BLAINE, WA, June 30 /CNW/ - Century Mining Corporation (CMM: TSX-V) today announced that its operations in Peru have not been affected by a nationwide strike and other labor issues reported in the media.
Century further stated that it maintains generally good working relationships with the workforce at the Company's San Juan Gold Mine, and that it does not anticipate operations at San Juan to be affected by labor issues in Peru.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Updated e-mail address for R. Campoy
A little birdy told me that he has a difference address, and he did not get the original e-mails. Not that it matters anymore given that the Nine Cent lady is still in charge (she is not quite as powerful and famous as Fiffy Cent, but hey, she is Nine Cent). Excuse my attempt at humour, but what else can you say about a $.09 stock and no action by the BOD.
Anyway, people should maybe send a copy of their original e-mail to the address below. I can't guarantee this one will work either, but it has a better chance I think. I still haven't been able to come up with the e-mail address for Mark A. Lettes so perhaps people can ask Ricardo to forward their respective e-mail to Mr. Lettes (if he doesn't mind).
rmcampoy@gmail.com
It's the same as last time, but it has an "r" in front.
Anyway, people should maybe send a copy of their original e-mail to the address below. I can't guarantee this one will work either, but it has a better chance I think. I still haven't been able to come up with the e-mail address for Mark A. Lettes so perhaps people can ask Ricardo to forward their respective e-mail to Mr. Lettes (if he doesn't mind).
rmcampoy@gmail.com
It's the same as last time, but it has an "r" in front.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Wega sales for June 19'08
A total of 752,000 Century shares were sold on that day, and Wega ended up selling 643,000 of those shares (now filed on SEDI).
This is similar to what Carib stated we might see (based on the RBC sales for that day). Since June 19'08, the RBC sales have not been as prominent, but Canaccord sales have continued to be strong (I believe). If the Canaccord sales represent the Q4'07 buyers of those Scion shares then you would think that they would have run out of ammunition by now. It's somewhat of a mystery. It makes you wonder if Wega has found a way to sell through Canaccord, and then be able to bypass or delay insider/SEDI filings for those Canaccord sales. I really have absolutely no idea what's happening on this front. If the Canaccord sellers do not have immediate filing requirements then it may be a while until we put the pieces together. There are no filings from Scion.
This is similar to what Carib stated we might see (based on the RBC sales for that day). Since June 19'08, the RBC sales have not been as prominent, but Canaccord sales have continued to be strong (I believe). If the Canaccord sales represent the Q4'07 buyers of those Scion shares then you would think that they would have run out of ammunition by now. It's somewhat of a mystery. It makes you wonder if Wega has found a way to sell through Canaccord, and then be able to bypass or delay insider/SEDI filings for those Canaccord sales. I really have absolutely no idea what's happening on this front. If the Canaccord sellers do not have immediate filing requirements then it may be a while until we put the pieces together. There are no filings from Scion.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
The power of shareholders (example of hope)
From another company. Please see comment section (in a minute).
Any last minute votes?
Great letters guys!
My guess is that blog voters voting to "withhold" is closer to 11 million shares. If we were to add the 11M to the 8.3M for Scion and the 22M for Wega, we would get 41.3M.
That essentially means that we already know that 25% of outstandings shares have been voted to not re-elect Margaret Kent as a Director of Century Mining. Those are only the shares we are award of. I would find it hard to believe that the people holding the other 75% of o/s shares are happy right now.
As it stands, yes, I would say that 25% is a solid protest vote (even though the final number may end up being substantially higher, due to votes from people we are not award of).
My guess is that blog voters voting to "withhold" is closer to 11 million shares. If we were to add the 11M to the 8.3M for Scion and the 22M for Wega, we would get 41.3M.
That essentially means that we already know that 25% of outstandings shares have been voted to not re-elect Margaret Kent as a Director of Century Mining. Those are only the shares we are award of. I would find it hard to believe that the people holding the other 75% of o/s shares are happy right now.
As it stands, yes, I would say that 25% is a solid protest vote (even though the final number may end up being substantially higher, due to votes from people we are not award of).
Letter to independent directors
Dear Independent Directors,
Re: Corporate Management of CMM
I am writing to you in your capacity as an Independent Director of CMM. As a successful corporate executive in your own right, I am sure you are familiar with the fiduciary obligations of independent corporate directors. I hope you will exercise those obligations appropriately at CMM's Annual Meeting later this week.
I am a retired Canadian, and unfortunately I can't afford to attend the AGM. My wife and I have significant shareholdings in CMM. We invested in CMM because of the original corporate vision articulated by CEO Ms Kent, and the fact that a successful merchant banking firm, Endevour Mining Capital, provided a significant part of the start-up capital. Endevour also had board representation at that time.
Unfortunately, Endevour is long gone, and Ms Kent's vision turned into one disaster after another. She seemd to have lost all her credibility with unfulfilled promises, and poor judgements (as indicated by her ill-advised adventures in Peru, such as Shahiundo, Rosario De Belen, & Algamarca, plus the foolish attempt to take over Sulliden). These blunders cost the corporate treasury several million dollars; funds which should have been spent on the Lamaque project. Now the Company is probably teetering on the edge of bankruptcy in a gold bull market.
These are the reasons why we have voted to withhold our support from curent Management. If we were the only shareholders holding these views I'd grin and bear it. But I am sure we are notthe only ones. That is why I firmly believe that you and your fellow directors need to select a new CEO. This is in the interest of not only the shareholders but also the Company's survival. The Company can no longer afford Ms Kent's ongoing mistakes and stay in business.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Re: Corporate Management of CMM
I am writing to you in your capacity as an Independent Director of CMM. As a successful corporate executive in your own right, I am sure you are familiar with the fiduciary obligations of independent corporate directors. I hope you will exercise those obligations appropriately at CMM's Annual Meeting later this week.
I am a retired Canadian, and unfortunately I can't afford to attend the AGM. My wife and I have significant shareholdings in CMM. We invested in CMM because of the original corporate vision articulated by CEO Ms Kent, and the fact that a successful merchant banking firm, Endevour Mining Capital, provided a significant part of the start-up capital. Endevour also had board representation at that time.
Unfortunately, Endevour is long gone, and Ms Kent's vision turned into one disaster after another. She seemd to have lost all her credibility with unfulfilled promises, and poor judgements (as indicated by her ill-advised adventures in Peru, such as Shahiundo, Rosario De Belen, & Algamarca, plus the foolish attempt to take over Sulliden). These blunders cost the corporate treasury several million dollars; funds which should have been spent on the Lamaque project. Now the Company is probably teetering on the edge of bankruptcy in a gold bull market.
These are the reasons why we have voted to withhold our support from curent Management. If we were the only shareholders holding these views I'd grin and bear it. But I am sure we are notthe only ones. That is why I firmly believe that you and your fellow directors need to select a new CEO. This is in the interest of not only the shareholders but also the Company's survival. The Company can no longer afford Ms Kent's ongoing mistakes and stay in business.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
CMM Reports 2007 Full Year Financial Results
I will try to post the NR in the comment section.
M. Kent: "Our recent share price decline has come from repeated program sales from a significant shareholder who has declined to work with management to move its block of stock. As long as this block overhangs the market, it will continue to cause pressure on the market price of the stock. The management team is working aggressively to introduce the company to new potential shareholders that will assist in stabilizing this situation. We ask that our existing shareholders remain patient during this difficult time and understand that the company has significant value in its assets and reserve and resource ounces."
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2008/24/c7469.html
M. Kent: "Our recent share price decline has come from repeated program sales from a significant shareholder who has declined to work with management to move its block of stock. As long as this block overhangs the market, it will continue to cause pressure on the market price of the stock. The management team is working aggressively to introduce the company to new potential shareholders that will assist in stabilizing this situation. We ask that our existing shareholders remain patient during this difficult time and understand that the company has significant value in its assets and reserve and resource ounces."
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2008/24/c7469.html
2007 Year-End Financials
Believe it or not, both the 2007 audited financial statements and the MD & A have been filed at Sedar.
Total loss for 2007 was $48 million, including all writedowns for Sigma, Rosario de Belen, Shahuindo and Huancacancha properties, deferred stripping, mining equipment and hedging losses.
I'll see if I can post the documents in the Information Links.
Total loss for 2007 was $48 million, including all writedowns for Sigma, Rosario de Belen, Shahuindo and Huancacancha properties, deferred stripping, mining equipment and hedging losses.
I'll see if I can post the documents in the Information Links.
Board of Directors --- On Notice!
Century Mining Board of Directors,
Ross F. Burns, Vice President Exploration, Director,
William J.V. Sheridan, Secretary, Director,
Allen V. Ambrose, Director,
Honorable Donald Macdonald, Director,
Ricardo M.Campoy, Director,
Mark A Lettes, Director,
Today I write to you with an abundance of disdain. I have been a share holder for the almost 3 years. I was brought into the Century family by people that I have great trust in their ability to see a company that is undervalued. As we can see today, a company can have many many ounces of gold in the ground, but if the general market does not identify with management, we as share holders will never see a share price that best represents what Century has.
I could spend ample time and space talking about missing projections on a too regular basis, not filing paper work on a timely basis, not applying for the appropriate permits, not filing financials on time, spending too much money on ventures that have litigation attached to them and then dropping them, not meeting promises, not meeting the promise to "under promise, over deliver" (an almost quote from a past C.C.), and just really not looking after your share holders, so I will stop right now and talk to you directly.
Every public company states at their AGM's that they are trying to create share holder value. I distinctly remember leaving your AGM in Toronto 2 years ago thinking this company is going to 'Rock', using a term my daughter likes to use. I left that meeting thinking long term, this company is going to be successful. This leads me to the following question. Who in the company is looking after my share holder value? It certainly is not management. My only hope is that the Board of Directors, behaves like a Board of Directors, and changes the way this company is running.
In my work place if a manager ran his department in such a way as Century has been run, he would be kicking stones down the highway. In my work place any bonuses or wage increases would be dependant upon results. In Century's case, there has been only negative results. I will quote Senator John McCain in the US when he says that Corporate leadership renumeration should be based solely upon results, and that is coming from a Republican!
Since it seems that this years AGM has been moved to the west coast, and held at a time that to me looks like it was meant to create very little share holder interest in attending, I would ask that the Board of Directors do what is required of them, under proper corporate governance and institute changes in the management structure, starting with top. The market does not approve of the way Century is being run by our current CEO and her management team and therefore we have a .10 cent share price, and we are a producing gold company!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought I would give you a few prompts, as to what a real Board of Directors should be doing.
1. General
The primary responsibility of the Board of Directors of the Corporation (the "Board") is to
provide governance and stewardship to the Corporation.
