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$$$~UNGS~$$$~OTCQB~425M O/S~New IR~Share buyback~90% off!!!
Stock Information
Capital Structure
Symbol- UNGS
SharesOutstanding- 423,216,879
AuthorizedShares- 1,800,000
Warrants- 59,063,415
FiscalYear- December31st
Reporting- Fully
Traded- OTCQB
Website: http://www.usnatgascorp.com/
PHOTO GALLERY OF NATURAL GAS PRODUCING WELLS:
http://www.usnatgascorp.com/natural_gas_gallery.html
PHOTO GALLERY OF CRUDE OIL PRODUCING WELLS:
www.usnatgascorp.com/crude_oil_gallery.html
LIST OF ~UNGS~ OWNED SUBSIDIARIES...
http://www.usnatgascorp.com/subsidiaries.html
US Natural Gas Corp KY ("USNG KY")
USNG KY is a wholly owned subsidiary which is responsible for the day to day operations of the Company's oil producing properties in Kentucky. Presently, USNG KY operates thirty oil wells of which 14 are in production in southern central Kentucky, and maintains a leasehold base of approximately 5700 acres. USNG KY will continue to rework and place acquired wells into production while growing the leasehold base. USNG KY recently launched a new drilling program targeting the Knox formation on the Turner leasehold in Green County, Kentucky with a goal of drilling three to four wells prior to year's end.
US Natural Gas Corp WV ("USNG WV")
Formerly Wilon Resources, Inc., USNG WV is a wholly owned subsidiary which is responsible for the day to day operations of the Company's natural gas development project in Wayne County, West Virginia. USNG WV operates 115 natural gas wells, 3 oil wells, and maintains a leasehold base of approximately 12,000 acres. The Company is placing the wells back into production on an individual basis after a series of tests and installation of completion components. At present, the Company has 30 wells in production and anticipates this number to increase to 60-65 by the end of August. The Company has entered into a purchase agreement allowing for firm capacity delivery of production, alleviating any reoccurring concerns of indefinite shut-in periods.
E 3 Petroleum Corp ("E 3")
E 3 is a wholly owned subsidiary which is the sole operating and bonding entity for the Company's wells in the states of West Virginia and Kentucky.
E 2 Investments, LLC ("E 2")
E 2 is a wholly owned subsidiary which focuses on acquiring assets valued or equities trading at inherently depressed levels. At present, E 2 owns the mineral rights on 180 acres of land in Wayne County, West Virginia, and a minority stake in a publicly traded specialty retailer catering to the hunting industry.
SLMI Options, LLC ("SLMI")
SLMI is a wholly owned subsidiary which focuses on the acquisition of corporate debt. SLMI was acquired by the Company in 2009 and currently holds in excess of $1.0 million in third party corporate debt.
IMPORTANT DD ON "E 3"
“E 3 is a wholly owned subsidiary which is the sole operating and bonding entity for the Company's wells in the states of West Virginia and Kentucky.”
https://apps.dep.wv.gov/oog/wellsearch_new.cfm
1) Uncheck every box on the center/right side of the search menu except “Use operator name in search”
2) In box for “Operator Name”, type in “e 3 petroleum” and then hit search.
3) Hit continue on the next page. After that the next screen that comes up has the UNGS well list.
This is another crucial piece of PPS soaring evidence…
Per company website:
“At present, the Company has 30 wells in production and anticipates this number to increase to 60-65 by the end of August.”
Although they had 30 wells in production then, if you count the number on the list, it is over 44 wells that are in active production now, and this is ONLY West Virginia.
The company is making good on it’s word and there is 50% increase in the number of wells in a few short months.
Proof of operation in Kentucky:
http://kgs.uky.edu/kgsweb/DataSearching/OILGAS/ElogDownload.asp?recno=139426
-Click on the “black and white image” that is .53mb. Once downloaded you can zoom in on it very well and see the approval by the KY dept. and the operator name “E 3 Petroleum Corp” on the top of it.
IMPORTANT RECENT PPS BOOSTING NEWS:
NEWS~US Natural Gas Corp Updates Shareholders on Production Activity and Addresses Valuation:
"Market Capitalization at a 90% Discount to Book Value"
http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/UNGS/news
NEWS~US Natural Gas Corp Board Approves Extension to Announced Share Repurchase Plan and Approves New Repurchase Plan :
“Board Approves New Two Year $400,000 Share Repurchase Plan”
http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/UNGS/news
Usnatgascorp.com is 7# in goggle search rankings for the search term “US natural gas”
I know this sounds funny considering the company name but the term “US/ U.S natural gas” is a highly searched term and that will no doubt help our PPS’ cause.
http://www.google.com/trends/?q=us+natural+gas
The symbol “ungs” has also received increased search activity:
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=us%20natural%20gas%2Cu.s.%20natural%20gas%2Cungs%2Cstock%20ungs&cmpt=q
~TERRIFIC DD AND PRIMER FOR *UNGS* BY PhisHD~
"""""""
Some DD From the 10Q rec. on Nov. 14th:
Total Liabilities: $2,196,722
Total Assets: $5,913,178
Stockholders equity: $3,166,456
Page F-3
http://www.otcmarkets.com/edgar/GetFilingHtml?FilingID=8239606
Quote:
________________________________________
In light of this disclaimer, management can underscore that with a market capitalization of approximately $250,000, the Company's current valuation is an approximately 90% discount to its book value of $3,166,456.
________________________________________
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=50867894
http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/UNGS/company-info
-Now on page F-8 of the 10Q it states how many shares can enter the market at certain prices...
-For example it states 210,687,322 were issued for debt reduction and can be sold between .001 and .01(the largest grouping)
-And 30,371,788 were issued for consulting services and other services between .002 and .012
-And 3,631,313 were issued for cash and can be sold between .008 and .015
-From the trading and the volume on the chart, most, if not all, of the largest group were already sold and I think some if not most of the 30 million + holding were sold by the trading and volume the recent month...This is my opinion of course!
-If this is true this could leave a clean shot to .01 without disturbance minus retail selling...
-Back to book value...Now if the company has $3,166,456 positive book value, we divide that by the 365,633,608 OS and PPS should be at .0086 given the book value from their 10Q!!!
-Now if the 2 largest groups of shares have already hit the OS then add 365,633,608 + 210,687,322 + 30,371,788 = 606,692,718 total OS!!
-And divide the book value of $3,166,456 by the possible OS of 606,692,718 and PPS should be at .0052!!!
-And let's not forget the company has the ability to buy back $400,000 worth of shares on the open market for the next 2 years as funds become available to allocate towards the repurchase!!
Quote:
________________________________________
Under terms of the new plan, the Company is authorized to repurchase up to $400,000 of its common stock over the next 24 months.
________________________________________
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=50885365
The companies PPS should be between .0052-.0086!!!
A very possible 5-10 Bagga from here!!! """"""
~REMEMBER THE NEW WELLS ONLINE COULD BOOST BOOK VALUE BY 50% AS WELL. .016 could be the new target!!!
DD FROM MMSTOCKPLAY ON ~UNGS~:
~MMSTOCKPAY RECENTLY ALERTED AAPT FOR AN AMAZING 10X~
http://www.mmstockplay.com/
US Natural Gas Corp - UNGS
DATE SHARES PRICE
03/14/2012 1,750,000 $0.0009
3/15/2012 - The base was stronger than ever today on UNGS as it refuses to drop below .0008. Look for sells at .0008 to turn into ASK slaps at .0009 soon. There were close to 20million sitting on the Bid at .0007 today. If the ask slaps start on .0009, these people will be chasing! UNGS looks to be turning upwards very soon. I'm glad I'm not on the sidelines watching.
3/14/2012 - I bought a starter position in UNGS based off of a few things today. The biggest factor has been the support I have seen around the 50 day MA over the past several trading days. At one point today, there was 18 million shares on the Bid at .0008. UNGS has a relatively low RSI at 47.41, and an even lower one when you look at the weekly chart below. The chart also appears to show that the accumulation/distribution line may cross into a Bullish pattern in the next day or so, if the trends stay the same. I look to see this trading around .002 in the near future. As an actual company, with actual earnings, and with an OS of under 400,000,000, look for UNGS to go up from these levels.
UNGS has a lot of stuff going on right now, which is why it will have it's large gaining days soon enough. They have been acquiring oil wells throughout 2012 and have been putting them into production. The UNGS board Approved a $400,000 SHARE REPURCHASE PROGRAM. That is $400,000 that will be coming into the market and swallowing up shares, in addition to all Retail. However, the biggest thing to me is the fact that they own a bunch of land with a heavy surpluss of Natural Gas. HAVE ANY OF YOU SEEN HOW MUCH FRACKING stocks have taken off!? Just google fracking stocks and you will see. UNGS is way undervalued at these levels. Use the links below to do your own DD!
$$$ ADD UNGS TO “MY STOCKS”:
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/profiles.aspx?mode=search&string=UNGS
Watching ~XNEZ~, might pick up here on the low
will dig deeper on it tonight
Not familiar with them, but I've heard of that Silvery Slocan deposit.
don't know. just caught the news this am at open. was hoping someone here was following it. busy day here
Are they noteworthy? How much silver or gold are they currently producing?
~OTC~~~~VPER~AOGN~CSKH~ ON WATCH
UPDATED ANALYSTS GOLD/SILVER CALLS...
http://www.munknee.com/2012/02/gold-3000-5000-10000-these-151-analysts-think-so/
~HDA.v/HUSIF~ BIG VOLUME~ SEVERAL $2+ CALLS~
SILVER's OTC PICKS~HOT~AAPT~AOGN~KMAG~CSKH~EFIR
Whistleblower Maguire - US Entity Interferes in Gold Market
This morning, in an exclusive interview, London whistleblower Andrew Maguire told King World News that the launch of a physical gold and silver exchange in China was interfered with and subsequently killed by a New York based entity with very powerful Chinese connections. Maguire also said Wednesday’s smash in gold and silver was blatant manipulation. Here is what Maguire had to say about the situation: “Well, Eric, it couldn’t have been more blatant (intervention in the gold market) could it? Talk about not worrying about hiding your footprints. This was obviously sanctioned somewhere at a higher level because the amounts of contracts, paper contracts that hit the market, all at once, within seconds of each other, this was not normal trading.”
Andrew Maguire continues:
“This (manipulation) was 100% to protect resistance levels that were about to be breached. However, I don’t think for a minute this has fooled anybody. Anyone in the physical market was waiting for something like this. You only have to have enough of the weak money in there and sure enough they will flush it out.
They (commercials) have been meeting these guys (futures buyers) head on, one for one, short for long, for the last couple of weeks. We’ve been seeing it build up and all they (commercials) have done is cash it in....
“We were seeing massive order flows. We were seeing every single bid being hit. The offers were just massive. I mean we were seeing 10’s and 20 thousand contracts at a time being unloaded by single individuals.
This would be the agents that control the markets. I don’t believe for a minute it was genuine selling. This was 100% paper orchestrated selling and it had nothing to do with the physical market whatsoever. They came in with massive sell orders, creating absolute panic in the marketplace.”
Maguire added some breaking news for KWN readers and listeners: “I’d like to briefly remind King World News listeners just what PAGE (the Pan Asian Gold Exchange) was going to be. This was going to be a Chinese Exchange that was to completely change the way gold and silver trade globally.
If you recall from our previous interview, it posed an immediate threat to the current fractional reserve bullion banking system. It was the competition of a brand new fully allocated gold and silver contract being pitched up against unbacked paper contracts. It’s not a stretch to imagine what a threat these contracts posed to the bullion banks.
The whole thing was killed and we recently found out how PAGE was interfered with. Within hours of our King World News interview last July, I mean you sure get some hits on your show, Eric, the interference stemmed out of a New York based entity with very strong Chinese relationships. It delayed it enough to kill it and it was killed.
China has recently been taking back control of all of the regional gold exchanges. But it’s more of a bullish thing that’s happening here. I think the Chinese are actually formalizing a proper RMB/Gold relationship, once the new government is in place.
I want to get to the good news. The original people behind the international PAGE contract, they stepped aside from PAGE when it ran into this interference (from the New York based entity). They moved to set up their own dedicated international exchange.
It’s been in the works, quietly, for many months now and we will soon be able to announce the first official trading day. This is a game changer, Eric. There are just two of these bullion banks that control almost 95% of all precious metals derivatives, so you can only imagine how welcome this new competition is going to be.
Now the LBMA and the COMEX based bullion banks, they are already defending what is really a growing and unsustainable underwater naked short position in gold and silver. That’s why we see the kind of antics we saw on Wednesday.
So things are about to change, Eric. This new competition will give naked short holders a heck of a lot to think about. This is a bombshell.”
