Mining in Mexico

I took a week off from the dreary Canadian winter to stake my daily 8'x3' claim in Mexico. I hit the mother lode in margaritas and the buffet and hopefully you were long the makers of Corona beer.

Unfortunately I missed the annual Cambridge House mining show here in Vancouver which is always interesting with the usual cast of colourful VSE promoters. There were a few companies that I wanted face time with. If anyone thinks they found the next $0.10-$0.20 gem there please do share.

As usual when you go on holiday a few things always happen.

Ratel Group shares finally showed up in my account as they surely did with all shareholders.

My Cabre Capital Corp CCB-P.V another Capital Pooled Company (CPC) was halted and an announcement that will vend in a Hunter Dickenson Inc. deal with Robert Dickenson chairing the new Company. Once again this is one of those CPC's that my broker offered so I threw $1000 at it.

The broad strokes of the deal are as follows.

CABRE CAPITAL CORP. ANNOUNCES SIGNING OF AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE WITH NORTHCLIFF RESOURCES LTD.
Cabre Capital Corp. has entered into a letter agreement, effective Jan. 19, 2011, with Northcliff Resources Ltd. to purchase all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Northcliff. The acquisition, if completed, will constitute the corporation's qualifying transaction (as defined in exchange policy 2.4). Northcliff is an arm's-length party, and, as such, the acquisition will not be subject to shareholder approval.
Northcliff
The following is based upon information provided by Northcliff.
Northcliff is a private company, which was incorporated under the Business Corporations Act (British Columbia) on Sept. 4, 2007.
Northcliff is a mineral resource company based in Vancouver, B.C., that is focused on progressing with the advanced exploration stage Sisson tungsten-molybdenum project located in New Brunswick, Canada, in which it holds a 70-per-cent interest.

The closing of the acquisition will be subject to several conditions, including but not limited to the following:

1. The execution of a definitive agreement between the corporation and Northcliff, the entering into of which is conditional upon: obtaining the approvals for the acquisition from each of the boards of directors of the corporation and Northcliff and the completion of due diligence review by each of the corporation and Northcliff, other than confirmatory due diligence;
2. The receipt of all regulatory, corporate and third party approvals, including the approval of the exchange and compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements and conditions necessary to complete the acquisition;
3. The approval of the acquisition by the requisite majority of the votes cast by the Northcliff shareholders at a properly constituted meeting of Northcliff shareholders and court approval, if required;
4. The maintenance of the corporation's listing on the exchange;
5. The resignation of each of the directors and officers of the corporation and the appointment of Northcliff's director nominees;
6. The representations and warranties of the corporation and Northcliff, as set out in the definitive agreement, being true and correct at the time of closing of the acquisition with the same force and effect as if made at and as of such time;
7. The absence of any material adverse effect on the financial and operational condition or the assets of the corporation and Northcliff;
8. The delivery of standard completion documentation by the corporation and Northcliff including but not limited to officers certificates and certificates of good standing or compliance;
9. The completion of the private placement at a minimum offering price of 75 cents per security;
10. The completion of the consolidation.

The list of new directors includes:

Robert A. Dickinson, director and chairman
Mr. Dickinson is an economic geologist, who has been actively involved in mineral exploration and mine development for over 40 years. He is chairman of Hunter Dickinson Inc., as well as a director and member of the management team of a number of public companies associated with Hunter Dickinson. He is also president and director of United Mineral Services Ltd., a private resource company. Mr. Dickinson also serves as a director of the B.C. Mining Museum and is a trustee of the B.C. Mineral Resources Education Program.

Chris Zahovskis, director, president and chief executive officer
Mr. Zahovskis is a mining engineer with over 29 years experience from both an executive and operator perspective. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in strategic leadership and operations, project development, greenfield start-up and due diligence assessments.

Russell Hallbauer, director
Mr. Hallbauer is a registered professional engineer with the Association of Professional Engineers of British Columbia and has been a member of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy since 1975. He is a director and former chairman of the Mining Association of B.C., president, chief executive officer and a director of Taseko Mines Ltd., the owner of the Gibraltar mine located near Williams Lake, B.C., and a director of Hunter Dickinson.

