VANCOUVER, Canada – Ishanghaied asset manager Frank Holmes onto my panel here at the Cambridge Metals Show that was literally overrun with investors and miners.
Frank of U.S. Global points out that “it would be unusual” if gold did not reverse direction after its spectacular run of 2010. The Texas-based Mr. Holmes said if the precious metals keeps dropping, technicians at his shop put the average decline for this type of reversal (I DISLIKE the term ‘correction’) at 15 percent, or $1225 or so an ounce.
So. Feel better, folks? To be entirely candid, the most aggressive bankers, miners and financiers at this show and the accompanying Round-Up for geologists up here are tracking silver equities.
“We were out with Eric Sprott (of Sprott Asset Management) last night and I know the theme here is that silver looks on track for $69 an ounce,” Denis Clement, a Toronto financier and energy/metals investor and incubator, told me on the Sky Train airport train. The goal is finding leveraged silver companies, as in cheap, Mr. Clement of CGX Energy said.
I gave him two that came to mind for me: One of them, Revett Minerals (TSX: T.RVM, Stock Forum), is listing in the USA and produces silver, copper and other metals from its Troy Mine in Montana. (I own less than $2,000 worth.) The other I mentioned is one I have followed for Ticker Trax subscribers and owned for more than a year: Joanne Freeze’s Candente Gold (TSX: T.CGD, Stock Forum) and its El Oro silver and gold property in Mexico.
Candente Gold – I believe – is on the cusp of publishing drill data. I cannot get a confirmation on that from Joanne Freeze or its directors and executives, folks. Still, anything these days that is in two jurisdictions (also in Peru) and has vast tracts of mining claims and properties yet sells for less than a $60 million or so market worth is probably worth a look-see if silver kicks into gear again. (So yes, on Candente Gold I am talking my own book; but I have followed Joanne Freeze of the Candente companies at least since year 2000 and have been on site with her in Mexico and Peru several times. Ms. Freeze just appointed successful former CEO John Black of Antares Minerals to the board of Candente Copper, a Peru company whose shares, once again, I have owned for ages and researched for Ticker Trax subscribers.)
On the project generator front, and in the ultra-cheap category, I just sat down with geologist Rick Redfern, an Elko, Nevada, executive who runs Mexivada (TSX: V.MNV, Stock Forum). Mr. Redfern is in that group of Elko geologists that have a line on what is excellent about Nevada deposits – among them Allied Nevada’s Carl Pescio, Gold Standard Ventures’ (TSX: V.GV, Stock Forum) Dave Mathewson and others.
Mexivada is a 15-cent stock with a vast portfolio of potential projects. Currently, a small company in California (OTC:BB: CLGL, Stock Forum) has an option on a Sonora, Mexico property with tellurium. Mr. Redfern says the venture provides carried interest, CLGL stock and other potential payback for Mexivada. CLGL just raised about $1 million for its Sonora drilling. I do not own Mexivada. (Please see photo of Rick here in Vancouver.)
ACTIONABLE FRONT
Bruce Reid, a financier and some of the early money behind Sandspring Resources (TSX: V.SSP, Stock Forum) in British Guyana, is running Carlisle Goldfields (TSX: C.CGJ, Stock Forum), which is raising $10 million to $12 million. Mr. Reid more or less quadrupled the gold resource at its Manitoba property to 1.2 million ounces (there is silver with a 9-ounce-to-1-ounce ratio as well).
Carlisle, as I take it, was on its deathbed when Bruce got involved in 2010 in the property near Lynn Lake. There were deep mismanagement issues and spending issues, he says. Some 73 of 83 holes in a Saskatoon lab were unpaid for. And so on.
Also, Carlisle is still working through negotiating payment to Canada Revenue for sloppy spending on what was supposed to be flow-through exploration by previous managers. I am hearing Carlisle could at 25 cents or so become one of a small collection of busted prospectors that have second life. Bruce was behind U.S. Silver. When all is said and done in a current financing or financings in the works, Carlisle will have about 148 million shares fully diluted. I do not own the shares.
Companies that appear to be dirt cheap that I am circling include Interra (TSX: V.ITA.P,Stock Forum).Geologist Quentin Hennigh and others,including Bob Moriarty, updated me this weekend. Interra is in Rwanda and looks to change its name to Simba Gold. I DO NOT OWN THE SHARES.
- Batero Gold (TSX: V.BAT, Stock Forum) – Brandon Rook’s Batero Gold (BAT) in Colombia hosted a PRESENTATION IN Vancouver. It was packed, and the folks in the audience were mostly wealthy individuals and principals at other gold companies scattered across Latin America. “We hope to get a bunch of folks out to see the porphyry,” Mr. Rook told me. Sighted at the session: Gregg Sedun of Goldgroup Mining (TSX: T.GGA, Stock Forum) and Uracan. Batero is outpacing some of its peers in several ways, most notably in its excellent presentation of drill data from La Cumbre across its Quinchia property. See the map. I do not own the shares. By the way, I will be visiting GGA’s Caballo Blanco near Veracruz in Mexico later this week along with 20 other writers, investors and analysts. Please see our coverage at Stockhouse and at our password-secure Ticker Trax Library.
- For more on other silver companies, other prospect generators and other properties in Ontario, British Columbia, Mexico, Ghana, Mali and Peru, please subscribe to Ticker Trax. I do not in any way suggest to folks pursue any of the stocks mentioned in this report. Neither do I suggest that they ignore them. These are themes and ideas that are worth probing. The only stocks I own in this report are the two Candente companies and Revett Minerals.
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HOLDINGS: Thom’s holdings are listed for Stockhouse members at www.Stockhouse.com under the “portfolio setting” for user TCALANDRA. It is public and free to view. He owns shares of about 30 companies.
THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Trax helps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom was founding editor of MarketWatch, CBS MarketWatch and FT MarketWatch. He was the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report. Thom has been covering life-sciences and natural resources since 1988.
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