Sold Hilltown Resources HLT.CNSX

I managed to sell my Hilltown Resources today at $0.20/share. They recently announced an iron ore processing deal in Brazil that requires the Company to pony up $30MM USD. That is a fair amount of money in the given market. I would assume that the management is going to want to run the share price higher to raise this cash.

I am fine with letting my shares go here as I originally purchased Hilltown at $0.15/share quite a long time ago.

Tolima Gold TOM.V acquires more property in Colombia

 Not much to comment on this news release. Tolima Gold does appear to have a motivated seller at the $0.50/share range as there has been a few shares distributed here.

Tolima Gold Inc. has closed the purchase of all of the issued and outstanding share capital of Sun Lakes Advisors SA, a Panamanian company which owns all of the issued and outstanding share capital of Papayo Gold SAS, a Colombian company holding the following assets: (i) a gold-mining concession; (ii) an application for a conversion into concession of a de facto mining operation (collectively, the mineral properties); (iii) land property rights where certain mining works are located within the mineral properties; as well as (iv) certain mining equipment and mining works on the mineral properties. The mineral properties cover approximately 2,000 hectares and are almost completely surrounded by several of Tolima's current Nortol properties.
The total cost for the acquisition of Sun Lakes and Papayo Gold, including the mineral properties, land and equipment was $5.1-million (U.S.) in cash and 3,297,000 in common shares of Tolima. The cash consideration has been paid on closing; except for $200,000 (U.S.) which has been left in escrow pending regulatory approvals of (i) the conversion into concession of the application of 10 hectares and (ii) the work plan for the existing concession. The consideration in shares shall be paid upon Tolima receiving all required regulatory approval, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
The mineral properties are almost completely surrounded on all sides by 18,000 hectares of current Tolima mining properties. This transaction will consolidate an area of more than 20,000 hectares within the northeast trend of the Nortol properties where the most important operating mines in the area are located. The main structures within the mineral properties are the Palestina fault, to the northeast, and the Mulato fault to the east. Tolima has conducted some preliminary sampling of the existing and old mining works within the mineral properties and has identified mineralization within metamorphic rocks of the Cajamarca complex, which hosts the main known gold deposits (porphyry gold and vein gold deposits) of the Colombian central range, such as the Frontino and Colosa deposits, as well as the Gran Porvenir and other active mines in the Tolima North mining district. The sampled veins have widths ranging from 0.50 to 6.0 metres. Tolima has taken over 100 channel samples from the mineral properties and is having them assayed. Tolima will be releasing results of such sampling as soon as practical.
"This acquisition is a great addition to our Nortol properties," commented Jaime Lopez, chief executive officer of Tolima. "It is part of our selective strategy of consolidation of our land position in the Northern Tolima department within a competitive environment. The mineral properties are almost completely surrounded by our most promising current properties, with preliminary mining works and within the trend where the most important operating gold mines of the district are located. This property fits perfectly with our 2012 exploration plan. It covers already-identified trends which now will be explored comprehensively. That will allow us to better understand the geology of the area and to fast-track the exploration and development of our current targets."

Fortunate Sun Mining FSM.V has started trading

Fortunate Sun Mining began trading before the Christmas break. The trading symbol is FSM on the TSX Venture Exchange. Currently the deal sits $0.16/share bid and offered at $0.20/share, not quite gangbusters out of the gate.

Not that I thought that this deal would be, Haywood Securities was the lead broker on this deal. If Fortunate Sun was a super hot IPO this would not have been parceled off to Leede Financial or any other brokerage firm. Haywood would have subscribed all their clients to the deal.

Lets see what these guys can do with their properties and the share price. Fortunate Sun did come with a small bonus of a half warrant good for 18 months exercisable at $0.30/share.

