Junior mining stocks warranting attention this week

Warranting attention this week:

1. Clifton Star Resources (TSX: V.CFO, Stock Forum) – Our coverage of the value dynamic for this Quebecois equation is all here. The $180 million company easily could reach $400 million or more as partner Osisko Mining (TSX: T.OSK, Stock Forum) sinks its drills some 90 minutes up the paved road from Osisko’s Canadian Malartic Project. Believe it. We here at home have yet to purchase shares but are considering this. Please see our research via Stockhouse.



2. Bellhaven Copper & Gold (TSX: V.BHV, Stock Forum) – Our audience, especially sturdy subscriber M.D. Rosner, wants to know when again I shall visit CEO Julio Benedetti’s coveted Mina Seca prospect in southern Bolivar Department, Colombia. The answer: the bouncy is on Bellhaven’s side of the football field. I did not see nearly enough when I was there in Bolivar Department two months ago. In two weeks, I shall be in Colombia with Bob and Gloria Carrington of Colombian Mines (TSX: V.CMJ, Stock Forum). We shall be looking at CMJ’s Cerro de Cobre copper property not far from Bogota. As for Bellhaven, its geology team is putting together initiatives for coveted gold prospects in Colombia – such as Mina Seca - and its copper prospects in Panama. The shares cannot become a Planetary Prospect until I understand fully what is possible in terms of an alluvial or hard-rock operation in Bolivar Department and at San Lucas, also in Bolivar. I bought a token position at 21 cents Canadian two weeks ago and hope to add more.



3. Visits: Going to see Antares Minerals’ (TSX: V.ANM, Stock Forum) Haquira copper prospect in Peru in one week. That will be followed by a visit to a Candente prospect in southern Peru. Candente Copper (TSX: T.DNT, Stock Forum) is a Planetary Prospect of this service. Then, Colombia as noted above for a visit to two CMJ properties and one week of holiday, one hopes. In late April: off to Jimmy Longshore’s Kibi Gold Belt in Ghana yet again – Xtra-Gold Resources(OTO: XTGR, Stock Forum). We also have queries into Burkina Faso projects worked by Endeavour Financial’s Etruscan Resources (TSX: T.EET, Stock Forum). Endeavour Financial (TSX: T.EDV, Stock Forum), the merchant bank, is a Planetary Prospect. EDV shares today and last week are quickly starting to reflect the strength of its West Africa holdings, largely Crew Gold (TSX: T.CRU, Stock Forum), which is in play.



4. Rahim Jivraj of MercerGold, owner of Colombia’s Guayabales gold prospect (which we have seen), asks: “What’s your take on the May 9 headline whereby all the companies who have hectares under application in Colombia have to pay a tax on them? I guess this is the government’s way of ensuring that all the land is actually explored rather than compiled and sat on.” Yes. Colombia in the past two years has taken steps to accelerate activity on all mineral concessions. One way of ensuring exploration and mining activity on land that is optioned, leased or subject to a letter of transactional intent is via the Tax Man.



5. We here at home last week added to our holdings of Planetary Prospects Xtra-Gold Resources (OTO: XTGR, Stock Forum) and Premium Exploration(TSX: V.PEM, Stock Forum).



6. On the Colombian Mines (TSX: V.CMJ, Stock Forum) parabola front, Bob Carrington and CEO Nate Tewalt says they see no market moving developments other than Sean Mason’s Stockhouse report and our six months and counting Ticker Trax coverage of the company. CMJ shares rose in leaps and bounds last week.
7. Ticker Trax is preparing a report on Wits Gold (TSX: T.WGR, Stock Forum), whose expansive prospects in South Africa’s Wits Basin I saw earlier this year. The shares are rising. Wits is just out with a scoping study on its De Bron gold prospect. Says Hethen Hira, the Wits executive who toured me across the vast basin, “Yes this scoping study is the first step and the signs look very good. The sooner we prove we can develop a deposit will give us a great push in the market.”



8. Nevada: On Tuesday, I am looking at a prospective heap leach gold mine connected to CMJ’s Bob Carrington. The 248-acre Nevada property is owned by General Metals (OTC: GNMT, Stock Forum), a long-suffering over-the-counter-traded company. The mine site was the first that a young, at the time, Bob Carrington worked (as an intern) after he studied geology at the University of Nevada-Reno. “This was an old Battle Mountain Gold property now controlled mostly by Newmont Mining,” Mr. Carrington tells us. “Newmont owned – right in the middle of the Phoenix Mine there – half of the old Fortitude Mine. Some 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.” I’ll know more later this week.

I will be meeting with CEO Adrian Hobkirk of Gold Port Resources (TSX: V.GPO, Stock Forum), the British Guyana company. Also on my plate this week are telephone calls with Columbus Silver (TSX: V.CSC, Stock Forum), a New Mexico and Nevada prospector. Robert F. Giustra is the principal of this small company.

Ticker Trax™
Please see tickertrax.comto learn more about this wealth service and its 12 Planetary Prospects. For an index of free Thom Calandra, please click here.

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. As with each of the 12 Planetary Prospects, Thom Calandra owns Colombian Mines and the other P.P.s indicated in this report.

THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Traxhelps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom co-founded CBS MarketWatch andMarketWatch.com. As the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report, Thom pegged $300-ounce gold as a long-term hold.

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THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Traxhelps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom co-founded CBS MarketWatch andMarketWatch.com. As the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report, Thom pegged $300-ounce gold as a long-term hold.

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.