HEADED TO PERU & COLOMBIA – But not before I tell you some more about what we follow in North America.
First off: Revett Minerals (TSX: T.RVM, Stock Forum) is active. Our Ticker Trax wealth club struck gold, er, silver, on the Montana company. We expect but cannot guarantee favorable legal rulings on Revett’s Rock Creek property in coming weeks. (We here at home own a small stake in RVM, like $600 worth.)
Next: I talked this week with Robert F. Giustra, CEO of Columbus Silver (TSX: V.CSC, Stock Forum). Columbus is active in Nevada and New Mexico. The company is drilling along what it believes is the same historic trend in New Mexico, USA, that has benefited Raul Madrid’s Santa Fe Gold (OTC: SFEG, Stock Forum) this year. The area is called the Mogollon silver (and gold) prospect for Columbus, whose stock market value is about $5 million Canadian vs. $105 million for Santa Fe Gold.
Robert Giustra tells us he believes current drilling at Mogollon could show multiple ounces of silver and five grams per tonne of gold. Four holes already have been sunk, and Robert says he anticipates positive assays in terms of grade coming back from an Arizona lab. “This is a district that has had mining since 1905,” Mr. Giustra says. Robert is a cousin of metals and energy financier Frank Giustra, recently spotted in a Forbes magazine article about gold and inflation.
Finally: The following report first went to Ticker Trax subscribers this week, as soon as I landed.
More than general metal seen here
BATTLE MOUNTAIN, Nevada – Bob Carrington spent his 21st birthday in this town of 2,500. You know, The Owl Club restaurant and casino … known to geos the world over as the Foul Owl.
That was more than 30 years ago. At the time, the junior geologist was poking holes and surveying gold property at 
the old Independence Mine. Many versions later, the easy oxide of this place belongs to a tiny, over-the-counter-traded company called General Metals Corp.(OTC: GNMT, Stock Forum).
Surrounding the mine and the 280-odd acres controlled by General Metals is Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM, Stock Forum). You can see its haulers all over the place. It’s is being worked for LARGE MINING as we speak.
To use a well-worn phrase, a picture, as in this one taken from our flight over the property this week, tells a story better than a thousand words do.
Our audience knows Mr. Carrington from Colombian Mines Corp. (TSX: V.CMJ, Stock Forum), the 300,000-hectare property holder whose minerals portfolio we are still viewing (and again will be in 12 days).
In the meantime, allow this photo of Newmont’s Phoenix Mine and surrounding area to speak the words. The Battle Mountain region is prolific when it comes to gold, copper and some silver. The photo shows what Newmont says will be the largest open-pit operation it will own in the state of Nevada as the massive workings of its property progress this decade and next.
The Battle Mountain district, as in the photo here, already has produced about four million ounces of gold. This includes properties called Fortitude, Phoenix and the Independence Mine, where young Bob Carrington cut his teeth and who knows, maybe gained his manhood. That Owl Club, you know.
Fortitude is a 7.5 million-ounce Newmont reserve at 0.25 grams gold per tonne, I am told.
Excuse the rush here, as we are on deadline preparing for Antares Minerals’ (TSX: V.ANM, Stock Forum) Haquira copper tour (next week) and for a look at Peruvian holdings of Candente Copper (TSX: T.DNT, Stock Forum). After that, it is off to Colombia, again with Bob Carrington, to see a copper property and another gold property.
Mr. Carrington’s connection to General Metals, aside from decades of familiarity with the Independence Mine, is as an investor and a director. Make no mistake, General Metals is in serious need of money and attention. Yet as Bob and his chief consultant on this project, University of Nevada-Reno geology classmate Jeff Rassuchine, insist, this entire district is “under-drilled to the max,” if such a thing is possible.
Jeff has spent two years poking 128 reverse circulation drills into the ground here. I have seen the results. The plan, as they explain it, is to heap-leach the “easy” oxidized and low-grade gold dirt from this area. Newmont, of course, is here for the sulfide stuff, and has a 35-year mine life to get its rock.
General Metals, if it survives a small cash crunch and its absurdly low stock price of four cents, could have a heap-leach pad unit on a four-inch crush working the Independence soil in 18 months – for a price tag of less than $10 million.
Were that to happen, Mr. Carrington would breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that the place he began his career will see a second, or third, life. In the meantime, there are issues of naming a CEO, bringing in a mining engineer and a fresh board of directors and paying off about $40,000 of current bills. Oh, and that absurd total share outstanding of 200 million or so – even more fully diluted it appears.
Still, a company worth less than $10 million sitting on oxidized dirt with what looks like 85 percent or higher extraction rates? No metallurgical issues? Maybe two million or more ounces of byproduct silver? More than 200 acres of surrounding ground that Jeff and Bob see as a much larger and richer gold district than even Newmont might imagine? (Gold porphyry possible at northern end of its holdings … intrusive body similar to CMJ’s Yarumalito property in Colombia.)
