Where the oil comes from (guest post)

My man setty over at his blog settyblog (friends only, sorry) wrote this post today. After asking nicely he let me re-post it here. So here it is. Enjoy.

Where The Oil Comes From

U.S. government and news preoccupation with Venezuela isn't just because the country is ostensibly leftist. It's got much more to do with Venezuela's role as the U.S.'s second-most important oil supplier.

The U.S. had net imports of oil, coal refined products and electricity from 62 countries in 2009. This diversity conceals the concentration of suppliers.

Data provided by the U.S. Department of Energy also mask the importance of imports from Venezuela. This page, updated monthly, ignores both U.S. exports and (because the statistical series started in the 1940s, before the Virgin Islands was a major U.S. import point), treats the U.S. Virgin Islands as a foreign country. Since Venezuela provides two thirds of the crude for the Hovensa refinery on St. Croix, that takes many Venezuela barrels out of the ranking.

This U.S. Commerce Department data is the first place I've found that adds up U.S. net exports and imports of oil tallied by country and by dollar value, rather than by barrels. It turns out that the biggest net suppliers to the U.S. in 2009 were:

Canada $54.1 billion (25% of total)
Venezuela $26.4 billion (12%)
Saudi Arabia $21.5 billion (10%)
Nigeria $18.7 billion (9%)
Mexico $17.5 billion (8%)
Russia $13.1 billion (6%)
Algeria $10.6 billion (5%)

That's 75% of the oil imports coming from seven countries.

To understand the importance of a diversity of suppliers to a consumer like the United States, I highly recommend this documentary. In particular the part around 8:48.

What do subscribers get from The IKN Weekly?

Well, here's an example. This section is found in IKN42, dated February 21st 2010:

Antares Minerals (ANM.v): Ducks in line

I want to take a moment to emphasize my confidence in the current investment in Antares Minerals (ANM.v). Yes, I am long. Yes, it’s already a top pick selection. Yes, the whole investment was outlined in the NOBS report in IKN32 (if you’re new round here and want a copy, just say the word). But every now and again, and it doesn’t happen very often, my feelings on a stock go from strong buy to “man, I just have to pound on the table about this one as hard as I possibly can”. The last time it happened was in Dynasty Metals in December 2008 (DMM was at $1.40 or so at the time). There have been a few other occasions but I don’t want to fill up this report with “hey-look-at-me-aren’t-I-wonderful” types of commentary about past trades that have worked out well.

The point is that Antares has that “ducks in line” feeling about it, right here and right now. Therefore this short section is the sound of me banging on the table about the stock and waiting to see how the next few chapters of new resource number plus PDAC plus Xstrata at Las Bambas plus continued strength in copper plus beginnings of market awareness in ANM all combine.

Since that was written, six weekends have passed us by. Here's the price chart from then til now.

The IKN Weekly never has more than 15 stocks recommended as it's far too easy to "pick" 150 stocks, later claim massive wins on one or two of them and ignore the other duffers. As for Top Pick stocks, there are only two right now. One is ANM, (above) and the other is up 232.1% in less than a year. But it's likely that a third will be added soon.

IKN49 is out at its normal time, next Sunday afternoon EST. It'll cost you U$25 for a single month to find out what it can do for you so if you feel like giving it a whirl, the PayPal button is over there at the top right of the blog. (where you can also find a link to the first 30 editions of The IKN Weekly as free downloads).

Promo completed, have a nice day.

News roundup (we skirt the issues and rip the tissues)

Why do we love Bananama Republic so much? Here's why. Panama's finest blog, BR is to LatAm blogosphere as Messi is to futból.

Wave Journal has been adding tons of great photos of the Peru surfing scene to his blog recently. Check out the latest, a dreamy sunset shot of a choptop and its friends on board. And scroll down for the rest cos it's worth your time.

Robert Funk has a good post on the already rising doubts Chileans have about their new Piñera government. With the new administration's über-close ties to business, many people suspected that "friendly deals" (let's say) would line the pockets of ministerial friends & families; those suspicions are beginning to look well-founded.

Eight Colombians arrested as spies in Venezuela. Avoid the MSM claptrap, avoid the lefty rantings, get a decent balanced view of the episode from top indy media channel Colombia Reports right here.

Dynasty Metals (DMM.to)

It's funny how the anti-DMM hatemail sent non-stop to this humble scribe has suddenly dried up these last few days, innit?

C'mon, dumbasses, send me another. I always have a great laugh at your inane pretzel logic and total ignorance of all things Ecuador. I mean, it'll break up your day of watching porn movies while your mother downstairs watches daytime teevee, right?

A nice early morning rally in junior miners.....

....and if you're portfolio net long you're probably sitting on nice gains too. Unless, of course you're stupid enough to have Ecometals (EC.v) as a component, in which case you're probably feeling like a dumbass again.

Meanwhile, as an example of what non-dumbasses invest in, check out the move in Lumina (LCC.v) this morning....

...on the back of this news release, the first thing of substance from the company in several ages. And DYODD, dude.

Chart of the day is.....

...South American military spending per capita by country, 1998 and 2008.

From this post over at Structurally Maladjusted where you'll find out lots lots more. So you'll hear all about the arms buildup in Venezuela this week, but not so much about Chile's and Colombia's. That's cos they buy from the USA. Your introduction to LatAm geopolitics starts with an F-16.

All hail Ecuador Insensato

A new interwebnetpipes site to recommend, thanks to kind reader 'S' and his headsup. The site is Ecuador Insensato, a welcome dose of Spanish language snark and satire on the country (and for my taste, even better than Venezuela's Chigüire Bipolar). Check out the site today for yourself and don't miss out on reports such as:

Correa Celebrates His Birthday Via Facebook
The President organizes a virtual party to avoid adulations and scandals

Beach Resort Opened For Upper Classes With Social Conscience
High-level government workers and NGO reps praise this new tourism experience


Ecologists Propose New Mining Economy
The plan is to mine as much money as possible from international organisms

All those and much much more. A great place for news about the underbelly of Ecuador. As from today Ecuador Insensato joins our blogroll, over there on the right. Enjoy.