The above information is a very small portion of this incredibly important interview with Whistleblower Maguire. He lets KWN listeners know exactly what maneuvers are happening in the gold and silver markets, where the large physical orders from sovereign entities are priced, what triggers are in place and what to expect directly in front of us and longer-term in the gold and silver markets. The KWN exclusive audio interview with Andrew Maguire is available now and you can listen to it here:
http://www.kingworldnews.com/kingworldnews/Broadcast/Entries/2012/3/2_Andrew_Maguire.html
Resubmitted by S_P
U.S. Silver Announces Normal Course Issuer Bid
U.S. Silver Corporation
(TSX:USA, OTCQX:USSID, Frankfurt:QE2) (“U.S. Silver” or the
“Corporation”) announces that, subject to acceptance by the
Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”) of the Corporation’s Notice of
Intention to make a Normal Course Issuer Bid, the board of
directors has authorized the purchase of up to 3,092,727 of
its common shares, representing approximately 5% of the
Corporation’s issued and outstanding common shares.
http://www.us-silver.com/News-and-Events/News-Releases/News-Release-Details/2012/US-Silver-Announces-Normal-Course-Issuer-Bid1128244/default.aspx
As of February 9, 2012, the Corporation had 61,854,543 common
shares issued and outstanding.
The Corporation will cancel any common shares purchased
pursuant to the normal course issuer bid.
Purchases will be made on the open market by the Corporation
through the facilities of the TSX in accordance with
TSX requirements.
The prices that the Corporation will pay for any purchased
common shares will be the market price of such shares on
the TSX at the time of acquisition.
The Corporation will make no purchases of common shares other
than open market purchases.
Daily repurchases by the Corporation will be limited, other
than block purchase exceptions, to such number of common
shares that represents 25% of the average daily trading
volume for the last six calendar months.
The Corporation has not purchased any of its common shares
during the preceding 12 months pursuant to a normal
course issuer bid.
The Corporation believes that from time to time the common
shares of the Corporation have been trading at prices that
do not fully reflect the underlying value of the Corporation.
As a result, the Corporation believes that its common shares
are a good investment at its current and recent prices.
“With a cash balance in excess of our planned needs, an
expected continued strong silver market and management’s
belief that the current stock price does not reflect the
underlying company value, we feel that this share buyback
program is a very prudent investment for the benefit of
shareholders at this time,” commented Gordon Pridham,
Executive Chairman of U.S. Silver.
The Corporation may from time to time enter into a pre-defined
plan with a registered investment dealer to allow for the
repurchase of common shares at times when the Corporation
ordinarily would not be active in the market due to its own
internal trading blackout periods, insider trading rules,
or otherwise.
This plan will be adopted in accordance with applicable
Canadian securities laws.
ABOUT U.S. SILVER CORPORATION
U.S. Silver, through its wholly owned subsidiaries, owns and/or operates
the Galena,
Coeur, Caladay and
Dayrock silver-lead-copper mines in Shoshone County, Idaho,
with the Galena mine being the second most prolific
silver mine in US history.
Total silver production from U.S. Silver's mining complex has
exceeded 217 million ounces of silver production since 1953.
U.S. Silver controls a land package now totaling approximately
14,000 acres in the heart of the Coeur d'Alene Mining District.
U.S. Silver is focused on expanding the production from existing
operations as well as exploring and developing its extensive
Silver Valley holdings in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District.
Certain information in this press release may contain forward-
looking statements----with the Canadian securities regulators,
which filings are available at www.sedar.com.
http://www.us-silver.com
http://tmx.quotemedia.com/article.php?newsid=48431400&qm_symbol=USSID:US
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=72263415
God Bless
SDRG looks like its going to bounce. Chinese operations supposedly in production. Could lead to revenues very soon.
Clive Maund >>> Silver Market Update
* Sunday, January 29, 2012
An important reversal has now completed in silver and it is in the early stages of what promises to be a powerful uptrend that should take it comfortably to new highs.
On its 7-month chart we can see how just over a week ago it broke out from its small Head-and-Shoulders bottom, an event which we had anticipated, having oberved it stealthily breaking out from its bullish Falling Wedge downtrend simply by trading sideways for a number of days, which observation was put to good use by us piling into silver bull ETFs just ahead of the H&S breakout. This past week, emboldened by gold's important breakout and robust action in PM stocks, silver has followed up by advancing through the resistance level shown, although given that it is now becoming substantially overbought short-term, as shown by its RSI indicator, it would not be surprising to see it drop back temporarily beneath this resistance again. Overall, however, the picture has become strongly positive, so it may do no more than pause briefly before continuing still higher.
The long-term charts for silver are much more chaotic than those for gold, where we have very well defined inner and outer trend channels since the 2008 lows, which gold has adhered to with an almost religious zeal. The best channel fit we can find for silver is shown on the 5-year chart below - if anyone knows of a better one, drop me a line - I'll be interested to see it. If this channel is correct, or close to correct, and common sense dictates that it is, then the prospects for silver are very good here, as it is likely to advance towards either of the upper channel return lines shown on the chart, which would certainly result in handsome gains from the current price, and such an advance would be congruent with the bullish outlook for gold set out in the parallel Gold Market update.
The fundamental reasons for the suddenly rosy outlook for Precious Metals, and commodities generally, are set out briefly in the Gold Market update, and for ease of reference, the relevant paragraph is repeated below...
In this modern age of market manipulation and meddling, politicians are not prepared to give the forces of capitalism free rein to do their necessary work of straightening out distortions, since that conflicts with their agenda. Thus, instead of letting European banks collapse, the Fed has decided to rescue them with "back door" QE dressed up as swaps etc - the reason is, as you might expect, not altruistic - if the European banks collapse, they will drag down the US banks, and as the US banks are the Fed's masters and the bosses of the entire system, that cannot be allowed to happen, whatever the cost elsewhere. That is why the markets are rallying again across a broad front and why the outlook for gold and silver, and commodities generally, is once again bright, for the European bailout means money creation - and inflation.
http://www.clivemaund.com/article.php?art_id=67
George.
Oops. Forgot HDA/HUSIF...
~HDA/HUSIF LEVEL 2~
1.18- 5,900
1.19- 9,000
1.20- 5,100
1.23- 4,200
1.25- 12,700
1.29- 6,000
1.30- 26,000
1.33- 2,500
1.40- 9,000
1.45- 700
1.49- 4,000
1.50- 19,000
1.51- 2,000
Nothing above $1.51 yet!
~LEVEL 2 FOR SILVER STOCKS~
HDA/HUSIF
1.18
1.19
1.20
1.23
1.25
1.29
Nothing above $1.51 yet…
Almost 100,000 available
USA/USSIF
.475 16,000
.48 30,500
.485 25,000
.49 26,700
.495 2,000
.50 28,300
.51 30,500
.52 461,000
About 50,000
.55 115,000
About 200,000
.62 100,000
SAC/SOHAF
1.47 9,000
1.48 6,700
1.49 21,600
1.50 3,000
1.51 12,000
1.52 2,300
1.53 1,800
1.54 1,000
1.55 5,300
1.57 6,000
1.58 2,600
1.62 1,100
1.63 150
1.65 1,000
1.66 1,500
Only another 50,000 to $2.03!!!
SOL.v
.95 10,000
.96 4,200
.97 12,000
.98 11,000
.99 9,500
1.00 13,000
1.01 3,000
1.03 21,500
1.05 5,000
1.06 5,000
ARIAN SILVER/AGQ.v- 300,000 shares to .80… not bad.
$1700~ POSTING LEVEL 2's SOON...
NEW GOLD UPLEG THUS NEW SILVER UPLEG ON FED INTEREST RATE DECISION....
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/fed/rates/story/2012-01-23/federal-reserve-forecasts/52786100/1
INFLATION: THE ONLY TOOL LEFT By Jim Willie CB ... (Excellent Read excellent treatment of metals)
* Friday, January 20, 2012
(special thanks to gtsourdinis)
Any perusal around the world these days features Southern Europe crippled, preparing for the inevitable Greek Govt Bond default. It features a crippled US housing market, a mockery of statistical accounting in the US Gross Domestic Product, the plight of the COMEX with established veterans clearing out desks (not trading), the extreme physical demand reported by the London Trader, and the indictment of the SLV iTrust Silver Fund tool used by the cartel. The survey does not look favorable toward stability. The banking, economic, and political leaders have not pursued reform and remedy in any remote sense. Their only tool left is hyper inflation. The central banks of the Western nations have coordinated Global Quantitative Easing, as the USFed concealed its own QE3. Operation Twist was an enormous ruse, to cover the grand disposal sale (dump) by USGovt creditors and maintain a semblance of stability in the USTreasury market. The global financial crisis continues for a simple reason. No financial reform or remedy has been attempted, only bank-owned bond redemption and colossal aid to the financial sector that controls government ministries and law enforcement. Therefore, the crisis hurtles toward a series of climax events. The Chinese are accumulating physical Gold still in a big way. US finance minister, the diminutive Geithner admitted to the Chinese officials that the USGovt has no more tools left with which to stimulate or lift the USEconomy and its fumbling financial sector. An honest admission, except that hyper monetary inflation remains the all-in-one tool.
The Greek default could trigger some grand unintended consequences. Despite all the planning in the controlled event, likening it to the demolition of a 50-story hotel in an urban center, the better image might be to attempt to hold within a corral 500 cats released from a large truck. In no way can the technocrats, central banks, and bank officials contain the animal spirits coming. The only solution in the end will be the most massive hyper inflation project in history. They must recapitalize the broken banks of Europe, where fallout will surely extend in non-trivial manner to London and New York. Two major pressures will work to lift the Gold & Silver prices. The Commitment of Traders report on commercials points to a significant sequence where they covered their Gold shorts and Silver shorts since the summer months. The road is prepared for a big rise in price after some closing notes are played on the Dollar Death Dance. Details are seen in the January Hat Trick Letter. Also, the acute financial crisis in Europe and the West in general demands some important decisions to manage the Greek default. Look for talk of a monetary solution but action perhaps in a vast recapitalization program for the big banks. A footnote, the Citigroup earnings included a $1.5 billion release from their Loan Loss Reserves. The funds will be needed to cover bond impairment and mortgage related lawsuits. They also had a nice bump in the Credit Value Adjustment, a blatant accounting fraud that exploits gradual impairment to their own corporate bond value. Accounting for banks is a farce.
SOUTHERN EUROPE PERMANENTLY CRIPPLED
Although the entire southern rim is deeply affected, a look at Italy is telling as a microcosm of continental illness. Italy has imposed capital controls on the banks. Movement of funds is being closely monitored. Money cannot be withdrawn in volume at the bank windows. Borders have cameras and registries at the customs checkpoints. Italy has gone fascist with blazing speed, the most blatant indication is the installation of Monti as prime minister. Its banks are ready to capsize, like the cruise liner. The effects of the Fascist Business Model are being acutely felt in Italy. Nothing goes without monitor. The credit card companies must report to the fiscal authorities all transactions carried out by Italians, in the country and abroad. Limits have been imposed on bank withdrawals of 10,000 Euros, equal to US$13,000. Cameras have been installed by finance police at the border checkpoints with Switzerland to register all license plates. In addition, currency sniffing dogs have been deployed at the border. The Monti regime can be seen imposing Fascism, plain and simple. Their opening salvo was to attack private capital by raising the capital gains tax. The situation is degrading rapidly. The wealthy of Italy have a new game in removing money from Italy and to escape themselves.
The irony is thick, the tragedy stirring. The Italian cruise liner Costa Concordia went aground, a fitting symbol of the nation of Italy succumbing, a toppled elected regime in a sea of liquidity. Individual decks named after nations went underwater, liquidity of a different type. Parallels between the financial structure and ship structure, along with perceptions and reactions, are interesting. People believing such an accident as incredible in the 21st century need to awaken to reality on the mainland. Italians will make the same comments when their banking system collapses, in the wake of their elected political leadership being dismissed from the helm. The cruise liner was badly off course, as the captain changed paths to salute friends on the nearby island (mistress?). So is the Italian banking sector, hardly alone as the Spanish fleet of banks is also off course, taking on water, the banks derelicts at sea.
The ship crew was not trained for such accident, having advised passengers to return to their cabins incredibly. Neither is the Italian system prepared to handle rough waters, given the most egregious nepotism in all of Europe. Half of million gallons of fuel are being retrieved before salvage operations begin, in an effort to avoid an environmental disaster of contaminated beaches. Contrast to the toxic paper running through the Italian banking system. The ship's insurers may be liable for total costs of about EUR 405 million (=US$500 mn) as a resuilt of standing policies. Unlike the ship liability, the Credit Default Swap contracts, the debt insurance flagships, are forbidden to kick in for awards at docks. The ship's problem might be more low hull draft and high center of gravity ship design, much like the inefficient stream in Italian business practices and the high bank leverage.
