News recap for Stoneshield Capital STS.V and Tolima Gold TOM.V

Stoneshield Capital failed to raise $1.5 million recently which will curtail their exploration for the year. Although Stoneshield planned on drilling the Goldtooth Property it looks like they have enough funds to kick around some rocks on the Geldenhoof Property instead and if funds permit, a few flyovers in a helicopter.

Stoneshield Capital Corp. has released its plans for exploration at the company's Geldenhoof property in the Blackwater discovery area of British Columbia.
The Geldenhoof property comprises two neighbouring mineral claims which total 2,613 hectares in size, and is located approximately four kilometres east of New Gold Inc.'s Blackwater gold project. Blackwater hosts defined indicated and inferred resources totalling 7.8 million ounces of gold. The deposit remains open in all directions and at depth, and New Gold plans to drill over 200,000 metres at Blackwater during 2012.
Company geologists have recommended a two-phase exploration program at Geldenhoof. Phase one would consist of follow-up work on anomalous zones of silver, zinc, copper and gold discovered by the company's 2011 soil sampling program in the western half of the property. The prominent northwest-trending fabric within the soil geochemistry is compelling in that it corresponds to the margin of a two-square-kilometre magnetic high (likely a buried intrusive body) and suggests a strong structural control to mineralization in the area. Follow-up exploration will include geologic prospecting, rock sampling and stream sediment sampling by a team of two geologists.
Phase two would consist of an induced polarization survey to establish drill targets to test for precious and base metal mineralization at depth.
The company is using the adjacent Blackwater discovery as an exploration model for its tenures and is very encouraged by its preliminary findings. The geology at Geldenhoof is similar to that found in the Blackwater area. Mesozoic to Cenozoic volcanic host rocks are locally brecciated and silicified and contain bodies of rhyolite of possible intrusive origin.

Tolima Gold's news release took me by surprise as I did not know that the Company was this far along in becoming a producing gold company regardless to how small the production will be. 

Tolima Gold Inc. has provided an update on production from its mine assets and on increase in capacity of its processing plant asset in the Segovia/Remedios mining district of Antioquia, Colombia.
In furtherance of its continuing drilling program, the channel and bulk sampling of the vein systems and stockpiles of material identified with the dewatering of the old La Bartola gold mine, as well as the development work carried out in the San Pablo gold mine, both located within the area of the company's Remedios project, Tolima is now accelerating its production expansion plan for such project.
The San Pablo processing plant, located within the San Pablo concession, has now been in operation for six months, mainly processing low-grade material provided by third parties. This has allowed the company to streamline the processing circuit and to prepare the plant to efficiently process material from the La Bartola and San Pablo mines. The San Pablo mine is right next to the plant and the La Bartola mine is located approximately 500 metres from the plant.
The plant has a current installed processing capacity of 100 tons per day and has been operating to date at an average rate of 77 tons per day. Production from the La Bartola and San Pablo mines is expected to feed the plant at its current capacity by July, 2012. By that time, all processing contracts for material supplied by third parties will be completed.
As dewatering and rehabilitation of the La Bartola mine have advanced, material extraction began in May, 2012. At the same time, development work on the San Pablo mine is being completed, with material being stockpiled since May, 2012, as well. Material from the company's mines is expected to be of higher grade than the third party material currently being processed.
As production of the company's mines ramps up, a capital investment program to increase processing capacity of the plant is under way. It includes installing and bringing on line two Denver ball mills (six feet by three feet) to bring the processing capacity of the plant to 300 tons per day. All other components of the plant are already rigged for such production volume.
With such investment, the company expects to be processing approximately 150 tons per day by the end of 2012, 200 tons per day by the end of the first quarter of 2013 and 300 tons per day by the end of third quarter of 2013. This capacity increase will result in an acceleration of the company's original investments plans, which originally called for a 300-ton-per-day processing capacity at the plant by 2014. This capacity increase will require an investment of approximately $400,000 (U.S.) over the next year. This investment is expected to be financed with the cash flow generated from the plant operation and with the company's current cash.
Jaime Lopez, chief executive officer of Tolima, stated: "We are very excited with the short-term production and cash flow potential of our La Bartola and San Pablo mines. In times of complicated market conditions for raising additional capital, such production will allow the company to continue funding its aggressive exploration plans in its Ancal, Nortol and Remedios projects in the short to mid term. Also, these mines are an outstanding platform for exploration of our Remedios properties in our quest to identify significant gold occurrences."

