Sunday, September 26, 2004 11:47:07 PM
2004-09-24 12:31 ET - Street Wire
by Lee M. Webb
CMKM Diamonds Inc. #board-1561, a sub-penny pink sheet promotion headed by Saskatchewan native Urban Casavant, was to be the topic of debate during a Sept. 21 half-hour Christian radio program called Prosperity for God's People. Stock tout Ed Miller of the Green Baron was scheduled to square off against a critic of the CMKM promotion, Hartley Bernstein of Stock Patrol. The ballyhooed debate bombed when Mr. Bernstein bowed out early.
Evidently Mr. Bernstein was unexpectedly travelling when the live radio program went to air and a poor telephone connection prompted his early departure from the debate. News of that development was greeted with a mixture of delight and derision among CMKM's faithful followers, many of whom label Mr. Bernstein a "basher."
The word "basher" is a popular, if nebulous, term bandied about regularly on Internet chat sites. At the frequently used extreme, anyone with the temerity to raise concerns or ask critical questions about a stock runs the risk of being labelled a basher.
Given Mr. Bernstein's very brief participation, Prosperity for God's People was pretty much basher free on Sept. 21. Pastor DeWayne Reeves, host of the program, and his stock tout guest, Mr. Miller, filled the void left by Mr. Bernstein with an upbeat chat about CMKM, a stock held by both the good pastor and the tout.
Before turning to a review of the great debate that turned into a chat, an introduction to CMKM and the participants in the radio program might be of some benefit to those unfamiliar with the pink sheet promotion.
The topic
CMKM, like most companies that trade on the mighty pinks in the U.S., is hardly a paragon of disclosure. The company's last regulatory filing was made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 22, 2003, when it filed a certification and notice of termination of registration or suspension of duty to file reports.
Since CMKM stopped filing with the SEC, the sketchy information that can be pieced together about Mr. Casavant's pink sheet promotion comes largely from the company's own news releases, often vague and fluffy, and the occasional snippet gleaned from a welter of associated companies. Some of those snippet-delivering associated companies are even more obscure than CMKM.
Among the few pieces of information available from official outside sources is that CMKM is authorized to issue 800 billion shares. In addition, the official published ratio for a dividend-in-specie scheme payable on Sept. 24 pegs CMKM's staggering outstanding total at more than 779 billion shares.
CMKM has a wide following that extends far beyond the company's estimated 45,000 shareholders who hold those 779 billion shares. In addition to CMKM's devoted fans, many people follow discussions of the company on a number of Internet chat sites simply for the entertainment offered by the outlandish speculation, rumours and fantasies served up and seemingly embraced by both experienced touts and starry-eyed naifs who hold the stock.
The company's promotion turns on its interests in an unspecified number of mineral claims in Saskatchewan. Particular promotional effort is given to CMKM's highly touted property interests in the Fort a la Corne area, home to two advanced diamond exploration projects entirely unrelated to Mr. Casavant's play.
Earlier this year, CMKM and three joint venture partners, Canadian-listed Consolidated Pine Channel Gold Corp. and United Carina Resources Corp. along with OTC Bulletin Board offering U.S. Canadian Minerals Inc., drilled five holes on the Smeaton property in Saskatchewan. Much to the delight of the company's excitable fans, CMKM announced in late March that the Smeaton drilling had intersected kimberlite.
As previously noted in Stockwatch, it would have been something of a shock if the drilling program had not intersected kimberlite, given that the holes were apparently positioned to retest a 1996 Smeaton kimberlite hit by Swannell Minerals Corp.
After Swannell abandoned the project, Consolidated Pine Channel and United Carina picked it up and poked another four holes into the property in late 2000, hitting a narrow zone of reworked kimberlite in one of the holes.
Smeaton, with its less than stellar results, was then shopped around until Panterra Exploration Corp. briefly picked up and subsequently dropped an option on the property. Smeaton gathered dust again until CMKM appeared on the scene.
The excitement over CMKM's reported kimberlite intersection was ratcheted up a few notches in June when the company announced that the "Carolyn" pipe, renamed after Mr. Casavant's wife, was diamondiferous.
CMKM's Canadian partners, Consolidated Pine Channel and United Carina, subsequently disclosed more details regarding the diamondiferous Smeaton property. According to that more detailed report required by Canadian regulators, 12 Smeaton samples were sent for analysis, but only one sample weighing 40.1 kilograms yielded any microdiamonds. Sample No. 5 returned two tiny "stones" with a combined weight of only 0.000005 carat.
CMKM and its partners, bolstered by the addition of another Canadian junior, Shane Resources Ltd., moved to another site in early August. According to CMKM's investor relations spokesman, Melvin O'Neil, one hole was completed on the new property approximately two weeks ago, intersecting what he has described as "very interesting stuff." The identity of the "stuff" has not been disclosed.
Meanwhile, Mr. O'Neil says that the drill rig has been moved and a new hole is being drilled approximately 1.5 miles away from where the unidentified stuff was intersected in the last hole. It is not clear why CMKM would move so far from the very interesting stuff, but 1.5 miles is well beyond anything that could be called a step-out hole.
Notwithstanding CMKM's less than exciting exploration results, at least for investors with some experience when it comes to mining plays, the company has recently been the recipient of some rather hefty cash infusions.
In addition to peeling off 7.5 million shares, U.S. Canadian Minerals has ponied up $5.5-million for a slice of CMKM's mineral claims. (All future amounts are in U.S. dollars.) At least $3-million of that amount came from an otherwise unidentified related party to CMKM.
U.S. Canadian Minerals currently holds a 9.16-per-cent stake in CMKM's claims and can increase its interest to 15 per cent by shelling out a further $9.5-million.
St. George Metals Inc., a recently revived Nevada shell with connections to Mr. Casavant, has also been pouring shares and money into CMKM. In addition to a whopping 200 billion restricted shares, St. George has anted up $7.5-million under a $10-million option agreement to acquire a 5-per-cent stake in CMKM's mineral claims.
