IKN: 25.11.12

12/1/12

People ask me about life in South America, so...

...this kind of sums one part of it up nicely. You have good intentions, bad organization, rampant stupidity and hand-wringing consequences from which nobody will learn in just 29 words:

SANTIAGO – At least three people died and eight were injured Saturday when an apparent drunk driver ran over 12 people competing in an “ultramarathon” in support of the Chilean Telethon.

Continues here

Guatemala: Anti-mine protesters block access to mine workers

The interesting bit is between minute 6 and minute 11, when the two sides face off and the leader of the workers looking to get to the mine tries and fails to provoke the protesters into violent action, using insults, threats and a loud hailer. Bet his mother's proud of him.

This is all at the El Tambor project, once owned by Radius Gold (RDU.v) but now wholly owned by private US concern KCA. Methinks RDU did the right thing by bailing here.

Five days of metals and miners; December 1st

Our regular Saturday slot of the last five days' worth of action in the gold bullion ETF (GLD), the silver bullion ETF (SLV), the miner ETF (GDX), the junior miner ETF (GDXJ) and the copper ETF (COPX).

Copper producers (COPX) beat the field on better macro news in the U.S. The other squiggly lines disappointed, with particular nastiness in the juniors that seem to be suffering under tax loss selling now.

11/30/12

The Friday OT: Manu Chao; La Primavera/Radio Bemba

Manu Chao rocks it in concert, one of the best live acts out there today. Dedicated to Iwnattos who has a particular love for the word Primavera at the moment:

If this large can of whupass with a side of oh-my-gosh-that-is-good doesn't put a spring* in your step, nothing will.

And yeah, this Friday OT is up a little earlier than usual, as 1) the minor reason is I'm bored with a market that insists on selling everything into the weekend but the major reason is 2) the kids are off school a couple of hours early so wife'n'I are going to take them to lunch somewhere. With a playpark. Have a weekend.

*geddit?

Venezuela imports fuel from the USA. Lots of it.

Yes I know that title looks weird but it's not some fancy wordplay or trick of the semantics; it happens to be true that Venezuela is currently buying oodles of US fuel and importing it for local consumption. Setty has just posted on the issue and as always does a great job of breaking down the gig in words, not to mention an absolutely killer chart. Go see it all and marvel at the way Venezuela is paying The USA in order to supply its population with the world's cheapest automobile juice. In the name of Socialism.

And seriously Setty, that chart of yours rocks.

Richmont Mines (RIC.to) (RIC) and costs

By far the most interesting NR of the week (unless you happen to be a long in the stock that is, personally not guilty and by way of full disclosure have never owned it) came yesterday post bell when Richmont Mines (RIC.to) (RIC) announced the closure of one of its operations and the deferral of one of its projects. Read all about it here, but it's a salient reminder that there are a lot of juniors getting hammered by rising costs of mining, be they in production and getting margins squeezed or in exploration and trying to create the proverbial silk purse from sow's ear by fiddling with the numbers (they call it "optimizing" cos it sounds cool) of their crappy marginal project. It just so happens that RIC gave us examples of both in one shot yesterday but that company is not alone, not by a long way. Read all about it here.

We finish with a five year chart of RIC to remind you that taking profits is a good thing. Always.

dyodd, dude

Chart of the day is...

...Brazilian GDP growth, last five quarters:

Lots of headlines made this morning about the 0.6% Brazil GDP growth in 3q12 compared to 2q12, which was a big miss and as Reuters notes here, the 42 dumbasses in suits (you know them by their technical title, economists) they queried had expected between +1.0% and +1.5%, median 1.2%. So 0.6% is way low, but for me the telling dataset is the 12 month trailing GDP shown in the chart above. The deceleration is clear.

PS: Data from the IBGE beancounter website, right here.

11/29/12

Bullshit lying pumper James West must be all upset..

...and weeping in a corner somewhere. Your humble scribe received these two mails from Googly today. Just goes to prove that old saying about shining light on cockraoches:

Hello,

Google has been notified that content in your blog contains allegedly infringing content that may violate the rights of others and the laws of their country. The infringing content that has been made unavailable can be found at the end of this message. For more information about this removal and how it affects your blog, please visit http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?l=en&answer=2402711.

The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org. You can search for the notice associated with the removal of your content by going to the Chilling Effects search page at http://www.chillingeffects.org/search.cgi, and entering in the URL of the blog post that was removed. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should consult your legal advisor.