Messi 4, Arsenal 1

In 21 minutes he tears apart one of the best teams in Europe and makes it look easy, then adds a fourth goal just before the end for the fun of it. As a pal said, "It's like me playing against my three year old boy".

We are not worthy.

UPDATE: Watch for yourself, here's the match summary video:

Trading Post (three strikes and you're out edition)

TheNewCrystallex (EC.v) down 3.8% at $0.375. What? Another delay to the sale of its asset to the company run by the EC.v ex-CEO? Whatever can it all mean? (cue giggling-in-background sound effects as market passes judgement on the saps still long).

Carpathian Gold (CPN.to) up 10.7% at $0.415 on strong volumes after a couple of weeks of nothingness. I'll never understand how this fashion mentality works.

Vena Resources (VEM.to) down a penny at $0.33 as the market tries to work out whether the share-backed credit line news out today is good news or not. Well yeah it is, actually. It means that VEM has no need to drop trousers and apply KY Jelly in Toronto or Vancouver. The re-structuring continues apace here. The other good thing to note is that last week's big volume surge wasn't just a single flash in the pan, with today's 400k+ shares traded pretty typical of recent action. This is good, as it lets weak hands depart without worrying the rest of us.

Antares Minerals (ANM.v) up 5.9% at $2.70 and that oh gosh feeling just gets stronger.

Pediment Gold (PEZ.to) down 3.2% at $1.51. Yesterday PEZ popped a great move on strong volumes and I'm sure it was because the stock was featured by Mickey Fulp in his latest Mercenary Musing. The report was available to his (free to join) subscribers all last weekend and now that I'm allowed to link it to others, here's a link to go get your own copy. It's a great report by the way, but find out why for yourself. This Fulp guy moves markets.

Rio Alto (RIO.v) doing a Lazarus

When RIO.v touched 92c just a few days ago, I was all shock-n-awe and wrote as much to a couple of pals. Well one wrote back to me this morning on the same thread with "..Will it touch .72? or .64?...".

Yup, that's a selloff. Maybe we got news coming soon about a possible financing? It's certainly the right time ballpark-wise.

One to watch, I own, not selling, DYODD, dude.

Argentina: New car sales point to economic recovery

News from the ACARA auto chamber of commerce in Argentina today is that new car sales had a record for the March month. The first quarter of 2010 has also set a new all-time record.

This is strong news on the consumer front for the country. For sure the inflationary spiral helps people unbutton their purses perhaps more quickly than they would normally, but there's no denying that people have money to spend down there. With GDP numbers also bouncing up in very much the same way as the rest of the region, reports of Argentina's economic implosion are greatly exaggerated...for a couple of years, anyway.

Thom Calandra and Ecometals (EC.v): Birds of a feather

The Ecometals/Goldmarca 10 year chart: Notice anything slightly suspicious about
its share price movements? If you don't, I have this great bridge
for sale so drop me a line and we can discuss details.

La plus ça change.........

After yesterday's post on the subject, this humble scribe actually got round to reading the 2005 SEC complaint against Thom Cassandra last night (instead of just the litigation letter). And hoodathunkit!! Would you believe that he was in cahoots with Goldmarca, the company that later decided to completely change its way of doing things (oh yes oh yes whatever makes you doubt that?) just by changing its name to Ecometals (EC.v) and pretending the past never happened? Cut to 2010, Cassandra is running the same kind of newsletter as he was when shopped and Ecometals/Goldmarca continues to scam the market with its bullshit about being the next Aurelian here, and sales of properties that never happen there, and sales of manganese that never happen over there.

Strange how these crooks seem to attract each other, innit? Here's the relevant extract from the SEC complaint. In point of fact, the Goldmarca deal was a minor act compared to the rest of the illegal trades Cassandra was pulling (known as scalping), but the fact he was mixed up with these Ecometals scamsters and that company is still getting away with its bullshit is almost too funny so let's just run with this example:

"In addition to his scalping transactions, Calandra received undisclosed consideration in the form of substantially-discounted stock from two companies that he profiled in TCR (The Calandra Report), Goldmarca and IMC Ventures. Calandra purchased discounted shares in Goldmarca and IMC Ventures from a Canadian stock promoter that Calandra knew was associated with both companies. On October 28, 2003, Calandra purchased 155,000 shares of Goldmarca at $0.23 per share, a 39% discount from the market price of $0.38 per share. Similarly, he purchased 70,000 shares of IMC Ventures on the same day, at the discounted price of $0.37 per share, a 59% discount off of the company's market price of $0.91 per share.

Calandra then provided the companies with positive publicity in TCR. He wrote on multiple occasions about both Goldmarca and IMC Ventures, but never disclosed his receipt of discounted shares to his readers.

As in his other scalping transactions, Calandra sold the majority of his shares of Goldmarca and IMC Ventures immediately after touting the companies in TCR, making total profits of $52,022.75 and $61,496, respectively.

pretty, shiny stones (reprise)

To celebrate the announcement by Constitution Mining (CMIN.ob) to move forward on its deal with fellow scam stock Seabridge Gold (SA) (SEA.to) last night, on the 300k oz Au gold asset (that's as dubious as a 43-101 could ever be without lapsing into regulatory default) IKN offers a reprise of the post first published about this deal back in late 2009, "Pretty Shiny Stones".

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What you have to imagine are two people sitting opposite each other, both with a pile of things next to them. One has a pile of 20,000 smooth, pretty pink stones. The other has a pile of 20,000 smooth, pretty blue stones.

The first one says, "I'll swap 10,000 of my pink stones for 10,000 of your blue stones."

The second one says, "OK", and they do just that.

Then the first one says, "Hey, sell me one of your blue stones for a dollar."

The second guy does that. Then the guy looks down, sees the other 9,999 blue stones he has left and thinks, "Hey! I'm rich! If those are worth a dollar each, that means i have U$9,999. Cool!".

Then second guy thinks some more. "HEY! I got 10,000 pink stones too! I just swapped them 1-for-1 with the blue stones...they must be worth a dollar each, too! I got U$19,999 here...WAY COOL!".