“This was an old Battle Mountain Gold property now controlled mostly by Newmont Mining,” Mr. Carrington, pictured here underground at the site, tells us. “Newmont owned – right in the middle of the Phoenix Mine there – half of the old Fortitude Mine. Now for us here at General Metals, 128 holes have been drilled and every one of them has hit ore, roughly 0.6 gram gold. If this works out, it is a fully-permitted heap leach facility and we would pay Newmont for the heap leach pad space and the equipment.”
The stock, which we here at home do not own, appears to be an outright buy for those who believe speculative gold properties with excellent geologists (and geology) will appreciate in spectacular fashion in this commodities melt-UP. Were that to occur, the gains would resemble what Colombian Mines already appears to be accomplishing – at least with its stock price and land holdings.
Visits: Going to see Antares Minerals’ (ANM) Haquira copper prospect in Peru next week. That will be followed by a visit to a Candente prospect in southern Peru near Puno. Candente Copper (DNT) is a Planetary Prospect of Ticker Trax. Then, Colombia as noted above for a visit to two CMJ properties and one week of holiday, one hopes. CMJ s a Planetary Prospect.
In late April: off to Jimmy Longshore’s Kibi Gold Belt in Ghana yet again – Xtra-Gold Resources (OTC: XTGR, Stock Forum). Xtra-Gold is a Planetary Prospect. We also have queries into Burkina Faso gold projects owned by Riverstone (TSX: V.RVS, Stock Forum) and Etruscan (TSX: T.EET, Stock Forum).
This afternoon, I will get a San Francisco-location update from CEO Brad Cooke of Endeavour Silver (AMEX: EXK, Stock Forum) and (TSX: T.EDR, Stock Forum), a Planetary Prospect. As with each of the 12 Planetary Prospects of Ticker Trax, we here at home own the shares.
Ticker Trax and Stockhouse are looking for editing and writing talents who can base themselves in Toronto or Vancouver. Must be a university graduate with writing and editing savvy. It also helps to understand natural resources. Ping me please on the email – thom dot calandra at stockhouse dot com.
InvestFest 2010
InvestFest in Las Vegas – Join Stockhouse for a drink on the house June 4 at InvestFest. The gathering will feature investment masters who are making headway in today's marketplace. I’ll be there. It’s called InvestFest 2010. Please visit: www.stockhouse.com/products/investfest2010.
WHEN: June 3 to June 6.
WHERE: Green Valley Ranch Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada. That’s a five-star resort minutes from the Vegas strip.
Special Offer to Ticker Trax subscribers: $197. Please book your resort rate as well by calling 1-866-782-9487. Quote: InvestFest
I happen to have 10 free tickets for the InvestFest 2010 investment conference in Las Vegas. They are for Ticker Trax subscribers only.
During InvestFest 2010, you will have the opportunity to mix with other Ticker Trax subscribers. I also would like to invite you to attend a reception with my friend and colleague, Marcus New, CEO of Stockhouse.
Ticker Trax™
Please see tickertrax.comto learn more about this wealth service.
HOLDINGS: Thom’s holdings are listed for all Stockhouse members at www.Stockhouse.com under the “portfolio setting” for user TCALANDRA. It is public and free to view. He and his family own recently minted gold and silver coins and shares of a number of public and two private companies: Ivanhoe Nickel & Platinum in Africa and an Internet company called Mobyling. Thom owns each of the 12 Planetary Prospects in Ticker Trax.
THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Traxhelps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom started CBS MarketWatch andMarketWatch.com. As the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report, Thom pegged sub-$300-ounce gold as a long-term hold in year 1999.
Photos by Thom Calandra
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Ticker Trax™ is published by Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. Ticker Trax is an information service for subscribers and neither Stockhouse nor Thom Calandra is a broker or an investment advisor. None of the information contained therein constitutes a recommendation by Mr. Calandra or Stockhouse that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Ticker Trax does not purport to tell or suggest the investment securities subscribers or readers should buy or sell for themselves. Subscribers and readers of Ticker Trax should conduct their own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decisions. Ticker Trax will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a reader’s reliance on information obtained in the reports. Subscribers and readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions. Opinions expressed in Ticker Trax are based on sources believed to be reliable and are written in good faith, but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to their accuracy or completeness. All information contained in Ticker Trax should be independently verified. The editor and publisher are not responsible for errors or omissions or responsible for keeping information up to date or for correcting any past information. Ticker Trax does not receive compensation of any kind from any companies that may be mentioned in the report. Any opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. Owners, employees and writers may hold positions in the securities that are discussed in Ticker Trax. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL THOM SEEKING PERSONALIZED INVESTMENT ADVICE, WHICH HE CANNOT PROVIDE. Copyright 2010 all rights reserved.