Terms of Service: http://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/
Content Policy: http://www.blogger.com/content.g

The Google Team

http://incakolanews.blogspot.ca/2012/11/ikn-has-pissed-off-either-ian-park-or.html
http://incakolanews.blogspot.ca/2011/07/hey-rememnber-when-james-west.html
http://incakolanews.blogspot.ca/2011/06/james-west-bails-on-his-pumpndump-dog.html
http://incakolanews.blogspot.ca/2011/05/so-why-isnt-bullshit-pumper-james-west.html
http://incakolanews.blogspot.ca/2011/03/what-mining-professional-thinks-of.html
http://incakolanews.blogspot.ca/2010/12/seafields-mgmt-team-didnt-get-james.html

UPDATE: Ok so I have the tricky trick here, apparently it's only the "dot ca" address that's been blocked and probaly because Jamesyboy doesn't want the truth about his bullshit pumping spread across his best sheepshearing zone. So if you want to read any of those links, just swap the "dot ca" for "dot com" and we're good to go. For example all these:

IKN has pissed off either Ian Park or James West...
Hey, remember when James West bullshitted the world about Seafield Resources (SFF.v)....
James West bails on his pump'n'dump dog Seafield (SFF.v) as well as 27 other juniors
So why isn't the bullshit pumper James West talking about Seafield Resources (SFF.v) any longer?
What a mining professional thinks of James West
Seafield's mgmt team didn't get James West's memo
Liberty Silver (LBSV) (LSL.to), from IKN179

UPDATE 2: Apparently all those inside Canada get re-directed from dot com to dot ca automatically, so those links don't work. However Nice Mr Anon below has provided a mirror, which stops the re-direct. click here for all the posts

U.S. Silver & Gold (USA.to) from IKN185

I was asked via mail of an opinion on U.S. Silver & Gold (USA.to) this morning and as 1) i'm feeling lazy and 2) my opinion hasn't changed since this was written in IKN185 dated November 18th, here's what was in that edition of the Weekly. By the way, at the time of writing USA.to was $2.07 and it's now trading at $1.90.

U.S. Silver & Gold (USA.to) quarter and further thoughts

I made mention of U.S. Silver and Gold (USA.to) last week, noted the subdued reaction the company received from anal ysts after its recent site tour beano, the late week drop in the share price and the upcoming 3q12 numbers. We got those numbers from USA.to on schedule Tuesday evening (19) and although we’re not going deeply into the company, here are just a couple of the generated charts from the numbers, further thoughts on what this company is trying to achieve and why I don’t think it’s a buy right now. Here’s the production schedule and 3q12 is now a composite total, featuring the 567,555 oz silver produced at the main Galena mine and then a silver equivalent from the 2,223 oz gold produced at the small-scale Drumlummon operation that came into the company via the RX Gold merger (we convert those gold ounces into AgEq at 1:50).

Next is cash cost on those AqEq ounces after by product credits (lead zinc and copper remain by-product credits, the Drumlummon gold is considered a co-product and not a by-product credit, so these two charts count the same beans and jive correctly). As we see, costs remain high and it’s one of the things addressed by USA.to management in the 3q12 conference call and the MD&A, with guidance for more efficient operations and lower cash costs for 4q12 (again we see a company promising a better 4q12, quite the habit this year). With average realized prices for silver under $28/oz for the quarter, profits remain thin and it’s the same story at USA.to as ever: This is a leveraged play on the metal, period. If you like the chances of silver going up to $35/oz and above, get on board this one for a high beta correlation and bigger wins than just playing SLV. If silver goes down however, you do too.

But it’s the final chart of the three I wanted to display here that’s got me thinking about what USA.to is today compared to the company its new management says it wants to be. The working capital position dropped considerably in the quarter and now stands at $22.2m as at end 3q12, which compares to $40.44m in 3q11. That’s a big drop, which was partially explained by the company as suffering from one-time fees connected with the RX Gold merger, but all the same it’s the absolute sum of cash USA.to has available that gives me pause. After all, that’s not much capex grunt with which it can execute its grand plans to be a 500,000 oz silver producer by 2015 and again indicates USA.to is planning on being a paper printer (or perhaps taking significant financial debt on board its financial structure) in order to fund its expansion plans.