T. Barry Coughlan, director
Mr. Coughlan is a self-employed businessman and financier, who has been involved in the financing of publicly traded companies for over 25 years. His principal occupation is president and director of TBC Ventures Ltd., a private investment company.

Peter Mitchell, director
Mr. Mitchell is currently chief financial officer of Taseko Mines, based in Vancouver. He is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario with a bachelor of arts in economics, as well as a graduate of the MBA program of the University of British Columbia. Mr. Mitchell is a chartered accountant and has worked as senior vice-president and chief financial officer of Crown Packaging Ltd., as well as vice-chairman and chief financial officer of Von Hoffmann Corp. of St. Louis, Miss. More recently, he has held leadership roles in the for-profit education sector as president of Florida Career College, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and, prior to that, as president and chief executive officer of Vatterott Education Centers Inc. in St. Louis, Miss. Over the past decade, Mr. Mitchell has been extensively involved in leading and managing private equity portfolio companies.

Bryce Hamming, chief financial officer
Mr. Hamming is a Canadian chartered accountant and a graduate of Simon Fraser University with a bachelor of business administration. He has more than 13 years of corporate finance, tax and accounting experience with a focus on debt and equity financing, acquisitions, valuations, transaction structuring and compliance. Prior to joining Hunter Dickinson, Mr. Hamming was an associate director with the Royal Bank of Scotland in London in its debt capital markets division. He also spent eight years with KPMG LLP in its Canadian tax group.

Trevor R. Thomas, secretary
Mr. Thomas is corporate secretary of Hunter Dickinson and many of its affiliated companies. He has practised in the areas of corporate commercial, corporate finance, securities and mining law since 1995, both in private practice environment, as well as in-house positions, and is currently general legal counsel for Hunter Dickinson Services Inc. Prior to joining Hunter Dickinson Services, he served as in-house legal counsel with Placer Dome Inc. Other than the directors and senior officers referred to herein, the only other insider of Northcliff will be Hunter Dickinson, a private Vancouver-based mining company.

It will probably remain halted for 4-6 months but I am looking forward to see what kind of win this will turn out to be.

Another Capital Pooled Company I own called Terrace Resources TZR-P.V was halted today pending news of a Qualifying Transaction.

Outside of that the market looked pretty flat for the that week that I was away.

GMP Securities ups Alange's ante

ALANGE ENERGY ANNOUNCES APPROXIMATELY C$10 MILLION INCREASE IN BOUGHT DEAL EQUITY FINANCING
Alange Energy Corp., due to strong investor demand for its recently announced bought-deal financing of units, and the underwriters have agreed to increase the size of the offering by $10-million.
The offering, which is being conducted by a syndicate of underwriters led by GMP Securities LP, and including Canaccord Genuity Corp., Jennings Capital Inc. and Raymond James Ltd., will now include the issuance of an additional 36 million units at a price of 30 cents per unit, for a total of 203 million units being issued for total gross proceeds of $60.9-million. In connection with the offering, the company has granted the underwriters an option, exercisable for a period of up to 30 days following the closing of the offering, to purchase 30.45 million additional units to cover overallotments, if any, and for market stabilization purposes.

Heads will roll at Alange Energy ALE.V

News was out today that Alange Energy is under going a restructuring starting with the CEO Luis Giusti Sr. stepping down.


My take on the news release is Alange has bit off more that it can chew but is making a valiant attempt to regain market confidence, the broad strokes of the news release are as follows.

The actions announced today by the company as a result of the internal review process include:

• Commencement of management restructuring;
• Recapitalization of the balance sheet with a $50.1-million bought-deal prospectus offering of units to repay approximately $22-million (U.S.) of bank debt and to provide financing for exploration and development of the company's core assets in 2011;
• Focus on Alange Energy's core oil assets -- Cubiro, La Punta, Topoyaco, Santa Cruz;
• Transfer of control of operatorship of Topoyaco to Pacific Rubiales Energy Corp. to leverage Pacific Rubiales' technical expertise in Colombia and its financial capacity to operate the joint venture;
• Immediate 40-per-cent decrease in continuing general and administrative (G&A) expenses through a staff reduction of eight senior managers and 19 technical consultants in Colombia;
• Dispose or farm out non-core assets -- gas assets and the Las Quinchas heavy oil interest.

