Top ten most prolific gold mines in history

http://www.cmi-gold-silver.com/blog/10-most-prolific-gold-fields-in-the-world/

Worth reading just for fun.

Note that the largest one was discovered in South Africa by..... an Aussie!!!!!! And the biggest in Australia was discovered by an Irish man, Paddy Hannan.

PIR PIROA

When PIR announced a lousy JORC compliant resource, the market took an axe to its share price. Like all past bad JORC compliant resource announcements, the share price will continue to tumble until value is re-established or new strikes are made with further drilling.

I sold PIR at the start of my holiday after the plunge at 43.5c. On Friday close, it was 34.5c. I don't think those idiotic sellers are aware that directors are BUYING this week! That means the trough has been reached intuitively or the directors could be buying to shore up confidence in the explorer.

I bought back my PIR but as 2012 options, ie PIROA at 16.5c. Now I will sit back and wait to see whether I had been an idiotic buyer!

Note my most recent posting on POG and the rise of AUD. AUD cannot rise forever at this rate.

POG and AUD rise

POG is USD$1563 per oz this AM and AUD has risen to USD$1.096. That is, the price of gold has risen higher than the rise of AUD against the USD yesterday.

While in the past fortnight when I cannot connect to my blogspot in China (probably censored), the POG has risen slower than the AUD. Good for expenses in China but bad for the ASX.

All currencies tied to the USD are actually benefiting for trading purposes. This includes the MYR and RMB. It is awful for Australia which trades its major commodities in USD. This explains why the resource sector has been badly hit. So, my wife might as well spend while we were in China and Malaysia!

SIH

While AUD is climbing up against other currencies, at least the price of gold is going up as well... but not as fast. What is beyond comprehension is why are gold miners tumbling?

SIH has decent gold in Indonesia and uncovering more as it drills, yet its share price has stagnant. Today, it has a fund manager accumulating its share. But there are so many idiotic sellers! These are idiots because there is no bad news. I can understand why PIR fell but SIH?

Don't get me wrong. I love this type of sellers! I have no need to sell under pressure.

PIROA

I put a low buy price for PIROA. Recently, I sold my ordinary shares in PIR for a nice profit but kept the PIROA options. Retrospectively, if I had sold earlier, the profit would have been a lot sweeter. The JORC compliant resource was below market expectations but this was incomplete. There is more exploration to be done.

This week's market has been horrible because of the surging AUD. All are commodities are priced in USD so the profit is going to be badly affected.

But at the close of market on the previous 2 trading sessions, the directors are topping up. So who are the idiots selling? Directors can buy to deceive the market or they can buy because they know what is value from the inside. Which is which? So now I have

China

It has clammed down on Facebook and Blogspot to stop mass activation of its citizen. This is my first entry since I entered China. And Cilla can't communicate through Facebook while we were there.

The exchange rate was very favorable but it is not good for the Australian economy and it explains why the ASX performance has been bad.

POG and AUD

The POG is up at USD$1494 per oz. While AUD has fallen back a little bit.

But share prices for most of my gold miners have dropped today. I sold a small parcel AMX and GRY recently because of military unrest in Burkina Faso. Today, I put a low price for both and regained what I sold for about 20% less. Who knows what will happen next? If POG is up and AUD is down, then in theory, gold miners should prosper. But share markets do not follow logic in the short term, especially for explorers.

I got rid of PIR with the intention of buying back some when it has fallen to $6.01.

Bad day

There was trouble in Burkina Faso with gunshots in the capital. Welcome to Africa! I sold a small parcel of GRY and AMX each. Good move but they will rise in time.

And then some investors don't like the JORC compliant resource announcement by PIR so it was marked down severely. But that announcement is not final and does not include all its tenements. Still, when a major shareholder(s) decides to dump, the share price often plunges... and then recovers.

And GTE must be one of the best trading stocks around. It has been yoyoing but it is too tiring to trade for me.

And lots of bargain stocks I have bought recently are not seen as value yet. So patience is a great virtue in the market. But look at the price of gold!