Seriously, where else is the cash coming from? At its sweetest spot back in the first half of 2011 when cash costs were $18/oz and silver market prices were regularly $20/oz higher, USA returned net profits of $5m and $6m per quarter. Yes that’s useful money but even an optimum performance such as those (instead of the ongoing mediocrity of the last four quarters) isn’t going to add the type of cash USA would need for organic growth. I see USA.to disappointing its backers in one of two ways as this story develops; either it’s going to grow less quickly than the current aggressive plans portray, or it's going to dilute current holders and take away their projected upside. The company might well deliver on its plans and see its market cap growth as a result but if the share price stays in the same bracket as that happens, it’s only those who draw salaries from the structure who end up winning.

Are you telling me those fuckwits are formally trained???

I'm constantly impressed about the things I learn on Twitter. Take for example this tweet from the TMX account this morning that informed that...

The what? You mean there are schools for IR in Canada and the dumbasses with which I'm forced to interact* are formally trained professionals? My golly gosh, that one caught me from left field! Who'd have thought the arch incompetency of the average IR lackey is actually taught to them in a classroom? Who'd have imagined that the way they manage to hide the truth, only tell half the story or outright lie to you is a subject for exams and passing grades? Then on further investigation the blurb on the Institute front page got the giggles into full-blown howls:

"The Canadian Investor Relations Institute (CIRI) contributes to the transparency hahaha and integrity lmfao of the Canadian capital market by advancing the practice of investor relations, the professional competency oh-no-stoppit-it-hurts of its members and the stature (ow-fark-no-wait-system-overload-heart-attack) of the profession."

Ok ok, I may have slipped an extra word or two in there, but the rest is verbatim.

*With a couple of rare and notable exceptions

GMP pumping Rio Alto Mining (RIO.to) this morning

And here's how they're doing it below, a mailshot pumpo to clients. Note the use of bold type, exclamation marks, caplock etc. All good rahrah stuff.

Disclosure: I'm Long RIO.to (have been since 69c and have bought several times since then, for what it's worth) but what follows below is copypaste of the GMP note, not my opinion.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We had a nice little drubbing in the gold and gold equities recently so a few opportunities are available. Rio Alto (RIO-TSX) is the name I would buy here in the intermediate producer segment of the gold space on this pullback. Attached are our recent research notes on Rio Alto for your perusal.

GMP has BUY rating at C$8.00 TP which is upside of 63% from last trade of $4.90.

Here’s why:

Rio Alto checks all the boxes I’d want to see for investors in gold equities:

· Good mining jurisdiction (Peru, 18km from Barrick’s Laguna’s Norte project), with excellent infrastructure

· Simple project, straight forward metallurgy, less technically complex means – less chance of blowing up.

· Strong insider ownership of stock ...not just options....management owns about 9% of the stock.

· A track record of bringing mines on time on budget and surprising to the UPSIDE once in production.

· STRONG EXECUTION (for $100 million they brought La Arenas on first gold pour in 10 month after their EIA and it is now producing about 200k oz of gold!)

· Low cash (all in) costs of about mid $600/ oz that translates into a ~$1000 / oz EBITDA margin at current level!

· Ability to expand throughput on current assets that doesn’t require large capex spends (going from 24ktpd to 36k tpd by year end)

· Ability to FUND GROWTH THROUGH INTERNALLY GENERATED CASH FLOWS

· Big exploration upside on 27k ha land package that is generating a lot of targets on site that management is only now starting to address given the FCF generation.

Other reasons I care:

· Firstly, in the gold space, I want to own gold names that PRODUCE and are in the 100k – 1 million oz range that have simple “un-sexy” projects that can ramp up, expand and allow the companies to grow from a smaller base without the overhang of a massive capex given the state of the markets.

· My analyst, George Albino, just came back from a site visit at La Arenas and his main takeaway was that reserves will grow (2 years ago was ~600koz, 1.1 million currently) and we think by February, it will come in more like ~2 million oz so bottom line, La Arena could sustain the ~200k oz level of production before meaningfully trailing off that production level for probably 5-7 years instead of 3-4 years. Again, other assets will come on stream by 2015 -2016 but this keeps the “cash register” going stronger for longer and is the source of funding for all future development projects. This reinforces our view that there is mineralization and resource upside all over their land package to exploit.

· Rio Alto, at $1650 gold, will throw off ~$200 million in EBITDA, on a market cap of ~$800 million. Call it $120 million of FCF which is a 14.5% FCF yield! This is a CASH MACHINE.

