₪ David Pescod's Late Edition July 3, 2007
AUR RESOURCES (T-AUR) $41.59 +9.89
Right now it takes so long to find and eventually build a
mine, plus the added problems these days of environmental
concerns, having to make sure that the locals are happy and
of course the big risk of country risks…do you have another
Chavez on your hands and whatever country you’re working
in.
It means that if you have a big, big company and have
cash in the till, its probably more timely these days to simply
buy somebody else for the other guys big cash flow they are
currently enjoying with high metal prices. Today industry
biggie, TechCominco buys out another industry biggie Aur
Resources in a friendly $41.00 per share offer.
One of the top performing mutual fund operators over
much of the last while has been Kevin MacLean, who runs
the Sentry Select Precious Metals Gold Fund (up 31% for the
year to March 31) which was the top performing metal fund
and also operates the Sentry Select Mining Opportunities
Fund which is up 45% up to March 31, and he’s been doing
this mainly because of bets he has made on who gets
bought out next.
Pleading that he’s exhausted because of just issuing a
new fund, (Sentry Select Primary Metals) he’s been on the
road 20 hours a day for much as the last 2 months and
needs a little R&R…so he’s off on vacation. He has committed
though to do an interview when he gets back to the grind
and I suspect the most important part of that interview is
which company’s he thinks will be bought out next.
To refresh your memory, there’s been Jilbey Gold, Bolivar
Gold, Virginia Gold, AfriOre, Cambior, Desert Sun Mining,
Ecstall Mining, Exall Resources, NovaGold, Viceroy Exploration
LionOre, Monster Copper, Rio Narcea, Signet Minerals
and NU Energy…well you get the drift.
TS03 INC. (T-TOS) $2.55 +0.15
It’s out of our field of expertise...natural resources, but
we can’t ignore whenever a top analyst in her field finds a
story she really likes.
Canaccord’s Sara Elford is considered one of Canada’s
top analysts and currently TS03 Inc., one of her favorite
stories as they develop ozone sterilizers that some suggest
will be soon mandatory assets of most hospitals and
medical establishments.
For a copy of her thoughts in case you are curious of
this field, just e-mail Jennifer at Jennifer_
lagdamen@canaccord.com.
Sara’s target is $5.50 and it looks like the story is becoming
very timely now!
S&P/TSX VENTURE COMPOSITE: 3202.79 +28.40
Much has been said, some of it derogatorily of the
people who do the investor relations work for many of
the Venture Companies. Some suggest many are like a
used car salesman, just pitching a story hoping that it
will go up so they can cash in their options and run to
the next story. It’s like any business, there’s some good
ones and not so good ones and the goods ones are
worth their weight in gold. But this little tidbit - we found
a little interesting.
It turns out that the TSX Venture Exchange will apply
to the British Columbia Court of Appeal for a recent decision
allowing a convicted murderer to perform investor
relations activities for publicly traded companies. The
exchange had previously turned down an application
from William John Nickels; to do investor relations work,
but Nickels appealed to the B.C. Securities Commission
which overturned the decision. It turns out that Nickel
had 20 prior criminal convictions including a murder conviction
for killing a police officer following a robbery at a
Credit Union.
The article suggests that the TSX Venture Exchange
president Kevin Cowan said the Exchange believes that it
is critically important to appeal the BCSC decision and
reinstate the original ban because the case raises issues
about suitability...Do you think?
ANTRIM ENERGY (T-AEN) $7.05 +0.28
Orion Securities oil and gas guy Warren Verbonac has
certainly been proven right on his call of Antrim Energy
being the most timely of his four favorites.
Antrim is currently testing their Central Causeway
well in the North Sea in which they have a 65% interest.
The stock today is hitting new highs. There might well
be more to go depending on results, but shortly Verbonac’s
grand scheme of things should see Ithaca Energy
(IAE) attract more attention as it starts exploration on its
Athena well in the North Sea later in August. So far,
Ithaca’s got a rare track record—they are two for two in
the North Sea.
Meanwhile, other favorites of his include Pan Orient
Energy (POE) offshore Thailand, but if you ever see Warren
in a bar, buy him a couple rounds of red wine. Then
maybe a few more rounds of red wine. And then ask him
how big he thinks the potential is for Petrolifera Petroleum
(PDP) in Peru. Honestly, it’s worth the wine. |
