Problem 464: Square, Center, Arc, Angle, 120 Degrees

Geometry Problem
Click the figure below to see the complete problem 464 about Square, Center, Arc, Angle, 120 Degrees.


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Complete Problem 464

Level: High School, SAT Prep, College geometry

Interactive Mind Map of Online Degrees

Interactive Mind Map of Online Degrees based on OnlineDegrees.com website.

Graphic organizers are visual representations of knowledge, concepts or ideas.
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Online Degrees, Interactive Mind Map

Peru's gold production slump (from IKN56)

Here's one small snippet from IKN56, out yesterday, that covers the gold production slump seen in Peru right now. This comes from the 'Regional Politics' section of the Weekly that's not company specific, but keeps readers up to date with macro developments in regional mining.

Peru’s gold mining production slump

Here’s one for the Peak Gold proponents amongst you. The chart below shows monthly production of gold in Peru 2005 to date, measured in kilograms of fine gold. We see that, apart from a peak in late 2005 and a plateau aound 17,500kg/month that lasted through most of 2006, the average monthly output of all the mines in Peru (that include Yanacocha, Lagunas Norte, Pierina, other large scale mines with gold as by-product, medium and smaller-scale dedicated precious metals miners, informal gold mining etc etc) has fluctuated quite closely around the 15,000kg/month level...until very recently, that is.

The monthly results in 2010 have been as follows, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) official numbers: January 2010: 15,803kg gold (a normal month) February 2010: 14,809kg gold (slightly low) March 2010: 13,637kg gold (low) April 2010: 12,534kg gold (very low) Just how low was that April month? It’s the third lowest since the end of 2002, with only March 2003 (12,163kg) and June 2007 showing lower numbers (and the 11,577kg in June 2007 was due to strike action in the June/July period of that year). The biggest culprit for the loss of production is Yanacocha, which has produced 21.29% less in the Jan-April 2010 period compared to the same four months of 2009 and its April production alone down by 37.29% YoY. Yanacocha is a big part of the Peru production deal, as of the 59,101kg of gold produced by Peru so far this year 21,364kg have come from that single mine (36.1% of the total). However, we get to hear little about the overall drop in production out of Peru because the rise in gold prices has successfully masked the weakness in production (thus allowing its government to crow loudly about good things and ignore bad things). This chart below shows the gross monthly value of gold production in the same period, calculated by taking the Kg production figures for each month in question and multiplying by the average London PM fix for each month, data supplied by Kitco dot com. The story is very different. The value ebbs and flows intra-annually but the overall rise in gold production by value is crystal clear, as in just five years values of gold produced have more than doubled. We also remind readers that nearly all Peru’s gold is exported, with the major destinations Switzerland and Canada, so what you see above has made an enormous difference to the export tallies for Peru (and also to tax revenues). However, even the current U$1,200/oz+ prices fetched at market cannot hide the sharp drop in Peru production for 2010, with gross metal values now down to under early 2009 levels. Signs of creeping Dutch Disease in Peru? Possibly, as the production base declines and exports, fiscal revenues, growth etc becoming ever more reliant on the prices fetched on the world commodities market. The ongoing evolution in Peru’s two majors exports, gold and copper, should be watched carefully, as they underpin the growing market acceptance of the so-called Peru economic miracle.

we lead others follow

Let's see if you can spot the similarities too, dear reader.

Here's IKN on Friday May 28th:

How many Ventana Gold (VEN.to) shares does Eike Batista Own?

Answer: 19,306,000.

This number went up this week, as Eike's 63X Master Fund vehicle added 1.1m shares to its pile on Wednesday (and filed them as quickly as yesterday).

Ventana Gold Corp. (VEN)						As of May 27th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
May 27/10	May 26/10	63X Master Fund	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	1,100,000	$10.620

Strangely and weirdly, this puts the 63X Master Fund's total holding at 19.82% of shares outstanding, assuming that the May 13th total of 97,409,131 shares out is still the exact correct one. As many out there will know, special things start happening to Canadian stocks if one single holder goes above 20% so it's not really surprising to see Eike's crew stop just under that magic number.