RFE

How does the board price the SPP? This one was priced at 32c. I have already applied for the maximum. The closing date is in early May.

On Friday, it closed at 55c. Basically if you have only a few shares but have a spare $15000, you have made a huge profit. But if you have millions of shares, the rise is diluted by your pre-existing stock or if you don't have any cash or only a small amount of cash available, you can only watch from the sidelines. Life can be tough for the extremely rich and the poor.

It is nice to be in the best band of shareholders for a change! But you can be sure nothing is as sweet as it seems. When the SPP profit is so good, often you don't get all you applied for. But I did strike it lucky with AZH last month (SPP = 19c, currently 34c). I received the maximum amount for both portfolio :-) but my wife has already spent the profit off her portfolio :-(

POG at USD$1487 per oz

While Price Of Gold keeps going up and up, the gold explorers and producers are not keeping pace. I keep my eyes out for bargain buys. When gold has been discovered and valued so cheaply by the market, it is irresistible to me.

As usual, after you buy any of these cheap stocks, you may have to wear some losses because it is nearly impossible to pick the trough. There will always be another value investor like me but with a much bigger budget. This is the person or group of investors to look forward to AFTER you have bought the shares.

Luckily the rise in POG is bigger than the rise in AUD$. And the price of oil is also moving up.

Cheap gold mines

We sold all our original TLS to the SF. With the cash, I bought the FML SPP and PXG. I also sold my MCO which I don't think will rise spectacularly anymore to buy OYM

http://www.minesite.com/nc/minews/singlenews/article/by-the-end-of-this-year-olympus-pacific-will-have-two-mines-and-two-process-plants-in-vietnam-and/1.html

http://imagesignal.comsec.com.au/asxdata/20110412/pdf/01170371.pdf

When I saw how cheap the EV/OzAu is, I rushed in to buy them. One of them has gold in the ground at under $20/oz. Can you do simple arithmetic? OYM will be producing gold this month but it has a chequered history.

AZH

I have 2 parcels of AZH, in my wife's name and my super fund. I only applied for the lesser amount of SPP for each of the parcel. Then when it made another good announcement, quickly I applied for the full amount of SPP for both parcels. It was at 19c. In just over 3 weeks, it is up by nearly 80% to 34c!

This is easier than giving gas.

Is this luck or skill? Well, it is both. The research that I have read suggests that Guyana was linked to the West Africa if you subscribe to the Continental Drift theory. So if you find gold in one area and the geology is similar, then you will find gold and oil in the other region, even though it is now separated by the Atlantic Ocean. So I am just lucky!

I can bet no one bought AZH among my readers! Alamak! Mama Mia!

GORO

GORO has been leapfrogging a few time last week. Why? There is nothing new. Perhaps someone with a deep pocket is heeding its old announcements that it has discovered a major gold region.

Today, the rise in GORO is higher than the original buy price I paid for September 2010 when it was EKMO.

Potash - ELM GMM TRH STB

Are any of my readers still reading? The hottest item this year is potash. Or rather POTASH for those who can't read small prints. There have been enough postings on this issue by me this year.

http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20110414/pdf/41y1cxbp94d2d1.pdf

First, it was STB (up >12x), then ELM (up 6x) and now TRH (up 4x). Only STB was bought more than 9 months ago. Just read that link and you will realize why the share price for TRH has been leapfrogging, repeatedly. And it won't be plateauing either if that article is true. So much potash for so little and it is IN the USA. In fact, the jump today for TRH is double my average buy price, bought in Aug 2010 and Sep 2010.

If I am BHP's CEO, ELM, STB and TRH are the companies to take over.

GMM has recently started to rise too. I have topped it up many times, but the share price kept falling until only recently. Now it has gone into the green zone. Every time you eat, just remember potash was used to fertilize the food (non-meat). That simple, and you are competing with the Chinese and Indians for that vital K element.

