Black shale and poly-metallic in the same Canada breath these days – it’s rare. Oil shale deposits and tar sands occupy most popular investor reports these days.
So here: search for black shale on the Internet. Many of the top references go to tiny Dumont Nickel, which now goes by the name DNI Metals (TSX: V.DNI, Stock Forum).
DNI is an Alberta-focused prospector that could strike it in black spades: zinc, molybdenum, copper, nickel, uranium, vanadium, even lithium at its Athabasca holdings. In Ontario, the $3 million market cap company has carried interest in diamonds.
I first learned of DNI almost two years ago, when Saskatchewan asset manager Tom MacNeill introduced me to Dumont’s Shahe Sabag. I had asked Tom on a panel we shared what he would be buying that very day – if he were advising someone like me. He said Dumont at three cents or four cents a share, before the stock got consolidated.
As for Shahe, the 57-year-old DNI CEO is a fellow of the old school. He dislikes summer, when folks take time off. “Drives me crazy,” he tells me.
Alas, DNI stock has taken off, as in “been on holiday,” most of the time since I purchased about $2,000 worth (now worth $900) after Tom MacNeill’s pitch. To their credit and integrity, Tom at his 49 North Resources (TSX: V.FNR, Stock Forum) and Shahe own plenty of DNI: Mr. MacNeill and his concerns have 15% of the approximately 30 million shares. Shahe and a friend/partner, Denis Clement, own another 7%. A third investor, Lynn Factor, owns about 5%.
DNI, says Mr. Sabag, is what you would call binary (my word and not his). It either hits for $300 million (100x current value) or $900 million (300x a la Diamond Fields 16 or 18 years ago) … or it remains in the nothing-sphere of northern Alberta prospectors. That is, industrious but going nowhere.
DNI was incorporated in Quebec in 1954. It is testing a process called bio-heap-leaching, or bioleaching. Bioleaching employs bacteria. “”We've just crossed the threshold of demonstrating that the metals are indeed leachable en masse by bioleaching and other leaching,” he says.
“We think we have immense size: hundreds of millions of pounds of eight metals,” he says from his desk in Canada. “We've been neck deep in leaching tests the past 10 months or so to demonstrate that the metals cocktail can be recovered in one shot from the shale. So yes with confidence (we see) excellent recoveries for Ni-U-Co-Zn-Cd in the 80% to 90% range, middling for Cu-Li in the 50% or so range, and needs-more-work recoveries for Mo-V in the 20% range at the moment but looks like they can be enhanced.”
As for cash financings, I asked Shahe about a very recent 14-cent private placement making the rounds. How can that work when the stock is at 12 cents a share?
“We've been going around the past few months on a placement from a substantive shareholder,” he says. “It's been a hold pattern that feels a lot like a standstill. But we've managed to close about $900k, with another $2 to $3 million Canadian in the wind. I hate summers.”
DNI started the cash-raise process by trying to raise $3.5 million, which is about the size of its current market cap. Lots of things happened to unravel the placement. “We sold it all again by July, then one major subscriber wanted it all … so back to the regulators trying to get consents,” he says. He says he believes the cash-raise is halfway consummated on the $3.5 million.
What can I say? I was at the Oakland (California) Museum this weekend with the family, and we stopped in on the Gold Exhibit there. The photo here shows what it might take for Shahe Sabag and his DNI to raise the cash and proceed to more drilling. “One can find out the truth,” says a French prospector to gold-rush Sierra, “only in the place itself.” This is my own personal (and Ticker Trax™) saying when it comes to prospecting.
- I intend to see the Sweden gold mine operated by Gold-Ore Resources (TSX: T.GOZ, Stock Forum) Sept. 7 to 9. Patrick Abraham of Panama, a director of Bellhaven (BHV), will accompany me. I own 12,000 shares of GOZ at a price of approximately 55 cents Canadian. The Gold-Ore mine is scheduled to produce its one millionth ounce of gold this month or in September.
- On the conference scene, there are four that interest me … but only two where I am scheduled to present workshops: San Francisco and New Orleans. The ones that intrigue me but that I likely cannot attend because of scheduling conflicts are the Oct. 6-8 Medellin Metals Trade Fair in Colombia and the Doug Casey gathering in Carlsbad, Calif., Oct. 1. Mr. Casey, who is a newsletter writer and financial author, is also hosting an Argentina gathering at Cafayate in late October.
- NEW ORLEANS & SF: This autumn I will be making two or three appearances outside of prospect tours. One of them is in New Orleans, where I appear each year at Brien Lundin’s New Orleans Investment Conference. If you’d like to join our Stockhouse and Ticker Trax audience at the late-October show, please register and pay up at this link: REGISTER FOR NEW ORLEANS. You get a discount on the price at that address. It’s my favorite investment show – along with the longstanding San Francisco Hard Assets conference in November, when I will be presenting a workshop.
Ticker Trax™ started in November 2008. The service researches a select group of Planetary Prospects™ with legitimate shots at rising significantly in the span of two years, maybe less and maybe more. We hope you out there in the Stockhouse audience consider joining our expanding service, now in its 21st 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. STUFF: Our Ticker Trax landing page has more stuff, videos included. Please see: www.stockhouse.com/TickerTrax/Default.aspx.
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All photos by Thom Calandra. Thom and his family own shares of each of the 12 Planetary Prospects. Thom’s personal holdings are available for all to see on Stockhouse, the Canada publishing company. Subscribers are informed well in advance of any shift in research regarding Planetary Prospects and any purchase or sales decisions.
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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 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.