal to authority, but c'mon, the man is one of the best Jazz pianists breathing, the guy knows music. Here's Brand Mehldau playing one of my favorite Radiohead tracks, "Knives out".

Riding NES

I used to watch this stock before everything really went to shit. They have a catalog of excellent drill result but the market was unimpressed when their maiden 43-101 came out. After that, I kinda lost interest and moved on to other stocks.


Having recently checked up, I see a nice upward channel forming. The thing I like about it is the three big bounces off of the lower channel the Bollinger bands have been quite wide throughout the trend but appear to be narrowing.


Fairly simple chart, take a look.

B2Gold Announces their "Positive" PEA for their Colombia Project

Well, a positive PEA for a project named Gram-A-Lot(e)...yea...who are you kidding.

 -- Open pit gold mine with an initial life of mine ("LOM") of 14 years based 
      on Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources. 
 
   -- Average annual gold production LOM of 317,500 ounces at US$664 direct 
      cash cost per ounce. 
 
   -- Average annual gold production of 373,300 ounces per year for the first 5 
      years of production. 
 
   -- LOM gold production of 4.445 million ounces. 
 
   -- Average LOM total operating costs (including sustaining capital) of $736 
      per ounce of gold 
 
   -- Annual processing rate of 16 million tonnes per year. 
 
   -- Average LOM gold recovery of 95% from conventional milling, flotation and 
      cyanide leach of the flotation concentrate. 
 
   -- Estimated pre-production capital cost of $1,176 million. 
 
   -- LOM pre-tax net cash flow of $1,521 million, and after tax net cash flow 
      of $990 million at a gold price of $1,351 per ounce. 
 
   -- Net present value ("NPV") pre-tax of $714 million and after-tax of $398 
      million at a 5.06% discount rate and gold price of $1,351 per ounce 
      generating an after-tax internal rate of return ("IRR") of 11.5%. 
 
   -- Project payback of 4.8 years. 

yea....

Kinda low grade and a very low pay back rate but whatever, they have other good projects, and I mean, really, they are only into at 49% anyways....

Stock is up on the day though.


Update: The Clive stated in his Q2 conference call that they would be ready to shelf the project if mine economics call for it. Took it as a way of saying that the results of the PEA were not as "positive" as its own title states.

Truth being told is that the payback period is very long and the grade is no where near impressive. They have other projects that are better and this isn't a 100% BTO project. We will see how it goes. Stragely enough, the market seemed to like the PEA. The stock went down following the Q2 reports...which I felt was at least a bette release from a share holders point of view than the PEA. 


To be honest, I have yet to actually look at any of the technical reports for the Gramalote project with any depth so I can't say to much.

Other people post music so why can't I?

Possibly one of his best tracks off possibly one of his worst albums.


What makes it so special? Perhaps the last great track done by Enrique Morente before he died. As well, Vicente playing is, as usual, beyond comparison. Whether you like him or not (and he is very polarized) he is the man of modern flamenco and, perhaps, or at elast in my humble opinion, the most technically capable of all flamenco players.


Well, here it is, Autorretrato by Vicente Amigo with the late Enrique Morente

Biosynt (RX)

I wrote about this company originally as a response to a post by PS Dave about a V listed biotech company I had never heard about. He had less than admirable things to say about the company, but with a chart like this, what does it matter. I sold out way before. I thought a dollar gain was good enough (and why not complain) but having another look today, must be a nice feeling to have been in the sub $1 levels and holden long.


I was skeptical that it was a real pump job as, having had worked with supplement type companies before they are more interested in building a good balance sheet company by selling items with questionable efficacy than running a typicall VSE or Louis Loboto James type pump scheme. As well, they only have 13.6 million shares out, no rollbacks/forwards under a previous name, and no one who I have known to be associated.


But...what do I really know anyways.

To bad there aren't larger blocks on the ask side, could make for a good scalp if one is so inclined.

Back On

After many months of very minimal posting I'm ready to get back to posting multiple times per week (not that anyone cares). Continuing further with the fact that no-body cares and me just liking to write about things important to me, the main reason for my absence has been work and, more correctly, the amount of bullshit that goes along with it here in Nicaragua. For a such an undeveloped country, it is amazing that they have managed to construct such a bureaucratic mess (and not much else).


