MineCore International (fka MCIO)

[janice shell]

Dammit, I KNEW that name was familiar. THIS kind of experience?

MADAGASCAR? ISN’T THAT ON THE INTERNET? -- AMERICAN BENEFITS GROUP, INC.
Investigative Reports
January 1 2000

When we first noticed American Benefits Group (ABFG) several months ago we were intrigued by the Company’s unusual business mix. In the Company’s own words, its mission was "to enhance shareholder value through the development of a complimentary (sic) portfolio of profitable business operations." Based in Deerfield Beach, Florida, the Company’s "core" business apparently consisted of "mining" interests in the Republic of Madagascar. More recently, ABFG had launched an e-commerce site on the Internet -- RodeoIsland.com. Complementary? Well, RodeoIsland included a gem store, even if it only offered a handful of items at the time of our first visit.

Now, it seems, the mission has changed. Earlier this month ABFG unveiled newly designed websites for the Company and RodeoIsland.com, as well as a new mission statement. "The Company," we are told, "is determined to enhance shareholder value through aggressive Internet ventures in e-business and web TV that is (sic) supported by the assets produced in the acquisition, excavation and marketing of precious gems and jewelry." While ABFG began as a mining company, it "quickly realized the potential and market power of the Internet…and started to acquire companies and products that transact well in an e-commerce environment." In the Company’s own words "[A]s RodeoIsland.com flourishes on the Internet so to (sic) does ABFG’s mining operations in Madagascar. With a success story like ABFG, we don’t mind backing it up one bit."

And how can investors measure that "success?" Since ABFG has not filed any reports with the SEC, investors will just have to take the Company’s word that its mining interests have value, that e-commerce on RodeoIsland will thrive, and that its Internet Services Division will be able to compete successfully in a crowded field with established players. In a recent interview, Kelly Kellner, the Company’s Senior Corporate Development Manager, stated that RodeoIsland is expected to have over twenty sites by Christmas and 100 within four years. According to Kellner, "We are already profitable and the Company has no debt."

On our most recent visit, RodeoIsland offered five shopping venues:

thegemstore, which gives consumers the opportunity to buy a handful of different jewelry items (at latest count the store offered approximately 1 necklace, 5 crosses, 1 bracelet, 6 pendants, 16 rings, 13 pairs of earrings and 5 pins

virtual vitamin store. The store offers buyers the chance to purchase four different vitamins, four health supplements and four special products.

artonrodeo.com bills itself as "Your One Stop Animation Shop." Its recent inventory consisted of approximately six Comic Book posters featuring Spiderman, The X-Men and the Avengers, one Betty Boop poster, about ten Popeye cartoons and approximately 10 "sports" posters, including one of Muhammad Ali. This shop promises more to come, including the ever-popular new buzz word on the Internet – an auction site.

adventuresandtravel.com offers travel packages to three, that’s right three, locations. No, it doesn’t offer any tours of Madagascar.

thermotex.com offers a treatment for muscle aches in humans and horses. The products come with a money back guarantee if pain is not relieved within 30 days. We can only wonder how a horse conveys its satisfaction with this product.

The newest shop, audioblender sells two "chainable sound loops."

ABFG also features ABFG-TV, offering live television broadcasts on the Internet. As far as we can tell, these broadcasts have focused on developments at ABFG.

ABFG recently added a "Virtual Community and Chat Room" which boasted 130 member as of July 1st. Just what are they chatting about? Maybe ABFG’s new "Internet Services Division" which, according to ABFG, offers "a full range of services that make your web site an integral part of your business." Not only will ABFG now design and promote your site, it will also give you an opportunity to lease space on RodeoIsland, at rates ranging from $2,000 to $5,000 a month.

And the mining operations? ABFG’s website describes a test mining program developed by the Company. It details the way that this process will work. But is ABFG actively engaged in mining operations at this time? The Company doesn’t say.

Press releases and public statements are nice, but we think you deserve more. Like financial statements, mine surveys, operating agreements. ABFG says that it has started to acquire "companies and products" that will thrive on the Internet, but just what acquisitions has the Company made? And how has it paid for them? ABFG suggests that both its mining operations and RodeoIsland are flourishing enterprises, but what are the revenues? The profits, or losses? And how many shares of ABFG are outstanding? In the absence of filed financial statements these questions remain unanswered.

ABFG traded on the OTC Bulletin Board until the beginning of July 1999. Then the Company ran into a slight problem. In January of this year, the SEC amended NASD Rules to require all OTC Bulletin Board companies to report their current financial information to the SEC. That way brokers and investors will have access to a company’s balance sheet. In order to retain their Bulletin Board listings, existing Bulletin Board firms must come into compliance, in alphabetical order. This means that ABFG, which has the good fortune to be at the beginning of the alphabet, was required to comply by July. It didn’t. But they did have excuses. The Company explained that it hadn’t had time to comply with new OTC Bulletin Board reporting requirements because management had been devoting its energies to completing the acquisition of yet another Madagascar company. It had also been finalizing a joint venture with a jewelry designer.

The Company, however, has had time to sue the NASD and the SEC. On July 2nd, ABFG brought a lawsuit in federal court claiming that the SEC and NASD have violated the Company’s rights under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The Court refused to grant ABFG’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order which would have prevented the NASD from delisting ABFG stock from the OTC Bulletin Board. A hearing was scheduled in mid-July but, as we go to press, ABFG shares are no longer quoted on the OTC Bulletin Board. Instead, share prices can be found only on the "Pink Sheets," a listing of stock quotations (usually on sheets of pink paper) which is circulated among market makers and brokerage firms. Unfortunately for investors "Pink Sheets" quotations are not included on an electronic quotation system, and are therefore not easily accessible –or verifiable.

Lawsuits and delisting have not deterred ABFG from announcing business developments. On May 20, 1999, the Company announced an "International Alliance" with the Israeli based Menavi Group of companies. ABFG’s press release is vague, at best, in describing the nature of this new relationship. It suggests, however, that the Menavi Group will be designing jewelry for sale on RodeoIsland. It is even less clear whether that jewelry will incorporate the products of ABFG’s Madagascar mining interests.

This announcement was mere prelude to ABFG’s next move. On May 27th ABFG announced that it had acquired 100% of Stones and Wood Corporation s.a.r.l. of Madagascar for $4,000,000, in cash and Rule 144 restricted shares. According to the Company, this strengthens their position in sapphire mining. According to the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Jerry G. Mikolajczyk, this purchase "and the fact that our mine is producing a very rich strike of sapphire" will bring "cash and profits" to the Company sooner than expected. (Since there are no financial disclosures we have to take his word for this.) ABFG points to RodeoIsland as evidence that it is "vertically integrated" to mine, design and market sapphires and jewelry.

Of course, ABFG never says how much cash was paid for the new acquisition, or how much stock. And the exact relationship with Menavi is vague to say the least. Without financials there’s no way to know exactly how they intend to pay for the new company. Or the details of AFBG’s "flourishing" mining and internet operations. Or the nature of the Company’s balance sheet. ABFG, you will remember, says that it doesn’t mind backing up its success story "one bit." We’re waiting.

http://www.stockpatrol.com/article/key/ABFG2