THE BIG EVENT IN GREEK DEFAULT
Any bank or credit analyst worth his or her salt expects a Greek Govt Bond default. The event is inevitable, unavoidable, and a certainty. All solutions to date have been patchwork applications of tourniquets and needlepoint stitching, with full acquiescence to the banker class. The concept of a new Euro Bond to supplant the toxic bond is ludicrous, which exhibits the ignorance of the central bankers on conceptual constructs pertaining to monetary matters. The concept of a leaning upon the Intl Monetary Fund for a grand issuance of Special Drawing Rights is again ludicrous. A basket of water-logged debt-soaked currencies does not make for a viable raft to float any bodies in any seas. The contagion from a forced accord on Greek bonds will have a notable fallout value effect to Italian bonds, even to Spanish bonds. If the accord ignores the effect traveling with light speed to Italy, the plan is doomed from the outset. The default in Greece should trigger a Credit Default Swap event and award payments. But decisions might follow the trend seen to date, where contract law is trampled upon. The supposed redefinitions of debt securities were a travesty, not yet sufficiently challenged by the legal warriors and the court system. Then consider that the biggest creditor to Italy lies within the major French banks. A likely collapse of French banks in the wake seems the path that nature will take.
The contagion would spread to the London and New York bank centers, where insolvent hollow banks have stood for three years. They have long lost their credit engine role, thus the economic stalls in reverse gear. Lastly, any solution, apart from a new monetary system, must address the dire need for recapitalization of the Western banking system. The accord must begin with Europe. The accord must begin with $2 trillion or more to rebuild banks. A figure of $5 trillion is floated. The accord must dispose of the entire sovereign debt and its toxic paper from Southern Europe. Expect the greatest event in modern financial history before too many more weeks or months, the sovereign bond default and bank recapitalization. The impact on the USDollar could be profound and life altering for the planet. Expect unfortunately for half measures that sidestep any new monetary system and proper role for Gold. The half measures in the accord will bring great new attention on Gold, which should be at the core of the solution, both in the currency and banking system.
U.S. HOUSING PERMANENTLY CRIPPLED
The US-based shadow home inventory is vastly larger than estimated. The bank owned inventory is enormous, but so is the variation in those estimates. What is certain is the vast overhang of home inventory held by banks, and the steady flow to replenish the hidden inventory tumor, prevent any bottoming process to prepare for any recovery. Accurate housing data is hard to come by. The housing crisis is arguably a national emergency, which crushed both the banking system and the USEconomy. The USGovt-owned Fannie Mae still prevents the public from gaining access to loan data in detail, probably because multi-$trillion fraud is buried. It is far too difficult to obtain data from Freddie Mac also, and the MERS title database remains a black hole. My Jackass loose estimate has been tossed around frequently of one million bank owned homes in inventory, unsold, hanging over the market, rendering clearance and stability an absolute impossibility, with more home seizures always in the pipeline. The market cannot digest such an overhang, and cannot stop the price decline, especially since new foreclosures keep the flow into REO bank inventory. Banks refuse to clear their inventory, and are encouraged to hold that inventory since 0% financing is offered by the USGovt. If the shadow inventory is much larger than one million homes, then housing prices have much farther to go before they hit bottom, which has dire consequences for communities, homeowners, and the broader economy. It also means the US banking system is deader than dead.
On December 21st, less than one month ago, HousingWire reported that CoreLogic projected shadow inventory to be 1.6 million homes throughout the entire United States. Definition of a shadow inventory property varies widely. For example, the Wall Street Journal published an article last November, in which inventory size varied from the CoreLogic higher estimate to about 3 million by Barclays Capital. Other estimates are approximately 4 million by LPS Applied Analytic, roughly 4.3 million by Capital Economics. But the highest calculation comes from the source of most impressive methodology. Laurie Goodman of Amherst Securities offers the estimate of between 8.2 million and 10.3 million homes. Hers is regarded by many experts as having the most carefully crafted model, despite being the most dire of estimates. Michael Olenick of Naked Capitalism has his own large reliable database. He has been on the job in analyzing liability to taxpayers, investors, and banks. He submits his assumptions in calculations, an honorable practice based in integrity. The Olenick analysis arrives at a total close to the Goodman range. Using a more narrow definition of what constitutes shadow inventory, he estimates 9.8 million homes are in bank inventory, or suspended animation within the system, waiting for liquidation, suppressing price further. Long past critical mass, only radical out-of-the-box solutions will work. Massive loan forgiveness is the only solution, but it will never be done. USGovt ownership of one quarter of American homes is more likely. Conclude as inevitable that the nation will soon face widespread bank failures and even more staggering loss in home values, since the overhang of home inventory will force home prices down another 20%, my ongoing estimate that has been repeated and repeated ad nauseum. The problem is so great that the mortgage bond market can no longer be described as having viable parties and counter-parties. Too much bond counterfeit. Too much duplicate income streams used in mortgage bond securitization. Therefore, the principal parties do not want liquidations or scrutiny. See the Naked Capitalism articles (HERE & HERE).
U.S. GDP CALCULATION A TRAVESTY
Grossly Distorted Procedures on GDP calculations must be explained. Both hedonics and imputations contribute to one third of the entire reported Gross Domestic Product. The Chinese have long complained that half of the US GDP is mythical, due to interchange of debt paper across desks. The USEconomy is a fraction of its stated size, and it is stuck in chronic recession. A big hat tip to Michael Shedlock, whose analysis is excellent in focused economic sector topics. He provides an excellent overview on Hedonics and Imputations, to reveal their corruption of thought, whose concoctions he labels Grossly Distorted Procedures. Shedlock wrote, "Hedonics is a way of accounting for the changing quality of products when calculating price movements. For example, today's computers are 2 to 3 times faster and have more memory than models produced just a few years ago. If someone can buy a better computer today than last year for the same price, have not prices really fallen? Here is another example. Is it realistic to compare the price of a 1955 Chevy with the price of a 2005 Toyota with air conditioning, DVD player, anti-lock brakes, seat belts, air bags, side air bags, power steering, power brakes, etc? To say that cars have gone from 1955 prices to 2005 prices and calling the ENTIRE rise inflation is obviously wrong although many inflation alarmists do just that. Sorry folks, but that is not a straight up valid comparison. Would you be willing to drive to work a Model T ford today? If not, then comparisons of car prices today versus 1920 or 1950 or whenever are pretty absurd."
The USGovt makes unilateral decisions on value, in order to offset the rise in production costs from energy and materials, even labor. They justify their methods by pointing to manufacturing efficiency and economies of scale in production. They use the falling technology prices as justification for other abusive methods to reduce prices from inherent value on features which actually are subjected to strong price pressures. Shedlock rightfully points out how the potential greater hedonic abuse has entered into methods applied to the Gross Domestic Product, a mainstay not to be cut out. The accounted size of the USEconomy is subjected to vast distortions in the calculations. As the measured price inflation is kept low by force, the estimated GDP result is lifted higher by the same force. The lie in the CPI has been 6% to 8% for the last few years. That means the GDP has been running consistently negative in the most profound and harmful economic recession in American history. My analysis relies upon the indefatigable work of the Shadow Govt Statistics group. They measure the GDP as one quarter versus the same quarter a year ago to demonstrate a clear downward trend, a chronic recession. Conclude that the US GDP has been in decline by 4% to 6% for consecutive years. Shedlock has reported by means of Bureau of Economic Analysis data, that the US GDP is artificially lifted by a whopping $2.257 trillion in hedonic adjustments, equal to 22% of the entire GDP. That portion of the US GDP is pure myth. The United States is the only major country that hedonically adjusts its GDP, or needs to. The USEconomy is among the weakest in the entire industrialized world from industrial gutting and chronic consumption and pursuit of asset inflation.
The other major abuse is Imputations, a part of GDP calculation that the USGovt fabricates in estimated value where no cash changes hands. The imputation derives from homeowner self-paid rent and checking account services. These are pure fairy tale absurdities. For example, homeowners are assigned an imputed rent, that they pay to themselves as though renters. The BEA treats homeowners as businesses, which pay rent to themselves for the service of shelter. Be sure to know that mortgage payments and property taxes are also accounted for, a double counting process steeped in corrupt accounting. Self-paid homeowner rent tallies a ripe $153.8 billion in imputed rent as part of the GDP calculations. There is more. Free checking account services from banks are not to go without abuse. Self-paid check account services tallies a ripe $335.2 billion in imputed bank services. The beneficiary is in Personal Income data reported by the clownish USGovt stat labs.
Shedlock has reported by means of Bureau of Economic Analysis data, that the GDP is artificially lifted by a whopping $1.635 trillion in hedonic adjustments, equal to 13% of the entire GDP. Shedlock cites the total fabrication folly was a staggering 35% of the reported US GDP in 2003!! See the Global Economic Analysis article (CLICK HERE).
SIMPLE EVIDENCE OF RECESSION
US-based railway traffic is down hard, contradicting the vacant claims of an economic recovery in the United States. The slowdown is across North America, the worst brunt felt in Mexico. The Assn of American Railroads reported intermodal volume for the second week of January totaled 193,812 trailers and containers, down 9.3% versus the same week last year. The Eastern half of the nation was notably slower. The slowdown is across all North America. Canadian railroads reported cumulative volume of 40,281 trailers and containers for 2012, down 9.8% from last year. Cumulative volume on Mexican railroads for 2012 into only January is 10,857 carloads, down 15.2% compared to last year. Conclude that North American is in a severe deep recession, with the worst brunt felt in Mexico. Talk of recovery is Orwellian in its deception. My favorite data series to demonstrate recession is the USGovt payroll tax withholdings. They continue in decline. It is a pure series without adjustment. The USEconomic recession is the New Normal, Mr El-Erian.
CORROSIVE COMEX DRYING UP
Ann Barnhardt confirmed the COMEX is going into obscurity and irrelevance. Players are exiting. Risk of theft is perceived. Trust has gone. Metal inventory will vanish next from honest players in retreat, seeking more legitimate arenas. The normal methods of risk hedging are going away, turning to private means, or quitting altogether. Ann Barnhardt made a huge splash last month in her decision to shut down BCM Capital brokerage firm, for fear that client funds were at great risk of theft. She outlines many carefully laid points. Here are some of her main points with fortified evidence. Notice the point about high frequency trading, which indirectly indicts the GLD & SLV (gold and silver) funds, whose inventory is likely connected to futures arbitrage schemes, as their bullion metal is drained. Notice the perceived spread of futures hedge exposure at the market peripheries. Barnhardt compared events of MFGlobal and JPMorgan to economic treason and betrayal of the American system. Here are some of her main points.
The futures markets are withering and dying on the vine, as business is totally evaporating. Many explicitly state that they are done trading and hedging with futures, both speculators and hedgers.
The volume increases in recent months were due to the veritable fungal infection of the market that is the high frequency algorithm trading systems.
Nobody in the trading pits believes the statistics that come out of the USGovt or the Federal Reserve. Anyone who believes them must be mentally disabled (her words).
Exposure to futures is itself contagious. If producers enter into a private treaty forward delivery contract with a grain elevator or a feedlot, they would still be exposed to the futures market, and to the risk of a futures market collapse, or even just another wealth confiscation. If any contract participant utilizes futures contracts in risk hedge, all parties are exposed. Even private treaty forward contracting is exposed, since someone along the line laid risk off on the futures market.
LONDON TRADER
The London Trader is back with more splendid bountiful information, sharing volumes behind the veil of anonymity. The paper thin COMEX must react to gigantic physical demand, he reports in a recent interview. The staggering Gold demand is creating great shortages in the physical market. Here is the shocker, although it should not come as such a surprise. Compliance departments have widely banned participation in the COMEX anymore. It is drying up as a market. The Chinese have exploited the lower Gold price that resulted from the European distress and the American accommodation. They have grabbed huge physical supply. The anonymous London Trader pitched in a full month after the MFGlobal crime scene cordon tape has been overrun. He opened by describing a compressed coiled spring in both the Gold & Silver markets, from huge physical demand. He actually described the COMEX as no longer a credible marketplace. Gold represents power and the Eastern Hemisphere is gathering in that power. The displacement of Western Gold to Eastern vaults is a major symbol of the Western decline. Here are some of his extreme comments that portray a system entering a collapse phase.
The Big Banks are trying to defend their massive short positions, like with 25 million SLV shorted shares. To meet the silver delivery demands, the cartel is borrowing heavily from the SLV, which will be gradually drained of metal in inventory.
The panic in Europe with a broken system is creating huge Gold demand. The demand for Euro Gold in London is so intense that it brings shock to some veterans. It is creating grand shortages for metal in London. The physical Gold market is being exhausted by European Gold buyers.
The COMEX paper discovery price system has become a joke. No serious players interested in taking physical delivery use the COMEX anymore.
Since the CME did not backstop the MFGlobal clients, entire Compliance Departments prohibit usage of the COMEX. International funds and hedge funds starting in January will go elsewhere, and thus avoid the COMEX.
Expect a powerful move once Gold rises above the $1650 level, as shorts cover in open fear. Above that point look for a very large tranche of unfilled wholesale orders to push the price a lot higher with their bids. The Chinese are Gold buyers at all these prices, $1600, $1700, or $1800. They are buyers, never sellers, and public stories pure nonsense about their retreat.