The source of that money remains a mystery, as does almost everything else about St. George, which also changes hands on the mighty pinks.
According to many of the CMKM faithful, any account of the company that does not include mention of its highly touted lawyer, D. Roger Glenn, would be seriously remiss, at best. Great weight is placed on Mr. Glenn's association with the company; indeed, some shareholders claim that he is the reason they hold the stock.
Many CMKM followers claim that Mr. Glenn is one of the top securities lawyers in the U.S., some extend that to one of the best in the world. While Mr. Glenn may indeed be a very good securities lawyer, Stockwatch has not been able to discover any publication ranking him among the top securities lawyers in the U.S. or anywhere else.
A review of SEC filings indicates that Mr. Glenn has been with three different law firms over the past five years and his name appears in SEC filings by at least 12 reporting companies over the same time period. Six of those companies are currently trading on either the OTC Bulletin Board or the pink sheets.
Mr. Glenn has not responded to a Stockwatch interview request.
Stock Patrol
Mr. Bernstein, one of the scheduled participants in the great debate, is the founder and publisher of Stock Patrol, which has been around since 1999. Since June of this year, Mr. Bernstein has published a number of very unflattering articles about CMKM.
"Dozens of the companies and people that have been profiled on StockPatrol.com have subsequently been targets of regulatory proceedings, investigations and criminal prosecutions," the company claims on its website.
Mr. Bernstein does indeed seem to have a nose for sniffing out overblown promotions and even outright scams that have subsequently run afoul of securities regulators and other agencies, including law enforcement agencies.
Apparently Mr. Bernstein's sniffer was not enough to keep him from his own stock-related problems when he was a securities lawyer representing a number of public companies and some brokerage firms.
"To his regret, Mr. Bernstein became aware of certain aspects of his clients' activities, and didn't disclose those activities to securities regulators," Stock Patrol's gloss on the affair states. "As a result, Mr. Bernstein agreed to plead guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and was sentenced to probation."
A May 27, 1999, litigation release issued by the SEC paints a much harsher picture of Mr. Bernstein's regrettable involvement in what the U.S. regulator described as a "massive securities fraud."
According to the SEC, simultaneously with being named in a civil complaint filed by the regulator, Mr. Bernstein consented to the entry of a final judgment in the case that included an order to pay a civil penalty of $40,000.
The U.S. regulator noted that in a parallel criminal proceeding in connection with the massive fraud, Mr. Bernstein pled guilty to two criminal counts, one count of perjury and agreed to pay $850,000 in restitution for his role in the fraud.
The Green Baron
Mr. Miller, the head of the Green Baron, also seems to have a keen nose for promotions. Indeed, he touts many stock promotions on his website.
While Mr. Miller receives compensation for some of his touting, as disclosed at the end of a very long disclaimer, he has evidently not been compensated for touting CMKM. He has also provided some free touting service to U.S. Canadian Minerals.
Unlike Mr. Bernstein, Mr. Miller does not seem to have ever run afoul of securities regulators.
Mr. Miller, who holds an undisclosed number of shares in CMKM, has published several articles about the company, all of them upbeat. According to the Green Baron puffery, CMKM could be "the stock play of a lifetime."
The pastor
Mr. Reeves, the host of Prosperity for God's People, holds approximately 10 million shares of CMKM.
The enterprising pastor is associated with an outfit called Christian Traders, which also has an Internet presence. Mr. Reeves and Christian Traders report that no compensation is received for any of the company profiles on the website.
Christian Traders features a message board, including a members-only forum for discussing CMKM that accounts for approximately 80 per cent of the messages posted to the site.
Mr. Reeves has previously discussed CMKM on his radio program.
On the air
While Mr. Reeves has discussed CMKM before on his radio program, the Sept. 21 edition of Prosperity for God's People featuring "The Great Debate" was billed as quite an event.
Broadcasting live from the flagship radio station in "beautiful Phoenix, Arizona," the program opened with a country-sounding spiritual song that seemed to come to an end with a clanging reminiscent of the closing bell on a stock exchange trading floor.
After welcoming his audience of Christian traders, Mr. Reeves paused to offer a prayer, noting that he was in need of prayer on that day and would later explain why he needed prayer.
Evidently Mr. Reeves's particular need for prayer had something to do with Mr. Bernstein and the possibility that he would not be able to take part in the great debate.
According to the good pastor, he had received word about an hour before the show was scheduled to air that Mr. Bernstein would be getting on an airplane, but would try to connect using an airplane telephone.
"Now, as you all know, this isn't something we cooked up last night," Mr. Reeves told his audience, with perhaps just a hint of exasperation. "The arrangements were made, carved in stone, over a week ago."
Mr. Reeves said he could not understand why Mr. Bernstein would be getting on a plane when he was expected to speak on national radio.
Rising flesh
"I'm a pastor, I'm what they call 'the man of God,' I'm supposed to not be burdened with this fleshly thing," Mr. Reeves remarked as he shared his reaction to the unsettling news about Mr. Bernstein. "But, you know, my flesh rose up. Your flesh rose up today, too, and it's probably going to rise up again before you go to bed.
"So what we have to learn to do as Christians is we have to learn to crucify that flesh.
"I can't be angry with this brother I don't even know. I have to love him, forgive him, pray for him because that's what God calls us to do."
Perhaps fortunately, the tide of rising flesh at least temporarily ebbed as Mr. Reeves announced that his technician was talking furiously to someone on the phone, possibly Mr. Bernstein.
On again
"We have Mr. Bernstein, he made it through on his airline phone!" Mr. Reeves exclaimed a short time later.
With the help of some prompting from Mr. Reeves, Stock Patrol's publisher explained that his plans had unexpectedly changed because he had broken his hand on Sept. 20 and was en route to visit his doctor.
