This Just In
- XTGR, EDV: Positive Developments
CEO James Longshore at Xtra-Gold (OTCBB: XTGR, Stock Forum) is no longer CEO. You would not have caught that unless you saw the filing.
James Longshore, reached on the telephone today (Wednesday) on his way to Xtra-Gold Resources meetings in Boston and in Maine, told me the new CEO, director Paul Zyla, has plenty of public company experience. Mr. Zyla, whom I know, is 65 years old. He was CEO of Xtra-Gold from 2003 to 2005.
Paul Zyla also is president of Verbina Resources (TSX: V.VUR, Stock Forum), a mineral exploration company “engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in the Province of Ontario,” according to company literature.
Mr. Longshore is still going to be running Ghana contractors and the Kwabeng camp in the Kibi Gold Trend, he told us.
The co-founder of the Ghana prospector, Mr. Longshore, declined to address speculation that the personnel changes are an action designed to fortify a company whose executive suite might fit the profile of a Canada-listed security. Xtra-Gold is listed over the counter in the USA. Another co-founder, Mark McGinnis of Toronto, tells us the appointments “make sense as we ramp things up.” The Haywood Securities broker added, “James does not have time to start looking after filings … he would never get any work done.”
The 8-K USA filing:Form 8-K for XTRA-GOLD RESOURCES CORP
1-Jun-2010
Change in Directors or Principal Officers
Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;
Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.
On May 31, 2010 Xtra-Gold Resources Corp is pleased to announce the following restructuring of the company's Officers and Directors.
Robert Casaceli is currently on the Advisory Board and has been appointed to the Board of Directors replacing James Longshore effective June 1, 2010.
Paul Zyla currently is a Director of the Company and has been given the added position as President, replacing James Longshore. Due to the increase of responsibility his options have increased from 3,000 to 4,500 per month effective June 1, 2010.
Richard Grayston is currently a Director of the Company and has been given the added position as Chief Financial Officer replacing James Longshore.
Mr. Casaceli is chief geologist for the new Franco-Nevada (TSX: V.FNC, Stock Forum), an assembler of metals royalties. His work on structural geology has helped Xtra-Gold move closer to identifying shear zone mineralization at the company’s lead Apapam Concession in Ghana.
Our take: 43-year-old Mr. Longshore is an operations master. His team in Ghana refer to him as Mr. Jimmy. He has been working in Ghana since 2004 or so. Other executives, we hope, will take the paperwork of this emerging gold company and accelerate a listing on a commodity-friendly exchange.
For more on Mr. Longshore, Mr. Zyla, Mr. Casaceli and Xtra-Gold, 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 with legitimate shots at rising 1,000 percent or more in the span of two years, maybe less and maybe more.
Please see our Ticker Trax library for coverage of Bellhaven, Xtra-Gold Resources and Avanti Mining, among others.
Planetary Prospects
There are now 12 of them. Please visit www.tickertrax.com and search our landing page for details on the start of coverage for individual Planetary Prospects and the entry price.
- Central Fund of Canada (AMEX: CEF, Stock Forum) and (TSX: T.CEF.A, Stock Forum) – Gold and silver repository. Its premiums, being a closed-end fund, are rising. Own this one as a money market proxy for real gold and silver – metal that actually might be delivered to investors if ever they want to cash in their paper stakes. One day, when investors decide they absolutely must own gold and silver, Central Fund shares will see their premium over net asset value double … or more.
- BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BCRX, Stock Forum) –Influenza and leukemia drugs. Gout, too. Biomedical appears to be back in vogue as an investment. We here at home are holding these shares – 75,000 and counting – as “The Return of H1N1” influenza virus plays at hemispheres, nations and regions near all of us. There is no risk of a dilutive financing. There is a risk of Type A H1N1 remaining the dominant seasonal flu virus for several years. The company has a new 5.5 percent investor: Joseph L. Harrosh. (Please view: Stockhouse exclusive article.)
- Endeavour Silver (AMEX: EXK, Stock Forum) and (TSX: T.EDR, Stock Forum) – Silver (and gold) in Mexico. I expect Endeavour Silver to purchase a publicly-traded silver (or silver-gold open-pit) company this year. Probably in Mexico … but Endeavour’s principals tell me they will not rule out other parts of North America. First-quarter metrics, including costs, cash flow (a net profit for the three months vs. a year-ago loss), silver and gold output, are improved markedly. Brad Cooke and his team realize they have to show their audience its exploration activities are vibrant enough to hurtle the small Guanajuato and Durango company above five million ounces of silver equivalent per year. Mr. Cooke and his team say they are doing exploration drilling at the San Juanico property in Parral, Chihuahua, among other points. Endeavour also is mapping and sampling at its freshly-purchased San Sebastian project in Jalisco. Endeavour Silver’s project outline is on its Internet site: Please see the list.
