The Ontario government has recently opened up the doors for discussion (if that's what you want to call it) on amendments to the hundred year old Mining Act. Basically they listened to certain groups, quickly threw together changes and opened them up with discussion across the Province. Stopping in Thunder Bay, Timmins, Sudbury, Peterborough and Toronto for town hall style discussions, the government could not have screwed this up any more than they have and have angered pretty much everyone in the process. The town hall meetings were held on short notice in August which is in the middle of exploration season and many prominent members of the mining community were busy working and couldn't attend. The "discussion" was pretty much a list of changes and how we felt about them. It didn't leave us an opportunity to recommend changes, it didn't give us the chance to debate their ideas, it was pretty much a document saying "This is what we're changing, deal with it, oh and by the way hurry up".
Not only was all this done on short notice but they informed us they wanted it passed in parliament in the October session, this drew some pretty serious outrage, especially in communities such as Thunder Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. It's almost November now and it hasn't gone anywhere, the land owners, natives, prospectors and government officials are still arguing about the piece of paper that legislates this provinces most profitable industry.
The worst part of it all (or best?) is that they opened up the discussion by stating Ontario was a world leader in mining, as a province we're on the top of the list when compared to entire nations. Why are we so eager to change something that isn't broken then? Why can't we continue on the leads of respected mining companies who have struck great deals with native communities and why can't we be proud of an ever expanding environmental safety record? Why can't people from Southern Ontario learn that just because companies are prospecting near their farmland it doesn't mean they will stomp on their crops and build a mine on their house.
Let's stop trying to please every single group by government action and let's stop pretending to all these groups that they are the favourites. For a sustainable and profitable mining industry we need all members involved and the only one who in on this latest round was the Government of Ontario.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Playing favourites isn't good for anyone
A state owned mining firm is in the process of being created in South Africa and the government wants to give it certain exemptions from the mining act, including the application for mining permits and prospecting rights. The reasoning is that mining rights are granted to public companies after a rigorous and often lengthy application process which hampers project development. The state owned firm would simply notify the government of it's intentions instead of applying like everyone else.
I see a lot of things very wrong with this. The Chief Executive of the Chamber of Mines was quoted as saying:
"Our view is that the state should be subject to the same requirements as the private sector in terms of prospecting for or operating a mine. This type of notice seems to negate the principle of equality before the law. It sets an unfortunate precedent with regard to the extensive range of other obligations that mining companies need to comply with."
This speaks of a pretty skewed system which has caused mining and mining exploration to suffer recently in a country where it has dominated the economy. Instead of giving exemptions to their little pet project, how about reforming the application and permitting sections of the mining act? Or simply increasing the amount of staff to review these applications? I know those are dumbed down simplified answers to a complex problem but giving exceptions to a state owned firm won't do anything but create dissent and send a message to the mining industry, and it's investors, that they come second and that the state owned firm is above national law. Although it mentions environmental research, labour regulations and a financial check to verify that the project is profitable would still be done, one can only wonder if those could get overlooked as it is fast tracked.
The government of South Africa decided that change was needed for the industry, this wasn't the right choice.
I see a lot of things very wrong with this. The Chief Executive of the Chamber of Mines was quoted as saying:
"Our view is that the state should be subject to the same requirements as the private sector in terms of prospecting for or operating a mine. This type of notice seems to negate the principle of equality before the law. It sets an unfortunate precedent with regard to the extensive range of other obligations that mining companies need to comply with."
This speaks of a pretty skewed system which has caused mining and mining exploration to suffer recently in a country where it has dominated the economy. Instead of giving exemptions to their little pet project, how about reforming the application and permitting sections of the mining act? Or simply increasing the amount of staff to review these applications? I know those are dumbed down simplified answers to a complex problem but giving exceptions to a state owned firm won't do anything but create dissent and send a message to the mining industry, and it's investors, that they come second and that the state owned firm is above national law. Although it mentions environmental research, labour regulations and a financial check to verify that the project is profitable would still be done, one can only wonder if those could get overlooked as it is fast tracked.