The Chinese have recently taken another roughly 150 tons away from the Western central banks. The Western central banks essentially donated that Gold in an attempt to prop up their paper currencies. They have exploited the recent pushdown in the Gold price. The Chinese are using Gold accumulation as an indirect maneuver to introduce the Yuan (remninbi) to center stage.
INDICTMENT OF SLV i-TRUST SILVER FUND
The SLV exchange traded fund is drained of silver bars from the back door. Numerous blemishes can be identified. The fund cannot stand scrutiny. It is one of the most effective criminal fraud vehicles ever designed. Thousands of investors have been duped, buying what they believed was physical gold & silver, when they have aided the cartel in suppressing their prices. Their inventory is routinely raided from custodial shorting practices that have become glaringly clear in recent months from simple tracking of inventory and short interest. The SLV fund, formally called the iShares Silver Trust, contains much slippery language in its prospectus. The SLV provides funds for itself and custodian costs (managed by JPMorgan) by selling bullion, from the same fund. They actually achieve a benchmark price target for silver based upon their own sales. Their prospectus carefully states that the SLV share price reflects the value of the trust's silver holdings, NOT the spot silver price. It is a circular practice of self-fulfilling price achievement in suppression efforts.
BrotherJohn gives the excellent analysis in clear understandable terms, with focus on SLV fund shenanigans. A big hat tip goes to him. The SLV fund does not hold sufficient silver bars to correspond to all shares outstanding, but that fraud is carefully permitted under its prospectus and current legal structure. Track the shenanigans in a fine classroom style forensic analysis in YouTube video form by BrotherJohn (CLICK HERE). He covers a wide range of topics. Here are some of his main points. Adam Hamilton, are you paying attention?
The SLV fund has 300 million shares, each worth one ounce of silver, valued at almost $9.0 billion. But it has over 25 million shorted shares, or 8% of the float.
The practice of shorting SLV shares keeps the Silver price suppressed, enabling inventory raids from the fund. Around 25 million shares are short on SLV. Any suspicion that JPMorgan is the predominant party holding short shares would probably be correct, the shares provided by Bank of America, which owns a surprising 22 million shares, always a willing player to help push down the silver price.
The SLV fund rigs their own market, pushing silver to a desired lower price. In fact, the number of silver ounces per share is falling consistently, just over 0.97 oz in recent weeks. Check out September 30th, when the silver price fell hard from 40 to 30 per oz. The SLV fund had numerous big sellers that day in their listing.
A smoking gun is revealed on May 5th, when the silver price was busy falling from 48 to 34 per oz. The SLV fund had a single day volume of 300 million shares on that day in May, equal to its entire float. Conclude that naked shorting was taking place in coordinated fashion with a leveraged arbitrage between the fund and the COMEX using futures contracts. Leverage must be involved. Many fingers point to such arbitrage since the volumes are so great.
The lessons and signals are vividly clear. Purchase and invest in Gold & Silver bars and coins, the mainstay for financial survival and avoidance of debt serfdom. The crisis is working toward a series of climax events stretched over the next year. The outcome will be shocking. The events will awaken the masses finally, who are all too often perplexed and dismayed while many place their heads in the sand. The Gold & Silver prices are heading multiples higher. Efforts to confiscate by government will in all likelihood backfire, raising attention, pointing out value.
THE HAT TRICK LETTER PROFITS IN THE CURRENT CRISIS.
home: Golden Jackass website
subscribe: Hat Trick Letter
Jim Willie CB, editor of the “HAT TRICK LETTER”
Use the above link to subscribe to the paid research reports, which include coverage of critically important factors at work during the ongoing panicky attempt to sustain an unsustainable system burdened by numerous imbalances aggravated by global village forces. An historically unprecedented mess has been created by compromised central bankers and inept economic advisors, whose interference has irreversibly altered and damaged the world financial system, urgently pushed after the removed anchor of money to gold. Analysis features Gold, Crude Oil, USDollar, Treasury bonds, and inter-market dynamics with the US Economy and US Federal Reserve monetary policy.
http://news.goldseek.com/GoldenJackass/1327093200.php
Keiser Report- World Currency War I (e222)
Who's Paying Attention to Silver? Hardly Anyone
* Tuesday, December 27, 2011
How many investors/traders left silver for dead at $9.98/oz on 10/21/08? Let's call a spade a spade and say a lot. Many investors, following the behavioral footsteps of previous fear-induced price declines, are proclaiming silver dead as 2012 approaches. The silver bear crowd, emboldened by size and sway of group think, is growing by the day.
Yet natural selection often suggests that size is not necessary essential for survival. Investors able to stand away from the crowd at least have the potential to see the invisible hand aggressively covering short and increasing long positions into price weakness. Net long positions as a percentage of open interest (NL%OI), -14.08% as of 12/21/11, is only 73 basis points lower than 2008 D-wave cycle low.
While history does not repeat, it certainly rhymes. Who’s paying attention? Let’s call a spade a spade and say hardly anyone. That works for me.
George.
Click on "In reply to", for Authors past commentaries.
Announcement (Start of commercial production) 1st week in January per SmallCapPower CEO interview video at the 8:34 minute mark. http://www.nwmcorp.ca/investors/videos.html
NWMMF NWM Mining Corporation (.075) 25,000 ounce per year Gold producer. Developing the Lluvia de Oro / La Jojoba gold mine located in Sonora, North West Mexico. The 1,000 gold ounces produced in the quarter ending June, 2011 represents the first quarter for Company revenue. Production expectations for the balance of 2011 range from 10,000-14,500 oz. Au and for next year (2012) 25,000 oz. Gold. Up and coming Mexican heap leacher.
Website: http://www.nwmcorp.ca/
TSX as NWM: http://tmx.quotemedia.com/quote.php?qm_symbol=nwm&locale=EN
Pinksheets: http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/NWMMF/quote
IHUB: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=18865
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chart]investorshub.advfn.com/uimage/uploads/2011/12/27/cjlcuNWM_from_the_site.png[/chart]
img]stockcharts.com/c-sc/sc?s=nwm.v&p=d&yr=1&mn=0&dy=0&id=p04058956369[/img]
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Silver started the year with bullish prospects. At the close of US markets on January 3 (the first trading day), silver was priced at $30.67. In April, the price surged to $49.51, almost reaching the all-time high of $50/oz seen in 1980. Then, in May, silver prices saw a steep drop and have since been on a volatile track.
At the ETF Securities Precious Metals Conference on December 1, Jim Steel, Commodities Analyst for HSBC, noted that the metal had experienced a 38 percent correction from its peak, but added it had still outperformed most asset classes.
On Monday, silver March delivery closed at $28.94 on the COMEX. This weakness was seen even though US markets opened with a weaker dollar. The failure of silver to rise when the dollar was down spotlights a 2011 silver trend outlined by Steel.
Silver is historically known for moving in negative correlation to the dollar, but it has been moving more with risk assets this year. Steel attributed this to a correlation between the metal and the euro.
Like risk assets, silver’s price volatility could often be explained by the market responding to economic data, mainly from the US and EU. Even today, CME Group reported that the metal’s price was being held down by a lack of confidence in the annoucement of cooperation between the IMF and EU, by the threat of European downgrades, and perhaps would be down even further if expected data out of the US was negative.
Yet, despite the metal’s fall it has still received a positive response from investors. This year investment demand played an increasingly significant role in the silver market. The closing of the curtains on 2011 is expected to come with investment demand perhaps reaching a record of $10 billion according to a report commissioned by the Silver Institute.
Steel reported that silver ETP investment was down about 33 million ounces for the the year, but noted that this could be rebuilt very quickly.
ETPs are a primary vehicle for investors to play the silver market and ETF Securities quarterly report shows that investors have indeed been active in 2011.
ETP demand spiked in July with net inflows of $939 million, which the report notes as the largest monthly inflows seen since November 2010. Overall, in Q3, silver ETPs were the second largest ETP sector with positive inflows in all three months totaling $1.6 bn, bringing global ETP silver assets held to about $18 bn.
Demand for silver coins and medals has also been reported as strong this year. According to the aforementioned report by Thomson Reuters GFMS for the Silver Institute, these two applications are set to represent the largest gain in volume terms of any category of fabrication demand in 2011. Chinese and Indian markets are credited as being significant drivers of demand for these products.
Fabrication demand for photography and housewares were weak, which is a mere continuation of a silver trend that has already been well set in motion.
It may, however, come as a suprise that growth in demand from the solar panel industry is not expected this year. Solar panels were a bright spot for silver in 2010, growing more than any other industrial application. This year brought change, as silver prices have manufacturers thrifting their use of the metal and looking for alternative materials. Weighing even further on the solar panel industry is that the largest market is in Europe, where financial troubles are having a negative impact on demand.
An increase in supply is expected to be among the 2011 silver trends. Jim Steel said mined production will likely be up about 30 million ounces. Two countries that are credited as major contributors to the gains are Mexico and China.
Silver recycling is a supply source that has become more significant than in the past. Steel noted that jewelry recycling tends to be mostly conducted in countries such as India and China, but does not usually occur on a notable scale in developed nations. However, he said the bad economy has prompted an increase of the trend in OECD countries.
Steel added that the increases from both mined supply and recycling may help to explain the corrections that silver has seen this year.
Despite the fact that the metal may well end the year returning most or all of the gains made in 2011, it also ends the year still possessing bullish prospects. Forecasts range from the mid $30's to $500z in 2012, though Steel believes there is a “psychological barrier” that will likely prevent the metal from reaching the $5o mark due to the pain felt during recent declines.
Outstanding, can't wait to see it.
I am going to be relaunching this page soon, it will also have a website
Declining Chinese Exports: Will It Impact Silver?
Email Print Reproduction
Tue, Dec 13, 2011 Feature Articles, Silver Articles
Post by Michelle Smith, Silver Reporter By Michelle Smith–Exclusive to Silver Investing News
inShare.2
Markets have been gripped by tunnel vision. Recently, investors have focused their attention on Europe, occasionally glancing up at road signs pointing to the US before they turn their attention back to the Eurozone. In doing so, it appears silver investors may have missed some important developments out of China-exports and their contribution to economic growth are currently declining.
Last Wednesday Wang Shouwen, Head of China’s Foreign Trade Department said “foreign trade is facing a severe situation next year.”
Silver investors, if aware, showed little concern about this news. Instead, attention was captured by the European summit and what would come from it.
CME Group’s Friday morning silver market report said silver looks to take a lot of direction from the ultimate “risk-on” or “risk-off” environment that could present itself in the wake of the EU summit dialogue.”
Though it may be premature or even unnecessary to make moves based on the announcement about Chinese exports, it too can be seen as a risk and certainly should not be dismissed as irrelevant to silver investors.
China has displayed a ravaging appetite for the white metal over the past several years, changing from the suit of a net exporter to a net importer, and thereby increasing its significance in the market.
Though the nation has seen a strong domestic demand for silver, both for investment purposes and through the sale of silver-based goods, China’s economy, like its exports, is reportedly cooling down. Also, it must be remembered that Chinese manufacturers consume a lot of silver in making products for foreign markets, such as electronics.
China’s fabrication demand for silver this year was projected to exceed 177 million ounces, according to CME Group. Silver investors may now want to start considering whether declining exports may have negative effects on demand going forward. Solar panels, which have been noted as one of the bullish emerging applications for the metal, may be a product that highlights that possibility.
Chinese companies are major suppliers and spend $2 billion importing raw materials including silver paste to construct solar products. The largest solar panel markets, however, are in Europe. According to Bloomberg, tightening credit lines in the industry have begun to translate into curbed demand for these products.
Further threatening to weigh on Chinese solar exports are allegations in the US that China’s manufacturers are jeopardizing the US solar industry with unfairly cheap products. North America is China’s third largest solar market, importing $3.5 billion worth of related goods last year, but now a group of solar companies have petitioned the US government to impose hefty tariffs on Chinese solar products.
Those investors who know that Europe is a major trading partner for China may have already factored in some downside risks stemming from the Eurozone crisis. What fewer may realize is that China is expecting weak demand next year from not only Europe but also from the US. And, the slowdown has already begun.
Export growth reportedly dropped to the lowest level in eight months in October and then declined further in November.
Shouwen said demand will not improve in Europe and the United States and costs such as wages and land prices are rising.
Pan Jiancheng, Deputy Director of the China Economic Monitoring Analysis Center at the National Bureau of Statistics acknowledges that next year exports will not be as forceful as an economic driver as it has been but says that the slowdown will not significantly affect the country’s economic growth.
Shouwen also revealed that China aims to counter the effects from declining exports to the EU and US by concentrating on boosting exports to emerging markets. That plan could fare well for exporters, including those of silver-containing products, but it will likely face a number of obstacles.
Jim Willie: “The Public Will Not Wake Up Until At Least One Million Private Accounts Are Stolen”
* Monday, December 5, 2011
I had the chance to speak with the “Golden Jackass” this afternoon out of Costa Rica, namely, Jim Willie, publisher of the Hat Trick Letter. It was a riveting interview, as Jim’s global information and news sources paint a blackening financial future for participants in the Western financial system.
