Sizing Up Timberline (TLR)
- Plus: What Is Moving … What We Own
BUTTE, Montana -- First this. Some of the subscribers we met at a function this past weekend asked about personal holdings. As in, what about your personal holdings?
Those family holdings are all listed at Stockhouse, the publisher of Ticker Trax.Click here to see.
Al & Ronnie Marden are longtime subscribers. They have been following my work, I believe, since the CBS MarketWatch days. That was when, after seven or eight years of reporting on companies to a huge audience, anything I wrote or broadcast on television or radio got taken to the moon. The phenomenon, for good and bad, came to be known, I kid you not, as The Calandra Effect. The original reports were known as Thom Calandra’s Stockwatch and The Calandra Report.
The good was that many people made money. The bad was that I did not disclose some of my sales in proper fashion and ultimately agreed to a settlement with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. I also did not meet U.S. standards for disclosing the purchase of shares of two highly-speculative mining companies from someone who was connected to the two companies. The settlement was a civil consent decree: one neither admits nor denies guilt … or innocence for that matter. Pay a fine, which I did … agree never-ever to be so stupid again as to not disclose in a fashion that meets the standards of U.S. securities regulations … yet no restrictions on my continued research, investing, writing or sitting on corporate boards. The happy endings were twofold: MarketWatch.com sold for more than $500 million to Dow Jones, so as a co-founder, I made a lot of money and spent several years at home raising the kids with my wife and learning to be a family member. I also learned a big lesson about the pitfalls of investing for short periods of time. So now I rarely am in an investment for a quick trade.
Long story short: Al and Ronnie the other day over ravioli near their Las Vegas, Nevada, home wondered what I liked that I owned but did not write about. Well, it is all there – as we point out – on Stockhouse. Please see the link above and at the end of this report – personal portfolio. But I pointed out – and do here again – that with rare exceptions I do not write about my personal holdings and will not make any of those holdings Planetary Prospects of this service.
The one exception as for Planetary Prospects of this service is BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: BCRX, Stock Forum), which we named as a Prospect in December 2008 at $1.70 or so per share. The stock went to $14 or something. Now, we are watching shares of the influenza and leukemia and gout drug developer get pounded – back to $6.50. Yet we here at home did not sell at $14 or $12. Indeed, we increased our stake roughly to 77,000 shares from about 50,000 shares during this span.
Yes, we all agreed over sparkling water and pineapple juice: I am practicing the one premise upon which we built Ticker Trax 18 months ago: buying and holding dirt-cheap investments for long periods of time.
Once in a while, we identify a speculative idea. Such as Antioquia Gold (TSX: V.AGD, Stock Forum) or those high-risk (and about to expire in two weeks!) Clearwire warrants (NASDAQ: CLWR, Stock Forum) and (NASDAQ: CLWRR, Stock Forum). Yet even in those cases, I do not purchase a thing until I have discussed the idea several times in this report. In the case of what we call our Speck-Pecks, or speculative ideas, I fully intend to sell if and when they spurt. But not before I inform the audience. Thus, in the case of Antioquia Gold, and detailed the other day in this report and on Stockhouse, I believe the next round of Cisneros Project drill results will drive the shares far higher than their depressed levels. We here at home are underwater on the 25-cent Canadian AGD shares to the tune of six cents. Please see Thom Calandra report.
In the case of Clearwire warrants, these things allow one to purchase shares of Craig McCaw’s Clearwire 4G broadband-developer at what appears to be a 10 percent discount right now. But the clock is ticking and the warrants, if not exercised to purchase the underlying shares, likely will approach their expiration in serious red ink. That is, unless CLWR shares start rocking here. Sprint Nextel owns about 55 percent of Clearwire’s shares.
It is the same with the Planetary Prospects. Subscribers always get first shot. Then we here at home purchase the investment. Those who follow this report to the letter know they could have bought – indeed many of you have told me you did – Bellhaven Copper & Gold (TSX: V.BHV, Stock Forum) at 15 cents, at 20 cents and at 22 cents or so. I did not start purchasing until 22 cents and 24 cents.