The Board will appoint a competent executive management team to run the day-to-day
operations of the Corporation and will oversee and supervise the management of the business of
the Corporation by that team. The Board will oversee the Corporation’s systems of corporate
governance and financial reporting and controls to ensure that the Corporation reports adequate
and fair financial information to shareholders and engages in ethical and legal corporate conduct.
2. Appointment and Supervision of Management
The Board will:
• Appoint the Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and other senior officers
comprising the senior management team ("SMT"), provide them with advice and
counsel and monitor the performance of the CEO against a set of mutually agreed
corporate objectives directed at maximizing shareholder value and approve CEO
compensation.
3. Strategic Planning, Risk Management
The Board will:
• Maintain a strategic planning process and review and approve annually a
corporate strategic plan and vision which takes into account, among other things,
the opportunities and risks of the business on a long-term and short-term basis.
• Review and approve management’s strategic and operational plans to ensure they
are consistent with the corporate vision.
• Monitor the Corporation’s performance against both short-term and long-term
strategic plans and annual performance objectives.
• Confirm that a management system is in place to identify the principal risks to the
Corporation and its business and that appropriate procedures are in place to
monitor and mitigate those risks.
• Confirm that management processes are in place to address and comply with
applicable regulatory, corporate, securities and other compliance matters.
• Confirm that processes are in place to comply with the Corporation’s by-laws,
Codes of Conduct, all recognition orders and exemption orders issued in respect
of the Corporation by applicable securities regulatory authorities, and all other
significant policies and procedures.
5. Shareholder Communication
The Board will:
• Confirm that management has established a system for effective corporate
communications including processes for consistent, transparent, regular and
timely public disclosure.
• Determine appropriate criteria against which to evaluate corporate performance
against shareholder expectations and confirm that the Corporation has a system in
place to receive feedback from shareholders
6. Corporate Governance
The Board will:
• Establish an appropriate system of corporate governance including practices to
permit the Board to function independently of management and non-independent
directors.
8. The Chair of the Board
The Chair of the Board reports to the Board and shareholders and provides leadership to the
Board in matters relating to the effective execution of all Board responsibilities and works with
the CEO and SMT to ensure that the organization fulfils its responsibilities to stakeholders
including shareholders, employees, customers, governments and the public. The Chair of the
Board will be a director other than the CEO.
The Chair of the Board will:
• Provide effective leadership so that the Board can function independently of
management by ensuring that the Board meets regularly without management and
non-independent directors, and that the Board may engage outside advisors as
required subject to any approvals determined by the Board.
• Establish procedures to govern the Board’s work including:
- together with the corporate secretary, scheduling meetings of the Board
and its committees;
- chairing all meetings of the Board;
- encouraging full participation, stimulating debate, facilitating consensus
and ensuring clarity regarding decision-making;
- developing the agenda for Board meetings with input from other Board
members and management;
- together with the corporate secretary, ensuring proper and timely
information is delivered to the Board;
- ensuring that the Board has appropriate administrative support; and
- addressing complaints, questions and concerns regarding Board matters.
• Ensure the Board fully exercises its responsibilities and duties and complies with
applicable governance and other policies.
• Meet or communicate regularly with the CEO regarding corporate governance
matters, corporate performance and feedback from Board members.
• Act as a liaison between the Board and management.
• Serve as advisor to the CEO and other officers.
• Together with the Board’s Governance Committee, establish appropriate
committee structures, including the assignment of Board members and the
appointment of committee chairs.
• Ensure that adequate orientation and ongoing training programs are in place for
Board members.
• Together with the Board’s Governance Committee, establish performance criteria
for the Board and for individual Board members and coordinate the evaluation of
performance and reporting against these criteria.
• Work with the Board or appropriate Board committee to establish performance
criteria for the CEO and to facilitate the evaluation of the CEO’s performance.
• Work with the Board’s Governance Committee to establish and manage a
succession program for the CEO’s position.
• Oversee matters relating to shareholder relations and chair meetings of the
shareholders.
• Work with the CEO to represent the Corporation to external stakeholders
including shareholders, the investment community, governments and
communities.
The Chair of the Board’s performance will be measured against the following key metrics:
• The effectiveness with which the Board functions, including satisfaction of Board
members regarding the functioning of the Board.
• The extent to which the Corporation carries out its responsibilities to
shareholders, employees, customers, governments, and the public.
• The quality of communications between the Board and management, including
satisfaction of members of management and Board members regarding this
communication.
9. The Chief Executive Officer
The CEO is accountable to the Board for achieving corporate goals and objectives within
specified limitations and in accordance with the CEO’s performance objectives determined
annually by the Board.
The CEO will:
• Provide worldwide vision and leadership for the Corporation.
• Develop and recommend corporate strategies, and business and financial plans for
the approval of the Board.
• Execute the corporate strategy to achieve profitable growth and maximize
shareholder value for the Corporation’s shareholders.
• Manage the business operations in accordance with the strategic direction
approved by the Board and within operational policies as determined by the
Board, including, as applicable:
Protecting the core business of the Corporation,
Extending the Corporation’s pre-eminent position in the Canadian
exchange space, and
Examining selective opportunities to expand outside Canada.
• Challenge management to set and achieve viable annual and long-term strategic
and financial goals.
• Monitor the performance of management against a set of agreed corporate
objectives directed at maximizing shareholder value.
• Recommend appropriate rewards and incentives for management.
• Report information from management to the Board in a manner and time so that
the Board may effectively monitor and evaluate corporate (operational and
financial) performance against stated objectives and within executive limitations.
• Report to the Board on relevant trends, anticipated media and analyst coverage,
material external or internal changes, and any changes in the assumptions upon
which any Board decision or approval has previously been made.
• Advise the Board if, in the CEO’s opinion, the Board is not in compliance with its
own policies, or legal and/or regulatory requirements.
• Provide the Board with all information and access that the Board may require in
order to make fully-informed decisions.
• Report in a timely manner any actual or anticipated non-compliance with any
Board approved policy or decision.
I can only hope that you are able to perform your 'fiduciary duty' and start Century on the path of once again becoming a mid tier gold producer.
Sincerely,
Mike Bested
Ross F. Burns, Vice President Exploration, Director,
William J.V. Sheridan, Secretary, Director,
Allen V. Ambrose, Director,
Honorable Donald Macdonald, Director,
Ricardo M.Campoy, Director,
Mark A Lettes, Director,
Today I write to you with an abundance of disdain. I have been a share holder for the almost 3 years. I was brought into the Century family by people that I have great trust in their ability to see a company that is undervalued. As we can see today, a company can have many many ounces of gold in the ground, but if the general market does not identify with management, we as share holders will never see a share price that best represents what Century has.
I could spend ample time and space talking about missing projections on a too regular basis, not filing paper work on a timely basis, not applying for the appropriate permits, not filing financials on time, spending too much money on ventures that have litigation attached to them and then dropping them, not meeting promises, not meeting the promise to "under promise, over deliver" (an almost quote from a past C.C.), and just really not looking after your share holders, so I will stop right now and talk to you directly.
Every public company states at their AGM's that they are trying to create share holder value. I distinctly remember leaving your AGM in Toronto 2 years ago thinking this company is going to 'Rock', using a term my daughter likes to use. I left that meeting thinking long term, this company is going to be successful. This leads me to the following question. Who in the company is looking after my share holder value? It certainly is not management. My only hope is that the Board of Directors, behaves like a Board of Directors, and changes the way this company is running.
In my work place if a manager ran his department in such a way as Century has been run, he would be kicking stones down the highway. In my work place any bonuses or wage increases would be dependant upon results. In Century's case, there has been only negative results. I will quote Senator John McCain in the US when he says that Corporate leadership renumeration should be based solely upon results, and that is coming from a Republican!
Since it seems that this years AGM has been moved to the west coast, and held at a time that to me looks like it was meant to create very little share holder interest in attending, I would ask that the Board of Directors do what is required of them, under proper corporate governance and institute changes in the management structure, starting with top. The market does not approve of the way Century is being run by our current CEO and her management team and therefore we have a .10 cent share price, and we are a producing gold company!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought I would give you a few prompts, as to what a real Board of Directors should be doing.
1. General
The primary responsibility of the Board of Directors of the Corporation (the "Board") is to
provide governance and stewardship to the Corporation.
The Board will appoint a competent executive management team to run the day-to-day
operations of the Corporation and will oversee and supervise the management of the business of
the Corporation by that team. The Board will oversee the Corporation’s systems of corporate
governance and financial reporting and controls to ensure that the Corporation reports adequate
and fair financial information to shareholders and engages in ethical and legal corporate conduct.
2. Appointment and Supervision of Management
The Board will:
• Appoint the Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and other senior officers
comprising the senior management team ("SMT"), provide them with advice and
counsel and monitor the performance of the CEO against a set of mutually agreed
corporate objectives directed at maximizing shareholder value and approve CEO
compensation.
3. Strategic Planning, Risk Management
The Board will:
• Maintain a strategic planning process and review and approve annually a
corporate strategic plan and vision which takes into account, among other things,
the opportunities and risks of the business on a long-term and short-term basis.
• Review and approve management’s strategic and operational plans to ensure they
are consistent with the corporate vision.
• Monitor the Corporation’s performance against both short-term and long-term
strategic plans and annual performance objectives.
• Confirm that a management system is in place to identify the principal risks to the
Corporation and its business and that appropriate procedures are in place to
monitor and mitigate those risks.
• Confirm that management processes are in place to address and comply with
applicable regulatory, corporate, securities and other compliance matters.
• Confirm that processes are in place to comply with the Corporation’s by-laws,
Codes of Conduct, all recognition orders and exemption orders issued in respect
of the Corporation by applicable securities regulatory authorities, and all other
significant policies and procedures.
5. Shareholder Communication
The Board will:
• Confirm that management has established a system for effective corporate
communications including processes for consistent, transparent, regular and
timely public disclosure.
• Determine appropriate criteria against which to evaluate corporate performance
against shareholder expectations and confirm that the Corporation has a system in
place to receive feedback from shareholders
6. Corporate Governance
The Board will:
• Establish an appropriate system of corporate governance including practices to
permit the Board to function independently of management and non-independent
directors.
8. The Chair of the Board
The Chair of the Board reports to the Board and shareholders and provides leadership to the
Board in matters relating to the effective execution of all Board responsibilities and works with
the CEO and SMT to ensure that the organization fulfils its responsibilities to stakeholders
including shareholders, employees, customers, governments and the public. The Chair of the
Board will be a director other than the CEO.
The Chair of the Board will:
• Provide effective leadership so that the Board can function independently of
management by ensuring that the Board meets regularly without management and
non-independent directors, and that the Board may engage outside advisors as
required subject to any approvals determined by the Board.
