Prospecting models: Colombia y Colombia
- Plus: Focus Ventures, Candente Gold, Premium Ex
- Colombia's prescient 'gold rush' article
- What to buy before Dec. 31: CMJ, DNT, PEM
MIAMI – A friend in Toronto this morning tells me it is minus-16 degrees Celsius up north. I walk Concourse E of Miami International Airport, waiting for my latest flight to Medellin. It is 62 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
In Colombia, when it comes to gold, energy and coal, it is even warmer.
This article (see Gold Rush) was published in 2007 -- several months before my five-part series on EL Marmato and the challenges of Colombia gold projects when traditions, cyanide and local governments enter the Au equation. At the time, I sent it to several consolidators in the country.
The article by author Paul Harris is remarkable. Guess why Mr. Harris, writing for The San Francisco Chronicle, nailed Colombia. He covered all of the bases – from a lay person’s perspective – with respect to Antioquia and Caldas departments: Marmato, Titiribi, Segovia (Frontino Mine) and even Buritica.
About the only thing Mr. Harris did not – could not – have forecast was the Ventana (TSX: T.VEN, Stock Forum) gold strike. Or Angostura. Or Colosa. (And so on for the large discoveries – 10 million or more ounces of gold.)
Thus, in the category of early heads-up, the profile of the looming Colombia gold rush by this journalist, Mr. Harris, gets major face from this face. I’d love to know what geologist and Colombia enthusiast Richard Sillitoe thinks of that article.
Ticker Trax subscribers are rushing the gates at year’s end here. They want their Colombia prospects as badly as some of us want our coffee beans in the morning. At Buritica, the Bob Allen (Bullet; Arkansas) project not far from Medellin that is part of Continental Gold (TSX: T.CNL, Stock Forum), coffee growers were harvesting their beans in and around the gold property.
“We are seeing some of these people shift into mining from raising the crop,” Stuart Moller, VP of Exploration for Buritica and other Bob Allen-Continental Gold properties, told me as we trekked above and below ground. Armed soldiers accompanied us (please see photo above).
I am here in Medellin – or on my way, technically, for the second time in four weeks -- for one reason: to see several more properties in and around the department of Antioquia. Some are private: Georges Juilland and Phil O’Neill’s and gang’s Titiribi-Sunward. That tour is scheduled for just after New Year’s Day (western calendar), if I survive the traditional Colombian partying that accompanies year-end.
Some of the properties are public: Antioquia Gold’s (TSX: V.AGD, Stock Forum) Cisneros , which I shall see later this week.
Nearly all of these have some promise. Nearly all of them appear cheap. (Until that is … one sees the properties, studies the estimated grades and more or less gets to know the individuals and the geology.)
The exceptions to “cheap,” of course, include Ventana as well as one I have personally followed (and own but do not in this space recommend as of yet): Marmato consolidator Medoro Resources (TSX: V.MRS, Stock Forum).
The facts are fairly unadorned in Colombia. I could not have said this any better than the Paul Harris article in the link above, so I shall not even attempt to portray the big picture. Ticker Trax subscribers know by now – and yes, there are many of you – that we are not big-picture artists. We like to present the case for the projects, the people, the dirt as it were.
As of today, I am – as stated previously – heads over heels taken with the Carringtons’ Colombian Mines (TSX: V.CMJ, Stock Forum). Bob Carrington has a portfolio of gold and copper properties, including the prominent Yuramilito next door to El Marmato, that cover the entire country. When Dale Finn, a Newmont executive in Ghana, first told me about CMJ this past summer as I was visiting X-tra Gold’s Kibi Gold Project (XTGR), the CMJ shares stood at eight cents or so (Canadian).
Today the CMJ shares are 70 cents or so and the company is still worth less than $20 million. CMJ is our latest Planetary Prospect. I have yet to purchase the shares but will be soon enough. I will be spending much more time with Bob and Gloria Carrington this week and into next. On site and off site. I see the shares as a compelling purchase before year-end.
Insiders own two-thirds of all the shares in CMJ.
Mr. Carrington is a longstanding Nevada geologist who knows all of the “names” that have been prospecting Colombia from about 1990 onwards. He tells me the geology goes back at least to the Jurassic in terms of gold deposit formations.
Also on the Colombia plates: epithermal, meso-thermal, hard rock, placer gold … large trends and small ones. About 10 groups, including the Carringtons, Bob Allen of Arkansas, Georges Juilland, the Medoro folks and so on … control the lion’s share of gold properties in the nation of 40 million. The government, local and regional ones for the most part, also have their hand in the mix – as at Frontino in Segovia – withered in part by disputes over a bankrupt pension fund for retired miners.
Mr. Juilland’s project, several hours from Medellin, has the backing of several folks in Europe and Hong Kong – and Vancouver, Canada -- who often guide me toward the right stuff. Titiribi’s Phil O’Neill, on his way to a small holiday on the Mayan Riviera, tells me Mr. Juilland is now pursuing a vast copper project for the Sunward shell, which eventually will trade under the ticker MKM in Canada – it is a cash pool corporation at present.
Also on the compelling and cheap front: Adrian Hobkirk’s Caerus Resources (TSX: V.CA, Stock Forum), active in Bucaramanga, Colombia.
There is no holiday here at Ticker Trax until we make every one of you money … and more money. Some knowledge too … and a good pizza joint or three – Pizza 1969 in Medellin’s El Poblado neighborhood, for one.
Planetary Prospects: Here are the 12 of them – and likely one or two more by January 10. (Looming candidates include Pediment Gold (PEZ), Medoro Resources (MRS), Focus Ventures. (FVI).