· BALANCE SHEETs matter!! Rio Alto has NET CASH on balance sheet of $66 million and can use CF to fund development of La Colorada and the Cu/gold sulfide development projects.

· In English – Rio Alto is running at ~200k / oz of production in 2012 and is now a CASH MACHINE with low mid $600 all in cash costs and a $1000 ebitda margin and unlike a lot of gold names, RIO CAN SELF FINANCE GROWTH of their development projects which means NO DILUTION and gold leverage for shareholders.

· Think about this...If they don’t grow, at this run rate of about $200 million of EBITDA, they will equal their market cap in ~4 years!

· Blue sky – We think that with assets they have in hand, looking out 5 years I think they can grow from 200K oz/ to 400k oz (excluding any acquisitions) so all else equal, the company can double in size in 5 years without having to dilute, buy anything or stretch beyond the asset base they already have.

· Stock is not expensive – off metrics I understand like P/Cf and P/E, on consensus 2013 estimates, it is trading at 6.50X CF and 7.5x EPS

Switch Idea:

· For comparison purposes, or as a SWITCH idea, Alamos is a $2.2 billion market cap company that produces 200k oz and trades at 13.4x CF....whereas RIO is a $850 million market cap, produces 200k oz and trades at 6.5x CF! Cash costs at both companies are very similar as well....

Deutsche Bank: "Gold decline to be short-lived"

Here's the link to the five page PDF out today, November 29th. Here's the overview:

Overview

The next three weeks are set to be a volatile period for global markets as the ebb and flow of US fiscal cliff concerns threaten to introduce significant volatility to commodity markets. On our assumptions, we expect the US economy will avoid the fiscal cliff and tax and spending reform will be delayed. However, this will probably not be enough to avoid a downgrade in US Treasury debt Even so we would still view commodity price weakness as temporary given our expectation of a rebound in US and Chinese growth during 2013.

However, the correction in the gold price yesterday does not seem to be consistent with the fears towards the US fiscal cliff. We would expect such fears would be felt hardest on growth sensitive markets such as the S&P500 and silver yet these markets have been relatively unaffected particularly compared to gold. This would suggest that gold was probably reacting to specific gold flow selling. On this basis, we would see this weakness as temporary particularly since we would view the combination of a debt downgrade and the US avoiding the fiscal cliff as gold price bullish. Indeed events during August 2011 when US Treasury debt was downgraded proved to be unambiguously bullish for gold prices.

The latest EIA report affirmed the rapid rate of US oil production growth. US crude oil production averaged 6.8 mln bbl/day, up a whopping 954kbd YoY as of the week ending Nov 23rd. US domestic crude oil production YTD has averaged 6.3 mln bbl/day, up 678kbd. This rapid growth has been largely driven by shale oil production with North Dakota's Bakken field and the Eagle Ford play in Texas leading the trend. The prolific Bakken play has boosted North Dakota's production by 63% YoY or 245kbd on average in the first nine months of this year. Eagle Ford's shale oil production YTD (Jan-Aug) has averaged about 300kbd, up from just 120kbd last year on a full-year basis. Expectations are that US oil production growth will continue to rise robustly next year with the IEA projecting YoY growth of nearly 600kbd. However, we note that shale oil production may exceed expectations yet again next year as it did this year. The IEA's initial 2012 US oil production growth forecast, which was published in July 2011, was estimated to rise by just 50kbd. This was then revised up to 150kbd in the IEA's December 2011 report. However, this turned out to be a far cry from their current forecast of 840kbd. Though supply-disruption risk in the Middle East and Africa persist due to geopolitical issues, upside supply potential has also become a feature of the oil market thanks to the rapid development in US shale oil.

more here

Chart of the day is...

...President Juan Manuel Santos's approval ratings, according to Colombia pollster Ipsos/Napoleon Franco:

Now you know why Colombia stomps feet at The Hague. I translated the text on the chart into Eeengleeesh out of love. The original Ipsos results PDF is here and there's tons more data in it, all in Spanish (the above chart page 32). The headsup came from the fine country source Colombia Reports.

UPDATE: Yeah, there's a typo. Bite me.

11/28/12

Junior mining NR detail of the day goes to...

...QMX Gold Corporation, who in this NR feel it necessary to point out who didn't get any vig. Here's the screenshot for your dee lek tay shun:

My thanks to A. Reader for the headsup (you know who you are)

Catching up on High Desert Gold (HDG.v)

I took a lot of stick in my mailbox when writing on August 16th that High Desert Gold (HDG.v) was an "overhyped dog going nowhere fast". It was the type of stick from people who think they know better, too.

