Friday, April 26, 2013

Real Manipulation Facts TSX.v - Is Not Immune


Keiser Report: Stalinism of NYSE (E436)


Unfortunately, he's not crazy.

If there was ever a reason to buy gold this is it. Gold doesn't lose value no matter what. Wall Street hates it. What people don't get is that gold does not have a denomination. It has a trade value! 

In our small towns we don't have as much greed but gold still has value because it is portable. The greater the greed factor the more gold is worth. The more hoarders the more value. It's that simple. Societal complexity also increases its value. It's harder to trade a chicken for a hammer if the hammer comes from China. 

The zero volume during the crash is proof of what he's saying in the video. The fact that it only appeared that gold was being sold off is another proof of the corruption. In fact, during the sell off people were falling over themselves to buy physical gold. 

Copper Fox Metals Video

This give you a good idea of just how big this project is.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oThOqyTgdKA

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

WRN Pays to get the word out

In today's climate you have to pay to get investor's attention. Not long ago investors had to pay attention to get in on a good project early. Between Copper Fox and Western Copper BC is looking at hiring thousands of people. We have not seen an employment bonanza like this before. This doesn't even scratch the surface of the total picture when you look at the list of projects coming on line over the next decade in Northern BC and the Yukon.

All of this hinges on a change in government and the price of metals. In the long term the price of metal is much more predictable. In the short term the predictability of the government is anything but clear. In the very near future residents of BC will go to the polls. Given the track records of the Liberals and the history of the NDP neither is desirable.  Still, the NDP looks like an early shoe in.

In their last round they damaged the mining industry in such a way that it lasted for decades. They tried to counter the image with a jobs program that was nothing more than an advertising campaign which resulted in zero real jobs and turned the Province into a welfare recipient. This time around they are sporting a new and improved hack job. Higher taxes for everyone! Oh yeah baby. That's just what we need.

In addition there's the Kinder Morgan Surprise from Dix who is famous for back dating documents to help his friend. ("The reality is your record, when you were Glen Clark's chief of staff, included back-dating a memo to give your boss an alibi," she said. "You want to talk about Christy's record, but you have a record that's a bit dark as well." In the real world this would be considered a criminal acthttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/04/23/bc-ndp-kinder-morgan.html

And if you thought the Liberals were bad for trying to sell off our Crown projects... "An NDP government would consider the sale of BC Place stadium, according to BC NDP Leader Adrian Dix.
Dix said his government would establish an external planning team to determine the viability of BC Pavilion Corporation."

And of course, the vote buying...VANCOUVER -- Having already spent much of the $2 billion his party allotted for new promises this election, New Democratic Party leader Adrian Dix rolled out a modest plan for health reform Tuesday, with policies that focus heavily on community-based supports.
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/bc-election/rolls+modest+plan+health+reform/8283326/story.html

Below is the glowing account of the impact WRN will have.

(Financial Press) - Long before the first precious ores are dug from the ground, a massive new mine project in Yukon will be pumping tens of millions of dollars into the Canadian economy, with a significant chunk of it going to B.C.
Vancouver-based Western Copper and Gold is planning to invest a staggering $2.46 billion developing its Casino Mine property in a remote area of the territory some 1,225 km northwest of Fort Nelson, B.C. A
An updated report by MNP LLP and titled “Economic Impacts of the Casino Mine Project” was released this week incorporating the results from a feasibility study released in January 2013 offers a tantalizing glimpse of the economic bonanza that the development would trigger.
Construction and operation of the mine would contribute $9.7 billion to Canada's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), creating 51,373 full-time equivalent positions and generating $2.5 billion in wages and salaries.
The report estimates the GDP generated in Yukon by the construction of Casino at $363 million, or 14 per cent of Yukon's 2011 GDP. The construction phase is estimated to contribute $2 billion to Canada's economy while generating 22,601 full-time equivalent jobs (FTEs), resulting in $1.1 billion in wages and salaries across Canada.
During each of its 22 years of operation, the Casino mine is expected to contribute $274 million to Yukon's economy. Operation of the mine is estimated to contribute $350 million to Canada's GDP annually while creating 1,308 FTEs and generating $61 million in wages and salaries across Canada.
The Casino project is also expected to generate $3.1 billion in taxes and royalties to various governments during the life of mine.
Estimates of recoverable minerals at Casino indicate the vast scale of this project, one of the largest gold and copper reserves currently under exploration in North America. They include 8.9 million ounces of gold and 4.5 billion pounds of copper. In Casino's first four years of full production, starting in 2019, annual output is projected to be 399,000 ounces of gold, 245 million pounds of copper, 15 million pounds of molybdenum and 1.8 million ounces of silver.
"This updated report reiterates the enormous impact that the Casino Project will have on the Yukon and the rest of Canada," said Dale Corman, Chairman and CEO of Western. "In addition to the great economic benefit, the Casino project will provide other benefits such as training, education, and infrastructure, which will benefit the Yukon over the longer term."
But the economic impact will be felt much farther afield than in Yukon, where human and material resources are limited.
"This is a big mine," says Paul West-Sells, President and Chief Operating Officer of Western Copper and Gold. "It will employ a large number of people."
A small army of some 1,600 workers will be assembled to build the mine, and 600 permanent jobs will be created when production hits its peak. West-Sells says that even though there are large construction firms based in Yukon, the magnitude of the projects means that "even they are going to have to source most of their labor in B.C."
In addition, he says, "B.C. is going to be significantly represented" among the on-site contractors and suppliers that will be required.
First among the many tasks is to build a $100-million all-season road linking the Casino mine site with the Klondike Highway, 120 km to the east. The mine is currently reachable by an unpaved winter road.
Along this new highway, trucks will begin to haul the infrastructure for major projects such as a $209-million, 170-megawatt on-site natural gas power plant. The mine is too far from the grid to be hooked up and, in any case, would require more energy than the territorial utility's total output.
The new road is only one component of a total initial capital investment in the project estimated at $2.46 billion, including the power plant. Other major expenditures are for mining equipment and mine development ($454 million); a concentrator ($904 million) and a heap leach operation ($109 million).
Once in operation, liquefied natural gas to run the power plant would be trucked in convoys along the new road all the way from Fort Nelson, the booming new hub of world-class shale gas plays. "We are in advanced negotiations with people in the Fort Nelson area, which is our preferred option for obtaining LNG. " says West-Sells.
He says Casino is a large enough project that it alone would act as an "anchor tenant to justify construction of a liquefaction facility" in Fort Nelson. "And once that is built, then you open up an opportunity for various companies and governments in northern Canada and northern British Columbia who are also looking to use LNG."
Pat Pimm, Liberal MLA for Peace River North, a riding that includes Fort Nelson, says that if Western Copper's LNG plans come to fruition it will certainly present a huge economic opportunity for the community.
Pimm says that although the distances to Yukon are large, there is no reason why Fort Nelson should not become the service centre for mining operations there.
Fort Nelson Mayor Bill Streeper takes the current boom in his stride. He recently told the Canadian Business Journal: "It's very exciting around here — we are having an issue expanding the town as fast as the people want to bring employees to town, but I think just about any town in Canada wishes they had our problem. It is a bright future in northeastern British Columbia."

Monday, April 22, 2013

Questrade Really Sucks

This is hands down the worst trading platform on the planet. In addition to the hidden fees the service is absolutely unreliable.