The government of South Africa decided that change was needed for the industry, this wasn't the right choice.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Patrick Anderson is back
Oh boy, Noront Resources (NOT), by force of Rosseau Asset Management have agreed to a new board of directors and new CEO which include the controversial Patrick Anderson, former CEO of Aurelian Resources.
This concession came after Rosseau Management, which is a hedge fund company, became angry at the way Noront directors were running the company, so they recommended a new board of directors in a press release (Noront stock shot up 10% on the news). Noront responded by telling shareholders to reject Rosseau nominees and vote for their guys. Anyways it was getting a little ugly to watch it all so I'm glad they came to an agreement, but Anderson on the board? So for a little background on all of this, Rosseau was mad because Nemis, the CEO, was running joint ventures with everyone and their dogs out in the "Ring of Fire" area which is host to one of the most exciting Ni-PGM discoveries of our time, Noront made rediculous news with releases such as this showing 68.3m of 5.9%Ni, 3.1%Cu, 2.8g/t Pt and 9.8g/t Pd. The stock went from a 10-30 cents to 7 bucks and all of a sudden strong management became a very important issue. This is where Patrick Anderson comes in.
We all know the story of Aurelian, they had one of the biggest known gold deposits not currently being mined in the world. Stock is doing great, people are talking about aquisitions or possibly ARU going at it alone, this stock is a can't-lose bet...until the Ecuadorian mining law uncertainty kicks in and the stock crashes, Patrick Anderson and his board panick and sell a world class asset to Kinross for a few bucks. Canadians and investors around the world were floored, go to Agoracom, got to Inca Kola news, youtube, stockhouse and you'll find someone ranting about how much they hate P. Anderson. The man was so villified and hated for what he did to that company I would of never thought I'd see his face in Canadian mining stocks for a long time, I figured he'd be a good fit in Australia or Asia, but in Northern Ontario? ugh.
Update: The Financial Post picked up the story but they're a day late since they don't mention that a deal was reached for the new board.
This concession came after Rosseau Management, which is a hedge fund company, became angry at the way Noront directors were running the company, so they recommended a new board of directors in a press release (Noront stock shot up 10% on the news). Noront responded by telling shareholders to reject Rosseau nominees and vote for their guys. Anyways it was getting a little ugly to watch it all so I'm glad they came to an agreement, but Anderson on the board? So for a little background on all of this, Rosseau was mad because Nemis, the CEO, was running joint ventures with everyone and their dogs out in the "Ring of Fire" area which is host to one of the most exciting Ni-PGM discoveries of our time, Noront made rediculous news with releases such as this showing 68.3m of 5.9%Ni, 3.1%Cu, 2.8g/t Pt and 9.8g/t Pd. The stock went from a 10-30 cents to 7 bucks and all of a sudden strong management became a very important issue. This is where Patrick Anderson comes in.
We all know the story of Aurelian, they had one of the biggest known gold deposits not currently being mined in the world. Stock is doing great, people are talking about aquisitions or possibly ARU going at it alone, this stock is a can't-lose bet...until the Ecuadorian mining law uncertainty kicks in and the stock crashes, Patrick Anderson and his board panick and sell a world class asset to Kinross for a few bucks. Canadians and investors around the world were floored, go to Agoracom, got to Inca Kola news, youtube, stockhouse and you'll find someone ranting about how much they hate P. Anderson. The man was so villified and hated for what he did to that company I would of never thought I'd see his face in Canadian mining stocks for a long time, I figured he'd be a good fit in Australia or Asia, but in Northern Ontario? ugh.
Update: The Financial Post picked up the story but they're a day late since they don't mention that a deal was reached for the new board.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Premier move
Premier Gold Mines (PG) is a junior gold miner from Northwestern Ontario with assets in Red Lake and Geraldton, they made an interesting move last week by grabbing a slew of properties in the Geraldton area from Lac Properties Inc. (Barrick owned company). They did the deal for about half a million shares and a couple million dollars. Why is this so interesting? Well, besides the fact that it's done right in the middle of a mining crash there are a couple of things to consider.
