Here is a little company that just came to my attention that is as good a speculation as there is out there today. Last Monday the company was informed by its Joint Venture partner Apex Silver that it has begun a drill program on its silver project. Apex silver is George Soros's mining company so you can bet that if the property pans out, it will receive a very high profile. To date 1 hole has been completed and judging by the activity in the market, the visuals must be good.
There are 12.1 million shares outstanding and they have very little cash but are carried by Apex. Insiders control 25-30% of the stock and will keep funding the stock as needed until a higher price is achieved to finance.
With a market cap of $2.5 million Canadian its hard to go wrong buying some of this cheap paper.
Technically the chart of the stock looks very bullish. Volume has been heavier than normal since the start of the new year and the price touched an intraday 52 week high today. There is no real resistance until $0.50 or so.
Company phone number is 416-364-1130 and to date they do not have a web site.
Property looks fantastic as is evident in the most recent news release that announces the drill inception of the drill campaign:
Excellon Resources Inc -
Excellon has been advised that Platosa drilling
is under way
Excellon Resources Inc
EXN
Shares issued 6,699,805
1999-01-12 close $0.17
Wednesday Jan 13 1999
Mr. Richard Brissenden reports
Excellon has been advised by Apex Silver Mines Ltd. that it has commenced a
drilling program on the Platosa property.
The Platosa property is five kilometres northwest of Bermijillo, Durango State,
Mexico and lies 1.5 kilometres from a major paved highway, railroad and electric
supply. In December 1997 Excellon's geological consultants completed a program
which included geological mapping, geochemistry, geological interpretation,
mapping and sampling (47 samples). The following paragraph is taken from
Apex's report.
Mineralization observed at Platosa is typical of that seen throughout the 2,200
kilometre long belt of replacement skarn deposits that crosses northern Mexico.
Platosa lies centrally within this belt and offers attractive possibilities for containing
additional economic base and precious metals-rich skarn replacement ores. The
area lies only 25 kilometres from the Ojuela mine at Mapimi which produced five
to six million tonnes of ore grading in excess of 3.5 grams per tonne Au, 475
grams per tonne Ag, 15 per cent Pb, 10 per cent Zn and 0.2 per cent Cu. There
has been previous mining at Platosa where more than 75,000 tonnes of high-grade
ores were recovered from the old workings. Five selected samples were taken
from the existing underground workings. Assays from the samples ranged from
0.3 grams per tonne Au to 9.6 grams per tonne Au; 960 grams per tonne Ag to
1,600 grams per tonne Ag; 12 per cent to 19 per cent Pb; 5.1 per cent to 39 per
cent Zn; and 1 per cent to 3 per cent Cu. Furthermore, 1970 vintage smelter
liquidation sheets for the Platosa mine ores show 0.35 of a gram to 1.75 grams
per tonne Au; 3,000 to 3,750 grams per tonne Ag; 30 per cent to 40 per cent Pb;
and 2.0 per cent to 12 per cent Zn. The fact that these grades and the style of
mineralization are similar to those at Mapimi strongly indicates the Mapimi-like ore
bodies and/or metals contents might be expected at Platosa. The property has
been owned by a Mexican family and until Excellon's recent involvement has never
had modern geological techniques applied to it nor has it ever been drilled.
On Aug. 18, 1998 Excellon signed an exploration and development agreement
with Apex with respect to the Platosa property. Apex is a worldwide mining and
exploration and development company with a primary focus on silver. It's shares
are traded on the American Stock Exchange.
Under the terms of the agreement Apex can earn a 65 per cent direct interest in
the property with Excellon retaining a 35 per cent interest. At that point a joint
venture would be formed. Should Apex decide to bring the property into
production it would provide Excellon with a bankable feasibility study.
The agreement provides for property payments by Apex to Excellon to
$1.35-million (U.S.) over 4.5 years and minimum exploration expenditures of
$1.5-million (U.S.) by Apex over five years with a minimum $100,000 (U.S.) in
the first year. On signing Apex made an initial property payment to Excellon of
$75,000 (U.S.). Excellon is responsible for making all property payments
(totalling $973,000 (U.S.) over 4.5 years) to the underlying property owners
during the option period.
(c) Copyright 1999 Canjex Publishing Ltd. canada-stockwatch.com
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