Aztec Mining debuts on the mighty pinks
2005-02-22 20:42 ET - Street Wire
Also Street Wire (C-AZTM) Aztec Mining Corp
Also Street Wire (U-CMKX) CMKM Diamonds Inc
Also Street Wire (C-KPG) Consolidated Pine Channel Gold Corp
Also Street Wire (C-UCA) United Carina Resources Corp
Also Street Wire (U-USCA) US Canadian Minerals Inc
by Lee M. Webb
Aztec Mining Corp., a recently resuscitated Nevada-registered, Indiana-headquartered company with no cash, no regulatory filings, no track record and one little news blurb to its credit, tallied a volume of more than 3.48 million shares in its trading debut on the mighty pink sheets.
The pink debutante opened at eight cents, flirted with 12 cents and dipped to seven cents before closing at eight cents on Feb. 17. (All amounts are in U.S. dollars.)
At least part of the interest in the obscure company was generated by Internet followers of CMKM Diamonds Inc., a massively diluted subpenny pink sheet promotion headed by Saskatchewan native Urban Casavant.
A week or so before Aztec began changing hands on the mighty pinks, a CMKM groupie and insiderish rumour-monger excitedly spread word of Aztec's imminent trading debut on a number of Internet chat sites. While his timing was a bit off, the Internet tout did manage to spark some interest in Aztec among CMKM's large following.
The excited touting of the CMKM groupie turned on the rumour that Aztec had acquired some Saskatchewan mining claims that had previously featured prominently in Mr. Casavant's pink promotion.
In fact, there is some substance to that rumour, though it remains to be seen whether Aztec will be able to finalize the acquisition of the Saskatchewan claims, which are currently the subject of a legal dispute.
Some of the connections to CMKM will be examined during the course of a review of what little is known about Aztec.
Revival
Aztec is the latest incarnation of a corporate entity registered in Nevada on July 28, 1998. It is not clear what business, if any, was conducted by Aztec's predecessor.
According to the Nevada Secretary of State, the company filed a certificate of revival on Aug. 16, 2004. That was followed by several amendments to the company's articles of incorporation. Among other things, the company's name was changed to Aztec and the authorized share capital was incrementally bumped up to its current 1.5 billion shares.
Following the revival, Scott Tobia took on the roles of president, secretary and treasurer of Aztec. He also serves as a director of the company.
Blue-light special
Mr. Tobia's qualifications for his multitasking leadership of Aztec reportedly include a stint as a Kmart manager, though it is not clear whether he was a store manager, a department manager or some other type of manager altogether.
In any event, following an unspecified term as a Kmart employee, Mr. Tobia reportedly moved on to Parker Hannifin as "a quality control manager" in 2001 and 2002.
Mr. Tobia's next reported stop was at HH Gregg, a consumer electronics retailer with several outlets in the Aztec chief's hometown of Indianapolis. Evidently Mr. Tobia has been a salesman for HH Gregg for approximately a year.
Perhaps understandably missing from Mr. Tobia's thin Aztec resume is any mention of his entrepreneurial exploits as a domain name squatter.
On March 9, 2004, less than a week after CMKM announced that it had been assigned a new trading symbol, CMKX, to take effect on March 10, 2004, Mr. Tobia registered the domain name cmkx.com.
Apparently, Mr. Tobia then tried to flog the domain name to CMKM, even suggesting that he would accept shares of the pink sheet promotion in exchange, to no avail.
The cmkx.com registration information has since been rather sloppily edited, removing any mention of Mr. Tobia.
Mr. Tobia is backstopped by Aztec director Paul Baker, who reportedly has some mining and engineering experience "in North and South America and other third world countries."
The only company identified as part of Mr. Baker's experience is Yellow River Mining Corp., where he reportedly worked as a private consultant from 1999 to 2001. Yellow River has ties to both CMKM and closely related U.S. Canadian Minerals Inc. through yet another pink sheet company, Juina Mining Corp.
Expanding horizons
In addition to Aztec, Mr. Tobia heads up two recently incorporated private Nevada companies, Easton Investments and KittyHawk Holdings. Easton was incorporated on Dec. 8, 2004, and KittyHawk was formed on Jan. 24, 2005.
Mr. Baker is also expanding his horizons as the president, secretary and treasurer of Nevada-registered Geo Logics Inc., which was formed on Jan. 19 of this year.