You know we are in a bad market when a news release like this can not even muster up a trade.

Investing, political risk and the rule of law.

Politics is narrowing the playing field for many resource stocks as the risks involved are out weighing the returns. At one time Africa had not only the risk of war and overthrown/corrupt governments repatriating resources but now it seems to epidemic across many developing nations.

As the world keeps looking for cheap finite resources many companies went abroad to underdeveloped nations looking for the next big oil field or gold mine. Countries welcomed this new found investment and past governments  handed out sweetheart deals in the beginning. Those where the days when growth prospects seemed unlimited.

Today it is a different story with many dollars already invested in projects more and more developing country's governments are telling exploration companies that they have to give up a larger piece of the action or hit the high road.

From my recollection it all started with Venezuela and kicking out Crystallex Resources and repatriating the Las Cristinas gold property. From gold, Venezuela went on to the oil and gas sector and even nationalized the grocery stores.

Mongolia and Bolivia seemed to be next to reneg on previous resource deals sending many companies packing in the name of nationalization.

Recently a bout of nationalizations have occurred with Argentina leading the pack. The recent takeover of YPF from Repsol was the first shot. The second shot is the enacting that all resource profits be reinvested within Argentina. As suggested over on the IKN Blog Yamana found away around this by buying Extorre Gold for a pittance. One thought behind is Yamana's free cash flow from Gualcamayo mine that can not be remitted back to Canada can stay in Argentina and develop the Cerro Moro project. If Yamana can't get the money out then might as well spend it on Cerro Moro and wait for a change in government and policies.

Saint Augustine Gold is up against Philippine's dirty politics in the development of the King-King Gold mine. Once again the corrupt politics welcomed Saint Augustine in to spend $70 million to date only to kick them out of the deal. (yet to be sorted out).

Even in safer, mining friendly jurisdictions like Peru companies like Bear Creek Mining are finding their own struggles with a politically charged government. 

The latest nationalization to bomb the market is the new President of Guatemala rumored to be seeking a 40% stake in all mining companies. This of course has cratered the share price of Tahoe Resources THO.TO today.

As I write this Tahoe has seen a rebound on their share price from $9.75/share back to $13.17/share as Tahoe has released this statement. Although Tahoe is assuring the market that the proposed Guatemala changes will not effect their operations. I believe it has opened the door to the possibility of it happening in the future.

TAHOE RESOURCES INC.: ESCOBAL PROJECT UNAFFECTED BY PROPOSED MINING REFORM
Government-proposed mining law reforms in Guatemala should not affect the Escobal project, Tahoe Resources Inc. says. Media reports released this morning outlined a proposal from President Perez Molina's administration to allow state ownership in mining projects.
Company communications with high-level officials in Guatemala's Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) indicate that the government has no intention of acquiring an interest in the Escobal project or other mining projects in the country. According to chief executive officer Kevin McArthur, "The government of Guatemala has not made any approach to the company regarding this proposed reform, nor do we expect it to. Full permitting for the 100-per-cent-owned Escobal project is still anticipated in the second half of 2012."

These of course are just some of the anecdotes that are playing out in the world today, leaving risk capital markets high and dry. The landscape for investment opportunities in the resource sector is getting narrower as more and more companies face foreign political risk within countries that have an ever changing rule of law.





 

Post Baja Mining AGM update

So that was interesting. Nothing like money to bring out the worst in emotions. Lucky for me I am long at these lowly prices but not the majority in the room.

The sense was the Board needed all tools available to avoid insolvency which could be 30+ days away. 

