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Basser ,they had a couple of good holes in the recent results but overall I thought it was a bit ordinary.Do you have any opinion?
I will tell you how to get them to call you.You need to leave a message saying you represent Dragon oil,a chinese oil company looking for an entry in Nth America.
IMO you should email people at the FDA daily.They are typical bureaucrat/parasites.They are taking the customers money and not performing and delivering.And that is the reason for the current CTUM holdup.
And LTC isnt even a food or a drug.
Maybe thats the problem.They cant figure out what it is.
Subprime lending guidelines explained
A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.
Before she says a word, Bob says, "I'll give you $800 to drop that towel."
After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.
When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, "Who was that?"
"It was Bob our next door neighbor," she replies.
"Great," the husband says, "did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?"
Moral of this story:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit with your shareholders, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.
Huge fire hits Iraq oil refinery
Baiji refinery
Baiji is Iraq's largest refinery, though it is not a major refiner of petroleum
Reports from Iraq say the country's biggest oil refinery, at Baiji, has been badly damaged in a huge fire.
The fire began with an explosion in the plant's liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) unit which had recently been repaired.
Engineers at the complex, about 180 kilometres (120 miles) north of Baghdad, said a tank was destroyed, but the refinery was still operating.
At least one person was killed and several others were injured. The fire was under control after two hours.
A police official in Baiji blamed the fire on an accident, and not sabotage which has plagued Iraq's oil sector since the US-led invasion nearly five years ago.
Although Iraq has large reserves, it is not a major exporter of refined petroleum. However, the Baiji complex serves as a key transfer point for crude oil being exported from Iraq.
It also refines some crude for domestic consumption.
'Stock' beats 'sex' on Google China
Reuters | Friday, 04 January 2008
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The names of three banks and the word "stocks" beat "sex" to become four of the most Googled words in China last year, according to a Google China list.
China Merchants Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank ranked second, third and sixth, according to a list supplied by Google China on its website (www.google.cn).
"On the Chinese mainland, it was money and technology that took the honors last year," the China Daily said, pointing out that "sex" was the most popular keyword for Google users in some other countries.
Fourth on the list was "stock", not surprising with Shanghai shares having risen 97 per cent last year. At number 1 was "QQ", a Chinese instant message service and a brand of car.
China's Central Bank, the Ministry of Finance and Banking Regulatory Commission ranked first, third and fifth in the "Most Popular Departments" list, the Web site said.
In another list named "qiu zhi", or "seeking knowledge", "what is a blue chip" and "how to invest in the stock market" were the most searched questions on Google in China, while "what is love" and "how to kiss" ranked top of the global list.
China keeps a tight rein on Internet content and has launched several campaigns to root out online pornography, perhaps one reason why "sex" did not score so well.
'Spam king' charged in stock fraud scheme
Reuters | Saturday, 05 January 2008
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A US grand jury in Detroit has indicted a Michigan man dubbed the "spam king," and 10 others, in an international illegal bulk e-mailing and stock fraud scheme, the US Justice Department said.
The 41-count indictment charges Alan Ralsky, 52, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, his son-in-law, and nine others with operating an spamming operation that focused on running a stock "pump and dump" scheme.
"Today's charges seek to knock out one of the largest illegal spamming and fraud operations in the country, an international scheme to make money by manipulating stock prices through illegal spam e-mail promotions," US Attorney Stephen Murphy said in a statement.
Under the scheme, the group sent spam touting thinly traded Chinese penny stocks, drove up their stock price, and reaped profits by selling the stock at artificially inflated prices, the statement said.
The Detroit Free Press said prosecutors described Ralsky as one of the most prolific spammers in the United States.
According to the indictment, the Ralsky's group used various illegal methods in order to maximize the amount of spam that evaded spam-blocking devices and tricked recipients into opening, and acting on, the advertisements in the spam.
The indictment followed a three-year investigation. Investigators estimate that those charged earned approximately $US3 million during the summer of 2005 alone as a result of their illegal spamming activities.
Three people have been arrested, including Ralsky's son-in-law Scott Bradley and How Wai John Hui, a dual national of Canada and Hong Kong. The others, including a Russian national, still are being sought, the Justice Department said.
The Detroit News reported that Ralsky was believed to be in Europe and quoted his attorney, Philip Kushner, as saying Ralsky would voluntarily surrender to federal authorities in the next few days.
"Mr. Ralsky intends to fight these charges, which are brought under a new federal statute that has not been interpreted by the courts," Kushner told the paper.
Jim,you are correct.The Mexicans did claim a new monster field a few months ago.But they were really light on the details and have been quiet about it since.I believe it is really deep oil.Not just the GOM water depth but really deep.I suspect it is so deep they cant be certain about what they have.Rumour is it will take them ten years to start production.
KTN.V
By James West
Wednesday, January 2,
2008
In one of the very few bright spots in TSX Venture share
performance, Kootenay Gold (TSX.V:KTN)
shares jumped 52% on December 10th after the company announced
widespread high-grade mineralization from a drill program at their 100%
controlled Promintorio Silver Project in northwestern Mexico.
With intercepts like 18 meters grading 950 grams per tonne
and 151 meters at 162 grams per tonne silver equivalent, all eyes are focused
on the suddenly stellar Kootenay, whose success at Promintorio caps a year in
which the company has seen major progress on a big chunk of its property
portfolio.
But while the rich intercepts are what has driven the stock
to new highs, CEO James McDonald is most interested in what the drill results
are telling him from a large scale geological structure perspective.
"These results indicate that the individual breccias
drilled in the first phase are part of a single, large mineralized system with
distinct characteristics indicative of a porphyry system. Accordingly, drill
data suggests the Promontorio may contain a deposit of larger scale and scope
than previously conceived," he said.
That’s his technical way of saying that limits to both the
depth, length and width of the mineralized system have not yet been reached. It
remains open in all directions.
I asked him if that meant that these breccias referred to in
the press release were sitting on top of a porphyry system.
“The point is not that there is a porphyry underlying the
breccias but that the breccias themselves are part of a porphyry system,” he
replied. “This is evidenced by the potassic (biotite) and phyllic (sericite)
alteration grading from a propylitic (calcite chlorite) alteration.”
Perspective is what its all about at Promintorio. Its
important to bear in mind that the region surrounding Promintorio, while
historically the focus of small scale mining, has suddenly emerged as a
precious metals hotspot in the last five or six years.
Current estimates from projects within a 200 kilometer
radius of Promintorio put over 15 million ounces of gold and more than 480
million ounces of silver in various categories of mineral resources.
Deposits like Minefineders (TSX:MFL) Dolores project, with
over 3 million ounces of gold and 148 million ounces of silver, and Alamos
Gold’s (TSX:AGI) Mulatos deposit, at 3.71 million ounces of gold , are turning
the region into a primary mining district for Mexico.
Other companies contributing to the previously stated
regional resource include Agnico-Eagle’s (TSX:AEM) Pinos Altos, (1.6 million
ounces gold), Gammon Gold’s (TSX.V:GAM) Ocampo project (2.86 million ounces
gold, 133 million ounces silver), Palmarejo Silver and Gold’s (TSX:PJO) million
ounce namesake property, Goldcorp (NYSE:GG), Pan American Silver (TSX:PAA),
Fronterra Copper (TSX:FCC) and Tyler Resources (TSX:TYS).
Another perspective to bear in mind is that this program
tested only a small fraction of the 40,000 hectares that comprise the entire
Promintorio project. The project
recently surveyed by an electromagnetic survey shows a number of areas
with potential in addition to the 500 meter by 2,000 meter mineralized trend of
which only a 175 by 200 meter portion was just drilled.
Nobody I spoke to wanted to be quoted as to what the
potential could be. The company
prefers to let the results do the talking.
So what’s next?
Well, according Kootenay president Ken Berry, “Given the
success of Phase I Drill results we anticipate Phase II to commence early in
the new year. We have also initiated an IP Study to source additional priority
targets over the 500 meter by 2000 meter structure. “
When asked if the company was going to need to raise more
money for Phase 2, Ken Berry responded that the company has “just under $2 million
in the treasury and warrants and options outstanding which would yield an
additional $6.9 million upon exercise.”
