EKMO

Wow! But I have no explaination. I bought at 5.8c and today, the options jumped by 7c. Within short while, it has gone up by nearly 4x. I don't claim to foresee this although I did expect a good return judging from what had been said about EKM new discovery.

Closing my account at a big broker

Why go with a big broker?

They don't go broke. No, not true; just look at what happened during the GFC.

They are involved with IPOs and capital raising so as a sophisticated investor, you get privileges. No, not true; I am too small and not worth the trouble most of the time. The only time I get an offer is when the big boys do not want the shares.

They shift a lot of volume. Sometimes, they could even encourage you to sell when a bigger client wants to buy. So they are not looking after the interest of the piddly guys like me.

They do a lot of detail research. True but they do nothing about those below the top ASX 200. When you look at performance, small cap is where you get spectacular returns... with higher risk of course. But if you have done your homework, then this is 'calculated' risk and not a gamble. While my self-managed portfolio plunged more than the portfolios with the big brokers, the recovery has spectacular too after GFC. Yes, far beyond the recovery of the blue chips.

A lot of people have been burnt after GFC and are reluctant to go back to the ASX. I have been burnt during 1987 Wall Street Crash, 1997 (I think) Asian Crisis and 2008 GFC. The lesson I learnt the most? Buy when the market is in the doldrums especially those stocks that have plunged but have not changed in character or are still profitable. Yes, that is my father's gene in me :-)

Makes me wonder why a small investor like me would want to deal with the big end of the town. I like Paterson as it seems to give some IPOs and placements to people like me. But the form to sign in as a client is hell! That is why I am still with CommSec. Soon, all my blue chips with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney will be under my management :-) I just have to arrange for them to be transferred from Issuer sponsored to CommSec.

EKMO

The CEO has been screaming loudly that the company has found a new area of gold. Minesite's Man in Oz has written a long article on this company, too. And further announcements at the ASX confirmed the new zone. Yet people were slow at jumping on the band wagon.

EKMO, the option, has gone from 5.8c to 16c in one month. I daren't top up because it has been rising so fast! Wish I had more cash at that time :-( Imagine you buy a house for 580,000 dollars and in a month you sell it for 1.6 million dollars. My readers might comprehend this comparison. Your spouse and lovers would be very happy.

And note that in EKM's presentation, AZX was shown to be cheaper so I bought it too. The options, AZXOA, has only gone up by a mere 20% in one month.

Never ignore West Africa.. and East Africa

Most of my West African stocks have gone positive but some are many times more positive. So which one is the laggard? BSR. Why? I do not know. But compared to the others, this is now the good value stock. Previous announcements are great but the management seems to do nothing much :-( Em.... Lots of patience is required when investing in companies like this.

Just a bit further away is East Africa. I bought AVA after attending a ProActive seminar in Aug/Sept this year purely because of large greenstone geology at its Kenyan tenement, not for its coal in Botswana. Bought at 9.7c, it has crept up to 15c within 2 months. Not bad for a speculative stock with nothing to show so far other than more hype.

http://imagesignal.comsec.com.au/asxdata/20101028/pdf/01114057.pdf

Veering towards Mongolia...

Overall, my portfolio has been down a few percentage points due to market downturn. But my general direction, "veering towards Mongolia" is correct. Market also behaves in a certain way which is very predictable, that is, when someone with a deep pocket moves into the registry, the other investors become instantly keen on that stock.

AKM is a coal explorer in Mongolia. With 'interest' from a much bigger company, Ivanhoe, it has sprung to life, far more than I anticipated. Bought at 14c, now 31.5c a month later. Investors don't seem to realize that Mongolia is next door to China. I am glad that geography is useful for investment!

The only Mongolian stock that has not moved much since I dabbled into 4 Mongolian stocks (HUN, VOR, AKM and GMM) listed on the ASX just recently is GMM. And this one is into potash. BHP wants potash so there will be 'movement' in GMM share price when people discover it had been looking for the hot stuff and found it in Mongolia.... and it is next door to China.