The good pastor introduced his two telephone guests to each other and then sketched the format of the debate he envisioned.
Mr. Reeves then spent some time outlining the "neutral position" of Christian Traders with respect to CMKM.
"Yes, we do hold 10 million shares in our portfolio," the pastor noted. "We hold them simply for entertainment value. The reason I say that is because we don't have enough information yet to make any other type of a decision.
"Do we think that the possibility of making some profits are greater than a lottery ticket? Absolutely.
"Are we convinced? No.
"Have we been able to meet with management and ask them questions? No."
Mr. Reeves went on to provide the Christian Trader disclaimer regarding not accepting any compensation for promoting stocks. He also plugged the importance of becoming a member of Christian Traders, apparently a "unbiased" source of stock picks.
Off again
Alas, by the time Mr. Reeves was finished with his spiel Mr. Bernstein had lost his telephone connection.
"Ed, I'm going to talk to you," Mr. Reeves said after discovering that Mr. Bernstein was no longer connected. "If Hartley gets back through, then so be it."
The pastor began his one-to-one chat with Mr. Miller by reading a good portion of one of the CMKM touts published on the Green Baron website.
A key issue in that early tout was a discussion of the number of outstanding CMKM shares. According to the dated Green Baron article, "bashers" put that figure at approximately 483 billion shares. At that time, Mr. Miller's Green Baron maintained that the figure was incorrect and that the number of outstanding shares would be far lower than that.
A brouhaha erupted over the number of outstanding shares in June after CMKM briefly changed its transfer agent. The new transfer agent, Pacific Stock Transfer, was the recipient of some rather glowing comments from Mr. Glenn, CMKM's highly touted lawyer.
Shortly after being engaged, however, Pacific Stock Transfer disclosed CMKM's outstanding total, setting the figure at 400 billion shares. That news was broken on an obscure stock talk radio program on June 30.
CMKM's investor relations spokesman, Mr. O'Neil, just happened to be listening to the obscure program at the time and quickly called in to claim, in rather blunt terms, that the 400 billion figure was wrong. It was, as he put it, "b.s."
In a recent Stockwatch interview, Mr. O'Neil was asked about his June 30 claim regarding the number of outstanding shares. After Stockwatch pointed out that he had given the impression that the outstanding total was far less than the 400 billion disclosed by the transfer agent at the end of June, Mr. O'Neil said that if he left that impression, he owed the public an apology.
Pacific Stock Transfer was dumped immediately after disclosing the number of shares. Mr. O'Neil is still CMKM's investor relations representative.
In any event, when the Green Baron article first appeared, CMKM was authorized to issue 500 billion shares. Since then, the company has raised the authorized total to 800 billion shares.
Responding to Mr. Reeves's question regarding the outstanding shares, Mr. Miller acknowledged the increase in the authorized total to 800 billion shares and then went on to argue that CMKM had not issued all those shares, contrary to the claim by Stock Patrol.
In support of his claim, Mr. Miller served up a rather weak and confused argument tenuously linked to an SEC filing by U.S. Canadian Minerals. The apparent thrust of that misguided argument was that Mr. Casavant would not be receiving dividends on 40 billion shares of CMKM that he held prior to transferring them to privately owned Nevada Minerals Inc. on July 26 as part of mineral claims acquisition deal.
Given that Mr. Casavant personally held those 40 billion shares, they were clearly part of the outstanding shares. Moreover, given that the transfer of the 40 billion shares occurred prior to the record date for the dividend-in-specie scheme, Mr. Casavant clearly would not be receiving the dividend on those shares.
"We believe that he has locked up some shares," Mr. Miller continued, offering no substantiation for that belief or any explanation of how that would reduce the number of outstanding shares.
"Uhm, obviously we think he's bought back some shares," the tout went on, again not bothering to offer any support for that thinking.
Mr. Miller then segued into a discussion of a few things that were "out there" when the Green Baron "changed to a buy recommendation" on CMKM.
The tout's nattering about "a buy recommendation," though quite possibly candid, is at odds with the wordy disclaimer on the Green Baron website. "This material is not a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold any securities and does not provide an analysis of the financial position of the company," the lengthy blanket disclaimer states in part.
Among the things that were "out there," according to Mr. Miller, was a stock-and-cash deal under which U.S. Canadian Minerals could acquire up to 15-per-cent of CMKM's mineral claims. The first 5 per cent was acquired in exchange for 7.5 million restricted shares of U.S. Canadian Minerals.
Like many CMKM touts, Mr. Miller assigned a value to that deal using the arguably unrealistic market price of OTC-traded U.S. Canadian Minerals, currently floating around $5 per share. Mr. Miller pegged the value of the deal, including $9.5-million that has yet to be paid under an option agreement, at $52.5-million.
He also assigned a value to CMKM's holdings of another pink sheet company, Juina Mining Corp. CMKM currently holds more than 95.5 million shares of Juina, purchased for $500,000. That stake amounts to 25 per cent of Juina and CMKM has an option to acquire a further 24 per cent of the company for another $500,000. Juina has recently been changing hands for four U.S. cents. Mr. Miller tagged a value of $7-million to that deal, including the as yet unexercised option.
The Green Baron tout floated out a value of $78-billion for a deal involving St. George Metals before suggesting that rather than argue about that value, it could be discounted completely. He went on to suggest that a deal involving the even more obscure privately owned Casavant International Mining Inc. could be valued at $20-million.
According to Mr. Miller, even completely discounting the value of the St. George deal, his calculations lead to the conclusion that CMKM is trading at half of its value.
"And that doesn't even take into consideration that if you look up Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan is the second-highest oil producing providence and the third-highest natural gas producing providence in Canada," Mr. Miller went on, either unfamiliar or having difficulty with the word "province."
"And Saskatchewan is the third-largest non-fuel mineral producing providence in Canada," he continued.
