Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) and Rahim Jivraj

Check out the suit Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) just slapped on Rahim Jivraj's tush right here. Two wrongs do not make a right, by the way.

Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) blows up in Gordon Brent Pierce's face

This humble corner of cyberspace has always maintained that scumball scamrunner Gordon Brent Pierce was the guy behind the Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) scam. With this legal action dated August 25th, that seeks to strip Mercer of its Guayabales property in Colombia (of behalf of the people that optioned the property to Mercer, because they've been messed around one too many times by the Brent Pierce scam) we now have more light getting shone upon him.

Here's an extract:

Headsup thanks to the commenter in this previous IKN post on MRGP, dated May 2011.

Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) does what all scams do in the end

The typical junior mining scam such as Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) that's pumped by paid newsletter tripe suddenly swandives and dumps out on no apparent newsflow. This is because the scum behind it, in this case previously convicted securities fraudster Gordon Brent Pierce, decide to pull the plug and get out with whatever's left over. Meanwhile the poor bagholder innocent are left wondering WTF is going on.

and don't say we didn't warn you about this stupid, obvious junior mining BS play headed up  on paper at least by the unspeakable Rahim Jivraj. Because we did. Over and over and over again.

Mining PRs and the Ottotrans™, Part 33

And so it came to pass that Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) is the lucky recipient of 2011's first Ottotrans™.

This is what they wrote:

DENVER, Jan. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercer Gold Corporation ("Mercer Gold" or the "Company") (OTCQB: MRGP; AN4 -Frankfurt) has received confirmation of positive results of both gold and silver values from Hole MGDH-02 from the Guayabales Gold Project in the Marmato District in Caldas Department, Colombia.
Hole MGDH-02, drilled to a depth of 300.5 meters from the same pad as MGDH-01/01A at an angle of -60 degrees intercepted 4 meters of 2.00 grams per tonne gold and 33.5 grams per tonne silver within a broad area of anomalous values in the Encanto Zone. Similarly, the predicted parallel zone to the Encanto mineralization was also encountered.
Gold and silver values are now available for both zones and are shown in the table below.

Hole MGDH-02
Interval	Length (m)	Est. True Width (m)	Grams/tonne Au	Grams/tonne Ag
70.0-74.0	4	2.6	2.0	33.5
108.0-112.0	4	2.6	0.741	7.0

James Stonehouse, Mercer's Country Manager states, "These results show the continuity of the structural environment we are looking for. The anomalous areas are about the same width or slightly greater, so I suspect we will find more strongly mineralized areas in this structure as we move forward."

Mercer has recently completed hole MGDH-03, its third drill hole on the Guayabales Project and expects results shortly.  Drilling has resumed after a break for the holiday season in December and will investigate other possible targets at Guayabales, while continuing to further define the Encanto Zone.
Rahim Jivraj, Mercer's President and CEO states, "It's encouraging to see the results of this hole since it was drilled with the same orientation, but with a different angle from the same drill pad as MGDG-01/01A. It starts to substantiate the depth of the zone. I look forward to the results from our third hole and other proposed holes. We are especially interested in those along the Guayabales southern border and adjacent to the Marmato / Echandia trends."
The Company is also pleased to report that it has amended the exploration expenditure commitments under the Mineral Assets Option Agreement. The amended terms contemplate $750,000 to be spent in 2010, $5,750,000 in 2011, and $5,000,000 in 2012 respectively.

And this is what it means

DENVER, Jan. 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mercer Gold Corporation ("Mercer Gold" or the "Company") (OTCQB: MRGP; AN4 -Frankfurt) has received a whole heap of crappy gold and silver values from Hole MGDH-02 from the Guayabales Gold Project in the Marmato District in Caldas Department, Colombia but is determined to slap a kilo of lipstick on this pig and try to pass off the pisspoor results as something positive and encouraging.

To that end, we publish the mediocre grades but immediately launch into a whole bunch of geological babble to try and pull the wool over the eyes of those stupid enough to have believed us in the first place and who have already bought into our spiel. We understand the power of suggestion and affirmation because that's exactly how this type of scam manages to survive more than a few weeks. 

