Oldtent Archives 2007 - 2008

HSBC on Friday raised its price forecast for precious metals, citing a combination of bullish factors, including a weak U.S. dollar, inflation and an output decline. James Steel, metals analyst at HSBC in New York, said he was raising his long-term forecast for gold to $700 an ounce from $600 an ounce, reflecting the industry’s higher marginal cost of production.

“We expect gold be supported by rising inflationary pressures and a weak U.S. dollar, but weak jewelry sales and higher levels of scrap will free up metal for investment demand,” Steel told clients in a note.

However, he kept his average forecast for 2008 at $915 an ounce, and $850 for 2009 and $725 for 2010 — all unchanged from his previous forecasts.

For silver, Steel raised its 2008 forecast to $18.00 an ounce from $17.25 an ounce, to $16.50 from $15.50 for 2009, and to $15 from $14 for 2010…

Larryc……moving would be nice but my wife has fallen in love with the house…..me I would prefer to move to the country….quiet ..fresh air ……nature

Actually, I have several spots in my yard where there is no growth…..No dogs have done their thing that I know of. Tested out a few of GR’s puptents but nothing works.

Funnything is that the grass arounf the areas is grwoing fine and has grown in  very thickly since the spring. Have tested for grubs a couple of times….What else could it be? What is the best thing to do? Reseed but take out all the old roots first?  Is there anythng out there that helps grass roots spread into these empty areas.

RLS

Life Lessons: Why Jr Precious Metal Emerging Producers Have Been Underperforming

On the message boards there have been quite a few frustrated posts by fellow investors wondering why their already undervalued Precious Metal Emerging Producers have been so underperforming the underlying gold and silver metals. A Precious Metal Emerging Producer is a smaller-scale precious metal mining company that is either opening a new mine (either their first or second) or is substantially scaling up the production from existing mines. From my viewpoint, a Jr graduates from an advanced development explorer to an emerging producer when it has all the financing needed to go into production.

I’ve been wondering the same thing myself, but am not too worried because the ones I’m holding are so undervalued. If the price of gold and silver hold up, they should be producing such good earnings that eventually the market will “get it” and push up their stock prices substantially.

But still, what is the explanation for this underperformance? Here’s some explanations I’ve heard:

Big-Boy Naked Shorting - The “big boys” (hedge funds?) are shorting Jrs (perhaps with illegal Naked Shorts) and going long the precious metals themselves. I’ve heard this claimed, but have never seen any actual evidence given to back up these claims. I’ve seen heavy shorting of Minefinders (MFN/MFL.TO) and maybe Golden Star Resources(GSS/GSC.TO), but this does not seem to be an explanation that covers most of my emerging producers. Most of my producers whom have little or no shorting according to the TSX venture exchange. Those stocks where it is happening should get quite a nice short-covering stock pop if they actually execute according to their plan.
Moose Pasture Dilution - this goes something like:

Most of the money in the TSX Venture is in the form of index funds which invest in all of the index’s stocks (good and bad). I’d love to get some facts and figures and determine how significant TSX Venture index investing is. The TSX Venture has been bloated by a multitude of “moose pasture” exploration companies. They are refered to as moose pasture stocks because they don’t have any real mineral resources proved up, just moose pasture that could possibly some day be something. A small fraction of these someday may prove up a resource that is worth money, but until then they don’t have much value.
As moose pasture stocks are added to the TSX Venture, index funds have to sell part of their holdings of existing stocks to buy the new stocks. This selling reduces the prices of the existing stocks (bad for emerging producers) bringing down the value of the index funds.
The addition of these stocks has the net effect of lowering the stock prices of existing stocks (and the index as a whole). The addition of moose pasture stocks is alot like the end of the dot-com bubble where tons of Pets.com and their ilk soaked up the sucker money. In this case it may be the conscious smart-money gaming of the fashionable index investing craze. This is a reminder of how Index investors can suckered by smart money who, when they know where the index investing money has to go, figure out a way to exploit this foreknowledge. Index investing only makes sense in areas where markets are efficient and that implies that there is enough actively managed money to allow index investors to benefit the actively managed money keeping the entire index valued equivalently. I don’t think the TSX Venture exchange meets these criteria.
When index fund investors see that they are losing money, they flee their current index for another “hotter” index. This results in the index funds selling the stock of all the companies in the index causing the prices of individual stocks and the index as a whole to lose value. This is a positive feed-back cycle and should continue until there is little index money left in the TSX Venture exchange or until a significant wave of new money buys into the exchange’s stocks. Falling Nickel, Zinc and Lead base metal prices further depress the index by trashing the associated Venture base metal stocks pulling down the index as a whole. This furthers the flight from the TSX Venture of index fund money.
I believe this moose pasture dilution is a significant factor and that the main hope for a Jr escaping it is to either “grow up” to the point where institutional money would consider buying the individual stock for its worth (having achieved mid-tier production levels and having left the Venture exchange for the TSX or the AMEX exchanges) or to have a resource big enough and valuable enough to be a major’s takeover target. For production I reckon this to be more than 100K oz gold / year or 5 million oz / silver per year. I reckon 2 million gold oz is a “big enough” resource to be a takeover target. I don’t know how big a resource of silver would be necessary to be a takeover target. In any case, its not my opinion that counts, but its the “fund” money that determines what “big enough” is.
The Fear Factor - When the price of precious metals are rising because of fear, money leaves Jr mining stocks of all forms for safety reasons. This makes sense for stocks which still require financing (which may not be available during some kind of systemic upset), but doesn’t really make sense for those which don’t need financing as their outlook benefits from the rising precious metal prices. But they all get taken down anyway in the flight to safety. Again, there is the momentum effect where once Jrs start falling, they continue to fall as money exits looking for a safer place or at least one that is not down-trending. I believe that this is the case with Jr emerging producers. The antidote of the fear factor is the “Value Factor” which causes the buying of selected Jrs when they are clearly undervalued, supporting their prices. The converse of the fear factor is the “Greed Factor” where Jrs soar when the price of precious metals are rising because of greed not fear. This greed can come from sheer price rise momentum or from inflation driving precious metal prices and Jrs appearing way undervalued. Smart money may be at this point doing value investing, but this fall, as precious metals follow their seaonal rise, I’m expecting to see the Greed Factor kick in.
To summarize, I’m rather dubious of the “Big-Boy Naked Shorting” explanation, but pretty much accept the “Moose Pasture Dilution” and “Fear Factor” explanations.

So, the life lessons I’ve been getting from Jr precious metal investing are:

Wait for the “greed phase” to invest heavily in Jrs. This year its too late for me to follow this advice because I’ve been long and strong all year and Jrs are so illiquid you just can’t trade in and out with the money I’m swinging.
Only buy Jrs that you expect will “grow up” (see above). I don’t care how undervalued a Jr stock seems (well, I guess I have one exception), if it doesn’t have a good likelihood of growing up I’m not holding it.
Be on the look out for a genuine end to the precious metal bull market and be ready to exit should that occur. This life lesson comes not from the recent precious metals Jr under performance, but from the collapse of zinc, lead and nickel Jr base metal emerging producers. Its pretty clear that the price of mining stocks (and Jrs in particular) get creamed when the underlying metal price is descending rather than rising. This is the case regardless of how much money the stock may be making (or be poised to make) at anywhere near current prices. This is because there is no telling, once a metal’s price starts falling, how far it will fall. A falling metal price provokes a flight for safety even if the stock is set to make big money at the current price. I believe it applies to precious metal mining stocks as well, should an exit should be taken regardless of whether one is above or under water, should there be a clear indication that the precious metal bull market is truly over.
With all of the above in mind, I believe I’m pretty well positioned with the Jr miners I have. I think I know what I’m doing with each one and have good reason to expect success with each. Of course, it all depends on them executing their plans (or something reasonably close to their plans) and the price of gold and silver holding up or, better still, advancing). The payoff should be quite substantial (easy double at least) for each if this turns out to be the case.