Actually, I knew about Mongolia a long time ago but the government was being very stupid until recently. The current president holds an MBA from Harvard if I am not mistaken. You cannot expect miners to develop your mineral wealth for charity sake. After awarding exploration rights, when minerals were discovered in huge quantities, the government changed the contracts and wanted to virtually nationalize the mines. So nothing happened for a long time while the miners wait for the dust to settle. And then Robin Bromby, the ASX Guru and a clever poster at Hotcopper came along to tell me what shares to buy. These are free tips! Anyone listening?

LRF

In 2008 and 2009, I stated that LRF is selling too far below its Net Tangible Asset value. If your neighbour's house is worth $1 million but he is selling to you for under $600,000, would you buy it? But if you sell it the next day, you will only get under $600,000. But if you wait, and let the market regains its senses, then in the future, you could benefit from buying it on the cheap.

Well, LRF is now worth 84.5c. I topped up in late 2008 and early 2009 for 45c. If you look at what this fund manager selects for its portfolio, you will be impressed. For some reasons, the market does not value its management skill. I am very appreciative. I think the market is starting to value this company as the share price has run up nicely recently.

The new "West Africa" - Mongolia

I don't know if anyone bought shares in Mongolian stocks.

First VOR, it has flown the coop. Perhaps you are too late. Gone over 100% in 1 month. I have already topped up once.

Now AKM. Another Mongolian stock bought nearly 20% of its shares. Who is this company? It has Robert Friedland's mark all over it. He owns Ivanhoe that discovered the huge copper mine in Mongolia and got RIO in (and now he has trouble with RIO!). So when Ivanhoe (a Canadian company) which owns that Mongolian stock that put in a lot of money into AKM was publicized, AKM went from strenth to strength. Now I have nearly 100% gain in under 1 month. Again I have to thank Robin Bromby for bringing this company to my attention. I paid under $2 for my copy of The Australian but his article is actually free on the Internet.

GMM has hardly moved since I bought. Is anyone listening?

While HUN has gone up only 10%.

These are the companies that I will top up, mostly GMM because it is in my super fund. The other one is in Cilla's portfolio which I manage, too but has less access to $$$$ :-(

CRC

Strange that after announcing a great new zone of gold yesterday... the share price fell today. Actually, it is not surprising. This is called market sentiment. My better half wants me to keep cash handy. So I won't top up my CRC just yet.

EKMO... and CRC

Wow! It has been telling the market that it has found a new area of gold.... so I bought the stock. And it has found more gold today.

Ah... the same for CRC!

Sometimes, you have to believe the CEOs... unlike that from CDU.

CGG

I bought CGG because I have made a profit in the past out of it after selling out. And then when the price came down, I bought it back. But why CGG? After Gail Kelly, the CEO is my most appealing woman in the stock market. If you are a woman, running after a company with its main asset in Saudi Arabia and you have to deal with Saudi men, you must be brilliant to be selected for the job.

And then look at its grades of copper! Today my CGG went up and I am on 50%+ profit.

ASX

I was going to buy a unit in the city but changed my mind when the share price of ASX fell. And I also suspected that the price of the apartment was manipulated. The bank undervalued it. That was my opportunity to retract from the contract. My cash down payment for the unit was going to be funded by ASX shares.

Today, ASX is subject to a takeover by the Singapore Stock Exchange. For me, it is great. My share price for ASX jumped by 20% and it means if successful, I can buy Singaporean shares. As usual, if you don't know what shares to buy, stick to the banks!

Blue chips versus "the nothings"

Towards the end of 2007, ASX was $60+, BHP around $40-45, CBA about $50-$55, QBE was over $32, WOW was over $30, RIO over $100, MQG over $100. The press is still full of bullshit about how great some fund managers are.

If I didn't top up my "nothings" which collapsed even more than those companies, I would have done very poorly. And quite a few have gone a few times over the pre-GFC prices. What pisses me off the most, is the fees those people get. And getting my patients fussing about paying over the schedule fees; luckily there are only a handful.

Financial advisors

Some people pay a lot for financial guidance. I have just withdrawn from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. They handle a huge amount of dough. However, what I have bought through them, with advice from a broker, have been mediocre. In fact, if I had followed every instructions by my broker, I would have been poorer.

While I am aware that my own self-managed portfolio is high risk, the performance has outweighed the risk factor. And if markets crumble around the world, then sentiment will affect my stocks adversely. When equity falls, gold is traditionally the safe haven. So why not invest in gold companies? That is, gold companies with gold in the ground.

