Sufiy's  Instablog

Argentina is in the headlines these days and investors are looking for the confirmation of the government's commitment to the existing mining laws and property rights and some are picking up bargains in the meantime. We are covering here two juniors mentioned in this article. The future will tell us whether this Sale was a Xmas one came yearly this year.

Partner of McEwen Mining in Argentina on the San Jose mine has came out with its own assessment of the political situation in the country:

Prospecting Journal:

May 23, 2012 by prospectingjournal · Leave a Comment

COMMENTARY-ProspectingJournal.com-While Argentina's recent policy decisions have created a haze of uncertainty, the bottom line is that the country needs money. As Latin America's third-largest economy, Argentina derives a large percentage of its wealth through mining. This mining comes mainly from foreign companies willing to bare the risks associated with exploration. These companies inject capital into the local economy, sustaining an industry that wouldn't exist without them.

In other words, Argentina needs miners more than miners need Argentina. And, thankfully, miners want to be there. The country is, after all, home to massive gold and copper deposits, untapped oil fields, salt flats, lithium brines, potash-the list goes on. Having gone through several economic meltdowns in the last four decades, Argentinians are very aware of what the country does have going for it: resources.

Thus, the current sentiment coming out of Argentina presents a vacuum of opportunity for investors looking for bargain-level prices. Majors know this, which is why they are not only confident in Argentina's future mining industry, but are likely preparing to acquire the underpriced mid-tier and junior companies, many of which sit atop great properties.

Geoff Burns, CEO of Vancouver-based Pan American Silver, states that the current mood will pass as Argentina's economy derives much from the mining industry: "I am confident the environment [in Argentina] will improve, I don't know when, but I know it will improve."

Andy Lloyd, spokesman for Barrick Gold, dismisses sensationalist reports that new import controls will scare off the big players: "We've had a local supplier development program in place for over a decade, with more than 900 Argentine companies supplying goods and services to Veladero and Pascua-Lama. More recently, the company has also initiated a program to substitute imports with locally available alternatives, with good results to date."

Bob Moriarty, the well-known contrarian investor who runs 321Gold, says in a recent interview that now is the time to invest as the Government of Argentina knows better than to shut off the international flow of capital: "Juniors are . . . bringing money into the country. It would be especially stupid for the government to get involved at this point."

As we are always on the lookout for good deals in Latin America, there are several companies in Argentina that we feel aren't getting any cheaper.

Netco Silver (NEI: TSX.V) has a great property and an 11-cent stock price. The Company's Toruel Project in the Rio Negro province is located approximately 100 km from Pan American Silver's Navidad project, which is one of the world's largest silver deposits. NEI's recent work on the property has uncovered a series of sheeted veins that are 10, 12 and 15 km in strike length. That's huge. As Moriarty says, "Netco has 2,000-3,000 gram silver intercepts over meters and nobody's ever heard of them before."

Marifil Mines (MFM: TSX.V) is another bargain junior whose 20+ properties include the Toruel JV with Netco. Yet unlike Netco, MFM owns a diverse set of properties-everything from gold to potash, silver to oil-and develops these projects to an advanced exploration stage. Once the Company's focus project reaches the advanced stage, MFM spins it out, signs a joint-venture, or sells it. MFM then draws on its next property from its portfolio to be the focus, while working on the other properties in the background. This model creates positive cash flow for MFM, which allows the Company to reward shareholders and acquire better properties. And, you guessed it, MFM currently trades at 11 cents.

Argentex Mining Corp. (ATX: TSX.V) is focused on advancing its Pinguino Silver / Gold Project in Santa Cruz. ATX announced its 2012 exploration plans back in February: a 10,000 meter drill program that will focus on "targets within already identified areas of discovery." This advanced, 100%-owned project will soon be put to the test as drill results come in. ATX's stock price is under 40 cents.

The list of miners in Argentina goes on, with the majority offering a low share price and excellent properties. Other juniors to look out for include TNR Gold (TNR: TSX.V) and International Lithium Corp (ILC: TSX.V), both of which host impressive properties that we have previously covered, as well as Golden Arrow Resources (GRG: TSX.V) and Yamana Gold (YRI: TSX). Many of these companies, including those previously mentioned, operate through local subsidiaries, which further entrenches the role of junior miners in bringing wealth to the region.

All of the mentioned companies in this article (excluding Pan American Silver and Barrick of course) are currently under one dollar, some quite significantly.

A recent article from Mine Web entitled "Junior resource investment in a financial meltdown" touched on the current junior mining situation, illustrating how the volatile markets are pushing majors towards what may soon be a massive acquisition hunt. When this hunt comes to Argentina, the temptation to nab high-value, low-cost juniors will be very strong. If these companies continue to prove up significant resources, they will no doubt be a tempting buy. And shareholders who ignore the noise and get in low will enjoy the ride.