Here’s the miners I’m holding:

Gold Resource Corp, GORO.OB - the only one I’m green on. My life lesson from this one is that you are better off with high-quality management whose interests are aligned with the investor’s.
Aurcana, AUN.V - in less than two years will have 3 silver mines running and be producing mid-tier level silver. Has shown itself to be competent by opening one mine. Competence has been vouched for by SLW giving them 25 million cash for a silver stream.
First Majestic Silver, FR.TO - has held up really nicely. This would be my top low-risk rec right now. This thing is really already a mid-tier and expects to more than double production in two years. Has been consistently fulfilling its guidance.
Metanor, MTO.V - producing gold in politically safe Quebec with a mine reopener. Undervalued at the current production level with lots of good news on exploration due. Could grow up to be mid-tier while generating lots of cash flow.
New Guinea Gold, NGG.V - after a long time (ala ROK.V, uh-oh) is now in production at 30K oz/year at one mine while proving up a 2 million oz, very high-grade open pit gold mine nearby. Its this other deposit that makes them a takeover target.
ATW Corportation, ATW.V - reopening two gold mines in Australia. A value play in that the market cap is less than what the two mills are worth. Depends on exploration turning up more oz nearby. Highly respected management.
Minefinders, MFN/MFL.TO - may sell this to make room for other ideas. Not as undervalued as the rest, but big enough project going into production this month (gold and some silver) to be a takeover target.
Golden Star Resources, GSS - ok, at this point I feel like Charlie Brown with Lucy holding the football, but if these guys would just execute, GSS could really be a major winner for me. I’m giving them one more try with the earnings coming out this week.
Silverstone Resources, SST.V - a way undervalued relative to Silver Wheaton silver stream licenser with the same management as the respected copper miner, Capstone (CS.TO). Has not the same growth profile in acquiring silver streams as SLW, but is way under valued on a cash / flow, annual oz and resource oz basis, so they don’t really need any additional silver streams to be a quite nice cash generators.
So in parting, leave me a comment:

1. What do you think best explains the underperformance of Jr precious metal emerging producers?
2. What life lessons have you learned about Jrs from this trying period?
3. Which do you like and why?
4. What do you think will signal a good entry point for Jr precious metal emerging producers?

MontyHigh

“Get Smart”  Probably a good move! 

although I think Kunstler could watch Pollyanna and come away with dark visions of conspiracy and destruction. 

Ment

“these mad men have trillion’s throwing at the stocks to paint a perception ..”

I don’t suppose they just got their coffers replenished with the bailout of Fred & Fan?

I’m going with a 1/4pt. cut —-There is no inflation in the sys.  <g>

any one who can not see that “wag the Dog’ is in full effect.. the charts are painted // the noise is every where ,, needs a new pair of glasses .. and some new chops from the pmfcmiyc,,

these mad men have trillion’s throwing at the stocks to paint a perception ..

the TA followers will be blindsided, the knowers of future movements in gold will be run over by the train of agony.. gold has a boot on the neck,, and will grind many to dust .. as it will be relentless in its climb from 250 on to higher highs .. even 2000 and higher ..

this is not the end .. it is just the end of the beginning .. the beginning of the next move will seem like ages away.. but come it will.. as a thief in the nght … to take its place in the cycle of mans stupidity..

and like a rock .. shine its virtue on those who produce and work.. as a world wide structure built on the fleeting sands of greed and war, and power.

.”Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience he stands waiting, with exactness grinds he all.”

[1870 Longfellow Poems (

It seems you are using technical analysis down yonder.

I am reduced to using only cretan analysis. I use neither a straight edge nor a calculator. Don’t have to read the whole newspaper or listen to the entire radio news hour. It just takes little effort to sense when the perfidious villains who think they are going to cover their butts by saving the financial world for another month of reckless profit are getting crazy desperate. When they get frantic the spin goes into high gear. The market activity leads seasoned analysts to declare the old rules don’t seem to work anymore. Old rules of thumb stop working. News of international cooperation to stem the outgoing tide of economic growth abounds.