The company is also pleased to report that we managed to re-negotiate optioning terms with the local owners of our property. This is because we didn't spend enough money on the property in 2010 due to the fact that we have no cash to spend. We're now obliged to spend $5.75m in 2011 which means that either we're going to dilute your asses to kingdom come or that we're going to lapse on the terms of the deal at the end of 2011 and lose the whole shebang.

DYODD, dude.

So what's your favourite part of the latest Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) quarterly report, Otto?

Ooooh, probably this bit, all things considered:

Based on our current plan of operations as set forth above, we estimate that we will require approximately $1,000,000 to pursue our plan of operations over the next twelve months if we complete Phase I only, but approximately $2,000,000 over the next twelve months if we also proceed to Phase II during that time frame. As at November 30, 2010, we had cash and cash equivalents of $87,597 and a working capital deficiency of $186,987. However, we may require additional financing to pursue our plan of operations over the next twelve months. There can be no assurance that we will obtain any additional financing in the amounts required or on terms favorable to us. If we are unable to obtain additional financing, we may have to re-evaluate or abandon our business activities and revise our plan of operations.

We anticipate that additional funding will be in the form of equity financing from the sale of our common stock. However, we cannot provide investors with any assurance that we will be able to raise sufficient funding from the sale of our common stock to fund our plan of operations going forward. In the absence of such financing, our business plan will fail. Even if we are successful in obtaining equity financing, there is no assurance that we will obtain the funding necessary to pursue our business plan. If we do not continue to obtain additional financing going forward, we will be forced to re-evaluate or abandon our plan of operations.

Y'see, you guys out there can read all the soft soap bullshit on junior miners you want, cos there's plenty of that about thanks to the paid pump scene, idiotic bullboard posts and über-massaged corporate presentations. Personally, I like regulatory filings as my DD reading matter. And while we're at it, let's see how this scam fronted for stock fraudster Brent Pierce is doing in the markets, shall we?

Hmmm, all that and dilution to come, too. Just not happening, is it Rahim? Our  mucker Jivraj is doing his reputation wonders for the future. Lie with dogs get fleas, my man....

Buried at the bottom of yesterday's NR from Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob)..

...was this little line:

"The Company also accepts and announces the resignation of Keith Laskowski as Chief Geologist and Director. Mr. Laskowski is resigning this position to concentrate on other business commitments."

Funny that, innit? IKN wishes Laskowski the best of fortune in his other business commitments, because a guy like him with a decent reputation had no business hanging round with the scamsters of Mercer Gold (MRGPob) in the first place

Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob): Rahim Jivraj's controller is in the news

Brent Pierce, the real scumbag movershaker behind Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) that's ostensibly fronted by Rahim Jivraj (purveyor of legal threats to this humble corner of cyberspace) is in the news. Ace scamsleuth David Baines of The Vancouver Sun has revisited the Brent Pierce story and notes what a sad and limp year the dude has had in 2010...so bad in fact, that he's selling his house to pay the multimillion dollar fines imposed upon him by the courts. It's all here, Rahim...check out what your boss has been up to behind the wheel, too.

Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob): We can confirm that....

another source of hot air

...the company lawyers have not yet made contact with IKN regarding the bullyboy threatened legal action of company CEO, Rahim Jivraj. Add 'chickshit' to the epithets applicable to the CEO and front man for the real crooks in the background of the company.

Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob): Scumbagging 101

Your humble scribe received a mail today from reader 'PG' who bought Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) Monday morning on the back of that bullshit pump. The mailer admitted that he was kinda new to the market, but plays the penny juniors wanted to know how the people running the stock pump made their money (and, I suppose, how he has lost his without realizing). So this little chart which runs a very basic outline is for you, PG.

Now for sure there are a hundred variations on this scenario, with a lot depending on the previous set-up of the stock and its structure, but this gives you a template at least. But no matter how sophisticated the scam, it's a scam, it's run by crooked scumballs and will always end up with an owl  on IKN saying...