Considering the recent strong share price performance, it
would appear likely that a good number of those options and warrants will get
exercised.
“All in all”, Ken continued, “these results confirm the
historic grades. From surface to depth, mineralization is rich and suggest the
Promontorio may contain a deposit of larger scope than previously
conceived. A porphyry system could have
the set up for the possibility of an open pit.”
“This area of Mexico (Sierra Madre Region) had no major
producers six years ago, now there are five major producers each having multi-million
oz reserves (gold equivalent). There’s also another four projects expecting to
go into production in the next 3 or 4 years.”
A key to Kootenay’s success is CEO, James McDonald, a
founder of Alamos (National Gold) which produces 100,000 oz gold per year; and
a the former president of Genco Resources (TSX.V:GGC), which produces 1 million
oz silver per year. Jim remains on the board of Alamos and Genco Resources.
Kootenay Gold has just over 21 million shares issued
and outstanding, and 28.4 million fully diluted. The company maintains an
extremely in-depth web site at http://www.kootenaygold.ca
130 anybody?Do I hear 130?
News sources reported that China's oil output is expected to have reached 186 million tonnes in 2007, which is only an increase of 1.5% in comparison to 2006, while demand has grown with double figures.
On the horizon, world crude market developments will continue to show an increased tendency for an upward price. Even thouth some speculation is in the current price setting, probably between $5 and $10 per barrel, market fundamentals are indicating further price increases.
Some analysts have indicated that in 2 to 3 years, price levels could be hitting $200 per barrel, if no economic crisis emerges. This doomsday scenario, however, cannot yet be substantiated.
Based on current fundamentals, and the fact that a psychological barrier ($100) has been broken, increases are leaning towards a new barrier of $125. No real factors are available to substantiate when this is feasible, but a harsh winter in the northern hemisphere, in combination with increase violence and instability in OPEC countries, would surely push prices towards the $110 per barrel mark very soon.
Pump prices jumped by 5 cents for petrol and 6c for diesel yesterday as oil companies passed on the global pressure on the cost of oil, which has broken through the unprecedented US$100 per barrel level.
OMFinancial oil analyst Mark Johnson's prediction of a barrel price of US$110 during 2008 was trumped by Excel Futures president Mark Waggoner, who forecast mixed price movement in the short term but said the price was only going up after that.
"I expect crude [oil] to be at $120 [a barrel] by June.
Jim Kingsdale
If you understood in the 1970's why cable television was bound to grow cash flows much more strongly and for much longer than nearly any analyst was willing to project, then you could have made a fortune just investing in cable stocks -- and many did. The same with cellular starting in the late 80's, early 90's. The same with manufactured housing in the 1960's. I lived through all that and invested, sad to say, only in the cellular Tsunami. Those Tsunami's have passed but the same principle applies now for oil and other natural resources, especially oil and gas.
The great thing about these Tsunamis is that you do not need to be a stock picker because virtually all the stocks work fine. That is especially true today with ETFs being available. Last year I was up over 38% with a portfolio primarily invested in oil and gas related companies. That's nice, but I almost feel stupid when I notice that anyone could just have bought the IYE, an energy ETF, and had virtually the same result that I did after a lot of work.
Will a Tsunami investment give you positive returns for every month of the Tsunami or even for every year? No. But it will be the best place to be invested as long as the analysts are behind the curve. As long as you hear a lot of people on TV saying the price of oil is too high, then you know you're fine investing in energy.
The scarcity of oil and gas and the transition to an all-electric economy is a Tsunami that has only begun to have it's impact felt and that impact will be greater than all the other three mentioned above combined. If you start to hear everyone else trumpet this theme, and particularly if they all begin to correctly understand the basic principles that underlie it, then the investment opportunity may have turned from a great investment opportunity into a bubble. But until that time, you can safely enjoy the ride. At least that has been my experience investing over the past 28 years. Jim.
My opinion is that it wont make any difference.
The rising costs, however, have been outstripped by the near record current prices across a whole range of commodities. Morry Taylor, the head of Titan International, a US tyre manufacturer, explained: "In [Canada's] tar sands, with oil at $80 per barrel, a $3m dump truck pays for itself in 30 days."
Hog wild for China
Legendary investor Jim Rogers made a bundle by anticipating a boom in commodities. Now he's focusing on the People's Republic.
By Brian O'Keefe
jim_rogers_port.03.jpg
As bullish as he is on china , he's just as bearish on the U.S. Economy.
jim_rogers_pig.03.jpg
Rogers in his New York City townhouse with an old friend. He's selling the place and moving to asia.
qna_chart.gif
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2007 in tech (and in this column)
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(Fortune Magazine) -- This is the China century," says Jim Rogers, standing amid moving boxes in his opulent Manhattan townhouse. "It's time for them to rule the roost." In fact, the 65-year-old former investment partner of George Soros and globe-circling author of Investment Biker is such a believer in the capitalist momentum of the People's Republic that he recently agreed to sell his beloved home and relocate full-time to Singapore - not quite Shanghai, but close enough to the action. It's something he's been considering at least since 2004, when Fortune last wrote about his remarkable prescience in championing a China-driven, worldwide commodities boom. His new book, A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World's Greatest Market (Random House, $26.95), is a how-to guide for investors interested in following him to the Far East. Fortune interrupted his packing for a chat about China, commodities, and the teetering U.S. economy.
You invested in China some time ago. But the market is up 300% over the past three years - why should other investors jump in now?
In the book I specifically make the point two or three times that people need to be careful because there may be a bubble developing in China. Obviously if a bubble develops you don't want to buy anything. But you need to understand that there are gigantic opportunities in China and gigantic changes taking place there. So the book is designed to help people understand in simple language what's happening and where there may be opportunities for one who does his homework. It's not a catalog of hot tips. I'm not yet convinced that there is a bubble, by the way. The Chinese government is doing its best to prevent a bubble. They've raised interest rates five or six times in the past year. But even if a bubble develops and it pops, it's not the end of the Chinese story. China is still going to continue to develop.
Why has the Chinese stock market taken off?
The Chinese have done a very good job [with the economy] over the past 20 years. But the one mistake they've made is they have continued to block the currency and made it nonconvertible. That's causing huge liquidity to develop in the country, and that's causing trouble. It has really intensified in the past two or three years. They've got all this money sloshing around that's been flowing into China and can't get out. It's going into the mainland stock market and driving up prices. It's going into commodities. And it's going into real estate.
How are you investing in China now? Are you buying shares of companies? Indexes? Real estate?
I own the currency. I own commodities. I do not own real estate. I have not bought any indexes. Rightly or wrongly, I think I can pick shares better than the index. All the studies show that most people can't do that. I haven't bought any new shares lately, but if I did, I would buy them in Hong Kong or Singapore or London or New York, because they're cheaper than on the mainland.
Three years ago you were saying that one good way to invest in oil would be to buy sugar, because the high price of oil had driven up demand for ethanol in Brazil. Sugar went up but has pulled back. Where are the best opportunities in commodities right now?
Sugar doubled from there, but then it corrected. I would say the same thing again now: If you want to buy oil, you should buy sugar. Cotton is also a good way to buy oil - hear me out. Much apparel has been made from synthetics. Synthetics come from oil. So many textile makers are converting back to natural fibers because oil is at an all-time high. So if you want to buy oil, buy sugar or buy cotton. What I'm buying right now is agriculture. I'm bullish on all commodities, though. I wouldn't buy oil at $95, but I'm sure I said that at $55. I have never sold a drop of oil. And I don't intend to until 2020 or something.
So you're convinced that commodities still have a long way to go?
Absolutely. There will be corrections, of course. Nickel is correcting right now. But the commodities bull market still has years to go. I just don't see anything on the horizon that can stop it. An economic collapse could. But if that happens, everything else is going to be a much, much worse investment. Even in the Great Depression, commodities went down less and stayed down for a shorter amount of time than stocks, because the shortages were in commodities. In 2001, after 9/11, commodities went down less and stayed down a shorter period of time, because that's where the imbalances in the world are right now. There are guys in the garage on their computers starting companies right now that the bankers are going to bring public next month. You can't go in the garage and start a zinc mine or a lead mine. It takes ten years to bring a new mine online, on average. So that's why the commodities bull market is not over.