Last month I took money out and was sent a notification that mu trade was cancelled. Since it wasn't a trade I called to see WTF?? They had no explanation. 10 days later the cheque showed up in the mail.

This month I took money out on the 9th. Well, today is the 22nd and no cheque. No notification they screwed up again. So I have to waste more time. These people have zero respect for their clients.

I've noticed that cheques are taking longer and longer and longer. What once took 7 day tops is now heading into two weeks. By the time you discover they've screwed up yet again you could be looking at over a month to get a cheque. Why offer this service at all if your only suggestion is to use electronic transfers? That's their suggestion as to how to solve the problem! It's kind of like admitting they are not competent to put a cheque in the mail.

Don't get me started on how crappy the interface is. We are constantly downloading updates but there's no real improvements. The graph functions are just garbage.

I signed on for the cheap trade because I was trading a lot. I've moved most of my money out because they are completely unreliable when it comes to transactions. So it seems the only way you can get anything that resembles a competent service is to pay a high price.

If you are thinking about Questrade as a solution to your trading needs think again.

Update:

Just got off the phone with these clowns.

Withdraw requests

DateAmountCurDelivery methodStatus

10/04/13
$xx,000.00CADCheque - Cheque MailedCompleted


This is the actual request. So what do they tell us you ask? Well, they quoted the information from the last transaction seemingly oblivious to what we were asking them to look into. <Insert eye roll here>. So, I'm on the phone with them again. In the last call they said the mail room takes 8 days plus 3 days for transactions to clear. Clearly that person was making up excuses to justify what appeared to be a very long transit time. That one said "It was mailed on the 19th".

Well, clearly that was bogus info. I clued in because the amount was wrong! In frustration and extreme annoyance I hung up and waited to cool off. Then I called back hoping for a different slightly more intelligent person. So, through the long attempt to get a human on the phone and the wait... tick tick tick.... Finally a human.

This time I was able to get them to look at the right info and wouldn't you know it, they claimed it was sent on the 12th. Oh what wicked webs we weave. Now the mail room is back to normal times and it's the post office's fault. It sure seems they have no trouble getting bills here on time. And now for the joke of the day. I can send a letter to Buckins Newfoundland and it takes 5 days! I seriously doubt these people are telling the truth.

So I warned them. If it's not here tomorrow I begin filing complaints with the regulators responsible for licencing their business. And again, their only suggestion to resolve the problems is to use E banking. To which I challenged them "Why do you offer the service"? Ohhh, cat got your tongue? Silence. I could smell the bewilderment. So I explained that this was a false inducement that got me to sign on in the first place and that would be one of the corner stones of my complaint to Fair Practices. I told him to make sure this conversation was on their files. That way when I completely withdraw the rest of my funds they will show up as advertised.

So beware, the mail service they offer does not live up to what they claim. (Depends on which person you get on the phone and what facts they give).  To me it sure seems like they want to push everyone into E Banking. My answer to that is simple stop offering mail services.

Friday, April 19, 2013

Highbank Resources set to get contracts

This news has been vetted and it stands up. There have been a number of people over the last two years who've asked for my opinion on Highbank. What few people know is that Canada has some of the best aggregate in the world.

All along I've been saying this company needs contracts. It's not a discovery play. The contracts have been painfully slow in coming. They got a few contracts over the last year and I watched as some really big stuff started and stalled. Now, finally, the break they needed is coming. These (below) are compelling projects that will impact their bottom line. The company is NR'ing this because they know they are best suited and have an obvious distance edge.

It's time to move them off the radar into your risk folios. They are absurdly cheap like every other stock out there. While these contract may barely move the sp needle a foot hold will return rewards in the Fall. You'll also be safe because the sp won't go to zero.

There's no glory in gravel! Yup, but there are other major projects coming down the pipeline. This is going to be a slow painful stock to hold but an easy 30%+ for Fall.



B.C. Government Announces Four More Proposed LNG Projects at Site "A"-Grassy Point Close to Highbank's Swamp Point North Aggregate Project
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 12, 2013) - Highbank Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:HBK)(FRANKFURT:V7O) (the "Company") is very excited by the latest news regarding four more liquefied natural gas ("LNG") projects proposed, all in the Prince Rupert area. British Columbia's potential LNG production boom just got bigger.
British Columbia's Energy Minister Rich Coleman announced Wednesday that the provincial government has received four "new major international LNG project proposals".
Multinational companies including Nexen, Imperial Oil/ExxonMobil, Woodside Petroleum of Australia and Korea's SK E&S are the latest LNG proponents on a list that already includes Shell, PetroChina, Chevron Canada, BG Group and Petronas.
Nexen is joined in its project by state-owned CNOC-China's largest producer of gas and oil and Japanese petroleum company INPEX.
Woodside is Australia's largest independent oil and gas company and operates six of seven LNG processing facilities on that continent.
Imperial/Exxon is the world's largest international oil and gas company.
The four new proponents emerged in response to a provincial call for expressions of interest to situate facilities on Crown land at Grassy Point, north of Prince Rupert and within 40 miles of Highbank's Swamp Point North, Portland Canal aggregate project. To view a map of all three proposed LNG sites in B.C. from the February 22, 2013 - Globe and Mail -
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/british-columbias-potential-lng-terminals/article8956483/?from=8955271
The construction of these massive LNG plants will require vast amounts of construction aggregates throughout their build.
For further information on this announcement visit our website. To view this front page story in the Vancouver Sun
- April 11, 2013 http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Four+more+projects+proposed/8226268/story.html
On Behalf of the Board of Directors of HIGHBANK RESOURCES LTD.
Victor N. Bryant, CEO/President

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Venture Exchange Plummeting Updated

A quick look around show the fear growing. In addition to all the self inflicted wounds you now have the out of tune packing it in for the proverbial go away in May. As mentioned before, this started one and a half months early due to people like me saying run, run for your lives. Obviously, I was not the only one saying this down trend was going to continue.

Here's WRN:
https://www.google.ca/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1366145002575&chddm=97750&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=TSE:WRN&ntsp=0&ei=2LdtUfCiBKesiAKOBQ


See any sign of the smack down stopping? All the work they did was for nothing. The de-risking the planning, all of it. In fact, they will be worth less than when they started. For those of you who continue to hold I say hang in there. Just because the market says your broke does not mean those shares are worth nothing. For that to happen you'd literally have to go to zero. Should the regulators allow the Naked Shorting and HFT people to drive it to zero they would probably face criminal charges eventually. So you should have retained value in the form of production and profits. Yes, this will take a long time to get but when the ship comes in it will be worth it.

Here's what the regulators say about HFT:
Also, please note the existence of High Frequency Trading (HFT) [a subset of Algorithmic Trading]. HFT attempts to profit by exploiting market liquidity imbalances or short-term pricing inefficiencies. In as much, HFT is not a strategy onto itself rather a means of implementation and execution of a particular trading strategy on one (or several) electronic trading platforms and is characterized by higher trading volumes (hence smaller board lots), shorter holding periods, and smaller profits at the increment.

In plain English: The traders use faster computers than the exchanges and can front run them before they can react to changes in price between two exchanges. We claim that the exchanges will buy faster computers and beat them. We don't tell you that this is equivalent to an arms race where the traders have a lopsided advantage and the exchanges will never catch up. We were behind the implementation of the rules that permitted this and we sit on our hands and do nothing because we saw how much money they could steal and expect a share when we are out of office.

