The top three most visited IKN posts this week are...

...in reverse order:

Third Place: "And on the subject of complete assholes...". Only in Canada are complete jerk offs put in charge of public listed companies like this. Unqualified to do anything except talk crap in a chatroom, Allan Barry gets moved from paid-for IR promo bullshitter to CEO because the people in charge (and still truly in charge) of this lithium scam stock Alset didn't have anyone else with the same Allan Barry combo of zero self-esteem and desperation for salary cheques to ask. If you really want to know why your capital markets are turning into a world-scale joke, Canada, take a look at ION.v.

Second Place: "When your post-tax IRR is 153%...", that commented on Mariana Resources' (MARL) impressive first pass PEA at the Hot Maden project in Turkey.

 

First Place: "The Otto Rock Fan Club" which was less of a single post and more of a series, but as that was the first post it got the highest hit count. It got followed by Part Two here, in which I stated for the record that Olyeller's accusations against me were totally fabricated and utter lies. Up to that point, he decided to ignore me. Then came the note addressed to the poster himself who apparently thought people are anonymous on the internet (oh the naivety) but when he found out the opposite was true, his attitude suddenly changed (quel surprise), which led to the final post here in which Olyeller, after facing the cruel reality of a libel suit that could have ruined him backtracked on everything he said, retracted and apologized, thereby revealing himself as a liar. A repentant liar, but a liar all the same.

The thing with blowhard internet trolls and bullies is they think they can say and do anything, that there's no push-back and no bill to pay later. That may be true with other people, but this bully Olyeller picked on the wrong guy this time. The person behind the handle Olyeller has learned a lesson and fortunately for him (because I decided to be nice and offer an easy way out) all it cost was a chunk of his overblown ego. The rest of you actual and potential trolls spouting stupidities over the interwebnetpipes, I'd quietly suggest you take a moment and reflect on such things. Next time other people may not be as nice as lil ol me.

The Friday OT: Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr; Redneck Paradise

A song to match this Friday. Dedicated to Nick.



Youtube here.

The Otto Rock Fan Club, final part (for now)

I think this counts as "case closed".

 
Link here. Apology accepted.

My Apologies to Otto and Goldtent

Dear Goldtent and Otto Rock,
A few days ago on this board, I made the mistake of repeating what turned out to be a falsehood I had heard from a friend about the IKN blogger Otto Rock:
” He can never set foot in the US again or he will be thrown in jail for being a huckster and bilking investors.”
I am new to this board and obviously got off on the wrong foot. It will not happen again. I sincerely apologize to this board and to Otto as I was upset about a personal matter and just decided to take it out on him.  This is not an excuse, just a reason. Good luck to all in your financial endeavors.

The Encanto Potash (EPO.v) rip-off

This one is hilarious. On Wednesday evening the small potash junior Encanto Potash (EPO.v) announced a deal with the National Federation of Farmers' Procurement, Processing and Retailing Cooperatives of India Limited ("NACOF"). To quote the NR, "The agreement provides for the supply of a minimum of 5 million tonnes per year for a guaranteed period of twenty years for muriate of potash ("MOP")". And to further quote the NR, EPO.v's President, Stavros Daskos, called the deal, "...clearly a defining moment for our company and the industry".

Well maybe it's more of a defining moment for Mr. Daskos rather than anyone else, because when you look at the smallprint of the deal it's one of the most self-serving rip-offs I've seen for quite a while. In fact I wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for regular reader and mailpal A. Person, who was kind enough to give your humble scribe the heads-up on this scam (after all potash isn't really my beat). In his words (edited very slightly but really nothing has changed)...

"Interestingly, Encanto has a partner that is completely hidden save for one line in the MD&A and a single document on SEDAR. This partner, Horgen, has a rather interesting partnership and is led by the president of Encanto, Stavros Daskos. Did you know that upon successful announcement of an off-take Encanto must:

- Pay Horgen U$5.5m within 15 days

- Issue 15 million shares of Encanto.

- Place the project into a Newco where Horgen has an option to acquire 51% of the NewCo."

And indeed that's all true. The poor saps who bought into EPO.v yesterday...

...and in greed and ignorance turned a $40m market cap company into a $60m mkt capper have no idea how little they're getting from this supposedly transformative deal and how much Daskos is lining his own pockets at their expense. Here's just one section of that SEDAR filing to show some of the Heads-I-Win-Tails-You-Lose terms that Daskos has slapped on this deal:

Moral: This is Canadian junior mining, read the smallprint.