"And the forestry that's there is one of the fastest growing industries there is.
"And then we look at potash. The providence is the largest potash producer in the world and accounts for 25 per cent of the world's potash production."
Mr. Miller never did get around to explaining just what oil, natural gas, forestry or potash might have to do with a pink sheet diamond exploration promotion.
The return
As the tout seemed to be nearing the end of his nattering about Saskatchewan, Mr. Bernstein managed to establish his telephone connection again. Evidently the Stock Patrol publisher was a little puzzled by all that talk of the prairie province.
"My concern here is that from an investor's point of view it's all well and good that there are these terrific industries thriving in Canada," Mr. Bernstein remarked. "There is not a single piece of information that indicates where CMKM stands in any of those industries.
"There is not a single piece of information that that company puts out that is verifiable.
"There is not a single audited financial statement or revenue number.
"There is absolutely nothing for an investor to go on."
Mr. Bernstein went on to remark that there are a number of very successful Canadian companies that provide a great deal of disclosure that are involved in the industries mentioned by Mr. Miller. He suggested that investors should look into those companies.
Mr. Miller piped in to say that he would like to respond to Mr. Bernstein, but he could not hear what he was saying.
Stock Patrol's publisher then apologized for the connection difficulties and said that he would try to speak with Mr. Reeves at some other time. With that, Mr. Bernstein signed off.
Back to the chat
"Okay, Ed, it looks like it's me and you," the pastor said after Mr. Bernstein again left the discussion.
Evidently for the benefit of Mr. Miller, the pastor offered his summary of Mr. Bernstein's comments.
"What he was saying is that there is no verifiable information," Mr. Reeves said. "We have no way of knowing that anything exists."
With the summary of Mr. Bernstein's comments out of the way, Mr. Reeves threw out his own comment. "However, all these companies keep throwing money at CMKX," the pastor said, referring to the company by its trading symbol. "Why is that?"
"Well, with today's technology, these companies know what exists," Mr. Miller replied, a claim that might surprise the executives and geologists at a number of mining companies still labouring under the notion that extensive drilling and sampling is required to prove up a deposit.
The tout went on to acknowledge that CMKM was not "going to be pulling up diamonds in a week or two," something of an understatement, to be sure.
"However, with today's technology and these fly-overs that are done and the gemologists looking at the evidence they have, these companies that are putting up $5-million and $10-million know what's there and they're going to be a part of the game because they're excited about what's there and that has to excite us as shareholders also," the tout gushed.
Mr. Reeves then asked about another issue raised by Stock Patrol; specifically, questions about the source of the cash that is being funnelled into CMKM.
"I honestly can't tell you," Mr. Miller acknowledged, stumbling a bit with his reply.
"Uhm, you know, they're -- these are mining people that are getting involved in these businesses," he offered.
"Uh, UCAD (U.S. Canadian Minerals) is in, uh, Ecuador, Yellow River, pulling out gold at an astronomical pace," the tout continued. "Very exciting company, I feel. That's where they're coming up with a lot of their money."
Just where Mr. Miller came up with the notion that U.S. Canadian Minerals is "pulling out gold at an astronomical pace" is another mystery, and one that certainly cannot be solved by looking at the company's dismal financial results. U.S. Canadian Minerals, flagged with a going-concern warning, is virtually penniless and has not reported any revenue.
"They did some equity financing, which obviously someone knows they have some products also," Mr. Miller continued.
What the Green Baron tout attempts to pass off as obvious may be murky, at best. In fact, the only thing obvious about recent financings by U.S. Canadian Minerals is that $3-million came from an unidentified party related to CMKM and was subsequently shunted off to CMKM, something disclosed well after the fact in an SEC filing.
Mr. Reeves moved on to ask why CMKM's stock price refuses to go up.
"Well, a couple of different reasons," Mr. Miller replied. "One, I think there's stock manipulation out there."
He went on to hint rather broadly that CMKM was being shorted, something that he suggested was a reason for hiring the esteemed Mr. Glenn.
He also suggested that CMKM had to become a reporting issuer and move to a higher board. That would certainly be quite a feat, given the company's share structure, among other things.
The wrap
"Well, Mr. Miller, I want to thank you for taking today's show seriously, for being faithful to come and stand by your convictions," Mr. Reeves said as the program was winding down.
"I hope that in the future Mr. Hartley (Mr. Bernstein) will take the opportunity that has been extended to him to defend the statements he has made," the pastor continued. "Everyone has read them and since he did not make it a priority to get on the air today, as promised, then I am not going to read over all of these negative statements. I will wait until he is on the air and he is able to defend the statements that he has made."
Mr. Reeves had one more question for Mr. Miller.
"Now, let me ask you this," he began. "If your mother was on a fixed income and she needed to invest a few dollars, would you personally steer your own mother towards CMKX?"
Mr. Miller danced around that question for a while, explaining that Green Baron's job was to put out information.
He went on to remark that Stock Patrol's job was to ask the questions. "That's what he is putting out there are questions that he knows can't be answered and that's, quite honestly, the way a basher works," Mr. Miller continued.
"Our job at the Green Baron is to give the information and not the question," the tout said.
"We list a lot of different stocks," he remarked. "We never actually say, 'Go and buy this stock.'"
Eventually Mr. Miller did come directly back to the question, with some prompting from Mr. Reeves.
"If your mom said, "Eddy, should I buy some CMKX," would the answer be yes?" the pastor asked.
"Ah, yes," Mr. Miller replied. "Actually, my mother is not living, but my father is and I do have him in CMKX."
With that, the good pastor thanked Mr. Miller again and then closed out his show.
On Sept. 23, U.S. Canadian Minerals shed 19 cents with 8,400 shares changing hands and ended the day at an even $5.
St. George Minerals traded 585,200 shares and closed unchanged at 27 cents.
CMKM Diamonds registered a volume of approximately 2.5 billion shares and closed at three-100ths of a penny.