So second guy decides to try and buy a few more pink stones. "Hey, sell me one of your pink stones for a dollar", he says to guy number one.

But guy one says "Nope...i want $2 cash for my stones."

Second guy says, "Not Fair!".

First guy says, "Yes it is...think about it. If you pay $2 for one of my pink stones, you can say that those 10,000 you already have are worth $20,000, not just $10,000."

Second guy sees the logic and buys a pink stone for two dollars.

So then the first guy says, "Hey, how much for another one of your blue stones?"

Second guy is catching on quickly and says, "Three dollars!"

1st guy: "DEAL!"

Then a third guy comes walking along. He sees the two friends having a good time and laughing with each other and says, "Hey, what you doing?"

1st guy: "We're selling pretty shiny stones. Want to buy one?"

3rd guy: "How much?"

1st guy: "Well, here's the deal. You buy one of mine for $5, but then he'll pay you $6 for the same stone as soon as we've done the deal."

3rd guy looks at 2nd guy and says, "Really?"

2nd guy: "Yep...you make a dollar, just like that."

So the three guys do the deal and 3rd guy is really happy. "Hey!", he says...I gotta tell my friends about this! Do you mind if I invite some other people to play?".

"NOT AT ALL!" say guy 1 and guy 2 in unison, smiling big, wide smiles.

Etc etc etc etc etc

And now a news release from today.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Seabridge Gold reports that it has entered into a non-binding Letter of Intent to sell all of its interests in certain Nevada exploration properties, including Seabridge's Castle-Black Rock Project, to Constitution Mining Corp. for consideration exceeding US$7 million consisting of: (i) staged payments of US$3.0 million in cash; (ii) a US$1.0 million convertible debenture; and (iii) 3.0 million common shares of Constitution Mining. Closing of the transaction (expected on or about January 22, 2010) is subject to completion of final due diligence by Constitution, regulatory approval and execution of a binding definitive agreement. A previous agreement to sell these properties to another party for US$5 million has expired.

The US$3.0 million in cash is payable as follows: US$200,000 immediately, US$800,000 on Closing of the sale of the properties, US$1.0 million on February 28, 2010 and the obligation to pay the final US$1.0 million will arise under a secured promissory note due on the first anniversary of Closing together with accrued interest at 8% per year.

The US$1.0 million two-year debenture is due on the second anniversary of Closing and accrues interest at 8% per year payable quarterly. The debenture can be redeemed by Constitution at any time prior to maturity upon payment of US$1.25 million. If not redeemed, the debenture and any accrued interest are convertible by Seabridge into common shares of Constitution at US$1.00 per share.

Constitution's obligations under the promissory note and the debenture will be secured by the properties.

The 3.0 million common shares of Constitution will be issued as follows: 1.0 million common shares on Closing, and an additional 2.0 million common shares on February 28, 2010 but held in escrow and released to Seabridge on the third anniversary of Closing or upon confirmation that the properties host a measured and indicated gold resource of 1.0 million ounces or greater, whichever is earlier.

Constitution Mining is a publicly-traded exploration company with large holdings of alluvial gold deposits in the Gold Sands district of Peru. The Company is currently engaged in a program of pitting and test-mining to determine the feasibility of large-scale mining of this resource.

Seabridge holds a 100% interest in several North American gold resource projects. The Company's principal assets are the KSM property located near Stewart, British Columbia, Canada and the Courageous Lake gold project located in Canada's Northwest Territories.

As the old saying goes, two scams are better than one.

Question of the day

Is Greg Weeks capable of writing a post in his blog supposedly about Latin America without mentioning either the USA, Cuba or Venezuela? Does he have the mental strength to tear away from his obsessions for just one post? Will a little pan-regional balance ever seep into his world? After all, we're talking about an academic here and not some one-track-minded nutbar, right?

Right?

Inquiring minds etc......

(in other words Greg, it's getting rather boring and you're better than this)

Chart of the day is....

...the price of copper registered by the use of weekly candles.

I like charts when they have a simple story to tell. I like this chart. Do not complicate your life. Do not listen to the Casey dumbasses.

Mining news from Colombia, the new politically riskless zone according to Thom Calandra and other mining analyst idiots

Ok, folks, let's play Spot The Difference: Can you see any slight discrepancy between this press release from Medoro Resources on March 31st:

TORONTO, March 31 /CNW/ - Medoro Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: MRS) is pleased to announce that it has signed an asset purchase agreement (the "Agreement") with Frontino Gold Mines Ltd. ("Frontino") represented by its duly appointed and legally confirmed liquidator and legal representative, Mr. Luis Fernando Alvarado, to acquire all of the assets of Frontino, located near the city of Segovia, approximately 220 kms north of Medellin in Antioquia, Colombia. The Agreement has been authorized and approved by the advisory board of Frontino, which includes the Liquidator. CONTINUES HERE

And this press release from those calling themselves the true owners of Frontino:

SEGOVIA, COLOMBIA--(Marketwire - April 5, 2010) - This press release is in answer to the public statement of the Canadian company Medoro Resources, dated 31-March-2010, in which Medoro claims to have signed a purchase agreement for the assets of Frontino Gold Mines (Colombia).

"On behalf of the worker's union, the creditors, and the people of Segovia, who are the legal owners of Frontino Gold Mines - we do not know of any such agreement, nor will we recognize any such agreements," said Dairo Alberto Rua, Presidente, Sintramienergetica of Segovia.

"I believe the same statement by Medoro also suggests that Medoro has other plans for workers currently employed by Frontino Gold Mines. On behalf of the entire population and the worker's union, will firmly and decisively oppose any such plans by Medoro," said Alfredo de Jesus Tobon Alvanes, Presidente, ASOACREF.

"We know exactly the worth of Frontino Gold Mines, and will not allow Medoro and persons to take our assets at a price that is a tiny fraction of its true value," Dairo Rua continued.

"On behalf of the owners of Frontino Gold Mines, we want the world to know that we will never accept any such agreements with Medoro, whose behavior has caused great upset, concern and unrest in the area. We believe that Mr. Luis Fernando Alvarado Ortiz and Medoro Resources are trying to create chaos and fear in the mining district of Segovia," said Alfredo de Jesus Tobon Alvanes.