So the special resolutions passed allowing the Board to issue common shares from the treasury that will not violate the share holder rights plan.

The other resolution was a preference share option but the specifics of the common shares were not definitive and left open to the discretion of the Board.

Currently Baja is in default with their lenders but have a standstill agreement to find a solution before the end of July.

The SRK report is due at the end of the month and it is the closest they can get to a new NI 43-101 before the standstill agreement expires. A new 43-101 will take too long and the window is closing for a solution.

Currently the short fall is somewhere between $245 million and $315 million.

The zinc and cobalt circuits are being deferred, saving $85 million in the short term but Baja is obligated to build these circuits down the road. This $85 million is included in the $245-$315 shortfall number.

Labor issues are a problem in the Baja and there is a shortage of skilled laborers locally. Training will take time.

My feeling is that this project is to far down the road to not throw more money at. Management is desperate and with the passing of the resolutions a few things can happen.

A billion shares can be issued  here to come up with the money, but likely not to happen in this market.

Preferred shares are sold at a higher price with more voting rights than common allowing a White Night to show up.

An outright takeover by a major. This would not happen until there is an updated Cap-ex report.

With the vested interest of Mount Kellet in the deal I have a feeling they will issue stock at a cheap price to keep the deal afloat until the White Knight shows up.

Baja will have some trading opportunities for the next few weeks between the high teens and the low twenties. Any large spike in volume will foretell the fate of Baja.

My bet is a suitor will take advantage of the situation and buy Baja out but only down here at these prices.

If I was a major miner looking at taking this deal over I would not offer more than 2 bits to extricate Baja out of this situation. 

Management is desperate and the vultures are circling.

Baja Mining AGM update

A small update from the AGM for Baja Mining Special resolutions for issuance of shares was passed. These shares will comes from treasury not from the open market hence will not affect shareholder rights was passed.

A blanket preference share resolution was passed to add flexibility to financing. This resolution allows management to issue preferred shares to suite the needs of the Company.

Lots of concerned shareholders in attendance.

The market did rally on the way down to the AGM. The market rally on a major down day may indicate better days ahead?

Covered Call ETF's

There was a good segment on BNN's Market Call yesterday on ETF's and covered call ETF's with Richard Croft. A few ETF's covered that I own is the ZWU.TO which is the covered call utilities. Another interesting one to own is HGY.TO if you want gold exposure with covered call writing giving you yield.

It is a multi part series and worth watching.

 http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip704207

 http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip704208

 http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip704210

 http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip704213

 http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip704215

 http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip704217
 
 http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip704233

 http://watch.bnn.ca/#clip704236

Trading update from Friday

A few updates from my Friday post. Ithica Energy went out the door yesterday at $1.85/share as with Golden Minerals on Monday at $5.20/share. I managed to reload on the Golden Minerals today at $4.80 and will offer it out at $5.10. (Update: I just sold it out at $5.04).

If Ithica trades back to $1.70 I will be a buyer again.

Santa Cruz is proving to be a nice little trader from the mid $0.80/share and back to $0.90/share. Trades seem to generate $90-$150 each time.

Element Financial EFN.TO got knocked down to $5.08 on Monday where I picked up 2000 shares, subsequently these shares went out the door yesterday at $5.40.

Another idea is Tolima Gold, I am bidding at $0.19/share and if filled I will offer TOM.V back out at $0.25/share.

I am waiting to see if CGA Mining makes it back down below $1.85 to buy again.

My Teslin River purchase at $0.04/share does not look so good now that someone at TD is offering 700,000 shares at $0.045/share. I left the 22,000 I bought open at $0.05/share.

Baja Mining thrown a life line before the AGM

Baja Mining has been thrown a life line before the AGM and to keep the ball rolling on the construction of their Boleo Project. It gives Management a 45 day window to find a long term solution (takeover). the AGM tomorrow should be interesting.



