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Oops-- it's AngloGold Ashanti (AU) not Anglo Ashanti Gold as stated in my last message here.
FL
Do fun names help stocks go up?
A good name might attract buyers and help a stock price go up (without similarly inspiring SELLING the stock). Also, I suspect that a "fun" name is usually a good name.
There are bad names (like "Solutia"(SOI) or "Altria"(MO) coined to avoid guilt), and some names may become bad as times change (energy companies with names resembling Enron). I suspect that Crazy Woman Creek Bancorp (CRZY) will attract some, but will scare off a larger number.
Not all investors are grave, serious and rational. I think many are quite proud of owning certain stocks, and some will admit buying and holding a stock "for fun". Yoo-Hoo beverages did well in the 1960's with some help from the name, as did Yahoo in the 1990's.
Among miners, I tend to like like Scottish or African names. For some reason, the name "Placer Dome" just doesn't appeal to me, nor acronyms like PMI. Iamgold sounds like the cat food "Iams". I loved the written form (if not the Afrikaaner pronunciation) of some of the old South African mines like Randfontein, Vaal Reefs, Free State Geduld, President Steyn, Blyvoorzuicht, etc. The Australian miner Sons of Gwalia is good as is Oxiana. You could name a daughter Oxiana. Like Christiana. The added "Ashanti" adds definite cachet to the new name of Anglo Ashanti Gold (AU), now the world's largest gold miner.
And who could resist buying Porcupine?
FL
Robex (RBX.V) surge remains puzzling!
West African explorers have been in a major pullback for months, EXCEPT Robex which has kept surging up. I find it hard to believe that Robex is catching up late, due to some tidal force it missed earlier. Something may be afoot. Mere listing on German exchanges surely isn't THAT salutary, is it?
There has been no recent news on the Robex web-page. Again, what accounts for the "contrary" price action? This seems too much, and too sustained, for a "flipping pool," or the like, to accomplish.
(I don't own any.)
FL
Crazy Woman Creek Bancorp (CRZY), a bank in Buffalo, Wyoming.
Semafo(SMF.TO) on a tear; alas it got away from me. It's gone up 50% in three days on increasing volume. He who hesitates, and mulls things over indefinitely, may miss the bus.
FL
I like the list of all charts together, so I can scan it quickly, by scrolling, to spot and compare price patterns. This is better (for that purpose at least) than having separate chart links as in the Mexican gold miners board.
I admit that it inevitably gets out of date after a while.
FL
Trading Fool: As a High Potentate, mightn't they make an exception for you and allow a single multi-chart message?
FL
NEW: Sanu(SNU), Af.Gold(AGG), Solomon(SRB), Guinor(GNR), Iamgold(IMG,IAG), Af.GoldPLC, Glencar, Afminex, Austr.United, Equigold, Resolute, Columbia River(CRVV), Randgold Res(GOLD), Gold Fields(GFI), and Alligator were added to the header section. Also some new links.
The "For Charts Go Here" message needs to be replaced, since it now has blank charts and lacks a lot of relevant charts.
FL
Avoiding African Gold (AGG.TO) and Columbia River (CRVV)
In the current market I've bought into many a promising Ghanaian miner or explorer that has no major mark against it; I think that Ghana abounds in yet-undiscovered gold (and that the gold price will rise). Some will fail but others will be real bonanzas.
Worldwide, I mostly try to avoid notorious polluters, killers of artisanal miners, destroyers of villages etc., those that have over-hyped the stock and run the price up, those with focus in unhappy places like Central African Republic, Congo, Halmahera or Liberia, and those associated with unsavory promoters. Or I just "don't like the look" of either the company or its stock price pattern.
Another reason to steer clear is a dubiously layered structure of ownership, with multiple opportunities for dilution. I have no especially well-informed opinion about the Mankranho property in central Ghana which is said to be the only asset of Columbia River (CRVV) and the main asset of African Gold (AGG.V) which controls CRVV; however, I don't like the recent CRVV announcement authorizing doubling of the shares of Columbia River and options for its insiders. The general tone seemed to me to be "oh gee, markets are heating up so we'd better put something out there" rather than a serious treatment of the property. If CRVV waters its stock, it could reduce AGG's effective interest in Mankranho from over 68% to half that. Since AGG now controls CRVV, that would be done only with AGG's complicity. And, it's hard to imagine how anyone could deserve to be granted (diluting) CRVV options in addition to his or her (diluting) AGG options.
