Archive for November, 2007
by Andrew Stratton
Lately, there has been an increase in the number of people acquiring residential investment properties. If managed properly, they can provide you with a steady source of income for a number of years, or until you decide to sell.
Residential properties are different from commercials ones in that someone is making a home there. You become the legal landlord, and, therefore, responsible for the upkeep of the property. In addition to keeping the location livable, you must be ready to take care of problems as they arrive.
This may seem daunting for some, but there are reasonable solutions to such common problems.
Unless you are a professional do-it-yourself wiz, your best bet is to hire a management company to maintain and repair the property when problems arise.
This may seem like a hassle at first, but you have to consider the results of keeping a rental home in good repair. No one wants to live in a run down dump. If you don’t maintain the building, then no one will want to rent. For you, that means no revenues from your investment to pay for the mortgage due every month no matter what. Additionally, you want to
keep the property in good repair because when you decide to sell it, you want it to have appreciated.
When you decide that you are going to assume ownership and care of a residential investment property, be prepared to commit yourself 100%. It takes time and sometimes your personal money to keep the property generating revenue. The money that the rental makes should pay for its maintenance at the very least. Ideally, it will also return a profit.
You can expect two types of revenue from your investment: yield and capital gain. The yield is what you can expect from rent annually. The capital gain is the appreciation value once you’ve resold the property. Keep in mind that high yields usually generate low capital gain
and high capital gain generates a low yield. For your investment to be the most profitable, you should try to balance these two revenues.
Committing to the responsibilities of a rental is the first step towards getting that
lucrative real estate site. The next major step is getting financed. Most people looking to invest
Residential financing is different from commercial financing because of the nature of the business. The profit is not expected to be in the hundred thousands or millions and the mortgage terms are usually long term. This creates diversity in the market, allowing you to have greater control over payment options, interest options and term length options.
Additionally, if you own a home, you can secure a home equity loan to cover your down payment.
As a residential investor, you have the potential to turn a nice profit. Your success depends on how much time and effort you are willing to commit to the project as well as how you secure your finances. If you manage these things correctly, the likelihood of your success improves.
Many people search for a source of income that is steady as well as lucrative. In some cases, residential investment properties are the solution for alternative revenues. At KISCL, you can find tips for getting your investment working for you. http://www.kiscl.com
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by Andrew Stratton
Residential investment property is how an overwhelming majority of the world’s millionaires made their millions. Think about it - it’s a demand that’s always going to be there, no matter how the market changes. There’s only so much land in the world, and everybody needs somewhere to live!
This is an investment that carries a low risk, not like investing
Before dropping a single penny, or even shopping around, you should talk to others who have invested in residential real estate. Find someone who has done it before, and use them as your source of information. You can also check out real estate investing forums to get advice.
Don’t go to a bank for advice. This is a mistake lots of first-time investors make. The bank has a vested interest, and they won’t give you impartial advice that is beneficial to you, the investor.
With residential real estate investing, it is all about protecting your venture. You want to buy properties at a low price that you can eventually sell high. Look for properties to buy that are undervalued within their market.
How do you know if a property is undervalued? The best way is by looking around the neighborhood and comparing prices. A little bit of research on the specific area will go a long way toward getting you a good deal on an undervalued site.
Look for houses that have been on the market for a while. This is another great way to find something at a lower price than it is worth. Also, look for sellers that are looking to sell quickly. This will give you some leverage when negotiating.
When getting investment property loans, look for low interest loans. This way, you will be making smaller payments and keeping much more of the cash flow that comes in from your rental properties.
No matter how low the price, always negotiate. You may be able to save a little bit initially, and that can make your investment more valuable. Remember, it is all about the money!
If you are renting out your residential investment property, get familiar with landlords’ and tenants’ rights in your state and city. Also, make sure that the lease is as specific as possible, and clearly states rent charges, late fees, deposits, and everything else regarding money from your tenants. If there should be a conflict that goes to court, this will save your neck.
If you decide to renovate your property, do it according to current trends and not your specific tastes. Remember that this is an investment. You don’t want your quirky decorating ideas to potentially lower the value.
Always keep an eye on your budget. If you go overboard and can’t hang on to your residential property, it’s all for nothing!