According to Jim, US & European investors are at incredible risk. “The entire financial system of the Western world is imploding,” said Jim. “There is exponentially rising risks for individuals and their money…the risk right now–is people losing their entire life savings. I cannot seem to get people to understand this”
As we began discussing the MF Global collapse, Jim articulated his belief in a financial slight-of hand originating from “notice to deliver” requests for gold and silver submitted through MF before the collapse, which had the potential to cause a Comex delivery default. “Comex was ready to default on gold and silver in November, and rather than honor the notices for delivery, JP Morgan stole the funds in the accounts that were calling for delivery…notices for delivery were replaced by stolen accounts.” The evidence of this according to Jim is that, “JPM increased the amount of silver in their registered vaults by precisely the amount that was suppose to be delivered…JPM effectively averted both a Comex default and a European Sovereign Debt implosion.”
Before closing Jim provided a stark warning, saying, “Several million private accounts may vanish–Brokerage accounts, Pension funds, Mutual funds, they’re all at risk. We are getting into the middle stages of implosion, where I believe the public will not wake up until at least one million private accounts are stolen, and completely vanish.“
This was a truly sobering interview, and given the real losses borne by MF Global account holders in the past month, Jim’s comments cannot be taken lightly.
http://bullmarketthinking.com/exclusive-interview-jim-willie-the-public-will-not-wake-up-until-at-least-1-million-private-accounts-are-stolen/
George.
32.66 - Silver To Rise On Currency-Commodity-Industrial
Triple Whammy
After peaking at an all-time nominal high of almost $50 an ounce back in April, silver tumbled and moved to the background, as investors’ attention shifted more to equities and the crisis in Europe. But, after gold was pushed back onto center stage by a global central bank liquidity-bailout, silver appears well positioned to benefit, HSBC’s Jim Steel argued.
Silver suffered a 38% correction this year from its peak but remains up more than 5%, outperforming most asset classes. “If silver were a currency, it would be up against everything but the [Japanese] yen and gold,” explained Steel. Indeed, silver bullion has outperformed U.S. and emerging market equities, even silver and gold miners in 2011.
HSBC’s head of precious metals research, Jim Steel, made his case for silver at all the precious metals at an ETF Securities conference hosted in New York on Thursday. Only this year did silver manage to beat its previous nominal all-time high, hitting $49.51 an ounce on April 28. Looking back at its previous record high, $48.70 in 1979, which adjusted for inflation would be $150 in today’s prices. “[There’s] lots of room for it to go up,” said Steel.
Much like gold, silver trades as a commodity-currency asset. Particularly in the emerging world, where asset seizures and violent regime change are more common, investors have looked at silver, and gold, as monetary assets. The gold/silver ratio has been one of the tools investors use to analyze price action. “The lower the ratio the more bullish for silver,” explained Steel, who said the all-time low was 17:1 when silver peaked in 1979, while the record high was 100:1. Over the last 25 years, it has averaged 70:1, while over the last decade it slid to 60:1; currently, it stands at 53:1.
“The single biggest driver [for the silver market] is industrial demand,” explained Steel, noting industrial demand was “a tad below half of all demand for the precious metal.” Silver is used in a variety of contexts and products, but in minute sizes, which contrasts with gold, which counts with limited industrial uses and is mainly seen as an investment. Currently, demand for silver has found support from solar panels, as the metal is used to silver coat mirrors, as a conductor, among other uses. The solar industry is under pressure this year, with stocks taking a beating; First Solar, the largest U.S. producer, has seen its stock tumble more than 60% this year, suggesting this particular source of demand might wane, but must be kept in sight, Steel said.
The stage is set for commodities to rally, and it looks particularly ripe for precious metals, according to Steel. Beyond industrial demand, investors have been pouring into gold and silver in the face of a global financial crisis that “has had four or five incarnations, from subprime to financial, from a global crisis to a sovereign debt crisis, each time more dangerous.”
Silver is seen as a portfolio diversifier, reacting to what Steel calls the “monetary merry-go-round.” Monetary supplies have surged around the globe, used for stimulative purposes in advanced economies, and in reaction to massive increases in reserves in EM economies. Zero bound interest rates in the U.S. and falling rates in Europe sends investors looking for yield. Commodity intensive growth in EM also helps fuel industrial demand for gold. “Broadly speaking, silver does better when public debt is up, resource nationalism kicks in, trade barriers rise, and directed markets do better than free ones,” explained HSBC’s economist.
Generally negatively correlated with the dollar, silver has recently been trading closer to risk assets and the VIX. “There’s not really a relationship between silver and inflation,” said Steel, “it’s more an anticipated reaction to the monetary response to inflation.” Steel recalled the late ‘70s, when as Paul Volcker was taking the top spot at the Fed and pledging to tackle inflation, gold and silver sold off in anticipation. “Until we see real rates begin to rise, it will be hard to call an end in the investment rally,” he said.
Steel sees silver averaging $34 an ounce in 2012, with prices ranging from $30 to $40. “All precious metals will be volatile next year given the many false positives we’ll have in Europe,” explained Steel, adding “I think $50 an ounce might be a psychological barrier.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/afontevecchia/2011/12/02/silver-to-rise-on-currency-commodity-industrial-triple-whammy/
This is intelligent. I hope they figure it out.
SILVER POISED TO OUTPERFORM AGAIN By Richard Rhodes
* Saturday, December 3, 2011
Last week, the world's stock markets cheered the coordinated central bank efforts to supply dollar liquidity to the world banking system via lower than market rates. This clearly resulted in a "risk-on" trade across the board, and we expect more to follow in the weeks ahead as the ECB lower rates, and China moves quickly to halt its declining economy.
Our interest in this new round of money printing and stimulus stands in the precious metals again such as gold, silver and platinum. We can make a very bullish case for each at this point, but we'll focus on the "high-beta" silver futures contract. All healthy precious metal bull markets are led by silver; and we sense that silver is now poised to outperform once again - with new contract highs forging above the $50/oz level.
The techncials of the trade are rather simple: silver has traced out a rough 9-month bullish "flag pattern", which tends to resolve itself in the direction of the major trend, which is higher given the pattern of higher lows. Also, we point out that the 20-week stochastic is back to levels that in the past have coincided with rather major bottoms. The only caveat is the rolling over 250-week moving average, which on many occassions has shown its bullish and bearish worth. We are of the opinion, that once the 250-week is violated to the upside at $35.50 - this a rally of massive proportion shall be upon us. Lest we not add that that Wednesday's daily trade put in place a key reversal higher - which in our mind is sufficient to consider long positions at current levels.
Good luck and good trading,
Richard
http://blogs.stockcharts.com/
George.
Sprott says Silver miners should store reserves in the metal not cash
ORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Silver miners should pay some thought to keeping some of their cash reserves in the metal, instead of selling it and putting the cash in the bank, Sprott Asset Management’s Eric Sprott and David Baker said in a note on Tuesday.
They argue that silver is undervalued, and will perform better than currencies as governments are forced into printing money to pay off ballooning debts.
“Given the current environment, we see much greater risk holding cash in a bank than we do in holding precious metals. And it serves to remember that thanks to 0% interest rates, banks don’t pay their customers to take on those risks today,” Sprott and Baker wrote.
Sprott has long criticised the debt levels of most banks as unsustainable, and encourages investors to keep at least some of their wealth in physical precious metals – especially silver – and outside of corporate banks.
Now he’s encouraging the producers of the metal to do the same.
“Instead of selling all their silver for cash and depositing that cash in a levered bank, silver miners should seriously consider storing a portion of their reserves in physical silver outside of the banking system,” he and Baker said.
They calculated that the silver market for 2011 would be worth $32-billion at today’s prices, or around one-billion ounces.
Assuming 700-million ounces of that went into industrial applications (slightly less than last year), that means around 300-million for the investment market – or around $9-billion’s worth.
“If the largest pure play silver producers simply adopted the practice of holding 25% of their 2011 cash reserves in physical silver, they would account for almost 10% of that,” said Sprott and Baker.
The argument is that removing this supply by holding silver ounces instead of cash could have a significant impact on prices for the metal, while at the same time storing it in a currency safer than those governments print.
“None of this should seem far-fetched. One of the key reasons investors have purchased physical gold and silver is to store some of their wealth outside of a financial system that looks increasingly broken,” the pundits wrote.
http://www.miningweekly.com/page/americas-home
Ron Paul is interviewed by Mike Maloney.
An oldie but goodie.
Surging silver demand – for industrial uses as well its position as a safe-haven for many investors – is creating some serious supply deficiency issues...what will this mean for the future of the silver industry?
Many financial analysts, investing experts, and even geologists have one big thing in common: a silver shortage is upon us. Peak silver is no joke.
Here are a few factors contributing to many investors' wildly bullish views on silver:
There's no denying it; the world is running out of silver. And the cheap silver has already run out.
If you don't believe that, research any major silver mining company. If you could talk to the CEOs of those companies, you would learn how many silver mining projects never really pan out successfully. More times than not, there's simply not enough silver in any given ore.
At least not enough to supply all of these growing industrial uses:
*Images coutesy of The Market Oracle.
According to metal expert Luke Burgess, "Despite the lack of global stockpiles, new technology will continue to discover more industrial applications for silver, putting a further strain on world supplies." Right in line with this assertion, the Silver Institute predicts that silver demand for industrial purposes will increase by 36% by 2015.
Industrial silver demand creates a greater sense of urgency than gold demand because it is needed rather than simply desired. Silver has been needed for decades, so it has been mined for decades in order to fulfill those needs.
Silver is required in the production of products like CDs, cell phone batteries, calculators, printed circuit boards, hearing aids, electronic switches, TV screens, catalytic converters, inks, computer monitors, RFID chips, and thousands more.
Nonetheless, silver is still very-much desired for its aesthetic value too. Burgess reported that 28% of jewelry suppliers saw silver sales increase by 25% from 2009 to 1010.
For these reasons, silver has solidified its position as a major necessity, and a highly desirable one as well, in the industrial realm.
But something has changed dramtically in the silver suppy-demand curve in the past few years. Silver is fast-becoming a top-asset choice for cautious investors.
This is happening because nations across the globe are currently digging themselves in some pretty deep holes full of unbacked fiat currencies and suffocating layers of debt. Traditional currencies are no longer safe.
Take the United States for example. Every time we run into a financial blunder, the Fed retaliates by printing bucket loads of paper money. Essentially, this overprinting trend further contributes to our region's long-term financial woes.
As citizens lose faith in the spending value of these devaluing dollars, savvy investors begin to look elsewhere; specifically, the precious metals sector.
In times of recession, depression, and overwhelming uncertainty (sound familiar?) investors have few viable options. Thus, they inevitably – sooner or later – flock to the precious metals market as a safety net. Otherwise, their hard-earned wealth is at stake and many other investment options are too risky during such fragile times.
Simple statistics prove this type of investor mentality. In the past two decades alone, gold has returned investors 6.9% on their investments. In 1993, gold returned 9.6%.
But the yellow metal isn't the only big gainer. Silver has exploded in the precious metals market, especially after the financial meltdown in 2008. In 2009, silver investment increased by 184% in just one year!
By 2010, the U.S. Mint announced that they had run out of sillver bullion blanks. At the time, they also suspended production of American Eagle Silver Proof coins. Why? The answer is a simple. The didn't have the supply to meet the demand.
Economics-101: If supply decreases and demand remains unchanged, prices go up. If supply runs out, you can no longer sell the product, making it even MORE valuable in the eyes of the beholder and the product-less consumer.
Bottom line: prices appreciate.
Fast forward to November of 2011 and that trend is on track. In fact, silver prices are increasing exponentially.
At the beginning of this week, both silver and gold got going on a positive note. As the situation in Europe is slowly working itself out less dramatically than originally anticipated, silver is set to advance even higher. Those benefits will seep over into the new year as well.
Heading into the New Year, silver could be poised to see an uptick. "Conditions in 2012 are likely to remain highly supportive of further growth in investment demand, underpinning additional price gains," Philip Klapwijk, Global Head of Metal Analytics for the group, told an annual meeting of The Silver Institute.
This is especially good news for two silver-related companies. Silver Wheaton Corp, a silver streamer, and Hecla Mining have profited quite substantially due to silver's recent price-gains.
And profit they will continue to do...until supply runs dry. But, experts warn that may be sooner than you realize. And you don't want to be kicking yourself ten years from now for the investment opportunity still available to you right now.
US Silver Coin Melt Calculator
* Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The US Silver Coin Melt Calculator lets you determine the value of silver within circulating coins quickly and easily. Simply enter the quantity of coins in the yellow boxes, adjust the silver spot price (if you wish), or even the default bid/ask spread percentage. The Silver Coin Calculator does all the rest!
