IKNBLM

The Friday OT: Itzhak Perlman, Daniel Barenboim and the Berliner Philharmoniker do Beethoven's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra

2020-09-18T12:37:00.003-04:00

You can watch it and listen to it here:

The YouTube is here. Make 47 minutes of your Friday afternoon as good as the 47 minutes I had this morning. Just seeing the love poured over Perlman at the start is enough to hit the button and watch the first two minutes, but then the music takes over.

A question for Tony Hawkshaw of Bear Creek Mining (BCM.v)

2020-09-18T12:26:00.002-04:00

From today's NR, announcing works to benefit the town of Corani:

"Upgrading the road will have dramatic positive benefits to the local economy and safety of the community members..."

Tell me Tony, how many years has Bear Creek Mining been developing Corani? How. Many. Freakin. Years?

And you wonder why BCM is now scared of the town, treating them like their serfs for years and promising them if they behave, they'll get a nice road. Now the locals have forced the company's hand and what's more, they are still refusing all access to outsiders including the BCM people, but Tony forgot that when he was composing the NR today. Wonder why.

How do I love thee?: The July 9th bubble post, revisited

2020-09-18T08:56:00.000-04:00

On July 9th in "How bullish? How frothy? How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" your humble scribe included a quicklist of companies that were signalling a frothy market for mining juniors. Here's how the aforementioned have got on since then:

Now then, there's a thing. And all the while Twitter was screaming at you to buy them, too. The above is even after the rallies in the ridiculous NAK and the obviously flagging VZLA pump.

In The IKN Weekly this weekend

2020-09-18T02:22:00.002-04:00

A new price target for New Gold (NGD), a third upgrade this year because the confounded thing keeps taking out your author's targets in weeks, not months.

It's put-up-or-shut-up time at Minera IRL (MIRL.cse) as it files 2q20 financials and approaches the September 30th deadline for talks with Cofide.

Your author has a socially distanced meeting with Alex Black of Rio2 Ltd (RIO.v) and finds out about progress at Fenix, what Beaver Creek virtual was like for a CEO, the company plans for special polymer magical poo at Fenix, along with not-so magical smear campaigns at Mining FinTwit.

More on why World Number One Basket Case Country Argentina's newly imposed currency controls make the whole country radioactive as a mining FDI destination, because it's plain the market still doesn't understand how bad this is going to be. If it did a good two dozen miners would have deep red ink against their names tonight. Then there's Ecuador and Bolivia and don't get me started on the political disaster area known as Peru.

Other stuff too, probably. Out Sunday evening.

Napito wins Cosalá, hilarity ensues

2020-09-17T21:45:00.000-04:00

Today and by an uncontested 121 votes, Mexican Senator and "known figure in mining" Napoleón Gómez Urrutia, a.k.a, Napito, saw the Union he controls win the right to represent workers at the Cosalá mine in Mexico owned by Americas Gold & Silver (USAS) (USA.to), the one that's been on strike for the last seven months. And as for why hilarity will now ensue ask Darren Blasutti, because somebody has been lying through their teeth in public and we're about to know who that is.

This story is better than any Mexican Telenovela, promise you.

Kuya Silver presentation tomorrow Friday (update: link now fixed)

2020-09-17T14:34:00.002-04:00

Among the flotsam and jetsam of silver exploreco "opportunities" (normally we the investor are the opportunity for the silverco, not the other way round), every so often a decent looking opportunity comes along. It just so happens that one of the few is called Kuya Silver and as it's having its first roll-out marketing presentation tomorrow (link here) this post exists to give the heads-up. I do not own any, I have no business relationship at all with the company and that won't change*, I am thinking about buying some at some point, but that depends on what they do and the market price of shares when they finally come out of RTO with MONT.

If nothing else it's worth watching the presentation tomorrow. It's free and at a convenient time, so go with what Orange Stupid had to say about hydroginandquinine: Waddya got to lose?

*True for all companies, in fact. Other people can fake independence while taking sneaky payouts from companies, IKN is real deal indy which is why you hate me so much.

Daniela Cambone joins Porter Scamsberry

2020-09-17T13:30:00.002-04:00

Birds of a feather. Will Brent Cook finally crack and take Porter up on his permanent offer of easy and sleazy money, now his pal has accepted her thirty pieces of silver? Time will tell...

UPDATE: Reader P nails it:

Daniela Scambone

Esprit d'escalier for your humble scribe. I doff my cap.