The best thing is to do your homework. The more you know about the market, the better able you will be to find a good investment. Real estate investing is an area where knowledge really is power. Give yourself a college education in residential real estate investing!
Gaining financial stability is something all of us desire and work for. Many people have taken advantage of residential investment property deals to increase their incomes. Making this sort of investment takes planning. A visit to KISCL can arm you with tools for success. http://www.kiscl.com
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by Christina de Wit
John Whittier Greenleaf, the American Quaker poet and abolitionist, was noted for saying, “I’ll lift you and you lift me, and we’ll both ascend together.” It looks as if Ascendant Copper (TSX:ACX) has taken some of his sage relationship advice as it ushers in a new phase of its ascendancy with its friendly takeover of St. Geneviève Resources (CNQ:SGVL) of Montréal. The Boards of Directors of both ACX and SGVL have unanimously approved a letter of intent in which ACX acquires all of the outstanding shares of SGVL in exchange for up to 30,000,000 ACX common shares, as per its October 31st press release. Completion of the transaction is subject to final due diligence by ACX and SGVL.
This latest news represents a new chapter for Ascendant as it diversifies its asset base and gathers momentum in its push to achieve mid-tier production status. Of particular interest are SGVL’s two past-producing copper properties in Arizona.
Emerald Isle is a formerly producing open-pit copper mine located 24 km northwest of Kingman. Infrastructure in the area is excellent on all counts, with water coming from nearby wells. Mine infrastructure also includes a SX/EW (solvent-leach/electrowinning*) plant, some buildings and equipment.
Emerald Isle contains a 43-101-compliant** recoverable mineral resource of 27.5 million lbs Cu. The property has a history of work dating back to 1917, with open-pit production starting in 1943. A final pre-feasibility study conducted by Behre Dolbear reports an expected mine life of 4 years, which is a conservative estimate. The company plans to put the property into production within 12 months in order to produce about 5 million lbs of copper annually. The company estimates costs of around $4 to 5 million in order to put the property back into production.
It is particularly important to note the economic advantage that a SX/EW processing scenario lends to this project. It requires a low capital investment requirement relative to the smelting process, and can be viable even on a small scale. The process has very little environmental impact, as its liquid streams are easily contained, and acids used in the process are eventually neutralized by the host rock itself. Most importantly, SX/EW also allows for the processing of copper oxides, which are very difficult and expensive to smelt. These include mined copper minerals that are in oxidized form, such as azurite, brochantite, chrysocolla and cuprite, as well as residual copper in old mine waste dumps that has been oxidized through exposure to air.
The Zonia property, located south of Prescott, consists of 3,300 acres that produced 33 million lbs Cu from 1966 to 1975 by heap leaching. In 2006, Scott Wilson Roscoe Postle Associates (RPA) prepared a NI 43-101 technical report on the property. It outlined an inferred resource of 63 million tons copper averaging 0.37% Cu at a cutoff grade of 0.25% containing an estimated 460 million lbs Cu.
Zonia is also considered a near-term producer. Ascendant plans to update the feasibility study and expand resources through additional drilling while preparing the site for production over the next 24 to 30 months.
The acquisition of SGVL enables Ascendant to build upon its comprehensive copper-moly portfolio. The company is also able to build on a great deal of copper exploration experience, gleaned while working in Ecuador, where it owns two properties: the Chaucha copper-molybdenum in the southwest, and the Junin copper-molybdenum porphyry project in the northwest.
Chaucha has an historic geological resource estimate of 216 million tons, with 2.2 billion lbs Cu and 122 million lbs Mo. Phase III of the drilling program — which involved testing for higher grade, +1% Cu — has recently been completed. Assay results are expected shortly. At the same time, according to the company’s website, Junin has a 43-101 compliant inferred resource estimate of 982 million tonnes, with 19.2 billion lbs copper and 864 lbs molybdenum.
This latest move serves as a bridge to create increased value and cash flow for Ascendant’s shareholders in the near and mid-term future. It also serves to support the advancement of Chaucha and Junin. Recently, Ecuador’s President has come out in support of responsible mining, and the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum is laboring to determine how to best advance mineral projects within Ecuador. These new political developments should bode well for the people of Ecuador, for the mining community in general, and for Ascendant in particular.