Strangely, they haven't followed up on their criticisms recently. Oh yeah, there's this:

dyodd, dude

IKN declaration on Colombia's decision to withdraw from the American Treaty on Pacific Settlement due to the decision of the Hague court that favoured Nicaragua

You fucking dumbasses.

A flash update...

...has just been sent to subscribers. Opportunity knocks.

Liberty Silver (LSL.to): O RLY?

NR here, paydirt here:

Messrs. John Barrington, Paul Haggis and William Tafuri are current directors who have chosen not to be nominated for re-election.

Chortle.

Mining PRs and the Ottotrans™, part 66

And here we jolly well are again, with the latest installment of our occasional series that attempts to take the gobbledegook spewed from the lips and fingertips of junior mining company IR departments and board executives and translate the offerings into what they're really trying to convey in plain English. Today's example is this NR out of International Tower Hill (ITH.to) (THM), owners of the big lowgrader gold thingy in the land of Palin. And we're pleased to have been to take the 619 words proferred up by ITH and condense the message down to a mere eight....that's entertainment.

This is what they wrote:

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Nov 28, 2012) - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. ("ITH" or the "Company") (ITH.TO)(NYSE MKT:THM)(FRANKFURT:IW9) is pleased to provide a Company and project update to the shareholders from the President and CEO, Donald C. Ewigleben."After my initial two months on the job, it is clear that ITH and the Livengood Gold Project have tremendous potential to generate significant shareholder value. The exceptionally large and strategically located Livengood gold deposit has a spectrum of development opportunities and ITH is focused on optimizing those opportunities to meet the challenges of today''s market. Livengood is truly a world class gold opportunity that we believe will be developed and ITH owns 100% of this quality asset. The development path for this deposit will be clearly defined by the ongoing metallurgical testwork and project optimization process, the results of which will be incorporated into the Feasibility Study (FS) scheduled for completion by mid-2013. During 2013, ITH will focus on:I. Determining of the most cost effective and achievable development path for the project, where the measured and indicated resources are 933 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.55 g/t gold (16.5 million contained ounces) at a 0.22 g/t gold cut-off (ITH NR11-13, August 23, 2011).II. Outlining a staged and integrated funding strategy for development of the project.III. Implementing an aggressive and achievable permitting strategy for the development plan.Path ForwardOne of ITH''s biggest strengths is its seasoned and highly experienced Alaskan development team which is driving the FS and optimization process. This team has a proven track record of success. ITH is in a solid financial position to execute its optimization strategy, complete the FS and begin the permitting process. The Company continues to broaden its scope of stakeholder engagement and enjoys a supportive and constructive relationship with surrounding communities and regulatory agencies which will be expanded during the permitting process. Key milestones for the Livengood project that have been achieved or will be by mid-2013 are:

Key land acquisitions have been completed to provide for maximum flexibility in the development of the project.

Finalization of a full spectrum of metallurgical studies inclusive of milling and heap leach studies. This work is nearly complete and results to date are encouraging.

Major site engineering and environmental work is largely complete, allowing for the design of various development options and the assessment of their impacts for permitting optimization.

Infrastructure and logistical assessment have been made for integration into the different development scenarios.

Initial contacts have been made on a number of potential project financing fronts inclusive of partnerships and sovereign fund investments.

Value DriversITH not only offers an unprecedented leverage to gold, currently trading at around $13 per contained measured and indicated ounce, but also the project is in one of the most stable mining jurisdictions on the planet. Its access to a well-developed infrastructure network, experienced development team and strong local support truly makes the project unique among the near-term, undeveloped, mega gold deposits still controlled 100% by a junior.In addition to adding value in an appreciating gold market, we believe ITH will add shareholder value as the project hits the key milestones of optimized development plan, defined permitting schedule, committed financing structure and, finally, development.In short, ITH has the necessary people, expertise and Alaska experience to move the Livengood Gold Project forward to a project construction decision and will, we believe, attract a strategic partner to help us take this world-class resource and build a world-class mine.I look forward to communicating with our shareholders and other investment community participants on a frequent and regular basis, and appreciate shareholder feedback."About International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.

And this is what it means:

"Can you please stop selling our stock now?"