The saga will continue.
by Lee M. Webb
CMKM Diamonds Inc. #board-1561, a sub-penny pink sheet promotion headed by Saskatchewan native Urban Casavant, was to be the topic of debate during a Sept. 21 half-hour Christian radio program called Prosperity for God's People. Stock tout Ed Miller of the Green Baron was scheduled to square off against a critic of the CMKM promotion, Hartley Bernstein of Stock Patrol. The ballyhooed debate bombed when Mr. Bernstein bowed out early.
Evidently Mr. Bernstein was unexpectedly travelling when the live radio program went to air and a poor telephone connection prompted his early departure from the debate. News of that development was greeted with a mixture of delight and derision among CMKM's faithful followers, many of whom label Mr. Bernstein a "basher."
The word "basher" is a popular, if nebulous, term bandied about regularly on Internet chat sites. At the frequently used extreme, anyone with the temerity to raise concerns or ask critical questions about a stock runs the risk of being labelled a basher.
Given Mr. Bernstein's very brief participation, Prosperity for God's People was pretty much basher free on Sept. 21. Pastor DeWayne Reeves, host of the program, and his stock tout guest, Mr. Miller, filled the void left by Mr. Bernstein with an upbeat chat about CMKM, a stock held by both the good pastor and the tout.
Before turning to a review of the great debate that turned into a chat, an introduction to CMKM and the participants in the radio program might be of some benefit to those unfamiliar with the pink sheet promotion.
The topic
CMKM, like most companies that trade on the mighty pinks in the U.S., is hardly a paragon of disclosure. The company's last regulatory filing was made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 22, 2003, when it filed a certification and notice of termination of registration or suspension of duty to file reports.
Since CMKM stopped filing with the SEC, the sketchy information that can be pieced together about Mr. Casavant's pink sheet promotion comes largely from the company's own news releases, often vague and fluffy, and the occasional snippet gleaned from a welter of associated companies. Some of those snippet-delivering associated companies are even more obscure than CMKM.
Among the few pieces of information available from official outside sources is that CMKM is authorized to issue 800 billion shares. In addition, the official published ratio for a dividend-in-specie scheme payable on Sept. 24 pegs CMKM's staggering outstanding total at more than 779 billion shares.
CMKM has a wide following that extends far beyond the company's estimated 45,000 shareholders who hold those 779 billion shares. In addition to CMKM's devoted fans, many people follow discussions of the company on a number of Internet chat sites simply for the entertainment offered by the outlandish speculation, rumours and fantasies served up and seemingly embraced by both experienced touts and starry-eyed naifs who hold the stock.
The company's promotion turns on its interests in an unspecified number of mineral claims in Saskatchewan. Particular promotional effort is given to CMKM's highly touted property interests in the Fort a la Corne area, home to two advanced diamond exploration projects entirely unrelated to Mr. Casavant's play.
Earlier this year, CMKM and three joint venture partners, Canadian-listed Consolidated Pine Channel Gold Corp. and United Carina Resources Corp. along with OTC Bulletin Board offering U.S. Canadian Minerals Inc., drilled five holes on the Smeaton property in Saskatchewan. Much to the delight of the company's excitable fans, CMKM announced in late March that the Smeaton drilling had intersected kimberlite.
As previously noted in Stockwatch, it would have been something of a shock if the drilling program had not intersected kimberlite, given that the holes were apparently positioned to retest a 1996 Smeaton kimberlite hit by Swannell Minerals Corp.
After Swannell abandoned the project, Consolidated Pine Channel and United Carina picked it up and poked another four holes into the property in late 2000, hitting a narrow zone of reworked kimberlite in one of the holes.
Smeaton, with its less than stellar results, was then shopped around until Panterra Exploration Corp. briefly picked up and subsequently dropped an option on the property. Smeaton gathered dust again until CMKM appeared on the scene.
The excitement over CMKM's reported kimberlite intersection was ratcheted up a few notches in June when the company announced that the "Carolyn" pipe, renamed after Mr. Casavant's wife, was diamondiferous.
CMKM's Canadian partners, Consolidated Pine Channel and United Carina, subsequently disclosed more details regarding the diamondiferous Smeaton property. According to that more detailed report required by Canadian regulators, 12 Smeaton samples were sent for analysis, but only one sample weighing 40.1 kilograms yielded any microdiamonds. Sample No. 5 returned two tiny "stones" with a combined weight of only 0.000005 carat.
CMKM and its partners, bolstered by the addition of another Canadian junior, Shane Resources Ltd., moved to another site in early August. According to CMKM's investor relations spokesman, Melvin O'Neil, one hole was completed on the new property approximately two weeks ago, intersecting what he has described as "very interesting stuff." The identity of the "stuff" has not been disclosed.
Meanwhile, Mr. O'Neil says that the drill rig has been moved and a new hole is being drilled approximately 1.5 miles away from where the unidentified stuff was intersected in the last hole. It is not clear why CMKM would move so far from the very interesting stuff, but 1.5 miles is well beyond anything that could be called a step-out hole.
Notwithstanding CMKM's less than exciting exploration results, at least for investors with some experience when it comes to mining plays, the company has recently been the recipient of some rather hefty cash infusions.
In addition to peeling off 7.5 million shares, U.S. Canadian Minerals has ponied up $5.5-million for a slice of CMKM's mineral claims. (All future amounts are in U.S. dollars.) At least $3-million of that amount came from an otherwise unidentified related party to CMKM.
U.S. Canadian Minerals currently holds a 9.16-per-cent stake in CMKM's claims and can increase its interest to 15 per cent by shelling out a further $9.5-million.
St. George Metals Inc., a recently revived Nevada shell with connections to Mr. Casavant, has also been pouring shares and money into CMKM. In addition to a whopping 200 billion restricted shares, St. George has anted up $7.5-million under a $10-million option agreement to acquire a 5-per-cent stake in CMKM's mineral claims.