The U.S. spot silver price was last updated on 11/30/2011 10:20:48 AM EST.
http://www.silvercoinstoday.com/silver-calculators/us-silver-coin-calculator/
An important fact to remember about the US Silver Coin Melt Calculator is it measures a coin or coins silver value content, not its numismatic value. Rare or better conditioned coins will always exceed their silver melt value.
George.
NWMMF NWM Mining Corporation (.08) 25,000 ounce per year Gold producer. Developing the Lluvia de Oro / La Jojoba gold mine located in Sonora, North West Mexico. The 1,000 gold ounces produced in the quarter ending June, 2011 represents the first quarter for Company revenue. Production expectations for the balance of 2011 range from 10,000-14,500 oz. Au and for next year (2012) 25,000 oz. Gold. Up and coming Mexican heap leacher. When the price of Gold turns around, the percentage of appreciation from the .08 lows should be maxed.
Website: http://www.nwmcorp.ca/
TSX as NWM: http://tmx.quotemedia.com/quote.php?qm_symbol=NWM:CA
Pinksheets: http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/NWMMF/quote
IHUB: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=18865
Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia Raise Gold Reserves in October
By Nicholas Larkin - Nov 25, 2011 3:06 AM PT
Russia, Kazakhstan, Colombia, Belarus and Mexico added a combined 25.7 metric tons of gold valued at $1.38 billion to reserves in October, a month after prices rose to a record.
Russia’s bullion reserves rose 19.5 tons to 871.1 tons last month, according to data on the International Monetary Fund’s website. Kazakhstan’s assets increased 3.2 tons to 73.6 tons, Colombia’s gained 1.2 tons to 10.4 tons, Belarus expanded assets by 1 ton to 31.9 tons and Mexico added 0.9 ton to take holdings to 106.3 tons, the data show. Germany cut reserves by 4.7 tons to mint commemorative coins and Tajikistan cut 0.4 ton of gold.
Central banks are expanding reserves for the first time in a generation as prices head for an 11th straight annual gain and assets in exchange-traded products rose to an all-time high. Purchases may reach 450 tons this year, according to Marcus Grubb, managing director of investment research at the London- based World Gold Council. Central banks and government institutions bought 142 tons last year, IMF data show.
“Given gold’s much more attractive levels in October, we would not be surprised if a similar trend of significantly more buying than is reflected by IMF data actually occurred during the month,” Edel Tully, an analyst at UBS AG in London, wrote in a report today.
Gold touched a record $1,921.15 an ounce on Sept. 6 and averaged $1,671.25 last month, valuing Russia’s purchase at about $1.05 billion.
Germany’s gold reserves are at 3,396.3 tons, the IMF data show. The country is the second-biggest holder after the U.S., according to the World Gold Council. A Bundesbank spokesman confirmed the sale and said it was done to mint commemorative coins, which is the only reason it sold bullion during the past few years.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-25/russia-kazakhstan-colombia-raise-gold-reserves-in-october-1-.html
This past Wednesday night, experts met at the Silver Institute in New York City and speculated on the silver's forecast for the rest of this year through the end of next year. Bullish predictions ensued.
Yesterday's sharp price dip may be attributed to the fact that the SGE "announced an immient margin hike" overnight.
From Reuters:
"The Shanghai Gold Exchange said it will raise margins on silver forwards to 18 percent from 15 percent from Monday if the silver contract hits its daily trade limit on settlement on Friday. The exchange said it would lift daily trade limits on silver forward contracts to 15 percent from 12 percent if the contract hits limit up or down on settlement on Friday."
Philip Klapwijk of Thomson Reuters suggested that the average silver price-per-ounce this year will run around $35.66. His short-term forecast through the end of 2011 is $35-$40 per ounce. And for 2012, Klapwijk anticipates prices surpassing the $50-per-ounce range by the conclusion of 2012.
According to Klapwijk's observation and research, overall market and economic conditions in the coming year will push-up growth and demand in the silver market.
Due to the financial outlook, silver investors' interest is set to remain strong, even “in spite of two major sell-offs.”
However, as mine production of silver continues to grow, it could be a negative development for the silver price outlook.
Klapwijk forecast a "large and growing fundamental market surplus" of silver of +/-230 million ounces this year.
Although silver's core fabrication demand (excluding coins) should rise next year, largely due to gains in industrial consumption, "it will nonetheless be exceeded by gains in production and recycling." However the substantial silver market surplus should be absorbed by silver investors, Thomson Reuters GFMS suggested.
Additionally, Thomson Reuters data reveals that silver coin minting could rise by 25% this year! This would be an all-time-record high for the Thomson Reuters GFMS data series.
But watch out for fake silver and gold jewelry this year...Thomson Reuters says the expect jewelry fabrication to increase a bit this year due to “substitution-led gains at the expense of gold.” On the other hand, they “anticipate further declines in jewelry fabrication silver demand” for the following year
The Silver Market Lacks Integrity - Keith Neumeyer:
By: Ron Hera, 22 November, 2011 ©2011 Hera Research, LLC
The Hera Research Newsletter (HRN) is pleased to present an incredibly powerful interview with Keith Neumeyer, Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of First Majestic Silver Corp. (TSX:FR / NYSE:AG). Mr. Neumeyer began his career at the Vancouver Stock Exchange and worked in the investment community for 26 years beginning his career in a series of Canadian national brokerage firms including McLeod Young Weir (now Scotia McLeod), then Richardson Greenshields and then Walwyn Stogell McCuthchen (which became Midland Walwyn).
Mr. Neumeyer moved on to work with several publically traded companies in the natural resource and high technology sectors. His roles have included senior management positions and directorships in the areas of finance, business development, strategic planning and corporate restructuring. Mr. Neumeyer, who has listed a number of companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has extensive experience dealing with financial, regulatory, legal and accounting issues.
Hera Research Newsletter (HRN): Thank you for joining us today. Let’s begin by talking about silver supply and demand.
Keith Neumeyer: Silver mine production was around 736 million ounces in 2010. Demand was around 1 billion ounces. Scrap silver recycling and some government sales filled the gap. We’re at historic lows in terms of above ground silver. Eric Sprott recently said there are 1 billion ounces of triple nine silver left aboveground. Unlike gold, silver gets used. We’re at historic highs in supply when it comes to gold, but the exact opposite is true for silver.
HRN: Is there a deficit in terms of mine supply?
Keith Neumeyer: We’ve had a supply deficit for the past 13 years. 2009 was the first year we created equilibrium. We only went into a surplus in 2010, in terms of industrial and jewelry fabrication demand. The surplus mine supply was purchased by investors, obviously. A lot of mining companies are showing lower production because a lot of silver comes from base metals and, with lower base metals prices, it’s becoming more difficult. I don’t see any major supply drivers for silver in the next several years.
HRN: Do you expect more scrap silver to enter the market?
Keith Neumeyer: That’s what happened in 2009 when gold rallied over $1,200 and then corrected to below $1,100. It was primarily caused by scrap gold entering the market. I believe the same thing was happening for silver. We’ll see that again as the metals make new highs. It’s the same as a stock. You replace part of the shareholder base at different levels.
HRN: Are you optimistic about future demand?
Keith Neumeyer: Yes, I’ve been optimistic about silver since 2002 because silver is a strategic metal. I think it’s more important than gold.
HRN: Are there new applications that could increase demand?
Keith Neumeyer: We’re seeing all kinds of new applications. A recent report by Barclays forecast that 120 million ounces of silver will be used for solar power generation in 2012 versus 40 million ounces in 2009. The battery industry is growing as well. Zinc-silver batteries provide very stable capacity—their output doesn’t degrade like lithium batteries—and they deliver 40% more energy compared to nickel metal-hydride batteries. They’re safer than water-based chemical batteries because they don’t heat up or explode. They’re also mercury free and 95% recyclable. Lithium-ion batteries in cell phones, for example, need to be replaced after 12 to 18 months. I’m very optimistic about battery technology. There are also robotics and other applications on the horizon.
HRN: What’s your long term price target for silver?
Keith Neumeyer: Silver will reach a value based on its natural ratio of 15:1 with gold. I expect to see at least $2,000 gold and most likely $3,000 in the next 3 to 5 years, so silver will be between $130 and $200. It’s a big number from where we are today but that’s where I think we’re headed. We’re dealing with a market that needs to be corrected.
HRN: Isn’t the price of silver set by supply and demand?
Keith Neumeyer: I don’t think supply and demand has anything to do with the price, unfortunately. The world we live in today is a paper environment where silver is priced by financial circumstances. Banks, traders and investors around the world move markets to where they want them to be. Governments and commercials—big banks like HSBC and JP Morgan—all have a piece of the action. They alternately work together or sometimes against each other. All these forces price the metal. That’s one reason we’re seeing the volatility that we’re seeing today.
HRN: How can supply and demand be irrelevant?
Keith Neumeyer: In short term trading, the price is financially driven. Eventually, markets do correct themselves over time. In the long run, supply and demand does have influence. That’s why the price will ultimately return to its natural ratio of 15:1.
HRN: How is the price of silver financially driven?
Keith Neumeyer: It has to do with the financial instruments that we trade in and with the fact that silver trades a billion ounces per day on the COMEX alone when there are 26 to 30 million ounces of silver available for delivery. With that kind of leverage, you just don’t have a proper market.
HRN: It has been reported that there are 100 ounces under contract for every ounce in the COMEX warehouse.
Keith Neumeyer: The governments, regulators and bullion banks have let the silver market get more and more leveraged. We’ve seen a lot of wealth destruction as a result of this leverage and we’re going to see a lot more until, finally, the governments decide to change the system.
HRN: Isn’t the COMEX guaranteeing market integrity, by raising margins, for example?
Keith Neumeyer: I don’t buy the argument on margin hikes at all.
HRN: Don’t margin hikes prevent dangerous asset price bubbles?
Keith Neumeyer: It’s not up to them to decide what is parabolic. They’re not investors themselves. They don’t have money in the market. They decide a bubble is going to happen if they don’t raise margins but no one knows when a bubble is forming. It is only apparent after it’s already happened. By hiking the margins, they create the appearance of a bubble bursting. They create the bubble. They create the proof that it was a bubble. If they let it alone, the market would stabilize by itself.
HRN: What should the Commodities and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) do?
Keith Neumeyer: The job of the regulators is to protect the retail investor. That’s their only job. It’s not to protect the banks or the brokerage firms. The little guy is the primary taxpayer. Why were the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the CFTC put in place? They were put in place to protect retail investors. Prior to regulation, the banks controlled the market. Today, the banks control the market again. Who should control the market? Retail investors. Who’s protecting them? No one.
HRN: Are you saying that the CFTC does nothing while the COMEX caters to banks and brokerage firms?
Keith Neumeyer: Yes.
HRN: And the COMEX doesn’t serve retail investors?
Keith Neumeyer: No. Absolutely not.
HRN: Do you foresee a return to a free market in the future?
Keith Neumeyer: I’m an optimist. I believe one day that governments will rewrite the rules and force the regulators to protect investors. That’s where we were back in the ‘70s and that’s where I think we have to be again to correct the problems that have arisen over the past 40 years. Silver is being revalued. It’s going to affect a lot of people along the way and it will change the financial system. Ultimately, we’re going to have a new financial system and, hopefully, we’ll go back to natural markets, completely driven by supply and demand. It may take another 20 years but I think it will happen.
HRN: A new financial system?
Keith Neumeyer: If I’m wrong, the banks will run the world, even more so than they do today, 10 or 20 years from now. God forbid that we ever get there because that’s a one currency, one government world that would absolutely be a disaster for the human race. There would be no freedoms at all to move or to invest. It would be like having shackles on our ankles. There is a movement to go in that direction, unfortunately. There are a number of very wealthy people that want to see that. I hope that we can find the politicians to prevent that type of world from coming to pass.
HRN: Thank you for your time and for your candor.
Keith Neumeyer: It was a pleasure.
http://news.silverseek.com/SilverSeek/1321980348.php
If someday your children or grandchildren ask you how Liberty died in America and what happened that caused the demise of the Nation, read this and you will be able to answer them.
If they ask you why the Citizens have been disarmed, you'll know. If you want to know why, go to your local library, no matter where you live in the United States. Tell the librarian to show you where the 'United States Code books' are shelved. There are 25 books in the set. They are reddish-brown in color. They are printed by the Government Printing Office in Washington, DC. These hard-covered books are printed every 8-10 years. They are updated with annual soft-back supplements each year until a new hard cover issue comes out.
OPEN VOLUME 9. The page numbers are in the center near the middle binding. The section numbers are along the edges.
TURN TO PAGE 651. Here you will find Public Law 87-297 which calls for the United States to eliminate its armed forces. This law was signed for the United States in 1961. John F. Kennedy signed it and every president since has worked to enact its provisions. The government knows you will not approve which is why they want to take away your firearms. (This is Title 22 USC section 2551)
TURN TO PAGE 652. Here you will find the definition of what the government means by "disarmament." The disarmament calls for the elimination of our armed forces. It also calls for the elimination of weapons of all kinds.