One layer of dilution is a necessity but who needs these multiple layers?
AGG may have a meteoric trajectory, but this is one I'll only watch from afar. (Disclosure: I don't short gold stocks at present.)
FL
St. Jude Gold (SJD.TO) had one big trade
Judging from the intraday chart's volume information at http://www.bigcharts.com , St. Jude Gold's big volume yesterday was mainly due to a single trade of half a million shares Monday morning at around C$1.67.
FL
huesos, I get correct GNR.TO heading on Stockwatch
It looks as though Guinor Gold (GNR.TO) started trading at around C$1.03 to C$1.07 last week. I'm surprised at the low trading volume; only a few trades per day, despite the price jump.
You can look at the price in Norway of Kenor/Guinor at www.bigcharts.com by typing the symbol "no:457810" which is or was the symbol for the Norwegian stock. It surged (gapped up)from NK 6 to NK 7 on Friday morning, then settled down during Friday and Monday to NK 5.89. As far as I know, it will continue trading in Oslo along with Toronto.
The TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange) webpage gives Guinor (GNR.TO) a total "Quoted Market Value" of C$206,757,397. For comparison, Cassidy Gold (CDY.V) gets a "Float Quoted Market Value" of C$21,617,300. That's almost 10 to 1. Does Guinor really have 10 times the value of Cassidy?
FL
St. Jude Gold (SJD.TO) big volume
For the last few days SJD has had increasing volume every day, today (noon) already over C$1 million with a slowly increasing price. This is the highest volume in many months. Can anybody say why? (Disclosure: I own some, but I'm not buying or selling any right now.)
FL
Kenor is now trading as Guinor (GNR.TO)
My last message listed Kenor (457810.NO) as the name of the Norwegian gold producer/explorer (in Guinea and Ghana), but since last week it has traded as Guinor (GNR.TO) on the Toronto exchnge. It has shot up from C$1.03 to C$1.70, on modest volume for a new issue. Kenor in Norway had the longer history needed to classify the stock into one of the three categories described.
FL
Classify the stocks: WELL, POORLY, OTHERWISE
Here's one arbitrary classification of recent price performance, based on the commonly-shown moving averages.
The idea is to note only the ordering of PRESENT price, 50-DAY, and 200-DAY averages.
If the PRESENT price is above the 50-DAY average, which is in turn above the 200-DAY average, declare that the stock has been doing "WELL."
If the 200-DAY average is above the 50-DAY, which is in turn above the PRESENT price, declare that the stock has been doing "POORLY."
For any other ordering of these three, say the stock has been doing "OTHERWISE".
Using this acme of sophistication, how would the West African golds be allocated now (April 17, 2004)?
==================================================
Done WELL: Columbia River CRVV.PK, Goldbelt GLDH.V, Goldcrest GCL.V, Golden Star GSS GSC.TO (barely), Jilbey JLB.V, Kenor 457810.NO, Robex RBX.V
==================================================
Done POORLY: Akrokeri-Ashanti AKR.V, Afri Ore AFO.TO, AMI Res AMU.V, Champion Res CHA.V (barely), Great Quest GQ.V, Moydow MOY.TO, Nevsun NSU.TO, PMI Ventures PMI.V, Randgold Res GOLD
==================================================
Done OTHERWISE: Adamus ADU.AU, African Metals AFR.V, Axmin AXM.V, Birim BGI.TO, Caldera CDR.TO, Cassidy CDY.V, Channel CHU.V, Etruscan EET.TO, High River HRG.TO (barely), Mano River MNO.V, N Atlantic Nickel NAC.TO, Red Back RBK.AU, Riverstone RVS.V, St. Jude SJD.V, Searchgold RSG.V, Semafo SMF.TO
==================================================
I left out out Fairstar since they're basically out of West Africa, and probably should exclude Moydow too, though they both retain royalty or similar interests. I include Randgold Resources. African Gold AGG.V hasn't been trading long enough for this classification, but it's done well due to its first few days. Under this classification, Ashanti Goldfields ASL and Iamgold IAG would be doing "OTHERWISE" while Gold Fields GFI (about 1/3 Ghanaian) would be doing "POORLY."