You mention the possibility that we might go into a depression. What is your assessment of the U.S. economy right now?
In my view, the U.S. economy is in recession. I know the government says we're not. But as I look around, we know that automobiles are in worse than recession. The same thing is true for homebuilders. Much of the financial sector is in worse than recession. So many parts of America are in worse than recession, and yet the government says we're not in a recession. I don't know what's so strong that it's offsetting these major weaknesses in the American economy. I just assume that the government is lying.
A few months ago you said if Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke cut interest rates in response to the credit crunch, it would be "pure madness" and "a disaster." He did. What do you think now?
We have terrible inflation in America, not according to the government but according to people who buy things. We have the dollar under terrible duress. What I said was, If they cut interest rates it's going to be a signal to the rest of the world that we don't care about the dollar, that we want the dollar to go down. That is what has happened. The rest of the world has read the signal very clearly. Inflation, of course, is going up. Commodities prices go higher in this kind of scenario. I think it's a terrible mistake. It may be good for Wall Street. It may bail a few people out. But it's not good for America. I will tell you that I was terrified recently when I saw Bernanke testifying before Congress, and he said that if an American buys only American products in American currency he is not affected by the decline in the U.S. dollar. I couldn't believe the man said that! I was looking at him to see - Is he lying? Is he just using government propaganda? Or does the man just not know? He's supposed to be an economist, and he doesn't know how the economy works! Let's say you only buy American tires. Well, if the price of foreign tires goes up because the dollar goes down, the price of American tires is going to go up too. American companies are going to raise the prices if the competition goes higher. And if the dollar goes down, the price of the rubber in the tires is going to go higher. The price of oil, wheat, copper, everything is going to go higher if the dollar goes down. So it's another signal to get out of the dollar.
You've been betting against U.S. commercial and investment banks for some time. Are you still shorting their stocks? Are you making other moves?
I am still short Citigroup. I'm still short Fannie Mae. I'm still short homebuilders. And I just increased my short positions on the investment banks last week, because that's where the excesses have been in the U.S. economy. There have not been excesses in sugar farming in the past 30 years. There have not been excesses in silver mining. The excesses have been on Wall Street. That's why I'm shorting Wall Street. You see 29-year-old kids making $10 million or $20 million a year and thinking, "This is the way the world is. This is normal." Well, I don't think it's normal.
Why move to Singapore and not Shanghai or Beijing?
Well, we would like to move to China, but the air is so terrible, the pollution is so bad, that we can't bring ourselves to do it. Everything works in Singapore. It's an astonishing place. It's got the best education system in the world. It's got the best health care in the world. And it's Chinese-speaking. Our 4-year-old daughter, Happy, goes to a school where they only speak Chinese. One of our motivations was that she continue to speak Chinese. It may not be as exciting as Shanghai or New York, but it's exciting enough for me.
You mention the terrible pollution in China. Do environmental and political issues give you pause as you call this the Chinese century?
First of all, the environmental problems are a huge opportunity. Somebody's going to make a fortune on that. I talk about that in the book and mention some of the companies that will be trying to address the problems. Can they solve their problems? There are going to be horrible setbacks along the way. There certainly were in America as we grew and boomed. In 1907 our whole system collapsed and went bankrupt. Turns out that was a good time to buy. That's going to happen in China too. They will probably have political setbacks, environmental setbacks. I don't know when they're going to be, but take advantage of them.
You've long been known for spotting exotic investment opportunities in your travels. Have you come across anything exciting off the beaten path recently?
I've sold out of all emerging markets except China because there are so many people right now trying to exploit emerging markets. There are 30,000 MBAs flying around the world looking to invest in them. Some of my investments I owned for 20 years. But I'm not looking for new opportunities, I'm getting out - places like Botswana, Ivory Coast, and Ghana. Botswana I hated to sell. Peru has been hot as a firecracker for a while. Uruguay I sold. All of it. But I'm keeping my money in China. To top of page
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What is Virtus?Is it a video?My broadband is restricted.If I recieve video then my "broadband" will get even slower.
Maddogs are you saying the company has a tool to open as well close?A self sealing scapel?
Good info.Like mlm77 says,if the surgeons want it they will get it.But how long will it take the bean counters to realise the savings?Once that happens,can Insurance companies specify no more sutures for their customers?
Thanks for that.I wonder if we can assume that in many cases LTC will take less than 5 minutes to close these parts?
Was Hart a company "insider"?
That deal should have given the company a million rand,not lost it.
Very hard to make mines like Primrose profitable now,so if that was an asset stripping scam there has to be more to it.
In Letter #416 of his FreeMarket Gold & Money Report, James Turk, founder and chairman of GoldMoney.com, offers some gold and silver predictions for 2008. According to Turk, gold will finally break into 4-digits, which will be an event that gains worldwide attention.
*
The high in 2008 will be $1,500, and the low will be $780. Gold will probably end the year at $1200-$1300, generating at least a 50% gain in 2008.
*
Silver will clear $30 in 2008, as the ratio falls below 40. A $1200 gold price and 40-to-1 ratio puts the price of silver at $30. Silver is the best play for 2008, but silver is never a smooth ride. It comes with a lot of risk.
*
The XAU Index will nearly double, closing over 300 at some point during the year.
That is pretty damn interesting.Any chance you can figure out some average times for closing various body parts?Then maybe some of the smarter guys here can maybe figure out how much surgeon/operating room time can be saved and how much money is therefore saved?Subtract the cost of LTC from money saved.....................
Anyone know what the average surgeon gets paid to perform?
Anyone know how much hospitals charge for operating room time?
I wish there was some way to find out who actually got that money.
Astral Mining Expands Limits of Jumping Josephine Discovery with new Assays
By John Hurst
After a summer of quiet trading and a gentle easing of its market capitalization, Astral Mining Corporation (TSX.V: AST) has had a jump-start in both its valuation and volume. The jump, not surprisingly was the result of strong results from Jumping Josephine.
Astral and it’s joint venture partner, Kootenay Gold (TSX.V: KTN), have now completed the Phase II drilling program at the discovery. The drill program consisted of 38 holes totaling 5,100 metres.
The second set of assays, reported on November 29, appeared to improve upon solid results from earlier in November that returned 4 metres averaging 15.18 g/t gold and included 1 m at 56.4 g/t gold. New assays tested to a greater depth than the first results, and included 12.44 g/t gold over 8m, 7.74 g/t over 5m, and 8.28 g/t over 6m.
CEO Manfred Kurschner is effusive about the ongoing success at JJ, noting that the grades exceeded expectations.
“We’ve only drilled perhaps 60 holes of which we have only reported less than 30, so we have another 32 holes to report,” said Kurschner. “This is a brand-new gold discovery, not a re-worked discovery or an old mine or an old deposit that we’ve revisited. In fact, it’s a brand-new, done-the-math achievement. Then through systematic exploration, we’ve moved it from having the discovery, to trenching, to doing the second phase of drilling, in about a year and a half.”
Jumping Josephine is located in the west Kootenay region of southeastern B.C., in a mining district that has had historical production of more than nine million ounces of high-grade gold, yet has remained under-explored since prior to World War II.
Gold showings were initially exposed on the property during road building for logging activity. After further prospecting in 2003, nine gold showings were discovered on the property. Kootenay subsequently assembled a claim position in the area surrounding and including several small past-producers in the Granville Mountain (Bonanza Pass) area.
Now Astral is earning a 60-percent interest in the 11,785-hectare Jumping Josephine project. The property comprises 24 contiguous mineral claims and seven crown-granted mineral claims optioned to Kootenay by Ralph Englund.
Kurschner says Astral has enough cash to get the company through all of the 2008 work programs at Jumping Josephine. He recently raised over $1 million in flow-through dollars to be spent on its British Columbia properties.