"Only a general assembly of the current creditors (shareholders) can make any decisions in regards to the assets of Frontino Gold Mines. It is very clear that Mr. Luis Fernando Alvarado Ortiz is neither a creditor nor an owner of Frontino Gold Mines and therefore has no right to make decisions," said Alfredo de Jesus Tobon Alvanes. "Our ownership rights are fully documented by a number of legal deeds."

"A criminal complaint against Mr. Serafino Iacono has been filed with the Prosecutor General of Colombia for alleged false and malicious statements made against the workers and owners of the assets of Frontino Gold Mines," said Mr. Rua.

"A coalition consisting of the workers, owners, and creditors of Frontino Gold Mines, along with the Segovia City Council and the people of the region, strongly and unanimously reject the attempts by Medoro Resources to take what is rightfully and legally ours, and demand that our voices be heard and that the law be respected," said Mr. Rua.

For more information, please contact

"SINTRAMIENERGETICA" Sectional, Segovia
Dairo Alberto Rua
President
Cell: 313 645 4601 / 311 333 9560
dairorua@hotmail.com

But of course, Colombia is this wonderful new, shiny heaven for Canadian junior miners, isn't it? You see, this is the kind of crap company that the fraudster Thom Cassandra* pumps to his greenhorn flock, as according to that illegal trader anything that Frank Giustra touches turns immediately to gold. I vomit.


UPDATE: Answering a reader's mail. Yes, when I used the words "fraudster" and "illegal trader" to describe Calandra I wasn't joking. Here's the SEC litigation release:

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 19028 / January 10, 2005

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Thom Calandra, Case No. C05 00135 JCS (N.D. Cal. filed January 10, 2005)

SEC BRINGS FRAUD CHARGES AGAINST FORMER CBS MARKETWATCH COLUMNIST THOM CALANDRA FOR ILLEGAL TRADING SCHEME

The Securities and Exchange Commission today brought and settled civil fraud charges against Thom Calandra, a former columnist for the Internet website CBS MarketWatch.com. The Commission alleges that Calandra profited by secretly selling stocks shortly after his investment newsletter's positive recommendations of the stocks caused their prices to rise. In settling the matter, Calandra, who lives in Sausalito, California, will pay over $540,000 in disgorgement and penalties.

According to the Commission's complaint, filed in the Northern District of California, Calandra made over $400,000 in illegal profits through a practice known as "scalping"-buying shares of thinly-traded, small-cap companies, writing highly favorable newsletter profiles recommending the companies to his newsletter subscribers, and then selling the majority of his shares when the increased demand generated by his favorable columns drove up the stock price. From March to December 2003, Calandra followed this "Buy-Write-Sell" pattern for 23 different stocks that he covered in The Calandra Report, without disclosing his actions to his readers.

In addition, the Commission alleged that Calandra failed to tell his readers that he had received compensation from a stock promoter affiliated with two mining companies that Calandra profiled in The Calandra Report. The compensation took the form of heavily-discounted shares in the two companies-shares which Calandra later sold at a substantial profit after the stock prices rose following his favorable newsletter write-ups.

Calandra, without admitting or denying the allegations in the Commission's complaint, has agreed to a permanent injunction from further violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws (Sections 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder), and from further violations of Section 17(b) of the Securities Act of 1933, which prohibits the non-disclosure of compensation received for providing publicity about a security. Calandra also will disgorge $416,109.58 in illegal trading profits and prejudgment interest and will pay a civil penalty of $125,000.

But hey, this is 2010 so feel free to trust the dude now that he's doing something completely different with his time these days by..... errr........ writing highly favorable newsletter profiles on thinly-traded, small-cap companies and recommending the companies to his newsletter subscribers.

*According to the Greek myths, after being cursed by Apollo nobody ever believed Cassandra's predictions again. source.

Trading Post (The Left Nut edition)

Antares (ANM.v) up 1.6% at $2.53 on low volumes. This author looks forward to kissingly good developments at the Prospect.

Fronteer (FRG) up 7.8% at U$5.83 and doing a fine impersonation of the Duracell bunny. Volume solid, too.

Ventana Gold (VEN.to) up 6.6% at $10.39 at the first time since the Gelvez news sunk in that VEN has traded over $10. The market suggests some kind of resolution coming here soon? I dunno, but then again I'm neither long nor short anyway so it's not one that affects. Who am I to argue against Eike, after all?

Radius Gold (RDU.v) down a penny at $0.35 and can't seem to break away from this current trading ranges (in either direction). One to watch and trade if possible. No position right now, though.

Copper Fox (CUU.v) up 8.1% at $0.20. Don't trust it, trade it.

Today's big question: Just how stupid is Andrey Dashkov of Casey Research?

Andrey Dashkov: Bartenders, please
ask for ID before serving

This month's Casey International Sheeptator rag included a macro overview of Peru written by the babyfaced Andrey Dashkov, the very same dumbass who recently won the coveted award here at IKN for penning one of the worst overviews of Colombia I'd ever seen. His effort this month on Peru was, unsurprisingly, in the same pisspoor category and showed that not only has he little idea about the place but he has no clue about the basics of the subject he tries to fake expertise about, either. This chart from the note.....

......was presented to his readers as "Peruvian exports". When I saw it the immediate first thought was "HUHH???" cos anyone that has even a passing interest in Peru's economy knows that for the longest time metals exports have been roughly 60% of the country's total, not the 80% presented by the dumbass Dashkov.

Then it struck me what he'd done wrong. It took about 15 minutes to put together this chart that shows the real story (I've even tried to be cute and used the same colour-coding as the Caseyfools, bar the green of course):

click to enlarge

Yep, this Dashkov completely missed out all non-traditional exports! What must have happened is that he finds some dataset or other marked "traditional exports" and is so uneducated about the terms used in country economies that he doesn't even realize that traditional exports are not the whole ballgame....not by a long chalk. I mean, the next time you eat a grape grown in Peru, or wear something made of Peruvian cotton (the third best quality cotton in the world according to those that know about these things) according to Casey Research (word "research" used in the loosest terms possible) it didn't actually come from Peru. Those and a whole mountain of other products, ignored by the ignorant.