Perhaps of some interest, the registered agent for Easton, KittyHawk and Geo Logics is Stevenson Management Group Inc., which features Shawn F. Hackman as president, secretary and treasurer, roles he assumed from lawyer Brian Dvorak.
By something of a coincidence, Mr. Dvorak has done some legal work for both CMKM, currently under a cease trade order issued by the Saskatchewan Financial Services Commission, and U.S. Canadian Minerals, now under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
By something of yet another coincidence, Mr. Dvorak's Stevenson Management successor Mr. Hackman once served as secretary and treasurer of four Nevada companies headed by John E. (Ed) Dhonau, who has ties to CMKM and is the majority shareholder of U.S. Canadian Minerals.
In a reversal of roles, Mr. Dhonau served as secretary and treasurer of a Nevada corporation headed by Mr. Hackman. All five Nevada companies featuring both Mr. Dhonau and Mr. Hackman as officers have had their registrations revoked.
Mr. Hackman apparently has no direct connections to Aztec, CMKM or U.S. Canadian Minerals, which may be something of a relief to many of the companies' shareholders, given his history.
Mr. Hackman is a disbarred, SEC-suspended lawyer and admitted securities fraudster who copped a plea to criminal charges last year after being named in a 64-count, 100-page grand jury indictment unsealed in August of 2003.
According to the allegations in the indictment, Mr. Hackman and four co-defendants facilitated the manufacture of fraudulent shell companies in which the promoters gained hidden control of all or virtually all of the public float through the concealed use of nominee officers, directors and shareholders.
In his plea agreement, Mr. Hackman admitted that, from at least July of 1995 to November of 2001, he and his co-defendants and others known and unknown were members of a criminal organization engaged in securities fraud, money laundering, wire fraud and other illegal activities.
Mr. Hackman also admitted that, among other things, the scheme involved fabrication of corporate records and stock records; mergers of shell corporations with private companies; formation of companies in the Bahamas to cover up the fraud; and retaining lawyers to issue false legal opinions indicating that the shares of the shell corporations were freely tradable.
In February of last year, Mr. Hackman pled guilty to one count of conspiracy racketeering and agreed to criminal forfeiture of property obtained through racketeering. His four co-defendants entered not guilty pleas.
Evidently Mr. Hackman is now good-to-go as the head of a Nevada company providing registered agent services in that state.
The story
An adage in the promotional world is that stocks are not bought, they are sold; and to sell a stock you must have a "story."
Largely free of the constraints of regulatory oversight, many pink sheet companies develop very imaginative promotional tales. Aztec's story is a work in progress, but some of the early elements are sketched out on the company's recently unveiled website, which is also a work in progress.
"Aztec Mining Corporation is a company that is actively involved in the exploration and mining of precious metals," the company proclaims on its website.
Just where the fledgling company is "actively" exploring, let alone mining, is something of a mystery; though Aztec does claim to have a property in "the Bowser Creek area of Alaska."
Some further information can be gleaned from documentation prepared by Aztec in advance of its trading debut.
"Our initial interest is in exploiting gold, silver and platinum from properties we have an interest in which are located in Alaska," the company states, adding that properties in Arizona and Canada are also being considered for acquisition.
Barring an infusion of cash, any near-term additional acquisitions will likely involve compensation in the form of Aztec shares.
Noticeably spare financial statements certified by Mr. Tobia show that Aztec did not have so much as a penny in cash as of Dec. 31, 2004.
Against current and total liabilities of $150,725 at the end of the year, the company had total assets of $116,500 including mineral claims valued at $106,500.
In the same documentation, Aztec states that it holds a 25-per-cent stake in the Bowser Creek claims. A joint venture agreement with an unidentified majority claim owner reportedly calls for $1.5-million to be invested in a drilling program on the property, following which 100-per-cent ownership of the claims will revert to Aztec, with the former majority owner entitled to a 1-per-cent gross smelter royalty.
Bowser
If the Bowser claims are going to feature prominently in Aztec's story, the company may benefit from the sales pitch of 64-year-old prospector-turned-publisher Barry Murray, who has been flogging the claims on the Internet.
Mr. Murray has more than a dozen mining-related Internet publications with titles such as Alaska Mining, Mining Investment, The Prospector, Silver Mining Claims and Western Miner. Mr. Murray's sales pitch for the Bowser claims, now stamped "Sold over the Internet," featured prominently on many of his websites for those publications.