The board of directors of Fortunate Sun Mining Company Ltd. has successfully completed its initial public offering for gross proceeds of $1.5-million under a prospectus dated Oct. 18, 2011. Fortunate Sun issued 7.5 million units at a price of 20 cents per unit, with each unit consisting of one common share and one-half of a warrant, with each whole warrant exercisable into a common share for 18 months at 30 cents per common share. Haywood Securities Inc. acted as agent for the offering. Haywood received a cash commission of 10 per cent of the gross proceeds of the offering, a corporate finance fee of $20,000 and Fortunate Sun granted agent's options to Haywood and subagents to purchase up to a total of 750,000 agent's units at a price of 20 cents per agent's unit exercisable for a period of 24 months.
Fortunate Sun's common shares have been conditionally approved for listing on the TSX Venture Exchange. Fortunate Sun anticipates that its common shares will commence trading at the opening of market on Dec. 23, 2011, under the trading symbol FSM.

Bought GMV Minerals at $0.11/share GMV.V

I picked up 20,000 shares of GMV Minerals today at $0.11/share. This Company has got a decent portfolio of properties and has come under significant tax loss selling. At $0.11/share GMV Minerals should be good for a trade back into the high teens to low twenties in the new year. I am not going to elaborate on GMV as I am just in for the year end tax loss trade opportunity. I know in the new year these guys are going to want this deal trading back up near $0.20/share.

Hilltown Resources HLT.CNSX finally has a iron ore deal

Hilltown Resources is trading up at the year end on news that the Company has entered into an iron ore deal with Vale in Brazil.

Lots of details and a significant raise in capital is required still for this deal to go through, but the stock is trading up and I will look to exit Hilltown at $0.20/share.

Hilltown Resources Inc. has signed a letter of intent with Mineracao Siderurgia Socoimex Ltda. to form a joint venture for the purpose of financing mine development, construction and operation for the commercial production of iron ore at the Capanema iron mine in Minas Gerais state, Brazil.
The capital expenditure requirements for the joint venture are $52-million (U.S.), to be used to build a plant, conveyor belt and mining equipment. Hilltown will contribute $30-million (U.S.) and Socoimex will be responsible for $22-million (U.S.) of the total capital cost. Socoimex, the operator of the joint venture, will provide its capital contribution by arranging and underwriting third party subcontracting and financing costs. Each party's interest in the joint venture will be 50 per cent.
Socoimex has won the bid to acquire from Companhia Vale do Rio Doce the right to operate the Capanema iron mine. Included is a production contract to extract a minimum of 20 million tonnes of high-grade iron ore (62 per cent Fe) over 13 years. There is a three-year licensing and development/implementation plan and a 10-year production plan. The production schedule is approximately two million tonnes per year, which may be increased to four million tonnes per year at Vale's option. Vale is currently the largest mining company in Brazil and the second largest mining company in the world. Vale is also the largest iron-ore producer and exporter, and the second-largest nickel producer in the world.
The legal acquisition of the Capanema mineral and production rights by Socoimex will occur on or before March 1, 2012.
Pursuant to the production contract, Vale will purchase 95 per cent of the ore produced by the joint venture at a guaranteed minimum set (hedged) price of approximately $58 (U.S.) per tonne of ore. The production contract includes an annual inflation adjustment for the iron-ore sale price. The remaining 5 per cent of annual production (approximately 100,000 tonnes) may be sold to a third party at market prices. A royalty of approximately $32.88 (U.S.) per tonne (at current exchange rates) will be paid to Vale.
The production contract requires the delivery of ore to Vale's plant and rail-head facilities at its Timbopeba iron mine, located 12 kilometres from the Capanema iron mine. Ore will be hauled from the Capanema iron mine by truck for approximately 10 kilometres where it will be loaded on a ground-level conveyor belt for a two-kilometre transport down a steep grade to the Timbopeba mine facilities. Construction of the conveyor belt is part of Hilltown's $30-million (U.S.) capital expenditure requirements, which includes construction of a crushing-classification plant at the Capanema mine site. Sociomex will be responsible for all costs associated with acquisition of all additional mining equipment and contracting of all mining subcontractors required to successfully meet the requirements of the production agreement. Sociomex estimates a $17-(U.S.)-per-tonne production cost requirement for the proposed operations (at current exchange rates).
Annual profits will be initially paid out proportionally to Hilltown as to $3.0-million (U.S.) and to Socoimex as to $2.2-million (U.S.) (for a yearly total of $5.2-million (U.S.)) until each has been repaid its respective capital contribution. In the event the $5.2-million (U.S.) has been paid prior to the end of each fiscal year, the payment of profits for the balance of the fiscal year will be 50 per cent each.
The Capanema iron mine is located in the prolific Iron Quadrilateral iron-ore mining district in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Iron ore at the Capanema mine occurs as banded-iron formation (BIF), locally referred to as itabirite, within the Paleo-Proterozoic Itabira group, Caue formation. The Capanema iron mine is owned by Vale and was previously operated from 1982 to 2003 by Vale as part of a joint venture agreement with the Japanese company, JFE Steel Corp., and six other Japanese partners. Production during that period totalled 190 million tonnes of ore at a grade of approximately 64 per cent iron. The remaining non-NI 43-101-defined resource at Capanema iron mine, as estimated and reported for Vale by Prominas Mining Projects and Services Ltd., at a 40-per-cent-iron cut-off grade, is approximately 1,164 million tonnes of iron ore containing an average grade of 51.9 per cent Fe. Prominas, utilizing Minesite professional mine plan software, also calculated the location and dimensions of the 60-per-cent-iron-cut-off (non-NI 43-101-compliant) drill-defined resource at Capanema, totalling 23,235,000 tonnes at 62.09 per cent iron, to be mined and beneficiated as part of the production agreement. Other assets potentially available for future development at the Capanema mine site includes a 16-million-tonne stockpile of high-grade (67 per cent Fe) lump iron ore.
Prominas is a well-established Brazilian mining services consulting company which supplies geologic and engineering services to the mining industry in South America. Other Prominas clients include, among others, Alcoa Latin America, Anglo Ferrous Brazil, Arcelor Mittal, Gerdau Acominas, Kinross Gold Corp. and Rio Tinto Brazil.
An independent qualified person (QP) has not done sufficient work to classify the historical resource stated herein as a current NI 43-101-compliant resource. Therefore, Hilltown is not treating the historical estimate as a current NI 43-101-compliant mineral resource, and the historical estimate should not be relied upon. Further, an NI 43-101-compliant feasibility study has not been completed and there is no certainty that the proposed operation will be economically viable.
Socoimex has significant experience in Brazilian iron ore production, having operated for 60 years and produced in excess of 150 million tonnes of iron ore. Socoimex has a long history with Vale, having operated Vale properties under similar structures previously over 24 years.
Closing of this transaction is subject to Hilltown raising its portion of the qualifying expenditures. Hilltown continues pursuit of its primary business plan of identifying and acquiring quality iron-ore deposits in Brazil, with specific deposit attributes of high-grade iron (over 50 per cent Fe) and favourable logistics. Hilltown also continues an opportunistic strategy relative to acquisition of quality lower-grade iron deposit opportunities with potential for significant tonnage upside (over one billion tonnes) and favourable logistics.