PG is in a 49-51 joint venture with Goldcorp in Red Lake and are stuck spending million of dollars, whether they like it or not, on the Rahill-Bonanza property. Goldcorp is operator and PG has to pay half the cost of whatever they decide to do, which at this time happens to be quite a bit. That's not necessarily a bad thing, you have a major like Goldcorp doing quality advanced work on your ground, but when financing is tight it can be harder to come up with the capital to fund the work. Now when you forecast financing to be tight in the coming years, the last thing you want to do is throw your money around at new properties, what you're seeing nearly every other junior out there do is hunker down and conserve cash, not spend it by aquiring new stuff. Goldcorp doesn't need to do financing to raise cash, the world's richest gold mine is literally 3 kms from Rahill-Bonanza, it can keep on trucking and charge half the bill to Premier for a long long time if it wants to.
So, what does this all mean? Goldcorp has become very defensive of the Red Lake area, with the recent aquisition of Gold Eagle Mines, Premier is probably looking pretty tasty for them. Goldcorp is probably looking at taking PG's Red Lake assets, this means PG could survive with fresh cash and continue work on it's Geraldton properties, before they only had a bit of land, not enough to prop up a company with, now with the new ones they got last week...they have enough.
Time will tell.
PG is in a 49-51 joint venture with Goldcorp in Red Lake and are stuck spending million of dollars, whether they like it or not, on the Rahill-Bonanza property. Goldcorp is operator and PG has to pay half the cost of whatever they decide to do, which at this time happens to be quite a bit. That's not necessarily a bad thing, you have a major like Goldcorp doing quality advanced work on your ground, but when financing is tight it can be harder to come up with the capital to fund the work. Now when you forecast financing to be tight in the coming years, the last thing you want to do is throw your money around at new properties, what you're seeing nearly every other junior out there do is hunker down and conserve cash, not spend it by aquiring new stuff. Goldcorp doesn't need to do financing to raise cash, the world's richest gold mine is literally 3 kms from Rahill-Bonanza, it can keep on trucking and charge half the bill to Premier for a long long time if it wants to.
So, what does this all mean? Goldcorp has become very defensive of the Red Lake area, with the recent aquisition of Gold Eagle Mines, Premier is probably looking pretty tasty for them. Goldcorp is probably looking at taking PG's Red Lake assets, this means PG could survive with fresh cash and continue work on it's Geraldton properties, before they only had a bit of land, not enough to prop up a company with, now with the new ones they got last week...they have enough.
Time will tell.
Market pessimism
A couple days went by without a mine closing, the "calm" was much needed, although no promises for next week, it could be just as bad. The week of Oct20-26 started as one of the worst in memory for the industry in a long time...Don't get me wrong the month has been terrible but hearing about all these people and friends of mine losing their jobs in such a short amount of time, that has been hard to take in. It was the week where the losses on the commodities market were finally going to start directly reflecting job losses.
Some of my friends have told me that I'm unfairly negative and pessimistic towards the market, we all knew the boom was going to end sometime, and most of us knew it would be sooner rather than later. The first thing to go in a downturn is the commodities and with it all related mining activity, if there's one thing we can be optimistic about it's that mining is also the first thing to return. Besides that, I can't find a good reason to be optimistic about anything money related right now, even my pickup truck is losing value by the day. I was so so wrong about the timing and scale of the crash though, it's hurting everyone. No matter who you are, you are being directly affected or know someone who is. If you're in the mining industry there are good odds you are very scared of your own job security right now, you're rethinking buying that car and passing on flying to Toronto for PDAC next year and other trips. That's going to be one hell of a depressing PDAC anyways...you don't want to go, trust me.
