Marking Holes: AVT, DNT, SSP, HLM, ANI
- Avanti Mining: Trawling Asia (AVT)
- Animas, Houston Lake: Spec List (ANI)
- BioCryst: Awaiting peramivir sales (BCRX)
- Candente: Strong Buy at RJ (DNT)
- Sandspring: Guyana gusher (SSP)
- $2,500 gold: Blonde on blonde
- Off to Colombia, Peru (CMJ, CA)
AVANTI Mining’s Craig Nelsen and AJ Ali recently were traveling across to Asia from Canada, seeking off-take agreements and other Japan and perhaps China props for the looming molybdenum mine at Kitsault in British Columbia. Of the 11 Planetary Prospects, Avanti (TSX: V.AVT, Stock Forum) is cheapest on most financial and metals metrics. A $50 million (or less) market worth for a company with a vast moly resource?
As CEO Craig Nelsen reiterated to me Tuesday (in the usual geologic shorthand), “We have an overall 2P Reserve of 215 m tonnes @ 0.085% Mo. That is comprised of 190 m tonnes @ 0.09% Mo and 25 m tonnes @ 0.031% Mo – the low grade stockpile.” AJ Ali, the financier who many years ago worked numbers magic with coal and other resources, added today, “But the first five years of mining the average grade is 0.1%. This is significant as this lowers the cash cost /lb of moly, thereby increasing the margin during the loan payback period. The deposit has higher grades near the surface and lower as you get deeper in the pit. The average grade over the life of the mine masks the higher grade in the first five years.”
Avanti on Tuesday put its people where its P.R. is – naming Kenneth W. Collison, formerly Thompson Creek Metals, as Senior Vice President of Project Development. Mr. C was part of the team that purchased Thompson Creek in 2006. He will be part time, preparing a bankable feasibility stuffy for the Kitsault mine. Ken C. also will oversee construction and start up of the Kitsault mine.
In Ticker Trax talk: Avanti is our only pure position in a company that delves outside the realms of gold, silver, copper. The shares hold potential for reaching full value at $1.50 Canadian from their current 23 cents over a span of the next two years. I own in the region of one million or so shares and have no intention of selling until the Kitsault property gets much closer to fruition.
Candente Resource (TSX: T.DNT, Stock Forum): Joanne Freeze’s Candente is moving higher – sigh -- after months of uncertainty about its Mexico gold and silver “spinoff.” The company’s Walter Spagnuolo tells me today the stock price gain is because of a heady Raymond James upgrade of Candente’s copper holdings in Peru (where I am headed, but not to Candente’s operation this time, alas). Candente is a Planetary Prospect – one of only three of the 11, I believe, that has yet to make the leap to a robust money-making harvest for our seedling subscribers.
Here is the Raymond James excerpt. Please zing me if you would like the entire report, which is now a week old but propagating. I think the fat-feed on Candente is starting.
“We are increasing our rating on Candente shares to OUTPERFORM from MARKET PERFORM and we provide a quick reminder that copper in the ground has value,” the bank’s Tom Meyer says in the upgrade. “The recently proposed acquisition by First QuantumMinerals (TSX: T.FM, Stock Forum) of Kiwara Plc (KIW in London) may provide a wake-up call for many investors looking for large undeveloped Cu projects.We recommend buying Candente shares. This opinion is predicated on a potentially world scale project in Cañariaco Norte, good exploration potential at Cañariaco Sur and Quebrada Verde but balanced with the fact that Candente will require additional funds to further additional metallurgical testing and prefeasibility work.”
Mr. Meyer adds, “In our view, as demand for above ground metalcontinues to increase, the attention will soon turn to undeveloped resources. In our opinion, Candente is well positioned to benefit from this trend in the coming years.”
Ticker Trax subscribers know that no company can remain as a Planetary Prospect if it is not meeting goals we set on mining (or life-sciences) milestones. In the case of Candente, it is my almost 10-year professional link to Joey Freeze that has kept us there. If I were nominating no-nonsense CEOs with style, Ms. Freeze is top of our pops. Ms. Freeze zinged me today from Lima, where she is presenting to investors – in Spanish – in an hour.