GMP Securities is underwriting the $50 million and seems to believe there is value here at $0.30/share.

My exit strategy will be +/- $0.50 share.

A little Ratel Gold RTL.TO update

Ratel Gold Ltd. will begin trading as St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd. on the TSX at the open on Friday, Jan. 21, 2011. The symbol will be SAU.TO.

Capital Pool Company (CPC) opportunities

I love Capital Pool Companies and always participate in them when the opportunity arises. A Capital Pool Company (CPC) is a trading vehicle that is formed with no assets other than the money raised by the seed investors and the initial public offering. Generally the biggest asset is the management and their ability to find a project (Qualifying Transaction) to vend into the CPC.

The IPO is usually done at a very convenient price of $0.10/share to $0.20/share. The Venture Exchange gives the management 18-24 months to find a Qualifying Transaction for the CPC.

Today one of those CPC's I own called Cap Ex Ventures CEV.V announced a major transaction sending the share price up 138% from the last close. Cap Ex is up a whopping 740% from my original IPO price of $0.10/share.

CAP-EX TO ACQUIRE LABRADOR/QUEBEC IRON ORE PROPERTIES, CONCURRENT FINANCING OF $2,400,000, APPOINTMENT OF BRETT MATICH TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Cap-Ex Ventures Ltd. has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the interests in a group of Labrador/Quebec iron ore properties (the Schefferville properties, as described below) from Mandu Resources Ltd., Bedford Resources Partners Inc. and 743584 Ontario Inc.
The Schefferville properties comprise block 103, block 44 and Lac Connelly, covering a combined area of 9,050 hectares in the Labrador trough.
The total consideration for the Schefferville properties will be $275,000 and five million common shares of Cap-Ex. The parties have agreed that the shares shall be subject to Tier II value escrow provisions. The vendors will retain a 1.8-per-cent royalty on iron ore produced. Cap-Ex will have the right to purchase 0.5 per cent of the royalty for $1-million for a period of 24 months from closing.
The agreement calls for the company and the vendors to enter into formal agreements on or before Feb. 12, 2011.
The agreement and the formal agreements are subject to their acceptance by the TSX Venture Exchange.
The Labrador/Quebec iron ore properties
The Labrador/Quebec iron ore properties (the Schefferville properties) consist primarily of interests in Newfoundland and Labrador licence No. 014603M and No. 017736M, together with Quebec licences CDC2133176, CDC2260945 and CDC2260957.
Block 103, which includes the Newfoundland and Labrador licences, consists of 94 continuous mineral claims covering 2,350 hectares, located within the Labrador trough 25 kilometres northwest of the mining town of Schefferville. Block 103's northern boundary neighbours the New Millennium Capital Corp. mineral claims, reported DSO current resource of 44 million tones. Block 103's southern boundary neighbours Labrador Iron Mines Holdings Ltd., and New Millennium mineral claims contain the New Millennium and Labrador Iron DSO deposits. Labrador Iron plans to commence DSO production early this year and New Millennium is planning to produce four million tones DSO per year. Block 103's west boundary is approximately three kilometres east of New Millennium's LabMag resource of 5.7 billion tonnes at 29 per cent iron. New Millennium plans to start development in 2012.
In June, 2008, MPX Geophysics Ltd. undertook a heliborne magnetic survey. Results from the 2008 survey showed block 103 covers some of the most intense positive magnetic responses in the iron ore belt. These responses will be modelled to determine the depth, geometry and volume of the magnetite-bearing horizons, and estimate the concentrations. In addition, the area of low magnetic response will be analyzed to target horizons of DSO (hematite).
Block 44, which includes the Newfoundland and Labrador licences, consists of 104 continuous mineral claims covering 2,600 hectares, located 15 kilometres southeast of Schefferville. The claims cover both the east and west arms of a large interpreted magnetic anomaly. Historical reports by Iron Ore of Canada confirm the presence of iron ore.
Lac Connelly, which includes three Quebec licences, consists of 88 mineral claims covering 4,100 hectares, located approximately 200 kilometres north of Schefferville. An undrilled hematite horizon extending over 3,200 metres and up to 300 metres wide grading 45 to 60 per cent iron was reported in 1955 (reference, Natural Resource Department, GM03035).
Concurrent financing of $2.4-million
The company will, concurrently with acquiring an interest in the Schefferville properties, arrange a non-brokered private placement.
The private placement is to consist of:

• Up to six million non-flow-through units of the company at a price of 30 cents per unit, with each unit comprising one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant, each such warrant entitling the holder to purchase one common share of the company for a period of 18 months from the closing date at a price of 60 cents per common share;
• 1.5 million flow-through (FT) units of the company at a price of 40 cents per FT unit, with each FT unit comprising one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant, each such warrant entitling the holder to purchase one common share of the company for a period of 18 months from the closing date at a price of 60 cents per common share.

The company has agreed to allocate a portion of the offering to subscribers found by Axemen Resources Capital Ltd., an exempt market dealer, and may agree to similar allocations to other exempt market or investment dealers. The company will pay a finder's fee equal to 5 per cent of subscription amounts found, payable in cash or units, plus issue finder's warrants in an amount equal to 5 per cent of units subscribed for, with each finder's warrant exercisable into one common share of the company at a price of 35 cents for 18 months from closing.
The majority of the private placement will be used to finance expenditures on the company's Schefferville properties, with the remainder for general working capital.
Appointment of Brett Matich to the board of directors
As a condition of the agreement concerning the Schefferville properties described above, the company is appointing Mr. Matich to its board of directors. The appointment is expected to be made effective the date of the formal agreements' execution.
Mr. Matich is an Australian who recently became a permanent resident of Canada. He has been involved in the mining industry in Australia and around the world for 30 years. Mr. Matich was the managing/executive director of Australian Securities Exchange-listed and Alternative Investment Market-listed Aztec Resources Ltd., where he identified an Australian dormant iron ore mine and successfully completed a bankable feasibility study. Aztec was taken over by ASX-listed Mount Gibson Iron Ltd. in 2006, and now the Aztec mine exports approximately three million tonnes of iron ore per year. As inaugural managing director of ASX-listed Fox Resources Ltd. in 2002, Mr. Matich identified a closed Australian nickel mine and successfully returned it to production by 2004. He has been involved in excess of $100-million in financings from Australian, European and Asian institutions, and sophisticated investors.

The Management of Cap Ex Ventures originally formed a company called Cap Link Ventures which is now known as Petrodorado PDQ.V, another nice win for me last year.

A further example of a successful CPC is Americas Petrogas BOE.V that I originally bought as Valverde Capital with an adjusted cost base of $0.20/share. Currently I am up +/- 700% as Americas Petrogas trades at $1.67 due to enormous oil and gas properties in Argentina and a Potash property in Peru.

Not all CPC's generate these types of returns but 9 out of 10 of them turn out to be decent winners. If the opportunity arises to participate in a CPC it is well worth throwing $500-$1000 at them but be patient, it usually takes a year or two to realize any significant gains.

Bidding for another 5000 Ratel Group RTG.TO at $0.20/share

To my amazement the share price of Ratel Group seems to be on a free fall this week. I stepped in and figured $0.35/share was a good price but it looks like Ratel Group is bound to trade at $0.20 share tomorrow. Some where down here the bleeding has to stop. Is $0.20/share going to be the low or will Ratel trade in the teens? My last stand will be at $0.20/share.

Given that there is 150 million shares outstanding that would give Ratel Group a market cap of only $30 million. There are Venture Exchange shells with larger market caps than Ratel right now. One example would be Cannon Point Resources CNP.V 135 million shares outstanding and trading at $0.30/share for a market cap of $40 million, go figure.

It would seem that the free spin off shares are probably the culprit in the demise of the share price much to the chagrin of Ratel's management. I am not sure that this is what they expected with the spin off.

Some shareholders must be at the front of the line for the spin out shares as the spin off shares have yet to reach my accounts.

I am calling $0.20/share the bottom anyone else care to make a call?

Sold Roca Mines ROK.V and bought Ratel Group RTG.TO

I sold Roca Mines today for a gain of $0.09 share I originally bought the stock back on November 28, 2010 when Roca completed a private placement and Roca was getting the Max Mine back underway.