With continued good assay results and a strong resource market, Astral could raise enough money through the exercise of warrants and options to minimize dilution and fund several years of exploration.
In the mining exploration business, a key feature of success is telling the story. Kurschner, an entrepreneur who understands the market, has the ability to tell a story, to raise the money and to assemble a team of people who are able to deliver results.
“People need to keep in mind,” he said, “that with these discoveries, to go from the initial event, which in our case was high-grade trenching results that were put out last December, where we trenched seven metres just over an ounce – 31 grams – that’s the initial event that showed potential. Now, to carry it forward is going to take a lot of drill holes.
“What people need to remember is that 60 holes do not make a deposit,” Kurschner advised. “Some of the greatest discoveries in the world have taken hundreds of holes.”
“We now know that there’s going to be size and dimension to JJ – and it is open – it hasn’t been shut off by drill holes that came up dead. So now, we are able to visualize in a three-dimensional view what is going on underground. It is quite an achievement to do this within one year.”
Astral will benefit, too, from the exceptional infrastructure the area offers. The property is bisected by Highway 3, which links Grand Forks, BC, to the west with Castlegar to the east. The eastern edge of the property is adjacent to the intersection of Highways 3 and 3B, which provide access to the historic mining communities of Rossland and Trail, BC, to the southeast.
The infrastructure includes an extensive network of good-quality gravel logging tracks with vehicular access to all claims. Logging remains active in this area.
Astral Mining offers investors the potential upside of a high-grade gold project that has advanced quickly under the direction of an industry veteran. In addition, Director and vice-president of exploration is David Terry, PhD, has extensive experience in international project management and management of exploration programs for both major and junior mining companies. He was formerly a regional geologist with the BC Ministry of Energy and Mines, and has worked for many mining companies.
With Phase II drilling complete and having shown consistent high-grade mineralization, the company is now ready to move on to further advancing its drilling and testing the Jumping Josephine property’s mineralized limits. For a company with only 25 million shares out, fully diluted and trading at approximately $0.60 per share (November 30, 2007), there are few better looking gold exploration deals to jump for than Jumping Josephine.
Kootenay Gold A-Team Confirms Mineralization at Promontorio
By Jon Shanahan, Resourcex Investor
Kootenay Gold’s (TSX.V:KTN) lynchpin philosophy is that great mining companies are built around a core of solid, talented people, a “human infrastructure” with stellar track records in the industry and innovative prospecting approaches. It seems to be working. The company has been vigorously and systematically amassing highly prospective projects on an enviable scale, and is currently awaiting drill results on two properties with good potential for huge deposits – one in northwest Mexico, the other in BC, Canada.
Kootenay’s focus, for now, is the Promontorio Silver Project in the Sierra Madre. . The project is a 37,000 hectare property, situated 75 km northeast of Ciudad Obregon, and is easily accessible by road.
Calculations from a 1973 feasibility report (non 43-101* compliant) describe an ore body estimated at 384,000 tonnes grading 367 g/t Ag, 1.5 g/t Au, 0.12% Cu, 2.80% Pb, and 1.74% Zinc. Chip samples assayed in the summer of this year returned values of 480 g/t silver and 2.51 g/t gold over an estimated true width of 19 meters. As such, the extent and grade of alteration at the surface is suggestive of a substantial underlying deposit.
The results of a Phase I drill program, which tested four different areas of the Promontorio structure, are now being processed with assays pending. Ken Berry, Kootenay’s President told me, “If this drilling that we’re doing right now confirms historic results, we expect to see a tremendous amount of interest. This could be a real company maker.”
Meanwhile, the Kootenay Gold team has a joint venture agreement, whereby Klondike Silver has funded a Generative Exploration Program to secure additional properties for development, primarily in the Sierra Madre of Mexico (see Kootenay April 19, 2007 news release). The parcel of land totals in excess of 500,000 ha and encompasses 30 major targets.
Mining activity in Mexico’s Sierra Madre region is burgeoning. Six years ago, there was no major activity in the area. Today, there are five producing mines in the mineralized belt, with two more coming on stream over the next 18 months. The area has been compared to Nevada in the early 80’s – well known as one of the world’s top gold regions. Mexico is currently ranked second in the world for silver production, and will likely become first again before long, considering the explosion of exploration in the region.
VP of Exploration Dr. Tom Richards heads Kootenay’s team of Mexican, Argentine, and Canadian geologists working in the Sierra Madre. “We’ve got a team of top-quality prospectors,” McDonald says, “but their skills are really brought alive by Tom’s efforts.”
In Canada, the Kennedy family – one of the last families in Canada who all earn an income from prospecting – leads the Kootenay effort to locate new discoveries. “They form the backbone of our B.C. operation,” says McDonald.
Kootenay has seven Canadian properties slated for exploration. The most advanced is the Jumping Josephine Project in the Rossland region of B.C. Kootenay has teamed up with a junior partner, Astral Mining on the 11,800 ha property (see April 12, 2006 news release). By incurring expenditures of $2.1 million and issuing Kootenay 400,000 shares of Astral, Astral has the right to earn a 60% interest in the project.
To date, over 3,000 m has been drilled in the main quartz stock work zone on the property, with a very notable intersection of 7.01 g/t gold over 19 m. Mapping and geochemical data has suggested a strike length of up to 3km. A Phase II drill program, which drilled 50 holes in the main discovery area, is wrapping up now. The first six holes were reported on November 14, including 4 m grading 15.18 g/t Au at the JJ main zone.
“This could develop into another lead project for us,” Berry emphasized.
The Connor Creek project, another big B.C. focus for Kootenay, is an area 16km southeast of Nelson, also highly accessible. Geochemical and geophysical testing in the area revealed a broad area anomalous for gold, copper, lead, zinc, and silver, over a 1.2km by 3.2 km grid.
Kootenay took on another junior partner for its Connor Creek Project, Amador Gold. Amador will earn a 50% interest in the Connor Creek property, provided $1 million in exploration is expended, and 400,000 Amador shares are issued to Kootenay Gold over the next four years.
Ken Berry says, “We’re on the verge of events that could change the whole outlook for the company.”
Joint venture partnerships like those engaged for Jumping Josephine (Astral – “TSX.V: AST”), Connor Creek (Amador – “TSX.V: AGX”), and the Mexican Generative Program (Klondike Silver – “TSX.V: KS”) reflect Kootenay’s overriding strategy.
“The purpose of Kootenay’s exploration strategy is to get exposure to as many mineral systems as possible, while at the same time minimizing company dilution to our shareholders,” said McDonald. Last year, junior partners spent $2.2 million on exploration and development, and in 2008, they are projected to spend as much is $4 million on development of Kootenay projects.
When structuring these joint venture arangements Kootenay generally looks to leverage stock payments and exploration expenditures from its partners. This allows Kootenay to maximize money put into the ground while minimizing risk to its shareholders. At the same time the company benefits from accumulating a portfolio of prospective junior exploration stocks, which, in a bull market, is an appreciating asset.
Overall, Kootenay’s management team has an exemplary record in the industry. James McDonald co-founded Black Bull Resources, National Gold, and White Knight Resources. He was instrumental in bringing mines for Genco and Alamos Gold into production. Ken Berry, Kootenay’s President, has extensive experience as an investment adviser for public companies and has raised in excess of $250 million. Richard Hughes, a director with the company needs little introduction: He was imtimately involved in the discovery of some of Canada’s largest mines, including the Golden Giant/Hemlo mine, the Sleeping Giant Mines and the former Balmoral Mines, which produced an aggregate of 450,000 oz of gold annually. Joseph Church and Robert Gardner, both directors, have illustrious careers behind them as well. The addition of Tom Richards in Mexico, and Raj Khang in the head office (who handles bookkeeping and fundraising) round out the team.
Both MacDonald and Berry agree that the team is central to the success of the company. “We’ve come a long way this year in getting the right people in place in the company,” says McDonald. “Our belief is that it starts with good qualified people. With that you’ll get the good projects - and you’ll make discoveries.”