This dumbass Dashkov misses out 20% of everything Peru exports! Jeesh! And not only that, the whole editorial team at Caseyfools didn't spot something that would take anyone with an inkling about a nanosecond to spot. But hey...it's Casey. Do you really expect truth and accuracy from these shills?

Meanwhile, Andrey Dashkov has managed to make himself look verysillyperson over his lack of nous about first Colombia and now Peru. I wonder which country he's going to be allowed to butcher next?

IKN dedicates a track to Fronteer Development (FRG) (FRG.to)

Just two months ago this jewel was trading under U$4.....


......so today we dedicate a full-on killer special kickass track to FRG. Take it away, Muddy:



disclosure: yeah, course i'm long

My one and only post on the CTFC/Andrew Maguire/GATA/silver manipulation issue

I've had a lot of mail recently asking an opinion on this revelation whistleblower thing revolving around an interview given by a certain Maguire about how the silver market is supposedly manipulated by big banks (JP Morgan front and centre in the firing line) and how the whole cause celebre is getting taken up by the morally challenged Bill Murphy over at GATA. This mail excerpt received this morning from reader MS is a pretty typical example:

".....what do you think of the action at CFTC's metal limits hearings?

(LBMA being 100:1 leveraged, the testimony about JPM manipulating silver market by Andrew Maguire, Christian's assertion that the way to avoid delivery failure at LBMA is to cash settle, etc)

I get that you're no fan of GATA, but those are not just "conspiration theories" anymore, are they?"

Now let's be clear that I have no problem with reader MS or anybody else that has mailed in to ask about this issue...it's always good to ask questions. So to make my position clear on this, here's my answer as written to MS:

Show me a market that doesn't suffer from manipulation in some form or other and I'll care a lot more. Wanna hear some stories about what the metals traders at LME do to the copper pit? Or the nickel? I mean, we know that forces want to skew the monetary value of things for their own benefit and the bigger the back pocket the bigger the weapon....jeesh, big deal!

GATA is a shillers operation that exists for its own benefit and has attracted a clique of tinfoilhatters, period. Great marketing, but a waste of time trying to find life's deeper truths there.

I hope this helps. Mojitos served, the end.

Dorato Resources (DRI.v): What locals really think of the company

Here's a link to a new English language blog set up by the people who live around the mining projects of Dorato Resources (DRI.v) in the Cenepa region of far northern Peru, part of the Cordillera del Cóndor mountain range. In the linked blog you'll find out what locals really think about the Dorato project.

Before you go there (and you should), if you're expecting to click to a badly drawn and emotion-ridden argument then think again. Theirs is not some fly-by-night protest blog that rails against society without any studies or research to back it up. I've looked through the case put forward by the Awajún-Wampi peoples in this blog this morning and it's backed up by official documents, well thought out arguments and (although the grammar goes slightly offkey here and there) a good and level-headed voice in the English language. It documents the way in which their rights have been ignored, the lies told by Dorato and the deceptions of the Peruvian government as it pushes an growth at all costs agenda.

So if you really want to know why DRI.v isn't welcome in its corner of Peru and how the government of Peru is riding roughshod over people's rights in order to push through its drill-baby-drill policy in one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world, go visit the site for yourself.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

"Our war is a defensive one. Peruvian Company Aphrodite (sic) and its owner Dorato Resources Inc., the Canadian corporation which desires to exploit our natural resources without respecting our rights and our lives, says to their shareholders and to the public that Dorato “has excellent relationships with the local community”. Not only good but “excellent”... But from our place, we the Awajun and Wampis peoples have a totally different view."


".....the Peruvian Government decided to explicitly and systematically favour extractive activities to the detriment of both the conservation of natural resources, as well as the rights to life and health of the indigenous populations that inhabit these areas, without providing any technical or legal arguments justifying its change in position regarding the compatibility of the mining activities with these ecologically vulnerable areas.


"The Organization for the Development of the Border Communities of El Cenepa (ODECOFROC) has submitted on August 4, 2009 -and recently has updated on February 17, 2010- a request for “Urgent Action” to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), demanding that the Peruvian Government provide the international community with an explanation regarding its racist and discriminatory conduct to the detriment of the Awajún and Wampís peoples living in the border District of El Cenepa, near the Condor Mountain Range.

"The indigenous peoples have lodged this request with CERD due to the existence of an ongoing official policy to partake in socio-economic exclusion and discrimination, which is manifested through a variety of aspects and in a particular very conflictive context"

"The Cordillera del Cóndor forms part of the traditional land of the Awajún and Wampís peoples, as recognized by the Peruvian government on repeated occasions, including the process in the framework of which the proposal to create the Ichigkat Muja National Park was defined. Nevertheless, the State proceeded to reduce its area in order to accommodate the mining sector, introducing an intolerable risk on the land of the Awajún and Wampís peoples in a clandestine manner."

Chart of the day is.....

.....the Gold/Silver Ratio, a bit of a Monday morning ritual:

You know the drill on this chart (or if you don't, drop me a line and I'll explain a bit more). Fear is soooo boring, greed is where it's at. So be very careful out there, folks.

On rats and sinking ships

This made me laugh out loud. How this scumbag can play the holier than thou card is beyond the ken of anyone that knows how this scamster works. Meanwhile, we can scratch another company off our list of possibles, as Oromin has shown its complete ineptitude by hiring this shyster as its IR man, or PR consultant or whatever they want to call it.

Zero Currency umpteenth

Seriously, this guy is great.

The IKN Weekly, out now

IKN48 is with subscribers now. There's a new NOBS report on an interesting little LatAm gold/copper thing, there are updates on company earnings reports, there's a section on Focus Ventures (FCV.v) ...oh, there's allsorts in there. There's also my favourite saying ever (aka, the wisest thing anyone has ever said to me).

Twenty-three pages, 10,744 words and as a major bonus most of them are correctly spelled for a change.