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Chris DevauldProspectingJournal.com"

Please, do not forget, that we own stocks we are writing about and have position in these companies. We are not providing any investment advise on this blog and there is no solicitation to buy or sell any particular company here. Always consult with your qualified financial adviser before making any investment decisions.

Now we can talk about Electric rEVolution for real. Tesla Model S will put the Electric Mobility in perspective: It is The Car, but only better. Welcome to the 21st century of transportation!

Will Apple and Facebook save us all? Yes, If They Will Produce Electric iCars

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"With IPO of Facebook in the headlines and Apple testing the limits of the market appetite for its valuation, we need to put a few things into perspective. We love all Apple Products, recognise the Facebook phenomenon and think that these companies do have resources to really change our world one more time and save us all - literally this time. We will throw Google into the mix as well. These three companies are all experiencing unprecedented growth, market valuations and are literally sitting on piles of cash. They have built teams of the best engineers in the world which are able to solve very fast the most difficult technical problems in the most efficient way. They know how to engage people and communicate very efficiently new ideas.

They will be all much better of to put all these resources to work and to do it fast - economy will not survive another Oil Shock, which is approaching very fast now. Oil Shock means not only higher Gas prices, but destruction of our societies as it will affect everyone and everything: Food production, Supply Chains, Security and Economy as a whole."

Gizmag:

TESLA MODEL S GETS JUNE RELEASE DATE AND PERSONALIZATION UPDATES

May 22, 2012

By Darren Quick

Tesla Motors has announced it will begin deliveries of its long-awaited Model S sedan next month. The first customers to slap down a reservation for the battery electric vehicle will be put behind the wheel from June 22, a month ahead of schedule. And despite being just a month away from launch, the company also revealed a number of new features that will allow drivers to personalize the feel of their ride by using the car's 17-inch touchscreen to adjust steering, suspension and regenerative braking settings.

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Through the touchscreen interface, drivers can lower the suspension to reduce drag, or raise it to clear speed bumps or when carrying a heavy load. The steering wheel turning resistance can also be adjusted, ranging from Comfort, Standard, and Sport, depending on whether you like a light touch or a bit of a workout.

Additionally, in response to feedback, Tesla has made the car's regenerative braking (which Tesla calls simply "Regen") driver adjustable. Maximizing the Regen will apply more resistance when the foot is taken off the accelerator to increase the amount of energy being fed back to the battery and increase the car's range. But for those that prefer the feel of less Regen and aren't suffering any range anxiety, the Regen level can be reduced.

As the Model S nears launch, Tesla has also released a graph showing the predicted range of the 85 kWh Model S (in ideal conditions) against constant speed, as calculated by a computer model.

It reveals that a constant speed of around 20 mph (32 km/h) is expected to provide a range of just over 450 miles (724 km). That's obviously not very practical in the real world and Tesla says it hasn't achieved such a result in real world testing - but it is planning a prize for the first customer to go over 400 miles (644 km) on a single charge.

At the more practical constant highway driving speed of 50-70 mph (80-113 km/h), the Model S should achieve a range of 250-350 miles (402-563 km) - an improvement over the 55 kWh Tesla Roadster and aided by the sedan's drag coefficient (Cd) of approximately 0.24.

Under the older 2-cycle EPA test procedure that blends 55 percent city cycle driving and 45 percent highway cycle driving, the Model S delivers a range of 320 miles (515 km). The new "5-cycle test" that includes a cold driving cycle that requires heater use, a hot weather cycle with air conditioning use, and a high speed cycle that takes the car up to speeds of 80 mph (129 km/h) with rapid accelerations, returned a range of 265 miles (426 km).

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The first reservation holders will be able to put these figures to the test in just a month's time when the first Model S sedans start making their way into customer garages. Orders for the Model S currently exceed 10,000, with the company expecting to fill 5,000 of these orders by the end of the year, so there's sure to be plenty of real-world performance data before too long.

The announcement marks a banner week for Tesla Motors co-founder Elon Musk, whose SpaceX company this week successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft into orbit headed for a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS) atop its Falcon 9 launch rocket. This marks the first time a private company has sent a spacecraft to the ISS.

Source: Tesla"

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We will address all interested parties to the web-cast of yesterday's Conference Call with McEwen Mining:

McEwen Mining Corporate Update Conference Call

Here we will provide some additional public information on Los Azules litigation, so that you can have the full picture and decide why McEwen Mining is so worried, why now and what actually they are talking about:

Rob McEwen:

"We are blessed with having a number of world class properties, properties of long life and such size that they are of interest to the large number of players - particularly, Los Azules Copper project, where we have encouragement in drilling this year. We have discussions about partial or full sale of this property, which could provide some or all of the funding we need to carry on our business. These discussions have been going on for a while now, but we will certainly step up that tempo..."

