Flasher: On BCRX Decline
BioCryst Pharmaceutical's Peramivir
BCRX: This is a flash on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals. (Pardon any typographical errors.) The stock (NASDAQ: BCRX, Stock Forum) is down seven percent Monday morning (today). A letter from USA federal health regulators spells out the termination of influenza drug peramivir as an emergency use authorization. The letter is at the site for the Centers for Disease Control – right here. Our take, reaffirmed today when I chatted with BioCryst supporter Michael Murphy of New Age Investor: “Southern Hemisphere news and orders that are hurting the stock the most. If the (H1N1) flu comes roaring back, they will reinstate the EUA (emergency use authorization) in a heartbeat.”
Of great interest is BioCryst’s clinical trial for an intravenous formulation of peramivir, an antiviral that treats seriously ill patients who fall ill because of Type A H1N1, or “swine flu.” The regulator’s June 22 letter states “… clinical trials of peramivir IV are currently being conducted. Health care professionals considering whether a patient would be appropriate for inclusion in a clinical trial should review the available clinical trials involving IV (intravenous) antiviral products at https://www.clinicaltrials.gov.” In addition, the letter from Margaret Hamburg, commissioner of food and drugs at Health & Human Services’ Food & Drug Administration, states, “Currently there are no FDA approved IV antiviral drugs for influenza. However, IV formulations of peramivir, oseltamivir and zanamivir are being evaluated in clinical trials. Additional information on these clinical trials can be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov. In special circumstances, manufacturers of these products may agree to make IV formulations of antiviral
drugs available for use for individual patients pursuant to FDA’s Emergency Investigational New Drug (E-IND) application (a type of expanded access) procedures.”
We here at home own about 80,000 shares of BioCryst and hope to purchase more. The Alabama company’s promise is attached to influenza and auto-immune diseases. Its trials are showing success in treatments for leukemia and gout.
Xtra-Gold Resources (OTO: XTGR, Stock Forum): The technical report – 43-101 – is just published. The report from Accra (XTGR) from KEMS is another step in the Ghana prospector’s efforts to get its 33-square-kilometer Kibi Gold Belt project into the next gear. Please see release, which leads to the technical report on the possibilities of the Apapam Concession. The entire report runs 270 pages. It recommends a two-part exploration effort at the project, which I have seen twice now. (Please see photo of channel sampling.)
NEW ORLEANS: This autumn I will be making two or three appearances outside of prospect tours. One of them is in New Orleans, where I appear each year at Brien Lundin’s New Orleans Investment Conference.
If you’d like to join our Stockhouse and Ticker Trax audience at the late-October show, please register and pay up at this link: REGISTER FOR NEW ORLEANS. You get a discount on the price at that address. And I have something special planned for New Orleans. It’s my favorite investment show.
- Gold-Ore Resources (TSX: T.GOZ, Stock Forum) in Sweden is one of those miners that get little respect. In part, hedge fund managers tell me, it is because operating costs for pulling gold out of the ground need to decrease. Looks like Gold-Ore might be on the way to lower costs. This week, Bob W., chief operating officer and a 30-year geologist, tells me as he headed
to the Bjorkdal Gold Mine in Sweden that cash costs for an ounce fell 10 percent to $720 or so an ounce. Output rose 14 percent to more than 11,000 ounces for the second quarter. Bob Wasylyshyn says the company is selecting contractors in an extremely cost-conscious manner. Gold-Ore also is using cable bolting and other shock-rock methods to increase recovery rates. I hope to see the operation in September. Gold Ore is about to record its one-millionth ounce of gold production. I have yet to purchase shares and hope to imminently. The stock, along with another mentioned below, Timberline, appears poised to rise sharply in the next 109 to 14 days. Please see gold output chart.
CMJ: Colombian Mines revealed fresh results from GOLD-COPPER PORPHYRY Yarumalito in Colombia. Once again, just mediocre. CMJ (TSX: V.CMJ, Stock Forum) – if one were to excise 1.85 meters of a thick vein, 33.75 meters – has a porphyry intercept that is about 140 meters of 0.64 gram per ton of gold. Most of the other intercepts were far less than that. Thus, the 140 meters of 0.64 are not (yet) a lode that will make this a saleable mine. We hope CMJ will continue to exploit other properties in its large Colombia portfolio. This is what company President Bob Carrington tells me: “I thought they were great results. Remember preliminary met work suggests oxides will yield plus 80 percent in heap leach. At $1,100 + Au it should be very attractive. Remember a 250-meter intercept equals 820 feet. So the 250 m in hole YAR8 + the 141 m in hole YAR11 equal 391 m X .7 for horizontal correction equals 274 m equals 898 feet approx true width, starting at surface. For comparison look at what Allied Nevada is doing at Hycroft … with (low grades) and 56 percent recovery.”