New Gold (NGD): Catching up with Anita Soni's entry for the "2020 Dumbass Analyst Call of the Year" award

2020-09-17T12:49:00.001-04:00

In the post "New Gold (NGD): Anita Soni of CIBC makes an early claim for Dumbass Analyst Call Of The Year 2020", of Feb 2020 we celebrated the fact that our illustrious anal yst had downgraded NGD at what was potentially the wrong time. Thusly, so therefore and what have you, seven months later and...

....yes indeed, you're still leading the pack for the 2020 award, Anita. We're cheering for you. Stay strong.

Bought shares in Argentina exposed miners? Don't say IKN didn't warn you

2020-09-16T20:42:00.001-04:00

Over and over, too. Anyway, your investment is screwed, get out now while the getting is good and if you don't believe me, maybe you'll believe The Argentina Mining Chamber of Commerce (CAEM) and what they said about the currency restrictions imposed by the Alberto F government today.

PS: The working title for the piece in The IKN Weekly on Sunday is "Argentina Goes Full Basket Case". There really isn't anywhere else like it, a never-ending source of financial insanity.

Your last chance to sell Rise Gold (RISE.cse) before the pain begins

2020-09-16T10:17:00.001-04:00

Friday September 18th is the EGM. Lawrence Lepard cannot wait, he's been sweating on his filthy lucre all month.

Paul's so vain, he probably thinks this post is about him

2020-09-16T10:00:00.002-04:00

It's not the fact it's the first NR out of this embarrassing Collin Kettell (too many Ls) pump job since April.
It's not the obvious "keep lights on and pay salary checks" destination of the $2m being raised.
It's not even the way it's being set up for Pump 2.0 in 121 days' time.

All those are valid of course, but the best thing about the NR today was to remember the company existed, then revisit its website, then fall about laughing when getting to the photo of Paul Matysek...

...and the fact that Paul was 20 years younger and 50 kilos lighter when that photo was taken. My stars, talk about self-delusions, another fetid lump of lard who can't control his impulses and pretends another life.

A blog makeover, coming soon

2020-09-16T07:35:00.002-04:00

By the end of this week, this humble corner of cyberspace will have completed its upgrade.

Herd Mentality

2020-09-16T07:03:00.003-04:00

It must be embarrassing for you to have elected him. What were you thinking?

The trouble with Brent Cook Resources (MRZ.v) these days...

2020-09-15T13:41:00.000-04:00

...is, even when something exciting happens to it, all volume deflates and the erection quickly starts to droop again.

Oroco Resources (OCO.v) runs a financing and...

2020-09-15T12:32:00.000-04:00

...reader 'EB' took the words right outta my mouth, it must have been while he were kissin' me. Here's what EB wrote, word for word as he's kindly allowed me to publish it here:

Hello,

I am coming to you to double-check that my opinion that this is a typical example of "bad financing" is true.
https://orocoresourcecorp.com/oroco-announces-private-placement-funding/

While I know that you probably get bombarded with emails like these I would just like to ask, is this even legal? For the management to reward a newsletter writer like this? Or is it simply just something us shareholders need to deal with in this market and try to avoid to the best of our abilities?

In fact my own reaction was more...

WHAT

THE

ACTUAL

[i don't swear any more]

?????

...because there are so many things to unlike about the way this placement has gone down, including the way it's been blithely welcomed by an unsuspecting flock of newbie mining sheep, that this humble corner of cyberspace doesn't know which is the cruddiest. A placement which states, loudly and clearly, "serious money please stay away".

Robert Cudney, scammer of retail investors on social media

2020-09-15T10:46:00.001-04:00

This is how he treats other people:

This is how he affords to own a string of racehorses and you don't, by pumping his failures and wasting the money of anyone daft enough to listen to him. A pathetic man who should learn to shut up if he hasn't anything useful to say.

Luis Miguel Incháustegui is the best Minister of Energy and Mining Peru has had in years

2020-09-15T10:36:00.007-04:00

He gets opposite sides talking, he solves problems, he understands mining and today he has shown no problem at all in pointing to traitors inside the political party of his own family background (his father was also a minister, way back when). He doesn't have the easiest last name for foreign tongues, but get used to hearing it because he's a political star in the making. Peru needed a guy like this in 2020, luckily it found one.

Regarding Eric Sprott and Covid-19

2020-09-15T08:50:00.003-04:00

From IKN590's intro:

Regarding Eric Sprott and Covid-19

Among your author’s more enlightening experiences last week was receiving a mail from a “prominent Toronto businessman” (let’s say, without naming names), who wrote unsolicited to defend Eric Sprott’s position on Covid-19 being man-made in a Chinese lab. The interaction was interesting, because the first mail took two paragraphs of business-type flattery of my work and self-presentation of himself before it finally got to its point (for the record, I do not know, but the tone of the mails strongly suggests he is Eric’s personal friend). The tone changed 180° after my three word reply (admittedly one of the words was “idiot” and I bring these things upon myself deliberately) because I keep forgetting that I mustn’t talk to somebody as important as he is like that.