In the meanwhile, the company will continue to build on its ongoing strategic exploration alliance in Ecuador with Rio Tinto, which gives it access to Rio Tinto’s US$14 million database.
In terms of investor awareness, the agreement with SGVL signals a key entry point for Ascendant’s potential investors in the sense that all the building blocks are now in place to ensure a balanced approach in terms of growth — and profit — at all stages of its development.
*Solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) is a two-stage process that first extracts and upgrades copper ions from low-grade leach solutions into a concentrated electrolyte, and then deposits pure copper onto cathodes using an electrolytic procedure.
**National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101) is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and administered by the provincial securities commissions that govern how issuers disclose scientific and technical information about their mineral projects to the public. It covers oral statements as well as written documents and websites. It requires that all disclosure be based on advice by a “qualified person” and in some circumstances that the person be independent of the issuer and the property.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Resourcex Investor is an internationally distributed newsletter about emerging junior resource companies. Sign up for a free 1-month trial to our newsletter and get instant access to news and investing
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by Andrew Stratton
When looking at an investment, it is important that you consider its commercial property market value. Market value is a very slippery term, and can differ widely depending on how you compute it. Opinions of marketable value can vary greatly. The realtor may think a location has a certain value, but the appraisal might be completely different.
If nobody is willing to pay the amount you have placed on a property, then that is obviously not its true business worth. Additionally complicating things, you can expect the projected business worth to change almost constantly.
Generally, the market value can be defined as the maximum amount that a property will sell for in a “regular” transaction - with both parties fully informed and knowledgeable, and no outside issues affecting the transaction.
Frequently, though, if someone is buying real estate, they have a variety of factors affecting their decision, and a lot of different mental processes that lead them to the final decision. The best real estate agents are able to fully understand these mental processes to facilitate smooth transactions between the buyer and the seller.
But if you are not dealing directly with a buyer, you will have to do your best to estimate the commercial property market value. You can use a number of tools to do this for you. In fact, many companies offer property analysis services that will tell you how likely an investment is to make profitable returns. They will require some basic information about the property, and you may have to find out some information about the local real estate market, but once you have that information, the process will be very easy. You can quickly determine if a commercial property market value will lead to returns on your investment, or if the demand is too poor to merit investing
While it is impossible to get an exact amount that will guarantee a lucrative sale, it is definitely worth it to attempt to estimate a figure. Once you have a basic figure that you expect to earn from a commercial property, you will be able to plan the future of your investments more accurately. Whether you earn more or less than you expected, you are still likely to make a profit near your estimate. This is very helpful, particularly if you want to decide what you will be doing with the returns on an investment — i.e. if you decide to re-invest
If you want to get into the real estate business, you should carefully plan how you are going to figure out the commercial property market value of your prospective investments. You can estimate it on your own, or you can pay for expensive appraisals on properties that you haven not even decided you want yet. Or, you can use a property analysis service, and make it easy to estimate the commercial property market value. You can use formulas, software, guides, and any other tools that are offered. It makes the process easier, and it definitely pays for itself.
Selling or managing commercial property can be a tricky business. Calculating your commercial property market values can be a difficult task. Consult KISCL for software that makes the process easier. http://www.kiscl.com
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by Claude Faucher
This is a review of Darren winters win investing
My first thoughts would be that this would be a general introduction to share dealing and a light glossing over of his tactics. So I sit down with my girlfriend expecting to see Darren Winters himself. No such luck was a different speaker, that’s fine I think.
We get handed over this piece of paper detailing the price of this 2 days course, very brave I think showing the price before the speaker actually talked, as I thought some people already left the hall (Darren Winters your losing them I think).
The speaker then starts spending about 10 minutes on what shares are and then literally goes on a 2 and a half hour sales pitch. The core of his sales pitch was how many millions you could potentially make, with the win investing 2 day course.
In addition, at the end he offered a free a free disk containing some share dealing secrets, but suspicious this was offered to a person who signed up for the deal in the lunch time break. I for one was not impressed at all with the proposed win investing course.
I have dabbled in shares and currency trading myself, and believe that Darren winters is not a world renowned trader, I would hazard a guess that he makes most of his money through training and not share dealing.