Minera IRL to re-list in Canada

Yes, you know it's true. CEO Diego Benavides gets more done in two months than two useless and self-serving boards of directors do in two years.

And on the subject of complete assholes...

...we present Tommy Humphreys' version of Lavache, Allan Barry.

• Not a geologist
• Not an engineer.
• Not a lawyer.
• Zero financial qualifications (and when flappin' his dumbass lips on CEO.ca obviously doesn't have a clue about how to "do all that hard math stuff").
• An idiot squared about community relations.
• Wouldn't know whether to eat a piece of lithium or stick it up his overweight self-indulgent ass.
• Doesn't speak a word of Spanish outside of "por favor", "gracias" and "cerveza".

And wants to be taken seriously by the market as CEO of a lithium exploreco in Mexico!

Only in Canada are total clowns like this as company heads even remotely possible, let alone taken seriously. Run along little boy, you're out of your league.

Dear "Olyeller"

A special message for you, Olyeller:

After picking up a tip from a Goldtent regular (who will remain nameless but clearly no fan of yours) I timed myself and, thanks to said tip, it took me exactly 14 minutes to find out your real name, your address, your e-mail address, just about everything I need to know. It was really rather easy.

Statement of fact: On January 17th you willfully and maliciously decided to publish 100% false and libelous statements about me. This is absolutely provable and I will not hesitate to clear my name in a court of law, if necessary. I'm sick and tired of assholes like you, consider yourself the one that broke this camel's back.

But I'm going to be nice to you, you blowhard lying dickhead piece of crud. If you decide to write in to the usual address with a full retraction I will happily publish it on this blog under your handle "Olyeller", neither your real name nor any of your personal information will be revealed and that will be the end of the matter. I think this offer is more than fair. However, if you choose to ignore this fair warning I will publish everything about you including your full name and address here on the blog (and it's read by far more people than you can even imagine, your name will be mud forever) and once done I will begin legal action against you to clear my good name. The big difference between your unfounded libel and the stupid legal actions that idiot scamsters such as Porter Stansberry bring against me is that I have never been successfully prosecuted and that's because this blog tells the truth. On the other hand, you are clearly an out and out liar and will pay full consequences, including significant monetary damages, unless you retract your statements with a full apology. Are we crystal clear?

Therefore, Olyeller, you have five days, i.e. until midnight Tuesday January 24th, you lying piece of shit.

Lots of love, Otto

Market timing the Lobito way, Continental Gold (CNL.to) edition

Back on January 18th 2016, Louis Lobito Little Wolf James of Casey Research (part of the nefarious empire of proven securities fraudster Porter Stansberry) called "Sell" on Continental Gold (CNL.to) after holding it for a couple of years.

Yesterday, January 18th 2017 (remarkable date coincidence) our favourite monkey-with-dartboard Lobito called "Buy" on the very same company, Continental Gold (CNL.to), to his International Speculator clients.

Let's check a chart to see where those calls fell:

Winning, Lobito!

The Otto Rock Fan Club, part deux

Further to the wholly untrue and libelous things written about your humble scribe by a lying coward hiding behind the nick 'Olyeller' that we shared with you yesterday, it's very interesting to see how the Katusa fanboy idiot Olyeller reacted when asked for further evidence of his accusations. Some poster called Swannmex replied to Olyeller and his blowhard nonsense, starting like this:

” He can never set foot in the US again or he will be thrown in jail for being a huckster and bilking investors. He is the biggest anonymous hypocrite blogger on the internet IMO and a terrible stock picker.”…….
Please share anything you have to back up the assertion that Mark is banned from the US or wanted in the US for anything.

Then later Olyeller decides to... ignore the difficult question and pretend he wasn't asked anything at all. The questions to which he has no reply (and I assume "he" because women aren't nearly as arrogant and stupid as men). Because the plain fact is that Olyeller is just another BS blowhard big-guy asshole on a bullboard spreading pure lies. Sorry people, I'm not wanted by anyone and sorry to ruin your masturbatory fantasies Olyeller, you'll just have to get back to jacking off over Marin Katusa as he rips you of without you realizing.