That should be how they define inefficiencies. There's no way the exchanges can get faster equipment on a daily basis but the traders can. They knew full well this was the case. In short they are the reason this has happened and billions have been stolen with their help.

Here's another one:
https://www.google.ca/finance?chdnp=1&chdd=1&chds=1&chdv=1&chvs=maximized&chdeh=0&chfdeh=0&chdet=1366145233153&chddm=98141&chls=IntervalBasedLine&q=CVE:SPA&ntsp=0&ei=v7htUYCUI-TJiwKphgE


 Would you believe this is a gold producer who is about to expand their resource, production and improve their IRR which currently stand around 14%? IIROC would have you believe this is good for business and Fair!!

Don't believe me then ask for yourself. While your at it send this link and ask what they did about it and how this was done (using HFTs?): http://www.barkerminerals.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=567797&_Type=Company-News&_Title=Barker-Minerals-Ltd.-Reports-Dr.-Susanne-Trimbaths-STP-Advisory-Services-LL... See below for their contact info.

Toady, Equidia chimes in:


"Fear and Bull Markets: Not a Good Combination

I called for the S&P to rise past 1500 last year based on fundamentals (mainly cost cutting and increasing margins) combined with the Fed's ability to artificially inflate asset prices. But the market is now at record levels - all in the midst of a struggling global economy.
The markets don't always reflect the health of the economy, but it has historically given us a look into a future that is often 6-12 months forward. However, if the future doesn't look as bright, the market can turn very quickly in order to establish that crystal ball. And the ball may no longer be as clear as history once taught us.  
A Robots Game 

The collective wisdom of investors that used to help gauge the sentiment of the economy based on expectations built into stock prices is no longer accurate.

Thanks to the power of manipulation.

Manipulation comes in many forms: it comes from the media's ability to brainwash (people really do believe everything they see on TV); High Frequency Trading (HFT); Algorithmic Trading software; and government intervention in the open market. Their combination of can easily send markets to new highs without reason.
 
Examples of manipulation are evident every day. 

Earlier in the week, both the S&P and the Dow were clearly breaking lower. But in the next day of trading, the software programs were ignited and the markets moved higher on very little support and volume, showing us that it's not the retail market moving stocks up.  

I can also tell you that there is something fishy going on in the Canadian markets, whereby stocks are forced downward by at least one of the major Canadian banks. It is blatantly manipulative and I will be working hard to uncover this story in the future."
http://www.equedia.com/blog/view.php/Manipulation-Gone-Bad 




If you have any further concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.
Regards,
Harry Apostolatos
Sr. Complaints & Inquiries Specialist
Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada
121 King St. W., Ste. 2000, Toronto, Ontario M5H 3T9
Phone: 416-646-7299 | Toll-free: 1-877-442-4322 – Option “2” | Fax: 416-364-6849
IIROC: Protecting Investors and Fostering Fair and Efficient Capital Markets across Canada.
What a joke. I'm not sure how he fits his nose in his office. He must have the window open.

Friday, April 12, 2013

BC Hydro Rip Off Proof Positive

In March I detailed how BC Hydro was robbing people. I explained that my own bill rocketed despite all the work and expense I did to reduce my energy foot print. http://goldcoppertungsten.blogspot.ca/2013/03/bc-hydro-is-robbing-people.html

Well, here's proof they are lying thieves. After that $700+ bill I added 350 more watts of brooder lights. We are using more hot water because it's mud season and we are out doors working on our farm so we need to shower a lot more. Our laundry use is up 2 loads a day extra. We still don't use the dryer and I probably should have just to add impact to this statement. With all the extra calories we are burning we are cooking a lot more so the stove is used more.

We have more live stock and that means more water pumped from the well more often. I've been running my power tools more. Last week I unplugged the water heater for the horse. We still don't use any power to heat our house. So that has not changed. My freezers must be working a bit harder as they are outside and it's 7 degrees warmer this week.

And wouldn't you know it... My power bill was 1/2

FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD!

These lying sons of @#$%^ are outright ripping us off.
Our power consumption has gone up not down.

It's absolutely clear to me that they are using the PROGRAMMABLE meter to follow the old meter's pattern plus about 10%!

BC HYDRO YOU HAVE BEEN CAUGHT RED HANDED

To my readers. You need to help spread the word. Tell people about this.

There's only one solution and one only. We have to speak collectively with our vote. We have to kick these steaming piles of S#*t to the ground and curb stomp them. Our governments are behind this.

It won't help to vote NDP. They are the ones who tried to tell us we'd have brown outs if we didn't build more power plants. They will not change this and in fact plan to raise taxes on top of this rip off.

You can't vote Liberal because they are protecting these scumbags from prosecution.

That leaves only the Greens and the Independents. Don't even think Conservative.

I like mines but I'm voting Green. I don't have an independent to vote for.


Copper Fox Feasibility or Not?

In the last week I referred the company to people looking to buy stocks. The question of the language in the NRs and the About section of CUU's site came up right away. It has also been a hot topic on discussion boards.

I pointed the contradiction out to Lynn that we have Nr'ed the completion of the FS and the about says it's a future event. This has caused problems with a couple recent people who looked into the company. Is this an error? They asked and if so why is the company missing something that simple. 

We know it was done and we know Teck has not come back with a deeming. Obviously, one question arises. Did they determine that this FS does not meet their FS requirements. Not is it Bankable but is it even a proper FS? With all the audits of it and it being signed off by third party we have every right to expect that it is a proper FS. However, Teck has 120 days to change their minds or make up their minds. This seems to be the ruling clause and by appearance only, the route Teck is taking with respect to the FS. 

By this respect it is safe to say by appearance that Teck has not completed their DD to make this determination. There is a lot of talk about Teck's fairness but this is being cast into doubt. There is also the relation to the marginal FS but Teck has all the historical data on the slide area that is currently classed as waste because it is currently in the inferred section. The limited drilling shows that it is good material. 

Is Teck taking extra time to decide whether to place this into production? We have Elmer stating privately that Teck would act fast but this is not the case. Now we have CUU saying that it's good Teck is still talking and that they are in discussions. But this aside, why have they not updated their web site and language to indicate that they have delivered the FS and are waiting for Teck to NR them back saying it is good or bad or that they acknowledge getting it? 

It's because of this that some of the buying abruptly halted. (Not because of today's NR). Lynn is forwarding my concerns to see about a qualified answer. It seems to me that CUU should be required to change that language to reflect the current position. Even if the About is just talking about the contract a milestone like this must be included. It should even include the date it was delivered. 

I have no problem with Teck wanting the full 120 days DD. But if we have not heard about the delivery then some of the discussions on the boards would be correct that the 120 clock has not started and this is a material event and the company would be in breach with us. Somehow, I can't see their legal department nor the regulators allowing this lapse. 

The company has to make the changes on all their public documents to reflect the exact nature of this business asap.  No where in this does it say we delivered it and are waiting. Going by the website alone we have not completed the FS despite publishing it. It's my understanding that Teck has not responded and that we are just going to wait. BUT and this is a big but, how long are we going to wait before they NR the world that the clock has started. I intend to find out.