Also, dealing in shares is not a get rich quick activity and I certainly believe that nobody has made millions using Darren winters course. It takes years to master the technical and fundamental elements of a trade.
Not forgetting the most important part of being a trader, which is psychology, these aspects where not touched upon in the sales pitch which was more focused into tapping into people’s greed and desperate desire to have a better life.
In my opinion, if you have a spare couple of grand I would much prefer it if you gave it away to a charity as you would properly get a better return and feel good about yourself. If you want to know more about share dealing the right way stay clear Darren Winters win investing and invest
Claude Faucher is a top internet marketer and business coach. He specialises in helping others create significant incomes working from the comfort of home.Check out his wealthy marketer website at http://www.wealthymarketeralliance.com/
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by Sylvia Young
No, we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto, but we are at the scene of a whirlwind of activity along the southern margin of the Athabasca Basin, where Tribune Uranium Corp (TSX.V:TCB) has just begun drilling for uranium at its Botham Lake property. The company is working right next door to Cameco’s recent Centennial Zone discovery, which reports 18.3% U3O8 over 5.3 meters. The property is just south of Tommy Davis Bay (Cree Lake), approximately 254 km north-northwest of La Ronge and 53 km west of the Key Lake Uranium Mine.
The company has five projects altogether– three of which are strategically located within the Athabasca Basin: Botham Lake (19,099 ha), Dufferin Lake East (18,790 ha), and North Shore (117,853 ha). Rounding out a well-diversified portfolio are its recently-acquired Quartz and Green claims, in the Reed Lake Mining District of Manitoba, and its Potonico gold/silver project in El Salvador.
So far, nine anomalies at Botham Lake have been identified from the results of an 826 line-km MEGATEM airborne survey conducted in 2006. The work program for the summer and fall of this year involved additional ground prospecting and analysis to identify potential drill targets. So far, 20 high-priority drill targets have been identified on the anomalies. Plans are for a total of 4000m of drilling over four of the nine anomalies (B1, B2, B4, and B9). The company is following the recommendations laid out in its 43-101 report, which states that “additional work is recommended for the Properties, but the work should be focused on drill testing the areas containing the four strongest conductor anomalies, B1, B2, B4, and B9, detected during the airborne GEOTEM survey and the anomalies detected during the ground magnetics and HLEM surveys on the Botham Lake claim block. Secondary (and tertiary, on B1) conductive trends were identified using ground magnetics and HLEM surveys along grids B1, B45, and B79, which were not apparent from the airborne geophysics surveys. Eight to nine diamond drill holes to depths of 600 meters would be recommended to drill test the identified conductor anomalies.”
Saskatchewan is the world leader in uranium production– home to the biggest uranium mines in the world, with resources sufficient for over 40 years at current rates of production. There are three uranium mines currently in production in the Athabasca– Eagle Point, McArthur River and McClean Lake. In 2005, these mines produced 28% of the world’s uranium. As of December 31st 2006, the province’s uranium reserves stood at 673.6 million lbs. of U3O8, with new deposits being continually discovered– with an energy potential estimated at 5.7 billion tonnes of coal or 20 billion barrels of oil.
According to the most recent Uranium in Saskatchewan, a fact sheet produced annually by Saskatchewan’s uranium mining industry, “uranium production from the high grade deposits of the Athabasca Basin began in 1975 at Rabbit Lake. The richest uranium deposits in the world occur at or near the base of the Athabasca Basin sandstone sequence, near the erosional unconformity with the underlying crystalline rocks”. Today, all of Canada’s uranium production is from basement- and unconformity-related deposits such as Key Lake, Cluff Lake, Rabbit Lake (all now depleted), and the McClean Lake and McArthur River deposits. Other large, exceptionally high-grade, unconformity-related deposits currently being developed include Cameco’s Cigar Lake (averaging almost 20% U3O8 with some zones running over 50% U3O8). Interestingly enough, due to flooding, production has been delayed at Cigar Lake until 2010– with some analysts suggesting that this setback is an important factor in keeping uranium prices high.