MNC

This time, I am ahead of Diggers and Drillers. I read about MNC in Hotcopper and bought a small parcel because it was so cheap relative to what it has already found. As usual, no one is interested until a tipster comes along and say "Good value" "Buy! Buy! Buy!".

Hotcopper is free while D&D is not. I have cash with my super fund but my wife won't give me cash to spend on equity! That is why MNC is only a small parcel. But at least it is profitable!

Have a look at my posting in this blog on the 21st Sept 2010. I shall say it first "Told you so!!!!"

STB

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/10893/south-boulder-mines-confirms-significant-potash-deposit-in-east-africa-10893.html

http://www.comsec.com.au/Info_FrameSet.asp?Page=UserPS

I bought at its previous peak in June 2008. And after that I was much poorer for a long time. But Robin Bromby kept harping on its virtue with what it potential has. So I bought more late last year. Faith and patience has paid off and the company is proving up its worth by making great discoveries. The latest is potash in..... Eritrea! WTF is that! It is one of the poorest nations on earth and Aussies, who are not playing sports, turn up there! It does have one of the world's best fighting army though. Just ask the Ethiopians.

Today, my STB has gone up >4x. Why would I want to invest in more blue chips????? Imagine you buy a house in Vaucluse for 4 million dollars in mid 2009 and it is worth 17-18 million dollars today. I would get a Lexus 600 up model with a female chaffeur...

By the way, I don't know if anyone still follow LRF. No one wanted it! It is sprinting now...

Rare Earth Elements

This is the hot topic at the moment because China is cutting down on its export and claims its own supply will only last "that long". So dirty miners wanting to increase its share price have been announcing REE findings in their tenements.

Watch out! The share price might climb but it will fall. Why? The demand for REE is not that big and it costs a lot of money to establish an environmentally unfriendly plant. Yet these are "strategic" minerals for industrialized nations. Only those with big deposits with prospect for development are worth considering. The new piddly ones are like dotcom startups.

My LYC has gone up >3.5X, GBE and NTU from big loss to >50% gain, GGG is >2.5X, and even RSL (riding on the back of GBE, topped up recently) has gone up although I am still at a loss with it. I used to have ARU but sold when it had a bad announcement. What a pity!

VGMO

The options offered better entry into this company but it isn't gold that I am interested. It is phosphate. It has a lot of it but the market is total oblivious and uninterested. Good for me! It has gone up 34% and Commsec hasn't even taken my money as it isn't even 3 days since I bought it.

ABU

The Ferret said no big instos are interested in this yet the announcements speak for itself and there is a good chance that ABU could be a 5 million Au gold miner.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/10894/abm-resources-intersects-117m-at-135gt-gold-at-buccaneer-10894.html

When you see the thickness, you cannot believe the market sold it off!! Who is that idiotic seller??

So when share price is dwindling, I bought more.... twice at 3.5c. A broker has put its worth at 7c.

Contrarian

Today the ASX fell a lot and then slowly recovered some. Many people, especially those paid lots of money by investors in large funds, would sell. But would the fact that China raised its interest rate makes that huge a difference within one day? China still needs a huge amount of raw material to bring its nation to Western standard.

I must be one of the few buyers. It is a perk of a small investor to be able to indulge in contrarian activity. You used to be able to do shadow buying or selling, without owning any shares. In the long run, it is better to ban naked trading. I don't believe in CFD or naked trading. And I hate those big funds that borrow shares to trade because you don't know that they are just manipulating the market.

I nearly did some clothed trading today but I backed out. Why? Because hardly anyone is selling GTE. So if I sell, I won't be able to buy at a low price. I have no idea why GTE has gone up so much today when there is no announcement. That was why I thought of selling some GTE shares. I know of at least one of my readers who bought GTE when it was in the low 30's. I topped up when it went a lot lower. So presumably, he must felt lousy when it first went down by more than 20%. When I buy, if the share price falls further, quite often I buy some more because the reason for buying is the same and even more desirable!

The rise of the Chinese

In the 1970's, I could not get served in the duty free shops. Then the Japanese tourists starting coming. And almost overnight, I was given a lot of "mushi mushi" when I walked into any duty free shops. People even bow at me because I look like a Japanese tourist.

And now when the Chinese sneeze, Australia is getting the cold.