Now that the land deal is done with Los Gelvez, the question now is "when" Eike makes his move and buys out VEN.to, not "if". My best guess would be after the Presidential elections, but WTFDIK? Anyway, to round off here's the current state of full dilution at the company (the warrants and options are all in the money). I wonder if mgmt will have time to squeeze in a final round of bonus options?

shares out: 97,409,131
warrants: 3,644,000
options: 6,327,000

And now here's the Ventana Gold (VEN.to) news release on Monday May 31st:

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - 05/31/10) - Ventana Gold Corp. (TSX:VEN - News) ("Ventana" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that 63X Master Fund ("63X"), its largest shareholder, has acquired ownership and control of an additional 1.1 million common shares of Ventana through the facilities of the Toronto Stock Exchange, bringing its aggregate ownership in Ventana to 19,306,000 common shares. 63X paid cash consideration of $10.62 per share, for aggregate consideration of $11,682,000.

Ventana Chairman Richard Warke said: "We are pleased to see 63X increase its position in our company. This demonstrates their confidence in the value of our assets and the strength of our business plan. As our largest shareholder, they have shown tremendous support to our Board and management team."

Chart of the day is.....

...the gold/silver ratio.

the Gaza aid ships

Will's Story: Proton Therapy MassGeneral Hospital for Children

Video
The story of Will as he's treated at the Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center at MassGeneral Hospital for Children. Source: MassGeneral Hospital for Children

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Will's Story: Proton Therapy, MassGeneral Hospital for Children.

MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center is Four Years Old

Video
Dr. Andrew K. Lee, Dr. James D. Cox and nurse Carolyn Allsen take a look back at the past four years and discuss how the center is currently helping even more patients triumph over cancer through treatment with proton therapy. Source: MD Anderson Cancer Center (Texas - USA)Anderson Cancer Center (Texas - USA)

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MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center is Four Years Old.

Proton Therapy for Brain Tumors

Video
Learn more about how proton therapy works by watching this streaming video. Source MD Anderson Cancer Center (Texas - USA)

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Proton Therapy For Brain Tumors.

Greystar (GSL.to) gets its appeal

take a wild guess as to when the trouble started

Now here's a thing. Greystar Resources' (GSL.to) appeal to keep its December 2009 environmental impact assessment (EIA) as filed and not have to resubmit an EIA as asked to last month has been successful. Here's the NR:

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 31, 2010) - Greystar Resources Ltd. (the "Company") (TSX:GSL - News; AIM:GSL) is pleased to announce that further to its news releases dated April 29 and May 21, 2010 the Company has received a positive decision in regard to the Company's appeal with the Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Territorial Development (MAVDT) to reinstate its December 22, 2009 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

On May 28, 2010, the Company received a decision from MAVDT that reverses its April 20 letter and reinstates the December 22, 2009 EIA as filed. MAVDT will move forward with a review of the EIA.

Steve Kesler, President & CEO commented, "We are very pleased with the Ministry's decision to reinstate our EIA as filed. We are committed to the highest standards of environmental stewardship in the development of the Angostura project. We believe that Angostura can be developed in a sustainable fashion that respects the integrity of the environment while delivering economic benefits to all stakeholders. We will continue to work closely with the Colombian Government and MAVDT to resolve all concerns related to the development of Angostura."

Greystar is in the midst of completing a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) on the Angostura project that is expected to be published in the second half of 2010. In addition, the Company has begun the process of securing US$650 million in project finance from international sources. The Company continues to carry out exploration at the project with a total of six drill rigs focused on three targets; Angostura high grade, Mongora and La Plata.

It seems the main thrust of the appeal, that the law enacted in Feb 2010 couldn't be applied retroactively, was a winning argument. All this and a Santos likely win makes for a good day for the GSL guys. The stock will jump on this news for sure, but it still leaves the question of whether the EIA as submitted will actually get approval. Thorny one, that.

Problem 463: Three Concentric Circles, Secant, Tangent, Triangle, Area

Geometry Problem
Click the figure below to see the complete problem 463 about Three Concentric Circles, Secant, Tangent, Triangle, Area.


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Complete Problem 463

Level: High School, SAT Prep, College geometry

Colombia Election early results

The polls closed just under one hour ago and we already have 31.9% of the votes counted that show:

Juan Manuel Santos has 46.8% of votes
Antanas Mockus has 21.43% of votes

We're told that by 8pm local time (9pm New York time) around 90% of votes are expected to have been counted. We'll update this post as the evening progresses.