• Establish procedures to govern the Board’s work including:
- together with the corporate secretary, scheduling meetings of the Board
and its committees;
- chairing all meetings of the Board;
- encouraging full participation, stimulating debate, facilitating consensus
and ensuring clarity regarding decision-making;
- developing the agenda for Board meetings with input from other Board
members and management;
- together with the corporate secretary, ensuring proper and timely
information is delivered to the Board;
- ensuring that the Board has appropriate administrative support; and
- addressing complaints, questions and concerns regarding Board matters.
• Ensure the Board fully exercises its responsibilities and duties and complies with
applicable governance and other policies.
• Meet or communicate regularly with the CEO regarding corporate governance
matters, corporate performance and feedback from Board members.
• Act as a liaison between the Board and management.
• Serve as advisor to the CEO and other officers.
• Together with the Board’s Governance Committee, establish appropriate
committee structures, including the assignment of Board members and the
appointment of committee chairs.
• Ensure that adequate orientation and ongoing training programs are in place for
Board members.
• Together with the Board’s Governance Committee, establish performance criteria
for the Board and for individual Board members and coordinate the evaluation of
performance and reporting against these criteria.
• Work with the Board or appropriate Board committee to establish performance
criteria for the CEO and to facilitate the evaluation of the CEO’s performance.
• Work with the Board’s Governance Committee to establish and manage a
succession program for the CEO’s position.
• Oversee matters relating to shareholder relations and chair meetings of the
shareholders.
• Work with the CEO to represent the Corporation to external stakeholders
including shareholders, the investment community, governments and
communities.
The Chair of the Board’s performance will be measured against the following key metrics:
• The effectiveness with which the Board functions, including satisfaction of Board
members regarding the functioning of the Board.
• The extent to which the Corporation carries out its responsibilities to
shareholders, employees, customers, governments, and the public.
• The quality of communications between the Board and management, including
satisfaction of members of management and Board members regarding this
communication.
9. The Chief Executive Officer
The CEO is accountable to the Board for achieving corporate goals and objectives within
specified limitations and in accordance with the CEO’s performance objectives determined
annually by the Board.
The CEO will:
• Provide worldwide vision and leadership for the Corporation.
• Develop and recommend corporate strategies, and business and financial plans for
the approval of the Board.
• Execute the corporate strategy to achieve profitable growth and maximize
shareholder value for the Corporation’s shareholders.
• Manage the business operations in accordance with the strategic direction
approved by the Board and within operational policies as determined by the
Board, including, as applicable:
Protecting the core business of the Corporation,
Extending the Corporation’s pre-eminent position in the Canadian
exchange space, and
Examining selective opportunities to expand outside Canada.
• Challenge management to set and achieve viable annual and long-term strategic
and financial goals.
• Monitor the performance of management against a set of agreed corporate
objectives directed at maximizing shareholder value.
• Recommend appropriate rewards and incentives for management.
• Report information from management to the Board in a manner and time so that
the Board may effectively monitor and evaluate corporate (operational and
financial) performance against stated objectives and within executive limitations.
• Report to the Board on relevant trends, anticipated media and analyst coverage,
material external or internal changes, and any changes in the assumptions upon
which any Board decision or approval has previously been made.
• Advise the Board if, in the CEO’s opinion, the Board is not in compliance with its
own policies, or legal and/or regulatory requirements.
• Provide the Board with all information and access that the Board may require in
order to make fully-informed decisions.
• Report in a timely manner any actual or anticipated non-compliance with any
Board approved policy or decision.
I can only hope that you are able to perform your 'fiduciary duty' and start Century on the path of once again becoming a mid tier gold producer.
Sincerely,
Mike Bested
E-mail (Century's BOD members up for re-election)
mkent@centurymining.com
wsheridan@langmichener.ca
allen@minandes.com
burns_r@msn.com
mcampoy@gmail.com
Someone else may need to post the e-mail address for Mark A. Lettes, as I am unable to locate it as yet.
wsheridan@langmichener.ca
allen@minandes.com
burns_r@msn.com
mcampoy@gmail.com
Someone else may need to post the e-mail address for Mark A. Lettes, as I am unable to locate it as yet.
Termination of Employment Changes in Responsibilities and Employment Contracts
Read the following and weep, my fellow CMM shareholders. This paragraph is located on page 8 of the Management Information Circular. PK has taken care of her interests ahead of the shareholders AGAIN. It is unfortunate that the Board of Directors did not include wording that makes this clause null and void should the Century Mining share price drop under 75 cents.
PK isn't losing any sleep fielding angry emails, letters and telephone calls from the CMM rabble.
----------------------------------------------------
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, Century Mining (U.S.) Corporation ("Century U.S.") has an employment agreement with Ms. Margaret Kent, for renewable one-year terms, under which the Company has guaranteed the performance of all the obligations of Century U.S. to Ms. Kent. Under the terms of the agreement, Ms. Kent receives an annual base salary of US$210,000, which amount is subject to review every 12 months. Ms. Kent is also eligible for an annual bonus award of a maximum of 50% of her base salary based on achieving predetermined annual performance objectives set by the Board of Directors of Century U.S. In 2007, the life insurance benefit was increased from $500,000 to $1.0 million and the disability payment increased from $2,000 month to $5,000 per month. The agreement may be terminated by Century U.S. without cause upon 24 months prior written notice to Ms. Kent or in lieu of notice, by payment of all salary and benefits which would have accrued to Ms. Kent had the requisite notice been given. Should any person or group of related persons acting jointly or in concert acquire greater than 30% of the outstanding common shares of Century U.S. or elect 40% or more of the Board of Century U.S., Ms. Kent has a six month option to terminate her employment agreement upon which she would receive two times her then current annual salary and the present value of all benefits which would have accrued to her benefit during the period of 24 months immediately following the terminataion, including payment of her bonus.
PK isn't losing any sleep fielding angry emails, letters and telephone calls from the CMM rabble.
----------------------------------------------------
A wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, Century Mining (U.S.) Corporation ("Century U.S.") has an employment agreement with Ms. Margaret Kent, for renewable one-year terms, under which the Company has guaranteed the performance of all the obligations of Century U.S. to Ms. Kent. Under the terms of the agreement, Ms. Kent receives an annual base salary of US$210,000, which amount is subject to review every 12 months. Ms. Kent is also eligible for an annual bonus award of a maximum of 50% of her base salary based on achieving predetermined annual performance objectives set by the Board of Directors of Century U.S. In 2007, the life insurance benefit was increased from $500,000 to $1.0 million and the disability payment increased from $2,000 month to $5,000 per month. The agreement may be terminated by Century U.S. without cause upon 24 months prior written notice to Ms. Kent or in lieu of notice, by payment of all salary and benefits which would have accrued to Ms. Kent had the requisite notice been given. Should any person or group of related persons acting jointly or in concert acquire greater than 30% of the outstanding common shares of Century U.S. or elect 40% or more of the Board of Century U.S., Ms. Kent has a six month option to terminate her employment agreement upon which she would receive two times her then current annual salary and the present value of all benefits which would have accrued to her benefit during the period of 24 months immediately following the terminataion, including payment of her bonus.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Wega might be selling less now,
and someone else MIGHT be selling through Canaccord. Of course, the panic environment has already been created, thanks to Century's constant delays with financials, etc. , coupled with Wega's selling leading up to this point. Also, no need for Wega to sell their own shares as much anymore when other sellers have jumped onto the market (they might have noticed this and decided no need to use as many of their own shares anymore - to do the dirty work). In addition, it is unclear if Wega has been buying back some shares in recent days (at these lower prices) to allow for these lower net daily positions. It is also unclear if Wega has filed fully for these particular days (could be more to be filed for these days, but I have absolutely no idea). Based on the net sales (info) we are able to see, it's clear that Wega's selling is very tactical, as oppose to just random selling to dump shares. Total Century shares traded vs Wega's NET sales, from SEDI:
Jun 18 - total Century (1,135,555), Wega (50,000) -
Jun 17 - total (381,002), Wega (48,000)
Jun 16 - total (509,600), Wega (100,000)
Jun 13 - total (249,400), Wega (64,500)
Jun 12 - total (112,070), Wega (0)
Jun 11 - total (736,700), Wega (2,500)
Jun 10 - total (760,226), Wega (500,000)
Jun 9 - total (579,000), Wega (0)
Jun 6 - total (534,040), Wega (317,500)
Jun 5 - total (254,500), Wega (236,000)
Jun 4 - total (342,000), Wega (213,000)
Jun 18 - total Century (1,135,555), Wega (50,000) -
Jun 17 - total (381,002), Wega (48,000)
Jun 16 - total (509,600), Wega (100,000)
Jun 13 - total (249,400), Wega (64,500)
Jun 12 - total (112,070), Wega (0)
Jun 11 - total (736,700), Wega (2,500)
Jun 10 - total (760,226), Wega (500,000)
Jun 9 - total (579,000), Wega (0)
Jun 6 - total (534,040), Wega (317,500)
Jun 5 - total (254,500), Wega (236,000)
Jun 4 - total (342,000), Wega (213,000)
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Go vote!
Go vote via the internet. It's easy and only takes 1 minute. Go express your displeasure for certain Century BOD members. It's important for them to hear it LOUDLY from us (little guys) for their complete failure to protect our precious investment dollars (nevermind their total inability to build shareholder value), IMO. All relevant voting info (website, control #, holder acct #, access #) is found within the AGM package that was mailed out to you. It's on the page marked "Voting Instruction Form ('VIP')- Annual and Special Meeting...".
A Few Thoughts
One of the ironies of Wega's selling is that for the purposes of AGM voting, they get to vote all of the shares they've sold since May 23. They could sell every share and yet vote a block of 22 million shares on June 27.
I expect CMM shares will only be on sale for another week. We are at $0.105 solely because of Wega selling.
CMM is a company with an operating mine in Peru with an NPV that is double the current market cap and another one in Quebec with an NPV of more than 10 times the market cap at $800 gold. As resources get converted into reserves, these NPV's are going to rise substantially.
Neither of these mines needs a substantial amount of capital to meet current forecasts and as soon as the bridge financing closes (which I expect will happen before the AGM), we have nowhere to go but up - with or without PK. However, we'll never get anywhere near full valuation with her at the helm.
Then we have companies like Sulliden with a market cap of over $100 million and practically nothing else.
Fear is a powerful motivator - more so than greed - and I see the bashers over on SH feeding that fear with their "expert" opinions on mining matters. Why aren't they talking about the absurd relative market caps of SUE and CMM?
