RECENTLY we've gone on about the growing interest in India and China in regard to hoarding silver as a cheaper alternative to gold.
No doubt overlooked in the flood of quarterlies was that from Sinovus Mining (SNV), a story to which we alerted you some weeks ago. And which you totally ignored to judge by the very thin trading since.
Previously, we told you it had a silver deposit near Beijing. Now it still has a silver deposit near Beijing - but no longer is it an underground mining proposition. Sinovus now thinks Xiangguang is a near-surface, bulk tonnage scenario, which is an entirely different ballgame.
BNP Paribas analyst Anne-Laure Tremblay is seeing a silver rally in the second half of next year as the US dollar outlook turns sour again. By the end of that year, she expects the white metal to have surpassed its previous high of $US20/oz. This should cheer the folks at Argent Minerals (ARD), which just announced some good hits from its Kempfield, NSW, drilling. These included 4m at 204 grams/tonne silver and 4m at 141.7g/t.
Volatility reminiscent of epochal eventsFont Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print PURE SPECULATION: Robin Bromby | November 02, 2009 Article from: The Australian UNNOTICED in the past few days by almost everyone save your senescent columnist were the 80th anniversaries of two epochal events.
One was an announcement from a company that is now part of the media group that includes The Australian. Fox Film Corp (this was five years before it merged with Twentieth Century Pictures) announced it was quitting the silent movie business, saying these productions had been made obsolete by talkies.
The other event was the continuing chaos on Wall Street as the 1929 crash completed its first week, taking people's wealth and life savings with it.
The laboured point being made here is this: everything that was familiar and commonplace in 1929 has long been superseded and forgotten, except one thing. And this is that stockmarkets are as dangerous and unpredictable as they were in that scary week 80 years ago.
The old comfort saying "this time it's different" means nothing else than the market can always manage to find a new way to clean you out. The extraordinary volatility in the past three trading days may be a signal that the latest party is over. Or that another buying opportunity is nigh. Who knows?
Pure Speculation had started to notice several days ago that a number of junior resource stocks were being sold down for no apparent reason. Is this profit-taking and flight to defensive stocks? Keep an eye on our online presence at The Dirt this week - we'll keep you posted on what is happening at the speccy end of the market as the action unfolds.
Warwick Grigor at BGF Equities, who has been bullish of late, is now telling clients that we could be in for a rough ride. It's been a great market for much of the year, he says, but then adds that "you should remember that when people start getting cocky it's only a matter of time before markets slap them in the face".
Good carbon bet
WHILE Pure Speculation remains an apostate in regard to the new religion of climate change, we can't ignore the fact that there's a quid to be made out of it.
Perth broker Hartleys says it has identified more than 100 listed companies that may be able to take advantage of the new carbon orthodoxy (our word, not theirs). Their favourites are fuel plays that can or should be able to supply energy at low cost.
We have space for a few examples. In the under-50c share price range, there is wave energy with Regal Resources (RER) and Carnegie Wave (CWE). That price cut-off allows us 10 of the 11 geothermal stocks - although at 91.5c first mover Geodynamics (GDY) is hardly priced out of the market.
And if you think, as Pure Speculation does, that uranium is one of the sectors in which some money should be placed, then Hartleys has selected 16 stocks that meet our cheapskate test. These include White Canyon Uranium (WCU), which has managed to get the first uranium mine approval in Utah for 30 years (it closed on Friday at 20.5c) and Toro Energy (TOE), which just in the past few days has announced a greenfields uranium discovery plus the start of the approvals process to begin producing yellowcake at its Wiluna project. TOE closed at 17c.
There are now six rare earths plays on Hartleys' list, including two recently written about here -- Alkane Resources (ALK) and Navigator Resources (NAV). Lithium, natural gas, coal to liquids, carbon trading and the two carbon capture plays, Carbon Conscious (CCF) and CO2 Group (COZ), round out the list.
Sinovus's silver lining
RECENTLY we've gone on about the growing interest in India and China in regard to hoarding silver as a cheaper alternative to gold.
No doubt overlooked in the flood of quarterlies was that from Sinovus Mining (SNV), a story to which we alerted you some weeks ago. And which you totally ignored to judge by the very thin trading since.
Previously, we told you it had a silver deposit near Beijing. Now it still has a silver deposit near Beijing - but no longer is it an underground mining proposition. Sinovus now thinks Xiangguang is a near-surface, bulk tonnage scenario, which is an entirely different ballgame.
BNP Paribas analyst Anne-Laure Tremblay is seeing a silver rally in the second half of next year as the US dollar outlook turns sour again. By the end of that year, she expects the white metal to have surpassed its previous high of $US20/oz. This should cheer the folks at Argent Minerals (ARD), which just announced some good hits from its Kempfield, NSW, drilling. These included 4m at 204 grams/tonne silver and 4m at 141.7g/t.
Oil blacks
A PRESENTATION at the recent annual meeting of NZ Oil & Gas (NZO) included a graph that shows a 40 per cent share price gain since last year's shareholder get-together.
New Zealand is emerging as a worthy energy story and a changing one. The country has been seen traditionally as a gas story, but the two new big production stories - Tui and Maari - are oil. They're gearing up for the biggest summer drilling program ever across the Tasman Sea. And there's a brace of Australian companies involved.
Apart from NZO, which is a partner in at least four wells in waters off Taranaki province this summer, there is Rawson Resources (RAW), which has two permits in onshore Taranaki and one north of Auckland. These will soon be spun off into Kea Petroleum, a company to be listed in London.
Origin Energy (ORG) has positions in the north as well as large offshore acreage running down the eastern coast of the South Island. In the shorter term, ORG plans drilling after new year off the North Island, once a submersible rig arrives. Others in the hunt include Cue Energy (CUE), which has farmed into two permits, as has Horizon Oil (HZN).
Australian Worldwide Exploration (AWE) was one of the pioneers moving into the NZ oil hunt - and it has worked to the extent that the company is paying a hefty tax and royalty bill across the Tasman. AWE will be involved in at least three wells this summer.
The Australian implies no investment recommendation and this report contains material that is speculative in nature. Investors should seek professional investment advice. The writer does not own shares in any company mentioned.
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