UPDATE: The scores are now 46.64% Santos, 21.61% Mockus, 10.35% Vargas, 9.47% Petro, 5.75% Sanín with 72% tallied in what's called the "precount" (i.e. official quick count and supposedly very accurate forecast). If you're interested in helping crash the official website, the link is here.

UPDATE 2: Now 79.86% of the precount done, with 46.54% Santos, 21.68% Mockus, 10.33% Vargas, 9.38% Petro, 5.86% Sanín. It has to be said that these numbers are very different from all opinion polls carried out pre-election that had Santos and Mockus in a technicial dead heat for the last two weeks of campaigning (here's the link to charts showing the last set of main polls from last Sunday). Let's just leave it at that for the time being.

UPDATE 3: 91.8% of the precount is now done and I think we've got the picture by now: 46.57% Santos, 21.55% Mockus, 10.24% Vargas, 9.22% Petro, 6.05% Sanín. There are going to be a lot of questions asked about this vote, not least from the observers that have already made observations of irregularities.

UPDATE 4: We'll make this the last update, as with 95.34% the result is now all-but set in stone. 46.58% Santos, 21.50% Mockus, 10.19% Vargas, 9.18% Petro, 6.11% Sanín.

The IKN Weekly, out now

IKN56 has just been sent to subscribers. Woof.

Dennis Hopper recites "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

Video
Dennis Hopper - actor (Rebel Without a Cause, Blue Velvet), director (Easy Rider, Colors), - died of prostate cancer at his house in Los Angeles today. He was 74.
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Dennis Hopper recites "If" by Rudyard Kipling.

Online Degrees, Interactive Mind Map

Interactive Mind Map based on Guide to Online Schools website.

Graphic organizers are visual representations of knowledge, concepts or ideas.
Click the figure below to see the Interactive Mind Map.


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Online Degrees, Interactive Mind Map

Online Degrees, Colleges and Universities - Index

Mind Maps and News
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Online Degrees, Colleges and Universities

Mining Operations: Anglo American - Index

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Mining Operations: Anglo American

A room with a view (part 5)

This week's edition is the view reader 'DC' gets from his place in Auckland, New Zealand.

If anyone feels like sending in the scene from their window, you're welcome to do so.

ATW Gold (ATW.v) up to tricks again

What are these crooks at ATW Gold (ATW.v) up to now? Here's the latest, a "debt for shares proposed swap.

ATW GOLD CORP. ("ATW")
   BULLETIN TYPE: Shares for Debt
   BULLETIN DATE: May 28, 2010
   TSX Venture Tier 1 Company

   TSX Venture Exchange has accepted for filing the Company's proposal to
issue 2,000,000 shares at a deemed price of AUD$0.25 (or CAD$0.22065) to
settle outstanding debt for AUD$500,000 (CAD$441,271.41).

   Number of Creditors:     1 Creditor

   The Company shall issue a news release when the shares are issued and the
debt extinguished.

However it's planned to work, you can bet it will have ulterior motives at work and you can also bet it won't be for the benefit of bagholders already ripped nine ways by these frontrunning scamsters.

The perfect video for memorial weekend

My thanks to reader 'AT' for the headsup.

Here's the link to the article in Harper's, here's an extract of the text....

".....with former Argentine president Néstor Kirchner, Oliver Stone learned that Bush claimed that waging war was a formula for economic growth. Here’s the key exchange:

kirchner: I said that a solution for the problems right now, I told Bush, is a Marshall Plan. And he got angry. He said the Marshall Plan is a crazy idea of the Democrats. He said the best way to revitalize the economy is war. And that the United States has grown stronger with war.

stone: War, he said that?

kirchner: He said that. Those were his exact words.

stone: Is he suggesting that South America go to war?

kirchner: Well, he was talking about the United States: “The Democrats had been wrong. All of the economic growth of the United States has been encouraged by wars.” He said it very clearly."

......and here's the video:

The Friday OT: Spinal Tap; Big Bottom

So many cherished Tap moments to choose from. It could have been Stonehenge, or the now legendary "11" scene, or even "Puppet Show and Spinal Tap" followed by the freeform jazz. All those and many, many more.