Stupidity in the market

So much movement is based on results on one day. Tomorrow because one financial institution has reported good earning, Dow Jones Index is expected to go up. Based on just one set of banking result.

And then tomorrow a set of bad result from another company from another sector, the financial institutions move the price down.

The worst thing is many, many, many people are paying these managers to look after their money. And lots of these f$#*&% id*&^%$s make heaps of money for themselves just by moving the money around. And lots of these investors and f$##$%^ id*&@#$%s complain when they have to pay a few dollars out of their pockets to their GPs, or a few more dollars to their specialists.

PXG

I was reading ABU's presentation. I noticed on its EV/OzAu bar chart that PXG's gold is only worth less than $5/OzAu. Is this really correct? Of course, with such value for money, I put a but on PXG. I don't have much cash so if this transaction goes through, I would have to sell something on the same day. The options have a premium, so I will leave them alone.

ABU

http://imagesignal.comsec.com.au/asxdata/20110412/pdf/01170371.pdf

When you look at the grade, thickness, shallowness and the fact that the mineral at Buccaneer is in one lump, you wonder why it is still so cheap. The edges of the main deposit has not been defined yet.

If you are reading, try not to buy so that I have less competition! I don't have much spare cash at the moment.

LEI

When I was deciding whether to sell LEI, this is what I used to calculate. If a company keeps winning large contracts but the dividend is not increasing, then something is wrong. So I sold.

In other words, if you are working hard and you are not making a big profit, then you are working for pittance or someone is pilfering your money.

This is where simple arithmetic works so well. I have dumped LEI before the recent revaluation of the company was performed by the market. I only made a small profit but at least I didn't make a loss. No need to go to university to do an accounting degree; primary school arithmetic is good enough. My late father used to say "dividend is king" (but (Wal) King of LEI gave poor dividends). He only went to school for 2 years. Wal King was paid more than $10 million a year to stuff up a big company.

RFE

In 2007 when I first owned shares in RFE, it sounded wonderful. All the hype and all the promises. Then it went pear-shaped during the GFC but suddenly it started to scale up a cliff. I sold it then in June 2009 for a 50% profit but missed the peak. Never regret any profit even if it is not maximal.

Then in Sept 2010, I bought into it again at 45c because of a sharp rise in its reserve but the market ignored that announcement. It never lived up to any of its promises until recently. How can a stock exploring for shale gas not perform? Well, someone heard my thoughts. It is climbing again. And because I sold a huge chunk of AGO, I was able to participate in full for the SPP at 32c.

Those who are in the same shoes as me, make sure you buy as the current share price is over 50c. SPP benefits the small shareholders for a change. But often you won't get as many shares as you applied for.

SBL

Entitlements will expire on 15-4-2011 so for those who own the rights, don't forget to pay. This is a stock that the market is not crazy about even though it is in West Africa. Yes, volatile but thrilling. And even when it has discovered magnesium, the market is indifferent to it.

AUQ

AUQ was spun off from SRK which I used to own shares in, at 25c in 2007. No, I didn't participate in the IPO. I got a teeny weeny in-specie distribution that will cost me almost more to sell off. When it started announcing good finding in its new tenement, I bought into it at about 13c in Sept 2010. The Arabs don't only get oil from Allah, they are also endowed with minerals. There is copper in Oman.

The word took a long time to reach other investors. It is now worth 40c a share.

The stocks I bought in Aug to Oct 2010 are some of my best performing stocks with many rising over 100%. About that time, I switched from emailing to blogging. My emails were probably like spams so it is 'kinder' to post them and leave them to be read voluntarily than cluttering up people's inboxes. Glad that not many readers read my blog and certainly less act on my tips! Otherwise, I have to compete with my readers. And if stocks don't perform as envisaged, at least I don't have to put up with spouses who are upset at the losses! Strange that I never have to put up with spouses' disappointment when partners missed out on the big rises. E.g ELM up > 600% since Aug 2010 and will be expected to go up much further if my assessment is correct.