This decade has seen the price of uranium skyrocket from around $15/lb. at the beginning of 2001 to a high of $135/lb. in July of this year before settling back to its current plateau of around $90/lb. This phenomenal rise is a reflection of mounting concerns about pending supply shortages. Already, eighteen nuclear power plants provide about 15% of Canada’s electricity. By 2030, world electricity demand is expected to double– making nuclear an increasingly attractive option to help meet the growing demand for clean, affordable power.
Tribune stands a particularly good chance of achieving success in the Athabasca for several reasons. Management has built a solid property portfolio in the area– with key claims right next door or close to Cameco’s proven deposits. It has successfully negotiated agreements with joint venture partners who are experienced in the Athabasca; namely, Fission Energy on its North Shore property. Mining-friendly governments, a much wider public acceptance of nuclear power than in previous years, and voracious global uranium demand do much to pave the company’s way to production.
The next few weeks will be exciting ones for the company’s investors, and some positive assay results should have them saying– in a twist on the old classic– lions and tigers and bulls– oh my!
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Resourcex Investor is an internationally distributed newsletter about emerging junior resource companies. Sign up for a free 1-month trial to our newsletter and get instant access to news and investing
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by Andrew Daigle
Online trading has caused a major paradigm shift in investing
On-line trading will revolutionize the currency markets by making it accessible to the small and medium sized investor. For the first time, these investors have the ability to execute transactions of between $100,000 and $10,000,000 at the same prices the Interbank market offers for deals well over $10,000,000. This benefits both those who wish to speculate on the direction of the currency markets for profit, as well as the money manager or corporate treasurer looking to hedge against unwanted exposure to future price fluctuations in the currency markets. I am going to discuss the Benefits of Trading Forex.
Very few on-line brokers are able to offer their clients real-time bid/ask quotes, which facilitates instantaneous deal execution - no missed market opportunities. Real-time prices also allow investors to compare an on-line broker’s dealing spread with that of other pricing services, to ensure they are receiving the best possible price on all their Forex transactions.
Many on-line Forex brokers require their clients to request a price before dealing. This is disadvantageous for a number of reasons, primarily because it significantly lengthens the execution process from just a few seconds to possibly as long as a minute. In a fast paced market, this could make a significant difference in an investor’s profit potential. Also, some of the more unscrupulous brokers may use the opportunity to look at an investor’s current position. Once they have determined whether the investor is a buyer or a seller, they ’shade’ the price to increase their own profit on the transaction.
Timing is everything in the fast-paced Forex market. On-line trades are executed and confirmed within seconds, which ensures that traders do not miss market opportunities. Even the incremental extra time it takes to complete a transaction over the phone can mean a big difference in profit potential. Introduction simply, executing trades electronically reduces manual effort, thereby lowering the costs of doing business. On-line brokers are then able to pass along the savings to their client base. The fast-paced nature of the Forex market compels traders to execute multiple trades each day. It is vital for each client to have real-time information about their current position in order to make well-informed trading decisions.
Access to timely and relevant information is critical. Professional traders pay thousands of dollars each month for access to major information providers. However, the very nature of the Internet affords users free access to reliable market information from a variety of sources, including real-time price quotes, international news, government-issued economic indicators and reports, as well as subjective information such as expert commentary and analysis, trader chat forums etc.
The main advantage of the Forex market over any exchange-traded instruments is that the Forex market is a true 24-hour market. Whether it’s 6pm or 6am, somewhere in the world there are always buyers and sellers actively trading Forex so that investors can respond to breaking news immediately. In the currency markets, your portfolio won’t be affected by after hours earning reports or analyst conference calls. The ECNs (Electronic Communication Networks) exist to bring together buyers and sellers when possible.
Andrew Daigle is the owner, creator and author of many successful websites including ForexBoost, a free Forex educational site to learn Forex trading strategies and a ForexBoost blog for additional forex trading info and forex trading systems.
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by Marco A. Murillo
Instead of running with risk in view of huge oil findings, the company maintains a conservative approach based on guaranteed opportunities and diversification on drill-ready or existing wells within Canada.
An August article in Canadian Business magazine titled “What’s Next for the Oil Patch?” included a brief discussion that portrayed a not-so-bright future of junior energy companies in Alberta. Intrigued by the news, ResourcexInvestor talked with Thomas Yingling, president of Pennant Energy Inc. [TSXV: PEN] a junior company successfully venturing into oil and gas. Yingling’s opinion is clear: Alberta has an excellent, unmatched environment for oil and gas exploration and production (E&P).