But we're going with 'Big Bottom', because of lyrics worthy of Pulitzer. Take for example the first verse:

The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin', that's what I said.
The looser the waistband, the deeper the quicksand or so I have read
My baby fits me like a flesh tuxedo,
I'd like to sink her with my pink torpedo

And the unforgettable hook, How could I leave this behind? Enjoy.

The Pacaya eruption, Guatemala

This Spanish language video is the last dispatch from Guatemalan journalist Anibal Archila before his death (QEPD).

In the report he talks of being as close as 60m from the lava flow and saying that the heat was almost unbearable. Shortly after filing this report on the scene of the Pacaya volcano eruption he was hit in the back by a flying rock from the eruption and disappeared from sight. Six hours later his body was found by rescuers. His is one of three deaths reported from the eruption, as well as many injured and some 15,000 evacuated people.

Meanwhile, President Colom of Guatemala has declared a 'State of Calamity' due to the eruption. Guatemala's main 'La Aurora' airport is closed due to ash falls on the runway and plenty more disruption to normal life is coming through.

Colombia votes

This weekend sees the first round of voting in Colombia's Presidential elections (and also 'ley seca' starts today, which means no alcoholic drinks can be sold until the polls close Sunday), with the most likely result being frontrunners Santos and Mockus going to Ballotage in three weeks' time. IKN thoroughly recommends that you follow any and all developments this weekend via the best English language coverage of the country bar none, the excellent online news medium Colombia Reports.

Catching up with Ascot Mining (AM3.f) (ASMP.l)

Way back last September we ran "Ascot Mining and Bargepoles" as a warning against taking a position in German listed Ascot Mining (AM3.f) (ASMP.l), a view backed up by a London-based expert, Minesite's Charles Wyatt (see link). So let's see how it's been getting on since then:

It was 49c on September 7th, day of the post. It's now 22c. Nuff said.

And funny to remember how I had this miffed shareholder mailing me after that September note, telling me how wrong both Wyatt and I were about the stock, telling me about the 'significant developments' in the stock, offering me special one-on-one chats with Ascot's CEO...all sorts of stuff. I suppose it's now mere detail that the guy who introduced himself as a shareholder turned out to be in charge of Ascot Mining's investor relations.....

Moral of the story: There are no shortcuts for retail shareholder when making money in the markets. Read Mark Twain on gold mining for more details and DYODD, dude.

How many Ventana Gold (VEN.to) shares does Eike Batista own?

Answer: 19,306,000.

This number went up this week, as Eike's 63X Master Fund vehicle added 1.1m shares to its pile on Wednesday (and filed them as quickly as yesterday).

Ventana Gold Corp. (VEN)						As of May 27th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
May 27/10	May 26/10	63X Master Fund	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	1,100,000	$10.620

Strangely and weirdly, this puts the 62X Master Fund's total holding at 19.82% of shares outstanding, assuming that the May 13th total of 97,409,131 shares out is still the exact correct one. As many out there will know, special things start happening to Canadian stocks if one single holder goes above 20% so it's not really surprising to see Eike's crew stop just under that magic number.

Now that the land deal is done with Los Gelvez, the question now is "when" Eike makes his move and buys out VEN.to, not "if". My best guess would be after the Presidential elections, but WTFDIK? Anyway, to round off here's the current state of full dilution at the company (the warrants and options are all in the money). I wonder if mgmt will have time to squeeze in a final round of bonus options?

shares out: 97,409,131
warrants: 3,644,000
options: 6,327,000

Chart of the day is.....

.....oil again, but this time the hourly candles.

The rally continues, with $75 falling this morning and the 'Deflation Play' quickly being forgotten by this fickle world. Meanwhile, featuring oil again this morning gives me a lame excuse to paste up a section from today's Can of Corn Morning Coffee. I dunno whether to laugh or cry about this, frankly:

Irish Petroleum - Betting

PaddyPower.com has placed odds on what species would be first to become extinct as a result of crude belching from BP’s (BP) ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico. Odds are the Kemp’s Ridley turtle, and other critically endangered species that migrate to the Gulf this time of year, would go first. A $5 bet on the turtle would win $9 if it’s listed as extinct at any time because of the spill. Less likely species – the gulf sturgeon, smalltooth sawfish and elkhorn coral – have payout rates of 20-to-1.