GTE

Bought it a long time ago for less than 10c a share. And throw in some options, bought at 0.1c a piece, then you can see that GTE has been one of my better performing stocks.

Better still, I bought at IPO, got in specie distributions, bought all the entitlements and topped up when hardly anyone wanted the shares. At 53c now, I have made a huge profit from GTE. All this paper gain without any JORC-compliant resource. But there is great expectation. It means it can drop to nothing overnight, too.

I got some GTE free after the IPO. It was spun off another share of mine, URA. URA is almost dead but looked like there was a second life until the Japanese decided to cook a few nuclear power plant with salt water and pump failure. While URA is a net loss, the profit from GTE has more than covered for it.

CAP

http://imagesignal.comsec.com.au/asxdata/20110323/pdf/01164454.pdf

AGO owns about 8% of CAP. CAP was spun off from GIR. I have 2 parcels of this stock. When Fe was discovered near Broken Hill, the share price went up and up. Since then, I rarely look at this stock because I don't usually want to buy stocks that I have "missed".

Suddenly, I noticed in Hotcopper, there were posters suggesting that it is now good value again. There are many projects of good value and it has lots of cash, probably from a JV partner. Because it has skilfully signed up partners (to pay for expenses!), the cost to CAP has been kept low.

The best thing is the share price has been creeping downwards. I am still on >180% profit, after investing in 2007, 2008 and 2010. So it looks like it is time to reinvest. The 2008 parcels were in-specie distribution from GIR. How nice!

This stock has been a loss for a long time until Fe was discovered and now there is coal in Queensland, Sn and W near Broken Hill and a lot more prospect.

In Hotcopper, someone also posted about financial problems for its JV partner. Em... maybe that is why the share price has been falling.

New Engine

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42460541/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/

If this is true, then the oil industry would not like it but it is better in the long run for humanity. As I was watching it, I was thinking why Australia put so much energy into sport, and why our universities churn out so many lawyers and accountants. For prosperity and progress, you need engineers, engineers and more engineers. DEFINITELY NOT SPORTSMEN.

Price of gold and oil

AUD$1 is now worth USD$1.05 and MYR$3.19.

POG is USD$1476 and POO is USD$113.

Wall Street does not like uncertainty in Washington.

So unless there is a resolution in the USA stalemate, the ASX is going to go down on Monday. But I hold a lot of hopes for my stocks in spite of the sentiment. Why worry when POG and POO are up?

My bigger worry is Japan. Henry Ford once said that you can have any colour for your Ford as long as it is black. Now Ford America is saying that you can have any colour as long as it is NOT black. Why? The black pigment comes from Japan. Eventually, the markets around the world will realize that Japan is an extremely important economic zone. And it is undergoing a nuclear decay!

GTE

Still going up! I took my small parcel off the market today because I was working and didn't want it to go cheaply. Just as well. It went higher than my sell price.

The truth is there is no reason why the share price should be rising and rising. The profit is extremely sweet but I will have to check out next week whether to still sell the small parcel.

My suspicion now is the drillers can see the grades of the recently drilling near SFR's tenement. And they have been telling their relatives and mates. So it must be inside information. This of course, is very wrong and very unfair advantage. But how do you prove it?

MEI

Whenever a company put out an announcement that is bad, it gets hammered. That applies also to stupid drilling, bad drilling, poorly considered drilling, wrong rig for the job (not deep enough, not tough enough), drilling in the wrong place, drilling at the edges, drilling at spots known to be peripheral, etc.

So MEI acknowledged its problem but it never recovered and was sold down. So I bought! Wish me luck when the right area and depth are drilled.

KRL

Em... it announced a huge jump to its JORC-compliant resources. But its share price only moved a little. Why? Don't ask me how irrational investors can be. All I want is the opportunity to buy on the cheap! Unfortunately, I have a lot of SPPs and entitlements to buy.

LYC

This has been performing incredibly well. But just remember that for a LONG LONG time, I was nurturing a loss. There was a time when it almost went bankrupt, then almost got taken over by a Chinese firm which was functioning like a vulture, to turn at the last minute and then it kept going as scripted when I first bought it. I am glad I didn't panic.