This company belongs to us - the shareholders and it is worth a helluva lot more than what Wega is selling it for. This is nothing more than vindictive selling because they couldn't call the shots, IMO.
As for the AGM, I don't expect anything to change unless someone like Stan Bharti of Aberdeen files a circular on Sedar proposing an alternate slate of directors, but time is running out for that. Otherwise the proposed directors only need to receive a single vote to be confirmed.
That said, I'm withholding my votes for Kent, Burns and Sheriden (the Royal Oak gang). If everyone does the same, there will be considerable pressure on the independent directors to act according to the votes of the shareholders. For instance, if PK receives 10 Withhold votes for every 1 vote For, then that is a powerful message to the independent Directors and should force them to ask for PK's resignation as both CEO and Chairman.
Therefore I urge everyone to vote your shares online. It only takes a minute and full instructions are available with your proxy forms. If Wega is not planning anything at the AGM, then I expect both them and Scion to vote to withhold PK as Director.
It also wouldn't hurt to write/email the Board and demand that if PK receives substantially more Withhold votes than For votes, she not remain as Chairman. I really don't care much if she remains as a director.
Management and Directors count on the laziness of the retail shareholder not to vote and a non vote is counted as voting according to the recommendations of management. That means a non-vote is a vote for PK and the other directors.
Please vote.
I expect CMM shares will only be on sale for another week. We are at $0.105 solely because of Wega selling.
CMM is a company with an operating mine in Peru with an NPV that is double the current market cap and another one in Quebec with an NPV of more than 10 times the market cap at $800 gold. As resources get converted into reserves, these NPV's are going to rise substantially.
Neither of these mines needs a substantial amount of capital to meet current forecasts and as soon as the bridge financing closes (which I expect will happen before the AGM), we have nowhere to go but up - with or without PK. However, we'll never get anywhere near full valuation with her at the helm.
Then we have companies like Sulliden with a market cap of over $100 million and practically nothing else.
Fear is a powerful motivator - more so than greed - and I see the bashers over on SH feeding that fear with their "expert" opinions on mining matters. Why aren't they talking about the absurd relative market caps of SUE and CMM?
This company belongs to us - the shareholders and it is worth a helluva lot more than what Wega is selling it for. This is nothing more than vindictive selling because they couldn't call the shots, IMO.
As for the AGM, I don't expect anything to change unless someone like Stan Bharti of Aberdeen files a circular on Sedar proposing an alternate slate of directors, but time is running out for that. Otherwise the proposed directors only need to receive a single vote to be confirmed.
That said, I'm withholding my votes for Kent, Burns and Sheriden (the Royal Oak gang). If everyone does the same, there will be considerable pressure on the independent directors to act according to the votes of the shareholders. For instance, if PK receives 10 Withhold votes for every 1 vote For, then that is a powerful message to the independent Directors and should force them to ask for PK's resignation as both CEO and Chairman.
Therefore I urge everyone to vote your shares online. It only takes a minute and full instructions are available with your proxy forms. If Wega is not planning anything at the AGM, then I expect both them and Scion to vote to withhold PK as Director.
It also wouldn't hurt to write/email the Board and demand that if PK receives substantially more Withhold votes than For votes, she not remain as Chairman. I really don't care much if she remains as a director.
Management and Directors count on the laziness of the retail shareholder not to vote and a non vote is counted as voting according to the recommendations of management. That means a non-vote is a vote for PK and the other directors.
Please vote.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Nero Fiddles While Rome Burns?
I guess PK is not too concerned about this being June 18 and the fact that the 2007 financials were due on April 30 and the Q1 financials were due on May 30. Late filings are legitimate reasons for another CTO. She has her lackey, Brent Jones, telling investors that it is going to be "today or tomorrow" for a number of weeks now. Suggestions that CMM is lining up someone to buy Wega shares seems to be more blowing of smoke.
Today and tomorrow she is on another ego trip at the LatAm Mining congress in Miami where she is one of the featured speakers. Her topic today is "Project financing: Raising capital through equity and debt" which includes "Hedging: a valuable component of raising capital; a necessary evil in project financing; or a recipe for disaster? " Well at least she can speak from experience on how hedging for Century Mining was a disaster. Perhaps she can also tell them about CMM's 4 failed attempts at raising needed funds through private placements since last September. She is an embarrassment to herself and the company.
Tomorrow the topic is:
12pm
Mining Showcase - Century Mining
Expansion of mining operations in South America
Acquiring new projects
Negotiating mergers to acquisitions
Risk vs. reward
Another embarrassment! CMM acquired San Juan in 2006 when (we were told) it was producing 1,000 oz/month and by 2008 would be producing 80,000 oz/yr. The last reports we have from Q3 of 2007 have us still around 1,000 oz/month.
Besides that we have 3 failed acquisitions - Poderosa, Rosario de Belen and Shahuindo - all of which has cost us dearly. But PK must have conned those at the conference like she has conned us for the past 2 years.
Meanwhile 6 months ago we were offering SUE shareholders 0.72 CMM shares for 1 SUE share. Today 1 SUE shares is worth 9 CMM shares.
The fact that she is still CEO and Chairman is beyond scandalous.
Today and tomorrow she is on another ego trip at the LatAm Mining congress in Miami where she is one of the featured speakers. Her topic today is "Project financing: Raising capital through equity and debt" which includes "Hedging: a valuable component of raising capital; a necessary evil in project financing; or a recipe for disaster? " Well at least she can speak from experience on how hedging for Century Mining was a disaster. Perhaps she can also tell them about CMM's 4 failed attempts at raising needed funds through private placements since last September. She is an embarrassment to herself and the company.
Tomorrow the topic is:
12pm
Mining Showcase - Century Mining
Expansion of mining operations in South America
Acquiring new projects
Negotiating mergers to acquisitions
Risk vs. reward
Another embarrassment! CMM acquired San Juan in 2006 when (we were told) it was producing 1,000 oz/month and by 2008 would be producing 80,000 oz/yr. The last reports we have from Q3 of 2007 have us still around 1,000 oz/month.
Besides that we have 3 failed acquisitions - Poderosa, Rosario de Belen and Shahuindo - all of which has cost us dearly. But PK must have conned those at the conference like she has conned us for the past 2 years.
Meanwhile 6 months ago we were offering SUE shareholders 0.72 CMM shares for 1 SUE share. Today 1 SUE shares is worth 9 CMM shares.
The fact that she is still CEO and Chairman is beyond scandalous.
Monday, June 16, 2008
A few thoughts
1) It looks like PK used MRI Trading AG (a swiss company) for the Tamerlane financing. CMM had previous announced that its bridge loan is through a swiss company also. There is a high probability that MRI was used for CMM also. Given this TAM annoucement today, it probably bodes well that CMM's bridge loan is in good shape and should be closed off without difficulties.
This is from TAM's announcement today: "As previously announced, Tamerlane has signed an agreement with MRI Trading AG for a mezzanine debt financing facility of US$40 million, which will be used for construction and development of the Pine Point Project."
2) Wega hammered Century's share price down to $.135. However, for several days now they have kept the share price in the $.135 area, when they could have easily pushed it down to well below $.10. This type of situation has the feeling of a potential cross or crosses in the future. Hopefully negotiations are going on behind the scenes. With 21M shares remaining, it would be wise for Wega to find a buyer and move on with life. Of course, we shouldn't get our hopes up. In my view, there is one thing we know about Wega - they come across as suicidal (IMO).
3) Most likely the further delays in financials are about write-off amounts, and probably has to do with Peru (given the last minute developments with the Peru situation). Write-offs don't mean very much to me with respect to current/future going concern of the business. We are all fully aware of all the management failures, and they have already occured (are in the past). As investors, we have already paid a major price. We all want to replace management, but that's an entirely separate post (and I will not get into that on this post). All I care about right now is having sufficient cash, positive terms with liabilities, good condition of assets, econically viable gold in the ground (in safe political environment).... - all of the fundamentals needed to sustain (and build back up) the business. They do however need to hurry up and ensure the financials are filed soon, to ensure the whole BCSC situation gets fully closed off.
4) We really need to start seeing some progress effective this week:
* we need the financials to get published (and subsequent lifting of the MCTO)
* the current bridge loan to be closed off
* positive updates on progress of Lamaque
* new CEO announced
* the 21M Wega shares crossed over to another institution (s).
This is from TAM's announcement today: "As previously announced, Tamerlane has signed an agreement with MRI Trading AG for a mezzanine debt financing facility of US$40 million, which will be used for construction and development of the Pine Point Project."
2) Wega hammered Century's share price down to $.135. However, for several days now they have kept the share price in the $.135 area, when they could have easily pushed it down to well below $.10. This type of situation has the feeling of a potential cross or crosses in the future. Hopefully negotiations are going on behind the scenes. With 21M shares remaining, it would be wise for Wega to find a buyer and move on with life. Of course, we shouldn't get our hopes up. In my view, there is one thing we know about Wega - they come across as suicidal (IMO).
3) Most likely the further delays in financials are about write-off amounts, and probably has to do with Peru (given the last minute developments with the Peru situation). Write-offs don't mean very much to me with respect to current/future going concern of the business. We are all fully aware of all the management failures, and they have already occured (are in the past). As investors, we have already paid a major price. We all want to replace management, but that's an entirely separate post (and I will not get into that on this post). All I care about right now is having sufficient cash, positive terms with liabilities, good condition of assets, econically viable gold in the ground (in safe political environment).... - all of the fundamentals needed to sustain (and build back up) the business. They do however need to hurry up and ensure the financials are filed soon, to ensure the whole BCSC situation gets fully closed off.
4) We really need to start seeing some progress effective this week:
* we need the financials to get published (and subsequent lifting of the MCTO)
* the current bridge loan to be closed off
* positive updates on progress of Lamaque
* new CEO announced
* the 21M Wega shares crossed over to another institution (s).
Friday, June 13, 2008
Here we go again,,,,,
http://www.bcsc.bc.ca/uploadedFiles/default.pdf
May be being CTO'd again, is a good thing?????? PK better be working on how to take out Wega. She has burned all her bridges (pun intended) here in Canada. My vote is cast to help remove her from the CEO position. Now all WEGA and SCION have to do is gang up on her and she is gone. AND we all know she does not have the backing of the retail sector. LOL.
One way or the other, one has to go. WEGA or PK!!!!!!!!!! I am impartial.
May be being CTO'd again, is a good thing?????? PK better be working on how to take out Wega. She has burned all her bridges (pun intended) here in Canada. My vote is cast to help remove her from the CEO position. Now all WEGA and SCION have to do is gang up on her and she is gone. AND we all know she does not have the backing of the retail sector. LOL.