The Irish bookmaker hopes the betting will “highlight the environmental catastrophe” and the “sure bet” that it would lead to the loss of some marine species. “We kind of have a very simple philosophy at Paddy Power – within reason, if there is a very newsworthy event that people are talking about, people should be allowed to back up their opinion with some cash,” a company spokesman said. PaddyPower.com is also taking bets on who will be the next CEO of BP.

Mining Operations: Anglo American Interactive Mind Map

Interactive Mind Map based on Mining Operations of Anglo American website.

Graphic organizers are visual representations of knowledge, concepts or ideas.
Click the figure below to see the Interactive Mind Map.


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Mining Operations of Anglo American

Dorato Resources (DRI.v) cares for its employees so much....

...that it will happy ream its retail shareholders to please them.

Y'know, there are handouts to management and there are handouts to management, but ONE POINT NINE MILLION OPTIONS worth $1.6m when you're on a stock with a market cap of $58.5m? They've just awarded themselves 2.75% of the company, FerLaffinOutLoud!

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 27, 2010) - Dorato Resources Inc. ("Dorato" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:DRI - News; OTCQX:DRIFF)(PINK SHEETS:DRIFF - News; FRANKFURT:DO5 - News) announces that, Pursuant to its 2009 Incentive Stock Option Plan, Dorato has granted incentive stock options to certain directors, officers, employees and consultants allowing them to purchase up to an aggregate of 1,900,000 common shares in the capital stock of the Company. The options are exercisable at a price of CAD 0.85 for a period of two years ending May 27, 2012.

It wouldn't be so bad if options were the only way Dorato (DRI.v) brass handed themselves the love, but the company racked up $1.1m in consultancy fees in the first nine months of the year and you can bet large sums versus rosquillas that names first in the queue when those contracts got handed out also coincide with directors and Cardero Group pals (and we wait on tenterhooks for the YE and its contents). But on the other hand, the company can always point to this year's sparkling share price performance.....

........as a way of justifying this wildly excessive options handout, can't it Owly?

Retail shareholders: The crop that never fails.

IKN heart Jeffrey M. Christian

Somebody has to stand up to those knownothings, charlatans and bullies at GATA. You go Jeff.

"GATA represents itself to its followers as experts when they clearly are not. They prey on the lack of knowledge and fear of investors who have not studied the markets as well as they should have. The solution to that problem is investor education, not lies. All that the reckless pursuit of conspiracy theories do is distract investors from the much more important agenda of understanding the gold bullion marketplace and the fundamentals that drive the price of gold."

The full and most excellent GATA smackdown is right here. I'm sure Jeffrey M. Christian will agree when I say, "DYODD, dude".


UPDATE: A reader writes in with this:

Did you catch the Christian vs. Murphy "debate" on FSN last week?

Link here

I say "debate" because Christian ate Murphy alive.

Mining Operations: Gold Fields, Interactive Mind Map

Interactive Mind Map based on Mining Operations of Gold Fields website.

Graphic organizers are visual representations of knowledge, concepts or ideas.
Click the figure below to see the Interactive Mind Map.


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Mining Operations of Gold Fields, Interactive Mind Map

Doe Run Peru

Peru's best political cartoonist is Carlín of La Republica. Today he nails the liars and fakes at Doe Run Peru better than 10,000 words can do.

Here's the original:

Here's a translation.

'Garden of Geometry' by Mike Worrall and Golden Rectangle

Mike Worrall (born 1942) is an English artist and designer. He has worked on films such as Nate and Hayes and Alien 3.
Click the figure below to see the illustration.


Continue reading at:
'Garden of Geometry' by Mike Worrall

China does Mutún, Bolivia

Apparently, there is no foreign investment in Bolivia because of the normal type of scary EvoRedCommieAllGonnaDieRunAndHide etc etc stuff written in your northern propaganda rags (never mind that Bolivia was LatAm's fastest growing economy last year, as EngLang media learned long ago to wisely ignore facts when they don't fit prejudices).