Mercer Gold's (MRGP.ob) CEO, Rahim Jivraj, threatens IKN with legal action

Oh what fun! After yesterday's post on Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) that pointed out how the stock was being pumped by a consortium of bucket houses to the naive, Rahim Jivraj, President and CEO of Mercer Gold, wrote in to IKN nerve centre, telling of his personal and professional offence at what was written, etc etc demanding a retraction of the note and threatening legal action. Now for obvious reasons I'm not going to directly paste up here his private mail to this author without permission, but what we can do without problems is offer my full reply to him, which went like this:

So how come you popped up on those scumbags' radar? Just unlucky, I guess.

Rahim, I was not born yesterday. You know the one about "if it walks like a duck?". You're the duck. So if you want to jump straight from point A to point 'legal action',  well I suggest you better just get on and do it. Your lazy threats are of no import to me and it'll be interesting to find out just how much of it is pure talk.

He then wrote back quickly and I can report he backtracked somewhat, saying that his his threat of legal action wasn't a threat at all (note to readers; it was and he's a lying scumball). To which this reply was sent that used one of his own phrases in his first mail (again this is my full reply):

Go "explore your legal resolution".

end.

But poor Rahim didn't seem to get the message, wrote back and reiterated his "oh let's be friends" message from his second mail. Here's my final mail to him in full;

Ok, I thought you'd understand what "end" meant in my last mail, but it must have slipped you by. So let's make it clear that I have no wish whatsoever to continue wasting my time with this mail exchange and consider it over. If you continue to mail me, your missives will be considered the nuisance variety.

So rather than agree anything on a friendly basis, I suggest you talk with your lawyer as you previously implied and get him to talk to me. Either that or choose a bodily orifice in which you can stick your lazy threats of legal action.

I have no wish to receive a reply to this mail.

Along the way, he also mentioned that he had no idea how MRGP.ob managed to get on the pumphouse radar of companies controlled by Blue Wave Advisors and pushed in such a concerted effort. This is strange, because if you start checking out the background of Rahim (photo here) you get to see that another company where he's been active for many years, Mainland Resources (MNLU.ob), has been pointed out as the typical Vancouver scam play and has also benefitted from being pumped by Blue Wave Advisors via its wholly owned Beacon Equity pumphouse (mentioned in yesterday's post), with paid-for reports and unrealistic buy recos placed on the stock that turned out to be the exact opposite from the company's sad and painful share price reality.

We also find out that behind Rahim Jivraj is, allegedly, the front man for an unsavoury band of stock promoters led up by "that notorious West Vancouver promoter Gordon Brent Pierce" who allegedly uses people like Rahim as his front for operations because Pierce himself has been banned from securities trading for 15 years due to convictions for serious securities offenses. These people are so tight that it turns out Pierce is alleged to be the mano negra behind Uranium International, the very company Mercer Gold folded into this year in order to get its OTC listing.

There's a lot of info on these scammers available on those links above and I urge you to check them out. Also check out this report that explains how Rahim allegedly uses his sister as a front for investment operations in these scam companies. And finally, it won't come as much surprise to IKN readers to find that Rahim gets to be fawned over and interviewed by that arch-pumper scumbag Thom Calandra.

So Rahim, this isn't the retraction post you were looking for, is it you freaking lowlife? I'd therefore suggest that you get on and sue my ass if you're man enough and if the people that control you allow it. Or if not, why don't you just

Disclosure: No position in Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob), not now, not in the past and not in the future either. IKN also says that it's best to avoid stocks like this. Don't go long, don't go short, just avoid them forever and find yourself a decent company to spend your time and efforts upon.

Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) gets the bullshit newsletter and e-mail pump

 Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) five day chart: What rhymes with 'pump'?

So a couple of weeks ago we ran this post that noted our opinion of a Colombian gold play named Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob), a junior on the US OTC market. Then, by way of right to reply, we ran this post that included director and geologist Keith Laskowski's differing opinion on points raised by this humble author's position.