STUFF: Our Ticker Trax landing page has more stuff, videos included. Please see: https://stockhouse.com/TickerTrax/Default.aspx.
- SHOCK ROCK: Companies I hope to peruse for a possible shock-rock portfolio of cheap natural resources include HathorExploration (TSX: V.HAT, Stock Forum) for uranium. We here at home just purchased shares of the Saskatchewan company. In Sweden: producer Gold Ore Resources (TSX: T.GOZ, Stock Forum). Gold Ore is about to record its one-millionth ounce of gold production. The mine is called Bjorkdal Gold Mine. I now own a small number of shares – bought Wednesday at 56 cents each Canadian. The company’s latest numbers are out and look promising. Please see Shock Rock article on Stockhouse.
Among our 12 Ticker Trax™ Planetary Prospects, several are holding their own: Endeavour Silver(AMEX: EXK, Stock Forum) and Great Basin Gold (TSX: T.GBG, Stock Forum) and (AMEX: GBG, Stock Forum) are two silver and gold producers whose market metrics are sturdy. Xtra-Gold Resources (OTO: XTGR, Stock Forum) of Ghana is giving up little of its 2010 gains ahead of what looks to be a listing on a commodities-comfortable stock exchange. I am working right now on a report about Platinum Group Metals (TSX: T.PTM , Stock Forum) and (AMEX: PLG, Stock Forum).
- In West Africa, we are looking at Mike Nikiforuk’s African Gold Group (TSX: V.AGG, Stock Forum), a Ghana and Mali prospector.
- On the uranium front, we are looking at -- or looking at a second time – Wits Gold (TSX: T.WGR, Stock Forum) and (OTO: WIWTY, Stock Forum). Wits Consolidated Gold is the gold and uranium prospector and large land-controller in South Africa’s Witwatersrand Basin. We visited nearly all of the company’s properties in winter 2010.
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.
Planetary Prospects
There are 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. In addition, Xtra-Gold Resources is a preferred client of Stockhouse, distributor and publisher of this Ticker Trax™ report. We here intend to report good and bad on our Planetary Prospects; we are considering eliminating one of the current 12 and replacing it with something more worthy of our research time.
- 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 – 80,000 and counting. 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. Most 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 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 Etruscan Resources (TSX: T.EET, Stock Forum). 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. The company’s book value is about twice the current share price. It intends to purchase all of Etruscan.
- 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 (RBI). Xtra-Gold shares get little attention on the USA over-the-counter bulletin board and deserve a listing on a commodities-comfortable exchange. The 43-101 report is now published. 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. Fresh drilling will start this summer. (Pleasesee the Libraryfor coverage stretching back to autumn 2009.)
- 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. GBG is on track to become the next $1 billion market cap gold company. Current cap is almost $600 million. (Please see our password-protected libraryfor coverage.)
- Candente Copper (TSX: T.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.) Candrente Copper just named a new VP of exploration, Michael Thicke, M.Sc., P.Geo. as Vice President Exploration. Michael Thicke works on porphyry copper systems. He was a district geologist for Rio Algom (now BHP Billiton) in Chile. The Spence copper deposit he helped discover there commenced production in 2006.
- 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 for EL Oro. The shares have been active in this second half of June. (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.
- 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. 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. Yet one of the thinnest news flows. Bob and Gloria Carrington and Nate Tewalt’s company has reported drill results from its Yarumalito project in Colombia. The numbers were mediocre. 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) – Panama and Colombia. We here at home now own 1.4 million shares. Dr. Paul Zweng’s success rate with epithermal gold deposits and with copper prospects such as Peru’s Antares Minerals is among the best I have seen in eight years. Dr. Zweng is interim CEO of Bellhaven. Bellhaven owns La Mina concession in Antioquia, Colombia. (Please see the Libraryfor coverage.) He just appointed a new VP of Exploration for Panama, Tom Drown. Dr. Zweng worked with Mr. Drown in Mongolia.
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 (MRS) of Colombia.
We here at Ticker Trax™ do not address queries about a company, an investment or a speculative 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.
As for reporting on other companies, ideas are there for all to view and consider. Please do not expect Ticker Trax™ to 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 … and so on.
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.
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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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