(This is Title 22 USC 2552 (a).
TURN TO PAGE 654. Here you will find it stated as item (a) "control, reduction and elimination of armed forces..." and as Item (d)" ...Elimination of armed forces...." What you need to know is that your armed forces are being eliminated and relinquished from national control which, in turn, wipes out our sovereignty as a nation. In two stages, we will have no more army, no more navy, no more air force. In the third stage, we shall have a "zero" military. Before Stage I closes, all citizen owned guns are to be banned.
(This is Title 22 USC Section 2571 (a).
Public Law 87-297 is further explained in the State Department Document called Publication 7277. Your librarian can also furnish you a copy. Also ask the librarian to get you a copy of "The Blue Print for the Peace Race." It is a 35-page booklet printed by the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency as Publication No. 4 - General Series 3 - Released May of 1962. Publication No. 4 is the unabridged version of State Department Document 7277.
Both of these booklets explain how our military is to be reduced to 2.1 million men. China and the Soviets are to be reduced to that level also. At this point, we are at Stage I at which time we are to transfer (on a permanent basis) one-half of our armed forces to be merged with the Russian and Chinese armies. In Stage II, the remaining one-half of our armed forces is then turned over to this same Security Council of the United Nations. The person in charge of the merged armies must, by agreement, always be a Russian. The world's smaller nations turn 100% of their armies over to the same under-secretary of the Security, Council in Stage II. President George Bush and Admiral Wm. J. Crowe [have referred] to this process as being "in transition."
TURN TO PAGE 655. On this page in Volume 9 of the United States Code, read "Policy Formation." The directives there (written in 1963 to pacify objectors) are supposedly to restrain anyone from disarmament, reducing or limiting our armaments, or taking guns away from the people unless it is pursuant to the treaty-making power of the president, or if it is authorized by further legislation by the Congress. (This is title 22, Section 2573.)
Every couple of years the House of Representatives votes to appropriate funds for this on-going program. Since P.L. 87-297 was first passed into law in 961, there have been 18 updates to it - all bad - with no deletions of these issues I lay before you now. The Congress knows that the plan includes the policing of the United States by foreign troops. (The world army they are forming in Europe.) The Congress is allowing our military bases to be closed down, except for those that will be used by the world army. You will find that plan in Publication 7277 and in "The Blueprint for the Peace Race."
If the president and Congress can promote a "Constitutional Convention" you will find yourself with two new constitutions (communist in structure) which in one states in Article VIII, Section 12: "No person shall bear arms or possess lethal weapons except the police and members of the armed forces...."
The Congress has praised these documents and is on record in Senate hearings seeking ways to install these constitutions. Ask your librarian for "Revision of the United Nations Charter - Hearings Before a Subcommittee (Foreign Relations) Feb. 2-20, 1950 U.S.Government Printing Office." Nothing has changed since. They are still viable. The ultimate goal to be reached in Stage III of the disarmament process is to "proceed to a point where no state [nation] would have the military power to challenge the progressively strengthened U.N. Peace Force...."
Anyone who doubts the truthfulness of what has been presented here is free to go to the library and go through the steps which have been outlined above. While you are at it, look up Public Law 101-216.
Bernadine Smith
Sprott to Buy $1.5B of Silver Bullion
“Holy Jeepers,” Sprott to Buy $1.5B of Silver Bullion!
Posted by Dominique de Kevelioc de Bailleul on Nov 22, 2011 | 8 comments
(special thanks to daredguy)
The silver price could explode higher in coming months.
As the silver and gold price predictably fade ahead of option expiration, JP Morgan’s bullion manipulation scheme could be headed for unprecedented problems, not from the record purchases of gold and silver from the Chinese, Indians or Russians, but from one Canadian billionaire.
Canadian-based Eric Sprott Management CEO Eric Sprott filed a follow up prospectus for the purchase of an additional $1.5 billion of silver bullion to cover expected demand for the company’s exchange traded fund, PSLV. Sign-up for my 100% FREE Alerts
Combined with the recent decline in the PSLV premium to spot silver to 14 percent from the typical 20 percent, along with Sprott’s reported sale of some of its holdings of PSLV at the rich premium, it appears a familiar hallmark of a gigantic $580 million silver bullion purchase in December of last year emerges once again. Since demand for silver products at Sprott remain brisk, it should come as no surprise to the silver world that Sprott needs more silver.
Yet, only two Web sites mention the breaking news, The Globe and Mail and bullion market reporter Harvey Organ, HarveyOrgan.blogspot.com. Don’t expect Eric Sprott to herald the milestone purchase; he’s trying to avoid investors front running the purchase.
“Since Sprott filed its prospectus last Friday, PSLV units have come down 12 percent, while the price of silver has dropped only 6 percent,” stated Canada’s daily newspaper, The Globe and Mail, on Nov. 18. “Whether or not the new filing is the root cause of the difference doesn’t affect Mr. Sprott much. He has been selling his PSLV units for most of the year (as documented by kid dynamite.)”
Because Sprott today represents ½ the size of the Hunt brothers wallet and their attempt to corner the silver market in 1979-80, nimble investors have taken advantage of the bulky Sprott in the past by front running his purchases, as his size and legal entity requires him to file with Canadian regulators—an issue he laments of during his interviews.
But for silver investors, the regulation could be a boon to the silver price, as the last time Sprott needed substantial inventory, the silver price soared 177 percent, though Sprott’s purchase cannot directly be proven to be responsible for all of that monstrous move.
However . . . more than four years earlier, in April 2006, prior to the launch of the NYSE version of PSLV, the Barclay’s iShares Silver Trust SLV, spot silver at the COMEX more than doubled at its price peak leading up to the launch of the SLV to $15 from $7.50, as late as September 2005—a double within six months, or a 200 percent ARR.
Moreover, further evidence of a coming silver price mega pop may be gleaned from the exciting silver rally of July 2010 to April 2011. That monstrous rally could easily be rivaled soon, as Sprott apparently gears up for a whale of a purchase, $1.5 billion of silver bullion—a nearly three times last year’s $580 million purchase and coincidental 177 percent explosion of the silver price.
“Today the Globe and Mail announced Eric has filed a short form follow up Prospectus for a billion five physical silver,” respected bullion market blogger Harvey Organ wrote in a Nov. 21 post. “holy jeepers, it could be approved in as little as two weeks people tell me, and he can trigger it OVERNIGHT without warning. Just bang, if he has got the orders. WE all know what happened with his last Physical Silver Issue, it was 580 million and blasted Silver 18 to 50 bucks in 5 months.”
Considering the fundamentals underlying the raging bull market in silver and the confident predictions of, in some cases, another double in the silver price, at least, by spring from industry peer James Turk of Goldmoney, as well as other hard money heavyweights, Ben Davies of Hinde Capital, Jim Rickards of Tangent Capital Markets, Euro Pacific Capital CEO Peter Schiff and QB Asset Management Co-founder Paul Brodsky, it appears the industry insiders to the tiny world of silver anticipated Sprott’s need to replenish—and when Sprott needs silver look out.
Read more: http://www.beaconequity.com/%e2%80%9choly-jeepers%e2%80%9d-sprott-to-buy-1-5b-of-silver-bullion-2011-11-22/#ixzz1eXjETwQK
http://www.beaconequity.com/%E2%80%9Choly-jeepers%E2%80%9D-sprott-to-buy-1-5b-of-silver-bullion-2011-11-22/
Why a Dollar & Euro Collapse Is Guaranteed -
Gold and Silver Price Rally Imminent
Gold prices are on the verge of a significant breakout.
But it’s not because the U.S. national debt just passed $15 trillion, Europe’s about to announce its next doomed-to-fail bailout plan, negative real interest rates, or anything that will keep gold headed much higher in the long run...
It’s much simpler: There’s too much money and not enough gold.
This has happened a few times before. Each time, gold prices surged and silver prices exploded.
And now, it’s about to happen all over again.
Four Months Away from $2,200 Gold
The gold bull has had new life breathed into it this week.
Even though gold prices have ticked down a bit, a number of large banks have upped their gold price targets.
Goldman Sachs advised in a report on Monday, “Given our U.S. economists’ cautious economic outlook and the significant downside risks associated with the European turmoil, additional Fed easing might well be needed.”
As a result, Goldman increased its 12-month gold forecast to $1,930 an ounce. Credit Suisse jumped in, too, upping its near-term gold price target to more than $1,800 an ounce. Standard Bank in London has targeted gold to hit $2,200 per ounce within the next four months.
These increased forecasts will have a significant impact on the near-term gold price.
Here’s why — and the bigger opportunity they’re failing to tell their clients about...
Follow the Money
The gold bull market has self-reinforced its way to steadily newer highs throughout the last decade.
As with most financial assets in pre-bubble stages, the higher gold prices get, the more investors want it.
You know, coin and bullion dealers sell a lot more gold at $1,000 an ounce than they did at $300 an ounce... and they’ll sell even more at $2,000 an ounce, $3,000 an ounce, and beyond.
The same has held true in the financial markets.
As gold prices were setting record highs this summer, investors were putting more and more money into ETFs, funds, and everything related to gold and precious metals.
ETF Securities Inc. — a world leader in exchange-traded commodity products — tracks inflow and outflows of exchange-traded securities. It found inflows to precious metals funds climbed by $7.2 billion in the third quarter, the largest quarterly increase in over a year.
That’s a big inflow.
But it’s massive compared to the size of the gold market
Too Much Money, Not Enough Gold
One of the key tenants of the gold-boom-bubble is that the gold market is an extremely tiny one.
The total value of all gold produced since the beginning of time is only about $9 trillion. Sounds like a lot, sure... but it’s not.
The worldwide action of central banks to print money hasn’t done much for the economy, but it has kept asset prices up.
The table below shows that despite gold’s record run, it’s still just a tiny sliver of total investment around the world:
As the gold bull market grows stronger, gold prices rise, and investor demand accelerates, the percentage of total assets gold will eventually make up will be 5% to 10% or more.
After all, all of the major banks that manage and advise trillions of dollars' worth of assets cannot keep recommending gold without it becoming a more significant part of their clients’ portfolios. It’s just not going to happen. Gold prices must go up with demand.
To be clear, while the big banks may be waving the “buy gold” flag once again, gold isn’t even the best place to ride out the gold bull.
Right now, silver is offering much better value, less downside risk, and much more upside potential.
Silver and Gold : The Great Divide
Sure, gold prices are going higher. But the gains won’t be too big.
After all, even a run up to $2,200 is only a 25% — not bad, but not overwhelmingly great either.
That’s why silver is in a much better position.
Consider this: Gold and silver prices have been closely linked for decades. One runs, the other follows. One falls, the other follows.
They’ve been leap-frogging consistently over the past three decades without either asset falling too far behind or getting to far ahead.
Now, though, silver has fallen way behind. Since April, gold is up 15% and silver is down more than 30%.
The divergence cannot and will not last. And a continued rise in gold prices — driven largely by the big banks encouraging investors to plow millions more dollars into a small gold market — will get silver moving up again.
And when silver snaps back, it’s going to come back extremely fast.
Silver: Four Times More Upside than Gold
The primary driver for a near-term leap in silver prices is the gold/silver ratio.
Based on the number of ounces of silver an ounce of gold is worth, this ratio has stayed within a moderate range over the past 30 years.
For example: In 1980, an ounce of gold was worth 14 ounces of silver. In 1990, an ounce of gold was worth just over 100 ounces of silver.
The real value of the ratio is it can guide investors to buy gold and silver at far better prices than they would by following each metal individually.
Right now is the perfect example: With gold at $1,700 and silver at $32, the ratio is 53.
The current ratio is at the higher end of the scale. It’s simply saying silver is cheap relative to gold in historical terms. And silver currently has much more upside potential than gold.
If the ratio were to fall back to 14 as it was in 1980, silver would have to rise four times if gold did not go up at all.
Of course, history is just a guide.
There are many more reasons to expect silver to outperform gold in the months and years ahead...
A New Low Gold/Silver Ratio = Soaring Highs for Silver
Over the long run, the gold/silver ratio is going much, much lower. As a result, any rise in gold prices will be magnified even more so than the 4-to-1 example above.
Again, the reason is simple: In time, there won’t be enough gold to go around... but there’s even less silver.
On the supply side, silver is not keeping up.
¦ Gold and silver mines are running at much different paces. For every ounce of gold produced, there are only nine ounces of silver. (ratio: 9-to-1)
¦ The U.S. Geological Survey reports there are only six ounces of known in-the-ground silver resources for every one ounce of gold in the ground. (ratio: 6-to-1)
¦ The CPM Group reports the total silver available in the world only is only five times larger than the number of ounces of gold. (ratio: 5-to-1)
Meanwhile, demand is far outpacing those supplies...
Investment demand for silver has been making up an ever-increasing part of the precious metals investment pie.