Tolima Gold TOM.V newest shareholder

I posted last week that I put Tolima Gold TOM.V on my watch list. Tolima Gold is a recent reverse takeover that seems to have capable management, Iamgold as a major shareholder, plenty of cash raised at $0.65/share and 3 prospective Colombian gold properties.

My original post can be found here:  http://vancouverventure.blogspot.com/2011/12/tolima-gold-tomv-is-on-my-watch-list.html

I threw in a stink bid at $0.40/share with the hope that I might pick some shares up in the name of tax loss selling. I am now a shareholder at $0.40/share.

My bet is the Company will print a $0.65/share trade by year end.

Selling Saint Augustine SAU.TO at $0.335/share

Saint Augustine Gold is having a bit of a rally today and I have elected to sell the recent 10,000 share I bought at $0.25/share at $0.335/share, for a gain of $0.085/share. After commission it should net me about $650.00 or approximately 25% return is 2 weeks. I will count that as my Santa Clause rally.

Reference guide on Juniors with cash

I have a report from a major brokerage firm of TSX and TSX Venture mining deals that have decent projects and plenty of money in their bank account. It makes for a good reference guide and some investment ideas going forward.

Please email me if you wish to have a copy. bankofdave@gmail.com

Stoneshield Ventures STS.V snuck this news out late Friday

I am never a fan of public companies that release negative news late Friday's and this is the second time Stoneshield has done so. From a PR perspective throwing news out late Friday afternoon when everyone has gone home undermines my confidence in management style. So it looks like Stoneshield is really back to square one with the Geldenhoof Property and betting on the Goldtooth Property.