"Want a real position in silver futures?" the teaser to the pitch queried. "Then put together an investment program to fund a $1.5 million dollar 'turnkey' drill program to prove/disprove that $16 million in surface values on these Alaskan silver (also zinc, copper, lead, etc.) claims continue to a depth of 300 feet, or deeper. This would turn a well documented prospect, into a very valuable company-making mine."
Mr. Murray can certainly claim familiarity with remote and rugged mountainous property accessible only by air. He first staked the claims for the predecessor to the ill-fated Alaskamin Co. in 1968.
Alaskamin entered into a joint exploration venture on the prospect with Homestake Mining and Granby Mining, but they evidently lost interest in the project.
By Mr. Murray's account, Alaskamin was plagued by in-fighting and mismanagement and the company did not move the project forward.
"The Alaskamin management had also diluted my position of 10 per cent down to 0.0035 per cent by issuing stock to themselves for the non-performance of assessment work," Mr. Murray remarked.
In 1980, the Alaskamin Bowser Creek claims were allowed to lapse and Mr. Murray promptly restaked them for himself.
"The only thing that has kept this property from being developed has been location," Mr. Murray states in his pitch. "If these claims had been in Idaho, or Nevada, there already would have been a town built around the mine."
Whether Mr. Murray's evident enthusiasm with respect to the merits of the property is warranted may be an open question. While the prospect has been in play for almost 40 years, it has not seen even a modest drilling program.
Nonetheless, Mr. Murray has served up some intriguing calculations based on what little surface sampling and trenching has been done over the years.
According to his 2002 calculations, the property hosts proven ore valued at approximately $13.24-million. He pegged the value of indicated ore at approximately $189-million. Rounding out his calculations, Mr. Murray estimated the value of inferred ore at a handsome $6.68-billion.
Aztec has already incorporated some of the documentation regarding the claims provided by Mr. Murray into the company's website. It remains to be seen whether the company will work some of Mr. Murray's rich promotional material into its own story.
Meanwhile, Aztec is reportedly awaiting resolution of a legal dispute to finalize a deal on some Saskatchewan mining claims that figured prominently in CMKM's promotion last year. If that works out, it may be possible to add some more sparkle to the tale.
Carolyn
As previously reported by Stockwatch, CMKM and U.S. Canadian Minerals teamed up with Rick Walker's Canadian companies, United Carina Resources Corp. and Consolidated Pine Channel Gold Corp., in a joint venture on some claims near Smeaton in the Fort a la Corne region of Saskatchewan, which is home to a couple of advanced diamond projects.
The Smeaton claims had previously been drilled without much toutable success, though a group led by Swannell Minerals Corp. did score a kimberlite pipe hit in 1996 before abandoning the property.
Last year, CMKM and its partners gave the property another stab, rather strategically drilling to retest the kimberlite pipe previously hit by Swannell. Not surprisingly, they also scored a hit. Mr. Casavant subsequently renamed the pipe Carolyn after his wife.
On June 10, 2004, CMKM triumphantly announced that lab reports confirmed that the Carolyn pipe was diamondiferous, sending the company's starry-eyed followers into a tizzy.
With the U.S. markets closed on June 11, 2004, to mark the passing of Ronald Reagan, investors excitedly piled into Mr. Walker's United Carina and Consolidated Pine Channel, which trade on the TSX Venture Exchange.
Alas, citing an imbalance of material information, the TSX-V halted both Canadian companies and reversed all the trades. The companies remained halted until Mr. Walker issued a more detailed, though far less exciting, news release regarding the results on June 15.
As disclosed by Mr. Walker, 11 of 12 samples submitted for analysis were barren. One 40.1-kilogram sample returned two tiny microdiamonds with a combined weight of approximately 0.000005 carat.
That news was at first dismissed as bogus by many of CMKM's cult-like Internet followers. As it gradually became accepted that the news release was authentic, many of those same faithful followers adopted an unshakeable belief that the full results had not been revealed. They were convinced that CMKM was quietly sitting on a massive diamond discovery.
In a similar fashion, CMKM's followers dismissed reports that the Smeaton claims hosting the renamed Carolyn pipe had been allowed to lapse and would be available for restaking on Nov. 1, 2004.
In fact, the much-touted claims did lapse and were subsequently staked by Shaun Spelliscy of Seagrove Capital Corp.
On Nov. 2, Mr. Walker reported that the Smeaton claims had been reacquired on behalf of United Carina and Consolidated Pine Channel by staking by Mr. Spelliscy's Seagrove Capital.