More on Arizona Mining (AZ.to) and its deceitful ways

Further to the Ottotrans of early this morning, we can confirm that Arizona Mining AZ.to) was forced to make its clarification at the request of the TSX. Though you'll note how that little detail was missing from its NR. Because that's the way this company works, it knows the market won't like whole truth about its fatally flawed project one little bit and only tells you the bits that suits it.

A simple question: How many times do you need to be hoodwinked by somebody before you realize you're being hoodwinked?

CIBC on Tahoe Resources (TAHO) (THO.to): "Downgrade to Hold"

Yesterday TAHO's Ron Clayton ran a marketing spiel for sellside brokerage anal ysts at Scotia's offices, even though Scotia doesn't formally cover the stock (because Senior Precious Metals Analyst at Scotia, Tanya Jakusconek, is a board member at TAHO. No conflict there, oh no no no). 

And the result of Clayton's efforts? CIBC yesterday evening put out a "Downgrade to Hold" report on Tahoe. And just to remind you what "Downgrade to Hold" really means in the exciting and thrusting world of Canuck brokerage-speak...

We clear? Eventually, even the stuffed suits in the buddy-buddy scratch-back paid-off world of sellside work out they can't continue to sponsor an overpriced dog that has decimated shareholder value via overpriced deals. Ferrari Kev's Empire Building designs are coming back to bite him, corporate failure will be his legacy.

Mining PRs and the Ottotrans™, Part 98

 

It's number 98 of our occasional series and this time we take the information buried at the bottom of today's Arizona Mining (AZ.to) NR and tell you what it really means.

This is what they wrote:

Also, Arizona Mining would like to clarify certain statements made in its January 12, 2017 news release regarding the potential sale of concentrates from the Taylor Deposit, specifically comments made by Orion Mining Finance and Ocean Partners, USA Inc. The Company would like to remind the reader that the Company has not yet completed a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA"), or a mining study such as a preliminary feasibility study or feasibility study that supports the technical feasibility or economic viability of the Taylor Deposit including the marketability of the concentrate from the Taylor Deposit.

While the Company is currently working on a PEA expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter 2017, and further metallurgical test work on its potential concentrates, the reader is cautioned that a PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have any economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. In addition, there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized.

And this is what it means:

We deliberately bullshitted you the other day, suckers. We knew what we were doing was against the BCSC and OSC rules, but decided to do it anyway because our desire to pump our stock illegally was far greater. Now we stick this at the bottom of a long NR with yet more drill releases in order to comply. So just buy our stock and shut up, dumbasses.

Sunday in Vancouver: A date for your diary

Self-important old white men laughing about each other in public and giving each other nice presents. And as a bonus, the opportunity to give them even more of your money. Unmissable.

A special one for all you Marin Katusa fanboys

Getting accused of being a huckster and a hypocrite by one of Marin Katusa's sycophantic cocksuckers is high honour, so while you happy band of naive fools are hanging around IKN for the day, it's worth shining a little light on how your mentor and self-styled BFFF (best financial friend forever) uses you all and robs you blind, all while smiling straight into your face:

Exhibit A: This post that shows how he bought into East West Resources (run by Marin's pally pal and failed Maitre Dee David Sidoo), then pumped it to the idiots out there.

Exhibit B: The follow-up post that shows what happened when he'd created enough selling opportunity for he and his friends.

Exhibit C: The laughable way Katusa and his Casey Research pals try to cover their cockroach tracks when a little light is shone upon them.

And be clear, the East West Resources scam is just one of many examples of the Katusa M.O, he's screwed the people stupid enough to pay for his work dozens of times and will keep pn doing it, as long as there are people as stupid as you are who feed this parasite creep.

The Otto Rock Fan Club

My thanks to reader "C" for the forward. The thing with Marin Katusa...it's that birds of a feather thing, scumballs and liars attract each other.

Otto Rock is a scamster on the run from the SEC. He can never set foot in the US again or he will be thrown in jail for being a huckster and bilking investors. He is the biggest anonymous hypocrite blogger on the internet IMO and a terrible stock picker. His ego keeps him in losing positions for far too long and he trashes every miner he missed that has a huge move up. He can be very entertaining though so I give him that much. Just sayin. Not a big fan of Katusa either but I believe UEC is the real deal. The only problem I have with GOOD miners that Casey, Katusa et al start pumping is it blurs the valuation and makes it even harder to figure when to sell. NAK is a perfect example. Doug Casey has been pumping this thing no end and it now has a US market cap approaching $700m for a multi billion CAPEX project that does not even have a feasibility or metallurgy study attempted yet….let alone being remotely close to being permitted. This thing is an optionality play on steroids that probably will not get built in my lifetime (I am 53) Do your own DD of course.