StoneShield Capital Corp. has terminated its option agreement for the El Mercado property, Colombia.
Though some high-grade results were received from assays of samples taken at El Mercado, including up to 4.2 grams per tonne gold in rock samples and up to 22.8 g/t in pan concentrates, most sample assays were below 0.02 gram per tonne gold. The irregular distribution of the high-grade samples does not suggest well-defined targets worthy of follow-up. StoneShield is continuing its review of available projects in Colombia.
StoneShield is currently focused on due diligence for its letter of intent signed for the Goldtooth project which bookends the operating Briggs mine, owned by Atna Resources Ltd. in Inyo county, California. The company is also awaiting an NI 43-101 technical report from consulting geologists for the completed summer 2011 work program at the Geldenhoof project in the Blackwater gold discovery district, British Columbia.

My support of Stoneshield is starting to wane, I own 40,000 shares at $0.175/share  and will look to exit this deal anywhere north of my cost. At this point the 80,000 warrants that I own will probably expire unexercised. Time to move on.

Tolima Gold TOM.V is on my watch list

A news release caught my eye on Tolima Gold TOM.V, a new company merged through a  reverse take over of FMX Ventures. The reason that I like this one is the structure, management, property potential and two major shareholders.

Tolima Gold did a reverse takeover of FMX Ventures where upon completion, the Company completed a significant raise of $25 million by issuing 38.5 million units at $0.65/share. The interesting thing here is these two groups took the following; Iamgold Corp. 15,384,615 shares and Dynamic Power Hedge Fund 7,384,615 shares.

The Company focus is Gold in Colombia with 3 different projects. 



The ANCAL Project is located South of Antioquia and Northwest of Caldas, it has 19 Concessions and 17 applications for a total area of 26,704 ha. It has five strategically located gold targets within the properties nearby Marmato gold district that where defined by surface exploration and surface sampling.
These targets are Oro Fino, El Salto, Pácora, Campana and San Bartolome which, together with Marmato, form a 12 km diameter gold district. Minor artisanal mining has been conducted on parts of these targets but although there has been some limited amount of modern prospecting, no drilling has been carried out to date.

The NORTOL Project has strategic titles in the North of Tolima with 6 concessions and 16 applications controlling a total area of 42,301 ha. The 22 properties are strategically located nearby important Gold projects within the Cajamarca Formation.

The REMEDIOS Exclusive location in the mining district of Remedios – Segovia, in the North East of the Department of Antioquia, just South West of the Gran Colombia gold and silver mine acquired by Gran Colombia Gold Corp. (TSX:GCM) last year, which is the largest producing underground gold mine in Colombia. This project has 6 Concessions and 3 Applications for a total area of 11,500 + ha. To date, at least five target areas have been identified: "San Pablo", "La Bartola", "Poliantea", "La Zapata" and "El Chicharron". "The Bartola" prospect includes old underground workings and the "San Pablo" prospect includes a current mine.


Management in the drivers seat appears to be Andrew DeFrancesco and Jamie Lopez. they seem to boast a successful track record which is to long to list on this blog but can be found here.
  
Although I am not a shareholder as I write this, this is the kind of deal that is worthy of consideration especially at $0.50/share since the Company just completed a raise at $0.65/share. It appears the company has decent management with experience in Colombia, 3 highly prospectful properties and a major shareholder Iamgold. 

Follow up to yesterday's Royce post

Although Frank Giustra's Radcliffe Foundation has acquired a significant position in Royce Resources is does not reflect the idea that they have a deal that is set to go right away. It is a good indicator that they do have a plan for Royce down the road. Unfortunately there is no date that the management of companies magically flip to the "on" position. Royce is proving itself to be reasonably priced here at $0.065/share with little downside risk.

Going forward to 2012, there are approximately 7.5 million warrants at $0.10/share that are set to expire in February. If these warrants go un-exercised then Royce is still a ways away from finding a deal.