Another typical comment I get from time to time in the mailbox is more negative on Eric Sprott, as a section of the investment community cannot understand how he got to be so rich. That one is easier to explain and I find myself defending Mr. Sprott, as my eldest daughter is good at guitar and my pal David the priest is really good at speaking in public. Eric Sprott just happens to be very good at timing the gold market, in fact he’s almost certainly in the world top five. However, being good at guitar doesn’t stop my daughter from being a grump at times, it has to be said that David is a bit on the clumsy side and being great at trading gold doesn’t stop Eric Sprott from being dumb as a rock about science. And yes, you can cherry pick one Chinese scientist and a viral YouTube video to state categorically that Covid-19 is man-made; that is your prerogative, but do not expect to be taken seriously afterward.

Just because you want something to be true does not make it true. If a narrative sounds correct and is appealing to your worldview it may indeed turn out to be backed by facts, at that point you can feel confident about bringing it into the debate. However, you need to investigate it first, because one of the main reasons conspiracy theories are popular is that they provide the ignorant with a seat at the debate (or at least it seems to them that way, until they complain they are being ignored due to Deep State or whatever). You need to know when you are wrong as well as when you are right and above all, a person with celebrity for doing one thing well shouldn’t be nefarious with the power that comes, riding shotgun with their specialist ability. Being good at gold doesn’t make you good at guitar, neither does it make you a good person and my mailer’s rich friend in Toronto seems to have forgotten that while he was busy counting his money.

To wrap up and be clear, scientific investigation has shown Covid-19 is not a synthetic or man-manipulated virus. It occurred naturally and if you do not believe that you have not done the reading, this is so simple and obvious it is like disputing whether the sun will rise in the East or West tomorrow morning. Those that persist in claiming the contrary are at best ignorant, at worst a threat to their fellow humans and if you are one of the people tricked by the stupidity of Eric Sprott and his now indignant friends, that ignorance also applies to you. As for Sprott and his mail-happy friend, they should both be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.

The IKN Weekly, out now

2020-09-14T01:03:00.005-04:00

IKN590 has just been sent to subscribers. It contains opinions on mining companies.

First Energy Metals (FE.cse) are obviously disgusting scammers...

2020-09-12T20:45:00.002-04:00

...and it's not just the contents of the NR you see below that makes it clear, it's also the fact they just published at 7pm on a Saturday evening. Hey Gurminder, why bury your crud post-close Friday when you can do it while all the brokerage anal ysts are out disco dancing, right? Therefore this humble corner of cyberspace, whose Dear Leader just happens to be at his desk writing things, believes more people should see this NR and those people include the ASC, OSC and BCSC who need to look into the recent volume increase and sales by Anonymous into the newsletter pump.

Anyway, here's the NR that these pond scum life forms disguised as human beings tried to bury, your humble scribe aiding readers' eyes by adding some red ink to the important bits and pieces:

First Energy Metals Announces Independence Property Results

VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 12, 2020 /CNW/ - First Energy Metals Ltd. (CSE: FE) ("First Energy" or the "Company) would like to announce it that it has received assay results from July 2020 exploration work on Independence Gold Property located in the Southeastern BC. The results of 15 grab rock samples and 3 sediment samples collected from the Property indicate low values of gold, silver, and base metals with only one grab rock sample assayed 1.1 grams per tonne gold. The Company has decided not to pursue further exploration work on this property.

In addition, the Company has engaged GRA Enterprises LLC in association with the National Inflation Association ("NIA") to advance investor knowledge of First Energy's existing property portfolio. NIA was launched during the 2008/2009 global financial crisis with a goal of helping educate the public about monetary policy and how the Federal Reserve's policies impact interest rates leads to price distortions, malinvestment, asset bubbles, and income/wealth inequality. NIA provides its members with information about the global economy and financial markets that the mainstream media refuses to discuss. NIA advocates for a return to the gold standard and provides analysis of the precious metals market while profiling publicly traded gold and silver mining/exploration companies that could be positioned to thrive during an inflationary environment GRA Enterprises LLC will be compensated up to $35,000 USD for its partnership and advisory services for a term of six months.

Afzaal Pirzada, P.Geo., Geological Consultant of the Company, and a "Qualified Person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

About First Energy Metals Limited.