The lenders to Baja Mining Corp.'s 70-per-cent-owned subsidiary, Minera y Metalurgica del Boleo SA de CV (MMB), have agreed to a 45-day standstill in relation to the Boleo project financing.
The lenders agreed to refrain from exercising rights and remedies under the Boleo project financing agreements until Aug. 1, 2012 with respect to certain defaults and events of default that are currently outstanding or that may arise during the standstill period.
MMB recently made a $21-million (U.S.) cash call to its shareholders. Baja provided its 70-per-cent share ($14.7-million (U.S.)) and the Korean consortium provided its 30-per-cent share ($6.3-million (U.S.)). This cash injection will enable MMB to continue its current level of critical-path activities at the Boleo project, including all contractors continuing to work on the copper circuits. Cash forecasts indicate that this level of effort can be maintained through Aug. 1, 2012.
As a result of the standstill and the financing of MMB by its shareholders, and with the support of lenders, project partners, financial advisers and vendors, Baja has additional time to identify and evaluate potential financing options and possible sources of financing. The company's advisers, including SRK Consulting, continue to work to complete their due diligence on the Boleo project, and BMO Capital Markets continues to actively canvass potential strategic and financial interested parties.

The week that was, FR.TO SCZ.V SAU.TO OSK.TO RIO.TO RVM.TO AUM.TO CGA.TO TOM.V TLR.V IAE.TO

Been a busy week with work and the markets so I will do a recap of a few stocks that I own/owned.

Saint Augustine Gold, OUCH! this hurt the account and I sold out all my position down here at $0.14/share. All of it was in sheltered accounts so I can not even get a tax loss for it. The pissing match does not seem to be going anywhere and for the most part Nadecor can delay delay and delay until Saint Augustine is broke. All things aside Nadecor will most likely come out the winner in this, plus the lawyers for SAU.

To me it is better to stand aside and if SAU retains their interest then I would gladly pay more for the stock with that assurance. BTW that was $9500 that I really did not need any more anyways!!

And you wonder why the juniors with deals in far off corrupt places have no audience, well you just lost one more.

Teslin River pumped out a news release indicating that they are going to raise $2.5MM at $0.05/share. I added 22,000 shares today at $0.04 bring my cost down so that I can exit around $0.07/share and come out flat.  I think they will have to get the price up around $0.07 to close the deal.

Teslin River Resources Corp. intends to complete a non-brokered private placement totalling gross proceeds of $2.5-million consisting of 40 million units at a price of five cents per unit and 8,333,333 flow-through shares (FT shares) at a price of six cents per FT share. Flow-through shares are issued within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada).
Each unit will consist of a common share of the company and one-half of one share purchase warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder to purchase an additional common share of the company at a price of 10 cents for a period of 18 months from the close of the transaction.
In the event that the closing price of Teslin's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is at least 15 cents for 20 consecutive trading days at any time after that date which is four months following the closing date of the placement, Teslin may reduce the remaining exercise period of the warrants to 30 days from the date of the company providing notice of the accelerated warrant term.

Maybe this deal was on hold until they had this.

Teslin River Resources Corp. has received a multiyear exploration permit from the British Columbia Ministry of Energy and Mines to conduct exploration activities on its Frasergold project. The permit covers the period April, 2012, through April, 2017.
As announced on Nov. 22, 2011, Teslin River signed a definitive agreement with Eureka Resources Inc., giving it the right to earn a 75-per-cent interest in Frasergold, located 100 kilometres east of Williams Lake in the Cariboo area of central British Columbia.
"We have developed a very focused exploration program for 2012," said Teslin River's vice-president of exploration, Dr. Michael Hitch. "In addition to further drilling along the 12 km strike length, we will also be testing the potential presence of a copper porphyry system in the Eureka Bowl zone, as identified in our 2011 soil sampling program."

Teslin is still a POS stock and when the chance to get out presents itself, take it!


Tolima Gold has traded back down to $0.19/share where I was lucky to pick some up. It went back out the door today at $0.245/share.

 I guess management had to strut their stuff and announce that they bought some stock at $0.32/share
Maybe he should read this blog to pick a better entry point.