I mean, hell, why not start by patching up the building in Managua that still bear bullet holes from a war that was over more than 3 decades ago. Anyways....onto mining.


As I stated in a post a week or so ago, I have been interested in Sabina from a technical stand point. It took a good dive around tax loss and has been making it way towards 1 dollar, meeting resistance there a few times. I've followed this stock a lot of both a fundamental basis and technical basis, I even worked for them briefly before the end of the 2012 season, and I know the stock quite well.

Pretty simple charts but has held true for me. A good play which started at just of last year was the swing from $1.00 to $1.40. The price is moving up towards the $1.00 line, testing the move twice before being sent back both times. Price is also trending nicely up towards the line, creating a nice ascending triangle. As far as volume, the current historics (is that a word?) seems nicely positioned for a quick expansion to occure at the next R-line test.


A pretty straight forward chart.

He's Alive! Danny Boy that is...

Well, after 10 days of rest, supposedly he finally came out to squash the rumors of his death. I paid a few grains of salt to these rumors as I saw him 10 days ago addressing the Sandinistas in Managua and he looked bad. He had his entourage so close that they appeared to be propping him up. He looked deathly pale and without his usual exuberance. After that, he went missing for 10 days, only to pop up today.



I've been here a little over 2 years and it has been interesting to see his place in Nicaraguan society. A very polarized character but I believe he has the majority in his favor. His government, for all the bad, has done more good than anyone in recent times (not that I could really know). Of course, it only took (among many other things) a communist backed revolution, a less than admirable pact with the 1996 Constitutionalist Liberal Party (PLC) leader/thief Arnoldo Alemán, and an illegal changing of the constitution which allowed him to run for presidency for as long as he is physically able to.


But such is Latin American politics. I mean, hey, when both parties have dead people voting for them you can't expect anyone to play fair.


The general attitude I receive when engaged in political conversations with Nicaraguans is that the man is a patriot, based on the fact that he has stolen the least and given back the most as anyone in recent memory. Its still a grand shit show and nothing really works even remotely like it is supposed to but hey, at least people are receiving free rice and beans and baby medicine when they need it.


in Junior resource news, Sabina put out a nice resource update today. Stock is still trading in the low 90s, but the chart gives me reason to believe that once the break at $1 is confirmed a nice ride up to nearly 1.40 could make for a good swing. Read the release here.

Nica Life

Well....


Its been a while since I´ve last post and, while this post wont be of any real substance, I just want to show a little sign of life.


The gold market seems to be looking up, with a solid break past the 1280 point which was a main level of resistance. Good timing as well as I think it made for a decievingly large upswing in the juniors given that most of them were battered down on tax loss selling.


The lack of posting has resulted in a number of issues which have arisen for me here in Nicaragua. After doing a few property deals here in Nicaragua I have found myself unable to touch any of the money in the account. Learn from my mistake, if you ever open a bank account in Nicaragua, do it with BanCentro o BAC. All others are blatantly incompentant and inept.


Interestingly enough, I´ve even been able to get the Sandanistas on my side fighting my little bank battle, never hought it would happen but here I am...waiting until somebody resolves an issue that never needed to happen in the first place. Remember, manana doesn´t actually mean tomorrow just not today.


Brief recap of my junior activities
 -Bought back into Sabina, looking for a nice swing up to 1.40
-A stock I had for a very long time, that I was never able to sell, Volcanic Minerals, whot up to 28 cents from roughly 4 cents a few weeks ago on news that they are going into the tech industry with their 500k in the treasurey.
-Finally bit the bullet and let go of that bag known to me as CXB. The fact that I bought it through a TFSA and have no eligibility for tax credit (iiuc) in salt in the wound.

As it shows, havent really been doing alot.


I was surpirsed at how easily gold broke through the 1280 mark. I think we will seen one more down turn, testing that same zone before we will really see where the market is at.


Anyways...Olympic Hockey!