In the case of sales, I dispatch in the same fashion. When we let Inter-Citic Minerals (TSX: T.ICI, Stock Forum) loose from our Planetary Prospects, I waited at least a week, and I believe more, before selling. The same with Premium Exploration (TSX: V.PEM, Stock Forum). We still own a small number of Premium shares, but I will be selling them.
So what does it all mean? Well, in this May and June tumble of equities around the world, very few investments are holding their own. This includes most of our personal holdings that we do not write about. What is working is physical gold and the attendant Central Fund of Canada (AMEX: CEF, Stock Forum) and (TSX: T.CEF.A, Stock Forum), which is our preferred money market. Also working: one or two life-sciences companies in the areas of diagnostics or genomic tools … but not (right now anyway) our BioCryst Pharma. I hope to top up to 80,000 BioCryst shares in June and July.
Also doing well in the May-June tumble: Bellhaven and Xtra-Gold Resources (OTO: XTGR, Stock Forum), the Ghana gold prospector. Both of those are Planetary Prospects of this service. Xtra-Gold is also a preferred client of Stockhouse. I have been tracking the company since August 2009, well before Xtra-Gold became a preferred client of Stockhouse. I continue to purchase shares of Xtra-Gold as I believe the company will become the next successful Ghana gold prospector-producer –in the tradition of Red Back Mining (TSX: T.RBI, Stock Forum), Keegan Resources (TSX: T.KGN, Stock Forum) and Perseus (TSX: T.PRU, Stock Forum).
For more on all of the Planetary Prospects, 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.
Timberline Resources (TSX: V.TLR, Stock Forum) and (TSX: V.TBR, Stock Forum): 
I am fresh back from Timberline’s Butte Highlands gold project in Montana. I am enthused about the project and intend to write about it for Ticker Trax and the larger Stockhouse audience. We met all of the company’s principals, including new CEO Randal Hardy, VP of Exploration Paul Dircksen, director and longtime mining engineer Ron Guill, senior geologist Art Glover, accounting officer Craig Crowell and the folks who make it happen on the ground – including project superintendent Lou Myers, who is an employee of Ron Guill’s SMD, Small Mine Development LLC of Boise, Idaho. (That is Lou, with moustache, in the photo.)
Timberline is a drilling services company that hopes to produce gold from Butte, Montana in the next 12 to 18 months or sooner. In the wake of its purchase of a Nevada prospector, Staccato Gold Resources (TBR), Timberline shares now trade in Canada and in New York.
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 of El Oro in Mexico.)
- 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. I have been purchasing more shares this month at the price of 12.5 cents. (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 (NYSE: AUY, Stock Forum) and (TSX: T.YRI, Stock Forum). 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 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 (TSX: V.ANM, Stock Forum) 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.
Ticker Trax™
Please visit Stockhouse for a selection of our Ticker Trax research and our password-secure Library for subscribers.
(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.
For a Ticker Trax Library starting in November 2008, please see our Stockhouse Password-Secure Archives.
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Ticker Trax™ is published by Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. Ticker Trax is an information service for subscribers and neither Stockhouse nor Thom Calandra is a broker or an investment advisor. None of the information contained therein constitutes a recommendation by Mr. Calandra or Stockhouse that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Ticker Trax does not purport to tell or suggest the investment securities subscribers or readers should buy or sell for themselves. Subscribers and readers of Ticker Trax should conduct their own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decisions. Ticker Trax will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a reader’s reliance on information obtained in the reports. Subscribers and readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions. Opinions expressed in Ticker Trax are based on sources believed to be reliable and are written in good faith, but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to their accuracy or completeness. All information contained in Ticker Trax should be independently verified. The editor and publisher are not responsible for errors or omissions or responsible for keeping information up to date or for correcting any past information. Ticker Trax does not receive compensation of any kind from any companies that may be mentioned in the report. Any opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. Owners, employees and writers may hold positions in the securities that are discussed in Ticker Trax. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL THOM SEEKING PERSONALIZED INVESTMENT ADVICE, WHICH HE CANNOT PROVIDE. Copyright 2010 all rights reserved.