Andrew DeFrancesco, the executive chairman of Tolima, purchased 360,000 shares on the open market at a price of 32 cents per share on May 25, 2012, as well as 180,000 shares by private sale at a price of 65 cents per share on May 29, 2012. As of the date of this news release, Mr. DeFrancesco holds approximately 3,165,000 shares (representing approximately 2.63 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares), as well as warrants to purchase 675,000 shares and options to purchase 1.25 million shares.
Jaime Lopez, the chief executive officer of Tolima, purchased 31,000 shares on the open market at a price of 32 cents per share on May 25, 2012. As of the date of this news release, Mr. Lopez holds approximately 900,733 shares (representing approximately 0.75 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares), as well as options to purchase 750,000 shares.
Augusto Lopez, a director of Tolima, purchased 310,000 shares on the open market at a price of 32 cents per share on May 25, 2012. As of the date of this news release, Mr. Lopez holds approximately 1,751,667 shares (representing approximately 1.45 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares), as well as warrants to purchase 187,500 shares and options to purchase 250,000 shares.

CGA mining is range bound at trading from $1.81 back to $1.95/share, so I have been able to shave a dime a few times. Volatility is getting thinner on CGA and support seems to be there around $1.80 and resistance around $2.00/share.

 

I sold off First Majestic at $16.42 and will be looking buy a position back in and around $15.50/share.

Santa Cruz Minerals provided a small trade from $0.85/share to $0.90/share and now I am long again at $0.85/share.

I picked up 2000 shares of  Ithaca Energy at $1.70 with the intent on flipping it back out at $1.85

 I traded out my Revett Minerals today for a very small profit, this deal trades more on the AMEX so it is hard to read on the TSX Exchange. Generally it trades here in arbitrage to the US listing. It has traded through a resistance line and I will see if Revett pulls back to the $3.40 range. Positive news on their Rock Creek Project will send this deal higher.

Otto's IKN Blog got me to notice Rio Alto Mining and his little blurb about the stock price. Rio reminds me of First Majestic in the early days. http://www.incakolanews.blogspot.ca/2012/06/fvi-and-rio-has-anyone-else-noticed.html. 

I picked up a small position and will add to it if Rio trades down to $4.00/share again. The trend is your friend on this one.

I hopped back into Golden Minerals today buying bits of stock at $5.05, $4.95 and $4.76. the intent is to offer it back out at $5.40/share.

Lastly, Osisko Mining is trading a $0.50/share range after the last run up. there seems to be support at the $8.00 mark.

I think I covered all my trading for the week, The smallest win was only $36.00 and the largest for the week was $864.00 with the majority being in the $150.00 -$200.00 range.

Is this the end of St. Augustine Gold SAU.TO

The "Golden Rule" He, who has all the gold makes the rules!

It looks like politicians money rules in the Philippines as the family of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. was investing in the Kingking gold project, effectively kicking Saint Augustine out.

The broad strokes of the deal in the Senators family is buying 25% of Saint Augustine's partner Nationwide Development Corp(Nadecor). Villar led company, Queensberry Mining and Development Corp is taking the stake.

So this is the way I see it, does the family of Sen. Manual Villar Jr. want 25% of 30% of the deal or do they want to buy 25% of Nadecor and get 100% of the project. 7.5% or 25%? no need to take over St. Augustine, that would create to much regulatory headaches dealing with our security regulators. Just boot them out.

There is no reason given as to why Nadecor is dropping St. Augustine, but as with any third world country the political risk is pretty high. I would expect this type of scenario to play out in Africa rather than the Philippines, but what do I know?

Betcha some Chinese company develops this down the road through a back door deal with the Villar Family.

This is the article in the Business Mirror

http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/top-news/28305-gold-mining-firm-drops-foreign-partner

Nationwide Development Corp. (Nadecor), a company with rights to develop and operate the massive Kingking gold-copper project in Mindanao, has announced it was dropping its Canada-based partner St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd.

