Unfortunately Turner doesnt know anything about geology though.
This humble corner of cyberspace recently managed to corner the Chair of American Eagle (AE.v), Stephen Stewart, and squeeze a thought or three out of him regarding the rip-roaring first drill results out of his company’s NAK copper/gold porphyry project. The NR came out last week under the titles “American Eagle Drills 125 m of 1.02% Copper Equivalent from Surface within 851 m of 0.33% Copper Equivalent in maiden drill hole at NAK” and that line alone gives a good idea of the early success the company has enjoyed, but it’s definitely worth clicking through on that link and reading the details (if you haven’t already). So anyway, the ten-day price chart of the stock now looks like this (daily volumes scribbled in):
Very impressive, from left to right is around +750% and the stuff exploreco dreams are made of, but this post isn’t about grades, widths, geology, pending assays or what might be to come from NAK, instead it riffs from a comment Chair Stewart made about the way in which the news was presented and how AE has been trading since then. He said (slightly edited but 100% on-point):
“From total obscurity, AE traded tens of millions of shares, up from 3.5c. There were no leaks before the news and no third-party investor relations or promo pumps involved.”
A comment that resonates with this humble scribe. These days, junior mining’s Pay To Playworld of online coverage and promotion is so pervasive and common that the whole sector, companies and audience alike, seems to have fallen under a hypnotic spell. The cottage industry that has sprung up is siphoning millions of dollars away from the treasuries of explorecos, often with the active complicity of the people running their shows and these days comes in all shapes and sizes; from dedicated third-party IR and marketing companies with multiple formal accounts, to paid pumpers and influencers on social media, to YouTubers with dedicated channels offering carefully curated access to C-suite opinions, to “independent” newsletters and websites who prostitute their glowing opinions to the highest bidder. There’s plenty of variety, but in essence it’s the same business model; you pay them cash, they will say nice things about your company and/or get you in front of people with more money than sense.
It takes an American Eagle (AE.v) to shine a light on these parasitical wastes of time and space who’ve carved out a lucrative and corrupted space between the junior company and its backers. The results and reaction from AE’s NAK project remind companies and audience alike that this inserted world of media nonsense is unrequired for exploreco success. You do not need “an online presence”. You do not need “traffic advantage” and you certainly do not need to waste your shareholders’ money on this utter blather. It begs a couple of questions:
- Company CEO, why are you paying for coverage?
- You have been hoodwinked into thinking it is necessary for success?
- You don’t think you’ll “trade volume” without them?
- You know your company and its project doesn’t have a chance, so you need to shift as much paper as you can before the lights go out?
- You are on a quiet, brown envelope kickback from the people you paid $100k to for a two month media campaign?
- Other?
2. Retail shareholder, why are you listening to the protagonists of the paid pumper cottage industry?
- You think you’re getting independent advice?
- You don’t think you’re being swindled in half a dozen ways?
- You think it can’t be bad if everyone is doing it?
- You don’t think a company can survive or thrive without these parasites in the modern world?
- You don’t have a brain?
It takes an AE.v to shine a light, to remind people that the pay-to-play world is nothing more than a modern version of lipsticking pigs. If the company is worth its salt, if it’s a good trade in the near-term or investment in the long-term, or if a drill assay has the goods required to be considered a true discovery, the investment world will quickly work it out all by itself because that’s what capital markets do, they are built on the tried and tested premise of opportunity providing profit, juniors do not need to pay middlemen parasites to get the word out and AE.v is living, breathing proof of that. Period. So if you’re a shareholder of a company currently paying a five or six figure sum to a bunch of internet jocks for “investor relations” or whatever other name they’re sticking on their communications line item, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to ask your CEO exactly why s/he is spending money on worthless and unnecessary individuals when that cash would be far better spent on doing what explorecos are supposed to do; explore. Equally, if you’re interested in a company that has picked up the bad habit of blowing its treasury on “media outreach” or has a CEO that somehow manages to pop up on half a dozen YouTube channel where he fields softball questions from a sycophantic knownothing with a microphone, maybe you should steer clear from the unbeatable opportunity they’re selling to you. You the shareholder don’t need the paid pump industry to make money, the companies don’t need these parasites, either. The emperor has no clothes.