This 2010 summer, north of the natural-resources equator, VERY FEW THINGS are "working."
Aside from the largest cash-flow accumulating gold miners, prominently Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM, Stock Forum), the prospectors almost all lack fireworks. Newmont, a US$28 billion company, is several ticks away from its highest stock price since early 2006 for one reason: $1,200 gold is increasing bullion-sale revenue at a tremendous pace.
Among companies I have toured in the past 19 months, just a few are putting up numbers that have enriched investors. They include Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. (TSX: T.PRE, Stock Forum), a Colombia oil company that now has surpassed $6 billion in market worth. (I do not own the shares but toured the main oil field property in late 2009.)
Another company, passed along to me by Toronto financier Ari Sussman in March, is logging a stock chart that stands out: Titanum Corp. (TSX: V.TIC, Stock Forum). The Alberta company's technology helps to extract minerals from oil-sands waste tailings. (I mentioned Titanium in a March 2010 article and bought a couple thousand shares at 65 cents or so Canadian, then sold them at $1.08. The shares here in early July are now $1.50 each.)
Among our Ticker Trax™ Planetary Prospects, several are holding their own: Endeavour Silver Corp. (AMEX: EXK, Stock Forum) and (TSX: T.EDR, Stock Forum) and Great Basin Gold (TSX: T.GBG, Stock Forum) are two silver and gold producers whose market metrics qualify as sturdy. They are micro-Newmonts in that they are producing and selling gold (and silver) and reaping the benefits of rich bullion prices and decreasing mine expenses.
Others: Central Fund of Canada (AMEX: CEF, Stock Forum) and (TSX: T.CEF.A, Stock Forum), an Ottawa repository for gold and silver, has been consistently fine. Xtra-Gold Resources (OTC: XTGR, Stock Forum) of Ghana is giving up little of its 2010 gains ahead of what looks to be a listing on a commodities-comfortable stock exchange. We here at home own shares of all 12 Planetary Prospects™. In addition, Xtra-Gold is a preferred client of Stockhouse, which publishes Ticker Trax and these occasional free articles.
Among companies whose fates we track for good and bad, Idaho prospector Premium Exploration (TSX: V.PEM, Stock Forum) saw its shares start trading Monday in Canada after a two-week-plus halt linked to a merger transaction. The company's chairman and its CEO, Del Steiner and Wilf Struck respectively, tell me a looming financing is all but complete and funds "in escrow." The financing is targeting a $10 million "raise" with 25-cent units. If successful, the fresh stock will be dilute the smack out of the approximately $22 million company's current stakeholders. Still, Premium shares Monday after a 13 percent decline sell for 31 cents Canadian. That is above the placement price for the current financing. For more on Premium, which we dropped as a researchable Ticker Trax investment for our high-risk subscribers, please see: Premium or Discount?
Themes and ideas on our screen:
- Uranium is now front and center on the "cheap heap." We here at Ticker Trax™ are looking into a merchant bank with a large uranium stake, Pinetree Capital in Toronto (TSX: T.PNP, Stock Forum). Sheldon Inwentash's Pinetree its and uranium holdings (a stake in Saskatchewan's Hathor Exploration) might light up our Geiger counter. Sheldon also is CEO of Australia's Mega Uranium (MGA). Stay tuned. (I bought shares of Hathor (TSX: V.HAT, Stock Forum), a Saskatchewan high-grade uranium prospector, this week at a higher price than the Canada-traded shares now sell. I intend to research the company this summer and autumn.)
In West Africa, we are looking at Mike Nikiforuk's African Gold Group (TSX: V.AGG, Stock Forum), a Ghana and Mali prospector. "We just showed every hole (that we drilled) mineralized at our project in Mali," Mike tells me from Ontario, Canada. He's a former stock broker. "But we also have had a major seller of the stock because one of our holders (an asset manager) had a personnel change. So the stock chart (pictured here courtesy of Stockhouse) looks terrible." Managers at African Gold Group own about 20 percent of the $20 million market-cap company. I like West Africa … a lot. I also like sick-looking charts. AGG's Ghana property (Asuwunu is one of 5 concessions) is on strike with geologist Dan McCoy's Esaase in the process of development at Keegan Resources (TSX: T.KGN, Stock Forum) and (AMEX:KGN, Stock Forum).- On the uranium front, we are looking at -- or looking at a second time - Wits Gold (TSX: T.WGR, Stock Forum) and (OTO:WIWTY, Stock Forum). Wits Consolidated Gold is the gold and uranium prospector and large land-controller in South Africa's Witwatersrand Basin. We visited nearly all of the company's properties in winter 2010.
- On a personal note, I just bought shares of a geothermal company that trades in the USA and Canada. The idea here is to identify companies that can register large cash flows and ultimately deliver dividends to investors based on capital outlays that already have taken place or are taking place right now. Goethermal energy companies are in that grab-bag.
- I also (last week) bought shares of a derivative security whose value increases as U.S. Treasury bond prices decrease and their yields rise. The security is for those who want a stake in the notion that accelerated price inflation, and attendant loss of purchasing power, will occur across paper currencies in future years. The security also is a way of expressing the belief that metals processing, manufacturing, finished-good product sales, plus world trade, shipping and whatever else goes into fiscal growth, will stage rebounds in coming months and years. Just ahead of us looks more like a double-barrelled recovery than a double-dip recession.
For more on our 12 Planetary Prospects, please visit our Ticker Trax Library. Ticker Trax™ is in place - and thriving - because its fiscal loyalty is to subscribers who are looking for radically cheap investments. Our service, started in November 2008, researches a select group of Planetary Prospects in Ghana, Mexico, South Africa … with legitimate shots at rising 1,000 percent or more in a span of two years. I do not own shares of African Gold Group, Wits Gold, Premium, Keegan or Pinetree.
- We hope you out there in the Stockhouse audience consider joining our expanding service, now in its 19th month. It is at www.tickertrax.com. Needy wanna-be subscribers can petition Stockhouse with a plea and a suggested price for the $399 service at members@stockhouse.com.
Ticker Trax™Please see tickertrax.com to learn more about this wealth service and its Planetary Prospects. For an index of free Thom Calandra articles, please click here. For an entire explanation of our strategies, research methods and disclosure procedures regarding all aspects of Ticker Trax and our Stockhouse reports, please visit our readily available Stockhouse articles. Please see this one in particular: Core Box Revealed. Thom Calandra’s on-site tours of properties are paid in part by the hosting companies and in part by Stockhouse and Thom Calandra. For the password-protected Ticker Traxlibrary, please see: www.tickertrax.com/Login.aspx.
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 and his family own recently minted gold and silver coins and shares of about 30 public and two private companies.
THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Trax helps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom co-founded CBS MarketWatch and MarketWatch.com. As the voice of Thom Calandra's StockWatch and The Calandra Report, Thom pegged $300-ounce gold as a long-term hold in 1999 and in 2000. He has been covering life-sciences and natural resources since 1988.
Thom Calandra and Stockhouse produce this and other free reports. Please visit www.Stockhouse.com.
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.