All fair enough and we admired (and still admire) Laskowski's wherewithall in replying, pushing back on the IKN post and also agreeing to allow his mail to be put in the public sphere. Here at IKN nerve centre we have no problem about that and no problem at all over the potential of the Guayabales deposit as explained by its director, but once again we're forced to raise a red flag on the stock as today it's getting its name screamed at the naive by bullshit boilerhouse pennystock pump houses in some sort of  paid-for in-cahoots concerted promo push.

This morning, A. Reader sent on two spam mailshots received from a company known as hotstocked. The first one was received last night and said this:

Greetings!

     We will be sending out a new lightning pick alert tomorrow morning on a gold mining company.  Last week's lightning pick jumped 20% the first day, and was almost 30% higher within 2 days of the alert.  Tomorrow's pick will be very exciting. 

      As you know, gold is the strongest section of the markets these days.  With gold prices hitting new highs each day, demand for mininng stocks is especially strong.  Tomorrow, we are teaming up with a few other very large newsletters and will all be notifying all of our subscribers that the stock looks excellent for a trade.

     We need to keep the idea a secret for now.  We will send you an e-mail with the exact details right when the market opens, if for some reason you don't receive the e-mail by 9:30, we will also post the stock pick on this page: http://www.hotstocked.com/lightning-picks/.  

 

See you when the market opens. Hotstocked Team

Then this morning, the same reader sent this one in (IKN highlights in red):

Good Morning,

Our lightning pick for today is Mercer Gold Corp. (OTC:MRGP), which closed last Friday at $0.50. They have just announced the first positive and even better than expected results on their newly acquired gold mining property in Colombia. The stock should now correspondingly move along with the next steps in the exploration program, which they are fully funded to carry out.

MRGP stock is currently excellent for trading as the technical indicators will attract many traders:

•  Very good support at 50 cents, the next resistance at $0.67

•  Accum/Dist has just reversed to point straight up

•   MACD indicator is also highly bullish; the RSI shows high buying potential

The fundamental support:

•  Over $1.1 million in cash in the bank

• No long term-debt

• Positive exploration results

In April this year, MRGP signed an agreement about an exclusive 100% interest in the property known as the “Guayabales” property, located in Marmato, Colombia. In short, the company raised $2 million for the exploration through a private placement in May, which amount should be enough to follow strictly the exploration program on the “Guayabales” property over the next twelve months, meaning to complete Phase I and to start Phase II.

First results from the initial sampling have just been announced last week and they have been extremely positive. The Marmato district in Colombia is a prolific region with many mining companies having interests near the “Guayabales” property, some of those companies trading far above $1, and with much higher market caps.

Conclusion:  Gold is hot, and MRGP is making fast progress.  In the short term this stock can easily get to the $0.60 - $0.67 range, longer term more positive exploration results can take this stock much higher. 

Happy Trading, Hotstocked Team

So what we have is this hotstocked outfit priming a whole swathe of sheep via its first mail, then just minutes after the bell letting out the name of its target, none other than our old friend Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob). But then if you follow the breadcrumb trail, we get to find out a lot more about hotstocked. Firstly, this line was included in the mailshot as part of the company disclaimer (IKN highlights in red):

Hotstocked.com has been compensated two thousand five hundred dollars by Blue Wave Advisors for the distribution of this particular email. This compensation constitutes a conflict of interest as to our ability to remain objective in our communication regarding the profiled company.  Hotstocked.com does not own shares, but a third party may own shares and may intend to sell immediately following this advertisement.

Yup, amazingly enough hotstocked isn't doing this out of the goodness of its heart but in fact is paid 2.5k for its efforts. Not bad for one morning. So the next question is "Who is 'Blue Wave Advisors?", because they may just be...y'know, sneaking suspicions and all that....the people that "may intend to sell immediately" (see chart and trading action above). Well, its website doesn't give much away, but do a bit of digging and it's easy enough to find out more. This next excerpt from this page:

"Beaconequity.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BlueWave Advisors."