As with all 11 Planetary Prospects, I own Candente shares.
Speculative: New security Sandspring Resources (TSX: V.SSP, Stock Forum) is selling for 90 cents a share in Canada, up from a 35-cent seedling price. That was a gift from Guyana. (Please see Thom Calandra coverage of Toroparu.) Based on the resource at the Guyana property, the John Adams family and Abraham Drost-led team easily will see the IPO travel upwards of $1.50 a share in coming weeks – if fair value means anything measured as GOIG, or Gold In Ground. Please see: More from Thom.
More spec: Gary Freeman and Mel Herdrick’s Pediment Gold (TSX: T.PEZ, Stock Forum) – it is all here and sent first to Ticker Trax subscribers during the past several weeks since our Baja, Mexico visit. The shares are reflecting the company’s sealed deals with ejido surface rights owners. Thom Calandra report here.
And more spec:Animas Resources (TSX: V.ANI, Stock Forum) – we expect drill results soon for a Mexico property at Santa Gertrudis that could become an entire gold district. This is the only speculative mention that I have an intention of purchasing … but have yet to do so. I own no Sandspring Resources and no Pediment Gold. More on Animas: Thom’s report.
The most speculative of the lot: Houston Lake Mining (TSX: V.HLM, Stock Forum). The tiny company with the multiple Canadian gold/platinum moving parts (Kenora area) just got some print in one of those prospecting trade journals. The article, whilst not in the league of Mark Twain’s prose, still says what you need to know. And I lift – not from the article, but from our own coverage of HLM -- a couple of weeks ago:
This is snatched from Thom Calandra’s report: Houston Lake Mining (TSX: V.HLM, Stock Forum) will almost certainly evolve into a $1 Canadian security in coming months. HLM owns more gold/platinum/lithium moving parts than one of those Lego Starship Enterprises. I learned about the eight components of Houston Lake’s West Cedartree Gold Project, near Kenora Ontario, several weeks ago (at a Chicago suburban metals show courtesy of investor relations presenter Wanda Cutler.) Houston Lake’s president, CEO and CFO Grayme Anthony, just released assays from its Dogpaw Vein.
HLM shares are rising Tuesday amid shallow trading volume. I do not own the stock. Those who would like the Ontario Prospector Fall/Winter 2009 Issue with the Houston Lake Mining article, feel free to sling me. Gold’s per-ounce price now is near $1,200 per ounce and headed to our $2,500 target for April. (If I am correct, I will dye my hair gold – yet again. If I am incorrect, I shall dye my hair gold – yet again.)
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BCRX, Stock Forum): What can we say? (Well, a lot.) I own all 65,000 shares, having done nothing from the slide to $8 from $12.40 or so. The short interest (Shares Short) on the NASDAQ stock at last look was 11,037,700 shares. Days to cover: that: 3 ½. The short interest (nay-sayers or hedgers) as a slice of the so-called free float of trading stock: 31.98 percent.
As Got Gold Report’s Gene Arensberg, a colleague (and Atlanta/Texas compadre) we feature on Stockhouse, says: “Blood is in the water. Short selling sharks just love this kind of setup. They love it so much that they get heady and drunk with it and try to break it with the weight of their own games. It's like printing money - for a little while.”
I suppose that is so. I look at the company not as a stock but as a collection of drugs – including forodesine, which I see as the next novel leukemia compound making its way to the market, if Phase III testing on humans succeeds. Having lost a son to the blood disease, I guess I take that one to heart.
The focus of investors is BioCryst’s peramivir for treatment of seriously ill H1N1 patients. I expect far more in the way of sales of the antiviral intravenous drug. We have written about this at length for 13 months now. See the archives. I am not going anywhere with my shares, and I am not lending them out for borrowing.
Questions about our 11 Planetary Prospects? Feel free to call or slog me: thom.calandra at stockhouse.com. I have great interest right now in exploring several nations -- Ghana, Mexico, Peru and my beloved Colombia. They are all primed. I am headed to Colombia and Peru later this week: see itinerary at your leisure.
(All photos by Thom Calandra. Thom owns shares of our 11 Planetary Prospects.)
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