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
James McDonald Secures Every Advantage for Kootenay Gold
By Katherine Young
Nov, 6th
In a meritocracy, the pure, rich cream floats to the top. It’s where people are selected competitively according to merit, talent, motivation and effort, based on the idea that positions of responsibility and prestige should be earned. Kootenay Gold and its team are an example of just that.
CEO and Director James McDonald, at 46, is one of the youngest men in a directorial role in Canadian mining and boasts a track record dating back twenty years. He started as a geologist in 1983 at Noranda. Then he went to work at Hemlo where he met Richard Hughes, the mining legend and brains behind the Hemlo discovery, one of the largest gold discoveries in Canadian history. This experience seems to be the impetus behind his formidable motivation. As McDonald put it in a presentation featured on Kootenay’s website, “I really got bitten by the gold bug at [Hemlo].”
In the late 1990s, working closely with Hughes, McDonald and Albert Matter formed National Gold, secured the Mulatos deposit in Mexico, and joint ventured with Alamos Minerals. McDonald merged the two companies to form Alamos Gold, which opened the Mulatos mine that is still in production today, producing over 100,000 ounces of gold annually.
McDonald had other successes at White Knight, and Genco Resources (currently producing 1,000,000 ounces per year of silver) where he served as President until 2006, when he stepped aside (he remains on board) to focus his efforts on building Kootenay Gold.
“Part of the reason for creating Kootenay Gold,” he said, “is an opportunity to put together a team of people that I had worked with mostly on a contract basis. In this industry it’s not really the properties, it’s the people that are valuable. If you put the good teams together, you’ll get the good properties and you’ll make the discoveries. You’ve got to have those people.”
With Hughes as a director on the board, and McDonald at the helm, they began to pull together key players in the industry and an exploration strategy. McDonald says about forming Kootenay Gold, “There’s a prospecting family that I’d worked with in various companies on various jobs. I was always looking for the opportunity to put them together in a company to form the core of a good exploration company.”
McDonald and his team carefully selected the west Kootenay region because they considered it to be highly prospective, but underexplored. The mineralized belt, on the American side of the border, has produced over 6 million ounces of high grade gold, but on the Canadian side was somewhat untouched. McDonald put the Kennedys – a family of highly skilled prospectors – to work in the Kootenays where they have considerable knowledge. Their findings allowed Kootenay to stake 45 mineralized claims in the area, every one of which is a new discovery.
So, while generating discoveries in BC, Kootenay’s strategy has been to joint venture with junior explorers to help fund and conduct exploration on the properties. The joint venture partners absorb some of the risk to Kootenay and pay Kootenay in cash and stock. The stock, in this resource market, becomes an appreciating asset. In other words, it’s a win-win situation for Kootenay.
The best development for Kootenay Gold in the Kootenay area so far has been the Jumping Josephine project, which is a joint venture with Astral Mining Corp. Astral has the right to earn a 60% interest in the property. Recent drilling on Jumping Josephine reported on July 12, 2007, returned 19 m of 7.01 g/t gold, including 5 m at 16.42 g/t gold. In an interview with Stanley Hunt on Smartstox Talk Show, McDonald explained the potential at Jumping Josephine. “It’s a high grade system…They’re on round two of the drilling now. Personally, I think they’re starting to drill off a resource now. This started out as a raw prospect. We’ve got an advanced project down in Mexico, which has been our lead project, but this is catching up.”
Northern Mexico has been Kootenay’s major focus. Using the philosophy that it is critical to select properties well and then commit time, work and money, McDonald and his team saw opportunity in Mexico. Their belief is that northern Mexico has potential similar to Nevada in the 1980s – a period that led to Nevada becoming the third largest gold producer in the world.
McDonald said authoritatively, “Mexico is already the number two silver producer in the world. It’ll retake its number one position probably in another year. It’s going to become a major gold producer and you can also expect to see a lot of base metals, copper, lead, zinc coming out of Mexico as well in new discoveries.”
He points out that in a 250 km stretch, through the area where Kootenay has staked 500,000+ hectares, there have been five new mines opened in the last six years, with another two currently under construction and two more in the feasibility stage. In that time, the area has boasted the discovery of 15 million ounces of gold and 480 million ounces of silver.
In Mexico, once again, Kootenay has found an edge. Several edges actually. Kootenay hired a Brit named Dr. Tony Starling and his company Telluris Consulting Ltd. to conduct satellite imagery and interpretation of the geological structures over a vast area of land. Starling has spent fourteen years in Mexico working with some of the biggest names in mining.
McDonald explains, “He’s developed a process, an analysis that allows him to identify mineral systems from the satellite imagery.” The technology works by measuring the various wavelengths of reflected light to identify mineral systems, McDonald explained. “If you’re doing it without a lot of skill and experience you get a lot of things that are not associated with minerals...You get a lot of red herrings.” Based on results to date, McDonald says, Starling has about a 90% accuracy rate. “And that makes things suddenly very efficient, rather than running around, looking at hundreds of targets, the vast majority of which have nothing to do with mineral systems. We’re now going in here and I would say it’s about a 90% success ratio.”
For Kootenay, the result is that they were able to identify more than 30 mineralized systems over approximately 180,000 square km area, which “allowed us to very quickly tie up a lot of prospective ground in Mexico.”
Leveraging another advantage – a relationship with the skilled and powerful in mining –Kootenay’s exploration efforts were funded by Richard Hughes through Klondike Silver. Klondike earned the right to choose six properties from Kootenay’s claim package. Ken Berry, President of Kootenay Gold, says “Richard Hughes has a tremendous confidence in Jim McDonald’s ability to identify mineral projects as well as grow a company. Because of that confidence level, Richard Hughes has been able to offer Kootenay joint venture support through Klondike Silver and Amador.”
So Kootenay has the people, the connections, the properties, the technology, the land positions, and the financial structure. SmartStox host Stanley Hunt prompted McDonald to point out the advantage Kootenay has in Mexico and McDonald obliged, “We’ve built up a big infrastructure in Mexico. We’ve got a regional office there. We’re way up on the learning curve. We know the ropes down there. For somebody to go in brand new into Mexico, it’s going to take them quite a few months and a lot of dollars to get established like we are. They’ll be there well over a year getting established, just to get going. We are optioning properties there. They can have a property and get going in a month by doing a deal with Kootenay Gold.”
Kootenay’s major project in Mexico right now is its flagship, advanced-stage, 100% owned, Promontorio silver project. Historic data on Promontorio show individual holes with 1 kg of silver over 5 m, 10 m, 15 m and an average silver grade of 367 g/t. Historic reports also cite widths of 20 m on average. McDonald is optimistic about the width, “you’re going to have a low cost if you’re able to find a deposit with that kind of width.” Hughes is similarly positive. In a recent presentation he stated unequivocally, “That Promontorio, by the way, is a potential company builder. And as Chad Buckland, who couldn’t be with us today, said – he’s a broker and a geological engineer – “That’s the kind of property that could really make a company. That gives a company the multi-dollar exposure… And so I think you’ve got a great project.”
Investors seem to agree. Kootenay stock has been climbing steadily over the last month from below a dollar to above the dollar and a quarter mark
KTN.V
There’s a popular inspirational quote that goes: “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” In that case, Astral Mining Corp.’s (TSX.V:AST) management may well have exceeded its target. Both management and investors are likely over the moon given that the company, along with joint venture partner Kootenay Gold (TSX.V:KTN), announced some stellar results from the latest round of drilling at the Jumping Josephine (JJ) Gold Project in southeastern BC. As per the company’s November 29 press release, assay results from 14 diamond drill holes from the Phase II drill program on the JJ Main Gold Zone are in. Best results include 7.74 g/t Au over 5 meters, including 15.99 g/t Au over 2 m; and 12.44 g/t Au over 8 m including 26.9 g/t Au over 3 m. These results are significant in that they further confirm significant gold mineralization within what is known to be a large quartz stockwork system.