One way or the other, one has to go. WEGA or PK!!!!!!!!!! I am impartial.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Wega not selling today
It's the panicking retailers that are getting out today. RBC is a buyer.
Today's summary so far:
http://century-mining.googlegroups.com/web/j11.pdf?gsc=_7otcQsAAADWMZe59ERURUqyA0gXh0Np
Today's summary so far:
http://century-mining.googlegroups.com/web/j11.pdf?gsc=_7otcQsAAADWMZe59ERURUqyA0gXh0Np
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
A suggestion to combat the bullying
After the bridge loan gets closed off I am hoping that Century would sacrifice $2.025M of those funds to place a 15,000,000 share BID on the BUY side (at .135). Then sit back and see what Wega does. If Wega does nothing then keep moving the block up 1 penny per day, until it reaches say around $.155 (not too much higher as I want Wega's losses to be as high as possible, plus I don't want the $.135 flippers, that recently bought, to erode the bid block). This will at least ensure there is a bottom of $.155, which will stabilize the situation. It will also provide a much needed morale lift for panicing shareholders. It would reduce the non-Wega sales.
If Wega still wants to sell then they can sell into the giant block, and eliminate most of their share position at a major loss.
Let's hope that Century can close off the Fortis deal earlier than expected. At these share prices, all Century will need is an additional couple of million from the $70M Fortis LT Debt and the Wega o/s shares will be wiped out completely.
Better yet, why wait. Century should go after another small bridge loan, then use that money to eliminate Wega. You know, even bullies can only bully for so long, before help arrives.
If Wega still wants to sell then they can sell into the giant block, and eliminate most of their share position at a major loss.
Let's hope that Century can close off the Fortis deal earlier than expected. At these share prices, all Century will need is an additional couple of million from the $70M Fortis LT Debt and the Wega o/s shares will be wiped out completely.
Better yet, why wait. Century should go after another small bridge loan, then use that money to eliminate Wega. You know, even bullies can only bully for so long, before help arrives.
Well,,,, just got my 2008 AGM package
in the mail. Management's nominees/recommendations for the BOD include Margaret Kent. So much for her resigning. Anyone going to the AGM in Vancouver? I am willing to sign over my proxies to these individual(s) who will help get rid of Margaret Kent from the BOD and from this company. I want someone at the top who's intelligence exceeds their EGO. Definitely, I will be voting AGAINST any and all stock options for to the BOD/management who have single handedly destroyed this company.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Highlights from May 31, 2006 Conference Call
Participants:
Peggy Kent - CEO
Steve Wood - Treasurer, Director of M&A and Corporate Finance - gone
Erika Sheppard - Exploration Manager - gone
Tom Thompson - IR Manager - gone
Graham Eacott - VP of IR - gone
Al Gorman - Mine Manager, Sigma - gone
Key points:
Hedge book completely closed out
Production forecasts:
2006 - 100k oz
2007 - 130k oz
2008 - 210k oz - 80k from San Juan
25,000 - 30,000 oz/yr is leaving the SJ concessions through theft. CMM will be purchasing this from the informal miners; it might be cheaper than mining the ore ourselves.
4 - 5 months needed to bring SJ's oz (estimated at around 1 million oz) into 43-101 compliance
TSE listing expected early this fall; working on a US Listing.
Questions:
1. What further dilution without any new acquisitions (other than 2 currently under consideration) will there be through 2008?
PK: Not anticipating any further dilution through 2008.
2. What plans do you have in case of a hostile takeover?
PK: Get more shares into the hands of institutional investors, but if someone makes a bid approaching fair value of $7/share, we'll have to put our thinking caps on and decide what to do.
Share price then: $1.35; POG then: $660.
*************************
Today the POG is $890/oz and we have a share price of $0.145.
What does it take for the BoD to change CEO's?
Peggy Kent - CEO
Steve Wood - Treasurer, Director of M&A and Corporate Finance - gone
Erika Sheppard - Exploration Manager - gone
Tom Thompson - IR Manager - gone
Graham Eacott - VP of IR - gone
Al Gorman - Mine Manager, Sigma - gone
Key points:
Hedge book completely closed out
Production forecasts:
2006 - 100k oz
2007 - 130k oz
2008 - 210k oz - 80k from San Juan
25,000 - 30,000 oz/yr is leaving the SJ concessions through theft. CMM will be purchasing this from the informal miners; it might be cheaper than mining the ore ourselves.
4 - 5 months needed to bring SJ's oz (estimated at around 1 million oz) into 43-101 compliance
TSE listing expected early this fall; working on a US Listing.
Questions:
1. What further dilution without any new acquisitions (other than 2 currently under consideration) will there be through 2008?
PK: Not anticipating any further dilution through 2008.
2. What plans do you have in case of a hostile takeover?
PK: Get more shares into the hands of institutional investors, but if someone makes a bid approaching fair value of $7/share, we'll have to put our thinking caps on and decide what to do.
Share price then: $1.35; POG then: $660.
*************************
Today the POG is $890/oz and we have a share price of $0.145.
What does it take for the BoD to change CEO's?
Quick thought on today
Boy, the person (s) behind RBC have completely mastered this. They are extremely efficient now. They have created this whole panic situation where RBC no longer has to sell many of their shares at a significant loss - they can mostly just sit back and watch the panic sellers do the selling, led by a Canaccord investor (s). Of course, our own management is totally supporting the efforts, as usually, naturally - another broken promise, with no financials issued within the stated time period.
Let's hope that the delay in issuance of the financials are due to pending other (more positive) news. Regardless, let's hope that they issue the financials after hours today (and take whatever beating is left), and move on with life already. Goodness!
Let's hope that the delay in issuance of the financials are due to pending other (more positive) news. Regardless, let's hope that they issue the financials after hours today (and take whatever beating is left), and move on with life already. Goodness!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Got Gold Report - Keep Focused on Gold, Silver This Summer
One writer's opinion about the current gold market, liquidity, and juniors. Because liquidity was the major crisis for most juniors over the last 12-18 months, what are we to make of the evidence presented that PK has secured bridge financing, and is negotiating long term debt with Fortis?
The full link below has the entire story with charts.
Got Gold Report - Keep Focused on Gold, Silver This Summer
By Gene Arensberg
08 Jun 2008 at 05:55 PM GMT-04:00
ATLANTA (ResourceInvestor.com) -- This week crude oil spiked 8% higher Friday into the high $130s; Senator Barack Obama cinches the Dem-Nom; an Israeli official says that bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities looks inevitable; the U.S. unemployment rate pops half a full percentage point to 5.5%; the buck gets thumped despite Bearded Ben’s early-week fireside chat (where he uncharacteristically mentioned the U.S. dollar) and then the U.S. Big Markets received a royal 400-point pasting late week.
Suffice it to say that this week was not conducive or supportive of general investor confidence on Wall Street. The news was, however, supportive for the two most popular precious metals, both of which tested technical support levels and support won the contest.
With Barack Obama now the apparent democratic nominee for president, fear of much higher income and capital gains taxes to come in 2009 showed up in earnest. Tax avoidance selling may escalate and remains one of the headwinds stock markets in the U.S. must deal with between now and at least November.
Long-term profits from capital gains are currently subject to a 15% rake by Uncle Sam. As mentioned before in this report, the fear on the street is that income and capital gains tax rates are going up big if the Dem-Nom actually becomes POTUS (president of the United States). Investment counsellors, fund and portfolio managers and individual investors probably don’t fear the tax increase itself as much as they fear the FEAR that kind of thing causes in financial markets.
The markets won’t be selling off so much because of the perception that income taxes will be going higher in 2009. That’s bad news, but not what money managers fear. They will be selling off because of the perception that other people will be selling because of that. Because of the fear that the markets will go much lower because of it. That fear is the kind that feeds on itself. As it does it could perversely play right into the camp of the future, socialist-leaning tax raisers.
Got Gold Report on Hiatus
Scheduling note: The principal author of the Got Gold Report will be traveling extensively over the next six to eight weeks. It’s time to take a short hiatus from writing in order to concentrate on that journey. Look for the Got Gold Report to return sometime in August or early September. Hopefully we’ll see you then.
Keep Focused on the Prize
Meanwhile, keep focused on the big picture and the prize during this best, most powerful secular bull market for precious metals in a generation.
Resource investors have been given one of the best opportunities of our own generation over the past nine months as so many of the promising small resource development and exploration companies have been decimated price wise because of the vacuum of liquidity which has occurred for nearly all speculative issues during the carnage spawned by the sub-prime credit crunch.
Ironically, just when these small, speculative issues should have been buoyed by strongly rising metals prices, the global, credit-market-inspired fears which helped to support the metals themselves took quite a toll on the little guys. That fear sucked enormous amounts of liquidity out of all speculative stocks, but very likely peaked (troughed?) sometime between January and April.
This report continues to believe that some of the now badly beaten up, but nevertheless still promising issues offer tremendous, multi-bagger opportunity for those who have the patience, intestinal fortitude and long-term minded determination to stick with them until liquidity returns to the tiny, very speculative and very thinly traded junior miners and explorers. Although no one can say for sure when liquidity and investor confidence will return to them, it is almost a certainty that it will. It may already be returning now.
The time to add them is when most everyone that needed to sell already has and their stock prices have been driven to ridiculously low levels. Like now for so many of the companies this report tracks daily on charts.
When confidence does return it can do so quite suddenly in particular issues, often without apparent warning and many times too fast for some investors to take advantage of it well. Consequently, it pays to add them in incremental bites or units AHEAD of when they “make the turn.”
In response to reader feedback, five such companies this report tracks were mentioned in “trade comments” in the technical charts for gold and the HUI on May 25. Links to those charts can be found below and one here. Judging by the action lately, when gold and silver had sold off and were challenging their respective technical support levels, these inexpensive miners and explorers held their ground (some even advanced modestly). There might not be all that much downside left in them this cycle, in other words.
Not that much more downside and probably quite a bit of upside is what we all should be on the lookout for, isn’t it? We’ll see if that strategy proves right soon enough.
Without getting into the argument of whether or not these small, liquidity-dependent stocks are being sold naked short, some of them are one good news surprise from a short squeeze rocket launch. That can happen anytime, even when a company drilling for one resource accidentally and unexpectedly drills through a couple of wide seams of coal, for example.
Bottom Line
Repeating from the last Got Gold Report two weeks ago: “When real interest rates remain negative, real inflation is escalating and the very inflationary effects of much higher oil prices have yet to really be felt; when gold production for the major producers is falling (that’s right, falling), central bankers are selling less than they are allowed to under the Washington Agreement II; when investors world-wide are trying to preserve their purchasing power in an era of continued reckless, competitive government fiat currency debasement; when investment demand for both gold and silver are strongly on the rise, it is a time for buying gold and silver, not for selling it. This is a gold and silver bull market and it won’t end abruptly anytime soon in this report’s opinion.