I read an article a week back (can't find it anymore) saying Jim Cramer should be fired for being so pessimistic towards the market, for saying that if you want to spend your cash in the next five years you should take it out of the market NOW. The guy said he should be fired for telling people that they should only invest or keep their money in now if they're willing to stick it for the long run. He said Cramer was causing panic and it was irresponsible for someone in his position to scream this out to the masses, adding that it was only helping the massive selloff. Why the hell should he not be pessimistic and tell people what he thinks? That's what NBC pays him for, he gives advice and opinions to investors who watch his show and in this particular case...he's probably right. The dude asking for him to get fired is one of those guys watching his job and money flushed down the toilet and he's looking for someone to blame. NBC doesn't pay him to be an investment broker who'll tell you the world is wonderful and everything will be alright, he's an entertainer who tells it how it is, take his stock market info with a grain of salt, he's wrong a lot (who isn't?) but you can't deny he's fun to watch.
I also seem to recall the outrage in August about his blowup at the Fed, people said he was overreacting and a drama queen, those people sure are quiet now. Check it out on YouTube, it's a good one.
Completely losing his cool, Cramer screamed that Federal Reserve Chairman "Bernanke needs to open the discount window... Bernanke has no idea how bad it is out there. He has no idea. No idea. I have talked to the heads of every one of these firms in the last 72 hours. My people have been in this game for 25 years and they are going to lose jobs, firms are going to go out of business. This is a different kind of market and the Fed is asleep. They're nuts. They know nothing. They have no idea what it is like out there. 14 million people took mortgages out in the last 3 years. 7 million of those were based on teaser or piggy back rates. They will lose their homes. This is crazy. I worked at fixed income at Goldman Sachs. This is not the time to be complacent. We have Armageddon in the fixed income market."
Some of my friends have told me that I'm unfairly negative and pessimistic towards the market, we all knew the boom was going to end sometime, and most of us knew it would be sooner rather than later. The first thing to go in a downturn is the commodities and with it all related mining activity, if there's one thing we can be optimistic about it's that mining is also the first thing to return. Besides that, I can't find a good reason to be optimistic about anything money related right now, even my pickup truck is losing value by the day. I was so so wrong about the timing and scale of the crash though, it's hurting everyone. No matter who you are, you are being directly affected or know someone who is. If you're in the mining industry there are good odds you are very scared of your own job security right now, you're rethinking buying that car and passing on flying to Toronto for PDAC next year and other trips. That's going to be one hell of a depressing PDAC anyways...you don't want to go, trust me.
I read an article a week back (can't find it anymore) saying Jim Cramer should be fired for being so pessimistic towards the market, for saying that if you want to spend your cash in the next five years you should take it out of the market NOW. The guy said he should be fired for telling people that they should only invest or keep their money in now if they're willing to stick it for the long run. He said Cramer was causing panic and it was irresponsible for someone in his position to scream this out to the masses, adding that it was only helping the massive selloff. Why the hell should he not be pessimistic and tell people what he thinks? That's what NBC pays him for, he gives advice and opinions to investors who watch his show and in this particular case...he's probably right. The dude asking for him to get fired is one of those guys watching his job and money flushed down the toilet and he's looking for someone to blame. NBC doesn't pay him to be an investment broker who'll tell you the world is wonderful and everything will be alright, he's an entertainer who tells it how it is, take his stock market info with a grain of salt, he's wrong a lot (who isn't?) but you can't deny he's fun to watch.
I also seem to recall the outrage in August about his blowup at the Fed, people said he was overreacting and a drama queen, those people sure are quiet now. Check it out on YouTube, it's a good one.
Completely losing his cool, Cramer screamed that Federal Reserve Chairman "Bernanke needs to open the discount window... Bernanke has no idea how bad it is out there. He has no idea. No idea. I have talked to the heads of every one of these firms in the last 72 hours. My people have been in this game for 25 years and they are going to lose jobs, firms are going to go out of business. This is a different kind of market and the Fed is asleep. They're nuts. They know nothing. They have no idea what it is like out there. 14 million people took mortgages out in the last 3 years. 7 million of those were based on teaser or piggy back rates. They will lose their homes. This is crazy. I worked at fixed income at Goldman Sachs. This is not the time to be complacent. We have Armageddon in the fixed income market."