The property consists of 24 contiguous claims acquired by Kootenay and seven Crown-granted claims optioned to Kootenay. The 11,785 hectare project hosts the historical Granville Mountain mining camp – a mining district which has produced over 9 million ounces of high-grade Au, as well as several newly-discovered vein hosted, shear-related gold showings.
Infrastructure support is excellent, as the property is located 40 km north of Teck Cominco’s smelter at Trail and 30 km west of Castlegar. The property’s proximity to Rossland and Trail (both historic mining towns) provides easy access to a local skilled labor force. The added bonus of favourable weather conditions and major highway access allows for year-round drilling at JJ.
Previous interest in JJ focused mainly on the formerly producing Granville Mountain camp. Until 1940, gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc were mined from several workings in the area. After World War II, there was little activity in the area, save for limited production from Albion. The area was explored sporadically from the late 1960s until the early 1990s. Kootenay acquired the property in 2003.
Since May 2006, Astral has broadened its exploration scope beyond JJ’s Main zone, and has started evaluating the new gold showings discovered by Kootenay. Prior to drilling, Astral conducted a property-wide airborne geophysical survey, soil sampling over three areas, further property-wide prospecting, as well as further grab sampling and trenching for some 775 m at the JJ Main showing.
The company has just wrapped up Phase II of drilling, having completed 38 drill holes totaling 5,100.84 m. This year’s drill results are currently undergoing detailed interpretation as management lays the groundwork for Phase III of drilling in 2008. Assay results have yet to arrive on the remaining 18 holes.
The company’s 43-101 report was co-written by Dale Brittliffe and Dr. David Terry, Astral’s vice-president of exploration. They describe a geological setting in which “gold mineralization at JJ is predominantly within auriferous quartz veins, shears and stockworks hosted by mid-Jurassic intrusives or older Mount Roberts Formation rocks….quartz veins can have very high gold grades (Kootenay grab sample BZT-09 up to 558g/t Au). Samples from JJ Main return gold values up to 133.91g/t Au and show a general Pb-Ag-Sb-As (lead-silver-antimony-arsenic) association and to a lesser extent Hg-Cd-Cu. (mercury, cadmium, copper)”
The report further recommends JJ as “a high quality gold exploration property with the potential to host an economic gold deposit. Results of first pass work in 2006 were very encouraging, and support the proposed programme for the 2007 season estimated at CAD$780,000. Exploration work outlined below seeks to evaluate more advanced showings such as JJ Main, provide first pass exploration for showings not yet tested such as Borrow Pit, JJ West and Pb-Zn and also includes work to identify further zones of mineralization between known gold occurrences in favourable lithologies.”
On the financial side, several fundamental strengths highlight Astral’s status as a rising star among juniors. The company’s management has gone to great lengths to minimize risk to shareholders by joining forces with Kootenay. The joint-venture agreement provides an excellent vehicle for maximum returns with minimum financial and political risk. Both companies work only in areas of known mineralization in mining-friendly parts of North America. Astral has assembled a diversified portfolio of properties in BC, Nevada and North and South Carolina. Funding has already been established for Phase III drilling, as the company has recently completed two financings.
One of the best things about this play is its tight share structure– with only 25,134,614 shares fully diluted. More good drill results, coupled with this kind of liquidity, could easily create the kind of momentum needed for brisk price gains.
With gold seemingly establishing a new base at $800 an ounce, many properties in easily accessible parts of southeastern BC are getting a well-deserved second look. With 20 out of 38 drill hole assays already in at JJ, the impetus for further exploration is clear – making it an excellent time for Astral’s investors to hitch their wagons to a star.
Start-Up Sells Solar Panels at Lower-Than-Usual Cost
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By JOHN MARKOFF
Published: December 18, 2007
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Nanosolar, a heavily financed Silicon Valley start-up whose backers include Google’s co-founders, plans to announce Tuesday that it has begun selling its innovative solar panels, which are made using a technique that is being held out as the future of solar power manufacturing.
The company, which has raised $150 million and built a 200,000-square-foot factory here, is developing a new manufacturing process that “prints” photovoltaic material on aluminum backing, a process the company says will reduce the manufacturing cost of the basic photovoltaic module by more than 80 percent.
Nanosolar, which recently hired a top manufacturing executive from I.B.M., said that it had orders for its first 18 months of manufacturing capacity. The photovoltaic panels will be made in Silicon Valley and in a second plant in Germany.
While many photovoltaic start-up companies are concentrating on increasing the efficiency with which their systems convert sunlight, Nanosolar has focused on lowering the manufacturing cost. Its process is akin to a large printing press, rather than the usual semiconductor manufacturing techniques that deposit thin films on silicon wafers.
Nanosolar’s founder and chief executive, Martin Roscheisen, claims to be the first solar panel manufacturer to be able to profitably sell solar panels for less than $1 a watt. That is the price at which solar energy becomes less expensive than coal.
“With a $1-per-watt panel,” he said, “it is possible to build $2-per-watt systems.”
According to the Energy Department, building a new coal plant costs about $2.1 a watt, plus the cost of fuel and emissions, he said.
The first Nanosolar panels are destined for a one-megawatt solar plant to be installed in Germany on a former landfill owned by a waste management company. The plant, being developed by Beck Energy, is expected to initially supply electrical power for about 400 homes.
The company chose to build its plant in southern San Jose, news that was cheered by local development officials. Much of the microelectronics industry created here has moved to Asia and new factories are a rare commodity in Silicon Valley.
Press Release - 28 November 2007
Massive Canadian oilfield could be exploited using new UK system
A new method developed in Britain over the past 17 years for extracting oil is now at the forefront of plans to exploit a massive heavy oilfield in Canada.
Duvernay Petroleum is to use the revolutionary Toe-to-Heel Air Injection (THAI™) system developed at the University of Bath at its site at Peace River in Alberta, Canada.
Unlike conventional light oil, heavy oil is very viscous, like syrup, or even solid in its natural state underground, making it very difficult to extract. But heavy oil reserves that could keep the planet’s oil-dependent economy going for a hundred years lie beneath the surface in many countries, especially in Canada.
Although heavy oil extraction has steadily increased over the last ten years, the processes used are very energy intensive, especially of natural gas and water. But the THAI™ system is more efficient, and this, and the increasing cost of conventional light oil, could lead to the widespread exploitation of heavy oil.
“The world needs to switch to cleaner ways of using energy such as fuel cells,” said Professor Malcolm Greaves, who developed the THAI™ process.
“But we are decades away from creating a full-blown hydrogen economy, and until then we need oil and gas to run our economies.
“Conventional light oil such as that in the North Sea or Saudi Arabia is running out and getting more expensive to extract.
“That’s why the pressure is on to find an efficient way of extracting heavy oil.”
THAI™ uses a system where air is injected into the oil deposit down a vertical well and is ignited. The heat generated in the reservoir reduces the viscosity of the heavy oil, allowing it to drain into a second, horizontal well from where it rises to the surface.
THAI™ is very efficient, recovering about 70 to 80 per cent of the oil, compared to only 10 to 40 per cent using other technologies.
Duvernay Petroleum’s heavy oil field in Peace River contains 100 million barrels and this will be a first test of THAI™ on heavy oil, for which THAI™ was originally developed. Duvernay Petroleum has signed a contract with the Canadian firm Petrobank, which owns THAI™, to use the process.
The THAI™ process was first used by Petrobank at its Christina Lake site in the Athabasca Oil Sands, Canada, in June 2006 in a pilot operation which is currently producing 3,000 barrels of oil a day. This was on deposits of bitumen - similar to the surface coating of roads - rather than heavy oil.
Petrobank is applying for permission to expand this to 10,000 barrels a day though there is a potential for this to rise to 100,000.
The 50,000 acre site owned by Petrobank contains an estimated 2.6 billion barrels of bitumen. The Athabasca Oil Sands region is the single largest petroleum deposit on earth, bigger than that of Saudi Arabia.
Professor Greaves, of the University’s Department of Chemical Engineering, said: “When the Canadian engineers at the Christina Lake site turned on the new system, in three separate sections, it worked amazingly well and oil is being produced at twice the amount that they thought could be extracted.