And today, with ASX catching the cold, I couldn't resist buying although I should have waiting one more day of falling share prices.

I attended a ProActive seminar yesterday. I have already got GGG and CTP. Both are expected to do well eventually. The only stock I had to get is SLR. So with a 3% fall in share price, I bought some. There is better gold grades the CEO thinks when they dig deeper...

The money parked at Citibank has come back to me so I have cash again but my smart wife wants me to keep more in cash :-(

GGG will be spectacular if the Greenland government allows uranium mining to go ahead. At the moment, it only looks "promising" as the region wants to be independent from Denmark.

Charts

Spent a little time this morning looking at the perfomance of my various portfolios. I have closed my Morgan Stanley Smith Barney account. Keeping the Goldman Sachs JB Were one in status quo as the fee is not based on valuation of the portfolio but on what I trade.

Looking at the charts of the major stocks over the last 12 months, it becomes very clear that the blue chips were just rumbling on but the exotic mining stocks were zooming around, mostly up. But over 3 years, most blue chips were also rumbling on but a lot of my speculative shares have plunged. What is amazing is if I had bought shares around late 2008 or early 2009, the performance have been spectacular.

I left my blue chips virtually untouched in the last 3 years; most transactions were due to share purchase plans or selling to realise capital or due to buybacks. What I bought were mostly miners with emphasis on West African miners. I had expected the blue chips to make a good recovery but in fact, it was the good quality small miners that help my portfolios move towards the peak of 2007. The ASX All Ords has plunged from a peak of 6000+ to below 5000 today. At least my superannuation portfolios have exceeded its 2007 valuation (helped a lot by new contributions and good choice of mining stocks). I have also jettisoned the bad mining companies but not all were rightful "jettisons". Among the 'bad mining companies', uranium stocks, oil explorers and geothermal companies stand out. And I lost a lot with Babcock and Brown.

Where do I go from here? More gold, REE, potash and Mongolian shares!

Markets retreating...

There have been lots of bad news from the USA. It has been enjoying the good life, courtesy of China. Then there is Greece and now the France. Lazy nations.

Luckily we are aligned with Asia for trading purposes. But this does not make us immune to European and American problems. It has been good for Wall Street in the last month but if the Fed does not start printing money in huge quantity, then the USA is going to run into further difficulty. But if it starts printing money, eventually, it will run into further problems too!

I think the Australian market is due for a correction. A lot of my recent purchases have run up in value and this is not sustainable. And the faster they rise, the quicker they fall. It is difficult to explain why they have gone up much faster. Perhaps good stock picking, perhaps luck. In the short term, it is difficult to attribute it to skill as much as I like to think it is purely because of my own research work.

AVB, SER and HUN/HEG and AZX/ EKM

My lack of alpha is for a good reason. AVB cannot go up indefinitely. It has landed back on earth. It is still much higher than when I bought it except for the last parcel.

But I just noticed this evening that SER has flown :-) This is a graphite miner. Graphite like REE, is controlled by China so the Japanese and Americans must be looking for alternative source. It is up 24% in under 10 days.

The news that I didn't like is capital raising by HUN and HEG. Too often it is a placement to the benefit of a few and certainly not in favour of the small shareholders.

When I read up about EKM, brought to my attention by Our Man in Oz, it highlighted that AZX is cheaper. I bought both options on 30.9.10 and both have rewarded me with nearly 50% jump.

Want a 'cheap' buy? Try TRF which owns a lot of ROL. The later is jumping while the former is sliding. Where is the logic?

Potash

http://www.mineweb.co.za/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page31?oid=112903&sn=Detail&pid=31

Great! It does not mention these Aussies which are exploring for potash; ELM, TRH nor GMM. Well, the first two have jumped but GMM is still hovering around my buy price. All these stocks were only bought within 2 months. I have already topped up TRH (which has moved up since) and GMM once each. ELM is $1 from 35c :-) I am looking for bargains.

Simple arithmetic

The price of gold is up. The price of oil is up. DJ Index is also up.

Against that is the AUD rising in value relative to USD... but this rise is smaller than that of gold and oil. That means the ASX will perform today.

Yesterday, AVB plunged by 20%. Rightly so, a stock cannot keep going up and up. It fell most likely because one director sold off half his stake to settle "tax issues"; you are talking about 15 million shares.