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Lac Des Iles says bye
North American Palladium is putting its Lac Des Iles Mine on care and maintenance, the latest in a series of Canadian mine closures. LDI was nearing a critical point in it's mine life, either it continued to expand or it simply closed down. There was no middle ground that it could achieve. The current pit is nearing the end of phase 4 and phase 5, which would of extended the mine life another 2 years would of greatly increased production cost. The pit has a very low head grade and unless they are producing a enormous amount of tonnes, they simply cannot produce a profit. It would come as no surprise then that phase 5 was canceled and the pit would stop production after phase 4 was completed and all the high grade was taken.
The underground is a different story though, much higher grade and much higher cash cost. The current Roby zone had at best one year of life left to it, after that it would be off to the Offset zone where mining could continue for another decade. Although the offset zone grades were better, it was deeper and a conveyor system, shaft or more trucks were needed to extract the ore. The preliminary economic assessment done by consultants established that at 2 year average Pd prices the offset zone would return 29% profits....(2 year average prices is $325, a far cry from the $180 we're looking at now) Unfortunately, it then comes as no surprise that the offset zone and phase 5 of the pit were canceled. But I must say I am surprised that they will hold off on extracting the ore from the Roby zone underground, the development has been established all that remains is the blasting of the stopes and extraction of the ore.
Oh well, I wish all workers from Blue Notes to Lockerby and LDI, the best of luck job huntin'.
Edit: I take my last word on LDI's planning back, they made the right choice and it makes sense to leave the ore in place, might as well go after it when you can make money instead of spending all your money moving it and not getting a return. I was a little shaken up on the day I wrote this, some good friends of mine lost their jobs.
The underground is a different story though, much higher grade and much higher cash cost. The current Roby zone had at best one year of life left to it, after that it would be off to the Offset zone where mining could continue for another decade. Although the offset zone grades were better, it was deeper and a conveyor system, shaft or more trucks were needed to extract the ore. The preliminary economic assessment done by consultants established that at 2 year average Pd prices the offset zone would return 29% profits....(2 year average prices is $325, a far cry from the $180 we're looking at now) Unfortunately, it then comes as no surprise that the offset zone and phase 5 of the pit were canceled. But I must say I am surprised that they will hold off on extracting the ore from the Roby zone underground, the development has been established all that remains is the blasting of the stopes and extraction of the ore.
Oh well, I wish all workers from Blue Notes to Lockerby and LDI, the best of luck job huntin'.
Edit: I take my last word on LDI's planning back, they made the right choice and it makes sense to leave the ore in place, might as well go after it when you can make money instead of spending all your money moving it and not getting a return. I was a little shaken up on the day I wrote this, some good friends of mine lost their jobs.
FNX is the latest victim
Another one bites the dust, FNX stops "commercial" production at Levack but will continue work there through the year. Unless nickel recovers it'll go on care and maintenance pretty quick.
FNX was always very vulnerable to volatile commodity prices, they made their name by acquiring known deposits from INCO, these deposits were too small or not profitable enough for the big miner. FNX, who's upper management is all old INCO dudes grabbed these marginal deposits and with the help of record nickel prices produced another major company in the Sudbury district. This is why FNX is really going to have to start squeezing pennies, with nickel under 5$ we know Xstrata and ValeINCO can survive, they've been there before. FNI, who shut down their mine yesterday and FNX...they haven't proved they can do it yet.
One other interesting thing about the Levack mine is that the Levack Footwall deposit was discovered right underneath it, this is a high grade deposit that will be mined. FNX has a lot of properties as well, they'll be alright.
They have some good properties and they are in the holy grail of mining, but it'll be a rough ride for them until metal prices come back up.