This rough-cut system takes no account of the size of the moves, and there are borderline cases like Champion which has really been doing OK. Different choices of times for the averages would give different results. It could be argued that the relation between the two averages is unimportant if the present price is above (or below) both.
FL
St. Jude Intersects High Grade at Depth on G Zone
Including 7.17 g/t Over 14 meters
Vancouver, April 16, 2004 - St. Jude Resources Ltd. (SJD-TSX.V)
is pleased to announce drill results from the company’s 90% owned Benso gold project in Ghana, West Africa. The ongoing drill program continues to intercept exceptional grades, across excellent widths on anomalies G, I and N. These new discovery zones are all within the Subriso block of the Benso concession, and each will have a positive impact on the initial resource estimate which is to be completed next month. This resource estimate (N.I. 43-101 compliant) will also include zones previously described as Subriso Central (78.71 g/t over 12 meters), Subriso West (7.16 g/t over 36 meters), and Subriso East (14.49 g/t over 10 meters). ...
(And that old 78.71 g/t is not bad either.)
The full announcement, in Adobe PDF format, is at: http://www.stjudegold.com/pdf/nr_150.pdf
FL
Columbia River (CRVV) is a West African gold exploration property company in its own right, even though it's controlled by African Gold (AGG.TO) with a 68.84% interest. Columbia River Resources, Inc., a Nevada corporation, is traded (albeit thinly and with a huge spread) on the Pink Sheets as CRVV.
It owns the Mankranho gold concession northwest of Kumasi in Ghana as its only asset. AGG, which recently merged with a shell company to get listed, got its CRVV shares less than a year ago for US$0.02/share. Recently CRVV traded at over US$0.20, and last traded at US$0.14, which is also the current bid price (the ask is US$0.19). The 68.84% of CRVV is AGG's main asset.
I think Trading Fool should list CRVV at the top, somehow, though it seems to have neither its own webpage nor a (free) Stockcharts chart. You can see the CRVV chart at http://www.pinksheets.com or at http://www.bigcharts.com .
I can't figure out why this company still exists separately from AGG. Trading Fool posted a recent notice that CRVV would double its authorized common shares to 100 million. Also, to quote:
"[T]he "2004 Stock Option Plan") for the
purpose of encouraging eligible
directors, officers, employees
and consultants of the Company to
acquire shares of common stock
of the Company, and thereby
increasing their proprietary
interest in the Company, encouraging
them to remain associated with
the Company, and furnishing them
with additional incentive to
advance the interests of the Company
in the conduct of their affairs.
A total of 5,000,000 shares of
common stock have been reserved
for issuance pursuant to stock
options that may from time to time
be awarded under the 2004 Stock
Option Plan."
This is an interesting set of employee incentives for a company that does not actually do anything other than hold a single property on behalf of the new African Gold (AGG.TO). What onerous toils will need to be rewarded with these 5 million CRVV options? (Separate from, and on top of, rewards to AGG's own toilers?)
And why authorize new shares of this inert entity, if a second layer of dilution is not planned?
FL
Cassidy (CDY.TO) seems to be in "dilution dive". New shares and warrants were issued. How much of this kind of reaction is due to the warrants? Are these typical Canadian "units" deals, with stock+warrant, generally fair?
I have some CDY, and I've remarked on the likely diluting effect of Champion (CHA.TO which I also have) warrants and options in the Red Back merger. About 12 million total CHA shares outstanding get squeezed by about 8 million CHA options and warrants. Some ratio.
FL
Two Ratios: Semafo(SMF.TO)/Etruscan(EET.TO) and RANGY/GOLD
A chart of one stock shown in multiples of another's price, or ratio chart, shows relative performance.
Etruscan Resources (EET.TO) and Semafo (SMF.TO) share the Samira Hill and Libiri gold projects in Niger, said to have 2 million oz. resources, and to be the first commercial gold mine in Niger. Each has separate, important gold properties in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and other West African countries. Semafo is controlled and run by Managem, Morocco's biggest miner, and it seems to be a francophone company.
I've been interested in Etruscan's and Semafo's gold operations in West Africa, but not in Etruscan's South African diamond mining. One way to "subtract he differences" is to look at the ratio. Semafo has done worse and is now (April 16, 2004) at the bottom of its range compared with Etruscan:
>
I don't own any of either company, but I'm mulling over buying some Semafo. The other day it dipped deep.