I stopped trading the yen because it became clear that fundamentals didn’t matter. Technical analysis as far as I am concerned is useless when it comes to the yen and most other things today. TODAY TA is useless. The beast is in the corner and will eat your every cell if that what it takes for it to survive until it can absorb all wealth in the universe before marshal law and destruction of all that challenges it. “They” must project the image of ultimate power until the endgame.

I think they want 850 gold one more time just to show the world that there is nothing to gain by fleeing the dollar. Like a badger that urinates all over the excess food it cannot eat, they have no problem with destroying life as we know it just to cover up their scam. What happens afterward does not mater just like the invasion of Iraq. Bomb now we’ll worry about the fallout later. Just put in a low-ball quote and we’ll make it up with change orders tomorrow.

My CA tells me to bail out and go to fiz now. The big bad nanny will be watching, ready to slap the hand of those who might try to profit from the downfall of the dollar or the collapse of the banking system. I’m not saying the banking system is going to collapse, I’m just saying that that big ruler will be (and has been for a while now) coming down hard on the back of the hand of those who challenge the financial status quo. Translated- investment in commodities is not allowed. Shorting banks is not allowed. If you do so you will get burned. That is the message, in my opinion, that “they” are trying to convey.

I don’t like to play games where the opposing team can openly cheat and the referee repeatedly allows it. That is what is going on here in my opinion. My principles tell me if I don’t like a crooked game then quit and let it go. Let the vile, inglorious, Judas kissers have all the fun they want at our expense. At some point the cycle will bring them down and society will start the long trek back to prosperity, and I think, the cycle will repeat. It will repeat because information will be twisted and obscured to the benefit of the few over the many, and eventually some future generation will be right back where we are today.

But as far as Cretan Analysis goes I wait until it seems like they are about to lose control or cannot hold “it” down anymore then make a bid. Much different than technical analysis.

If I invest in things at home like photovoltaics, or four season vegetable gardens, I don’ make lots of scratch but do get mental and physical exercise and the investment increases the potential for massive gain from a strong local social network. That seems like win-win. I hate to say it on this forum but investing in things that challenge the loose-fish-riff-raffs in the financial balcony of our once free nation, for now, while the scum-bags are in frantic panic mode, is like trying to make sewage flow uphill. That seems like lose-lose.

To my friends here at the tent– Thanks for hearing my rant. Don’t worry be happy. I’m only about 50% sold out of stocks so far, taking it slow, but still seriously considering selling out 90%. In either case I won’t be able to afford the dumpster next to Ment’s but as far as I can tell anybody that thinks they can predict the future beyond 5 years is delusional in today’s environment.

Food for thought– What would you do if the tax rate is 90% or 60% when you finally “strike it rich” in the stock market? I don’t have an answer ‘cuz I don’t know what will happen between now and whenever the US officially declares bankruptancy.

My C.A. tells me to sell all of my SSRI but I have been wrong in the past.

Opinions expressed herein should not be construed as investment advice. Besides, anybody that followed any of my investment advice in the past couple’a years would be totally broke anyway and could only be reading this post at a library if they would be permitted entrance. If that is you then congratulations — you have successfully broken free of financial oppression.

Are you in the path of this storm

….to cry upon as they get their feelings smoked………Poof!  Puff the magic dragon, lives by the see………….in the land of the blind.

those who throw a towel in the ring .. will be selling on a low give or take..

the next round is ours .. even though the towel is bloody, the eyes gloss over, the feet shake

the nose is busted.. give one more for the gipper..

If 35 doesn’t hold I will hold to 34…..then make another decision…..maybe go gold panning in the Monkey River….pick another guava…but one thing is for sure..The S.O.B’s will not break me…somehow ,someway I will be standing over their graves checking wind velocity and direction for maximum soaking effect.

the hui should hold at the green line

tinyurl.com/6kfwdu

I am ready to throw in the towel.  And if we don’t see Silver run up over 30 over the next 4 to 6 months, I might even sell some PM stocks, too.  What the hey………..if we don’t bottom tomorrow, I will throw in 2 towels and an ear of corn just for Irish.