Interview

End-of-summer travel delayed this report on Premium Exploration (TSX symbol: PEM) by a week, although we did issue an informal “buy” recommendation on the junior miner in the Rick’s Picks chat room a couple of weeks ago.  The Canadian-listed stock was trading for around 45 cents a share at the time but has since moved up as high as 57 cents, where it closed yesterday. Based on technical analysis, we’re projecting upside potential over the near term to 64 cents, or perhaps 67 cents if any higher. These projections have a horizon of about 2-3 weeks, but there are longer-term forces at work that augur still higher prices. Stock charts aside, we rate Premium’s shares a high-potential speculative bet for the long-term. The company is well managed under CEO Del Steiner, and its Idaho site has yielded some very impressive core samples so far: 5.75 grams per metric tonne (g/t) over 76 meters, 3.65 g/t over 74 meters, and more than 9 g/t over 25 meters.  Moreover, the larger structure from which these samples were taken is mostly unexplored. The Central Idaho gold region has already produced more than four million ounces of gold from mostly placer projects, but Premium’s site could conceivably double that figure over time. One reason investors are especially excited about the Orogrande fault zone is that it is geologically similar to Nevada’s Carlin Trend, which has produced more gold than any other mining district in the U.S. Spreading the Word We toured Premium’s central Idaho site on August 25 as guests of the company in an entourage that included such seasoned veterans of the precious metals world as radio host Al Korelin, Roger Wiegand, Sean Brodrick, Marshall Berol and Dan Pisenti.  All came away sufficiently impressed by Premium’s operations, most particularly at Friday-Petsite, to have

This weekend,  I appeared on Al Korelin's The Korelin Report, where we discussed the responsibility of government in the BP disaster.

Here is a link to video from my appearance on Max Keiser's On The Edge, where we talked about market making, high frequency trading, flash crashes, deflation and hyperinflation.

Here is the complete audio of my interview on The Korelin Report, where we discussed the implications of European bailout.

Is Gold's correction from the record highs of early December about to run out of steam? Rick sees some encouraging signs, which he discussed recently with Al Korelin.  Click here for the interview at Kitco.     

In the good old days, the price of gold could always be counted on to reflect the ebb and flow of geopolitical tensions. Nowadays, though, you wonder whether it would take a mushroom cloud over the Middle East, or the sinking of a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, to get a rise out of bullion.  This is the topic of my latest interview with Al Korelin at the Korelin report. Click here   to access it.

I’ve just returned from Mexico, where I was the guest of Aurcana Corp. (OTC: AUNFF), a Vancouver-based mining company. The firm owns the La Negra mine in Maconi, a small town about five hours by car from Mexico City, and the Shafter silver mine in Southwest Texas. Although this was my first underground tour, the group of eleven that I was with included some seasoned denizens of the precious-metals netherworld. There were mining-industry analysts and investors from Canada and the U.S., several bullion-oriented gurus from the newsletter world, and two radio-show hosts, Steve Carr and Al Korelin. It was Korelin who had invited me to join his entourage for a visit to La Negra, which produces commercially significant quantities of silver, copper, lead and zinc.  Although I’ve been a regular guest on Korelin’s widely syndicated radio show, the Korelin Report, which explores the precious-metals sector and its intersection with national and world news, the economy and geopolitics, my comments on bullion have been based mainly on technical analysis and the events of the day rather than on any special feel for the mining business. Curious to learn how companies extract profits from mountains of rock, I eagerly accepted Korelin’s invitation to join the group. I was just as curious to find out whether someone who knows relatively little about drill, blasting, core-sampling, mineralization levels and such could judge from a visit to a mine whether it offered good value for investors. Valuing the Stock My answer is a qualified yes, since this verdict comes from the gut rather than from an exhaustive study of the firm’s geological and financial history. As I learned from the tour, however, it is possible for an expert to make an educated guess concerning the potential value of a mine and to arrive at a

I'll be in Mexico City this week with Al Korelin and his entourage, looking at mining properties owned by Vancouver-based Aurcana Corp. In my absence, Doug "Harry" McLagan will be calling the shots, posting touts each night and updating intraday. I'll be looking in on things from time to time so that Harry won't have to fly solo for four days, and I will also try to put out a report on Aurcana while I'm gone. Have a profitable week!