Platinum is showing its stuff today -- up $10 an ounce.
Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (
TSX: T.PTM,
Stock Forum) is the South Africa exploration company Mike Jones put together about 13 years ago.
I first met Mike at the
New Orleans Investment Conference in late 2002 or late 2003. All I knew about him was that he had a glimmer of success at some Ontario mine years ago.
The geologist had the same platinum plan then, more or less, that he has now: explore the joneses out of the
Bushveld Complex. PTM is now active on the northern and western limbs there.
PTM is building a mine as it wraps up bank and other financing for what it calls
WBJV Project 1 Platinum Mine. I believe there are about 1,000 people working the construction, with hopes that it will be producing by 2015. WB stands for Waterberg.
This platinum company is in the same neighborhood, big picture, as
Ivanhoe Mines (
TSX: T.IVN,
Stock Forum). I have been to the Bushveld four times now over 10 or 11 years.
As with Ivanhoe, the Japanese own a slice of PTM's proceedings. In Mr. Jones's latest development this week, PTM sprayed grease and WD-40 on seven exploration drill-rigs and sent 'em packing to what it calls "a potential extension" of the Bushveld Complex and the Waterberg Platinum deposit. It will drill holes across 20 kilometers of ground.
I have owned this stock for a long, long time. I even bought some in the open market not long ago when the company did an 80-something-cents financing. At any rate, Platinum Group Metals' shares are moving this week.
Mike goes by
R. Michael Jones. His Canada staff at PTM is pretty constant. One of his long-timers,
Frank Hallam, sits with him on the board of
Nextraction Energy Corp. (
TSX: V.NE,
Stock Forum), which is exploring for oil and gas in western Canada and parts of the USA. NE is in the process of what looks like a diluted financing involving equity and secured debt, and thus far has yet to live up to its "potential."
Check this 4-year-old interview I did with Mike from New Orleans: https://www.theaureport.com/pub/na/r-michael-jones-shallow-ounces-of-platinum-draw-deep-pockets.
Not so for Platinum Group Metals. Mines take a long long time. Even Mr. Jones, who has the gift of directive gab (
only hears questions he can answer), might say that he had no idea that as he approaches age 50, he still would be waiting to pour a virgin bar of platinum group metals from South Africa 15 years after he started the company.
Diana Walters, who runs the investment group Liberty Metals & Mining from Boston and NYC, is on Mike's platinum board of directors. Liberty, part of the insurance unit Liberty, owns 19.9 percent of Platinum Group Metals. Like Liberty, I am in this for the mine.
Our audience that is looking for another, safer way into platinum than Ivanhoe or PTM -- a safer way, that is, into a precious and industrial metal with catalytic characteristics -- might look at SPPP (in USA), a platinum trust run by Sprott.
FLIM FLAM: Just saw RUSH last evening. A must-see for Formula 1 fans. Great drama, with a light moment or two.
Ron Howard has a film now that will get Best Picture nominations. .
.. Loved INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED -- Mexico. I hear it was many years in the making. A great Spanish language film that features Acapulco and LA.
Thanks to CEO.CA and to Stockhouse for TCR coverage.
See:
https://ceo.ca/ccn-concordias-failed-promise-might-bring-future-hope-the-calandra-report/ and.......
https://stockhouse.com/Opinion/Independent-Reports/2013/10/03/Robert-Friedland-taking-stake-in-revamped-Concordi
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