In the end of the conference call TNR Gold litigation is mentioned with the Merger Offer proposal from unnamed party and Rob McEwen has pointed, as usual, to the TNR Gold share price - this attention to the junior market is also very interesting in light of the all recent developments.

Timing of a very fortunate Sales of McEwen Mining shares by Former CEO of Minera Andes Mr Allen Ambrose becomes particularly interesting in light of all recent warnings for McEwen Mining shareholders about "Argentina Situation".

Former CEO of Minera Andes Allen Ambrose Sold McEwen Mining $MUX worth 1.7 M in Febuary 2012 with price range 5.65 - 5.69

You can find more information about emails of Mr Allen Ambrose presented as evidence in public court documents of Los Azules litigation below.

"Maybe this is where the real problem is - Chief Owner, finally, shares with Other Owners the information and it is too much to handle for them at once? Los Azules litigation case went through an interesting transformation this year - from being the "lawsuit without merit" to the McEwen Maps outlining the High Grade Core of Los Azules being located on former TNR Gold properties, which junior is claiming to be returned back.

Los Azules resource will, hopefully, grow further - latest estimate for 12.5 billion lb of Copper in all categories was done in 2010."

McEwen Mining reports:

"In the near term, we will be delivering new resource estimates for Los Azules and El Gallo by the end of June. "

Copper Investing News:

Time May Be Ripe for Copper M&A to FlourishWednesday May 23, 2012, 4:15am PDT
By Shihoko Goto - Exclusive to Copper Investing News

With global demand for copper expected to outstrip supply, and the price of the red metal down from its highs of nearly $4 earlier this year, now may be a good time to move aggressively in the market. There are already signs that copper producers both large and small plan to forge new alliances and press ahead with buyouts in anticipation of greater demand.

Total global merger and acquisition activity in the mining sector rose 130 percent in the first quarter of this year from the previous quarter to reach US$90 billion, according to KPMG'sMining M&A Quarterly Newsletter. Granted, that was mostly a result of the proposed merger between Glencore International (LSE:GLEN) and Xstrata (LSE:XTA), which was announced in February; the deal will be the largest mining transaction in history if it goes ahead, and may significantly shift the industry's landscape in the future. After all, it would create the third-largest copper group in the world and become the fourth-largest diversified mining company after BHP Billiton(ASX:BHP), Vale (NYSE:VALE), and Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO). Yet even without that mega-merger, there were over 81 mining transactions in the latest quarter, compared to under 50 in the fourth quarter of 2011, KPMG found.

Looking solely at copper mergers, there were a total of ten transactions during the latest quarter for a combined total deal value of $13 billion. The most high profile was Rio Tinto's move to become the majority shareholder in Ivanhoe Mines (NYSE:IVN,TSX:IVN), which operates the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia. Oyu Tolgoi is slated to begin initial production by the end of this year, and commercial production is projected to begin by the first half of 2013.

Hopes may be high for Oyu Tolgoi, which will be one of the world's largest copper mines, and other mega-projects, but some analysts argue that this is not the best time for companies to be making aggressive moves. Indeed, both Rio Tinto and BHP suggested this month that they may be scaling back their investment plans amid increasing worries about a further global economic downturn. BHP's chairman, Jacques Nasser, stated that the company is rethinking its expansion plans "every day," while Rio Tinto's CEO, Tom Albanese, said "increasing costs are an industry-wide problem…[w]e must ensure we are proactively tackling issues now that may impact productivity in years to come."

Still, 2011 was a strong year for copper M&A activity. According to the Metals Economics Group's Strategic Report, released this month, copper deals dominated base metals acquisitions spending, and accounted for the bulk of the 47 percent increase in the total base metals spending of $29 billion in 2011. Looking at the geographic breakdown of 2011′s global mining acquisitions, of the 51 percent of acquired projects Canada accounted for 25 percent market share followed by the US with 15 percent and Australia.

Looking ahead, corporate deals in the copper sector may remain strong, but more action could take place outside of the obvious locations such as North America and Australia. PwC expects a record year of mining M&A driven by cash-rich senior and intermediate mining groups, with Africa becoming a "more viable M&A geography with growth market buyers in particular, driving substantial acquisition volumes." PwC also expects M&A deals to be robust despite a 21 percent drop in copper prices in 2011 as the spot price of copper nonetheless averaged $4 a pound, 17 percent higher than the 2010 price and 24 percent higher than in 2007. Indeed, Morgan Stanleypointed out that Chinese demand for copper will support prices in the latter half of the year, stating that "we think the timing of a rebound in copper prices will be in large part determined by the speed at which China churns through its domestic inventory, which will necessitate a return to the import market…[f]urthermore, with the majority of known copper inventory concentrated in the U.S. and East Asia, demand weakness outside of these regions will be offset by supply tightness."