“It’s been quite a struggle to get the invention from an idea to a prototype and into use, over the last 17 years. For most of the time people weren’t very interested because heavy oil was so much more difficult and expensive to produce than conventional light oil.
“But with light oil now hitting around 100 dollars a barrel, it’s economic to think of using heavy oil, especially since THAI™ can produce oil for less than 10 dollars a barrel.
“We’ve seen this project go from something that many people said would not work into something we can have confidence in, all in the space of the last 18 months.”
Professor Greaves, who was previously Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and who also worked with Shell and ICI in the UK, is looking at making THAI™ even more efficient using a catalyst add-on process called CAPRI™.
This process was also developed by Professor Greaves’ team at Bath and is intended to turn heavy oil into light while still in the reservoir underground. The CAPRI™ research has recently been awarded funding of £800,000 from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, including £60,000 from Petrobank. The project collaborators are Dr Sean Rigby, from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Bath, and Dr Joe Wood of the University of Birmingham.
Secret to eternal wealth lies within us
The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 27 November 2007
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After a bad day at the office or a bleak glimpse of the future, who hasn't asked, 'How much is enough'? Amanda Morrall gets some answers.
Just how many bucks in the bank would it take to fund a year of travel or enable you to retire when you're still young and healthy enough to enjoy it?
Slick commercials with palm-lined beaches, bobbing sailboats and fit, white- toothed, smiley seniors would have you believe financial freedom – and therefore happiness – is more than a mirage.
In the right hands, in the right funds, money can magically multiply and make all yours dreams come true, right?
Well, not quite, says Arun Abey, an Australian financial strategist and planner with 25 years' experience.
To Mr Abey's way of thinking, How much is enough? – the title of his latest book – is not a question of dollars and cents, it is more a riddle we need to solve about our life's purpose and what makes us truly happy.
Mr Abey and co-author Andrew Ford maintain that there can be no financial security, no soft, sandy futures, without first knowing our fundamental priorities in life.
"A person needs to begin the journey inside out, rather than saying, 'I'm going to go out there, work hard, build a career and then worry about happiness'. They need to say, 'What is it that truly gives me a sense of fulfilment, well-being; what are my longer-term gratifications, and how can I build meaning into my day-to-day life?' "
Without the answers to those core questions, attaching a dollar figure to one's future is a waste of time, Mr Abey says.
When you force yourself to ask the hard questions, he says the mathematical answers are easier and more accurate.
In financial-planning lingo, the paradox of wealth without happiness is known as "hedonic arbitrage". You and I know it as the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses syndrome.
"By and large we spend so little time thinking about happiness and what makes us really happy, we end up wasting a lot of time . . . and you tend to fritter away money on things that don't really make you happy."
Mr Abey and Mr Ford maintain that sound long-term investments and prudent money-growing strategies are a lost cause without first having a sense of what is important in life.
Mr Abey has just spent five years studying the domains of evolutionary biology, behavioural psychology, neuroscience and economics and finance.
The intent, he says, was to better understand the mysteries of the mind when it comes to money and happiness, arguably the two most highly desired but elusive goals of our time.
He learned that humans are naturally hard-wired to make bad decisions about money. He blames the primitive flight-or- fight instinct for our propensity to make impulsive and irrational decisions.
The herd mentality is also a wealth hazard.
"That herding behaviour causes a lot of damage. It leads to excessive consumerism, excessive materialism, and short- cuts to happiness that lead to nowhere," he says.
In his book, Mr Abey frequently refers to billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffett as a shining example of someone who would appear to have struck it rich on both ends of the spectrum, money and happiness.
The key to his success, he says, is his well-honed "mental fortitude" and his ability to stick to a financial game plan even during times of turbulence.
"What gives you that mental strength is to not be affected by peer pressure. It's having gone through that inside-out process which then gives you the confidence to stand alone."
But what's also apparent in Mr Abey's references to Mr Buffett is his respect for the man's charitable offloading of his wealth in his golden years.
The title of the last chapter in his book, "Giving something back", might be the most revealing part of Mr Abey's surprisingly utilitarian view on money.
Though heavy on introspection and happiness talk, How much is enough? is not without financial direction. But those looking for get-rich-quick schemes will probably be disappointed.
Mr Abey's advice for fulfilling material goals that fit in with one's concept of happiness is to play it safe, stay the course, diversify the portfolio and keep a cool head in crises.
The best investment vehicle, he insists, is the stock market. Mr Abey is not big on the property market, though he does see it as a useful way to save money, show restraint in spending and thus build up that mental fortitude.
"It's far from perfect, but the stock market, for me, is the best long-term investment avenue for most people. It's relatively transparent, it's a system of continuous quotation.
"Regardless of what news is coming out, you can see how the latest news has affected the value of your investment."
He says that over long periods of time, shares typically out-perform cash and fixed-interest investments by 5 to 7 per cent a year.
The companies that will get you there, he says, are not the high-fliers, the flavours-of-the-month, but the ones that literally put bread and butter on your table.
"You want to participate in the wealth- creation of the companies that produce the goods and services that you and I consume every day.
"You want to have part of that action because that's what gives you the edge in terms of long-term productivity growth, long-term inflation."
He advises leaving investment choices to the pros, telling people to seek a financial planner who can read emotional cards as well as the stock market.
"People talk about finding out the client's financial goals but what I've learnt from 25 years of dealing with people is you can't separate financial goals from emotional goals."
The value of those touchy-feeling conversations, he says, makes good sense, on a personal and financial level.
He relates a common conversation with female clients.
"When you start asking them what their retirement looks like, they'll say, 'I've had a relationship for 20 years but when I look at it, I don't actually see myself with my husband in retirement.'
"Is that important if I'm having a financial planning conversation? Yes, it is. All of a sudden my assumptions of what to do with that $100,000 with them have gone out the window."
“I believe that the FDA should not be appointing scientists leading the testing of a rival drug for another firm onto an advisory committee evaluating Provenge.
Someone please tell me this isnt possible!!!!
On the other hand I have already said we should be worried about dirty tricks.
Oil Sand Opportunities
By Kathryn Jones
Friday, 28 September 2007
Established in December 2006, Patch International has quickly become the most aggressive emerging junior oil sands company in Alberta, Canada, it says, thanks to its asset base of 60 gross sections of land within the Athabasca oil sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta.
“A couple of years ago, I don’t think anyone would have acknowledged the term ‘junior oil sands company,’” COO and Vice President of Operations Jason Dagenais says. “The reason being is that oil sands are, candidly, a very expensive business with literally hundreds of millions of dollars in investments.
“But, in the last couple of years as technology and infrastructure has improved, we’ve seen a huge emergence of junior oil sands companies in Canada.”
Location has a lot to do with that, Dagenais adds, because the Athabasca oil sands are the second-largest oil resource in the world. “That represents 14 percent of recoverage of world oil reserves, which is about 175 billion barrels,” he calculates. “We see the oil sands of Alberta as a world-class, politically stable environment and an attractive environment to partake business in.
“The asset itself is a predictable resource base. Geologically, there is a lot lower risk in doing your explorations locally than other asset basses in the world. [Plus,] these resources have an exceptional reserve life index. Because we’re flanked to the U.S. border, which is one of the strongest consumers of oil, we have a strong and predictable market demand from the states.”
Projects in the Works
Patch currently has lease holdings in two areas of the Athabasca oil sands: Ells River (formerly referred to as Dover) and Muskwa. Dagenais says the company is very excited about the Ells River project and has 80 percent working interest in it. “We’ve got two discoveries with multiple potential to add,” he says.
“With these two discoveries, we can economically verify that our assets have the requirements to become a commercial steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) project. An expandable 10,000-barrel-a-day project is a very capital-intensive program to undertake. The assets must demonstrate both the quality and the quantity in order to bear the economic burden to bring the resources to production. We have an independent third-party engineer who has confirmed that it is economically viable.”
Patch’s Muskwa asset includes 10 sections with an average 95 percent working interest. “We are intrigued with the Muskwa land because it may have cold flow potential,” Dagenais asserts. “Although it is considered an oil sands asset, we might be able to produce it without thermal recovery.