- Endeavour Financial (TSX: T.EDV, Stock Forum) – No relation to Endeavour Silver. This is Neil Woodyer’s profitable Canada-traded merchant bank that is making a big bet on West Africa. … in the form of Crew Gold (TSX: T.CRU, Stock Forum) and a 43 percent stake and Etruscan Resources (TSX: T.EET, Stock Forum) and a 55 percent stake. Endeavour just made nice with Severstal, the Russia entity with a large stake in Crew Gold. Endeavour Financial logged $213 million of net profit in its most recent quarter. Endeavour Financial does business with natural resources and energy companies. The shares, even with a three-month steady climb, trade at a discount to the value of securities owned by Endeavour Financial. It owns about $500 million of gold investments and other merchant bank investments, giving the company a book value that is about twice the current share price.
- Xtra-Gold Resources (OTO: XTGR, Stock Forum) –This West Africa gold prospector might follow in the footsteps of successful Keegan Resources (TSX: T.KGN, Stock Forum) … and Perseus Mining (TSX: T.PRU, Stock Forum) … and Red Back Mining (TSX: T.RBI, Stock Forum). Xtra-Gold shares get little attention on the USA over-the-counter bulletin board and deserve a listing on a commodities-comfortable exchange. Let’s hope James Longshore and his team, including new geologist-consultant Robert J. Casaceli and new CEO Paul Zyla, keep moving in the right direction. Mr. Longshore tells us he now owns three million shares of his own company, up from two million shares. Fresh drilling will start by July. (Pleasesee the Libraryfor coverage stretching back to autumn 2009. Also: Please visitStockhousefor a perspective on the Kinross Gold investment in West Africa’s Red Back Mining.)
- Great Basin Gold (TSX: T.GBG, Stock Forum) – This is Ferdi Dippenaar’s South Africa and Nevada miner. Real gold at Burnstone and Hollister mines … and prospecting at Esmeralda in Nevada. Great Basin says it has “excellent operational performance at Hollister in Nevada and improved efficiencies at the Esmeralda Mill facility in Nevada.” Ditto for South Africa’s Burnstone Mine. I have been to all of the company’s working properties. (Please see our password-protected libraryfor coverage.)
- Candente Copper (TSX: DNT, Stock Forum) – Joanne Freeze’s Candente has copper in Peru at Cañariaco. The almost eight-billion-pound copper project is starting to get the attention of manufacturers and bankers. Yet Candente Copper’s shares sell for a value of only a penny a pound for its in-situ copper. Candente Copper, formerly Candente Resource, is among the cheapest propositions (based on ore in the ground) in this list, along with Avanti Mining. The Candente companies’ properties in Peru also include poly-metallic prospects that might some day package into a third, separately-traded company. (Please see libraryfor coverage.)
- Candente Gold (TSX: T.CDG, Stock Forum) – This separate company’s shares were distributed to predecessor Candente Resource’s shareholders in January 2010. We issued a full report on Candente Gold’s Peru prospects in April. Now, we’re examining El Oro, an entire district and artisanal mine workings in Mexico. I am hoping to see fresh and theoretical calculations on existing and freshly discovered vein targets from Ms. Freeze. (Please see password-protected libraryfor coverage.)
- Great Panther Silver (TSX: T.GPR, Stock Forum) – Silver in Mexico. Robert Archer is the CEO. The Panther just extended one of its veins, called Recompensa, at the Topia property in Durango, Mexico. The company is on the prowl for assets so that it can notch 20 percent yearly gains in output. GPR’s rising silver grades and low stock valuation compared with other Mexico silver producers make the company’s shares look like a bargain. Quarterly performance at the Canadian company produced a net profit. Great Panther’s silver-equivalent output at Guanajuato and in Mexico’s Durango state is benefiting from improved efficiencies and richer gold harvests. The company’s metals’ production includes byproducts and runs about half that of Guanajuato neighbor Endeavour Silver. Great Panther must mine richer ore in greater quantities to fulfill its promise as a Planetary Prospect.