The junior markets have been pretty weak as of late and there was some money to take off the table with Roca.

I decided to buy into the weakness and roll my cash into Ratel Group RTG.TO at $0.35/share. The stock is down 27% from Fridays close and 50% off from the years high.

Alange Energy ALE.V on sale today at $0.34/share

I was scanning my watch list today to see that Alange Energy got hammered yesterday to the tune of 37% on 107 million shares volume. The Management had made an error in their reporting of their September 30, 2010 quarterly report in regards to their production exit numbers. It appears that Alange had over stated their production numbers by 27 to 65% in their news release.

After reading Alange's news release I believe this over statement is an honest mistake and the Management is aggressively addressing this issue. I can forgive them for the error but it looks like the Management has some work to do to regain their integrity in the market. This excerpt from the news release shows integrity and has convinced me that this is a one time event.

The board of directors of the company has formed a committee of its independent directors which, in conjunction with its audit committee, has reviewed and approved the revised production numbers. The committee of independent directors has also instituted a review of the company's internal controls and procedures, management systems and corporate governance practices to ensure that production is consistently reported, and has engaged professional and financial advisers, including GMP Securities Inc., to assist it in this review. The committee will report the results of this review to the market on a timely basis and has taken all steps necessary to ensure that the market is fully informed. Moreover, the committee has also mandated various steps toward improving the company's disclosure checks and controls.

In conjunction with the procedures the company has put in place, it has appointed Gregg Vernon as interim chief operating officer, reporting directly to the board of directors and the chief executive officer. Mr. Vernon will be responsible for the review of controls and systems mentioned above, as well as implementing management and systemic adjustments that the review requires. Mr. Vernon has been acting as a consultant to Alange Energy since September, 2009, and was the chairman of Prospero Hydrocarbons from August, 2007, until it was acquired by the company in September, 2009. Mr. Vernon is an engineer by training with over 30 years of experience in the oil and gas business in various executive positions.

Luis Giusti, chief executive officer of Alange Energy, stated: "Our production was affected by a number of factors in the third and fourth quarters of 2010, but as a result of our successful drilling efforts, our potential production capacity has increased and continues to do so, and we expect actual production to start catching up to capacity in due course. The board has made some important recommendations based on the disclosure issues that are now apparent, and we will do everything necessary to meet their internal review process requirements. I particularly welcome Gregg Vernon's increased role in the company to ensure the implementation is handled in a proper and timely manner."

Aside from the recent misstep by Management Alange still is a growth by drill bit story that over the long term will see the share price recover. I took this crisis as an opportunity to pick up a position at $0.34/share today.

Doubled my Teslin River TLR.V position today

On the heels of my posting yesterday on Teslin River Resources, I picked up another 15,000 shares today at $0.095/share today. I am pretty comfortable with 30,000 shares of this deal going forward.

Out of Catalyst Copper CCY.V and into Teslin River Resources TLR.V

In December my broker was touted hard on Catalyst Copper CCY.V with the story of their NI 43-101 was due anytime and the potential of the $0.40/share range. I picked up the stock for a trade only at $0.18/share with the hopes of getting out in the $0.30/share range. In December I posted that I was going to adjust my exit price to $0.20/share. The report came out and there was no real market reaction. Today I sold for $0.15/share.

In retrospect it seems the promotional hype was to push out 10 million $0.14/share warrants and cash up the treasury. This is taken from their December 17th news release.

Catalyst Copper currently has approximately $3.5 million dollars in working capital, as a result of the addition of $1.4 million from the exercise of warrants to purchase 10 million shares at $0.14 per share.

The end result is a trade that did not work and it was time to move on.

I moved my money over to Teslin River Resources TLR.V at $0.095/share. I have been a previous share holder of Teslin back in December 2004 when it was called Wind River Resources. Wind River Resources was eventually headed by Damien Reynolds and traded up to the $0.35/share range in 2006 with Longview as a major backer of the stock.

After a series of project announcements that never amounted to very much, Wind River Resources consolidated it's share capital 5:1 and changed names to Teslin River Resources in 2007. Since then it has been an inactive shell in waiting. The share price range has been $0.04/share and $0.12/share for the past 3 years.