Evidently that deal is in dispute.
In December, Mr. Spelliscy listed the claims for sale on ebay, the popular Internet auction site. According to Mr. Spelliscy, Aztec purchased the claims on Dec. 17, 2004.
The matter is now the subject of a Saskatchewan lawsuit filed by United Carina and Consolidated Pine Channel against Mr. Spelliscy and Seagrove. Stockwatch will review the lawsuit in a future article.
Meanwhile, according to Mr. Spelliscy, Aztec is eager to see the matter resolved and finalize the deal on the Smeaton claims.
The web
Interestingly, Mr. Spelliscy believes that Mr. Dhonau is a large Aztec shareholder, a belief that is evidently shared by many CMKM followers. While that may be little more than speculation, his son Jason E. Dhonau does have some connection to Aztec.
Jason Dhonau's Black Sheep Design Group, incorporated in Nevada on Dec. 23, 2004, is the developer for Aztec's website.
Black Sheep is also the developer for CMKM's website, a role that Jason Dhonau recently assumed from the website developer for U.S. Canadian Minerals.
Black Sheep's portfolio of websites also includes Mr. Casavant's CMKXtreme.com, primarily devoted to a prominent aspect of CMKM's promotion, a couple of funny car dragsters.
The paper
Aztec reportedly had 97 million shares outstanding as of Jan. 1 of this year. Of that total, Mr. Tobia held just over 31.4 million shares representing approximately 32.4 per cent of the issued and outstanding shares.
On Jan. 24, Aztec executed a 10-for-1 forward stock split, boosting the outstanding total to at least 970 million shares and bumping Mr. Tobia's holdings to approximately 314 million shares.
While that may seem like a prodigious amount of paper to investors unfamiliar with the mighty pinks, those figures pale in comparison with a company like CMKM. By last fall, Mr. Casavant's subpenny pink sheet company had a staggering 779 billion shares outstanding.
It remains to be seen whether Aztec will ever mount a serious challenge to CMKM's world record outstanding total.
Meanwhile, market interest in Aztec appears to have at least temporarily dropped off.
With a more modest 391,000 shares changing hands, Aztec closed at eight cents on Feb. 22.
CMKM rang up a volume of more than 2.46 billion shares and ended the day at one-100th of a cent.
The saga continues.
Comments regarding this article may be sent to lwebb@stockwatch.com.
(More information regarding CMKM Diamonds and associated companies can be found in Stockwatch articles dated Oct. 21, 2003; June 22; Sept. 16 and 24; Oct. 1, 15 and 20, 2004; and Feb. 11, 14 and 18, 2005.)
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Reader Comments - Comments are open and unmoderated, although libelous remarks may be deleted. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of Stockwatch.
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Nice reporting. Oh what a tangled web they weave.
Posted by barker18 @ 2005-02-22 21:55
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THIS ARTICLE IS A BIG YAWNER...
THANKS LEE BETTER THAN SLLEPING PILLS..
NIGHT ALL ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Posted by ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ @ 2005-02-22 23:46
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Okay, where can I buy a program Lee?
I've lost track of all the 'stuff' all these players are involved in!
I've got this much: (the inter-bred companies, with 2 or 3 Trillion shares total)
Aztec Mining Corp.
CMKM Diamonds Inc.
Consolidated Pine Channel Gold Corp.
United Carina Resources Corp.
US Canadian Minerals Inc.
Pacific Entertainment Group Inc.
International Brewing and Manufacturing Inc.
Juina Mining Mineracao Ltda.
Cyber Mark International Corp
Diagem International Resource Corp
Mineradora ECO
Industrial Equipment Locators
The masters of disguise:
Urban Casavant - Pssst, wanna buy a Uhaul? Or a funny car?
Scott Tobia - Domains for sale, cheap!
Mr. Hackman - disbarred? We don't need no bars!
Mr. Dhonau - don a who?
Stoecklien Law Group -incorporation suspended? From where?
Mr. DeMint - Did someone order concrete?
Mr. Maheu - Speak up sonny,! My corp strategy's too loud!
D. Roger Glenn - CMK who? Never heard of 'em! No comment!
Dr. Mousseau Tremblay - Hey, I'm just Diagem!
U.S. Air Force officer Major Sterling Collins - Air Pump?
Noel Frenzel - Just 'towing' the line!
James (Jay) McFadden - need a mortgage?