However, the Chinese have not been informed of the all this. Today's hot story from Chinamining is that China wants in on the massive (really....it's very big wow massive) Mutún iron ore project in East Bolivia. Here we go with a straight paste:

The Chinese government has proposed to extend up to US$15 billion in loan to a large scale iron ore mining project in Bolivia, sources reported.

China also intends to set up a joint venture to jointly develop the mine, according to the report.

However, a spokesman at Bolivian government said that the talks with China are still in the preliminary stage. Bolivia is also considering the related proposals raised by enterprises from Korea, Russia and Venezuela, the spokesman added.

According to the spokesman, Sergio Alandia, president of Bolivia's state-owned steel firm ESM, will hold talks with a Korean delegation including Hyundai Steel Co this week.

Bolivia's local newspaper, La Razon, reported yesterday citing Alandia as saying that China is facilitating an iron ore supply agreement with Bolivia and suggests China Development Bank Corp to offer loans to the above iron ore.

Also right now there's a Bolivian delegation in South Korea, invited over by the Seoul brothers to talk about that very same Mutún thing (as featured in IKN55). Strange how you have to resort to blogs to find this out too, innit?

Proof that Studmuffin will talk to anyone

"The card you chose was........THE NINE OF DIAMONDS!"
(crowd bursts into wild applause)

News yesterday is that some lady named Hillary is visiting Ecuador in June to chat with Da Muffin about this and that. The last time they saw each other was Uruguay in March, but this one will be the first official visit by a US Sec State since Madeleine Albright in 2000. Here's the translated blurb and quote from EcuadorCentral, which features the name Arturo Valenzuela, head US diplo for LatAm, i.e. the guy who normally has to clear up the mess the other make. This time he got to do something more proactive.

"Arturo Valenzuela called me a few days ago and said that Hillary wants to visit Ecuador, and I said that she's welcome", said Correa. "(The visit will discuss).. regional issues, Unasur issues. There's a wide agenda with the USA pending, including commercial talks."

So now you know.

The British Pound (GBP) and the Euro (EUR)

Once again we wander off IKN's normal beaten track to check out the other side of the pond. It just seems to me the real baselines for metals prices are being shifted around in Europe right now so it's silly not to watch.

Interesting how the British Pound (GBP) has managed to rally pretty well recently against the euro (EUR). You would have thought the GBP attached to the hip to its bigger neighbour currency....but then again, perhaps it makes perfect sense with the Brits not bodily attached to the PIIGS.

Fund managers know what it's like to use Emerging Market leverage. It's fun in the good times, but has a nasty bite when things go bearish. Now we have the same thing here, just on a much bigger scale. Germany/France etc are fully industrialized nations and have been benefitting from the sharp growth in the southern European EMs for the first decade of the Euro's existence. But now the EMs are weak and those 1st worlders are getting pulled down with them. Except for The UK, shown by the GBP that's moving away from the mess. Just thinking out loud this Thursday morning and noting that a complex subject can have some fairly straightforward results.

Chart of the day is.....

.....oil, and that weekly candle chart of the stuff we follow here from time to time.

The only real reason oil gets followed this way at IKN as it's one of the better cost inflation indicators for the hard rock mining industry. After all, if it's good enough as an indicator for the likes of Keith Barron, it's good enough for me.

By the way, on an oily note here's a link to where Setty picks up on an IPS note telling the world how a US oil exec needs to pay $482m in back taxes on the recent of Peruvian-based Petrotech to Colombia's Ecopetrol. Bribery and corruption allegations woven into the story, too. Good stuff.

Problem 462: Square, Arcs, 90 Degrees, Circle, Tangent, Radius, Measurement

Geometry Problem
Click the figure below to see the complete problem 462 about Square, Arcs, 90 Degrees, Circle, Tangent, Radius, Measurement.


See also:
Complete Problem 462

Level: High School, SAT Prep, College geometry

Trading Post (head above the parapet edition)

Is it safe to come out yet? It'd be nice to believe that today's GreenScreen is the start of a more pleasant period for equities but let's not jump the gun, as today may turn out to be a small verdant oasis sitting amongst a sea of smelly gunk. Still, let's enjoy saying nice things about nice stocks for a day.

Antares Minerals (ANM.v) up 5.8% at $2.36. Was this really trading as low as $2.02 just three sessions ago? Seems like another epoch. Casey subbers will be happy with this move, as it now only has another 17.8% to move up before they're back to neutral on the stock.