Frank Giustra's Radcliffe Foundation buys 16.78% of Royce Resources ROY-H.V

 It looks like Frank Giustra has been mopping up all the free trading shares of Royce Resources ROY-H.V during the tax loss season. I see this as a very positive sign and will add to my position here at $0.065/share.

Radcliffe Foundation (a charitable organization controlled by Frank Giustra) has acquired 12.6 million common shares of Royce Resources Corp. representing 13.56 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares of the company. The company has been advised that Radcliffe Foundation now holds 15.6 million common shares of the company representing 16.78 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares of the company.
Radcliffe Foundation acquired the securities for investment purposes and has no present intention to acquire further securities of the company, although it may in the future acquire or dispose of securities of the company through the market, privately or otherwise, as circumstances or market conditions warrant.

Sold 40,000 shares of Teslin River Resources

I opted to sell the 40,000 shares of Teslin River Resources that I picked up a few weeks ago at $0.035/share today at $0.055/share. The $0.02/share over 40,000 share was a $600 win after commission. It also frees up some cash for picking up better quality deals in the last few weeks of tax loss selling. Nice to have a small win in a dismal market.

Kyle Bass on CNBC today

It seems since the posting of Kyle Bass on Zero Hedge on December 2 every financial news outlet has got Kyle on the speaking circuit. Unfortunately Kyle seems to get cut off as his analysis does not seem to fit the time allocation that the networks run by.

This interview last about 10 minutes and as par with CNBC, they always introduce a skeptic to challenge the analysis of anyone who does not tow the line. Kyle does a good job off shutting him down.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/kyle-bass-rehypothecation-and-other-keynesian-endgame-scenarios

Kyle Bass interview on BNN

Being on the west coast I slept right through the 8:30 am interview so I am currently watching it on BNN.ca. If you watched the hour long interview on Zero Hedge, Kyle does add a run on the bank scenario in this interview. This interview could have easily gone on for an hour.

Enjoy!

http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip584881
http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip584882

Corporate update from Saint Augustine gold SAU.TO

I got another update from Saint Augustine Gold SAU.TO on Friday, my concern was security on the Island of Mindanao, tax loss selling, institutional selling and if there was an IR firm on board.

We thank you for your continued support on your blog. You have brought up a fair question that many long term shareholders have been asking us this past week. Dave, we are still the same company we were 3 months ago. In fact we have more money in the bank, we have settled with Benguet and we are closer to the completion of the Bankable Feasibility Study, in fact we are a better company.

St. Augustine recently hired CHF Investor Relations as its IR firm.

As for the island of Mindanao there has been some history in one of the provinces to the southwest in the past however St. Augustine is located in a safe mining area of the island. The Philippine Mineral and Geoscience Bureau has placed the King-king project in the top 5 mineral projects to be developed.

It appears that an Institutional mining fund is selling off shares using Canaccord, BMO and CIBC. Once they have finished selling I presume the share price will bounce back quickly. This comes at a great time to buy in the market as the price is at an all-time low. This is a result of the time of the year when tax-loss selling and end of year quotas are changing the landscape. We are looking towards the New Year with a positive outlook on the world markets!

The market seems to be absorbing the institutional paper at $0.25/share. A lot of times this is considered window dressing from the funds perspective when they have to make their portfolio look better for year end, subsequently deals like SAU get sold with no regard to share price.

Stoneshield Ventures STS.V update

I got an e-mail update from Progressive IR on Stoneshield Ventures, so I will share it if you are a shareholder.

Thanks for your response. Stoneshield is continuing to develop their projects and we believe your investment will ultimately pay off. The Goldtooth property in California that Stoneshield has signed the letter of intent to acquire has the potential to become the flagship project of the company. Next to the operating Briggs mine owned by Atna Resources, StoneShield has already retained one extra geologist who knows this area well and is excited to work with Chief Geologist Peter Kurisoo who is equally excited about Goldtooth. The agreement offers a lower risk, low cost opportunity to explore a drill ready property with excellent potential for discovery of significant minable gold deposits.

We expect to have results from the US$300,000 first phase exploration program at our El Mercado property, Colombia. With new discoveries being made such as at CB Gold's property, plus the world-class discoveries made by Ventana, Galway and Greystar all in the same district as El Mercado, any positive news should be well-received by shareholders and the market.