Do the Macarena

Yeah, man...mass graves and 4,000 deaths, murders to quieten whistleblowers....get down and boogie and ignore it cos it's in Colombia, baby. We first ran this story in January here at IKN but now it's getting more traction (in the non MSM at least). Take it away, Dan Kovalik at HuffPo:

U.S. and Colombia Cover Up Atrocities Through Mass Graves

The biggest human rights scandal in years is developing in Colombia, though you wouldn't notice it from the total lack of media coverage here. The largest mass grave unearthed in Colombia was discovered by accident last year just outside a Colombian Army base in La Macarena, a rural municipality located in the Department of Meta just south of Bogota. The grave was discovered when children drank from a nearby stream and started to become seriously ill. These illnesses were traced to runoff from what was discovered to be a mass grave -- a grave marked only with small flags showing the dates (between 2002 and 2009) on which the bodies were buried.

According to a February 10, 2010 letter issued by Alexandra Valencia Molina, Director of the regional office of Colombia's own Procuraduria General de la Nacion -- a government agency tasked to investigate government corruption -- approximately 2,000 bodies are buried in this grave. The Colombian Army has admitted responsibility for the grave, claiming to have killed and buried alleged guerillas there. However, the bodies in the grave have yet to be identified. Instead, against all protocol for handling the remains of anyone killed by the military, especially those of guerillas, the bodies contained in the mass grave were buried there secretly without the requisite process of having the Colombian government certify that the deceased were indeed the armed combatants the Army claims.

And, given the current "false positive" scandal which has enveloped the government of President Alvaro Uribe and his Defense Minister, Juan Manuel Santos, who is now running to succeed Uribe as President, the Colombian Army's claim about the mass grave is especially suspect. This scandal revolves around the Colombian military, most recently under the direction of Juan Manuel Santos, knowingly murdering civilians in cold blood and then dressing them up to look like armed guerillas in order to justify more aid from the United States. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pilay, this practice has been so "systematic and widespread" as to amount to a "crime against humanity." And sadly, when Ms. Pilay made this statement, she literally did not know the half of it.

To date, not factoring in the mass grave, it has been confirmed by Colombian government sources that 2,000 civilians have fallen victim to the "false positive" scheme since President Uribe took office in 2002. If, as suspected by Colombian human rights groups, such as the "Comision de Derechos Humanos del Bajo Ariari" and the "Colectivo Orlando Fals Borda," the mass grave in La Macarena contains 2,000 more civilian victims of this scheme, then this would bring the total of those victimized by the "false positive" scandal to at least 4,000 --much worse than originally believed.

That this grave was discovered just outside a Colombian military base overseen by U.S. military advisers -- the U.S. having around 600 military advisers in that country -- is especially troubling, and raises serious questions about the U.S.'s own conduct in that country. In addition, this calls into even greater question the propriety of President Obama's agreement with President Alvaro Uribe last summer to grant the U.S. access to 7 military bases in that country.

The Colombian government and military are scrambling to contain this most recent scandal, and possibly through violence. Thus, on March 15, 2010, Jhonny Hurtado, a former union leader and President of the Human Rights Committee of La Cantina, and an individual who was key in revealing the truth about this mass grave, was assassinated as soldiers from Colombia's 7th Mobile Brigade patrolled the area. Just prior to his murder, Jhonny Hurtado told a delegation of British MPs visiting Colombia that he believed the mass grave at La Macarena contained the bodies of innocent people who had been "disappeared."

CONTINUES HERE

Marin Katusa dumps Copper Mountain (CUM.to)

Marin takes anything over $3

Marin Katusa is a director of Copper Mountain (CUM.to). He's also selling large lumps of his stock.

Copper Mountain Mining Corporation (CUM)						As of April 2nd, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Apr 02/10	Mar 17/10	Katusa, Marin	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-50,000
Apr 02/10	Mar 16/10	Katusa, Marin	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-58,400
Apr 02/10	Mar 15/10	Katusa, Marin	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-28,500
Apr 02/10	Mar 12/10	Katusa, Marin	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-89,300

That little lot adds up to 226,200 shares (half of them late filed, too). Katusa still has 263,300 shares of CUM.to left in his portfolio (according to latest filings at least), but selling out nearly half a holding like this is worthy of scrutiny, especially when you consider his background:

Marin Katusa – Director
Mr. Katusa has been a director of the Company since April 4, 2007. Mr. Katusa graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Bachelor of Science degree, and then obtained a Bachelor degree in Education. His extensive relationships within the Canadian financial community is a valuable asset in the realization of the Company‟s commitment to become a world class copper producer. He has assisted a variety of companies with strategic focus and corporate finance in the junior resource sector. Mr. Katusa is the Chief Investment Strategist, Energy Division, for Casey Research, which specializes in finding undervalued companies in the junior resource sector.

Oh, a Casey guy. He's bound to care more about Casey subscrbers than his own back pocket, isn't he? Well....isnt he?

Pooty Poot Poot Poot

сексуальные фотографии, товарищи

The Friday OT: Messi/Maradona

This is a one-of-a-kind, flabbergasting goals compilation video.

What the dudes over at Argentine telly program 'TVR' did was to splice together goals scored by Lionel Messi with similar goals scored previously by Maradona. The result is 1) sublime football footage and 2) really really spooky to see how similar they are.

A special Friday OT for those that understand the game. Enjoy five minutes of beauty, if you're Castilian-challenged fret not over the Spanish used here and there (you're missing little, the action is everything) and last but not least enjoy the Manu Chao track that accompanies, 'La Vida Tombola'.

Si yo fuera Maradona, viviría como él......

Brent Cook interviewed by The Gold Report

Right here on this link. Worth your time.

Agoracom, the OSC and reader feedback

The OSC action against the Grandich-sponsoring promopump vehicle known to the world as Agoracom has had plenty of reaction. For example, this Globe&Mail article is currently the number one most read article at the newspaper today. Here's how the note starts:

For the past several years Agoracom Investor Relations Corp. has run a burgeoning Internet forum for attention-starved mining, energy and tech companies, where investors could gather to muse about the stock they hold in those firms.

But what the companies were never told, the Ontario Securities Commission alleges, is that much of the online chatter about those stocks was instead the work of Agoracom's own employees.