As of today nothing trumps gold and silver for places to store wealth (especially silver during its usual harsh corrections). This report continues to recommend buying/adding on significant to strong dips if possible, but add a reasonable percentage of gold and silver soon to one’s investment portfolio if you haven’t already done so (preferably into significant to strong pullbacks).”
Please see a little more about silver in the Silver Market Commentary section below.
On to some of the indicators.
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=43437
The full link below has the entire story with charts.
Got Gold Report - Keep Focused on Gold, Silver This Summer
By Gene Arensberg
08 Jun 2008 at 05:55 PM GMT-04:00
ATLANTA (ResourceInvestor.com) -- This week crude oil spiked 8% higher Friday into the high $130s; Senator Barack Obama cinches the Dem-Nom; an Israeli official says that bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities looks inevitable; the U.S. unemployment rate pops half a full percentage point to 5.5%; the buck gets thumped despite Bearded Ben’s early-week fireside chat (where he uncharacteristically mentioned the U.S. dollar) and then the U.S. Big Markets received a royal 400-point pasting late week.
Suffice it to say that this week was not conducive or supportive of general investor confidence on Wall Street. The news was, however, supportive for the two most popular precious metals, both of which tested technical support levels and support won the contest.
With Barack Obama now the apparent democratic nominee for president, fear of much higher income and capital gains taxes to come in 2009 showed up in earnest. Tax avoidance selling may escalate and remains one of the headwinds stock markets in the U.S. must deal with between now and at least November.
Long-term profits from capital gains are currently subject to a 15% rake by Uncle Sam. As mentioned before in this report, the fear on the street is that income and capital gains tax rates are going up big if the Dem-Nom actually becomes POTUS (president of the United States). Investment counsellors, fund and portfolio managers and individual investors probably don’t fear the tax increase itself as much as they fear the FEAR that kind of thing causes in financial markets.
The markets won’t be selling off so much because of the perception that income taxes will be going higher in 2009. That’s bad news, but not what money managers fear. They will be selling off because of the perception that other people will be selling because of that. Because of the fear that the markets will go much lower because of it. That fear is the kind that feeds on itself. As it does it could perversely play right into the camp of the future, socialist-leaning tax raisers.
Got Gold Report on Hiatus
Scheduling note: The principal author of the Got Gold Report will be traveling extensively over the next six to eight weeks. It’s time to take a short hiatus from writing in order to concentrate on that journey. Look for the Got Gold Report to return sometime in August or early September. Hopefully we’ll see you then.
Keep Focused on the Prize
Meanwhile, keep focused on the big picture and the prize during this best, most powerful secular bull market for precious metals in a generation.
Resource investors have been given one of the best opportunities of our own generation over the past nine months as so many of the promising small resource development and exploration companies have been decimated price wise because of the vacuum of liquidity which has occurred for nearly all speculative issues during the carnage spawned by the sub-prime credit crunch.
Ironically, just when these small, speculative issues should have been buoyed by strongly rising metals prices, the global, credit-market-inspired fears which helped to support the metals themselves took quite a toll on the little guys. That fear sucked enormous amounts of liquidity out of all speculative stocks, but very likely peaked (troughed?) sometime between January and April.
This report continues to believe that some of the now badly beaten up, but nevertheless still promising issues offer tremendous, multi-bagger opportunity for those who have the patience, intestinal fortitude and long-term minded determination to stick with them until liquidity returns to the tiny, very speculative and very thinly traded junior miners and explorers. Although no one can say for sure when liquidity and investor confidence will return to them, it is almost a certainty that it will. It may already be returning now.
The time to add them is when most everyone that needed to sell already has and their stock prices have been driven to ridiculously low levels. Like now for so many of the companies this report tracks daily on charts.
When confidence does return it can do so quite suddenly in particular issues, often without apparent warning and many times too fast for some investors to take advantage of it well. Consequently, it pays to add them in incremental bites or units AHEAD of when they “make the turn.”
In response to reader feedback, five such companies this report tracks were mentioned in “trade comments” in the technical charts for gold and the HUI on May 25. Links to those charts can be found below and one here. Judging by the action lately, when gold and silver had sold off and were challenging their respective technical support levels, these inexpensive miners and explorers held their ground (some even advanced modestly). There might not be all that much downside left in them this cycle, in other words.
Not that much more downside and probably quite a bit of upside is what we all should be on the lookout for, isn’t it? We’ll see if that strategy proves right soon enough.
Without getting into the argument of whether or not these small, liquidity-dependent stocks are being sold naked short, some of them are one good news surprise from a short squeeze rocket launch. That can happen anytime, even when a company drilling for one resource accidentally and unexpectedly drills through a couple of wide seams of coal, for example.
Bottom Line
Repeating from the last Got Gold Report two weeks ago: “When real interest rates remain negative, real inflation is escalating and the very inflationary effects of much higher oil prices have yet to really be felt; when gold production for the major producers is falling (that’s right, falling), central bankers are selling less than they are allowed to under the Washington Agreement II; when investors world-wide are trying to preserve their purchasing power in an era of continued reckless, competitive government fiat currency debasement; when investment demand for both gold and silver are strongly on the rise, it is a time for buying gold and silver, not for selling it. This is a gold and silver bull market and it won’t end abruptly anytime soon in this report’s opinion.
As of today nothing trumps gold and silver for places to store wealth (especially silver during its usual harsh corrections). This report continues to recommend buying/adding on significant to strong dips if possible, but add a reasonable percentage of gold and silver soon to one’s investment portfolio if you haven’t already done so (preferably into significant to strong pullbacks).”
Please see a little more about silver in the Silver Market Commentary section below.
On to some of the indicators.
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/pebble.asp?relid=43437
Friday, June 6, 2008
Confirmation of o/s shares and May 19th financing amount
The Management Information Circular is now filed on SEDAR. As a side note, with shareholders gotten/getting killed ($.165 share price now, hitting 20's in Q4'07) and with a complete failure of the company's core operation in '07 (Sigma o/p - complete shutdown), it overwhelms me to see a 2007 bonus of $60,000 for Margaret M. Kent and $30,000 for Adrian C. McNutt - in addition to their respective salary, $196,134 (Kent), $150,000 (McNutt). I am truly unable to comprehend how anyone could possibly justify this.
Page 13: "The Board of Directors is currently composed of the following seven directors: Allen Ambrose, Ross Burns, Margaret Kent, William Sheridan, Donald Macdonald, Ricardo Campoy and Mark Lettes. All of the current directors, except for Donald Macdonald, will be presented for election at the Meeting."
With a $.165 share price, and if the BOD chooses not to "act", I wonder how many of them will be elected?
Anyway, Carib, it appears as if we might have some clarity on the May 19'08 financing amount. I found the up to date o/s share total in the Management Information Circular. On page 4, it states that the o/s common share were 168,739,266 (at May 29'08). That number is perfectly bang on to my personal o/s number, and I have kept a detailed audit trail all along. It most likely means that the $.35 flow-through shares that were closed off on the May 19'08 NR were not duplicates (they might have been from the "super" flow-through program, which permanently ended March 31'08, hence the attractiveness, potentially). Of course, the significant of all this is that it probably means that the total cash from the May 19'08 PP closing is likely $1,560,750.
As a result, (given that the May 19'08 PP is recent) it likely means that the company will have around $7,500,000 in cash to work with (with draw down of yesterday's loan amounts). As a little note, we will be able to keep the entire $6M, as the finder's fees are to be paid in shares (this is good, given that cash is more vital right now).
Here is my personal record of the audit trail for Century's o/s common shares:
158,668,123 balance prior to Dec. 24’07 (currently still posted on Century's website, I think)
+ 3,154,715 from Dec. 24'07 $.35 FT offer (closed in Q1)
+ 1,142,857 from Dec. 24'07 $.35 FT offer (closed Mar. 27'08)
+ 1,275,000 from $.23 unit
+ 3,070,000 from $.25 FT
+ 1,428,571 from Dec. 24'07 $.35 FT offer (closed May 19'08)
= 168,739,266 (at May 29'08)
Page 13: "The Board of Directors is currently composed of the following seven directors: Allen Ambrose, Ross Burns, Margaret Kent, William Sheridan, Donald Macdonald, Ricardo Campoy and Mark Lettes. All of the current directors, except for Donald Macdonald, will be presented for election at the Meeting."
With a $.165 share price, and if the BOD chooses not to "act", I wonder how many of them will be elected?
Anyway, Carib, it appears as if we might have some clarity on the May 19'08 financing amount. I found the up to date o/s share total in the Management Information Circular. On page 4, it states that the o/s common share were 168,739,266 (at May 29'08). That number is perfectly bang on to my personal o/s number, and I have kept a detailed audit trail all along. It most likely means that the $.35 flow-through shares that were closed off on the May 19'08 NR were not duplicates (they might have been from the "super" flow-through program, which permanently ended March 31'08, hence the attractiveness, potentially). Of course, the significant of all this is that it probably means that the total cash from the May 19'08 PP closing is likely $1,560,750.
As a result, (given that the May 19'08 PP is recent) it likely means that the company will have around $7,500,000 in cash to work with (with draw down of yesterday's loan amounts). As a little note, we will be able to keep the entire $6M, as the finder's fees are to be paid in shares (this is good, given that cash is more vital right now).
Here is my personal record of the audit trail for Century's o/s common shares:
158,668,123 balance prior to Dec. 24’07 (currently still posted on Century's website, I think)
+ 3,154,715 from Dec. 24'07 $.35 FT offer (closed in Q1)
+ 1,142,857 from Dec. 24'07 $.35 FT offer (closed Mar. 27'08)
+ 1,275,000 from $.23 unit
+ 3,070,000 from $.25 FT
+ 1,428,571 from Dec. 24'07 $.35 FT offer (closed May 19'08)
= 168,739,266 (at May 29'08)
CMM Corporate Message & Governance?
Register your displeasure with Margaret Kent if you agree that she has failed to uphold the ideals set forth in the Corporate Message and Corporate Governance statements below that were taken from the Century Mining web site.
Send an email or write to William Sheridan, Secretary to the Century Mining board of directors. Request that he circulate your correspondence to all Directors. If you are at all concerned, express your concern immediately and demand that she be removed. We are not a 16 cent/share company. Immediate termination could result in 2-3 fold share price increase.
