Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Today's snippet of advice on reading mining NRs


This one is simple. Whenever you read a mining NR from a company that claims to have the "...POTENTIAL FOR X MILLION OUNCES/LBS..." at their project, especially if you find that phrase in a headline, then just run away. Cross that company off your list forever. Forget it, not just now but for always. Your humble scribe was reminded of this just a few minutes ago, as this NR plopped into the inbox about developments at an outfit called Gowest (GWA.v):

Gowest Drills 10m of 6.5 g/t Gold While Demonstrating Potential for in Excess of 1 Million Ounces at Its Frankfield East Gold Deposit in Timmins, Ontario

So this time, do yourself a favour and read the NR. When you get to the bit that talks about this amazing potential, the sentence is marked with a double-asterix. Check right dooooooown there at the bottom and.....
"All quantities and grades of this material are conceptual in nature and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the targets eventually being delineated as a mineral resource."
These people have no right in putting a number on a deposit that's conceptual in nature, especially in a NR headline. They might as well put 10m oz....or 100,000 oz....or the potential for green cheese....or (and most likely) the potential to keep feeding the local moose population for the next 50 years. It's a scam and GWA.v is an example of the rip-off merchants you just have to stay clear of in the bullshit wildwest criminal show that is Canadian mining.