I sold CCCO which is producing coal in South Africa because I prefer to invest in Mongolia. This is much much nearer to China. And some of this coal is coking coal but luckily for Australia, the quality is not as good. Of course, SA coal can go to India and Europe... But I would be done better if I sold a month later. Still a profit is a profit, no matter how small or large.

TRH

http://www.rmresearch.com.au/wp-content/uploads/RMResearch_TRH_20101001.pdf

Here is an article on TRH. I didn't buy it for its Fe ore! But look inside and you will see a bit on potash and the companies in Australia involved with it. I used to own shares in RWD but I got rid of it because it could not get over Native Title claim. Note GMM being mentioned?

GMM

Sold off this and sold off that because the parcels are too small and hope for revival of those companies are remote. If anything is going to recover from GFC and by now if the main areas have been explored, then a company should have turned positive.

ELM has gone crazy while TRH has become decently positive. BHP's potash prey is still elusive. And BHP may have to increase the bidding price to secure the company, thereby increasing the value of other potash companies.

In the meantime, there is an Aussie company looking to exploit potash in Mongolia... which is near China if you are unaware of the geography. And not only potash but also lithium there, too. And a few uninteresting stuff in WA. So I moved all the 'dead wood' money into GMM.

ASX performance

Strange but the market is down by more than 50 points. Where is the logic other than profit taking? DJI up, POG steady, and AUD down a little.

Good news for me; my own portfolios are actually up, courtesy of the expected good news from AVB. But what gives me great delight today is GTE and TRH, up with no news. I bought TRH and ELM when BHP put in a bid in for Potash Corp of Saskatchewan to capitalise on market sentiment towards potash. ELM (from 35c to $1.05c) is in trading halt but I don't know why. I hope it is not for raising money via a placement. TRH has finally gone for a run itself these 2 days and I am onto nearly 50% profit.

I have no idea why GTE has been going up and up. I already know its good prospect (close to SFR's tenement and a larger anomaly).

I must be a fluke! Even my TAS is up to 13.5c (the SPP from last month was at 10c). Unfortunately, I don't have spare cash at the moment as it is a good day to buy Mongolian stocks. I have budgeted some money for SPPs for SGY and KAR. However, I have closed my Morgan Stanley Smith Barney account and expecting some cash to come my way very soon :-)

AVB

Trading halt yesterday, pending release of drill results.

So that means, either it is very bad or very good. As long as it is not due to "placement" which is horrible for the small investor. I will know tomorrow but based on 'visual inspection', I would say the grade will be high.

By the way, there is a lot more to explore in AVB tenements and so far it looks very promising for the other areas.

When SFR went from 5c (2008) to over $1, people thought that was it. Yesterday, it was over $7. It was on my radar when it was that low but I ignored a lot of the emails sent to me, at my request, by the company! Sometimes, gasmen are not that smart.... but I salvaged my reputation. I bought when it was under $2, sold the lot at $3.64 to create cash for the SPP at $3.20 and topped up during the Greek Crisis when, again with good announcement, the share price didn't move. Market never learns so I benefit! It is not courage but 'calculated risk'.

Mongolia

Australia, beware!

There is a new kid on the block.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/hidden-riches-in-mongolia-pose-big-challenges/story-e6frg9df-1225937444220

I am starting to pump money into Mongolian stocks. Currently I have HUN, AKM, VOR and GMM. VOR has doubled (within 2 weeks) while the rest are stagnant. The biggest is Ivanhoe but it is a US company in JV with RIO.

I also love Indonesia but ROL and SIH have gone up a lot. I read up on KRM (I have no share in it) this AM. It is very good but perhaps I have missed the boat.... so I will stay with Mongolia, ROL and SIH.

FAR

Not long ago, I invested in an O&G exploratory company called FAR. It is prospecting off the coast of West Africa, lastest in a JV with the richest man in UK, Mr L Mittal. Aunty Julia and Uncle Wayne do not live there. And the President of Senegal has approved of this company's activity which apparently means "everything go". But Senegal is not the most democratic country in the world and has only recently come out of terrible civil unrest.

It is appearing in the Australian Financial Review so I have great hope! Good publicity means better share price. For some reasons, people who control money in the city only read the AFR, otherwise, they are in the darkness. Thank God, I can sometimes see in the dark!