A series of news releases over the past few weeks indicates that this is all about to change for the better. The recent news releases and the increase in trading volumes has convinced me to buy 15,000 shares at $0.095/share. New management, new properties and a financing at $0.10/share indicates that it is time for Teslin to shine again.

Teslin River Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE:TLR - News; "Teslin" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a Letter Agreement has been signed with Queensgate Resources Corporation ("Queensgate") proposing to purchase all the outstanding shares of Queensgate. The Letter Agreement proposes Teslin issuing one share for each outstanding share of Queensgate.

Queensgate is a private company registered in Quebec. Through its 100 percent owned subsidiary in Nevada, Queensgate owns 100% of the Mustang Property and the Morning Star Property in the Walker Lane mineral trend in Nevada.

About Mustang
The Mustang Property is comprised of 66 claims that are 100% owned by Queensgate. Surface sampling on the Mustang Property in 2008 included 11.92g/t Au and 74.1g/t Ag collected on an adjacent claim within 60 meters of the boundary. A 8 hole, 1,800 meter reverse circulation drilling program is planned for the property.

About Morning Star
The Morning Star Property is comprised of 97 claims with Queensgate having 100% mineral rights with a 3% NSR. A 40 line-kilometer IP survey identified two significant drill targets for which a 8 hole, 1,500 meter reverse circulation drilling program has been planned.
"We are very pleased to be in the final stages of acquiring these excellent gold/silver targets," said Michael Sweatman, President and CEO of Teslin. "We look forward to moving ahead quickly on the drill programs and further exploration as warranted."

The Company also announces that it is proceeding with a non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") to raise up to $1,250,000. The funds from this financing will be used to start exploration on the new properties and continue work at the Tagai property and as general working capital.
The financing will consist of 12,500,000 units (the "Units") at a price of $0.10 per Unit. Each unit will consist of one common share and one half share purchase warrant (the "Warrants"). Each whole Warrant will allow the holder to acquire an additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.15 per share for a period of two years following the date of issuance of the unit. In the event the common shares of the Company close for 20 consecutive trading days at an average price of $0.30 or above, the Company shall have the right to accelerate the conversion of the Warrants at the exercise price. Any warrants that remain unexercised will expire 30 days after issuance of notice of forced conversion by the Company, which may be completed by way of press release.
Finder's fees may be paid on all or any portion of the Private Placement. The private Placement is subject to regulatory approval and the securities will be subject to a four month resale restriction.

About Teslin River Resources Corp.
Teslin River Resources Corp.'s strategy is to build shareholder value by acquiring, exploring and developing a portfolio of copper and copper-gold porphyry properties throughout North and South America. Teslin has optioned the Tagai and Kenny Dam properties in central British Columbia. Prospecting has returned strong copper anomalies some of which are accompanied by high gold values. Teslin also holds the Rand Claims located approximately 7 kilometres southeast of Horsefly in the Cariboo region of central British Columbia. Teslin has optioned the Rand Claims to Gold Fields Limited (GFI: NYSE) which is also drilling under an option agreement with Fjordland Exploration Inc. (FEX: TSX-V) and Cariboo Resources Ltd. (CRB: TSX-V) on contiguous properties. Based on the reported work and drilling on the surrounding properties, the area is considered prospective for a large copper-gold porphyry body.

About Queensgate Resources Corporation
Queensgate Resources Corporation is a private company, founded in 2008, whose principal interest has been exploring and developing epithermal precious metal resource potential in Nevada. Queensgate is currently developing two properties, both having sufficient work to develop drilling programs for the 2011 drilling season. The acquisitions and work programs have been led by Mr. John Kerr, whose has 40 years of expertise and experience in Nevada precious metal deposits and Mr. Kerr will continue to provide similar opportunities to the management team of Teslin.

My objective with Teslin is to get in at the very early stage just as the Company is turning the corner from being a Venture Exchange shell to an exploration vehicle with upside.

CGA's Early warning report on Ratel Group RTG.T

Another Early warning Report was issued for Ratel Group, 2 groups own approximately 35% of RTG.