LDI Mines also was to be put on care and maintencance starting Oct. 29th.
FNX was always very vulnerable to volatile commodity prices, they made their name by acquiring known deposits from INCO, these deposits were too small or not profitable enough for the big miner. FNX, who's upper management is all old INCO dudes grabbed these marginal deposits and with the help of record nickel prices produced another major company in the Sudbury district. This is why FNX is really going to have to start squeezing pennies, with nickel under 5$ we know Xstrata and ValeINCO can survive, they've been there before. FNI, who shut down their mine yesterday and FNX...they haven't proved they can do it yet.
One other interesting thing about the Levack mine is that the Levack Footwall deposit was discovered right underneath it, this is a high grade deposit that will be mined. FNX has a lot of properties as well, they'll be alright.
They have some good properties and they are in the holy grail of mining, but it'll be a rough ride for them until metal prices come back up.
LDI Mines also was to be put on care and maintencance starting Oct. 29th.
Monday, October 20, 2008
First Nickel shuts down Lockerby
FNI puts Lockerby on care and maintenance. Well, this is now the second (Blue Notes Caribou mine in NB getting the first spot) mine to be closed in Canada in recent weeks. The market conditions are wreaking havoc on the mining industry in Canada and around the world.
If the commodity prices keep declining or even stay at the current levels, we will continue to see mines closing across the country tossing hundreds of skilled workers into the workforce and into the operational mines. These people will be able to find jobs, the Canadian mining sector has been brutally under-staffed for a long time with several mines operating at 60-70% productivity. We're not just experiencing a market correction, we're experiencing an industry correction. One where bloated salaries, extremely optimistic speculative juniors, high services cost and mines operating on wishful commodity outlooks are all going to have to take a serious step back...
it sucks, but it was needed.
This is hitting me particularly close to home, I was "laid off" (told work wasn't guaranteed in the future) from a junior mining company only a few months ago and now the mid-tier miner I'm working for is on the verge of going on care and maintenance.
We'll see what the future brings, one thing is for sure, it'll be interesting as hell.
If the commodity prices keep declining or even stay at the current levels, we will continue to see mines closing across the country tossing hundreds of skilled workers into the workforce and into the operational mines. These people will be able to find jobs, the Canadian mining sector has been brutally under-staffed for a long time with several mines operating at 60-70% productivity. We're not just experiencing a market correction, we're experiencing an industry correction. One where bloated salaries, extremely optimistic speculative juniors, high services cost and mines operating on wishful commodity outlooks are all going to have to take a serious step back...
it sucks, but it was needed.
This is hitting me particularly close to home, I was "laid off" (told work wasn't guaranteed in the future) from a junior mining company only a few months ago and now the mid-tier miner I'm working for is on the verge of going on care and maintenance.
We'll see what the future brings, one thing is for sure, it'll be interesting as hell.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
futurama and margins
As I said earlier, the CEO of Connacher was caught with his pants down and forced into a margin call. Here's his comments to the affair as reported by the Globe and Mail.
I don't get what accomodations he expected, another loan? more time to cover his margin? sell off other stocks and assets so he can stick it through with this one? This market crash sucks, but it's teaching everyone a very good lesson that needed to be clearly taught. Just because times are good now doesn't mean it'll last forever. Greed, over-confidence and the casualness of taking in debt is what started this whole mess in the first place and the cautious investor is getting screwed because of it. If I was an investor of CLL and just watched the guy who's suppose to steer my company through tough times dump 615,000 shares into the bid and look like a deer in headlights after it happened...I'd be scared and pissed off.
In an episode of Futurama, brain leeches attach themselves to everyone and turns them all dumb, except for Fry.
Fry: What are we going to do?
Professor: Duh, I know, let’s play the lottery.
Amy: No, let’s buy stock!
Zoidberg: On margin! Zoidbee wants to buy on margin.
Fry: Wait a minute, I know what’s going on here. You’ve all become idiots!