AZH GORO

These two stocks went ballistic today. If you use D&D for the tip, you would have to pay for the subscription and pay HIGHER than if you had followed me for free.

My 2 parcels of AZH have gone up by >60% and >150%, bulk of them bought within the last 5 months. GORO was up >350% within 7 months.

Why would you want to buy AZH and GORO according to D&D? Well, exactly the same reasons why I suggested you should buy them! When recommendation is free, it is not worth following!

Many bad news

European financial miseries, Japan got another shake, US government paralysed, Australian government behaving like Cuba, Middle East unrest, DJI falling...

In the midst of all that, the price of oil and gold are up. It is not going to be a good day at the markets but at least my oil and gold stocks are not going to suffer as much. Sentiment is always more important than logic in the short term.

For me, it is a good day to buy but I will wait unless there is a bargain.

3 gold stocks

A famous stock tipster put out 3 recommendations today for sub-50c gold stocks. I knew all three but only done research work on 2. Best of all, I was ahead by at least 6 months. So mine were bought a lot cheaper.

With AZH, I bought below SPP in the past and also got the lot when I participated in the most recent SPP. I was only going to buy half the right, then changed my mind and bought the lot. I am entitled to 2 parcels and took up both. It has gone from 19c (SPP) to 25c within a week.

And GOR? Well, if you have been reading my postings, you cannot miss AZH nor GOR. And you even got the explanation why you should buy them. But people would pay lots of money to hear from tipsters but ignore THE gasman! At least RB, Hotcopper, Proactive, Minesite, MineWeb and ASX Guru are free.

Proactive Investors One2One Investor Forum

I went yesterday. There are 3 stocks that I like. The fifth is not worth talking about. The fourth? ABU provides better value and greater prospect.

YTC will be producing copper in 2 years and gold in 1 in NSW. The grades now are good. I sold when one set of drilling result was too mediocre. So I might have to buy back into this stock.

SRZ has cheap tin; cheaper than any of the other tin stocks I own.

SHH was presented by 2 Indians. Don't get me wrong. I have no bias against them. In fact, it is the other way around. For an Indian to present about mining in Australia, they have to be brilliant guys. He is the chairman of an ASX-listed entity, while the other older guy helped discovered some of Fe ore deposits in the Pilbara. It was not easy to understand as both have strong accent. Looks like the Fe ore in Tasmania is going to be easy to mine, easy to transport and easy to sell. But the quantity is small. However, as the mining gets deeper, the quality gets better. So I am on the lookout for a cheaper share price before I enter.

The slim presenter of the event has nice long legs and buttocks (accentuated by high heels), and a good looking face...

Burkina Faso... unrest

All these Third World countries...

Aussies are very active in Burkina Faso. But lately, there has been a spurt of irrational military activies, most uncivil behaviour against civilians. The stability in West Africa is all relative and volatile; there one moment and next, civil war or ethnic killing.

So today, I sold a small parcel of GRY and AMX each. I intend to reuse the cash to top up when the share price falls. Most likely that fall due to the unrest has already been factored into the share price as it is not recent news but recently highlighted by RB. He is my Numbero Uno guru.

EDE

Brilliant Aussie technology but the market has already forgotten its achievement. So after my top up, the share price has been falling and falling and falling. But this is the kind of stock I keep a close watch. If it continues its downhill ride, I would want to pick up more. Because my earlier parcel was bought at a much cheaper price, I am still in the green zone in CommSec.

I often wonder why investors' strategy is so bizarre with memory of achievement by a company (technological or geological) fading for no good reason. While bemoaning the falling share price, I am also delighted that I can buy much more cheaply... when I am not under pressure to sell.

GTE

Other than starting to drill near SFR's tenement, there is no spectacular announcement recently. So why is the share price moving up?