The source of that money remains a mystery, as does almost everything else about St. George, which also changes hands on the mighty pinks.
According to many of the CMKM faithful, any account of the company that does not include mention of its highly touted lawyer, D. Roger Glenn, would be seriously remiss, at best. Great weight is placed on Mr. Glenn's association with the company; indeed, some shareholders claim that he is the reason they hold the stock.
Many CMKM followers claim that Mr. Glenn is one of the top securities lawyers in the U.S., some extend that to one of the best in the world. While Mr. Glenn may indeed be a very good securities lawyer, Stockwatch has not been able to discover any publication ranking him among the top securities lawyers in the U.S. or anywhere else.
A review of SEC filings indicates that Mr. Glenn has been with three different law firms over the past five years and his name appears in SEC filings by at least 12 reporting companies over the same time period. Six of those companies are currently trading on either the OTC Bulletin Board or the pink sheets.
Mr. Glenn has not responded to a Stockwatch interview request.
Stock Patrol
Mr. Bernstein, one of the scheduled participants in the great debate, is the founder and publisher of Stock Patrol, which has been around since 1999. Since June of this year, Mr. Bernstein has published a number of very unflattering articles about CMKM.
"Dozens of the companies and people that have been profiled on StockPatrol.com have subsequently been targets of regulatory proceedings, investigations and criminal prosecutions," the company claims on its website.
Mr. Bernstein does indeed seem to have a nose for sniffing out overblown promotions and even outright scams that have subsequently run afoul of securities regulators and other agencies, including law enforcement agencies.
Apparently Mr. Bernstein's sniffer was not enough to keep him from his own stock-related problems when he was a securities lawyer representing a number of public companies and some brokerage firms.
"To his regret, Mr. Bernstein became aware of certain aspects of his clients' activities, and didn't disclose those activities to securities regulators," Stock Patrol's gloss on the affair states. "As a result, Mr. Bernstein agreed to plead guilty to participating in a conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and was sentenced to probation."
A May 27, 1999, litigation release issued by the SEC paints a much harsher picture of Mr. Bernstein's regrettable involvement in what the U.S. regulator described as a "massive securities fraud."
According to the SEC, simultaneously with being named in a civil complaint filed by the regulator, Mr. Bernstein consented to the entry of a final judgment in the case that included an order to pay a civil penalty of $40,000.
The U.S. regulator noted that in a parallel criminal proceeding in connection with the massive fraud, Mr. Bernstein pled guilty to two criminal counts, one count of perjury and agreed to pay $850,000 in restitution for his role in the fraud.
The Green Baron
Mr. Miller, the head of the Green Baron, also seems to have a keen nose for promotions. Indeed, he touts many stock promotions on his website.
While Mr. Miller receives compensation for some of his touting, as disclosed at the end of a very long disclaimer, he has evidently not been compensated for touting CMKM. He has also provided some free touting service to U.S. Canadian Minerals.
Unlike Mr. Bernstein, Mr. Miller does not seem to have ever run afoul of securities regulators.
Mr. Miller, who holds an undisclosed number of shares in CMKM, has published several articles about the company, all of them upbeat. According to the Green Baron puffery, CMKM could be "the stock play of a lifetime."
The pastor
Mr. Reeves, the host of Prosperity for God's People, holds approximately 10 million shares of CMKM.
The enterprising pastor is associated with an outfit called Christian Traders, which also has an Internet presence. Mr. Reeves and Christian Traders report that no compensation is received for any of the company profiles on the website.
Christian Traders features a message board, including a members-only forum for discussing CMKM that accounts for approximately 80 per cent of the messages posted to the site.
Mr. Reeves has previously discussed CMKM on his radio program.
On the air
While Mr. Reeves has discussed CMKM before on his radio program, the Sept. 21 edition of Prosperity for God's People featuring "The Great Debate" was billed as quite an event.
Broadcasting live from the flagship radio station in "beautiful Phoenix, Arizona," the program opened with a country-sounding spiritual song that seemed to come to an end with a clanging reminiscent of the closing bell on a stock exchange trading floor.
After welcoming his audience of Christian traders, Mr. Reeves paused to offer a prayer, noting that he was in need of prayer on that day and would later explain why he needed prayer.
Evidently Mr. Reeves's particular need for prayer had something to do with Mr. Bernstein and the possibility that he would not be able to take part in the great debate.
According to the good pastor, he had received word about an hour before the show was scheduled to air that Mr. Bernstein would be getting on an airplane, but would try to connect using an airplane telephone.
"Now, as you all know, this isn't something we cooked up last night," Mr. Reeves told his audience, with perhaps just a hint of exasperation. "The arrangements were made, carved in stone, over a week ago."
Mr. Reeves said he could not understand why Mr. Bernstein would be getting on a plane when he was expected to speak on national radio.
Rising flesh
"I'm a pastor, I'm what they call 'the man of God,' I'm supposed to not be burdened with this fleshly thing," Mr. Reeves remarked as he shared his reaction to the unsettling news about Mr. Bernstein. "But, you know, my flesh rose up. Your flesh rose up today, too, and it's probably going to rise up again before you go to bed.
"So what we have to learn to do as Christians is we have to learn to crucify that flesh.
"I can't be angry with this brother I don't even know. I have to love him, forgive him, pray for him because that's what God calls us to do."
Perhaps fortunately, the tide of rising flesh at least temporarily ebbed as Mr. Reeves announced that his technician was talking furiously to someone on the phone, possibly Mr. Bernstein.
On again
"We have Mr. Bernstein, he made it through on his airline phone!" Mr. Reeves exclaimed a short time later.
With the help of some prompting from Mr. Reeves, Stock Patrol's publisher explained that his plans had unexpectedly changed because he had broken his hand on Sept. 20 and was en route to visit his doctor.