Operating under dozens of online aliases, and sometimes holding fake conversations with themselves, the staff actively tried to push up share prices, the regulator alleges. CONTINUES HERE

Meanwhile, first-hand insight was provided to IKN today by Reader 'E', a person who over the months and years has closely followed the conversations at one of the stocks covered by Agoracom. We're going to keep the name of the stock out of this post to protect the possibly innocent, but it's worth mentioning that it's a pennyshare company that this author has never owned. With that said, reader 'E' mailed today and gave insight as a more perceptive user of Agoracom message boards:

Per the scumbags at Agoracom (caught your blog quick thoughts), i agree wholeheartly and i hope they get what's coming to them. I know first hand of their bullshit aliases conjured up when XXX (ticker withheld) was a client of theirs. Aliases talking with one another as if they were buddies in the stock but had no flippin clue of the company, not a clue! The postings stopped once the contract between Agoracom & XXX stopped, go figure how that all works. With a little backtracking which i did the light bulb came one. I'm kinda pissed off about that as they took IR fees each and every month. Anyways, i hope the OSC is dead serious on straightening their act up.

For what it's worth* your humble scribe stopped reading bullboard guff months ago (bar the odd occasion when a link to a post is sent to me by a friend or a foe....usually a foe, in fact) but what I will say is that reader 'E' is a totally trustworthy person and someone who I would support on any given occasion (even though we happen to disagree on the merits of the above pennystock stock in question that he likes). In other words, if reader 'E' says that what's been going on over at Agoracom is scammy, then it's scammy period.

*not much

Seabridge Gold (SA) (SEA.to): A humungous exposé by Citron Research

After this humble scribe mentioned Seabridge Gold (SA) (SEA.to) a couple of days ago, kind reader 'TS' sent along a couple of links to recent articles written on the company by Citron Research.

The first one dated March 1st is here.

The second one dated March 10th is here.

Both are magnificent exposé articles and must-read fodder for all minehead investors who are fed up with being ripped off left, right and centre. Citron looks carefully at the background of SA and finds more red flags than Tiannamen Square on Mao's birthday. Features include

• The dubious nature of the gold resources held by SA

• The obscure background of the person on whose opinion the resource relies

• The failed companies and previous scams and litigations connected to main company players

• The SEC clampdown on the wilder claims illegally made (and still being made) by SA

• etc

Kudos to Citron. Now go read both.

WTF is going on over at Nadagold (NG)?

RICK!

First Greg Johnson, the NG investor relations VP since the year dot and longtime buddy of RICK! who goes back with him to the Placer days, makes a sudden decision to leave NG (and then weirdly join up with a going-nowhere-fast silver thing in Bolivia). Now the Nadagold CFO suddenly ups sticks and runs away from the new Soros/Paulson/Kaplan vehicle.

VANCOUVER, April 1 /CNW/ - NovaGold Resources Inc. ("NovaGold" or the "Company") (AMEX, TSX: NG - News News) announced today that Robert J. (Don) MacDonald, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will be leaving NovaGold effective immediately. Mr. MacDonald joined NovaGold in 2003 and has served as the chief financial officer of the Company since such time. Mr. MacDonald has agreed to provide consulting services to the Company for the next six months to assist with transitional matters. "I would like to thank Don for his significant contributions to the Company", said Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, President and Chief Executive Officer of NovaGold, "His efforts and dedication have been important factors in NovaGold's development". Elaine Sanders, Vice President Finance, will act as interim Chief Financial Officer while the Company conducts a search for Mr. MacDonald's replacement.

And we note in passing that the announcement is made later into the evening of Maundy Thursday, with fund mgrs around the world already travelling to their second homes on the coasts for long weekends. We also note that MacDonald decided it was a great idea to sell Nadagold stock in the last week or so:

Apr 01/10	Mar 29/10	MacDonald, Robert John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,000	$7.500
Apr 01/10	Mar 23/10	MacDonald, Robert John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,000	$7.900
Apr 01/10	Mar 22/10	MacDonald, Robert John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-7,000	$7.620

This stinks to high heaven.

Jim Schultz's April 1st post

It's getting to be a bit of a tradition down this way. Here's how this year's effort starts:

In startling back-to-back news conferences in Caracas and La Paz, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales announced Wednesday that they plan to merge their two countries into one nation by the end of 2011. The plan – which would establish the new Republic of Bolizuela – came as a shock in both capitals.

CONTINUES HERE

UPDATE: FWIW, this humble scribe thinks Structurally Maladjusted's effort is better this year.

Troy waking up

Troy Resources (TRY.ax) (TRY.to) has been in the doldrums since before Christmas, but in the last few days the patience is paying off, it seems.

Whatever the reason might be, the world is cottoning on to the bargain that this stock is. At last. DYODD, me be longy.

I. Love. This.

The OSC grows a set of cojones and starts trying to clean up Grandichscumland. Viva! Let's hope this is just the first of many crackdowns against scumbag promopumpers.

IN THE MATTER OF THE SECURITIES ACT,
R.S.O. 1990, c. S.5 AS AMENDED

– and –

IN THE MATTER OF AGORACOM INVESTOR RELATIONS CORP.,
AGORA INTERNATIONAL ENTERPRISES CORP., GEORGE TSIOLIS and
APOSTOLIS KONDAKOS (a.k.a. PAUL KONDAKOS)

STATEMENT OF ALLEGATIONS
OF STAFF OF THE ONTARIO SECURITIES COMMISSION

Staff of the Ontario Securities Commission (the “Commission”) make the following allegations:

I. OVERVIEW

1. This proceeding relates to fraudulent on-line posting activity by Agoracom Investor Relations Corp. (“AIRC”) and Agora International Enterprises Corp. (“AIEC”) (collectively “Agoracom”), an on-line investment relations firm, and its management, George Tsiolis (“Tsiolis”) and Apostolis Kondakos, a.k.a. Paul Kondakos (“Kondakos”) (collectively the “Respondents”) in breach of the Securities Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.S.5, as amended (the “Act”) and in a manner that was contrary to the public interest.