Rio Alto Mining (RIO.v) up 4.1% at $0.77. This stock has weathered the last couple of weeks far better than most junior goldies, perhaps because it's already secured the necessary moolah to bring its near-term project to production. If gold hangs around at $1.2k it'll be a serious cash cow, as the number work just fine at $1,000/oz. DYODD.

Dorato Resources (DRI.v) down 4.7% at $0.82 on tiny volume and the Cardero Crew deciding not to join in the party. One would have thought that a decent gold exploration company might have little problem in attracting a rebound on renewed sector interest today. Whatever could be holding this company back?

AuEx Ventures (XAU.to) up 4.4% at $3.33 and back to the price printed at last Friday's close. note to subbers; I'm trying to do what I want to do here, but the piddly volume is making things sticky so patience is being applied.

Petaquilla Minerals (PTQ.to): An aclaration

In several previous posts, your author has made mention of and also linked to a US court judgement that names Richard G Fifer as a convicted narcotrafficker, having been caught bringing into the US some 4,900lb of marijuana by boat. The posts made a direct link between the convicted Richard G Fifer and the head of Petaquilla Minerals (PTQ.to), Richard Glenn Fifer.

It was brought to my attention late last week by a third party, unconnected to PTQ.to, that the Richard G. Fifer convicted was not the same person. After reviewing the evidence and also contacting the original source that offered up the information previously used by this blog, it would seem that I have been mistaken all this time, that the Fifer of PTQ is not the same person as the convicted smuggler and that, though acting in good faith at the time, my original contact also withdraws their connection between the two. IKN apologizes unreservedly for any misinformation previously published in this matter.

Brazil: Mining royalties will be a hot topic soon

Here's an excerpt from IKN55, out last weekend, that talks about the subject. If your invested via a brokerage in Brazil-exposed mining stocks and haven't heard anything about it yet, why now phone up your friendly a/c manager and ask her or him just why you have to read these things on a blog first?

Brazil, elections, miners and royalties

Thank you for the feedback last week concerning the possible rise of extra royalty payments on mining operations in LatAm, the theme following on from the recent Australian 40% windfall tax proposals. Further to this I was kindly sent an article (5) that neatly sums up the state of affairs in Brazil as that country moves towards its Presidential elections at the end of this year. The article states that all three of the current Presidential frontrunners, Dilma Rousseff (PT), José Serra (PSDB) and Marina Silva (Green Party) are in favour of changing extra royalties to mining companies.

The issue is likely to start making louder headlines amongst the mining community in the next two or three weeks, as the ruling PT candidate Rousseff is due to define her policy towards mining royalties (and thus remove herself from the current backroom lobbying being conducted by mining companies) via a PT party committee that will sit in Brasilia, come to a agreement and then send the agreed text to Rousseff as the official party line (to which she is very likely to stick). The text is not likely to vary much from a proposal sent to congress by the PT party last year that failed in passage. That text envisaged changes in the current system and would charge a royalty perhaps as high as 5%. As for the other candidates, it seems that main opponent Serra is waiting for the PT policy so that he can take a different position, which is likely to be a differing rate of new royalty rather than none at all.

The bottom line is that the junior mining investor is advised to take into account a higher rate of royalties in future calculations on Brazil-exposed miners. They also might want to take into account a possible rude awakening to the issue if and when it begins to make English language headlines.

Amazon boat accident

News is filtering through of a nasty accident on the Peru stretch of the Amazon, close to the border with Colombia. A boat carrying around 150 people is reported sunk, going down at 2:15am local time this morning and most of the passengers are currently listed as missing. Two dead have been confirmed to now. There are reports of the sound of banging coming from inside the sunken craft, presumably from people trapped inside. No news yet on how many people managed to swim to the river bank but may still be officially missing.

UPDATE: Reports are still patchy, with unofficial word coming through that at least 80 people who were asleep on the boat when it went down are now safe, but there are still more than 100 unaccounted for and there's also talk of around 40 people trapped inside the sunken craft. Also (surprise surprise), the boat that is licensed to carry up to 170 people was probably carrying more than 250. That snippet will not come as a shock to anyone that has travelled The Amazon.

