Friday 24 February 2012

Companies With Mineable Ounces - Sinclair

Jim Sinclair continues with his theme that companies with mineable ounces will be the great investments to maintain leverage despite volatility in gold.

Here on mineable ounces

Here on volatility

OT - Smiths & New Order

Another Manchester music theme, older this time, and because cover bands Smyths and Re-Order play on Saturday - Got to be loud.

Good Jurisdiction - Fraser Institute 2011/12

The updated Fraser Institute Report assessing "good jurisdictions" for miners has been published

Link to Report here

Top Jurisdictions by number of respondents indicating favourable vs unfavourable;

Quebec
Chile
Nevada
Alberta
W.Australia
Saskatchewan
Yukon
Ontario
Mexico
Manitoba
South Australia
Alaska

Will probably prioritise the regional exploration write ups- Posted 2, Nevada and Yukon.

Thursday 23 February 2012

Yukon Gold Exploration

The risk of this page is it will quickly become out of date as this is an extremely active area.

Keep Up to Date  - News Feed at http://stocknetwork.com/yukon_mining (DEAD?)

Survivors? - Jan 2014 Yukon Pavillion at the Vancouver Resource Show

June 2012 Article Reviewing Yukon Explorers "Still in the Game" at the Northern Miner

June 2012 Article at Mineweb - Yukon Juniors with Cash

August 2012 Beacon Rock Research Yukon Report

Mining News North - Regular Updates

Mining News - Mining Explorers - 2012 Edition

On a risk/reward assessment the entire market cap for key explorers in Yukon is now below $1bn, whereas at peak Atac alone reached this valuation. 
Buying in the off-season before drilling might pay reward here. But in a bad market these are the riskiest plays. 
Please ensure your own full update and due diligence before acting on anything you read here.



Introduction
The discoveries made by Underworld Resources in 2009, (and since acquired by Kinross), have sparked an enormous surge of modern exploration, further discoveries and speculation in the Yukon, Canada, targeting the hard-rock sources of gold historically panned and placer mined in rivers and creeks across the region in the first Yukon Goldrush.
An excellent article overviewing "The Second Yukon Goldrush" 
at Resourceworld Magazine September 2011.

A Recent Mineweb review of "Yukon Companies with Cash to Burn" - May 2012 - Companies are all covered in some detail below.

These discoveries have not been made suddenly.

Tuesday 21 February 2012

"Why Junior Mining Stocks Represent the Best Value in the Gold Mining Space"

- Brent Cook interviewed by Jim Puplava.



Economic Geologists

Some of the best writers I follow in the junior exploration sector are geologists and economic geologists.
The best companies must be led by or deeply involve people from this field as great discoveries become increasingly rare and hard won.

I am taking a greater interest in finding the best and their writings.

Monday 20 February 2012

Speculating and Investing

A good Doctor made me think about Speculating and Investing.

"To The American Damphool Speculator, surnamed the American Sucker, otherwise described herein as The Thinker Who Thinks He Knows But Doesn't, greetings! This book is for you! Read as you run and may you run as you read!"
The introduction to My Adventures with Your Money, by George Graham Rice (1913) Timeless

Thursday 16 February 2012

Nevada Gold Exploration

Seeking quality gold exploration companies in safe jurisdictions quickly leads to Nevada in the US.

Ever since the discoveries which put Barrick and Newmont at the top of the Gold mining league, exploration of these deposits has promised great rewards.
See Discovery of the Carlin Deposit
Older Nevada History - Here

In any coming gold junior bull market I can imagine this region drawing many US investors through familiarity and safety.
From a practical, miners' point of view Nevada has a great deal of good infrastructure from its mining heritage, indeed there are high value assets which will need replacement ore-feeds in the coming years. The value of juniors' discoveries in this region should be higher than in remote or high risk regions.

If the next rise in gold relates to a weakening US Dollar then US based production costs should further improve the prospects for US based producer.

Recent successes are Fronteer/Auex at Long Canyon who sold out to Newmont.
I think there are some expert explorers in this region.

In this post I outline a number of companies and then revisit for key people and projects.
At the bottom of the page are a series of price charts and a spreadsheet watchlist in the usual format to assess market cap and proximity to annual price highs or lows and below that maps of regional exploration programmes ............

All junior explorers are risky. The US Bulletin Board stocks (.OB) are generally considered even riskier, with multiple pump and dump schemes. Occasionally good companies can turn up there.


Wednesday 15 February 2012

Risk vs Reward Players should be all over the gold stock case right now

One of the saner voices writing in the investment space is Gary Tanashian.

Yes he's into gold and the miners on a secular basis,  but he also recognises the power of the "continuum" of the long bond bull market.

Leverage Gold through Miners - Not Comex Gold Contracts - Jim Sinclair

Today I reference a clear series of posts by Jim Sinclair revisiting certain themes he has led me to recognise in the fundamentals of the gold bull market on the "Why Gold" page on this blog.

Jim Sinclair's recent restatements of his views on gold going forwards are
1) Here
2) Here
3) Especially Here regarding gold and the monetary system.

The key message for me is that Sinclair, "Mr Gold" of the 70's bull is not using Comex contracts for leverage this time but miners. I quote.

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Gold and Silver Multi-Project Consolidators - Merger & Acquisition plus

A new page on the blog (linked) considers

Growth Companies and Leaders of Multi-Project Consolidation in the Gold and Silver Mining Industry.


These are potentially some of the strongest companies during a bull market, a bull within a bull.
If they can do it from a small, under the radar starting point the potential gains are even greater.

Comments and suggestions welcome in identifying the best of these.

Another page here will consider "Why Gold".
What are the key influences leading you to consider this area for investment?
How will you know a top is near?
What are the themes seeing investment from those who identified a nascent gold bull market in 2000?

Sunday 5 February 2012

Mining Mergers & Acquisitions continue in 2012 - Smartmoney anticipates

Two extremes of mining merger and acquisition activity hit the news last week.

1) Glencore - Xstrata Merger of Equals
The first, the widely reported merger of Glencore and Xstrata businesses looks increasingly likely. This would formalise Glencore's large investment stake in the Xstrata mining business and create an $80bn behemoth, fourth in global mining behind BHP, Vale and Rio.

As far as I can read it Glencore can be seen as the "Smartmoney" in commodities, the Goldman of commodity traders.

Friday 3 February 2012

Junior Gold Miners' Large Low Grade Deposits - Leverage To $3,000 Gold Price?

We may be entering the aggressive "wave 3 of 3" in gold as indicated by Alf Field, targeting $4500, and Silver to >$150/oz. Alf Field's forecasting of the gold price is outstanding, however he did call the bottom early in 2008.

We may be entering a new 17 month Growth pattern as indicated by David Nichols, peaking in June 2013, although his current target is $3,000. Nichols has called March 2008 tops and October 2008 bottoms in the gold market. However he had believed we should see a large top in Jan 2011 and has been re-positioning since.

We await Jeff Kern's "Ski" analysis at 321 Gold of whether we have entered a "true bull market" for the miners.

If this is the case and $1,500 /oz and then $2,000/oz is to be seen as a solid base price the gold miners and especially junior gold and silver miners will undergo a dramatic re-rating and some degree of mania should enter the precious metals market as the virtuous cycle of mergers and acquisitions drives up valuations.