FAR is very high risk but can be extremely rewarding if it hits the tarry stuff. I used to invest in Hardman Resources but it got taken over. How sad! Because its faith in Uganda (more 1 billion barrels of oil discovered since) was confirmed. It has been credited with discovering oil in Uganda by the Ugandan government. Luckily I took up shares in Tullow together with some cash so I didn't lose out completely. Tullow has been very successful with its oil exploration projects. Aussies are very smart and intrepid explorers; I just wish they do less sports which is so unrewarding to most citizens on a personal basis.

ELM

I never anticipated that ELM would jump to 96c from 35c. This is luck. There is nothing in the news or announcement to explain it. I would have been happy with 15-20%.

But EKM has good news and the share price of EKMO fell! DRA has good grades and the share price lingers.

There is sometimes no logic to how the market behaves. And I have a big worry when my portfolio has risen so far ahead. There is too much irrationality.

But I do like it when AMX goes up... because of good grades with infill results. I can understand logic.

SER

China controls REE and Graphite. Japan had been on the receiving end recently of China's wrath. Next will be Norway!

My main REE company is Lynas Corp, now up 3.5X. I was 'foolish' enough to top up when few want it. Now Japan is going all out to get alternative REE... so LYC is a beneficiary and it is completing a processing plant in Malaysia. Having an REE deposit is one thing, processing it to individual components to specification is another when it comes to REE.

And guess what? My SER went down but I could not see for how long. The most recent Nobel prize for Physics is to draw out graphene from graphite. And sure enough, it reversed and I am into paper profit today. Anyone who want graphite will soon have to talk to SER.

MNC

I was at the ProActive talk on MHM but I chose to ignore the company even though it was rather attractive. Well, I missed an opportunity!

And now MNC. It is a hot topic at Hotcopper. Claimed to be better value than SFR because the market capitalisation is much cheaper. No change since I bought it but when the market re-prices it, then there will be 'movement'. Today it is at 24c.

DRA

At its worst during the GFC, it was down to 1.4c in November 2008, even with good announcements of gold find in Scandinavia, relatively stable gold price and low AUD. I paid 15.5c in 2007 for this company. No one wanted DRA but I won't dump it either. I topped up in 2009 and early 2010 at under 9c when nobody was interested in this company in spite of... good announcements, stable gold price and low AUD.

Do people learn from history? No. It was so simple to calculate the arithmetic. Moreover, DRA will start to pay a dividend soon. DRA for me, has swung from a >90% paper loss to >50% paper profit, most were bought after September 2009. Another lesson to learn is not to ignore or dump companies that are down, purely because of market sentiment.

The recent peak is 20c and it closed at 17c on Friday.

For a strange reason, it released a historical drilling results which was excellent but has the results just been discovered in the company cellar or did the board wait all this time to tell the market? I topped up again at 12c recently in early September 2010 because good news didn't move the share price; the share price jumped AFTER the release of the historical results. The implication is that more gold will be uncovered as more drilling is done.

AVB Prospectus from 2007

http://www.avancoresources.com/pdfs/ProspectusWithApplicationForm09Nov07.pdf

I just read the prospectus... only the first few pages. You wonder why Vale does not just take over this company. And why no one in Brazil took this company's tenements?

Normally, there is risk with exploration with any budding miner. But just look at known grades in the prospectus of the various sites. How could anyone have missed this AVB in the past? And now you understand why it is a 'ten bagger'. And going higher. Remember, SFR was worth only a few cents not that long ago.

Last Wednesday, I could only afford a smaller top up since the price has gone up and AVBOB provided better value for money than AVB.

US Employment figures

They are bad. Yet the stock market in the USA went up! Why? Because the government has to do something positive to get the jobless down.... and business is likely to be the beneficiary. When does a bad figure causes a fall and when does a bad figure causes a rise? That is beyond me. It does not matter as long as the SPI is up (22 points). However, this has no bearing at the end of Monday. The only good thing is the market indices didn't crash :-)

Multiplication effect

I made a huge profit out of AND. And I don't want Canadian shares from the current takeover. So I sold AND on the ASX. With the money.... I bought VOR, AVB, AUQ, MLX, MDA, GMM and very, very few loss-making stocks. And I got rid of MQG (short term non-performer) to make way for more mining stocks.