I'm sure I've missed a half dozen other companies and probably a dozen more players, but ran out of hard disk space recording them all!
The above was just my attempt to be funny.
After all, this is all a joke isn't it?
Just my opinions!
Posted by JustForFun @ 2005-02-23 00:06
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"Mr. Hackman apparently has no direct connections to Aztec, CMKM or U.S. Canadian Minerals, which may be something of a relief to many of the companies' shareholders, given his history."
THAT'S NOT ACCURATE LEE, YOU ARE NOT EVEN WARM....
I BET YOU WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHAT SHAWN HACKMAN IS DOING HERE, ALAS THAT INFORMATION IS CLASSIFIED.
also
"By last fall, Mr. Casavant's subpenny pink sheet company had a staggering 779 billion shares outstanding."
YOU NEED TO GO BACK TO FINANCE 101 LEE, YOU STILL CAN-NOT DIFERENTIATE OUTSTANDING SHARES FROM AUTHORIZED SHARES.
your saga continues......
Posted by a dedicated CMKX shareholder @ 2005-02-23 00:11
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Keep taking notes about CMKX. File well for a fast splice. If the company meets all expectations and blows off the roof, taking out a naked short stockgate and all involved in the process, you won't have to be an investor like me to get rich. Just be the first to get that book out while the subject's fresh and hot.
Posted by David A. Hedstrom @ 2005-02-23 00:21
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Oh Mr. Webb, will you ever stop your senseless bashing? And to think you poke fun at Mr. Maheu. You are a crock.
Posted by Fred Cazori @ 2005-02-23 00:21
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One time I was playing around in the kitchen when I decided it would be a good a idea to try and scare my dog with our black and decker dough mixer. So I put it on turbo speed and aimed it at the dog who started to run away. To prove to the dog that it was harmless I attempted to stop the blades with my hand. My fingers got bent back to my wrist before the mixer gave up and I had to turn it off and run it back manually to pull my fingers out.
Wait a minute . . . this is the stupid stories forum right? Oh, my mistake,I just read Lee's story and I just assumed . . . oh nevermind.
Posted by golden1101 @ 2005-02-23 00:47
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One time I was playing around in the kitchen when I decided it would be a good a idea to try and scare my dog with our black and decker dough mixer. So I put it on turbo speed and aimed it at the dog who started to run away. To prove to the dog that it was harmless I attempted to stop the blades with my hand. My fingers got bent back to my wrist before the mixer gave up and I had to turn it off and run it back manually to pull my fingers out.
Wait a minute . . . this is the stupid stories forum right? Oh, my mistake,I just read Lee's story and I just assumed . . . oh nevermind.
Posted by golden1101 @ 2005-02-23 00:52
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Hey Lee,
Bend over and bark like a dog!
Posted by infolode @ 2005-02-23 00:59
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Lee I have to say you are a damn good writer, Now if you can just find a comic book to write for.
Posted by dean @ 2005-02-23 01:05
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Blue light special...bwhahahahahha
thats some good stuff right there man...I cant stop laughing
Posted by Melvis_CMKX @ 2005-02-23 02:03
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Wow. Running out of ammo on CMKM... got to bash the rumors now. Funny. Keep it up. Can't you find something better than lying about the O/S and dillution? Prove something.
Posted by GeorgeBurns @ 2005-02-23 03:20
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Lee Webb Your a steaming piece of cow shit. Very fair and balanced, loser.
Posted by Steve Volet @ 2005-02-23 09:02
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Lee, keep the bullcrap coming. Bad writing is good for our publicity. The more attention we get, the better run we'll have when we release our "news". lol
You are an idjut (only CMKX'ers will understand that one) capitalizing on the CMKX audience due to the fact that your writing isn't worth reading. We only read it to enjoy the comedy in it.
You have NO IDEA what the O/S shares are. The A/S is 800 billion. NOT the O/S. Idjut.
Got CMKX? lol
Posted by fishing4diamonds @ 2005-02-23 09:18
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"CMKM Diamonds Inc., a massively diluted subpenny pink sheet promotion headed by Saskatchewan native Urban Casavant."
Got Proof? Got CMKX? Got a LIFE?
Dont worry i'll answer for you. "NO"
Posted by gmann @ 2005-02-23 10:22
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Wow, nice to see the cult is alive and well....don't drink the cool-aid guys
Posted by Krusty @ 2005-02-23 11:04
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