CGA ANNOUNCES PURCHASE OF SECURITIES OF RATEL GROUP LIMITED

CGA Mining Ltd. has acquired, through a wholly owned subsidiary, beneficial ownership and control of 28,722,222 common shares in the capital of Ratel Group Ltd., including 9,722,222 shares acquired pursuant to the spinout reorganization of certain African property interests formerly held by St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd. (formerly Ratel Gold), and 19 million shares acquired pursuant to the conversion of subscription receipts of Ratel Group that converted into Shares upon completion of the spinout. As a result of the spinout and conversion of the subscription receipts, CGA will beneficially hold 28,722,222 shares, representing approximately 19.15 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares.

Michael Smedley's take on Ratel Gold RTL.T

Michael Smedley, Chief Portfolio Manager, Morgan Meighen & Associates interview on BNN, originally aired on January 7th 2011. It is worth the watch, click here to watch

Interesting news on Ratel Group RTG.T

Small but significant news on Ratel Group came out today. It is always good to see these Early Warning Reports.

RICHARD HAINS ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF COMMON SHARES OF RATEL GROUP LIMITED
Richard Hains has acquired beneficial ownership of 26,539,083 common shares of Ratel Group Ltd., representing approximately 17.69 per cent of the issued and outstanding common shares. As a result of this transaction, Mr. Hains beneficially holds 26,539,083 common shares, representing approximately 17.69 per cent of the issued and outstanding common shares.
Mr. Hains acquired 8,539,083 common shares for non-cash consideration through the spinout reorganization of certain African property interests held by Ratel Gold and 18 million common shares were acquired pursuant to the conversion of subscription receipts of Ratel Group that converted into common shares upon the completion of the spinout. The subscription price of each subscription receipt was 10 cents.

Another piece in place for Stoneshield Capital STS.V

To follow up on Stoneshield's Risby property announcement back in December, the Company has picked up another prospect in the vicinity of Richfield Ventures RVC.V Blackwater gold property.

STONESHIELD SIGNS OPTION TO ACQUIRE A 100% INTEREST IN GELDENHOOF CLAIM IN THE BLACKWATER GOLD DISTRICT, BRITISH COLUMBIA

Stoneshield Capital Corp. has signed an option with Seaborne Minerals Inc. to acquire up to a 100-per-cent interest in the Geldenhoof gold property located in central British Columbia, approximately 110 kilometres by road southwest of Vanderhoof.

The Geldenhoof property, a single 2,129.58-hectare mineral claim, is approximately four kilometres east of Richfield Ventures Corp.'s Blackwater gold property where multiple drill holes are proving a new, near-surface, bulk-tonnage gold discovery. Recently, Richfield intersected 171 metres of 3.13 grams per tonne (g/t) Au in drill hole BW 91 and has reported to be expanding the gold zone eastward. Richfield also reported that "samples responded well to direct whole ore cyanidation tests with an average of 92-per-cent gold recovery across three tests at different conditions on each composite (nine tests in total)." Stoneshield intends to commence reconnaissance exploration on the Geldenhoof property in the spring of 2011.

The terms of the acquisition seem favorable to Stoneshield. The next step for the Company will be another round of financing, preferably at a higher price.

Trying again with Strike Minerals STK.V

In October I wrote about Strike Minerals and thought it was a bit of a dog back then. Maybe I was to hasty in my opinion at $0.05/share. At that time the Company struggled to close above $0.05/share and really did not have property that could spark great interest. Or maybe things were not progressing as fast as I thought.

Fast forward to this week, I picked up a small position at $0.08/share to try another kick at the can. Since my posting in October the Company seems to be putting the right pieces into the promotional puzzle. The Company has managed to close 2 financing's at $0.05/share and again at $0.08/share. Strike has also picked up a few interesting properties and is attempting to re-invigorate their Edwards Mine by de-watering it.

Strike also picked up an interesting prospect called the Hemlo West Property which could be used to promote the stock to higher ground.