Atico Mining (ATY.v) 4q16 production

It's been kinda flagged for a while because the share price has been performing very well these last couple of weeks, but all the same the 4q16 production numbers out of Atico Mining (ATY.v) a few minutes ago are very decent and underscore the value on offer here. Here's the headline chart for copper...

...and we'll do the rest along with what it all means in IKN401 on Sunday, subbers.

Disclosure: Long ATY.v

Chelsea Manning

A freaking idiot who didn't deserve a 35 year jail sentence.

Good call, Obama.

Three things that made me laugh

After a couple of years of Exeter Resources (XRC.to) (XRA) insisting that it has enough water supply to build its oxide gold mine, today XRC comes out and says, "We have a new water supply and we really do have enough water AND THIS TIME WE MEAN IT". You can tell the CEO used to work at Canaccord, can't you? The Zerb Who Cried Wolf.

Buried down in the Argonaut Gold 4q16 production NR, the mere trifle that it plans to spend $75.8m on capex in 2017, all on wholly-owned assets. That's around 22% of total market cap! That's more than its cash + undrawn debt facility as at Dec 31st! That's 5X operating profit for the first three quarters of 2016! The only people buying this stock today are the ones who only read charts and headlines.

I got as far as the intro blurb in Tommy Humphrey's Q&A with Cambone of Kitco before closing the tab, the bit that goes, "He calls himself Millennial Mining’s best stock picker, Kitco News sits down with Tommy Humphreys...". Jeez, how smug do you want your Giustra asslicker to be before you throw up in his face? The complete self-absorbed asshole on a stick with cream and cherry.

When your post-tax IRR is 153%...

...a few things happen:

• You don't need to cut corners on cost parameters.
• You can highlight the total LoM capex and not try to hide behind initial capex
• The market doesn't care if it's only a scoping study at this stage.
• It doesn't even care about the location. Much.
• You stock pings 10% at the open.

Yup, Mariana Resources (MARL.v) has given us its Hot Maden PEA today.

Disclosure: I own no shares directly, but do have some indirect financial exposure to the success of this project.

Today's reminder of how badly run Coeur (CDE) is

It goes like this:

1) Coeur (CDE) spends $8m earning into 51% of the Joaquin project in Argentina.

2) It then pays U$60m to the optionee, Mirasol (MRZ.v, which is a well run company by the way), for the other 49% that it doesn't own. Half cash half shares.

3) Four years later, it sells Joaquin for U$25m (cash and shares) to Pan American Silver (PAA.to) (PAAS)

4) The above doesn't take into account the money CDE has wasted on Joquin in the meantime in exploration costs and land carrying costs.

5) IKN half-expects CDE to carry the 2% NSR it's left holding on the property at U$35m and pretend it hasn't lost money.

How the market thinks CDE is worth over $2Bn in market cap is beyond my ken.

So many good things in the new edition of Global Mining Observer...

...but top of the list must be this report, "The Great Royalty Freak Out" (part two) with the added bonus of flamingoes with a beach ball.

Odebrecht bribes: The fun begins

Tonight, Brazil's Folha de Sao Paulo reports that the ex-President of Peru, Ollanta Humala, received a U$3m bribe from Odebrecht in the form of a (totally illegal) political campaign contribution. Unsurpisingly, Peru newspapers are all over the rebound story.

Hey, this whole Odebrecht thing? It's going to be great. Just great.

The IKN Weekly, out now

IKN400 has just been sent to subscribers. 13,954 words. Most of them spelled correctly. Try the veal. I'm here all week.

Arizona Mining (AZ.to): The elephant in the room

On Friday Angry Geologist ran a nice little summary post on the recent comings and goings at Arizona Mining (AZ.to) and its Hermosa (Spanish for "beautiful", if you care enough) project. These last few weeks have seen one side (led by Global Mining Observer) with potential negatives, the other side (led by the company itself, of course) pointing out its undoubted attractions...hey, great grades after all. But the last part of TAG's post, the "elephant in the room", has the makings of a full-scale fatal flaw project killer and anyone long this stock should at the very least be asking serious questions of its management team. And should expect some good answers. Go have a look.