The good pastor introduced his two telephone guests to each other and then sketched the format of the debate he envisioned.
Mr. Reeves then spent some time outlining the "neutral position" of Christian Traders with respect to CMKM.
"Yes, we do hold 10 million shares in our portfolio," the pastor noted. "We hold them simply for entertainment value. The reason I say that is because we don't have enough information yet to make any other type of a decision.
"Do we think that the possibility of making some profits are greater than a lottery ticket? Absolutely.
"Are we convinced? No.
"Have we been able to meet with management and ask them questions? No."
Mr. Reeves went on to provide the Christian Trader disclaimer regarding not accepting any compensation for promoting stocks. He also plugged the importance of becoming a member of Christian Traders, apparently a "unbiased" source of stock picks.
Off again
Alas, by the time Mr. Reeves was finished with his spiel Mr. Bernstein had lost his telephone connection.
"Ed, I'm going to talk to you," Mr. Reeves said after discovering that Mr. Bernstein was no longer connected. "If Hartley gets back through, then so be it."
The pastor began his one-to-one chat with Mr. Miller by reading a good portion of one of the CMKM touts published on the Green Baron website.
A key issue in that early tout was a discussion of the number of outstanding CMKM shares. According to the dated Green Baron article, "bashers" put that figure at approximately 483 billion shares. At that time, Mr. Miller's Green Baron maintained that the figure was incorrect and that the number of outstanding shares would be far lower than that.
A brouhaha erupted over the number of outstanding shares in June after CMKM briefly changed its transfer agent. The new transfer agent, Pacific Stock Transfer, was the recipient of some rather glowing comments from Mr. Glenn, CMKM's highly touted lawyer.
Shortly after being engaged, however, Pacific Stock Transfer disclosed CMKM's outstanding total, setting the figure at 400 billion shares. That news was broken on an obscure stock talk radio program on June 30.
CMKM's investor relations spokesman, Mr. O'Neil, just happened to be listening to the obscure program at the time and quickly called in to claim, in rather blunt terms, that the 400 billion figure was wrong. It was, as he put it, "b.s."
In a recent Stockwatch interview, Mr. O'Neil was asked about his June 30 claim regarding the number of outstanding shares. After Stockwatch pointed out that he had given the impression that the outstanding total was far less than the 400 billion disclosed by the transfer agent at the end of June, Mr. O'Neil said that if he left that impression, he owed the public an apology.
Pacific Stock Transfer was dumped immediately after disclosing the number of shares. Mr. O'Neil is still CMKM's investor relations representative.
In any event, when the Green Baron article first appeared, CMKM was authorized to issue 500 billion shares. Since then, the company has raised the authorized total to 800 billion shares.
Responding to Mr. Reeves's question regarding the outstanding shares, Mr. Miller acknowledged the increase in the authorized total to 800 billion shares and then went on to argue that CMKM had not issued all those shares, contrary to the claim by Stock Patrol.
In support of his claim, Mr. Miller served up a rather weak and confused argument tenuously linked to an SEC filing by U.S. Canadian Minerals. The apparent thrust of that misguided argument was that Mr. Casavant would not be receiving dividends on 40 billion shares of CMKM that he held prior to transferring them to privately owned Nevada Minerals Inc. on July 26 as part of mineral claims acquisition deal.
Given that Mr. Casavant personally held those 40 billion shares, they were clearly part of the outstanding shares. Moreover, given that the transfer of the 40 billion shares occurred prior to the record date for the dividend-in-specie scheme, Mr. Casavant clearly would not be receiving the dividend on those shares.
"We believe that he has locked up some shares," Mr. Miller continued, offering no substantiation for that belief or any explanation of how that would reduce the number of outstanding shares.
"Uhm, obviously we think he's bought back some shares," the tout went on, again not bothering to offer any support for that thinking.
Mr. Miller then segued into a discussion of a few things that were "out there" when the Green Baron "changed to a buy recommendation" on CMKM.
The tout's nattering about "a buy recommendation," though quite possibly candid, is at odds with the wordy disclaimer on the Green Baron website. "This material is not a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold any securities and does not provide an analysis of the financial position of the company," the lengthy blanket disclaimer states in part.
Among the things that were "out there," according to Mr. Miller, was a stock-and-cash deal under which U.S. Canadian Minerals could acquire up to 15-per-cent of CMKM's mineral claims. The first 5 per cent was acquired in exchange for 7.5 million restricted shares of U.S. Canadian Minerals.
Like many CMKM touts, Mr. Miller assigned a value to that deal using the arguably unrealistic market price of OTC-traded U.S. Canadian Minerals, currently floating around $5 per share. Mr. Miller pegged the value of the deal, including $9.5-million that has yet to be paid under an option agreement, at $52.5-million.
He also assigned a value to CMKM's holdings of another pink sheet company, Juina Mining Corp. CMKM currently holds more than 95.5 million shares of Juina, purchased for $500,000. That stake amounts to 25 per cent of Juina and CMKM has an option to acquire a further 24 per cent of the company for another $500,000. Juina has recently been changing hands for four U.S. cents. Mr. Miller tagged a value of $7-million to that deal, including the as yet unexercised option.
The Green Baron tout floated out a value of $78-billion for a deal involving St. George Metals before suggesting that rather than argue about that value, it could be discounted completely. He went on to suggest that a deal involving the even more obscure privately owned Casavant International Mining Inc. could be valued at $20-million.
According to Mr. Miller, even completely discounting the value of the St. George deal, his calculations lead to the conclusion that CMKM is trading at half of its value.
"And that doesn't even take into consideration that if you look up Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan is the second-highest oil producing providence and the third-highest natural gas producing providence in Canada," Mr. Miller went on, either unfamiliar or having difficulty with the word "province."
"And Saskatchewan is the third-largest non-fuel mineral producing providence in Canada," he continued.
"And the forestry that's there is one of the fastest growing industries there is.