- Our first: Central Fund of Canada (TSX: CEF.A, Stock Forum) – You own silver and gold via a Canadian repository (Spicer family in Ottawa). One day the premium on this open-end fund will rise to 30 percent and more from its current 12 percent or so. Named at $10.70 U.S.
- BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BCRX, Stock Forum) –The second installment of H1N1 might (we hope not) sicken an entire globe. This drug discovery company’s compounds for leukemia, gout, psoriasis, influenza (peramivir) and perhaps cardiac arrest are worth every penny of this now-$6 security (down from $13 two months ago). Named at $1.70 U.S.
- Endeavour Silver (AMEX: EXK, Stock Forum) and (TSX: T.EDR, Stock Forum) – This one has more than tripled since being named a PP of Ticker Trax some 10 months ago. Silver in Mexico. Named at $1.30 U.S.
- X-tra Gold Resources (OTO: XTGR, Stock Forum) – Canada listing might be in works for Ghana prospector. I love West Africa, and will be returning to the continent in late January to see Great Basin Gold (GBG)’s Burnstone Mine in South Africa. I also will see Wits Gold (OTO: WIWTY, Stock Forum) and its DeBron property, among others. I will be available for meetings in Cape Town Jan. 30 to Feb 2. Named at 70 cents U.S.
- Endeavour Financial (TSX: T.EDV, Stock Forum) – Gordon Keep and Neil Woodyer’s Vancouver merchant bank owns stakes in some of the most promising natural resource companies around. EDV also is the bank that more or less propelled Pacific Rubiales (TSX: T.PRE, Stock Forum), the Colombian energy company, into the Milky Way of stardom market capitalizations this past 18 months. Named at $1.70 Canadian a share.
- Great Basin Gold (TSX: T.GBG, Stock Forum): This is Ferdi Dippenaar’sSouth Africa and Nevada company. GBG shares were one of two Planetary Prospect laggards this year but are starting to reach two-thirds of peer-value based on net asset value for expected gold output in the year 2010 (400,000 ounces?) I will see the company’s Burnstone Mine in late January, as mentioned above. Named at $1.30 U.S.
- Candente Resource (TSX: T.DNT, Stock Forum)– Joanne Freeze’s Candente has more or less cleared the $10 million mark on its raise for Candente Gold – the Mexico and Peruvian gold spinoff. Frank Holmes of U.S. Global in San Antonio, Texas, took the lead on this one after naming a directorial condition of his own. Directors were asked to put their own cash on the line or leave. One left. El Oro in Mexico holds the promise of a generation or two of Mexico miners seeking their gold desserts. The new company’s El Oro prospect has the backing of a skeptical independent geologist. Finally, I met with one of the top Peru-based Candente geologists … and yes, I am certain copper mining is still a worthy pursuit. Own the shares before year-end. Named at 42 cents Canadian.
- Inter-Citic Minerals(TSX: T.ICI, Stock Forum)– I will see ICI’s Dachang Gold Project in China by April 2010. As he promised, CEO James Moore got the stock up to $1 from 75 cents. Spot results on drilling are trickling out. Named at $70 cent Canadian.
- Great Panther Silver (TSX: T.GPR, Stock Forum)– A name change but no real change. Bob Archer’s small Mexico mining company just published extremely high-grade numbers from drilling at its Topia property in Durango state. GPR has light years to go before it gets to even 65 percent of the price appreciation that Brad Cooke’s Endeavour Silver has enjoyed of late. Both companies operate silver mines in Guanajuato, the Mexico’s most beautiful hill town. Named at 45 cents Canadian.
- Premium Exploration (TSX: V.PEM, Stock Forum)– Del Steiner and geologist/CEO Wilf Struck do not say much over an Idaho dinner of rib eye and potatoes. In the field, they won’t shut up. Just seeing the Idaho sprawl these two have assembled after many years of trying is enough to catch your breath. I caught mine. Now the stock had better move, man, and move. On Tuesday, it was moving, and I placed a call into the company. Named at 22 cents Canadian.
- Avanti Mining (TSX: V.AVT, Stock Forum) – Cheap molybdenum mine at Kit Sault. Compelling to the max. I believe I own more than a million shares now (about a buck-three-eighty at the current price of 20 cents Canadian). I have seen the B.C. property. CEO Craig Nelsen and CFO AJ Ali have my allegiance on this one, complicated as the share “structure’’ is. This thing will be producing moly of good to excellent grades within 18 months. Plus, moly futures start trading in London in February. Named at 12 cents Canadian.
- Colombian Mines Corp.(TSX: V.CMJ, Stock Forum)– Says it all above. More on this one coming until the shares reach fair value of $45 million or so market capitalization, or a bit more than double their current. Nate Teal and the Carringtons have their heads together on assembling a tiny juggernaut (oxy to the moron?) across a gnarly and gorgeous landscape of Colombia gold/copper/coal prospects. Named at 60 cents Canadian.
Compelling: Pediment Gold (TSX: T.PEZ, Stock Forum). Speculation is swirling around this small company, whose Baja California project, San Antonio, I have seen. The concessions there could become a district in terms of gold, and no other company is within 100 kilometers.
Questions about our 12 Planetary Prospects? Feel free to call or slog me: thom.calandra at stockhouse.com. I am looking at Focus Ventures’ (TSX: V.FCV, Stock Forum) Nueva California and Fortuna Silver(TSX: V.FVI, Stock Forum)’s Caylloma Project at 5,500 meters.
Focus stands a shot at a vast discovery at its Nueva California Project
(All photos by Thom Calandra. Thom owns shares of 11 of the 12 Planetary Prospects and will be seeking to purchase CMJ soon. He does not own Pediment Gold. He does not own Focus Ventures, Fortuna Silver or Antioquia Gold.)
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