Contrary to the fragile environment the article presents, E&P opportunities in Alberta are better than ever before, he says. Rigs are available at realistic prices, the price of the oil mix is up, the legislation works, and the number of experienced workers, technicians and managers outnumbers most of the other producing locations in the world. Moreover, Yingling said that the current Canadian taxation scheme for income trusts benefits the junior companies because it freed up lots of Crown Land allowing juniors to access more projects. Under the new taxation law, many income trusts are pulling back from the arena.
At the time trusts restructured their assets bringing down the oil rig count, they released lots of the pressure on production costs too, due to availability of resources, both human and machinery. It is said that a steep decline in oil rig count has helped push the costs of drilling down 10% since last year. Venture capital may be the main vehicle junior resource companies use to finance their operations, but good financial and operations management are key in keeping a junior resource company afloat. These savings in production costs can translate into increased shareholder value.
For Yingling, profit strategies involve low cost growth but also industrious growth — “growth through drilling” as Yingling says, and it is paying off. As a venture capitalist and former president of an investment-consulting firm, Yingling decided to steer Pennant Energy towards strong financials rather than risk. He has taken this Canadian junior with a background in mining exploration for zinc in BC and turned it into a modest Canadian oil producer. His successes almost immediately brought revenues into the financial statements. By June 2007, Pennant reported a yearly production of approximately 3,019 bbl of oil.
Pennant earned 15-45% interest in nine wells from the Willinston Basin in southwestern Manitoba from Rideau Petroleum Ltd., which operates over 90 wells within the Daly field. In 2002, Rideau ranked sixth out of the top 25 operators in the province and reported a cumulative oil production from the operated wells of 1.88 million barrels by the end of 2003.
The Willinston Basin holds most of the oil produced in Manitoba. Discovered in the 50s, commercial light oil production commenced in 1985 with the discovery of the Bakken A Pool in the Daly Field. Exploration since then has extended the productive area to the north and south. Over 6,000 wells have been drilled at the basin by operators including Tundra Oil and Gas, Rideau Petroleum, Grand Banks Energy Corp. and Kiwi Resources.
Pennant’s light sweet oil pours from the Lodgepole and Bakken formations at an API gravity of 39° - 40° warranting a net back price that averaged $60.07 bopd for most of 2007. Initial production from the first well was recorded at 42.8 bopd while production from the second well drilled averaged 35.5 bopd. Production from the Bakken makes up 4% of the provincial total, which is estimated to be close to 18,000 bbl/d. The light sweet crude oil is easy to process and once refined is sold to local buyers or exported into the USA. Wells in this oil field are expected to produce for another 20 years paralleling the producing life of older neighbor wells.
Pennant’s investment in Manitoba proved to be low-risk and, more importantly, had a payback period of only six months, giving the company producer status, something rarely found after one deal. Pennant has no debt. Current cash-flow from its Manitoba operations allows the team to work with its own resources preventing share dilution and giving investors stronger potential for capital gains from future ventures. Although the company believes that Manitoba is a province with excellent conditions to find untapped oil and gas resources, it is also considering low-risk, quick-return opportunities in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
On March 1, 2005 Pennant announced test results of the Meekwap Well in Northern Alberta. During the first days of production, the oil free flowed on its own at rates of 400 to 1,100 barrels of oil per day and solution gas flowed at up to 350 mcf per day. By September 2005, the production rate stabilized at 100 bopd. The company earned the 8% to 4% (after payout) of the working interest to participate in this and another three additional wells on the Meekwap prospect by contributing with 8% of the costs to drill and test the field.