2. Staff allege that the Respondents’ course of conduct spanned from at least September 1, 2006 to July 31, 2009 (the “Material Time”).

II. THE RESPONDENTS

A. The Corporate Respondents

3. None of the corporate respondents were registered with the Commission in any capacity during the Material Time.

4. AIRC is an Ontario company incorporated on February 12, 2007. AIRC employs Agoracom representatives and contracts with clients to provide investor relations services.

5. AIEC is an Ontario company incorporated on April 23, 1997. Revenue from Agoracom gets reported to AIEC.

6. Together, AIRC and AIEC carry on business in Toronto, Ontario as “Agoracom” and perform the business of an online investor relations firm for public companies whose securities are publicly listed in Canada.

B. The Individual Respondents

7. Tsiolis is a resident of Toronto, Ontario and is the founder and a directing mind of Agoracom. Tsiolis is the sole director of AIEC, one of two directors of AIRC and is the registrant for the domain name “agoracom.com”.

8. Tsiolis was registered as an officer & director (trading) and shareholder, under the category of limited market dealer with Agoracom Capital Inc. from July 2, 2008 to September 28, 2009. Tsiolis has been registered as a dealing representative and approved as a permitted individual (officer, director and shareholder), under the category of exempt market dealer with Agoracom Capital Inc. since September 28, 2009.

9. Kondakos is a resident of Toronto, Ontario and is the other directing mind of Agoracom. Kondakos is an officer of AIRC.

10. Kondakos was registered as officer & director (trading) and approved as designated compliance officer, under the category of limited market dealer with Agoracom Capital Inc. from July 2, 2008 to September 28, 2009. Kondakos has been registered as a dealing representative and approved as a permitted individual (officer & director), under the category of exempt market dealer with Agoracom Capital Inc. since September 28, 2009. Kondakos has also been registered as ultimate designated person and chief compliance officer, under the category of exempt market dealer with Agoracom Capital Inc. since December 29, 2009.

III. FRAUDULENT POSTINGS BY AGORACOM MANAGEMENT AND REPRESENTATIVES

11. According to their website (www.agoracom.com), Agoracom “caters to the IR and marketing needs of small and micro cap public companies trading on the TSX [and] TSX Venture…”. Agoracom offers pricing models for its clients which incorporate a monthly fee and stock options equalling the greater of 250,000 shares or 0.5% of a company’s fully diluted outstanding share total at current prices.

12. Agoracom’s online content includes webcasts, podcasts, and blogs. Perusal of www.agoracom.com is free and open to the public. Visitors are directed to client and non-client issuer “hubs” created and maintained by Agoracom. Among the features available on a specific company’s hub is a discussion forum, relating to the issuers’ securities.

13. Agoracom’s representatives serviced the client hubs by moderating their discussion forums and posting information and news to the forums. In order to post comments on the discussion forums, users are required to create a username and provide an e-mail address.

14. Tsiolis and Kondakos required their representatives, as part of their daily responsibilities, to post anonymously to the client forums using aliases. To post messages anonymously, the representatives created fictitious usernames and posed as investors blending in with other users, investors and interested persons. Representatives had between 40-50 aliases (some had up to 200) and were required to make a requisite number of posts per hub per day or risk having their pay docked. On occasion, Agoracom staff conversed with themselves on the forums using different aliases.

15. Staff alleges that during the Material Time:

1. more than 24,000 alias posts were created from within Agoracom on client and non-client hubs;
2. more than 670 alias user names were created by representatives of Agoracom and used on client and non-client hubs;
3. alias posts originated from Tsiolis’ residence; and
4. posts by Agoracom representatives, using their aliases, were promotional and promoted purchasing and/or holding stock.

16. Neither the public users nor Agoracom’s clients were aware that representatives of Agoracom were posting on their hubs using aliases. In fact, the Respondents knowingly deceived clients about the traffic and activity generated on their hubs. In particular, Agoracom reported the number of posts and shareholder inquiries answered by Agoracom’s representatives to clients on a monthly basis, and failed to disclose that a portion of the posts and shareholder inquiries were created by Agoracom’s own representatives. For certain clients, alias posts by Agoracom’s representatives represented a significant proportion of the postings within the forum.

17. The Respondents knew or ought to have known that the posting activity described above put their clients at risk of being in breach of the TSX-V Corporate Finance Policies governing investor relations firm activities and compensation.

18. The Respondents also took steps to actively conceal the fraudulent posting activity by its representatives. In March 2009, when a representative revealed that he was an Agoracom representative posting with an alias, the Respondents posted an “Official Statement” stating that these actions were carried out by a single representative and that Agoracom would be taking steps within next sixty (60) days to ensure that this would never happen again. This message to the public was false and misleading given that Tsiolis and Kondakos knew and instructed many representatives to create and use multiple aliases to post on all of the client forums. In addition, Tsiolis and Kondakos were aware that representatives continued to post using aliases after this Statement was released.

19. Staff allege that posting activity described above, mandated by the Respondents, was undertaken to create a misleading appearance of greater interest and trading activity in the securities of Agoracom’s clients to:

1. induce clients to contract or continue to contract with Agoracom; and
2. increase the value of Agoracom’s stock options.

V. SUMMARY

20. As a result of the conduct described above, the Respondents, directly or indirectly, engaged or participated in an act, practice or course of conduct relating to securities that the Respondents knew or reasonably ought to have known perpetrated a fraud on persons and companies, contrary to section 126.1(b) of the Act.

21. Further, the conduct outlined above was abusive to the capital markets.

VI. CONDUCT CONTRARY TO SECURITIES LAW AND THE PUBLIC INTEREST

22. Staff allege that the conduct set out above of the Respondents violated Ontario securities law as specified and constituted conduct contrary to the public interest.

23. Staff reserve the right to make such other allegations as Staff may advise and the Commission may permit.

Dated at Toronto this 1st day of April, 2010

.

UPDATE: Agoracom has published a rebuttal, neatly sandwiched between two posts on Jesus at Easter from Grandich (why does the phrase "holier than thou" drift through my brain?). Here's the link to the scamster grandich's blog and here's the post link.