VOR has doubled and my star performer AVB has been a "ten bagger" (jumped 10x in value) within 2 months. The other named stocks have also risen significantly. I lost out on SER but I have patience. Wife is happy with me!

Phenomenal success

I have been extremely lucky lately but hardly anyone is interested in my blog. Or rather I don't think anyone actually follows my track.

AVB from 2.1c average to 18c, AVBOB from 7c average to 14c in under 2 months
VOR just gone 100% in under 10 days
ELM from 35 to 86c in under 2 months
BDR 25 to 46c in under 2 months
ORMO 12.1c to 20c in 8 days
EKMO 5.8c to 7.4c in 8 days


And most recent top-ups, SPP/entitlements have gone up a lot too, e.g., NTU from 16c to 31c, RMS 47c to 78c, DRA 12c to 17c in a month and 8c to 17c since Apr 2010, AMX, RIA, etc, etc.

Of course, I have my share of downs but generally these are not more than 5-10%. I recently bought SER at 5.4c and it has come down to 4.5c but when the market gets to understand graphite, this share will rise again... I hope.

In fact, so phenomenal that I have earned more than a quarter of my yearly income as an anaesthetist in the last 2 weeks, with only minimal contribution from blue chips. This rate of rise cannot possibly continue. Tomorrow, the USA will have to report bad employment figures to bring my success back to earth. It has to be realistic. At the moment, it is too surreal.

EKM

Our Man In OZ says a new district of gold has been conjured with gold "lines" running through it. The head of EKM said so too. So I bought the options. As usual, share price of the options fell first and now, within a week, I am at >25% paper profit.

When I read EKM presentation, it mentioned AZX where the value is even better! So I also bought AZXOA. No change as of today. That is good in my books because most shares do not jump for a while. In fact, most fall soon after I buy them.

Fund Manager's arrogance

A fund manager was quoted in the papers this AM as saying that investors are taking pure risk by investing in small resource companies. Lynas Corp was highlighted as jumping up in share price for nothing. Nothing? I don't think the manager was reading the business news. Chinese has curtailed export of its REE and refused to sell any to Japan. Americans are looking at REE as a strategic minerals and need alternative source. Lynas is going to be producing soon from a plant in Malaysia fed by the world richest REE deposit in WA.

And what is the risk if minerals are discovered if the price of minerals have not plunged? Oil is steadily moving up while gold has escalated. If these are risks, then all companies are at risk, including major industrials. The newspaper highlighted the poor performance of the market in general relative to the small resource stocks. Fund managers are not happy!

BDR

Among the first news from ASX this AM is BDR finding more gold. In spite of me raving about it before, I don't think any of my readers of my email notes even remember this company. I said that its tenement seems to be littered with gold and more results are coming and more drilling.

I have already made >50% in a short time... and this AM, the traders will be jumping into it. I can't buy more because this parcel is in my wife's name and she prefers not to spend all her cash on equity :-(

She is always right and that is why I am happily married.

RIA

Again, for a long while, since 2008, it was a loss for me. But you keep your cool and then...

The share purchase plan is at 30c per share, maximum $10000. So within a brief period, I am looking at nearly 100% profit for a company that has yet to hit the big oil. Today it is 57.5c.

Low Risk Investments

There are many factors but some are beyond your control, e.g., dishonest directors, market sentiment, political events, unexpected 'Black Swan" news.

But in the case of AUQ, a lot of the risks have been factored in while the price is low. Yet, few would invest until the domino effect is prominent. Just look at the run today after the assay results were announced. When they were drilling, the company was already confident about the mineral found.

The result is a >130% rise within 1 month. Who says investing for paper profit is difficult?

Oil and Gold

Oil price is up and gold price is up. AUD is down because the RBA has decided to keep interest rate unchanged. So where do you think gold and oil companies will go tomorrow? Not north, but North Pole. Of course, the Dow could collapse, etc, etc but everything being equal, tomorrow will be good for selling. But I am a hoarder and that includes my AVB and AUQ (until all the assay results are out).

AUQ

If anyone reads my postings, they would have bought AVB, VOR, etc... and AUQ.