- Avanti Mining (TSX: V.AVT, Stock Forum) – Cheap and aspiring molybdenum mine at Kitsault in British Columbia. Avanti just hired Bob Jacko of Thompson Creek Metals to manage project development at the mine. When Avanti’s Craig J. Nelsen and A J Ali see this through, Kitsault will be producing about 25 million pounds of the stainless-steel additive each year – for 15 years. That is 215 million metric tons of ore grading 0.085 percent of moly. That works for a world where steel-based moly demand is expected to expand six percent or so this year and next. I just saw in the latest proxy that Mr. Nelsen, the Avanti CEO living in Colorado, owns 10 million shares of the company. Canada’s Bob Cross of B2Gold is an Avanti director and owns more than five million shares. Avanti Mining at a market worth of less than $20 million is the cheapest proposition on this list. Avanti must show it can line up plenty of cash or lending pacts for a project whose total cost probably will run more than $640 million. Mr. Ali, Avanti CFO, is trying to notch one or two off-take agreements for the mine’s easily reached moly. The takers likely will hail from Asia, where steel mills require a steady and reliable supply of the element molybdenum. I have been to Kitsault. Moly is an additive in all types of stainless steel. (Please see the password-protected libraryfor coverage.)
- Colombian Mines Corp. (TSX: V.CMJ, Stock Forum) – CMJ has one of the thickest property books in Colombia for such a tiny company: some 300,000 hectares. Bob and Gloria Carrington and Nate Tewalt’s company has reported drill results from its Yarumalito project in Colombia. The numbers were mediocre. The company recently optioned its Anori gold and copper prospect to Yamana Gold (AUY and YAU). CMJ gets $50,000 from Yamana right from the get-go. CMJ’s Robert Carrington says he and CEO Nate Tewalt of Washington State are considering a joint venture or sale for its Venecia holding in Antioquia. (Please see the password-protected libraryfor coverage.)
- Bellhaven Copper & Gold (TSX: V.BHV, Stock Forum) – Our newest member. Panama and Colombia. We here at home now own 1.4 million shares at a price that is higher than its current price of 22 cents. Honolulu fund manager and doctor of geology Paul Zweng is a large investor and just-named interim CEO. Dr. Zweng’s success rate with epithermal gold deposits and with copper prospects such as Peru’s Antares Minerals (ANM) is among the best I have seen in eight years. Bellhaven now owns the Las Minas concession in Antioquia, close by CMJ’s Venecia property and Sunward’s (TSX: V.SWD, Stock Forum) Titiribi. We at home own shares of this and all Planetary Prospects. (Please see the Libraryfor coverage.)
In Colombia, our speculative target is Antioquia Gold (TSX: V.AGD, Stock Forum). We here at home own it. We also own (and have researched and visited since 2008) Medoro Resources (TSX: V.MRS, Stock Forum). John Hicks’ Medoro Resources is on track to purchase the historic Frontino Mine in Antioquia for as much as $200 million. Medoro’s annual report and recent quarter are just published and show that its completed purchase of El Marmato in Antioquia has measured and indicated ounces of 7.5 million ounces and inferred ounces of 2.2 million. I intend to sell some of my longstanding Medoro shares and use the money to purchase more Xtra-Gold, more Bellhaven and more Avanti Mining (TSX: V.AVT, Stock Forum).
We here at Ticker Trax cannot and will not address queries about any company or prospect/theme that is written as part of Ticker Trax or our Stockhouse reports but is not a Planetary Prospect. We stand firmly behind our Planetary Prospects and back them with our own patient money here at home. With the exception of Central Fund of Canada, which I view as a gold and silver money market for cash purposes, I have not sold and do not sell in and out of our Planetary Prospects. Ticker Trax™ and Stockhouse audiences receive plenty of notice time, in some cases weeks, when we here at home decide to purchase or sell any security named in these reports.
As for reporting on other companies, ideas are there for all to view and consider. Please do not expect that Ticker Trax will support these subjects with research, on-site visits and so on. Feel free to contact these companies, be they Nevada prospectors, Canada miners or Peru, Colombia and South Africa companies.
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 – especially this one: Core Box Revealed. Companies whose site tours I attend for research purposes pay part or all of my airfare and hotel. Stockhouse and I also pay when necessary. I plan on seeing a Butte, Montana, gold project run by Timberline Resources (TSX: V.TLR, Stock Forum) this week.
Ticker Trax™
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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. Subscribers always come first.)
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. 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. As with each of the Planetary Prospects, Thom Calandra owns Colombian Mines, Xtra-Gold Resources, Great Basin Gold, Endeavour Silver, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Bellhaven Copper & Gold and each of the other Planetary Prospects researched in this and other reports.
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.
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