The website: 
On completion of the Feasibility Study, Copper Fox earns Teck's 78% interest in Liard. Teck's earn back option to acquire either, 20%, 40% or 75%, of Copper Fox's interest in the Schaft Creek Project is triggered upon delivery of a "Positive Bankable Feasibility Study" (as defined) to Teck after which they have 120 days to make a decision.

The disclaimer language:
Teck may not accept that the delivery of the positive Feasibility Study constitutes delivery of a "Positive Bankable Feasibility Study" as defined pursuant to the terms of the Teck Option Agreement; the 120 day period that Teck has to exercise its earn back rights may not have commenced; the "Expenditures" may not constitute Expenditures as defined in the Teck Option Agreement in the quantum anticipated by Copper Fox,




Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Replacing The Venture Market

I could not say this better. You've heard me sounding the warnings since the beginning of 2011. Slowly the big names have started to admit what I already knew. Some are even going so far as to admit the details of the Ventures demise including what the Venture has done to itself.

"This new game seems to be over. The institutional money has vacated the sector because of pessimism that the super-cycle remains intact and concern that gold may have nowhere to go but down. I am concerned that we may see structural collapse in the junior resource sector due to a vacuum created by the departure of the feasibility-oriented institutional money and the continued absence of the more exploration discovery-oriented retail investor. Juniors still working on advanced projects cannot get the funding to continue work except at horrific dilution due to low stock prices. Juniors with good exploration ideas have a hard time raising any money because the market perceives the exploration glass as worse than half empty. This situation threatens the viability of the 1,000 companies on the TSX Venture Exchange that are real, functioning companies. We may see an entire institution disappear."
For the full Gold Report Article see here: http://blog.cambridgehouse.com/2013/02/15/can-the-tsx-venture-be-saved-john-kaiser/

I'm less concerned with the movements of the market being a cyclical thing. This is not why institutions are backing out. Not at all. The truth is that the Venture itself has sown the seeds of destruction. I keep pointing you to this news release: http://www.barkerminerals.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=567797&_Type=Company-News&_Title=Barker-Minerals-Ltd.-Reports-Dr.-Susanne-Trimbaths-STP-Advisory-Services-LL...
And Kaisers' take: In contrast, a structural inefficiency is one that does not disappear through competition generated by its identification. It is the collaborative fleecing of a victim where the spoils are systemically shared by the so-called arbitragers who are not competing with each other, but rather collectively against the victim.
The Canadian junior resource sector has been invaded by such a structural inefficiency. The trading culture that has turned 40% of the U.S. market into algorithmic-type trading has now wandered into the Canadian junior arena. Computerized programs and human proprietary traders armed with computers are stalking the system. When money flows in, they scuffle over to it and harvest it by selling stock they do not even own, flattening the position by the end of the day. The regulators allow these “directionally neutral” accounts that have the privilege of not tagging short sales as such because the intent is to cover short positions by the end of the day.
The uptick rule was eliminated to facilitate high frequency trading where the goal is to arbitrage price differences between equities and various structured products such as index funds, exchange traded funds, options and futures. This requires computer assisted simultaneous buying and selling of related securities in different markets. This is impossible to do legally on a meaningful scale if the uptick rule applies to short sales in equity markets.
This is one of the real reasons. It's the dirty play that goes on. The Venture has destroyed its own reputation by encouraging this type of behavior. This by itself is not enough to wipe the market out. Add High Frequency Trading and large capital pools. As Kaiser says, you can have great upside for nothing. The problem is that when this last round of proven projects completes there will be nothing left at all.

Only companies who can crowd source will be left. If you can't directly appeal to the crowd you'd better have a patron or you will perish.

I have to quote this for you too: "As an illustration, consider a gold deposit that was barely economic at $900/ounce ($90/oz) gold in 2008. Gold is currently trading nearly 80% higher at $1,610/oz. So you would think it is party time for the junior whose gold deposit was marginal at $900/oz gold. But it is not the case because if operating costs escalated 10% annually during the past five years, that $900/oz operating cost is 60% higher today or about $1,450/oz. Apply the same 10% escalation to the capital cost, which has to be incurred upfront, and you get a nasty capital expenditure explosion. Throw in tougher royalty and tax regimes imposed by financially stressed governments fixated on the phenomenal gain in the price of gold, and the economics decline further. So despite the gold price nearly doubling, many deposits are worse off today than a decade ago.
For many companies that got hold of a project, established a resource and perhaps even did a preliminary economic assessment (PEA), the projects are not viable even at current metal prices. Add into the mix the latent fear that precious metal prices are in a bubble, and it is no wonder the junior resource sector has been abandoned. Some of these projects may be recyclable a decade or so from now, but today these companies have an asset without any real value with current metal prices. A similar situation applies to the base metal sector."

Look what Newmont just did. Write down their northern project to the tune of $1.6 Billion! http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674who_killed_the_golden_goose/

The word is "go big or go home". If you wonder why CUU and GVR are holding up despite the market, well, now you know. And yes, don't be surprised to see Newmont looking at these projects. I'm betting they won't be the only ones. Newmont is a smart company and they are getting out of the gate early.

I have to quote this too because it's appearing all over the place. This is no accident. This was deliberate and it was intended to eliminate the retail forcing you to go to a broker who uses an HFT. The problem with relying on those types of investment outlets is they have an abysmal track record of picking winners.

"Regulators are also restricting the flow of money into corporate treasuries by trying to funnel it through the brokerage industry on the premise that brokers know how to assess a client’s risk profile and the risk-reward nature of a resource junior. What the regulators are really doing is setting a liability trap for the brokerage industry, which is avoiding it by shunning all but the more lucrative advanced resource juniors. Rules are being introduced that would prohibit a finder’s fee being paid to third parties who are not part of the brokerage establishment. The regulators are even thinking about reducing the exemptions that allow non-brokered private placements to be done. The regulators seem focused on stopping abuses whereby stock in private companies is sold to retail investors on false premises using the private placement exemptions. Public companies that are subject to rigorous disclosure rules and enforcement are unintended roadkill in efforts to deal with a serious problem."

If you've been reading up on this subject you will have come across the interview with a particular firm who I named before. In that interview they tried to counter my article point for point in an effort to convince people that they could still play in this market at a profit. Nonsense I say. This is literally the last round of the old ways. http://www.theaureport.com/pub/na/15124

The rules were set up to allow the abuses just like they were for the naked short as articled above (near the top of the page) and just like they were for several other dubious activities. Do you really believe these were acts of short shortsightedness? Really?? Bunk I say. This was a stupid attempt to make a cesspool out of the industry so you'd run for the cover of BANKS. See the link on my blog to the Venture Crisis Org people below.

But they've gone to far. Now the new money is taking over. Crowd sourcing is self regulating and pretty much a bare knuckle match for funds. Only the strong will survive there. No phony ass kissing boot licking regulators there who only serve their masters and bleed money off the system like vampires. No CEO who contrives to manipulate the investors into some ridiculous scheme where they abandon their own control over what they want to buy and sell. Just pure one on one economics.