The plot thickens. Beacon Equity, eh? Ever heard of them? Your author has, because that shop is one of the biggest bullshit bucket houses on the North American continent. And it's not only your humble scribe that has heard of their pisspoverty either. David Baines, the sleuthing reporter who works for The Vancouver Sun and makes big efforts to uncover the seedy side of the junior mining scumbags and their scam-ridden companies, knows all about them too. Here's a link to his 2009 piece on Beacon Equity and here's an excerpt from the article:

"Beacon Equity Research, a Texas-based stock promotion firm, employs a stable of CFAs to write research reports for junior companies that trade on the dreadful OTC Bulletin Board and Pink Sheets in the United States. These reports routinely make "speculative buy" recommendations for companies that have no real hope of turning into real businesses.

"In many cases, these reports are served up in conjunction with aggressive spam campaigns designed to incite unsophisticated investors into investing in these nags, many of which have close connections to Vancouver.

"Beacon's research reports and attendant spam campaigns are financed by private third-party firms whose beneficial owners are never revealed, but are almost certainly closely connected to the companies' insiders. In some cases, these third parties pay up to $1 million for what are euphemistically called "investor awareness" programs."

Baines then goes on to highlight a few examples of how Beacon Equity has been operating, with scam-ridden tales and SEC charges all over the place. 

So, let's recap: Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) gets pumped by hotstocked dot com, who freely admit their working as a cartel along with other bullshit pump houses on the stock today, September 20th 2010. Hotstocked is paid to pump MRGP.ob by Blue Wave, which just happens to be the owner of a really nasty scamhouse known as Beacon Equity as well as having its tentacles in all sorts of other places. But of course, the people at MRGP want IKN and its readership to believe that the company is the real deal, not a bullshit pump and a prospect we can take seriously. Would the company be interested in replying to this post, too?

Right to reply on Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob)

I like it when people connected with companies I'm negative on have the wherewithall to push back, mail in and tell me I'm wrong, the main reason being that it separates the guys who believe they've been hard done by from others that have nothing by way of defence. Here follows a mail received yesterday morning from Keith Laskowski, member of management at Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob) regarding this post on Friday. Permission was received to publish his words and we're more than pleased to give Keith right to reply. Kind reader, please read on:

Hi Otto: 

I read your comments about Mercer Gold.  Generally I enjoy your direct approach, however in this instance I have to disagree with several issues you have raised.  I think you have jumped to conclusions about the geology and mineralization, without evaluating the data, perhaps.  I offer the following, with the interest of providing you with the accurate technical information. 

Your comments about Mr. Stonehouse do not recognize that Mr. Stonehouse joined the project in Ecuador, long after the problems had been created.  Your colorful description of that project is reasonably accurate, however it is unfair assign the responsibility of that project’s failures to Mr. Stonehouse. 

As for the project at Guayabales, your comments are inaccurate.

Guayabales is a well known mineralized area, most recently held by Colombia Mines Corporation, prior to Mercer Gold.

Mercer’s Guyabales property is not several kilometers away from Medoro’s Marmato Project.  Guayabales abuts Marmato along trend to the northeast  from their high grade producing veins.  These same veins occur within Medoro’s +9 million ounce gold resource. The Guayabales property is roughly twice the size of Marmato with same age intrusive hosts, similar style veins and stockworks.  It is not Marmoto, but the geology is very similar, and a continuation.

There are 16 underground mines, in various forms of operation, on the Guayabales property, with no significant cultural, or environmental issues on the property.  Anyone familiar with Marmato, and Guayabales, and many of the other exciting projects in Colombia ( ie. La Colossa) understands that these gold systems are primarily porphyry gold systems, which contain high grade veins, hosted within a larger area of lower grade mineralization (as described by Richard Sillitoe).  Taken together these constitute bulk mineable gold  targets.  Your comments about high grade narrow veins are taken out of context.   

There are a very clear geological and structural relationship between these two project areas, which are carefully described in the publicly available NI-43101 report on Guayabales.  I have attached this report for your reference.   

Mercer is a US listed company, however because some of the management are from British Colombia, all reports, and documents are filed both in the US, and on SEDAR, for Canadian issuers.  The company will likely move to the TSX in the coming months.  The NI-43101 report is available both on the SEDAR website, under Mercer Gold Cporporation, and on the Company’s website (www.mercergoldcorp.com).  In my opinion, this is one of the best NI 43-101 technical reports I have seen, and I suggest you have a look if you are interested in a fair evaluation.  I have tried to attract good people to this project, but these inaccurate comments are not fair to the parties involved. 