On the Geldenhoof property, geologists outlined good coincident soil geochemistry combined with mag anomalies which StoneShield plans to follow up on in the 2012 field season. Over $125,000 has been spent to date on Geldenhoof. Consulting geologists are currently working on a 43-101 report on the summer exploration results expected later this month. New Gold has been on a buying streak lately, acquiring ground in the area. Any further exploration success at Geldenhoof could make the project an attractive target for acquisition.

StoneShield did spend over $200,000 assessing the Risby copper property. The company was intrigued by the potential for a district-scale copper belt at Risby. This is the kind of company-maker project the board was looking for. However, problems with the native band in the region over permitting and previously undisclosed access issues sadly forced the company to drop the project. It really was a good looking project, worth the due diligence.

The junior market has been unfavourable since the spring, bringing share prices down indiscriminate of their exploration progress. As you mention, financing is likely to occur in the spring/summer, however the company has no desire to raise funds at these low levels. A new investment year typically allows for improvement and fresh interest.

Kyle Bass on BNN tomorrow 8:30am PST

After Larry Berman mention to the audience to watch the Kyle Bass interview on Zero Hedge, BNN has managed to get an interview with Kyle. Kyle Bass will be on BNN tomorrow at 8:30 am Pacific time. If you miss the interview I will post the links to BNN through this sight.

Update: this show was on at 8:30 EST but I did link the show to this site.

http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip584881
http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip584882

Niall Ferguson on BNN

Niall Ferguson did a 3 part interview on BNN.ca today. I have recently read Niall Ferguson's book The Ascent of Money, which is a very fitting book for the times. Niall's interviews are worth watching and can be found here.

http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip581293
http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip581294 
http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip581296

Tax loss purchases to date

We are currently in the midst of the usual December tax loss selling season. December 23rd. is the last day of trading for settlement before the new year. The bulk of tax loss selling will happen this week and next as the week before Christmas has most sellers in holiday mode.

Due to Quantitative Easing 2 last year we never got a decent tax loss selling season and as the QE2 money moved through the markets there was a good sell off in October. This year we are definitely seeing the tax loss selling across many decent juniors.

My list of purchases includes:
40,000 share of Teslin Resources TLR.V @$0.035/share
14,000 shares of Saint Augustine Gold SAU.TO (2000 @$.35/share 2000@$0.27/share and 10000@$0.25/share)
7000 Silvermex SLX.TO @$0.47/share
2000 CGA Mining CGA.TO 2000 @ $2.30/share

There is a lot of beaten down deals out there and the list is to long to go through. If you have had your eye on a few and they are now making new lows then this is the time to pick them up.

I did sell 2000 Caza Gold CZY.V at  $0.265/share as I have rolled the cash into more promising deals. Unfortunately Caza is only worth $0.25/share until they actually start to define a resource.

Deals that I own that I am not going to pick up on tax loss selling are Paget Minerals PGS.V, Hilltown Resources HLT: CNSX, Stoneshield Capital STS., Northcliff Resources NCF.V and Petromagdelena PMD.V.

Bottom fishing Saint Augustine Gold SAU.TO

Thank goodness for tax loss selling as we are in full swing of bottom fishing my favorite stocks. I had a stink bid in Saint Augustine Gold at $0.25/share and it got filled today. It looks like there is a bit of capitulation down here in the mid $0.20's where SAU can finally find a bit of support. I had a feeling that SAU would be sold down to a quarter a share and the real bargain would be if one could pick it up at $0.20/share. I managed to scoop 12,000 shares today.

945,000 shares traded today indicating that at $0.25/share there is an appetite for the shares at this price. It also gives SAU a market cap of approximately $77MM with about $26MM in cash. Management gave this deal a vote of confidence on November 18 by investing $2.6MM at $0.40/share.

Kyle Bass interview on Zerohdge.com

During yesterday's Berman's Call segment on BNN TV, Larry Berman suggested that investors should watch the Kyle Bass interview that was recently posted on Zerohedge.com. The interview takes about 1 hour to watch and if you want some good insight on where the world is going in the next few years, watch this interview.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/kyle-bass-explains-new-world-order