Now, I have a bone to pick. If you are going to talk about stuff that I wrote you could at least give me a prop.
"The end game for this situation is that eventually fundamentals-oriented investors will withdraw entirely from the junior resource sector, leaving only the algo and human prop traders to battle each other. That may create the appearance of a thriving market for a while, but none of the capital in play flows into corporate treasuries. If the companies cannot produce fundamental successes, there is no reason for investors seeking winning bets on fundamental outcomes to pay attention to the junior resource sector. Furthermore, these day traders have become pretty good at recognizing when they are battling each other. Once it becomes apparent that they are cannibalizing each other rather than preying on real investors, they flee. Then there will be only very large spreads with little stock on either the bid or offer side, in effect a dead market. This is the institutional failure of the Canadian junior resource market that I fear." I went into a lot more detail in my article but this is essentially what will remain.

I'm sorry but I almost blew coffee out my nose onto my keyboard when reading the proposed solution. JK you have to realize that it's not possible to adequately predict the impacts of such things as First Nations groups or nutty dictators. I realize you want the Venture Exchange to survive but a Farmville of mining really?? Why not just admit that the game is crooked and needs to be done away with. You can't get rid of the crooks because they run the game. Crowd sourcing and direct action investment is the only way to keep these corrupt monsters out of the game permanently.

Clearly, the problem with the proposed model is that the lobbyist money would game the consensus to their pet projects whereby they could do exactly the same as before. This solution is not a solution and is just another attempt to keep the casino doors open. This solution is basically a graphical representation of the Bullboards! Gee, these are really useful. Perhaps you should read Stockhouse.

I'll leave off on this note for now. I understand why the big names are desperately looking for ways to revive this dead horse but adding another dead horse to get the wagon moving again? Sigh   




Thursday, April 4, 2013

Gold Reach GVR.v Update

This is the one I call the next Copper Fox. It has a huge resource and is proving it up one step at a time. They fit my criteria for an investment because they have used their money wisely and they have the results that indicate this could become a desired deposit. I've been following them for a long time waiting for proof this could be an open pit on a large scale.

The biggest issue was the overburden but over the last two years they have slowly demonstrated the near surface aspect of one of their deposits. It is growing in wow factor. The geology suggests the silver content will increase in the faulted areas and the copper grades have two important zones where I expect to see some more +1% grades over long intervals. If we get 2 holes in that area extending the depth and width then this becomes a high grade starter pit. I would speculate an IRR of 28%!

Now, we have to keep in mind this is very early days for the development. It's all inferred and indicated. But, looking at the results it's becoming obvious that they need to accelerate the exploration and push the enviro front. At this point I would deem this mine-able. They only need 1 open pit of high grade to get this going. Give me a 15 year life of mine and I'd be happy to own a chunk. Some of the grades in the other deposits are also worth going after. The are at a bit of depth but with an anchor they should be mined at reasonable cost.

This one should come off the radar and join your investment list. While I expect the price to continue to drop like everyone else I do not see it losing more than 30 cents. The company has nothing for shares outstanding. There is an investor holding a rather large chunk of shares and he doesn't plan to sell them. He is primarily the one who drove the price up. While other retail are being forced off their investments or just loosing nerve, this guy doesn't need the money and can ride out the market changes that are coming. On an interesting side not the TSXV is just beginning to see what they done to it and are realizing that their days are numbered.


VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/19/13 -- Gold Reach Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:GRV) (Gold Reach and/or the Company) is pleased to provide an overview of the company's 100% owned Ootsa Property, located adjacent to the producing Huckleberry Mine south of Smithers, British Columbia.
HIGHLIGHTS
--  Large Resource Base on the Property - At a 0.2% Cu Eq cut off the Ootsa
    Property contains 463.5 million tonnes of inferred resources plus an
    additional 67.8 million tonnes indicated. 
--  Higher Grade Material - At a 0.4% Cu Eq cut off the Ootsa Property
    contains 75.06 million tonnes of inferred resources plus an additional
    25.98 million tonnes indicated with grades near or above 0.5% Cu Eq. 
--  Near Surface Higher Grade Zones - Shallow higher grade zones that are
    potentially open pit mineable occur at East Seel, Seel Breccia zone, and
    Ox and could have potential to help accelerate pay back of capital
    expenditures. 
--  Contained Copper Equivalent - The property contains 3.26 billion pounds
    of copper equivalent inferred plus an additional 0.58 billion pounds of
    copper equivalent indicated. 
--  Technical Report Available - The technical report supporting the Seel
    and Ox resource estimates is complete and will be posted on Sedar and on
    our website shortly (http://goldreachresources.com). 

Resource Summary
Total resources for the Ootsa Property are summarized in the table below and are taken from recent resource updates conducted on the Seel and Ox deposits (previously released see January 29, 2013 and February 11, 2013 news releases). The table highlights the large resource base that now occurs on the Ootsa Property within the Seel and Ox deposits. At a 0.2% Cu Eq cut off property wide NI 43-101 compliant resources contain 463.5 million tonnes in the inferred category plus an additional 67.8 million tonnes in the indicated category. The tremendous rate at which resources have been increased over the past 2 years is illustrated in the graph available at http://goo.gl/WuzRC. Roughly 200 million tonnes of resources were added to the project following the 2011 exploration program and roughly 250 million tonnes of resources were added following the 2012 program. The Company anticipates that further significant resource increases are possible with continued exploration on the property.
Within this very large resource there is a substantial amount of higher grade material. At a 0.4% Cu Eq cut off the Ootsa property contains 75.06 million tonnes in the inferred category plus 25.98 million tonnes in the indicated category with average grades near or above 0.5% Cu Eq (see table below). Portions of these higher grade resources occur at or near surface in the East Seel, Seel Breccia Zone, and Ox deposits, and these near surface higher grade zones could be important for rapid pay back of capital expenditures in any future mining operation.
The near surface higher grade zone at East Seel (or Seel Cu-Au zone) was intersected in hole S11-90 which returned 194 metres grading 0.37% Cu and 0.42 g/t Au starting at 22 metres depth (previously released). To the north of East Seel, in the Seel Breccia zone, hole S06-42 returned 138 metres grading 0.85% Cu and 23 g/t Ag starting at 22 metres depth (previously released). At the Ox deposit hole Ox07-2 intersected 112.5 metres grading 0.36% Cu and 0.029% Mo from 30 metres depth, and hole Ox07-22 intersected 66.4 metres grading 0.36% Cu and 0.054% Mo from 6.1 metres depth (previously released). Some areas of near surface higher grade mineralization are also known at West Seel including hole S12-108 which intersected 316 metres grading 0.56% Cu Eq starting at 24 metres down hole, including 30 metres grading 1% Cu Eq starting at 74 metres down hole.
Understanding the near surface higher grade zones of mineralization on the Ootsa Property will be important as the company continues to advance the project and evaluate the economics.
Summary of Resources on the Ootsa Property                                  
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          Grade greater than Cut-off       
                                   -----------------------------------------
                    Cut-off  Tonnes                                         
Deposit  Class       (CUEQ) (x1000) Cu (%) Au (g/t) Mo (%) Ag (g/t) CuEq (%)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seel     Indicated     0.20  67,760   0.21     0.17  0.015     2.02     0.39
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total    Indicated     0.20  67,760                                         
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seel     Inferred      0.20 410,880   0.16     0.11  0.018     1.95     0.31
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ox       Inferred      0.20  52,650   0.21     0.03  0.022     1.25     0.32
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total    Inferred      0.20 463,530                                         
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seel     Indicated     0.40  25,980   0.30     0.26  0.018     2.63     0.55
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total    Indicated     0.40  25,980                                         
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seel     Inferred      0.40  67,160   0.25     0.20  0.029     3.00     0.51
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ox       Inferred      0.40   7,900   0.31     0.05  0.031     1.50     0.46
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total    Inferred      0.40  75,060                                         
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and by definition do not         
demonstrate economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part  
of the mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserves. An         
'Indicated Mineral Resource' is that part of a Mineral Resource for which   
quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical characteristics   
can be estimated with a level of confidence sufficient to allow the         
appropriate application of technical and economic parameters, to support    
mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. An   
'Inferred Mineral Resource' is that part of a Mineral Resource for which    
quantity and grade or quality can be estimated on the basis of geological   
evidence and limited sampling and reasonably assumed, but not verified.     