Just three days ago, Nadecor said the family of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. was investing in Kingking. Part of the agenda in its meeting next week is the ratification of the sale of 25 percent of Nadecor’s authorized capital stock to the Villar-led Queensberry Mining and Development Corp. The deal is worth P1.8 billion, a separate statement this week showed.

On Thursday Nadecor said in a published notice on its upcoming annual stockholders’ meeting that it is canceling all agreements made with St. Augustine, a partner it took at the height of a dispute with former Kingking project partner Benguet Corp.

The dispute was eventually resolved and Benguet last year sold its interests in the Kingking project to St. Augustine, an affiliate of US-based Russell Mining and Minerals Inc.

Efforts to contact the Villar Group on the possibility it might be interested in the St. Augustine stocks were futile. But a source close to it but who refused to be identified said there was no way of knowing if the Villars were interested “until they have all the facts about the case.”

Nadecor’s plan involves the “ratification of the rescision of all the MOU [memorandums of understanding] dated April 27, 2010, and related transactions agreements between Nadecor and St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd. and St. Augustine Mining Ltd.,” a portion of the meeting’s agenda showed.  

Nadecor did not cite any reason for the planned termination of the partnership while its president, Jose de Jesus, did not return phone calls seeking his comment on Thursday.

St. Augustine Gold and Copper, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, did not immediately respond to e-mailed requests seeking its comment but recent statements made by the company just three weeks ago indicated that the partnership was still a go.

It said on May 14 that it had completed the so-called Declaration of Mine Project Feasibility (DMPF) for Kingking, a key requirement to get the massive project moving forward. According to St. Augustine, it has invested $70 million in the Kingking project.  

St. Augustine said in the same statement that Nadecor “is in the process of resolving internal issues within its board of directors; however, these issues did not impact the scheduled submission of the DMPF.”

“Also, while some delay in the issuance of deliverables due to St. Augustine by Nadecor has occurred as a result, the company understands that Nadecor’s board members and key shareholders are working toward resolution of these issues,” it added. “Company management is communicating constantly with its partner to ensure the interests of the company and the project are protected,” St. Augustine said.  

Thursday’s announcement came after Nadecor announced that the family of Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. is investing in Kingking. Part of the agenda in its meeting next week is the ratification of the sale of 25 percent of Nadecor’s authorized capital stock to Villar-led Queensberry Mining and Development Corp. The deal is worth P1.8 billion, a separate statement this week showed.

Kingking is considered one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world. Nadecor holds a mineral production sharing agreement covering 1,656 hectares in the Pantukan, Compostela Valley province. The mining site has estimated gold deposits of 10.3 million ounces and copper deposits of 5.4 billion pounds, Nadecor said in a previous statement.

Saint Augustine had this to say today, BTW good luck with the legal remedies I am sure every judge in the Philippines is bought off by the Villar family.

St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd. has taken note of recent Philippine news articles commenting on its participation in the King-king project and the Philippine mining industry, in particular an article published in the June 7, 2012, edition of the Business Mirror announcing Nationwide Development Corp.'s intention to drop the company as a partner in the project.
"This news article was published without St. Augustine's comment, and implies a legal position and intent that, based on the current information we have, is not reflective of the view of a majority of Nationwide's shareholders," stated Andrew J. Russell, chief executive officer. "It is unfortunate that St. Augustine and the expedited development of the project are being dragged into what we understand is an internal Nationwide dispute. However, we have noted the potential investment by the family of Senator Manuel Villar Jr. in the project and welcome the vote of confidence this indicates in the project. We look forward to continuing to work with Nationwide on the swift achievement of key project milestones and to fruitful discussions with the Villar family on their forthcoming investment in the project."
As described in St. Augustine's May 14, 2012, press release, there are internal issues within Nationwide's own board of directors and shareholders. St. Augustine understands these issues have since escalated, including shareholders and directors of Nationwide bringing legal action against certain persons acting as directors or officers of Nationwide. As well, questions are being raised, amongst other matters, about the legality of the election of the members of the board of directors of Nationwide and their actions in relation to agreements which set out the framework in which the company participates in the project.
St. Augustine's management has stepped up communications with Nationwide to clarify the situation and has received assurances from key Nationwide directors and shareholders in this respect. Further work and discussions are continuing, with an aim to ensure any potential adverse impact on the company and the project is mitigated or avoided and the company's interests are safeguarded. As a precaution, St. Augustine's management, in conjunction with legal counsel, has implemented an action plan, which could involve exercise of specific legal remedies available to the company should the above issues not be conclusively and satisfactorily resolved in the short term.