"And then we look at potash. The providence is the largest potash producer in the world and accounts for 25 per cent of the world's potash production."
Mr. Miller never did get around to explaining just what oil, natural gas, forestry or potash might have to do with a pink sheet diamond exploration promotion.
The return
As the tout seemed to be nearing the end of his nattering about Saskatchewan, Mr. Bernstein managed to establish his telephone connection again. Evidently the Stock Patrol publisher was a little puzzled by all that talk of the prairie province.
"My concern here is that from an investor's point of view it's all well and good that there are these terrific industries thriving in Canada," Mr. Bernstein remarked. "There is not a single piece of information that indicates where CMKM stands in any of those industries.
"There is not a single piece of information that that company puts out that is verifiable.
"There is not a single audited financial statement or revenue number.
"There is absolutely nothing for an investor to go on."
Mr. Bernstein went on to remark that there are a number of very successful Canadian companies that provide a great deal of disclosure that are involved in the industries mentioned by Mr. Miller. He suggested that investors should look into those companies.
Mr. Miller piped in to say that he would like to respond to Mr. Bernstein, but he could not hear what he was saying.
Stock Patrol's publisher then apologized for the connection difficulties and said that he would try to speak with Mr. Reeves at some other time. With that, Mr. Bernstein signed off.
Back to the chat
"Okay, Ed, it looks like it's me and you," the pastor said after Mr. Bernstein again left the discussion.
Evidently for the benefit of Mr. Miller, the pastor offered his summary of Mr. Bernstein's comments.
"What he was saying is that there is no verifiable information," Mr. Reeves said. "We have no way of knowing that anything exists."
With the summary of Mr. Bernstein's comments out of the way, Mr. Reeves threw out his own comment. "However, all these companies keep throwing money at CMKX," the pastor said, referring to the company by its trading symbol. "Why is that?"
"Well, with today's technology, these companies know what exists," Mr. Miller replied, a claim that might surprise the executives and geologists at a number of mining companies still labouring under the notion that extensive drilling and sampling is required to prove up a deposit.
The tout went on to acknowledge that CMKM was not "going to be pulling up diamonds in a week or two," something of an understatement, to be sure.
"However, with today's technology and these fly-overs that are done and the gemologists looking at the evidence they have, these companies that are putting up $5-million and $10-million know what's there and they're going to be a part of the game because they're excited about what's there and that has to excite us as shareholders also," the tout gushed.
Mr. Reeves then asked about another issue raised by Stock Patrol; specifically, questions about the source of the cash that is being funnelled into CMKM.
"I honestly can't tell you," Mr. Miller acknowledged, stumbling a bit with his reply.
"Uhm, you know, they're -- these are mining people that are getting involved in these businesses," he offered.
"Uh, UCAD (U.S. Canadian Minerals) is in, uh, Ecuador, Yellow River, pulling out gold at an astronomical pace," the tout continued. "Very exciting company, I feel. That's where they're coming up with a lot of their money."
Just where Mr. Miller came up with the notion that U.S. Canadian Minerals is "pulling out gold at an astronomical pace" is another mystery, and one that certainly cannot be solved by looking at the company's dismal financial results. U.S. Canadian Minerals, flagged with a going-concern warning, is virtually penniless and has not reported any revenue.
"They did some equity financing, which obviously someone knows they have some products also," Mr. Miller continued.
What the Green Baron tout attempts to pass off as obvious may be murky, at best. In fact, the only thing obvious about recent financings by U.S. Canadian Minerals is that $3-million came from an unidentified party related to CMKM and was subsequently shunted off to CMKM, something disclosed well after the fact in an SEC filing.
Mr. Reeves moved on to ask why CMKM's stock price refuses to go up.
"Well, a couple of different reasons," Mr. Miller replied. "One, I think there's stock manipulation out there."
He went on to hint rather broadly that CMKM was being shorted, something that he suggested was a reason for hiring the esteemed Mr. Glenn.
He also suggested that CMKM had to become a reporting issuer and move to a higher board. That would certainly be quite a feat, given the company's share structure, among other things.
The wrap
"Well, Mr. Miller, I want to thank you for taking today's show seriously, for being faithful to come and stand by your convictions," Mr. Reeves said as the program was winding down.
"I hope that in the future Mr. Hartley (Mr. Bernstein) will take the opportunity that has been extended to him to defend the statements he has made," the pastor continued. "Everyone has read them and since he did not make it a priority to get on the air today, as promised, then I am not going to read over all of these negative statements. I will wait until he is on the air and he is able to defend the statements that he has made."
Mr. Reeves had one more question for Mr. Miller.
"Now, let me ask you this," he began. "If your mother was on a fixed income and she needed to invest a few dollars, would you personally steer your own mother towards CMKX?"
Mr. Miller danced around that question for a while, explaining that Green Baron's job was to put out information.
He went on to remark that Stock Patrol's job was to ask the questions. "That's what he is putting out there are questions that he knows can't be answered and that's, quite honestly, the way a basher works," Mr. Miller continued.
"Our job at the Green Baron is to give the information and not the question," the tout said.
"We list a lot of different stocks," he remarked. "We never actually say, 'Go and buy this stock.'"
Eventually Mr. Miller did come directly back to the question, with some prompting from Mr. Reeves.
"If your mom said, "Eddy, should I buy some CMKX," would the answer be yes?" the pastor asked.
"Ah, yes," Mr. Miller replied. "Actually, my mother is not living, but my father is and I do have him in CMKX."
With that, the good pastor thanked Mr. Miller again and then closed out his show.
On Sept. 23, U.S. Canadian Minerals shed 19 cents with 8,400 shares changing hands and ended the day at an even $5.
St. George Minerals traded 585,200 shares and closed unchanged at 27 cents.
CMKM Diamonds registered a volume of approximately 2.5 billion shares and closed at three-100ths of a penny.
The saga will continue.
T
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