Guayabales is apparently a well kept secret and this is likely because the marketing has not utilized enough technical input.    

While I do not oppose your opinions about the market values of any company, and I am in agreement about the undesirable characteristics often associated with the Bulletin Board listings; however I must provide you with my professional opinion about the geology, which forms the foundation of this company.   In my opinion, this property is one of the best properties in Colombia, and it has substantial potential to host a significant gold resource.  This is purely my opinion, and is not compliant with NI-43101 disclosure regulations.  Read the NI-43101 on Guayabales.  This is a forward looking statement, but it is also the current focus of the work at Guayabales.

Sincerely; 

 

Keith A. Laskowski  MSc. QP

Chief Geologist & Director

Mail exchanging on Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob)

Reader 'TK' sent this mail into IKN Nerve Centre yesterday afternoon:

Here's another laughable company for your humble corner of cyberspace. 

Mercer Gold   MRGP.OB 

20+ million market cap with an option on a property in Colombia that has 249 soil samples still awaiting results!!!!

But little did TK know that we'd already given a headsup on this stock. Here's the reply sent back.

Hi XXXXXXX 

This from the subscription IKN Weekly issue 59, dated June 20th:

Mercer Gold (MRGP.ob): A Colombia short
As mentioned at some point on the blog last week, there are a small number of subscribers that are always on the lookout for an OTC mining short so here’s one that fits the bill. With a name change from “Uranium International Corp” to “Mercer Gold” (MRGP.ob) just finalized, this company has recently restructured debt, added new personnel and is looking to explore the recently acquired “Guayabales” gold concession in the Caldas province of Colombia.

The property is assumed to sit on strike from the Marmato mine recently taken over by Medoro Resources (MRS.v) just a few kilometres away and is currently operated on a small scale (around 50 tonnes per week) by artisanal miners working in co-operative. MRGP has 76.1m shares out (May 2010, after the recent company restructuring), no debt and around $2m in cash at treasury thanks to an April 2010 private placement at 50c that raised all the $2m currently held. According to this passage of the recent company 10-K, this is how the cash is due spent:

Based on our current plan of operations as set forth above, we estimate that we will require approximately $1,000,000 to pursue our plan of operations over the next twelve months if we complete Phase I only, but approximately $2,000,000 over the next twelve months if we also proceed to Phase II during that time frame. As at February 28, 2010, we had cash of $Nil and a working capital deficit of $1,107,660. Subsequent to year end, the company closed a private placement which raised $2,050,000 which will be utilized in the Phase I and II programs. However, we may require additional financing to pursue our plan of operations over the next twelve months. There can be no assurance that we will obtain any additional financing in the amounts required or on terms favorable to us. If we are unable to obtain additional financing, we may have to re-evaluate or abandon our business activities and revise our plan of operations. The Phase 1 exploration includes initial exploration, with Phase 2 evisaging a limited diamond drilling campaign on site.

The stock is open for promotion and will try to jump on the Colombia gold bandwagon, but the management team put together has an air of improvisation about it (new recruit James Stonehouse ran the local ops of the trainwreck known as Ascendant Copper/Copper Mesa, kicked out of Ecuador due to bad practices) and inquiries made by this author regarding the property have been met with comments such as “skinny veins.....ok for smalltime producing....will probably be good for a flashy NR headline....not a real mine”. So once the $2m is spent and the pumped-up headlines are shot, MRGP is 100% certain to be adding paper in return for extra cash before too long. The next six months will provide no great news and the drill campaign won’t see a result until 2011 minimum, which is a long time for junior pumpers to be holding their breath. Add in the already dubious style of promotional news releases (e.g. we get to hear that the company has received a 43-101 technical report on the property but we’re not allowed to see it ourselves) and that overriding “OTC smell” around the stock and it all points to a decent place to balance your port with a short. An obvious one, folks

We even mentioned it in a quick update in IKN70, last weekend. Just sayin'.....