 

Strategy update

In light of kicking the Spain problem down the road I unloaded my insurance trade today on Horizon's Inverse TSX ETF for a small loss. Last week all signs were pointed to a melt down and this week, sunshine and pink fairies. Europe had another emergency meeting, it looks like more printing is on the way but the problem is just been pushed further down the road. Any weakness in gold and I will look to Sprott's Physical Gold ETF PHY-U.TO as a hedge to all this printing.

The 800 of the 1000 shares at $7.00 of Osisko was sold today at $8.60 leaving 200 shares pretty much risk free. One strategy that I try to employ for deals I like long term is to buy and sell enough shares that I end up with my original cash in hand and shares as profit.

The broad strokes are as follows:

Original purchase 1000 @ $7.00/share = $7000
Sale 800 shares @ $8.60 = $6880

This leaves me with 200 shares and I am out of pocket $158 after commission. My risk capital is off the table but my profits are still invested. Osisko @ 7.00/share is worth hanging on to.

Which leads me to Santa Cruz Mining SCZ.V, this little deal has been range bound between $0.80/share and $0.90 share and the same principle can be applied here. Buy 5000 shares at $0.80 for $4000 and sell 4500 @ $0.89 for $4005 netting  approximately 500 shares per trade. Repeat a few time and you have got a small position.

I would not apply this strategy to deals like Baja Mining or any other speculative deal that is not worthy in the long run, only select few deals do I trade like this.

Uh-oh Taylor says hold Baja Mining BAJ.TO

Uh-oh Taylor says hold Baja Mining, which if you did the opposite of what he says you would probably make money. The low trade on BAJ is $0.15/share would would probably be a good speculative entry point up to the AGM. $0.15/share to $0.22/share is a nice $0.07/share win, nearly 50% return. Is that not what speculation is all about?

Is there ever a paid shill that that recommends selling when there is money on the table, I guess not as that would be the end of their monthly pump and dump fee.

Taylor's audience must be getting pretty small by now.

Out of Golden Minerals AUM.TO today.

I opted to sell off the 1200 shares of Golden Minerals today at $5.20/share. There was some money on the table and I think it is best to stand on the side lines and watch the next trading pattern develop. Today's market cap on Golden Minerals is around $210 million which is probably fair considering that the Company is divesting royalties and properties for cash.

I did pick up a small position (300 shares) on Revett Minerals RVM.TO at $3.41 today. Revett is another silver/copper miner trading at 52 week lows. Only part of my order got filled before the close.

The volatility seems to be getting lower at these prices and the RSI is 37.38 so it looks like it is being oversold.
With 34 million shares outstanding Revett has a market cap of $117 million, which to me seems undervalued. Revett has $28 million in  cash, produced 324,000 OZ. silver and 2.25 million pounds of copper last quarter.

I would assume the Rock Creek Project continues to be a drag on the share price but at these levels the worst case scenario would be priced in.

We continue to work with the US Forest Service (USFS) as the lead agency to complete a Supplemental EIS on the Rock Creek Project to address administrative and NEPA related issued as directed by the Federal District Court in May 2010. The Biological Opinion, which was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit in November 2011, along with the Supplemental EIS provides the basis for the determination of a revised Record of Decision. We are currently reviewing the project schedule with the agency and hope to provide an update on an expected release of the Supplemental EIS in the near future.
John Shanahan, President and CEO stated, "The first quarter of 2012 was another solid and profitable quarter for Revett. Our operations team at the Troy Mine continue to provide consistent results and remain focused on meeting our production guidelines of 1.4m ounces of silver and 11.5m pounds of copper in 2012. The Troy Mine remains our bridge to the development of Rock Creek, providing ever increasing technical expertise, a growing financial base, and an important environmental showcase for responsible development in the northwest Montana."