Again, it is either due to inside information from drillers or someone who is a speculative investor. There is no way of telling. Even the ASX would find it difficult and expensive to explore. Only if beneficiaries of inside informative are too greedy AND stupid, then they can be uncovered.

In the meantime, I would do nothing or... only sell a small parcel.

ABU

While I am tempted to sell as the share price has moved up again, it is more logical to accumulate. That is my long term strategy but in the short term, ABU has been a good trading stock for those adventurous enough.

It has 1.67 million oz of gold resource and worth around $90-100 million today. Hence, from an EV/AuOz value, it is pretty cheap. Best is the fact that the exploration has not been completed yet. When you look at the grades and thickness, and the fact that the "single" deposit comes up to the surface, you wonder why ABU is still so cheap. It is not in funny country but in Tanami Desert, NT.

One smart reader of mine has been making a trading profit out of ABU and re-bought it. I have had a few cups of coffee, with compliments from him.

http://imagesignal.comsec.com.au/asxdata/20110322/pdf/01163977.pdf

Ahead of well-known tipsters

When you are ahead of a well-known tipster, you know you have done your research well and EARLIER than them.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/the-good-oil-on-bakken-barrels/story-e6frg9ex-1226032927816

RB has given me a lot of insight into resource stocks. There are many Aussie companies there and he has only highlighted a few. I don't need to pick up new stocks as my SSN and SGY are doing well. And RFE is raising capital, too.

DRA has not stopped making good announcements but the rise in share price has been relatively sluggish each time or even none at all. How do investors value a gold miner that is producing?

And then there is KGL. I got the opportunity to talk to the CEO not long ago. The halt in the development of the mine is for a good reason and RB explained why there is a delay. The CEO told me that the government is very keen to get the mine going to generate revenue and to impress the world that it is open for business and mining. Best of all, the local people are also keen on it because of the potential rise in income.

I don't own all the shale gas/oil explorers in RB's article but I have already made good profit out of SSN, KGL and DRA. The latter two should do a lot better in the longer term.

SGY

For a long time, I had been harbouring a big loss because I bought at 30c pre-GFC. In 2010, it fell to around 9c. I bought because of a good announcement. So it had given me a lot of misery surrounded by good announcements! Just before the SPP was announced, I topped up at 5c. The SPP was at 4.5c so that top-up was bad timing. But I bought the full entitlement with the SPP. So now, I am onto >60% profit after today's great announcement.

I am glad I know how to keep my faith with some companies!

ELM

I had already knew ELM's JORC compliant resource estimate is going to be phenomenal. Why? Unless Wayne Mcrae is running the company, you usually believe the honesty of the drilling results announced by a company.

When the resource estimate was announced, ELM shot up. But why do people wait? I have already topped up ELM when it was low so I am happy. The ordinary shares are up 8x and the options are up 3x. This is a great stock that I picked. And I can say none of my reader bought any. Sad considering how many postings I made on ELM. Imagine you bought a house for $500,000 and within a year, it becomes $4 million.

Now the next time the share price jumps, it will be because of a takeover. With so much potash, what is BHP waiting for?

Buy Australia

Australia on the cheap. Don't just buy one company, take two! No, take more! The Yanks (Goldman Sachs) wants GSJBWere, SGX wants ASX, and two Chinese companies are attempting to take over 2 miners.

I have held EQN for a long time, knowing a bid will come. But at C$7 a share, the Chinese hasn't learnt how to make a successful unsolicited takeover. Minmetal is actually run by an Aussie. I also owned CGG which was taken over by EQN last year.

Want to know another company that is going to be taken over? Read my other note...

IMA

http://www.minesite.com/nc/minews/singlenews/article/that-was-the-week-that-was-in-australia-b01d46bbf4/80.html?tx_ttnews[swords]=our%20man%20in%20oz&cHash=326e3ba036

The Man started with zircon at the preamble and finished with zircon at the end of his report. Yet, he did not mention IMA once. This stock has had a unpredictable ride but I have read a report suggesting it has a lot more zircon than ILU in WA. And it has zircon in the Eucla Basin too.