We noted ETF Securities reported $7.2 billion of investment went into gold last quarter earlier. They also found $1.4 billion of that was into silver. (ratio: 3-to-1)
Like Gold, Love Silver
There are so many reasons to like gold right now.
Gold’s safe-haven value is only becoming more in demand as the euro collapses, fear grows more dominant, and — as Christian DeHaemer pointed out — negative real interest rates keep gold’s uptrend going for years to come.
Gold looks great, but silver looks exponentially better.
The current gold/silver ratio is at the higher end of its long-term range at 53. That’s enough to give silver four times the upside potential of gold.
The supply/demand fundamentals, however, show the gold/silver ratio could go even lower.
When the ratio reaches the point where silver fundamental supply and demand are matched, it will reach a low well below 10. That gives silver even more upside potential than gold.
The big banks are betting large sums on gold. Eventually they will be proven right, as the gold market is so small that it will be swamped by this surge in investment dollars...
But the biggest gains will be had in silver.
Buy silver. And buy it consistently.
The current dip cannot and will not last forever.
http://www.wealthwire.com/news/metals/2243
Supercommittee failure could trigger US credit downgrade, economists warn
Economists are warning of dire consequences if US politicians fail to make progress this weekend in tense talks aimed at reducing America's massive deficit ahead of a Wednesday deadline.
The bi-partisan congressional super-committee is charged with drawing up plans for a $1.2tn reduction in the nation's deficit by the middle of next week. Failure to do so will trigger an automatic "sequester" that will make cuts of that size to defence and social welfare programmes starting in 2013. But the two sides seem far from finding a solution after clashing over tax revenues.
While Wednesday is the official deadline for the supercommittee to report back, it has until Monday to tell the Congressional Budget Office about the impact any plan they send to Congress will have on the budget.
"Time is running out. What I can say is we are leaving no stone unturned, negotiations continue and we are looking to find a way. We recognise what's at stake and we're hoping to reach an agreement," Democrat committee member Chris Van Hollen told CNN Friday.
Failure to reach an agreement on what is essentially a small reduction on the deficit – just 0.7% of gross domestic product in 2013 – could trigger another rating's agency downgrade, warned economists including Paul Ashworth, chief North American economist at Capital Economics.
"With all this pressure to reach an agreement, it really doesn't look good if they can't find a solution," said Ashworth.
He said that the US had much more serious problems that would need tackling first.
"The US is already spending 7% of GDP on Medicare and Medicaid [the government-run health schemes] and that will be up to 10-11% in the next two decades. Debt is on an unsustainable path, and if they can't reach an agreement on this, it doesn't look good for the future."
Ratings agency Standard & Poor's cited the "extremely difficult" political conditions in Washington when it made the controversial decision to downgrade its rating on US debt in August. The firm also put the US "on watch' implying further cuts could come.
Morgan Stanley analyst Christine Tan predicted earlier this month that there was now a one-in-three possibility of another downgrade.
"If the supercommittee fails to reach a $1.2tn deficit reduction deal, if such a deal relies more upon accounting changes than real deficit reduction, or if congressional action lessens the impact of the $1.2tn automatic trigger, we believe this could potentially provide S&P with a pretext to downgrade the US further from AA+ to AA," wrote Tan in a note to investors.
HSBC's chief economist, Kevin Logan, said a "procrastination" solution was now the most likely outcome, with an agreement that specifies targets for spending cuts and revenue increases but leaves the details to congressional committees.
Passing the the hard choices back to congressional committees would lead to "lengthy and heated battles over the US deficit throughout 2012, we believe. The rating agencies might be tolerant of this for a while, but failure to make clear progress could lead to downgrades of the US sovereign credit rating at some point next year," Logan said.
David Semmens, US economist at Standard Chartered, said: "I think they will be forced into action. If not the consequences will be long-lasting. Failure will further highlight the political deadlock in Washington. It's very important the the supercommittee sends a strong message to the markets that the US is getting its house in order."
Stock markets are already under pressure form the credit crisis now sweeping Europe and further signals of a lack of leadership in the US could have negative consequences for the markets, said Semmens.
One of the major sticking points facing the supercommittee is what to do with Bush-era tax cuts that are set to expire at the end of 2012. Republicans are against any agreement that does not extend current income-tax rates.
Democrats want them extended only for lower- and middle-income Americans. Extending all the Bush tax cuts would add about $3.7tn to the deficit over the next decade.
Like the automatic deficit cuts, the Bush-era tax cuts too will automatically expire unless an agreement is reached. Gus Faucher, director of macroeconomics at Moody's Analytics, said: "We will see deficit reductions whether the super committee makes an agreement or not."
He said the "level of enmity" between Republicans and Democrats did raise concern, but he expects that some agreement will be reached.
Dominic Rushe
guardian.co.uk
Silver Plunge Explained: Shanghai Hikes Silver Margins From 15% to 18% By Tyler Durden - zerohedge.com
* Friday, November 18, 2011
We wonder if the collapse in silver price yesterday may have been due to just a tiiiiiiny leak of the fact that overnight, the SGE announced an imminent margin hike. From Reuters: "The Shanghai Gold Exchange said it will raise margins on silver forwards to 18 percent from 15 percent from Monday if the silver contract hits its daily trade limit on settlement on Friday. The exchange said it would lift daily trade limits on silver forward contracts to 15 percent from 12 percent if the contract hits limit up or down on settlement on Friday."
And from the SGE, courtesy of Google :
On the adjustment of silver Ag (T + D) notice of the contract price limits
Given the current silver Ag (T + D) decreased by a big margin, if today silver Ag (T + D) Contract close sealed daily limit, there unilateral market, according to exchange "Shanghai Gold Exchange Risk Control Measures" relevant provisions of the today on the final liquidation, the margin increased from 15% to 18% adjustment, the next trading day (November 21) from the Ag (T + D) contract price limits adjusted from 12% to 15%.
Invites Member units to prepare well in advance of related work and customer notification.
We can only pray that the CME does not take athe hint and start hiking margins on gold and silver on price plunges. At that point one may as well be Celente when investing in paper silver.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/silver-plunge-explained-shanghai-hikes-silver-margins-15-18
George.
Click on "In reply to", for Authors past commentaries.
Sprott Physical Silver Trust Files Shelf
* Wednesday, November 16, 2011
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, although today’s $PSLV price action in the face of the 4pm announcement might be surprising to some (see EDIT below). $PSLV filed a 6-k at 4pm today:
TORONTO, November 16, 2011 — Sprott Asset Management LP announces that it has filed a preliminary short form base shelf prospectus containing information relating to units of the Trust with securities commissions or similar authorities in all provinces and territories of Canada. Under the shelf prospectus, the Trust may offer from time to time during the 25 month period after a final receipt is received for the prospectus up to US$1.5 billion of units of the Trust.
This is the “secondary*” offering that has been expected – Sprott sold almost all of the shares that his asset management funds owned at a huge premium, and the Trust will now issue more shares. It should be noted that this filing is not the announcement of such an offering – only the request for approval to do such an offering. As of tonight’s close, PSLV’s premium to NAV is down to around 14%.
But what’s interesting is today’s PSLV price action. See, the SEC filing didn’t hit until 4pm:
16:00 time stamp
And yet, PSLV underperformed hard all day – starting with a sharp decline early. Almost as if someone knew about the filing and was trading ahead of it (see EDIT below).
I’ll give you one more screenshot – an email I sent to two friends at 11:55am noticing this:
http://kiddynamitesworld.com/sprott-physical-silver-trust-files-shelf
George.
PCFG Pacific Gold (.034) early stage gold producer. Owns four operating subsidiaries: Nevada Rae Gold, Inc. ("Nevada Rae") owns and operates the Black Rock Canyon gold mine, located in north-central Nevada; Pilot Mountain Resources Inc. ("Pilot Mountain") owns Project W, a large tungsten based deposit in Nevada; Fernley Gold, Inc. ("Fernley Gold") acquired exclusive lease rights to mine the Lower Olinghouse Placers in north-western Nevada; and Pacific Metals Corp. ("Pacific Metals") owns claims in San Juan and Delores Counties, Colorado, encompassing the historic Graysill Mine.
1st Production report anticipated Friday.
Website: http://www.pacificgoldcorp.com/
Pinksheets: http://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/pcfg/quote
Ihub: http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/board.aspx?board_id=5254
AUNFF Aurcana Inc. (.7402) Silver mining play.
Recent interview and mines update by CEO Lenic Rodriguez.
http://www.kereport.com/2011/11/14/aurcana-midtier-silver-producer/
"Al sits down at the 2011 Silver Summit with Lenic Rodriguez, President of Aurcana Corp., and discusses the companies recent activity and progress in moving towards becoming a significant producer of Silver.
Aurcana Corporation is a Canadian junior mining company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, symbol AUN (TSX.V -- AUN) and the OTCQX, symbol AUNFF. The company owns 100% of the Shafter silver mine and 92% of the La Negra silver-copper-lead-zinc mine.
The Shafter silver mine, located in Presidio County, S.W. Texas, has a NI 43-101 silver resource of 24.6 million ounces Measured and Indicated (2,900,000 tons @ 8.48 opt), 22.8 million ounces Inferred (2,167,000 @ 10.52 opt) and a pre-feasibility completed. Production is forecast at 3.8 million ounces silver recovered once the mine and mill are operating at capacity beginning in mid 2012. Aurcana is on track to complete construction on the silver mine in May, 2012. Once complete Shafter will be the 2nd largest producing pure silver mine in the U.S. and will supply 10% of all U.S. silver.
In 2010 La Negra, located in Queretaro State, Mexico, was expanded to mill 1,500 tonnes per day, in early 2012 the capacity will increase to 2000 tonnes per day. La Negra has identified 28 ore bodies, only 3 are currently being mined.
The completed development of the company’s new silver mine at Shafter will advance Aurcana from a producing silver company to a mid-tier silver producer beginning in mid 2012."
To Learn More Visit:
http://aurcana.com
S_P
Huldra in the news...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.merrittnews.net/article/20111027/MERRITT0111/111029826/-1/MERRITT/treasure-mountain-will-employ-dozens-according-to-huldra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
***READ BELOW***
Treasure Mountain will employ dozens, according to Huldra
Robin Poon/Merritt News
Huldra Silver president and CEO Ryan Sharp discusses the Treasure Mountain project at Community Futures Nicola Valley.
OCTOBER 27, 2011
ROBIN POON
NEWS REPORTER
The Treasure Mountain silver operation should employ dozens of workers, including many from the Nicola Valley, once it is in full production next year, according to the company behind it.
Huldra Silver Inc. president and CEO Ryan Sharp addressed locals and gave an overview of the company's plans at a Business after Business reception hosted by Community Futures Nicola Valley Thursday evening.
According to Sharp, Huldra is already processing ore from its Treasure Mountain claim and expects to be in full production by the first quarter of 2012.
"Right now, we are mining up at Treasure Mountain actively.
"We've been underground for about two and a half months."
During that time, Huldra has installed mining infrastructure between the surface and about 60 metres underground and stockpiled the ore excavated while building tunnels, drifts and raises, about 11,000 tonnes.
Huldra would build new levels deep underground as it continues to yield silver from the current vein, which runs hundreds of metres deep.
Sharp clarified that only open-pit mining is in progress now, while technical mining, that is, drawing ore underground, is expected to begin next week.
Heavy milling equipment will arrive from China at the beginning of November, after which Huldra can derive silver from ore in earnest, Sharp said. The mill will be able to handle up to 200 tonnes of ore a day.
Sharp said once full production is underway, there will be 60 to 70 employees working on the project, divided among onsite miners, mill workers drawing silver from the ore, and truckers moving ore from the mine to the refinery.
"Most of our support staff are from Merritt.
"The mill's going to be all local."
Sharp said there are currently 48 miners stationed at Treasure Mountain.
Treasure Mountain is located about 29 kilometres northeast of Hope. The mill equipment will be kept at the former Craigmont mines mill site.
The City of Merritt's business and economic development manager, James Umpherson, agrees that Merritt will benefit despite the mine's relatively isolated location.
"Any kind of development, whether it's inside or outside of the city, is good for Merritt.
"They're going to use Merritt as a source for either people or services or resources."
Sharp told the audience that Huldra's target production is two million troy ounces of silver a year. The mine, as it stands, is expected to yield 10-million troy ounces throughout its life.
However, Sharp added that he expects to produce silver from many other veins on Treasure Mountain in years to come.
"We're expecting the mill to be running for the next 15 to 20 years at 200 tonnes a day.
"Hopefully this mine is running long after I'm gone.
"I have an idea in my head how much silver is there, but under the disclosure rules, we have to prove it."
In addition to silver, Huldra expects to draw some lead and zinc from its mining activities as well.
Asked by Community Futures Nicola Valley general manager Robert Miller how silver prices will affect the Treasure Mountain operation, Sharp said the mine could operate at market prices of $8 to $10 per troy ounce.
"I took over the company at $13. We were hoping for $18 to $20."
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