Another ratio chart is Randgold & Exploration (RANGY) in terms of Randgold Resources (GOLD); the former, RANGY, is a South African holding company (run by the controversial Kebbles) which owns -- among other things -- a big piece of the latter, GOLD, which in turn has interests in the Morila and Loulo gold mines in Mali and exploration properties in four other West African countries. GOLD also has chutzpah, having bid against Anglo for Ashanti Goldfields last year. I couldn't decide between them, but then (unfortunately, so far) chose RANGY. I'm thinking of switching to GOLD but the ratio looks unfavorable now (April 16, 2004):
>
FL
P.S. I think Trading Fool should add GOLD to the official list here because of its exploration properties. And reconsider Moydow. The "show all charts" link no longer matches the list.
Birim (BGI.TO) getting low; Bui is good
Birim Gold's price just drifted below its 200-day average to C$0.80. This looks low to me (I own some). I sent a message to their website suggesting that they update their "properties" page, because the page is way out of date and fails to disclose all the recent finds on the Bui concesssion. I see no reason for "stealth mode".
Birim has a cash cow in the form of its Mampon/Dunkwa royalties from Golden Star, in the middle of the Ashanti Belt, but that's the old news -- to me, the interesting value now is in the Bui concession. Bui is a huge area (ca. 7,000 sqare km) where Birim has exclusive rights. This is in a relatively unpopulated, remote area of Ghana, in the Naforro cultural area that does not have the gold-focused history of the Ashanti area. (So it's much more likely that large surface deposits have gone unnoticed.) There are rolling plains of scrubland and light, savannah-like forest where nobody lives. It has both the Tarkwa-style gold-and-pebbles conglomerate, and vast remote areas of "Birimian" greenstone that are still unexplored. The area is so big, with so many formations, intrusions, etc., that exploration will take many years. Road access is good.
Many different kinds of deposits are likely. Already Birim found that the Brohani Hills (the entire hills?) consist of low grade Tarkwaian gold ore. They have, quite separately, found high-grade deposits at Tombe-Parabu, which strike they keep extending. Another place Kiru 100 kilometers north (but still on the Bui property) is having an artisanal gold mining rush for free metallic gold in quartz veins at the surface. But these are merely a start. There are large intrusive anomalies along the Ivory Coast border that haven't even been looked at. I doubt that Birim has seen even 10% of what it really has. Major bonanzas, now unsuspected, are quite possible in future years somewhere within the Bui realm. The geology is favorable for it.
So, with a better disclosure of the Bui situation, I think that Birim shares are morally obliged to cooperate properly by going up in price.
FL
Can anyone say WHY Robex (RBX.TO) is movin'?
Champion's Bole announcemnet was Feb 23 not March 23; that was my error as to the month.
It's outrageous for Champion to announce the Bole Project deal if that property will not even belong to the renamed Champion (the post-merger Red Back Mining). On March 23 Champion annouced:
"VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CHA - TSXV) ...
CHAMPION RESOURCES INC. (the
"Company") reports that Red Back Mining NL ("Red Back", ASX:RBK) has announced a joint venture with Takoradi Limited ("Takoradi") (ASX:TKG) to explore the Bole Project covering the largest undeveloped gold deposit in northern Ghana.
The Bole Joint Venture comprises four Prospecting Licences held by Takoradi's 80% owned subsidiary, Northern Goldfields Limited ("Northern") and a surrounding Reconnaissance Licence Application by Red Back which together cover an area of approximately 2250 square kilometres. ..." ETC.
You can read the whole Champion announcement at:
http://www.cdnx.com/LCDB/Filings.asp?PO_ID=17167&NR_MODE=1
(in Champion's Feb 23 Announcement).
If any officer of Champion or Red Back reads these messages, I suggest that you ensure that the two companies interpret the word "may" in the Merger agreement to mean that old Red Back might not elect to strip off these valuable northern Ghana properties from the merged company, and then old Red Back should elect to leave these properties in the new Red Back, thereby avoiding committing what would seem to be an otherwise scandalous deception.
FL
Whither Bole, Nangodi, and Bolgatanga?