Confidential Shareholder Concern
Century Mining Corporation
c/o William Sheridan
Lang Michener LLP
BCE Place, 181 Bay Street, Suite 2500
P.O. Box 747
Toronto, ON M5J 2T7 Canada
wsheridan@langmichener.ca
Corporate Message
Century Mining is an emerging Canadian mid-tier gold producer with operations in Canada and Peru. Century's corporate strategy is to locate, acquire and develop properties with previously discovered, yet undervalued mineral assets into operating mines. The Company is aggressively building a property portfolio of past gold producers with significant exploration potential. In addition to increasing production and reducing cash costs at its operations, the Company will carry out exploration programs to increase reserves and resources.
Century is committed to increasing shareholder value through economic organic growth at its core operations and by accretive acquisitions. Century’s management is dedicated to maintaining world class standards at its mining operations and in the communities in which it operates.
Corporate Governance
Century is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance practices. The Company adheres to guidelines for effective corporate governance as published by the Toronto Stock Exchange, and continually reviews its practices to ensure that its standards are in compliance with required regulatory regimes.
Century’s Board of Directors comprises seven persons, four of whom are considered independent of management. The directors are experienced in business, mining and finance and bring a skill set to ensure that the Company is compliant with corporate governance standards. The Board is chaired by the President and Chief Executive Officer. Specific charters and guidelines have been developed by the Board and by its various committees that set out their roles and responsibilities.
Send an email or write to William Sheridan, Secretary to the Century Mining board of directors. Request that he circulate your correspondence to all Directors. If you are at all concerned, express your concern immediately and demand that she be removed. We are not a 16 cent/share company. Immediate termination could result in 2-3 fold share price increase.
Confidential Shareholder Concern
Century Mining Corporation
c/o William Sheridan
Lang Michener LLP
BCE Place, 181 Bay Street, Suite 2500
P.O. Box 747
Toronto, ON M5J 2T7 Canada
wsheridan@langmichener.ca
Corporate Message
Century Mining is an emerging Canadian mid-tier gold producer with operations in Canada and Peru. Century's corporate strategy is to locate, acquire and develop properties with previously discovered, yet undervalued mineral assets into operating mines. The Company is aggressively building a property portfolio of past gold producers with significant exploration potential. In addition to increasing production and reducing cash costs at its operations, the Company will carry out exploration programs to increase reserves and resources.
Century is committed to increasing shareholder value through economic organic growth at its core operations and by accretive acquisitions. Century’s management is dedicated to maintaining world class standards at its mining operations and in the communities in which it operates.
Corporate Governance
Century is committed to the highest standards of corporate governance practices. The Company adheres to guidelines for effective corporate governance as published by the Toronto Stock Exchange, and continually reviews its practices to ensure that its standards are in compliance with required regulatory regimes.
Century’s Board of Directors comprises seven persons, four of whom are considered independent of management. The directors are experienced in business, mining and finance and bring a skill set to ensure that the Company is compliant with corporate governance standards. The Board is chaired by the President and Chief Executive Officer. Specific charters and guidelines have been developed by the Board and by its various committees that set out their roles and responsibilities.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Century Mining arranges $6-million financing
June 05 2008 - News Release
Ms. Margaret Kent reports
CENTURY MINING ANNOUNCES UP TO C$6 MILLION IN FINANCINGS
Century Mining Corp., subject to regulatory approval, has arranged with a Swiss institution a $6.0-million financing for its Lamaque project.
Details of the financing
Convertible Debenture Facility for C$1.0 million:
- Zero-coupon facility with 12 month maturity.
- Lender has the right to convert the debenture into approximately 5.6 million Units at a price of C$0.18 per Unit within 12 months from issue.
- Each Unit will comprise one Common Share and One-Half of One Common Share Purchase Warrant. Each whole Common Share Purchase Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase an additional Common Share at an exercise price of $0.30 per share for a period of 18 months.
- Finder's fee of 6% to be paid in units.
Bridge Loan Facility for C$5.0 million --------------------------------------
- The term of the loan will be the earlier of 24 months or the date that the previously-announced project loan facility with Fortis becomes available for drawdown.
- The loan will bear interest of LIBOR + 6%.
- The loan will be secured by Lamaque milling circuit and other assets at the Sigma Lamaque Complex.
- Draw down conditional on due diligence on the Lamaque Mine and mining operations satisfactory to the lender.
- Finder's fee of 4% of the total facility to be paid in common shares of the company.
The convertible debenture is scheduled to close immediately and draw down of the bridge facility is expected in the near term. As announced on May 12, 2008 Century is currently negotiating a significant project loan facility with Fortis for up to C$70 million. The financings announced today were arranged to provide Century with sufficient capital to continue production expansion at the Lamaque Mine until the proceeds from the project loan facility are available.
Margaret Kent, President & CEO, commented: "Today's announcement is another important step in Century's plan to expand production at the Lamaque Underground Mine. The financing announced today will provide Century with the additional capital to operate the Lamaque Mine until the operation is cash flow neutral and the Fortis facility can be drawn down."
Ms. Margaret Kent reports
CENTURY MINING ANNOUNCES UP TO C$6 MILLION IN FINANCINGS
Century Mining Corp., subject to regulatory approval, has arranged with a Swiss institution a $6.0-million financing for its Lamaque project.
Details of the financing
Convertible Debenture Facility for C$1.0 million:
- Zero-coupon facility with 12 month maturity.
- Lender has the right to convert the debenture into approximately 5.6 million Units at a price of C$0.18 per Unit within 12 months from issue.
- Each Unit will comprise one Common Share and One-Half of One Common Share Purchase Warrant. Each whole Common Share Purchase Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase an additional Common Share at an exercise price of $0.30 per share for a period of 18 months.
- Finder's fee of 6% to be paid in units.
Bridge Loan Facility for C$5.0 million --------------------------------------
- The term of the loan will be the earlier of 24 months or the date that the previously-announced project loan facility with Fortis becomes available for drawdown.
- The loan will bear interest of LIBOR + 6%.
- The loan will be secured by Lamaque milling circuit and other assets at the Sigma Lamaque Complex.
- Draw down conditional on due diligence on the Lamaque Mine and mining operations satisfactory to the lender.
- Finder's fee of 4% of the total facility to be paid in common shares of the company.
The convertible debenture is scheduled to close immediately and draw down of the bridge facility is expected in the near term. As announced on May 12, 2008 Century is currently negotiating a significant project loan facility with Fortis for up to C$70 million. The financings announced today were arranged to provide Century with sufficient capital to continue production expansion at the Lamaque Mine until the proceeds from the project loan facility are available.
Margaret Kent, President & CEO, commented: "Today's announcement is another important step in Century's plan to expand production at the Lamaque Underground Mine. The financing announced today will provide Century with the additional capital to operate the Lamaque Mine until the operation is cash flow neutral and the Fortis facility can be drawn down."
Monday, June 2, 2008
Official notice of Y/E write-off issues now resolved: Y/E financials expected this week
We knew about all this already, but this official notice is just a BCSC/TSX-V market requirement for all companies under a MCTO.
Century Mining Files Updated Notice Of Default
BLAINE, WA, June 2 /CNW/ - Century Mining Corporation (CMM: TSX-V) today announced that, in accordance with British Columbia Securities Commission regulations, it has filed an updated Notice of Default. The updated Notice is available for viewing on SEDAR's home page at www.sedar.com.
Commenting on today's updated Notice, the Company announced that it has now resolved all issues regarding write-offs for the year ended December 31, 2007, and expects to file its 2007 year-end financial statements this week.
Century Mining Files Updated Notice Of Default
BLAINE, WA, June 2 /CNW/ - Century Mining Corporation (CMM: TSX-V) today announced that, in accordance with British Columbia Securities Commission regulations, it has filed an updated Notice of Default. The updated Notice is available for viewing on SEDAR's home page at www.sedar.com.
Commenting on today's updated Notice, the Company announced that it has now resolved all issues regarding write-offs for the year ended December 31, 2007, and expects to file its 2007 year-end financial statements this week.
One example of a Board replacing its CEO
From today's Globe:
Wachovia CEO latest to be pushed out
http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080602.wwachovia0602/BNStory/Business/home
An excerpt from that story:
The board of the Charlotte-based bank said it asked Mr. Thompson, 58, to retire and replaced him on an interim basis with Chairman Lanty Smith. Mr. Smith replaced Thompson as chairman last month in a move the bank said “strengthens independent leadership” at the company.
“It has been an honour to serve this great company for 32 years and to lead it for the past eight years,” Mr. Thompson said in a statement issued by the bank. “Together we achieved great successes and overcame tough challenges.”
Mr. Smith said Monday “this was a step that was taken after very careful consideration,” and one that was precipitated by no single event but rather a “series of previously disclosed setbacks.”
“It's been our hope and expectation that Ken would serve for several more years,” Mr. Smith said during a conference call with reporters. “We certainly wanted Ken to succeed. This is earlier than any of us wanted or choose.”
Mr. Smith said there were no other senior management changes planned. A search for the next chief executive began immediately after Sunday's board meeting, he said.
The Century BoD has been negligent in not taking action before this. The time has long passed to announce that the CEO is "retiring" and that a search for a new CEO has begun.
Wachovia CEO latest to be pushed out
http://www.reportonbusiness.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080602.wwachovia0602/BNStory/Business/home
An excerpt from that story:
The board of the Charlotte-based bank said it asked Mr. Thompson, 58, to retire and replaced him on an interim basis with Chairman Lanty Smith. Mr. Smith replaced Thompson as chairman last month in a move the bank said “strengthens independent leadership” at the company.
“It has been an honour to serve this great company for 32 years and to lead it for the past eight years,” Mr. Thompson said in a statement issued by the bank. “Together we achieved great successes and overcame tough challenges.”
Mr. Smith said Monday “this was a step that was taken after very careful consideration,” and one that was precipitated by no single event but rather a “series of previously disclosed setbacks.”
“It's been our hope and expectation that Ken would serve for several more years,” Mr. Smith said during a conference call with reporters. “We certainly wanted Ken to succeed. This is earlier than any of us wanted or choose.”
Mr. Smith said there were no other senior management changes planned. A search for the next chief executive began immediately after Sunday's board meeting, he said.
The Century BoD has been negligent in not taking action before this. The time has long passed to announce that the CEO is "retiring" and that a search for a new CEO has begun.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Confessions of a Paid Basher
I listened to Jim Puplava's Financial Sense Newshour over the weekend. Hour three, Part II, "Crime of the Century - How they scam individual investors" was extremely interesting. They discuss the ways banks and institutions, and the professional bashers, manipulate or bash the shares of companies.
http://www.financialsense.com/fsn/main.html
At around 19 minutes they begin to discuss the professional bashers on the chat rooms and blogs. I dunno, but they hit the nail on the head when they described a couple of our favorite bashers. You have to listen and judge for yourself.