Well put dude.
"Would accommodation have been preferred? Yes," he said. "Was I able to secure that? No. But I'm not crying over spilt milk."
Mr. Gusella said that he had taken on additional debt to increase his asset positions, and "unfortunately the events of the day overtook me at a time when you can't find liquidity overnight… Never in my wildest dreams did I expect, with the progress we've made as a company, that we'd have a market meltdown as we've seen. Nobody did."
I don't get what accomodations he expected, another loan? more time to cover his margin? sell off other stocks and assets so he can stick it through with this one? This market crash sucks, but it's teaching everyone a very good lesson that needed to be clearly taught. Just because times are good now doesn't mean it'll last forever. Greed, over-confidence and the casualness of taking in debt is what started this whole mess in the first place and the cautious investor is getting screwed because of it. If I was an investor of CLL and just watched the guy who's suppose to steer my company through tough times dump 615,000 shares into the bid and look like a deer in headlights after it happened...I'd be scared and pissed off.
In an episode of Futurama, brain leeches attach themselves to everyone and turns them all dumb, except for Fry.
Fry: What are we going to do?
Professor: Duh, I know, let’s play the lottery.
Amy: No, let’s buy stock!
Zoidberg: On margin! Zoidbee wants to buy on margin.
Fry: Wait a minute, I know what’s going on here. You’ve all become idiots!
Well put dude.
margin call and gold trading
CEO forced to sell stock because of margin call
I can't help but laugh a little at this, as someone who has been there before (don't be lazy and always fund your trading accounts!) I feel his pain. This is even worse because it makes national news, how embarrassing.
I picked up some Yamana this morning, there's a very good chance that it'll go in my "long" portfolio along with Kinross.
I can't help but laugh a little at this, as someone who has been there before (don't be lazy and always fund your trading accounts!) I feel his pain. This is even worse because it makes national news, how embarrassing.
I picked up some Yamana this morning, there's a very good chance that it'll go in my "long" portfolio along with Kinross.
Monday, October 13, 2008
major volatility
Well after seeing the American markets rally yesterday the Canadian investors who had a break due to Thanksgiving should do their best to push the TSX up. It'll be an interresting morning for day traders, I'm looking forward to it.
Metal prices have also gone way up, copper alone is up almost 12%, not too many times you'll see that in a day, nickel is up 7.5% while lead is up 6%. Good ol' fashioned "dead cat bounce". Watch for some majors to follow the extreme volatility of their respective commodities.
Metal prices have also gone way up, copper alone is up almost 12%, not too many times you'll see that in a day, nickel is up 7.5% while lead is up 6%. Good ol' fashioned "dead cat bounce". Watch for some majors to follow the extreme volatility of their respective commodities.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
cheap tricks
I'm considering looking to buy some majors during the next week, depending on what the markets start to look like on Monday. Common sense is telling me "Don't do it, stupid!" but it's getting hard to ignore some of them. Who would of thought Yamana and FNX would be around 5 bucks ever again? Nickel is in for a rough ride so I won't touch FNX but Yamana and other gold producers are starting to look pretty sexy. The biggest thing to remember (and that I have to remind myself of) is that bottom might still be far away and getting caught in a stock that goes sideways for months is an easy possibility. Do your own dilligence and don't rush into anything.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
ouch
Well, I was going to make a post earlier. I had a couple ideas for things to write about. Then the slaughter started to happen....and well. What can I say.
Carnage, pure bloody carnage. I don't know what "bottom" is or how bad it's going to be, I just hope we get there soon and get this over with. Sadly I don't think that's going to happen though, once we hit bottom we'll go sideways for a long time before mining stocks (forget about juniors) go up again.
Carnage, pure bloody carnage. I don't know what "bottom" is or how bad it's going to be, I just hope we get there soon and get this over with. Sadly I don't think that's going to happen though, once we hit bottom we'll go sideways for a long time before mining stocks (forget about juniors) go up again.
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