“This is substantial because it translates to less operating costs and less capital requirements, allowing producers to accelerate development time dramatically.
“There is no engineering value applied to it so far, so this winter we’ll be conducting some in-flow tests to determine its flow ability, as well as the oil viscosity test required to ascertain whether these resources will cold flow or flow on its own without thermal enhancement. Once we see positive results, we will proceed aggressively to get production started as early as 2008.”
Who Will Win?
“It’s important to note that when you’re looking at regulatory approval, we’ve established ourselves ahead of the other junior oil sands companies because we have already demonstrated in nine months that we’re ahead of the competition by getting production on stream in one to two years,” Dagenais asserts. “With our Ells River project, we have an aggressive plan to be on production as early as 2010.”
In Canada, the bulk of the oil sands are referred to as crown leases. The government provides 15-year leases that companies competitively bid on. “These leases have been taken up for the most part,” Dagenais says. “With the closing of the market, pretty much all the oil sands will be taken up by the fall of this year. What we’re starting to see now is the setting stage of the true development of oil sands.”
The future is not without questions, however, such as “Who’s going to be the one to build, explore, exploit and add value? Who are the ones who are going to merge with another company?” he says.
That said, “We are very excited to be part of this [industry], and we look forward to participating in that arena,” he adds.
" I was depressed last night so I called Lifeline. I got a call center in Pakistan. I told them I was suicidal ....
"They got all excited and asked if I could drive a truck."
Sorry to create a fuss with my question to Jagman.I thought he might have some specifics in mind.At the moment I have complete confidence the company knows how to proceed and that they will perform and deliver.I like having Jagman around.To me he is the canary in the coal mine.The stuff he has come up with,so far ,is reassuring to me.And I respect him because he is better at spotting cockroaches than me.
Jagman,could you please list the most important steps to be completed after FDA approval.
Press Release - 28 November 2007
Massive Canadian oilfield could be exploited using new UK system
A new method developed in Britain over the past 17 years for extracting oil is now at the forefront of plans to exploit a massive heavy oilfield in Canada.
Duvernay Petroleum is to use the revolutionary Toe-to-Heel Air Injection (THAI™) system developed at the University of Bath at its site at Peace River in Alberta, Canada.
Unlike conventional light oil, heavy oil is very viscous, like syrup, or even solid in its natural state underground, making it very difficult to extract. But heavy oil reserves that could keep the planet’s oil-dependent economy going for a hundred years lie beneath the surface in many countries, especially in Canada.
Although heavy oil extraction has steadily increased over the last ten years, the processes used are very energy intensive, especially of natural gas and water. But the THAI™ system is more efficient, and this, and the increasing cost of conventional light oil, could lead to the widespread exploitation of heavy oil.
“The world needs to switch to cleaner ways of using energy such as fuel cells,” said Professor Malcolm Greaves, who developed the THAI™ process.
“But we are decades away from creating a full-blown hydrogen economy, and until then we need oil and gas to run our economies.
“Conventional light oil such as that in the North Sea or Saudi Arabia is running out and getting more expensive to extract.
“That’s why the pressure is on to find an efficient way of extracting heavy oil.”
THAI™ uses a system where air is injected into the oil deposit down a vertical well and is ignited. The heat generated in the reservoir reduces the viscosity of the heavy oil, allowing it to drain into a second, horizontal well from where it rises to the surface.
THAI™ is very efficient, recovering about 70 to 80 per cent of the oil, compared to only 10 to 40 per cent using other technologies.
Duvernay Petroleum’s heavy oil field in Peace River contains 100 million barrels and this will be a first test of THAI™ on heavy oil, for which THAI™ was originally developed. Duvernay Petroleum has signed a contract with the Canadian firm Petrobank, which owns THAI™, to use the process.
The THAI™ process was first used by Petrobank at its Christina Lake site in the Athabasca Oil Sands, Canada, in June 2006 in a pilot operation which is currently producing 3,000 barrels of oil a day. This was on deposits of bitumen - similar to the surface coating of roads - rather than heavy oil.
Petrobank is applying for permission to expand this to 10,000 barrels a day though there is a potential for this to rise to 100,000.
The 50,000 acre site owned by Petrobank contains an estimated 2.6 billion barrels of bitumen. The Athabasca Oil Sands region is the single largest petroleum deposit on earth, bigger than that of Saudi Arabia.
Professor Greaves, of the University’s Department of Chemical Engineering, said: “When the Canadian engineers at the Christina Lake site turned on the new system, in three separate sections, it worked amazingly well and oil is being produced at twice the amount that they thought could be extracted.
“It’s been quite a struggle to get the invention from an idea to a prototype and into use, over the last 17 years. For most of the time people weren’t very interested because heavy oil was so much more difficult and expensive to produce than conventional light oil.
“But with light oil now hitting around 100 dollars a barrel, it’s economic to think of using heavy oil, especially since THAI™ can produce oil for less than 10 dollars a barrel.
“We’ve seen this project go from something that many people said would not work into something we can have confidence in, all in the space of the last 18 months.”
Professor Greaves, who was previously Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, and who also worked with Shell and ICI in the UK, is looking at making THAI™ even more efficient using a catalyst add-on process called CAPRI™.
This process was also developed by Professor Greaves’ team at Bath and is intended to turn heavy oil into light while still in the reservoir underground. The CAPRI™ research has recently been awarded funding of £800,000 from Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, including £60,000 from Petrobank. The project collaborators are Dr Sean Rigby, from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Bath, and Dr Joe Wood of the University of Birmingham.
The University of Bath is one of the UK's leading universities, with an international reputation for quality research and teaching. In 15 subject areas the University of Bath is rated in the top ten in the country. View a full list of the University's press releases: http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/releases
OT.Lowman do you have PEFF.OB on your radar?Sorry to break your forum rules but I dont know where else to ask you.Maybe you can suggest where people can get to you for off forum stuff?
A Californian hedge fund has made more than 1,000 per cent return this year by betting against US subprime home loans, making it one of the world’s best-performing funds of all time.
Lahde Capital, set up in Santa Monica last year by Andrew Lahde, last week passed the 1,000 per cent mark, after fees, following the latest leg of the credit market turmoil. The fall in the value of subprime-linked securities has boosted a group of funds which spotted the problems in advance.
The decision to use derivatives to short, or bet against, low-quality US home loans taken by a select group of hedge funds last year appears to have become the most profitable single trade of all time, making well over $20bn in total so far this year. John Paulson’s New York-based Paulson & Co, the biggest of the group with $28bn under management, is said by investors to have made $12bn profit from the trade already.
However, Mr Lahde, whose fund is one of the smallest specialists shorting subprime, has now begun to return money to investors, telling them in a letter: “The risk/return characteristics are far less attractive than in the past.”
In his letter, Mr Lahde said he expected the collapse in value of subprime mortgage-linked securities to be repeated for bonds backed by commercial property loans in a deep recession – which he also predicts.
“Our entire banking system is a complete disaster,” he wrote. “In my opinion, nearly every major bank would be insolvent if they marked their assets to market.” He also said he would be putting some of his own profits into gold and other precious metals.
Mr Lahde has used the phenomenal returns to boost his business, launching a fund to bet against commercial real estate this autumn -- which made 42 per cent in its first two months -– and is in the process of creating a third fund to short credits with a broader mandate.
Lahde’s first fund, US Residential Real Estate Hedge V Class A, soared 712.8 per cent in the year to the end of October, before this month’s sell-off pushed it past the 1,000 per cent mark.
There is no reliable data on how many other funds have made 1,000%, or ten times the investment, in a year. But RAB Capital, London hedge fund manager, shot to prominence in 2003 when it returned 1,475.5% in its Special Situations fund, which now runs $2.4bn and is the biggest shareholder in troubled bank Northern Rock.
Bigger subprime top performers include Paulson’s Credit Opportunities fund, up 550.8 per cent to the end of October, and the Subprime Credit Strategies fund run jointly by Texas-based Hayman Capital and Corriente Advisors, up 526.5 per cent.