Obviously, IMA does not subscribe to Minesite!

I reckon if you are looking for value but not short term jump, this IMA would have to be high on your priority. It is so cheap relative to all its great announcements. Someday, some big boys will just have to take notice of it. Or ILU will need its resources to feed its mill. It has just spun off PWN and will make heaps out of it too. And Singaporean and Malaysian interest are popping into its share registry.

Potash - ELM GMM TRH STB

Potash is going to make me a lot of dough. For such a small investment, they have all raced away recently.

Once upon a time, I was lamenting why no one wants GMM. But why should I lament? If few people like it, I do! So I have topped up 5 times. Now it is nearly 40% over my average buy price.

That is my worst performing potash stock. TRH is up >160%, ELM is up 5x and STB is up 13X. Only STB was bought more than a year ago.

The best news is there is more potash to be discovered for all of them. RWD looks like it will race away tomorrow because it has finally TALKed to the natives. The board seemed not to realize that you need to compensate with a bigger profit. So I sold a long time ago but I might look at buying back!

Good values stocks in my portfolios

The price of gold is still high... and so in the price of tin and oil (both in record territory). While oil is not at its peak, it is the highest over the last 2 years.

My tin stocks have not done well because their mineral is IN the ground and not yet sold in ingots. But the news of their drilling results are all good. There are MLX, VMS and KAS. To me, these are good value because the price of tin is expected to go even higher.

There is or are some very stupid sellers in BSR. You have got to love them! Meanwhile, I have identified two cheap EV/OzAu entities but neither of them have performed in the last week. There are MAT and VKA.

My oil and gas explorers are all over the place. The USA will soon muscle into Australian gas market as new technology opens up more gas fields onshore. Those in Central Australia are moving up but some explorers elsewhere have different directions. When a big gas resource is uncovered in the middle of Australia, you would start to think that the whole country is floating on a gas cushion!

I didn't expect to get all the AZH SPP shares I applied for at 19c. The current price at 24c will fall as profit takers move in. And I am still waiting to hear how I fare with PWN (Potash West, a potash spin off from IMA) and LTX (Lithex, a tin explorer spin off from STB). In theory, these two should give stag profit but I am there for the long haul. If you don't have priority allocation, don't bother participating. In fact, PWN closed early because it was over-subscribed. And so did AZH.

Anyone with shares in BHP in their retirement or super portfolio would be "stupid" not to take up the buyback for its substantial tax benefit. It closes soon so get a move on!

BDR

I first bought BDR in Aug 2010 at 25c, based on an ASX announcement. Because the share price hardly dipped, I didn't buy anymore. But in Jan 2011, after another good announcement, with the share price stagnant, I topped up... at last, at 86c. Initially, it appeared to be a mistake from a market perspective. The share price dipped and for 2 months, it hardly went over my last buy price. Yet it continued to produce great drilling results.

And then recently, it started to rise again after the major Japanese earthquake, tsunami and nuclear catastrophe. When you look at announcement like http://imagesignal.comsec.com.au/asxdata/20110323/pdf/01164393.pdf you wonder why the share price hasn't gone up higher still!

Capital raisings

So many stocks needing cash but which one to buy?

JRV is near its market price and for a strange reason, the market is totally uninterested in its scandium deposit ("world-class").

FNT is optimistic about its prospect and if you don't buy into the SPP, then you have problem with dilution.

LYC is racing ahead with its REE business. And the share price is still climbing.

RFE? Never heard of it? Well, if you are looking for shale gas in the USA at the moment, there is hope.

SBL has entitlements so it is more affordable and it too has great prospect.

There are more but I can't recall at the moment. I sold a huge chunk of AGO recently so I have some cash but not enough to fund all the SPPs and entitlements to the max. There is the impending BHP buyback, too which will generate some cash. Compared to good small caps, BHP is a laggard mainly because of its size. If it makes too much money, the government wants to stick its nose into the company's coffer. And the company can smell Bob Brown's fart too. The small caps are less obvious.