They reviewed the following post from the SH blog, Junior Mining Investors Robbed by Canadian Investment Banks, mentioned at 22.20 minutes.
Thanks to Heeve from SH for the finding the following.
CONFESSIONS OF A PAID BASHER! A must read!
heeve Reputation: A calculation of the weighted quality, performance, and participation scores on a scale of one to ten.")'>0
5/29/2008 5:59:19 PM 59 reads
I found this on the board of Rusoro Mining, another company that has been the victim of severe short selling. Worth reading. Thanksheeve
Worth a read.
This is the period when subtle, sometimes professional, shorters and bashers come out of the woodwork so below is a post I came across years ago that I have always kept.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello, As many of you are aware, I am a paid 'basher'. As childish as bashing might seem on the surface, a lot of money actually exchanges hands based on the work we do. I work(ed) for an investment firm based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I worked in cooperation with several others and under several aliases in several online investment forums. Including PresidentBush, Tooth18, OneVultrue, 7Midniqht andHerbacious on Stockhouse.To make a long story short. I have had an epihphany in the past few days. I watched the movie Fight Club, and as brutal as the movie is on the surface, it actually caused me toquestion a lot of things I do or have done in my life. The next day I was involved in a single vehicle car accident, which caused my vehicle to roll-over. I walked away from it all, but it got me tothinking. I only live once, is this what I want from my life? Is this what I've always wanted to do - I am not even proud of my career or myself. I say that I am a stock broker, but that is a lie. We are basically paid con-men. I quit today, no questions asked. Just walked out. I am 23 years old, and this is not what I want out of life.The scheme works like this. Be aware of it so you can guard yourself. Our company monitors undervalued companies with strong assets and strong potential. When this company, XXX.V, for example, reaches an overbought situation, our company begins selling shares that we do not own in hopes of purchasing these shares at a lower price later on. As the share price dips, our company purchases these shares for a cheaper price at the lowered ask price. That is where we come in - we bash the stock online to try and further the negative sentiment so that the stock gaps down further and increases our profit margin. This type of activity is called naked short selling and it should be illegal. Our firm is a well established one that deals out shares that we do not own, then send out an army of online rats to undermine the company'ssuccesses to drive the price down. As an employee, I never really realized the effect it had on investors or companies. I just really cared about opening the gap as much as possible, so that I could make a larger commission. It was all just a big game. RegardsS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
And a follow up:LEARN ABOUT HOW BASHERS WORK: For instance: did you know that some Bashers are paid? Golden Rule: IGNORETHEM ...learn how professional Bashers are paid: When you REPLY toBashers you give them an opportunity to earn appox. 5-7 dollars. Theservice agreement they enter into with their employer states theirmessages will be monitored for content, profanity, lies, etc. butOverseers and the like don't have the time to check all their Bashersmessages. Only occasional spot checks are done. Those who manage theBasher will generally read the headlines to see if a Basher is replyingto other posters by name. That tells them the Basher isn't just"posting blindly" or repeating the same message over and over sincethey won't pay for those.(True to form a Basher will put the bite onanyone, even their unscrupulous employer). A Basher will attempt to milk three to five replies per post at one to two dollars each. This way the Basher spreads negative influence to as many stockholders aspossible. A Basher will create this discussion thread because it takes less time reading more messages than is necessary. This ultimately allows the Basher more time to post and make money. In general, NEVER ENGAGE A BASHER. Make them read all the posts and think up ways toenter the discussion. NEVER ENGAGE A BASHER; if you do so then YOU BECOME THE BASHER,S AID! If you feel compelled to challenge a Basher do so without mentioning his/her true alias in your response. This will make it hard for the Basher to use your post as a revenue stream. Read the news, do your own homework and make your own decisions. Get real time quotes and follow the stock for a couple of weeks. Due Diligence is key here. Know that there will be a time when the stock runs up which will be followed followed by the Bashers and those that missed the boat. The Bashers will trash the stock by saying such things as "it's a Pump and Dump" and "the company is lying" and deceiving.There goal is to scare off newbies and potential new investors by"shaking" you out of your shares. Take the time to confirm your DD, trust your own judgement and believe in yourself, pick your point of return or loss and live with it. Don't listen to hype or Bashers trust your own judgement. Live by the rules you have created .
http://www.financialsense.com/fsn/main.html
At around 19 minutes they begin to discuss the professional bashers on the chat rooms and blogs. I dunno, but they hit the nail on the head when they described a couple of our favorite bashers. You have to listen and judge for yourself.
They reviewed the following post from the SH blog, Junior Mining Investors Robbed by Canadian Investment Banks, mentioned at 22.20 minutes.
Thanks to Heeve from SH for the finding the following.
CONFESSIONS OF A PAID BASHER! A must read!
heeve Reputation: A calculation of the weighted quality, performance, and participation scores on a scale of one to ten.")'>0
5/29/2008 5:59:19 PM 59 reads
I found this on the board of Rusoro Mining, another company that has been the victim of severe short selling. Worth reading. Thanksheeve
Worth a read.
This is the period when subtle, sometimes professional, shorters and bashers come out of the woodwork so below is a post I came across years ago that I have always kept.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello, As many of you are aware, I am a paid 'basher'. As childish as bashing might seem on the surface, a lot of money actually exchanges hands based on the work we do. I work(ed) for an investment firm based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I worked in cooperation with several others and under several aliases in several online investment forums. Including PresidentBush, Tooth18, OneVultrue, 7Midniqht andHerbacious on Stockhouse.To make a long story short. I have had an epihphany in the past few days. I watched the movie Fight Club, and as brutal as the movie is on the surface, it actually caused me toquestion a lot of things I do or have done in my life. The next day I was involved in a single vehicle car accident, which caused my vehicle to roll-over. I walked away from it all, but it got me tothinking. I only live once, is this what I want from my life? Is this what I've always wanted to do - I am not even proud of my career or myself. I say that I am a stock broker, but that is a lie. We are basically paid con-men. I quit today, no questions asked. Just walked out. I am 23 years old, and this is not what I want out of life.The scheme works like this. Be aware of it so you can guard yourself. Our company monitors undervalued companies with strong assets and strong potential. When this company, XXX.V, for example, reaches an overbought situation, our company begins selling shares that we do not own in hopes of purchasing these shares at a lower price later on. As the share price dips, our company purchases these shares for a cheaper price at the lowered ask price. That is where we come in - we bash the stock online to try and further the negative sentiment so that the stock gaps down further and increases our profit margin. This type of activity is called naked short selling and it should be illegal. Our firm is a well established one that deals out shares that we do not own, then send out an army of online rats to undermine the company'ssuccesses to drive the price down. As an employee, I never really realized the effect it had on investors or companies. I just really cared about opening the gap as much as possible, so that I could make a larger commission. It was all just a big game. RegardsS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
And a follow up:LEARN ABOUT HOW BASHERS WORK: For instance: did you know that some Bashers are paid? Golden Rule: IGNORETHEM ...learn how professional Bashers are paid: When you REPLY toBashers you give them an opportunity to earn appox. 5-7 dollars. Theservice agreement they enter into with their employer states theirmessages will be monitored for content, profanity, lies, etc. butOverseers and the like don't have the time to check all their Bashersmessages. Only occasional spot checks are done. Those who manage theBasher will generally read the headlines to see if a Basher is replyingto other posters by name. That tells them the Basher isn't just"posting blindly" or repeating the same message over and over sincethey won't pay for those.(True to form a Basher will put the bite onanyone, even their unscrupulous employer). A Basher will attempt to milk three to five replies per post at one to two dollars each. This way the Basher spreads negative influence to as many stockholders aspossible. A Basher will create this discussion thread because it takes less time reading more messages than is necessary. This ultimately allows the Basher more time to post and make money. In general, NEVER ENGAGE A BASHER. Make them read all the posts and think up ways toenter the discussion. NEVER ENGAGE A BASHER; if you do so then YOU BECOME THE BASHER,S AID! If you feel compelled to challenge a Basher do so without mentioning his/her true alias in your response. This will make it hard for the Basher to use your post as a revenue stream. Read the news, do your own homework and make your own decisions. Get real time quotes and follow the stock for a couple of weeks. Due Diligence is key here. Know that there will be a time when the stock runs up which will be followed followed by the Bashers and those that missed the boat. The Bashers will trash the stock by saying such things as "it's a Pump and Dump" and "the company is lying" and deceiving.There goal is to scare off newbies and potential new investors by"shaking" you out of your shares. Take the time to confirm your DD, trust your own judgement and believe in yourself, pick your point of return or loss and live with it. Don't listen to hype or Bashers trust your own judgement. Live by the rules you have created .
Questions for the AGM or a Conference Call
With the AGM coming up on June 27 in Vancouver, BC and a possible conference call after the year end financial statements and the first Quarter results are released (with a Lamaque update) this week (tomorrow?) I thought it might be worthwhile to start compiling a list of questions for our infamous leader and the neutered Board of Directors to answer. Anyone listening to the CC or attending the AGM would then be able to ask some questions. I'll start off with the first question:
1) Madame Kent, will you immediately tender your resignation from Century Mining? If not, why not?
1) Madame Kent, will you immediately tender your resignation from Century Mining? If not, why not?
New Blog Policy - Comments Moderation
I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, but for now, all comments will be moderated before they are published.
Regrettably this action is being taken to thwart the deceptive tactics of December3 and his many aliases.
I urge anyone that wishes to post opinions on this blog to become a blog member. There are more posting options available when posting as a blog member. You have access to text formatting tools, spell check, web link insertion and even direct insertion of images. There is no moderation of posts [Edit] or comments.
To read the latest comment you have to scroll down to the end of the comments section whereas the last post is posted at the top. I encourage blog members to post more often rather than adding to a very long list of comments.
To become a blog member, send a request to centurycarib@gmail.com If you are a complete unknown, you may have to provide an ISP email address, a or a reference from another member or a stockhouse name.
Comments are still welcome, but they won't appear instantly.
Regrettably this action is being taken to thwart the deceptive tactics of December3 and his many aliases.
I urge anyone that wishes to post opinions on this blog to become a blog member. There are more posting options available when posting as a blog member. You have access to text formatting tools, spell check, web link insertion and even direct insertion of images. There is no moderation of posts [Edit] or comments.
To read the latest comment you have to scroll down to the end of the comments section whereas the last post is posted at the top. I encourage blog members to post more often rather than adding to a very long list of comments.
To become a blog member, send a request to centurycarib@gmail.com If you are a complete unknown, you may have to provide an ISP email address, a or a reference from another member or a stockhouse name.
Comments are still welcome, but they won't appear instantly.
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