In my last message, I mentioned that I got the thick Notice of merger of Champion Resources (CHA.TO) with Red Back (RBK on Australian ASX), intended to form a Ghana gold miner and explorer.
But it's unclear, in the merger agreement, who will own the northern Ghana gold concessions currently owned by Red Back: Bole, Nangondi and Bolgatanga. The emphasis in the Notice is all on the southern Sefwi Belt properties, especially Chirano, as the assets of the new company. The northern properties are excluded and are treated more like Red Back's Australian properties, which are being spun off to old Red Back shareholders alone. (I'm only a Champion shareholder.)
The merger agreement of Nov. 4, 2003 says, Section 1.2:
"As part of the scheme of arrangement ...
prior to the Merger ... Red Back will distribute
to each of its shareholders a pro rata interest
in a corporation established by Red Back
(the "Acquiring Corporation") that will own
all of Red Back's non-Ghanaian mineral
properties. ... Red Back may ... appoint an
independent valuer to value its Bole, Nangodi
and Bolgatanga Projects. ... The Acquiring Corporation
shall purchase from New Red Back ... the Bole , Nangodi
and Bolgatanga projects in consideration of the issuance
to New Red Back of ... shares in Acquiring Corporation
... equal to the value of the Bole, Nangodi and
Bolgatanga Projects at the same issue price per share
as the Red Back shareholders are issued their shares in
the Acquiring Corporation."
Note the "may" and the "shall" -- Is this mandatory or not?
If so, it looks as though the old Red Back shareholders' new spin-off "Acquiring Company" (not the new, merged New Red Back) will get the northern Ghana properties, and that it will "pay" with its own shares priced solely according to its own decree (using the so-called "issue price" of the spin-off shares).
This doesn't look so great for the merged company.
Those northern Ghana concessions are very different from the established Sefwi-belt assets. The north has hardly been explored, and these large concessions may be a continuation of the the huge Bui concession geological structures owned by Birim Gold (BGI.TO - my current favorite explorer in West Africa) in which Birim keeps finding wholly new goldfields periodically. These northern areas are wide open for totally new, big discoveries (wildcat-style) rather than just "development" exploration near existing lodes.
Here's a quote from Champion's and Red Back's latest announcement of Feb. 23:
"The Bole Joint Venture covers a 70km
strike length of the Bole Belt, one of the
four major gold bearing belts in Ghana.
Also situated on the Bole Belt is Red
Back's 100% owned 770 square kilometre Nangodi
Project covering the largest
historical gold workings in northern Ghana
and located approximately 250km
north of Bole. The largest gold deposit on
the Bole Belt is the 1 million ounce
Youga deposit, located 7km north of
Nangodi in Burkina Faso."
"Since Ghana attracted international mineral
exploration investor interest in
the 1980's more than 95% of exploration budgets
have focused on southwest Ghana
and in particular on the Ashanti Belt. Red Back
regards the Bole Belt in northern Ghana as being
significantly under explored but with considerable
potential for multi million ounce gold deposits."
I agree, so it would be nice to have these properties in the merged company, especially since the two merging entities have been trumpeting this property in connection with the merger.
In the Bole property, there's a trench reported with 2 meters at 10.6g/ton Au. (Redback-Champion Specialist Report, AMC Consultants, Dec. 2003, p. 28)
It should be mentioned that whereas central and southern Ghana in general is a very peaceful, stable and safe country, the far North of Ghana is not. There have been tribal disputes with riots and killings, most famously the assassination of the King of Dagbon in which his killer ran through the streets with the severed head, publicly, but has never been prosecuted. Also, as a muslim area, it has young men who admire Osama Bin Ladin and Al Qaeda. So there's a possible "political risk" with the northern properties that's absent in the rest of Ghana.
An odd effect of the quoted contract provision is that it would inadvertently give the merged company a minor interest in the Australian properties that will have just been spun off. This is because "New" Red Back would own some shares in the old Red Back's separate "Acquiring Company" that is getting the Australian properties.
Comparing the values of Red Back and Champion shares turns out to be a headache.