Could there be an end game in sight for Saint Augustine Gold SAU.TO

In light of the Pacific Rubiales/PetroMagdalena merger could the same be in the cards for Saint Augustine Gold and CGA Mining?

Considering the CAPEX issues with getting the King/King deposit up and going and a market cap of just $49 million, now would be the time to consider that Saint Augustine would be a target of a takeover. The only friendly suitor I could think of would be CGA Mining as they already have a large position in Saint Augustine.

$70 million was raised to date, enough to take the King/King to a Pre Feasibility Stage and a bankable feasibility stage. Then what? At $0.14/share it would be hard to get this mine up and producing.

The game works like this. Instead of CGA depleting their treasury, St. Augustine was formed and money raised. Now that St. Augustine has brought the project forward and spent $70 million of other peoples money, CGA can come in and buy it for stock.

If and when Saint Augustine Gold starts trading at $0.10/share I will look to add to my position on takeover speculation.

End game for PetroMagdalena PMD.V

PetroMagdalena PMD.V got scooped up today by Pacific Rubiales (PRE)  for $1.60/share all cash offer. I still had a measly 771 shares left over from the consolidation of Allange Energy about 1 year ago. Pacific Rubiales seemed to be heavily involved in PetroMagdelena in all aspects from farm out properties to financing.

If I am not mistaken PetroMagdalena (Allange Energy) was originally formed with the intent to spin out Pacific Rubiales exploration properties to de-risk the PRE properties. Allange raised a ton cash and then collapsed under an accounting/production scam. The share structure was rolled back and never recovered from the old price.

Looks like Pacific Rubiales got themselves a pretty good deal at $1.60/share.

Golden Minerals AUM.TO moves higher post fund sell off

Golden Minerals finally moved higher after Sentient Global Resource Fund blew out half their position. Sentient Global Resource Fund just managed to sell out 4.1 million shares into one of the weakest precious metals market in years. Knocking the price of Golden minerals down to $3.50 in the past few days. Now that the selling pressure has been relieved, Golden Minerals made a strong 33% move higher. I managed make a few trades down it the mid $3.00 range and the last purchase was at $3.96 a few days ago.

$6.00/share could be the first point of resistance and I will take some money off the table there.

Pop goes GMV minerals today

Out of the blue GMV Minerals popped up in price to a high of $0.14/share giving most of us shareholders a bit of hope for better things to come. It is fully unexplainable how a deal can be trading one day at $0.055/share and the next at $0.14/share on no news and big volume, I would like to know where the "ON" switch is.

Funny thing is I threw a stink 10000 share bid of $0.055/share in on Friday which got filled on a moment of capitulation. I thought it would be smart to throw it back on the offer at $0.07/share and try and trade the small spread. I was traded out this morning, which left me wishing I bought more.

Is this a one time anomaly or a sign of better days? If the volume continues then GMV could make it back into the $0.20's with no new. Perhaps word filtered back on some good showings on their recent trenching program? You know that someone out there has more information than you do.

Other stinkers I have a bid in on include Stoneshield for 40,000 @ $0.025 and El Condor LCO.V @$0.05/share.

Baja the bucking bronco

It looks like Baja Mining is now in cowboy territory, with only riders with cojones made of steel on for the ride.

Volatility is swinging this bronco from $0.25/share down to $0.15/share and now back to $0.20/share.

Lumped on top is the first lawsuit to be fired across the bow by former CEO Greenslade daughter, Kendra Low. She was the corporate secretary whom I guess was given 5 minutes to collect her belongings before being escorted out the door. She wants $375,000 and her reputation back. I wonder if her lawyers have put that new Austin Martin/Ferrari on order yet?

June 21st will be an interesting day and I bet there will be some hired goons at the AGM to quell the dissident shareholders in the audience. I bet even some media might show up.

Yeehaaaw!!