The E&P team at Pennant Energy integrates the joint efforts of leading exploration geologist James Britton, P. Geol. P. Eng., Alan Carswell, David Finn and Rod Morris. Britton’s experience spans over forty-five years and four hundred and thirty oil and gas wells, some of which are still abundant producers. He engineered Dynamic Oil & Gas Inc’s growth from 25 boepd to over 5,000 boepd. David Finn has been active in the oil & gas business for over 30 years. His experience in western Canadian sedimentary basins comes from working at the geological and engineering departments of Amoco Canada. From Amoco he moved to the British Columbia Petroleum Corporation where he was responsible for monitoring the development of northeastern British Columbia gas fields. Allan Carswell is an accomplished and well-renowned geophysicist with a multi-disciplinary geological background in the oil & gas business. He has also been involved in a number of important oil pool discoveries across North America and has earned various academic awards including being the beneficiary of a three-time Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists Scholarship and two-time holder of a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) graduate scholarship.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Resourcex Investor is an internationally distributed newsletter about emerging junior resource companies. Sign up for a free 1-month trial to our newsletter and get instant access to news and investing
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by Christopher Smith, BBA, JD
If you are a stock options trader, you are aware that trade advisory services are common place. It is understandable, because these services are tempting for time pressed retail traders who need some help finding good trading opportunities. However, before risking your trading account on the trade recommendations of a service, consider whether the service is appropriate for your needs from an investment and trading perspective.
Stock options are complex, derivative securities. Too many retail traders jump into trading options without first doing what is necessary to learn about these securities, how they work, and how to use them.
Some investors and traders do make the commitment to study the subject of stock options, and do develop a solid academic understanding. They understand that options should not be traded whimsically, but only after the appropriate research and planning has taken place.
Most retail traders do not trade full-time, however. In actuality, most retail traders have day jobs, families, and social obligations that keep them distracted during the trading day. It is very difficult to put in a full day’s work, return home to spouse and kids, and then sit down and diligently perform your trading homework.
Many part-time traders have sought out assistance from trade advisory services. These services publish trading recommendations that can be passed along by the trader to their broker. In some circumstances, the recommendations are routed directly to the broker without first passing by the subscriber for review.
The later situation is commonly referred to as an auto-trade relationship, in which the subscriber signs what amounts to a power of attorney, directing the broker to execute whatever trades are issued by their selected service. These auto-trade arrangements can be quite dangerous, because the initial thought is that you have a “professional” now managing your trades.
Auto-trade services are not the same as hiring a professional advisor, however. Even if the service uses professional traders those traders have no understanding of your particular financial needs or risk tolerances. The fact that these services issue trades directly to the broker means that no one has made a determination as to whether the particular trade is appropriate for you.
Even when using a service that issues recommendations for you to consider, they are often one dimensional in nature. In other words, they focus upon just one or two trading methods or styles. This means that you either have an un-diversified portfolio of trades or you need to subscribe to multiple services.
Retail option traders may finally be getting a break, however. A leading options educator, has developed a service that provides their students with access to professional traders who use a variety of strategies to respond to developing market conditions.
These traders are true professionals, having spent years on the floors and trading desks of the financial institutions. The recommendations are issued to you, not only by e-mail, but through a few methods that greatly increases the probability you will actually receive the alert in a timely fashion.
The subscriber’s job is to evaluate the trade and determine whether it is appropriate for them. If so, they call their broker or place the order online. This all sounds very much like other services, but it does not stop there.
Regular tele-classes are conducted to further help subscribers develop their own trading skills. Listening to these experienced traders helps to focus and hone those skills that retail options students have learned from their studies.
Trades alerts not only include the “buy and sell” order information, but notes as to why the trade is being recommended. This assists the retail trader in understanding the bigger picture and assessing whether the trade meets their individual risk tolerances and needs.
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At TheOptionClub.com we have been helping individual traders improve their options trading knowledge and trading skill. There are very few trading services that we recommend, but we recently reviewed Options University Strategist and found characteristics of what we think will be the next evolution in such offerings.
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by ResourceX Investor
There’s a saying in the mining business that goes like this: “The best place to find a new mine is next to an old mine.”
It sounds trite, but recent developments around the world have demonstrated the truth behind the saying.
NioGold Mining (TSX.V:NOX) has just finished drilling over 10,000 metres of a planned 40,000 metre drill program on its wholly owned Marban Block property. This initial round of the program is investigating gold mineralization in the area immediately surrounding the past-producing Marban Mine. All of the holes indicated that the geologic features that helped establish the Marban Mine are also present in the ground around the mine.