The total contained metals on the Ootsa Property are summarized in the table below. The property contains 1.79 billion pounds of copper in the inferred category plus 0.31 billion pounds of copper in the indicated category along with 1.5 million ounces of gold inferred plus 0.37 million ounces of gold indicated. Molybdenum totals 188.6 million pounds inferred plus 22.4 million pounds indicated, and silver totals 27.9 million ounces inferred plus 4.4 million ounces indicated. There is a considerable amount of silver known to occur within the high grade silver-base metal veins at the Damascus prospect, but this area currently does not contain a compliant resource estimate. On a copper equivalent basis the property contains 3.26 billion pounds of copper equivalent inferred plus another 0.58 billion pounds of copper indicated.
Ootsa Property contained metals at 0.2% Cu Eq cut off                      
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Element                       Deposit           Contained metal            
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copper - indicated            Seel              313,708,980 pounds         
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copper - inferred             Seel + Ox         1,793,090,647 pounds       
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                           
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gold - indicated              Seel              370,351 ounces             
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gold - inferred               Seel + Ox         1,503,893 ounces           
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                           
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Molybdenum - indicated        Seel              22,407,784 pounds          
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Molybdenum - inferred         Seel + Ox         188,586,506 pounds         
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                           
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silver - indicated            Seel              4,400,640 ounces           
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Silver - inferred             Seel + Ox         27,875,614 ounces          
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                           
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cu Eq - indicated             Seel              582,602,392 pounds         
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cu Eq - inferred              Seel + Ox         3,259,524,380 pounds       
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exploration Targets to Test
The Ootsa Property contains numerous exploration targets located within a few kilometres radius of the known deposits, and the property has a lot of exploration upside. A map showing some of the exploration targets on the property is available at the flowing link: http://goo.gl/fJ8d4. There are 5 geophysical chargeability anomalies surrounding the Ox and Seel deposits, and 13 magnetic anomalies. The Seel deposit contains overlapping chargeability and magnetic anomalies and 2 of the untested chargeability anomalies have similar features. Damascus style high grade silver base metal veins have been encountered in drilling at both the Seel and Ox deposits, and this style of mineralization could be widespread across the property. Known or interpreted faults with potential to host silver base metal veins are shown on the Exploration Target map at the link above.
Plans for 2013
Funding and planning for the 2013 exploration season at Ootsa are in progress. Detailed plans will be announced when they are finalized. The Company anticipates another aggressive exploration program at Ootsa in 2013 to fill in and expand known deposits, and further explore and drill test the highest priority exploration targets surrounding the known zones of mineralization. The 2013 program will likely include substantial drilling, extending the geophysical coverage over the area, a large surface exploration program, additional metallurgy, and possibly baseline environmental, geotechnical, and engineering studies.
For more information please see our website at http://goldreachresources.com. All of our recent news releases can be viewed on the Company's website at http://goldreachresources.com/news/2013/.
Seel and Ox Technical Report
The Technical Report supporting the Seel and Ox resource estimates is now complete and will be posted on Sedar and on the company's website (http://goldreachresources.com) under the Technical Report tab shortly.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Happy Creek HPY.v shows us more goods!

If your here for the first time you should reward yourself with a full study of their properties. The have advantages like location and results that should excite the market. Obviously, the market is being crushed and only projects that are developed or sold will generate cash so here is a company with both opportunities.

The latest highly positive results come from the SilverBoss claim. (See below.) The reason I follow them is because for $35 million they could be a tungsten producer. They also have copper grade right beside Teck's Highland Valley mine that definitely have Teck looking over the fence. They have a deal with Newmont and last, they have gold! Show me a Junior that has all this under one roof.

I suggest you browse their properties and have a really good look at the maps and NR's. The results just keep getting better. This latest round of data surrounding the Boss Mountain mine (Xstrata has a proposed super pit there) are a real eye opener. I don't have time to go into the geology today but that will come in time.

To date, the Company has performed exploration on eight early-stage properties, filtering and resolving a number of new targets. Several targets tested by drilling have met with success. Due to their location and quality the Company's assets are thought have excellent potential to create value for shareholders. Highlights to date include:
  1. The Fox Property: The best new tungsten discovery. Underground mining grade in an open-pit setting
  2. The Rateria Property: Two new copper zones 6.5 km from a producing open pit at Teck's Highland Valley Copper mine, Canada's largest copper producer;
  3. The Silverboss Property: A new and large scale copper, molybdenum and gold system adjacent to the former Boss Mountain molybdenum mine that is owned by Xstrata;
  4. The Hawk Property: A copper-gold system with high grades in surface sampling;
  5. The Silver Dollar Property: Several historical, high-grade gold-silver past producing mines and developed prospects.
  6. The Eye Property: Optioned to Newmont Mining Inc.



Happycreekminerals.com/Silverboss




Happy Creek completes Geophysical Survey at Silverboss property, B.C.

April 3, 2013 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSX-V: HPY, the "Company") announces results from the 2012 exploration of its 100% owned Silverboss property, located approximately 85 km (kilometres) northeast of 100 Mile House in South Central British Columbia, Canada. Happy Creek has a 100% interest in 155 square km of mineral claims that surround the former Boss Mountain molybdenum mine property, owned by Xstrata. Boss Mountain was Canada's first primary molybdenum mine. To the northwest and north of the Silverboss property, Gold Fields and Newmont Mining are exploring for copper-molybdenum-gold bulk tonnage deposits.
The Silverboss property is underlain by geology similar to that being explored by the major companies to the north, and also locally comes within 350 metres from the edge of an open pit of the Boss Mountain mine. On the Silverboss, the Company has performed systematic surface soil, silt and rock sampling that has outlined several prospective new targets. The Silverboss Shaft area has returned values of 2.52 percent copper, 6.21 g/t gold, 295 g/t silver and 6.76 g/t indium in grab samples. The Horse Trail zone contains positive values in rock samples ranging from around 0.10 to 1.69% copper, 0.108 to 0.637% molybdenum and 1.03 to 10.0 g/t gold that extend westward from the Boss Mnt mine's open pits.
During 2012, Happy Creek conducted a three dimensional induced polarization (3D IP) and magnetic geophysical survey covering the Silverboss Shaft and Horse Trail prospects. Work was performed by SJ Geophysics of Vancouver, B.C.
At the Silverboss Shaft area, the 3DIP survey has a background chargeability of less than 4.0 milliseconds (ms) and a positive response of 9 to over 15 ms chargeability occurs from the surface of the known mineralized zone to over 300 metres below surface. The positive response extends north and east to the East Breccia showing (1.24 g/t gold and 2.48% copper in grab samples). Overall, the area of positive IP response measures approximately 500 metres by 400 metres in dimension and remains open in extent. These encouraging geophysical targets are overlain at surface with soil and rock samples containing positive values of copper, gold and silver.
At the Horse Trail zone, the 3D IP survey has a background chargeability of less than 4.0 ms. A moderate to very strongly positive response of 9 to over 40 ms extends westward and up to one kilometre from the open pits of the past-producing Boss Mountain mine. The strongest portion of this zone, approximately 650 by 500 metres in dimension corresponds to lower resistivity and occurs around 100 to over 400 metres beneath positive values of copper, molybdenum, gold and silver in quartz veins and soil samples at surface.
The new geophysical surveys have identified and confirmed potential for large scale copper, molybdenum, gold and silver mineralized zones to occur in two areas. These two areas represent only a portion of an overall much larger area containing positive values in rock and soil samples that remain un-surveyed by the IP geophysical method. All targets remain untested by drilling.
Through systematic surface exploration, the Company has developed new exploration targets that are located between an important past-producing mine to the south and two major companies exploring for copper-molybdenum-gold deposits to the north. Further exploration on the Silverboss property is planned to include additional geophysical surveys and a drill program.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
"David E Blann"

