TORONTO – Here are prehistoric ideas in the global race for resources: gold, silver, fertilizer, copper, coal, iron ore.
By prehistoric I mean "before their time." Not ready for prime dime. "About to happen," a futurist told me when we were kicking rocks in Mongolia, "is better than is happening."
Robert M. Friedland's Oyu Tolgoi was "about to happen" in 2002 and 2003. A few tents. A scattering of core samples. Were those a few hoary camels out back?
It's happening now, OT. It's a money jam of copper, gold and silver spreading thick across southern Mongolia's Gobi steppe lands. The jam took years to gel: hundreds of millions of dollars of earth movers, local geologists, drill rigs and sturdy ger huts. Ivanhoe Mines (NYSE: IVN and TSX: T.IVN, Stock Forum) eight years later is a Rio-Tinted $15 billion market equity.
Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO, Stock Forum) owns about 48 percent of Ivanhoe Mines now. IVN is the centerpiece of several copper-silver-gold-moly-platinum-nickel-coal prospectors that Mr. Friedland future-scoped in those prehistoric days, circa 2001 and earlier. Just as a contemporary of his from Oregon, Steve Jobs, did with computers circa 1980 and earlier.
I know about a few of Mr. Friedland's current "futures," so to speak. I am, with my wife, an investor in his privately-held South Africa-Congo (DRC) venture. It's been private some 20-plus years, so in its platinum-plated way, that conglomerate of PGMs, moly, copper and gold is prehistoric.
As for the public market in resources, I'll wager that what "is happening" will still be happening once Rio Tinto's January 2012 standstill on majority ownership of Ivanhoe Mines shares expires. IVN in all its Gobi jam glory will add another $7 billion or more of market worth. That's prehistoric. For now, anyway. (I own zero shares of Ivanhoe Mines and zero shares of any affiliated publicly-held company in the Ivanhoe empire.)
Source-coding history
Here are a few more prehistorics:
- Phosphates and potash in Brazil and Ethiopia. Vermiculite in West Africa. I'll have more on this theme in coming weeks. Agricultural fertilizer is where some prehistoric money is flowing. Reminds me of investing in pharmas and biotech during iffy economic slumps.
Iron ore in Colombia. And refineries, smelters, processing plants. Mark my words; I am just back from my 14th or 15th visit there. The prehistoric financiers in that country are lining up for properties. See articles.- Gold in Manitoba … and silver. I am off to Carlisle Goldfields' (TSX: T.CGJ, Stock Forum) project this weekend. The sun is shining there and the fish at Lynn Lake are biting. Bruce Reid,a financier and some of the early money behind a British Guyana gold-copper prospector a few years ago, is running Carlisle Goldfields, He quadrupled the gold resource at the Manitoba property to 1.2 million ounces; there is silver with a 9-ounce-to-1-ounce ratio as well. I do not own the shares.
- Continental Gold. VP of Exploration Stuart Moller deserves recognition for his commitment to Colombia's Buriticá, which I believe one day will rank among the world's richest gold-silver veined deposits. As discussed here earlier, Continental Gold's (TSX: T.CNL, Stock Forum) deep-drilling program of 1,000-plus meters is reaching lustrous gold veins at its Veta Sur target. We'll be seeing fresh drill assays in coming weeks that could top the already sky-high ones (12 grams gold per tonne and higher; 60 grams silver) that were published last week and in July to the applause of investors. I do not own CNL shares but am considering a purchase of shares before the company's first Canada-compliant resource statement is published in coming weeks.
- A wad of Colombia prospectors will be releasing fresh resource statements or drill assays in coming days and weeks. Among ones I do not own that are in my futures file: Continental Gold, Sunward Resources (TSX: V.SWD, Stock Forum) and Gran Colombia Gold (TSX: T.GCM, Stock Forum). (Photo here: Hans Rasmussen of Colombia Crest Gold (TSX: V.CLB, Stock Forum) – he is the tall dude standing next to his fiancé, Chelsea-- and the rest of his Colombia team this past week at an Antioquia concession: Venecia – Thom Calandra photo)
NOTES: I will be speaking and showing and telling atCambridge House's Toronto conferenceThursday Sept. 15. I will be in Toronto most of that week. … I will be speaking and eatingsuckling pig at Brien Lundin's New Orleans Investment Conferencein late October. You can click on this link to get a deep discount on the entrance fee. … I am a partner of Torrey Hills Capital, which is in Del Mar, near San Diego. That investor outreach firm lists none of the companies in this report as clients.
Stockhouse members – the service is free – can see my entire portfolio online. It is under the portfolio function and my user name, which is TCALANDRA. There is nothing in my portfolio suitable for risk-averse investors. I am not a financial adviser. Owning any of these securities could result in your participation in the crying game. Please see my comments on Stockhouse about the benefits of holding securities and physical metals for long spans of time.
More on Thom Calandra
Subscribe to Stockhouse’s Exclusive Financial Newsletter – Ticker Trax. Only $99
Make more informed investment decisions through collective intelligence.
Headed by Danny Deadlock, Senior Editor.