FL
I was Wrong about Champion and Red Back
I just got a thick (hundreds of pages) Notice from Champion Resources (CHA.TO) about its upcoming merger with Red Back Mines (RBK on Australian ASX), dated March 15. I have shares in Champion. Red Back has several promising gold mining properties in Ghana and some in Australia; Champion has a phosphate concession in Guinea-Bissau. Red Back is using Champion as a way to get on the Toronto Stock Exchange; the merged company will be re-named Red Back Mining.
Earlier I posted a message suggesting that I'd figured you'd get more of the new company, per dollar, by buying Champion shares than by buying Red Back shares. But I said I wasn't sure, and now I'm even less sure. I thought that old Red Back stockholders would own 87% of the new company (fully-diluted), and that old Champion stockholders would own 13% of the new company.
But, lo, when I look at page 21, I see that old Champion stockholders only get 7.85% of the new company, not 13%, while another class of "Securities reserved by Champion for future issue as of the date of this circular (excluding securities to be issued pursuant to this merger)" --- 8,854,500 shares --- gets the other 5.55%
Now what are those? My first impression is that they appear to be shares destined for issue to prior Champion warrant and option holders. But it doesn't really say so.
Right after listing these "Securities reserved ... for future issue...", the next paragraph says: "... RBM and Champion have agreed not to issue any securities other than as contained in the Merger Agreement." That Agreement is attached to the Notice, and says: (6.1) "... neither Champion nor Red Back shall ... (d) allot or issue ... shares ... other than pursuant to outstanding options, warrants .., or as provided in this agreement."
Again, if anyone who reads this board has a better understanding of this, please post an explanation. My initial calculations were definitely flawed.
At a mere 7.85% slice, instead of 13%, is the thinly-traded Champion stock a good way to buy into the new Red Back, or not? The current CHA.TO price is C$0.75, with 12,540,894 shares outstanding and a market value of C$9,405,671 (according to TSX), ignoring the warrants and options. The current Red Back price is Aus$0.64, with 134,670,851 shares outstanding and (3,535,000 options) according to the Notice. Since the Australian and Canadian dollars are now almostly exactly equal, the market value of Red Back is about C$86,189,345 ignoring options. The ratio of 9,405,671(Champion)/86,189,345(Red Back) = 0.109127375 is only slightly better than ratio of the percents of the new company, namely 7.85% (Champion without the warrants and options)/84.38%(Red Back without its options) = 0.093031524.
The warrant and option holders (assuming that's who they really are) will dilute the new shares by owning the remaining 7.77% of the new company if they exercise their rights as expected.
However this leaves out some things, such as the agreed-to spinoff of Red Back's Australian properties (value unknown) to old Red Back shareholders alone. And a "Redback Limited" is listed as owning 1,050,000 Champion warrants. Also there's a question about who'll get the northern Ghana properties (as opposed to Chirano and other Ashanti-Ahafo area properties). That's the subject of my next message.
FL
Re: Akrokeri-Ashanti (AKR.TO) liquidating Bonte Mine
I guess I was lucky to get my nice tour of the Bonte Gold Mine when I did, earlier this month.
I don't doubt the wisdom of closing Bonte if they had no rational reason to expect to hit higher grade ores there soon. My question is: What is the net value of the rest of Akrokeri-Ashanti -- its other placer mining permits, concessions, equipment and expertise?
As far as I know, no other publicly-traded company in Ghana has expertise in finding and mining placer (alluvial) gold. I'm very ignorant on this subject, but I get the vague impression that placer geology is so different from "lode" geology, that not many people really understand it. If you get a textbook on "sedimentology" you see a lot of overlaid swirls and concentrations of ore at various levels of ancient river bends. I wonder whether placer science has really kept up with regular lode geology in computer modeling of these swirls and likely ore concentrations.
Of course, some of the worlds greatest bonanzas, like the Klondike, were placer gold.
One thing to watch for in placer mining is distance from pit to plant. If, as at Bonte, the pit face is moving downstream from the plant, it means that the trucks have to drive loads of ore slightly further each year. Eventually each load moves several miles. (That's assuming the plant is not portable or easily movable.)
I suspect that Akrokeri-Ashanti has the only Knelson concentrators in Ghana, though I don't know this (and I don't know who will own them now after liquidation of the Bonte mine). These are ingenious, giant-washing-machine-like, multi-million-dollar centrifuges that concentrate heavy sands and flakes of gold from lighter sand, mud sludge and gravel.