Highlights of the Hemlo West Properties include:
• Staked claims and patented mining claims near Schreiber, Ontario covering approximately 35 km2
• 3 past producing gold mines (, Morely Mine, Harkness Hayes and Golden Range)
• Gold first discovered in the area around 1898 and production undertaken in 1920’s and 30’s
• 8 near surface high grade Au bearing veins have been identified which remain open at depth and along strike
• Short term potential to generate revenue from a near surface bulk sample from Vein 3 at Harkness Hayes
• Area explored by Noranda and Cypress Amax in the 1990’s seeking large tonnage bulk mineable deposits
• Adjacent to–Afric Zone significant historical resource established by Cypress Amax
• North-Shore –Gold Range Trend traced over 8 kilometers on Property
• Numerous poorly explored base metal and multi element precious metal occurrences identified

Interestingly there have been a series of "Early Warning Reports" on Sedar, it appears Joe Dwek Management likes Strike's potential and has been acquiring shares to the tune of 10.37%. I always take these reports as a positive for the stock.

The chart indicates that Strike historically has been inactive with no price run or massive distribution. Over the past year Strike really traded as a shell company on the Venture Exchange. There was a large hangover of stock back in December between $0.05/share and $0.09/share that got cleaned up with a bit of volume.

I was suspect of the Company's value back in October back at $0.05/share but recent events has changed my opinion, hence the repurchase of Strike at $0.08/share. At this price I believe there is some value there and a story that can be promoted to a higher price.

Endeavour Silver EDR.T connection to Caza Gold CZY.V

I came across Caza Gold a while back and had intended to disclose my purchase decision at that time. It was at the beginning of December and my real job followed by Christmas festivities had taken priority. For the record I picked up 5000 shares at $0.33/share.

I was scanning the Toronto Stock Exchange web sight for new issues when I came across Caza Gold. When I punched in the symbol I noticed that Caza was trading below its' IPO price of $0.35/share. I linked to their web site I found that Bradford Cooke President and CEO of Endeavour Silver had founded a new venture, Caza Gold.

Endeavour Silver Graph

I like management teams that follow up their previous successes with new ventures. If Bradford Cooke can make money for his shareholders in Endeavour Silver then there is a good chance his next venture will have success. Bradford also added Greg Myers as President and CEO of Caza, a well seasoned professional Geologist.

I picked up shares on the experience of Management  alone and within the short period I was rewarded with significant share appreciation with a major property acquisition.

CAZA GOLD ACQUIRES OPTION TO PURCHASE 100% INTEREST IN LARGE HIGH SULFIDATION GOLD PROPERTY IN NICARAGUA.

Greg Myers, president and chief executive officer of Caza Gold Corp., has signed a letter agreement with Inversiones Ecologica SA for an option to purchase a 100-per-cent interest in the Los Andes gold property in Nicaragua. The property covers approximately 6,575 hectares and is strategically located within the Central Nicaragua gold belt between the El Limon and La Libertad mines of B2 Gold.
The Los Andes high sulphidation gold system is exposed on surface as an extensive alteration zone of hydrothermal vuggy quartz, pervasive silification, and alunite associated with highly anomalous gold, silver and trace elements. The alteration zone covers a 45-square-kilometre area and measures 12 kilometres long by up to six kilometres wide. It is similar in size, nature, intensity and trace element geochemistry to world-class gold deposits such as Yanacocha and Pierina in Peru.

Judging by the graph below the market has considered this to be a worthwhile project and Management likes to call it an Elephant style property. The Company has a lot of ground work to do before it can be considered an Elephant.

On the surface it looks like the Los Andes property could be a "Company Maker" and I will take the opportunity to pick up more shares in Caza Gold as the Company moves through the usual exploration process going forward.

Ratel Group Limited RTG.T listed on the TSX today

As per the announced spin off from Ratel Gold's African properties into Ratel Group Limited, Ratel Group finished its first day with a bid of $0.30/share and offered at $0.40/share, but no trades. I would not expect any liquidity in Ratel Group until most accounts receive their allotted shares.

The interesting thing about the spin out of Ratel Gold's African exploration properties into the new venture is that Ratel Gold is still trading at its' highs. In other words, now that Ratel Gold has the King King property the market only values that prospect.

A similar situation happened when Exeter Resource Corporation XRC.T spun out Extorre Gold Mine XG.T to their existing shareholders. The market was only valuing Exeter Resources on its' Caspiche property and not the other properties that Exeter had in its' portfolio. Management wisely spun those other properties into Extorre Gold Mines to the benefit of the original Exeter shareholders.