Meanwhile, demand is expected to outstrip supply, with inventories remaining low, especially as labor strikes at major mines worldwide continue to disrupt output. In addition, it is taking longer to produce lower-quality copper, which is encouraging companies both large and small to forge partnerships and pursue buyouts to meet ever-growing demand from consumers in developing economies in particular, PwC said.

Conflict among major copper producers

The drama among major producers is also likely to continue. As investors await the closure of the Xstrata-Glencore deal, they will also be keeping close tabs on the ongoing conflict between Anglo American (LSE:AAL) and Codelco as the latter continues to press its right to exercise the option to acquire a 49 percent stake in Anglo American Sur. In late 2011, Anglo American agreed to sell a 24.5 percent stake in its Chilean unit to Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. (TSE:8058) for $6.7 billion. As a result, Anglo American has argued that Codelco can now only have the remaining 24.5 percent stake in the company. When and how a settlement will be reached between the two sides remain in question.

Such legal disputes, however, are not uncommon and are unlikely to reverse the tide of copper companies looking to strengthen their position with another group, either through a merger or a buyout. This month, for instance, TNR Gold (TSXV:TNR) received an offer from an unnamed company to merge with TNR and acquire TNR's copper and gold properties in Argentina. However, TNR is in dispute with McEwen Mining (NYSE:MUX) over the title to a significant part of the Los Azules property; a trial to settle the issue will start in November and should last for about six weeks.

TNR's Chairman, Kirill Klip, stated that "the Los Azules project is considered to represent one of the largest undeveloped copper projects in the world but the current legal uncertainty over its legal ownership is detracting from the value of the project for shareholders of both TNR and McEwen Mining."

Even with stumbling blocks, the quest to secure a steady copper supply in the coming years may continue to fan the flames of more M&A activity from both major and junior miners in the near future.

Securities Disclosure: I, Shihoko Goto, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article."

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TNR Gold Corp. Presentation.

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Reuters:

Fri May 11, 2012 8:25pm EDT

TNR Gold Vs. McEwen Mining:

Los Azules

"World's Sixth Largest Undeveloped Copper Deposit"

Thursday, May 10,2012

Note: we are not sure that this particular Judge will be involved in this court hearing.

Disclaimer (loosely based on investment bankers' small print): please read our full disclaimer, nothing on this website or any links provided should be relied upon in any way and nobody will accept any responsibility in any case.

We are very pleased to see this development: acknowledgement of the ongoing litigation, its risks, property involved and proper representation of all necessary information for the shareholders. Annual General Meeting to be held by McEwen Mining on Thursday May 17, 2012 at 4:00 will provide a good opportunity to ask all questions about this developing story with "World's Sixth Largest Undeveloped Copper Deposit" - as Rob McEwen has called it.

McEwen Mining reports:

"A total of 2,835 meters were drilled this season in eight holes. A drill hole location map, a table of assay results and a cross section of the Los Azules resource are provided in Exhibits 1, 2 and 3. All of the drill holes from this season were completed on mineral claims that are not subject to ongoing litigation."

MCEWEN MINING EXPANSION DRILLING INTERSECTS 0.53% COPPER OVER 351 METERS AT THE LOS AZULES PROJECT

Page 5 provides, finally, McEwen Mining map outlining High Grade Core Copper Zone on TNR Gold's former properties called "100% Held mineral rights (subject to litigation) and surface ownership".

TNR Gold's Gary Schellenberg Discusses Gold Mining in Alaska and Los Azules Copper Project on Midas Letter Money TNR.v

Public Court Documents on Los Azules litigation

Update February 12th, 2012. CNNMoney:

We guess, that at some stage Mr Allen Ambrose - former CEO of Minera Andes, will be questioned during the Los Azules litigation on what exactly were his intentions explained in his emails presented by TNR Gold litigation counsel in Amended Claim.

Allen Ambrose emails:

24. "Next we should look at our alternatives to take out the Solitario (TNR Gold - S) agreement..."TNR Gold vs Minera Andes (McEwen Mining now) and MIM (Xstrata now). From Page 11 Part 3: Legal Basis http://bit.ly/xhdqag

Mcewen Mining: SEC filing: ITEM 1A. Risk Factors

"The Los Azules copper project is subject to ongoing legal proceedings with the potential that we may lose all or part of our interest in the project.

TNR Gold presentation with Maps of Los Azules.

Please, do not forget, that we own stocks we are writing about and have position in these companies. We are not providing any investment advise on this blog and there is no solicitation to buy or sell any particular company here. Always consult with your qualified financial adviser before making any investment decisions.