The day of the Bonte liquidation announcement, the AKR.TO shares dropped back to their earlier 52-week low of C$0.025.
FL
Link between African Gold (AGG.TO) & Cassidy (CDY.TO)
There might be some linkage between the new Toronto-listed AGG and CDY. AGG's main asset is 68.8% interest in Columbia River (traded thinly as CRVV on the Pink Sheets). Looking at the "company information" page for CRVV on the Pink Sheets webpage, I found:
======================
CRVV -- Columbia River Resources, Inc. (NV)
Com ($0.001)
Address:
856 Homer St.
Suite 302
Vancouver
BC V6B 2W5
Canada
Phone: 604-688-1163
Company Website: http://www.columbiariver1.com
Officers:
Robert Ferguson, Pres. & Sec't.
======================
This Robert Ferguson could be the same Robert Ferguson who is Vice-President of Corporate Development for Cassidy Gold.
FL
Malaria risk in Ghana?
huesos asked me: "If you don't mind my asking, what was your assesment of the malaria risk during your stay?"
I think the risk for long-term residents is substantial but not bad for a visitor if you simply take the precautions mentioned in the travel books.
1. Take an antimalarial drug before, during and after the trip. I chose the somewhat expensive daily tablet Malarone. Cheaper is the weekly (dreadful tasting) Lariam, but you have to study the possible side-effects and decide.
2. Use a mosquito-net wherever you sleep. I got used to this quickly and hardly noticed.
3. Wear long sleeves and long pants, and shoes.
4. Use DEET insect repellent.
The malaria-risk mosquito is nocturnal so the main problem is when you are out in the evening, not in the daytime. This may have influenced me to keep regular hours.
Incidentally, I got all possible inoculations before I went. I wasn't sick for one moment during three weeks, depite eating lots of local cooking and street food. I don't do that well in Mexico or even USA. I did stick to bottled water, except when a village chief offered me some local brew, in a gourd, that it would have uncouth for me to refuse.
FL
Giant Yellowknife; New York, Honduras and Rosario Mining Company
Great names from days of yore. Also: St. Louis & Yavapai Gold Mine.
FL
Columbia River (CRVV) as alternate to AGG.TO?
African Gold Group (AGG.TO) seems to own as its main property Mankranho in the Ahafo area of Ghana, through its ownership of 68.8% of the American company Columbia River Resources, Inc. Columbia River is also publicly traded (very thinly) as a Pink Sheets stock with the symbol CRVV. Columbia River apparently owns the Mankranho property more directly, without the other properties. The Columbia River stock has recently doubled from US$0.10 to US$0.20 during the month of March -- whereas African Gold Group seems to have doubled in a couple of days right after the Toronto listing.
Which is the better way to buy into the Mankranho property?
Again, Trading Fool might want to consider adding CRVV to the list of Ghana explorers.
FL
Correction: Kingdom of Axim at http://www.kingdomofbiffeche.net
The kingdom's webpage is not www.kingdomofbiffeche.com as cited in my previous message. (This was off-topic, by the way.)
FL
Trading Fool asked:
>FL, What were you doing wandering around rural
> Ghana if you don't mind me asking?
I was mainly a tourist. I had a fun three weeks traveling around southern and central Ghana. I highly recommend it if you want to see something totally different with safety, some comfort, and very friendly English-speaking people. (Just avoid the muslim far North, which I consider unsafe.)
I did get a tour of the Bonte placer gold mine run by Akrokeri-Ashanti Gold (AKR.TO) near Kumasi, which was very interesting. I took the overnight ferry up Lake Volta. When I visited the hippopotami (hippopotamuses) in Bui National Park, which was my favorite thing to do in Ghana, I stayed on Birim Gold's (BGI.TO) Bui concession. I saw some striking sheets and veins of white quartz in strange rocks, but I'm too geologically ignorant to know what I was looking at. At Bui, Bonte, and the beaches of Axim, I looked for large gold nuggets lying around on the ground but saw none.
I was in Accra and Kumasi in addition to rural areas. I watched the action on the Ghana Stock Exchange floor from the public gallery. The brokers walk among stock-specific whiteboards making bids and asks, socializing and making deals, while big-shot investors sometimes shout coded buy and sell signals down to their brokers.