First Energy Metals Limited is a junior resource company engaged in the exploration and development of precious and energy metals such as lithium, cobalt, gold and silver within its property portfolio in North America. The Company's goal is to acquire prospective technology and precious metals properties and develop them. The Company currently holds an option to acquire 100% interest in Phyllis Cobalt property in Ontario. The Company has recently acquired Scramble Mine Gold Property in Ontario, and two gold exploration properties (Kokanee Creek and Independence Gold properties) located in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. First Energy Metals Limited (formerly "Agave Silver ") was incorporated on October 12, 1966 in the Province of British Columbia. The Company's common shares trade on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) under the symbol FE and are also listed on the US OTC Markets (Pink) as ASKDF and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as A2JC89.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF
FIRST ENERGY METALS LTD.

"Gurminder Sangha"Gurminder Sangha
President & Chief Executive Officer

For further information please contact the Company at: gsangha@firstenergymetals.com

Mexican's view of Equinox Gold (EQX)

2020-09-11T20:05:00.004-04:00

I cannot blame them.

From here, a report that makes EQX look like a very poor corporate citizen.

Ecuador: An explosive supply chain issue (from IKN589)

2020-09-11T09:02:00.001-04:00

As Lundin Gold (LUG.to) seems to prefer to keep its shareholders in the dark about the supply chain issues that are about to close operations down, IKN will have to suffice. From last Sunday evening's edition of The IKN Weekly, IKN589:

Ecuador: An explosive supply chain issue

These pages have noted that Ecuador is the mini-Basket Case of South America (Argentina’s crown is undisputed) and that it’s not as easy to do mining business there as in normal countries. The last two weeks have provided a case study, thanks to a quasi-State run company that you’ve almost certainly never heard of called Explocen. This is is Ecuador’s only national explosives manufacturer and covers around 60% of the country market, with only two other companies allowed o import explosives into the country. Explocen also supplies the needs of industry and non-metallic mining, but its main customers are mining entities large and small, from small artisan miners to the largest operations in the country, such as ESCA Mirador copper mine the Holcim cement company or the Lundin Gold Fruta del Norte gold mine.

At the end of May and as part of the Covid-19 crisis, Explocen laid off five of its workers and paid them redundancy of U$1,200 each after 25 years of service. This pittance of a separation pay detonated (pardon the pun) a strike by its workforce that continues to this day, as even though Ecuador’s government has deemed the strike illegal the workers remain out and have even set up a picket line with camp kitchen outside the factory. Employees haven’t budged an inch and neither has the company, the result being a worsening of the industrial action and on July 13^th employees began an all-out strike that has totally shuttered the company factories. Up to now there’s been little heard on this outside of inner Ecuador mining circles, but that’s now changing and we’re at the point were on August 27^th, Lundin Gold (LUG.to) wrote to President Lenín Moreno (8) to state that the lack of explosives provision had caused their stocks to dwindle and supply was tight. LUG went on to warn that if the Explocen situation were not resolved soon it would have “important impacts on production and exportation of Fruta del Norte gold. That was 11 days ago, nothing has changed since then.

The answer, you might think, would be simply to import a lot more explosives. True for a normal country, but in the mini Basket Case those who specialize in the field say it will take around three months to comply with the paperwork and documentation required for extra explosives imports even to arrive in Ecuador to cover the shortfall. Moral: Stick to countries that understand mining.

Wishing Keith Neumeyer and Eric Sprott the fortune they deserve...

2020-09-10T17:50:00.001-04:00

...in their new collaboration and Grant Beasley is poorer than both of them. So am I, but it doesn't eat me the way it does a vacuous soul whose only obvious pleasures are owning money and a set of wheels and even then, he's too much of a coward to take them out when it snows. Should have bought an Audi.

Baby shark doo doo doo doo doo doo...

2020-09-10T12:46:00.000-04:00

Baby shark doo doo doo doo doo doo

Baby shark.

Marlin Gold doo doo doo doo doo doo

Trinidad doo doo doo doo doo doo

Marlin Gold doo doo doo doo doo doo

Trinidad.

Blame the rain doo doo doo doo doo doo

Blame the rain.

Not the truth doo doo doo doo doo doo

Akiba doo doo doo doo doo doo

Not the truth doo doo doo doo doo doo

Akiba.

Run away doo doo doo doo doo doo

Run away.

The rumour on Regulus (REG.v) is...

2020-09-10T12:19:00.000-04:00

...that they've secured a Strategic Partner. This was supposed to happen last year and nearly did, but for some reason the other party pulled out at the last minute. Anyway, it's supposed to happen this time and with Gold Fields (GFI), which at least makes logistical sense and as GFI is also a Strategic with REG's cousin company Chakana Copper (PERU.v), there's precedent. Consider this rumour "likely but not certain", if you want to know more ask Pete Panda at CEOca, he's the one with direct access to John Black these days.