Codelco: Trouble at mill

(oh no, what sort of trouble?)

Reports from Chile today that Codelco workers at Chuqi, Radomiro Tomic and Gaby have blocked mine access at the 7am shift changeover, with the picketers taking action as part of the current round of pay claims that include redundancy plans from management. and we can't have that, so it's time to close the mines.

If you have further questions don't ask me. I only came here to tell you there's trouble at mill and don't expect some sort of Spanish Inquisition.

Gold miners suck™

PM equity carnage continues, as metals sneeze and GDX/GDXJ rush to hospital with lungs full of blood and mucus. Gosh, you'd even suspect it were Canadian tax loss selling season, wouldn't you?

The ™ in the title is only there to rankle Iwnattos, btw.

Chart of the day is...

...one that shows the percentage of each LatAm country's population that lives in urban zones:

Venezuela, Argentina and Uruguay really pack them into the cities. The data and a whole lot more from this wonk's delight of a page over at the UN. H/T setty

Astur Gold (AST.v)

From what I can make out from the news reports, it seems the full day halt put on Astur Gold (AST.v) yesterday was due to the Asturias government handing down a ruling that approved the company EIA. That's good news for the company, but the wrinkle seems to be that the mill and tailings facility have been left out of the EIA approval which might be the cause of the long delay as the company tries to work out just what it needs to do to get those parts of the EIA approved, whether there's re-submission needed, any delays involved etc.

Anyway, let's see what AST has to say for itself when (if?) they NR us later today.

UPDATE: It took them til the afternoon, but here we go. Basically what was written above; permitted, but not fully permitted.

11/27/12

Peru's construction industry continues to kick butt

You can tell by the amount of cement they're using:

From here, with the October figures out yesterday.

Goldquest Mining (GQC.v): WWLD?*

We've already noticed how Louis Lobito Little Wolf James of Casey Research shamelessly pumps his godawful call Goldquest Mining (GQC.v) every time it gaps down on bad news. The chart on this previous post is all the evidence needed, with the big jags down in September and October immediately followed by some more Lobito tosh and nonsense about "buying op" or "average down".

So with the news out of GQC.v today causing this to happen to the stock price...

...(ouch) we'd expect another Louis James big double cheeseburger buy now while stocks last alert sent to his mouthbreathing flock anytime soon. After all, it's not as if this charlatan has the guts to admit an error, is it?

*what would lobito do?

It gets difficult to track how many times Trevali (TV.to) has bullshitted the market on commissioning of its Santander mine...

...but luckily for you, kind reader, IKN Nerve Centre™ has all the details :-)

Even if we leave out details such as the original fast track plan to have the thing running by 2008 and concentrate on recent history, it's still a tale of woe. As noted in this previous post:

In November 2011 the idea was to open the thing in Q1 2012. We laughed.

Then in February 2012 that was knocked back to "Q2 or Q3" 2012. We laughed again.

Then on September 12th 2012 TV told us that "commissioning is anticipated in the fourth quarter". We guffawed and yokked once more, finishing the post with, "So much for 3q12 start-up guys, now anyone fancy taking a bet on that 4q12 promise from the TV.to serial bullshit merchants?"

And oh looky here! What have we got today, folks?

"Trevali...reports that ongoing development at its Santander Zinc-Lead-Silver Mine in west-central Peru is in the final phase with initial mining and milling operations currently scheduled to commence in Q1-2013."

Cue owly:

And you gotta love how TV.to uses "On Track" in its headline, no? That's world class brass neck, but what else do we expect from world class bullshitters?

Peru gold production

Just playing about with data, numbers, things like that. Thinking how production and price affects things on a countrywide scale

Not much more than thinking out loud via some chartcandy, really. Overall I still think the weekend post on playing roulette for profit is more interesting.

Chart of the day is...

...the gold/platinum ratio, three years:

We last checked out this ratio just over a year ago, not long after it went above 1X, i.e. when gold got more expensive than platinum. Since then it's stayed that way (bar a quick dip last March) and confounded a whole bunch of soothsayers and anal ysts that spluttered and told us that it just wasn't right, wasn't natural and wouldn't stay that way. Just shows you what they know.

11/26/12

Why do good girls like bad boys?

Via David Agren, we read that Susana Flores Gómez, the 2012 Miss Sinaloa beauty context winner, was shot dead yesterday Sunday 25th November during a shoot.out between forces of law and order and suspected Mexico narcos.