Also looked into the white, American king of Axim in Ghana, mentioned at
http://www.kingdomofbiffeche.com , which is an odd phenomenon. Axim is picturesque with lovely beaches, an ancient seaside castle, islands with palms, etc. in addition to being the south end of the Ashanti gold belt.
>Why don't you post your calculations?
>Then someone could check them rather
>than starting from scratch.
Sorry, I didn't keep them after I bought Champion (CHA.TO) to get into Red Back. I translated the total valuations from Australian and Canadian dollars into US dollars, which I now realize was a needless calculation, since US dollars aren't involved at all. The key is the Red Back/Champion share ratio in the merger announcement. That and the current share prices, fully diluted shares outstanding, and the Australian/Canadian currency ratio. I guess you should also consider any possibility that the merger might fail to take place. Champion's phosphate property in Guinea-Bissau just seemed like a bit of possible lagniappe.
>Any thoughts on why AKR is down to .04
> after trading up to .13 recently??
No, except maybe hitting some lower ore grades; what baffles me is why Akrokeri-Ashanti (AKR.TO) shares suddenly quadrupled in the first place. I had limit orders to pick up shares cheaply during the company's time of distress (credit crunch and muddy rainy season) which I did to some degree. I figured that the company's creditors would gain nothing from being mean and repossessing a bunch of specialized equipment they have no use for. They'd benefit much more from a recovered and prosperous company. On my tour of the Bonte mine the operation looked good to me; orderly and professional. A lot depends on what grade of placer ore they happen to hit in a particular month. They have a unique technology for concentrating the gold from the mud and gravel. It's all gold metal flakes and dust, which I like because there's no environmentally damaging chemical treatments. I couldn't figure out what's going on at their other property, Goldenrae, but the whole time I was around, the president Mike Cawood was doing something over at Goldenrae so I didn't meet him. I consider Akrokeri-Ashanti precarious now, but quite lucrative at these prices if it survives.
FL
Fairstar apparently no longer exploring in West Africa
Fairstar (FFR.TO) has sold its interest in the nice Benso concession in Ghana to St. Jude (SJD.TO) and is now concentrating on its Fenelon property in Canada. Except for a retained Net Smelter Return right to Benso's income, I don't know that Fairstar has any further presence in West Africa. If that's correct, Trading Fool may wish to remove Fairstar from among the West Africa explorers.
FL
Champion (CHA.TO) backdoor to Red Back in Ghana?
Over a month ago I bought a small amount of Champion Resources (CHA.TO in Toronto) as a "backdoor" way of buying an interest in Red Back Mining (RBK in Australia), a company with good-looking properties in Ghana. I don't know a convenient way to buy Australian stocks.
From the last things I read, Red Back wants to be listed in Toronto, and has chosen to merge with Champion and then change the name of the merged company to Red Back, to be on the Toronto exchange. Before buying some Champion, I looked at the proposed ratio of Champion to Red Back shares, and it seemed that you got a lot more of the resulting company (for the same money) by buying the thinly-traded Champion (then). I just did an informal calculation, and there are several variables including the share ratio, the prices of the two stocks in Canadian and Australian dollars, the currency ratio, etc. I would like it if someone more competent, here on this board, would do the calculation and confirm whether I'm right that Champion is relatively undervalued.
Red Back has at least two important concessions near Bibiani west of Kumasi. Champion is being used merely as a "vehicle" for a Toronto listing, but it also happens to have a phosphate mining concession in Guineau-Bissau near the Senegal border. They were trying at some point to sell this, for 10 million, as I remember. So that could be a little (potential) extra you get from buying Champion, beyond it's Red Back merger value; I left that out of my calculation.
Because Champion is due to become Red Back with Ghana properties, I think Trading Fool should list CHA as a West African explorer stock. (Also put Australian RBK alongside the Adamus link, and include Akrokeri-Ashanti (AKR.TO)if you want to include placer mining).
[Background: I have some Ghana mines and explorers, almost all the publicly traded ones except Moydow, AMI, PMI, Axmin, Red Back and Adamus. I have, and like, Cassidy in Guinea too. I sold my Nevsun (NSU.TO) to buy CHA.TO, CDY.TO and AKR.TO. I just got back from a trip wandering around rural Ghana. I like some stocks traded on the Ghana Stock Exchange (non-miners).]
FL