Copper Fox Talks

Liddy at Agoracom posted his Q&A with the CEO of Copper Fox. While these are a bunch of very good questions they are not all my personal choice.

On thing I would have focused on is what we would be doing under the JV that has to be formed on the next few weeks. The contract specifies a timeline for a news release this week. I would not expect a rigid timeline just because of the enormous scope of this project and the busy schedule for Teck's Copper Division. The Board of Director has its plate pretty full and is due some slack.

In a past post I cited Abacus. Now, I do not mean to compare the deposits or the social implications. I just wanted to draw attention to how a JV goes down. While they are mired on protests CUU has no such opposition.

In fact, CUU was asked to add to the enviro studies and they could have set that aside because it wouldn't come into play until much much later and they could have just pushed it out until the JV was formed. They would have had more than a year to begin addressing those studies but instead they immediately added them to the list of todo's. Frog Baseline studies?? Yup, just an example of some of the work they've already done. So if enviro ask "can you do a study on this?" they say yep, sure can.

Some companies would have looked at the cost and pushed it off until the JV money came in but not CUU. This brings me to the question of how much dilution? Given the horrible market that is going to continue to erode, what will they do? Elmer gave a short response saying we'd just have to accept it.

What I believe is about to happen is Teck is going to pony up in the next couple of weeks. Teck is well aware of investor sentiment. They know it will be crippling if we have to go to the market for 10 million dollars. There would be outrage. There would be accusations of feet dragging and possibly complaints to the regulators. This would force CUU to make Teck comply with the timelines and no one wants that. In order to keep the cozy arrangement they will have to be attendant to the needs of the investors. Here, I don't just mean the retail.

If you read the answers Elmer Stewart gave you get the distinct impression Teck is not buying this project wholesale. They are Earning Back In. There have been a number of good indications that this will be the case. Elmer was appointed to the BoD of Liard is probably the strongest indicator. Of course, a rival bid could come out of no where and shake up the plan.

The financial commitments that go with a JV are large. I expect Teck will escrow the money right away so they show good faith. before this month ends we should have a definitive statement and a clear path of development. This will be the "out of the woods" path that leads to development. If anyone plans to challenge the project they will begin here.

This is also where an offer should come from the outside. Any major or Mid Tier who wishes to take a run at CUU will do so here. The reason is simple. We added to the enviro list as a smoke screen. By delaying the filing we push out the milestone to the next de-risking stage. I bet that Teck is pleased. They don't want an unsolicited offer.

About soliciting offers. Elmer has stated that majors have come and kicked the tires but they all will wait to see what Teck plans to do. In today's market and with a small indication of the future i would expect Teck to take the operators role and get Elmer to find a partner all while shouldering the responsibility for the development. I expect a new deal to emerge with respect to the money. At 40% Teck remains the defacto operator and and pays 3 times the cost. This is not enough money to bring the project to a full enviro standing plus power plus a road etc. They will need about $300 million. [Edited. I originally wrote 2 times and $200 M].  I expect Teck to fund what they want to see.

Who will the market react? People fleeing a raging brush fire don't turn around and run at the flames. The deal will have to be big enough to douse a clear path out. Failure to do so will impact Teck's share price and not just CUU. Their own investors will see this as muddling.

There's been an awefull lot of talk about clarity in the media. Despite what some might think about the talking heads self promotion they must take into account that those heads have reach. A lack of clarity by the Major at this point will harm the Major. This would also open the door for another Major to make an attempt. If a Hud Bay sized company came in and made a decent offer Teck would have their hands full. What are the boys from Inmet going to do? Hmmmm. That's a pretty deep talent pool currently unemployed. lol.

First Quantum, do they have their hands full or... As a pure copper play they could still be on the hunt and just waiting to see what Teck does. This would be a long term safe project where they could bring their cost cutting tools to bear. Could this result in a tug of war with Teck? Yup, sure could. This would make for an interesting relationship. Rivals!

I was going to call and discuss some of the aspects that would take CUU forward but time escaped and we are just too close to the Teck JV decisions so this can wait and we should have a number of things to discuss soon.

Liddy's Post:


Here's the report on my conversation with Elmer as promised.
1. Elmer, you have put five mines into production. In comparison to those mines, how do you view Schaft Creek, in terms of scope and potential profitability? Is this the pinnacle of your geology career to date, or has the macro environment dampened your expectations?
What has that got to do with Copper Fox? There’s no comparison at all. Those are small open pit or underground mines. Schaft Creek is a large open mine.

2. What is the status of our negotiations with Teck. I know we are waiting to hear from them. But how close do you think they are to making a decision? I understand Teck is asking questions and CUU has been answering these questions. What kind of questions are they asking? Technical FS related, or JV or prices for buying the project/company?
They are assessing their rights under the Option Agreement. I think they want to understand how we did the Feasibility Study, the logic behind it. Based on their questions I think they are trying to decide what they want to do with SC. They have 2 choices walk away or earn back their interest. I think they are trying to make their mind up as to what they are going.
3. The PP that is open, does it have to be closed before negotiations can continue?
No. No it’s different. The company needs to proceed and conduct its business and part of the discussions with Teck obviously is the business of the Corporation.
4. What was the official start of the 120 day clock Feb 4th? or earlier? In your opinion from conversations with Teck, do you think we’ll get a decision from Teck before June 4th
Sounds about right. 4 months.