Chart of the day is...

....gold, daily candle.

Mining Operation: 300-tonne Euclid AC Electric Drive Dumper with Trolley assist

Video and News
The Euclid Company of Ohio was a company specialized in heavy equipment for earthmoving, namely dump trucks and wheel tractor-scrapers, that operated from the United States of America from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Click the figure below to see the video.


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Euclid AC Electric Drive Dumper with Trolley assist

Euclid Haul Truck in Action - Index

The Euclid Company of Ohio was a company specialized in heavy equipment for earthmoving, namely dump trucks and wheel tractor-scrapers, that operated from the United States of America from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Click the figure below to see the video.


See more:
Mining Operation: Euclid Haul Truck in Action

Mining Operation: Komatsu WA600 Wheel Loader and Euclid R100 Truck

Video and News
The Euclid Company of Ohio was a company specialized in heavy equipment for earthmoving, namely dump trucks and wheel tractor-scrapers, that operated from the United States of America from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Click the figure below to see the video.


See more:
Mining Operation: Komatsu WA600 Wheel Loader and Euclid R100 Truck

When insider selling makes sense

This blog has recently made mention of the insider selling done by Patrick Sheridan, CEO of Guyana Goldfields (GUY.to). So when that selling continued last week, both this humble scribe and others (who mailed in with headsups...thanks people) made note of it. But it did make me wonder a bit more and look a little deeper at the recent filings from Sheridan and from the searchings at SEDI this little table was put together.

Patrick Sheridan: Insider Trades of Guyana Gold in 2010
date	type of transaction	amount	price	shares left
23/02/2010	51 - Exercise of options	250,000	2.02	4,847,334
22/04/2010	51 - Exercise of options	250,000	2	5,097,334
23/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	30,000	6.8
23/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	30,000	6.8
23/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-30,000	6.8	5,067,334
26/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-5,000	6.75	5,062,334
26/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-5,000	6.75	5,057,334
26/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-2,100	6.65	5,055,234
27/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-5,000	6.7	5,050,234
28/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-13,900	6.65	5,036,334
30/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-10,000	6.7	5,026,334
30/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-5,000	6.75	5,021,334
30/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-5,000	6.78	5,016,334
30/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-5,000	6.8	5,011,334
30/04/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-5,000	6.85	5,006,334
03/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-10,000	7	4,996,334
03/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-3,500	7.01	4,992,834
06/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-20,000	6.9	4,972,834
06/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-5,000	6.92	4,967,834
10/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-20,000	7	4,947,834
11/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-10,000	7.29	4,937,834
11/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-10,000	7.33	4,927,834
12/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-11,600	7.48	4,916,234
12/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-8,200	7.45	4,908,034
12/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-20,000	7.39	4,888,034
12/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-300	7.41	4,887,734
12/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-600	7.4	4,887,134
17/05/2010	10 - Acquisition or disposition in the public market	-5,700	6.9	4,881,434

What we have here is basically the following:

• Sheridan is a dude with about 4.6 million shares of GUY.to at end 2009.

• He then exercises two 250k chunks of options at $2 a shot to take his holdings up to 5.1m or so.

• He's since then sold 185,900 of the recently exercised shares, at prices fluctuating between $6.50 and $7.50 approx, for gross proceeds of $1.3m

• He now has a touch under 4.9m shares owned.

Now, it seem to me that he's sold the shares that he's sold this year to pay for those two options exercisings which cost him a total of $1m or so (because he has to stump up the exercise price). Now yeah, for sure he's shelled out $1m and grossed $1.3m from the trades, leaving him $300k gross to the good, but in essence what we have is a man that has been keen on getting his shares held number UP and not down in a way that doesn't weigh on his own pocket (after all, not all CEOs are multimillionaires).

I'm not saying that the pattern above from Sheridan is the best possible. I am saying that it's not really a bad thing going on here and the selling is understandable, it's not a red flag signal for the stock and, in the long run, shows that the CEO is keen on raising his stake in GUY.to. Not all insider sellers are crooks, not all insider sales are immediate selling signals and the thoughts floated here about CEO Sheridan fit 100% with anecdotals from trusted sources that say the GUY CEO is one of the good guys. DYODD.