Certain veined and mineralized sections bear strong similarities to Agnico-Eagle’s (TSX:AEM) Goldex deposit (which contains an estimated 21.4 million tonnes grading 2.39 g/t Au for a total of 1.64 million ounces of gold) located 10 kilometers to the southeast. Follow-up holes are planned.
NioGold first drilled 10,000 metres across 63 holes during its 2006 exploration program.
Jay Taylor, a respected and widely followed investment analyst who has recommended the company to his subscribers, thinks the Malartic Gold Camp is an “outstanding” area to be developing gold resources.
“NioGold, because it’s in a historic gold camp, is surrounded by infrastructure. You have people, roads, power and milling facilities, so conceivably a company like NioGold could prove up a deposit and put it into production in relatively short order,” he says. “I look at it as a less risky exploration play compared to other projects because it’s in such a well developed location.”
The camps presently encompass several active advanced exploration and mine development projects such as Canadian Malartic (Osisko Exploration — TSX.V:OSK), Kiena (Wesdome Gold Mines — TSX:WDO), Midway (Northern Star Mining — TSX.V:NSM), Goldex (Agnico-Eagle) and Lac Herbin (Alexis Minerals). The Marban Block encompasses three former gold producers, namely the Norlartic, Kierens (First Canadian), and Marban mines. These companies collectively produced 592,265 ounces of gold.
The Marban Block project is located in the western portion of the province of Quebec, Canada, midway between the towns of Val-d’Or and Malartic, in the southern portion of what is known in mining terminology as the Abitibi greenstone belt. This area falls within the Malartic Mining “camp”, which has yielded a total estimated 8.9 million ounces of gold — worth US $6.2 billion at today’s prices.
The Marban Block has seen exploration since 1940, and at least 14 different companies have explored and/or mined the property since that time.
The project is the result of NioGold’s consolidation of four contiguous properties in the Malartic mining camp — Norlartic, First Canadian, Marban, and Gold Hawk — and consists of 34 mining claims, three concessions, and one mining lease covering a total of 972.8 hectares.
A report by independent geology consultants Mine Development Associates of Canada has put over 342,000 ounces of gold into a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate, but the recently announced drill results mean that these numbers are growing.
Besides the Marban Block, NioGold has two other ongoing exploration projects in its property portfolio. Briefly, they include the Camflo West Property, where in 2006, NioGold completed geophysical surveys and drilled 11 widely spaced holes (3,300 metres) testing the sediment / volcanic contact. The drilling uncovered high level intrusives and significant alteration similar to those associated with gold mineralization of the Malartic camp. Values of up to 9.08 g/t Au over 1.2 metres were returned from the drilling.
Located 200 kilometers southeast of the town of Val-d’Or and 50 kilometers north of the Mt-Laurier uranium district, Pump Lake is an early stage project that displays characteristics comparable to the Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold (IOCG) class of mineral deposits. These include the association of iron oxides (magnetite, hematite), copper, gold and uranium and the proximity to intrusive rocks. World-Class examples of IOCG’s are found at Olympic Dam and the Cloncurry district (Australia), Candelaria (Chile), Salobo (Brazil), and the Kiruna district (Sweden).
The company is led by Michael Iverson, who was Chairman, Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fortuna Silver Mines (TSX.V:FVI) from March 1998 to December 2004 and who remains as a board member, and Vice-President Rock Lefrançois, whose 20 years in the field has seen his service as senior geologist for Cambior (recently acquired by IAMGOLD Corp [NYSE:IAG]) and Aur Resources (recently acquired by Teck Cominco [TSX:TCK]). His wide-ranging knowledge of exploration methods applied to various styles of mineral deposits and his ability to develop exploration concepts will be an asset in advancing NioGold’s diversified portfolio of projects.
NioGold currently has 61.1 million shares issued and outstanding, with 78.5 million fully diluted.
This article is intended for information purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell the equities of any company mentioned herein. It is based on sources believed to be reliable, but no warranty as to accuracy is expressed or implied. The opinions expressed in the article are those of the author except where statements are attributed to individuals other than the author, in which case the opinions are those of the individual to whom they are attributed.
Resourcex Investor is an internationally distributed newsletter about emerging junior resource companies. Sign up for a free 1-month trial to our newsletter and get instant access to news and investing
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