If you have read AUQ's announcements, then you will realise that the risk element is already factored in the LOW share price. When experts drill the ground, they can inspect and tell what is the most likely mineral. Of course, they can be wrong. But they are MORE likely to be right.

The assay results should be out next week. I think this is another rerun of AVB.... Yes, it has already started today from 16c to 22.5c but for an 'acquisition' reason. Really?

SBL

http://imagesignal.comsec.com.au/asxdata/20100928/pdf/01102150.pdf

When you read the above, you will realise that it is not about SBL. But read carefully, and you will know why you should invest in SBL instead and then read SBL's presentation. SBL has hardly moved since I bought into it and the recent Entitlement issue is not heavily discounted at 2c.

Time to top up? Definitely. But Mongolia is now more exciting....

VOR

Wow! Look at the rise today. Someone with a deep pocket shares the same sentiment I have about Mongolia. I was happy when I made $1000 a few days later. Now I have made >100% profit. All within 8 days. Most big investors are happy with 20% a year.

Thank you RB!

ABU

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20101005/pdf/31sxzhpp8dlx7v.pdf

Have a look at this company. Read it yourself so that you make the judgment. And if you have sold recently, think about re-investing when the price is down.

Most explorations have been at less than 150m, yet a rich gold mine there found the best in the depth. Only 0.1% drilling has gone deep.

The new "West Africa" - Mongolia

Today, a company announced that it is applying for 4 tenements (excluding 1 already approved) and its share price went up by >25%. Note: it only "applied".

I have bought HUN, AKM, GMM and VOR not so long ago. Today, GMM and AKM just gone positive and VOR has leapt. If you feel left out, try HUN. It has been ignored.

Mongolia is going to trouble Australia's trade with China. Its labour cost is lower and there is the big proximity advantage. And the explorers are discovery more and more there.

FNT

There is a country, just north of Thursday Island. PNG. Aunty Julia and Uncle Wayne do not live there and not citizens there.

Again, ad nauseum, I have read FNT and find its announcements to be great but no one wants its shares. So I bought and it fell. So I bought some more when another good news appeared... and it fell further. At this stage, most of my readers would have lost faith. Not me.

This time around, the good news is well received... and I am in positive territory.

AVB

Strange that the ASX has not asked AVB to explain why its share price has performed a Poseidon. Today, I am not working because it is a NSW holiday. Yet, I am earning more than from giving anaesthetic. God lives in Brazil....

But who is this investor who is buying every share available. I sold at 7.4c the day after I bought at 4.9c. But I actually increased my holdings because I bought more options.

If the results from the first half of drilling can cause such a stir, what would the assays for the second half do? It went up to 17c but has fallen back to 15c. I am selling some at 21c.... to recover my capital cost and to indulge myself.

Gold near Tropicana

I used to own shares in IGO but I got rid of it for a profit to buy others.

Near Tropicana is EKM and what a good write up recently. And when I was reading EKM presentation, on one chart to display value, I notice one company had lower EV than EKM in Sept 2010. That was AZX. So I read up on it.... and it has good gold grades and looks promising but it has already run hard. Then I saw the options so I could get more shares and pay the other bit later. It was so difficult to resist! I did get rid of a non-performing miner and replaced it with AZX. Sometimes, I do lose but it is nice to clear off some deadwood.

Will gold lose its shine? China is investing in it.....

I can tell you that tin is not losing its lustre! My MLX has already jumped >30% within a fortnight. And SRZ recently announced a Tasmanian discovery. Em.... just look at its trend over 3 years.

AVB

Is there another Alan Bond around? My AVB has gone from near 2c to 11.5c on Friday within 2 months with just 2 good announcements - grade of copper (plus superficiality and thickness) and Vale induction payment. I feel quesy as I am reluctant to sell. Will that be a mistake, not to sell?

No, because only half the drilling results have been announced and only one area has been drilled. The other half has visible copper containing compounds; assay results available soon. The other anomaly within the same tenement and another nearby tenement have been assessed as having high grade copper in the soil/rock samples but yet to be drilled. These tenements are not far from the world biggest Fe ore mine. If Vale is committing itself to AVB, it must know something.

Will AVB go up higher? I have already made a real gain of nearly $2500 within one day by selling one parcel. But I spent it on buying its options which has nearly doubled in value in about 2 weeks.