5. How will Teck and CUU arrive at a fair price for a buyout given our SP and world financial stability? You mention Real Options Case (ROC) valuations as a current method of valuing mines. Our ROC at 8% NPV is $1.3 Billion. What would a miner pay for that ROC?
There is no mention of a buyout. Teck has the right pursuant to the Option Agreement to earn back into the project. If Teck is considering a buyout, that is something we are not aware of.
6. Why have shareholders not been formally informed via a NR that Teck has accepted the positive feasibility study?
Section 5.5 of the Option Agreement is not a well worded document its interpretive. The objective is to get Teck to make a decision to earn back on the project. Our goal is to work with Teck and to provide answers to their questions, with the view to have them earn back an interest in the project.
7. The option agreement paragraph 15.1 requires Teck to state their intention of whether they are going to pursue a Definitive JV agreement 60 days after their acceptance of a pfs. That would be April 5. Will shareholders be notified on that date of Teck's decision and if not what would the reason be for not doing so.
We are expecting to hear from Teck a Definitive JV by Friday this week??? Just a minute, hang on.[Searching for Option Agreement.] Found it. And the question is? Ok, I hear what you are saying. According to that, the answer is YES. So we should expect to hear something from Tech this Friday or will there be a postponement? We sent out a NR that we are in discussions with Teck they are earning their interest back in the project, ­­­and on the advisement of counsel, I cannot answer that.
8. Any chance of Teck buying us out 100%? Is that why Teck has not transferred the Liard shares? If he beats around the bush and say they aren't important right now, then counter with: But the BC hydro NR was deemed material and that NR basically says we are intending to apply for power. How could the status of all those Liard shares not be more material?
Can’t tell you that. Anything I tell you would be speculation and I believe there is already too much of that going on. People need to understand that if Teck was to make an offer, we would have to issue a NR very, very quickly. We under the rules of the Exchange, cannot sit on something that is material.If Teck was to deliver an offer, then we will have to issue a NR. Usually it has to be based on something concrete. It’s not like maybe we’re going to do this or that. Until it is definitive you don’t really know what you have.
So basically the talk about a deal already been made months ago is all baloney?
There’s been no deal made with Teck. If there was a deal made, there would have been a NR out announcing that. To the best of my knowledge, that has never been a deal discussed with Teck.
9. When will the Liard shares be transferred over?
They’ll be transferred over whenever we ask them to. We haven’t asked them to be transferred yet because right now I am more interested in working with Teck to get them to decide what they are going to do with SC and hopefully, they will decide to come in to the project.
9. If Teck walks do we have a Plan B. Do we have a major lined up? Are we going to do more drilling and exploration?
Yes, we do have a Plan B. Obviously, we will have to try and find another major. As you know, there has been some enhancements recommended in the FS. Doing these enhancements, the expectation, assuming success, will significantly improve the value of the project. At the same time, CUU will have to make a decision whether we are going to do that work or not. Clearly, we have been approached in the past by other majors, but they basically said they are going to wait to see what Teck decides to do. Clearly, if Teck decides to walk away from the project, then we obviously will have to approach another large producer because the project is of sufficient size and scale and we will need somebody who has developed mines of this scale before, with the infrastructure and personnel that it is done properly and in an appropriate timeline.
10. If we have to deal with other suitors, how long will that take?
They will have to do due diligence of all the material and yes, it will take months. It all depends how long it takes to find an attractive partner. There’s a lot going on in the copper space right now, the copper industry is expecting 2013 to be a very busy year. We have just seen a major acquisition in First Quantum and so it’s hard to put a timeline as to how long it would take.
11. Do we expect a bidding war?
That’s a possibility. But there again it is strictly speculation. If we were to go out and look for another partner, then I suspect we would probably approach a number of different companies at the same time.
12. How do you feel about the dilution at these depressed share prices and why doesn't CUU attempt to support the market share price by sharing more Mira and Titan findings.
Mira and Titan findings have been shared with the market. There has been NRs out on all those specific surveys. That information has been out a considerable period of time. As far as supporting the market. I don’t think companies should do that. Am I happy with the sp? No. Do I think they are undervalued? Yes. But, there is such a huge disconnect between the value of the resource section vis-à-vis the value of projects in the ground, or value of projects in development stage. Until that turns around, then I don’t quite know what you can do to improve that. Clearly we’ve shown that SC is very viable operation and it is practical and realistic. We’ve built into their sectors to allow expansion.Clearly, with the reserves in the ground, with the resource that is not included in the reserves, it certainly indicates a longer life. There are project enhancements that shows considerable amount of added value that could probably be added, based on success. You are looking at huge expiration upside potential. None of that is being considered by people out there. I don’t know whether or not brokerage houses are not interested in resource sectors or is it because they already have too many resource stocks on their books. Whatever it is, it’s a culmination of many factors. But I do believe that SC in undervalued.
13. How does Ernesto feel about the negotiations and what is happening?
Yes, EE is happy.
14. About the recent PP. Why did Ernesto not just go for the full $3M. He did not pull the plug on us did he? Did we find investors for the other $500K? Are we going to reprice that PP?
Cathy handles that aspect of the Company.
15. What about the EA? Why did we move it to Q3 from Q1?
Mainly because we have been requested, outside the terms of reference from the government and various components, they’ve asked us to do some additional studies and we are complying with that because we think that that information will be required during the permitting process.
16 When will BC Hydro start the Facilities Study? Do we have any connections in BC Hydro who could move things along faster? Their average timeline from start of study to end is about 6 months to 3 years. How do these timelines jive or not jive with the BFS timelines? Wasn't the BFS based on the premise that power would already reach the site by Mid 2014?
We’ve met guys from BC Hydro from the contract we just signed. That contract is part of a process whereby BC Hydro looks at your requirements because they will need to know how much power you will be drawing off the line. I believe a lot of shareholders misunderstood the NR. That’s pretty significant. BC Hydro needs to know what equipment to put in place, to hook up SC with power requirements as well. They are looking at all the equipment and all the motors, gear drives and everything related to the SC project to tell us how much we actually will be needing.
17. How long do you think they will take to do the Study?
It’s probably going to take about a year. That’s quite an involved process. We obviously will be working closely with them, providing information, getting updates and so forth.
18. How long will it take for the study to be approved so we can start construction?
It’s not about getting approved or not. They are going to be doing the study. We are obviously going to be getting updates as we go along cause we need to work with them and they need to understand our mill and our power requirements in terms of equipment we have on there. We will be working with their people and come up with, basically conclude the study together.
19. When can we expect them to start construction?
They’ve already started constructing the Northern Transmission Line. That’s anticipated to be done by the end of Q2 2014, assuming there are no delays. Construction of the Power line from SC to the BC Hydro substation at Bob Quinn that is the responsibility of whomever develops the SC project.That will only start after the EA has been submitted and approved and the permitting process has been completed.
20. Are you happy with the progress CUU is making with Teck?
I’m very happy that Teck is having discussions with us regarding the earn back since we delivered the PFS to them. I am happy that Teck is seriously considering the project for a while. The fact that it has been approximately 2 months and we are still discussing, shows me, in my opinion, that they have a significant level of interest in the project and trying to make up their minds and decide what they are going to do.
21. For us long time investors of CUU, who are also really worried about dilution with more significant delays to a liquidity event, what advice do you have for us?
Unless a company has income by way of selling a product, there’s not much a company can do other than issue shares. Nobody likes dilution, but on the other hand, you can’t have inactivity either. You’ve got to work on building the company. If your only source of cash to conduct those activities is by issuing shares is not like you have a whole bunch of options available to you. I don’t like dilutions like anybody else because hopefully, depending on where the whole thing goes, the fewer shares you have out, but on the other hand, you also have to do the work. It cost money to run the company that’s why we’ve been doing very very small placements and hopefully Teck will decide that they are coming into the project and they will pick up all the cost of the work. Our cost will drop significantly they they’ll pick it up because of the terms of the Agreement on an earn back.