Karl Kottmeier, Appleton Exploration and another story of Canadian cover-ups, corruption and impunity

Once upon a time there was a student of history named Karl Kottmeier at UBC, Canada. While finishing up his studies, he was embroiled in a rather shady and unsavoury affair when C$8,000 was "borrowed without permission" by Kottmeier from a students' society of which he was treasurer. The graduate's body (overseeing the affair) voted that the matter should be passed on to the RCMP, but in the end Kottmeier escaped wider punishment as those around felt he had suffered enough.



As befits a graduate of history, he became an investment advisor for stocks (!) and such in Vancouver (certainly fits the part). After one turn and another, he found himself at the entrepreneurial end of the junior mining business and heading up a couple of microcap miners.



Late last year his company, Rockgate Capital (RGT.v), bought out Delta Explorations. One of Delta's assets was the Manalo Gold project in Mali, West Africa. Then early this year RGT managed to option out said property to Appleton Exploration (AEX.v), the deal involving AEX.v moving forward with a drill program on the site. As part of the deal, Kottmeier beame a director of AEX.v and found himself holding 155,000 shares of the company and cheapo options to boot.



All very nice. So now we cut to June 15th, 2009. This because AEX.v published a NR that screamed it had hit an intersection of 192g/t Au (6.17 ounces of gold per tonne) over 10 metres at the Manalo site. The share price rocketed from the 20c-or-so level to 60c and beyond, even though the NR was "rather vaguely worded"....and that's being generous.



So what did our hero and newly-minted director at AEX.v, Karl Kottmeier, do when he heard his new company had hit paydirt and the stock was rising fast Very easy; he sold all his shares.........

Jun 16/09 Jun 15/09 Kottmeier, Karl Eric Direct Ownership Common Shares 10 - Disposition in the public market -30,000 $0.300

Jun 16/09 Jun 15/09 Kottmeier, Karl Eric Direct Ownership Common Shares 10 - Disposition in the public market -22,000 $0.330

Jun 16/09 Jun 15/09 Kottmeier, Karl Eric Direct Ownership Common Shares 10 - Disposition in the public market -3,000 $0.335

Jun 16/09 Jun 15/09 Kottmeier, Karl Eric Direct Ownership Common Shares 10 - Disposition in the public market -15,000 $0.350

Jun 16/09 Jun 15/09 Kottmeier, Karl Eric Direct Ownership Common Shares 10 - Disposition in the public market -25,000 $0.350

Jun 16/09 Jun 15/09 Kottmeier, Karl Eric Direct Ownership Common Shares 10 - Disposition in the public market -10,000 $0.370

Jun 16/09 Jun 15/09 Kottmeier, Karl Eric Direct Ownership Common Shares 10 - Disposition in the public market -10,000 $0.400

Jun 16/09 Jun 15/09 Kottmeier, Karl Eric Direct Ownership Common Shares 10 - Disposition in the public market -20,000 $0.490

Jun 16/09 Jun 15/09 Kottmeier, Karl Eric Direct Ownership Common Shares 10 - Disposition in the public market -20,000 $0.540

....for the sum total of $59,610 and made himself a very nice profit. He then immedataely resigned from AEX.v on the very same day that his share sale happened. to be filed Why so? Because having had the Manalo property as part of Rockgate, he knew that the asset was a total piece of shit and that the press release from AEX.v was a made-for-greenhorns scam in true Vancouver bullshit style. So he took the money and ran. And sure enough, when the NR hit the wires yesterday to explain that the drill interception was less 10m at 192g/t and more one single metre that hit lucky on the same band that had been discovered previously the stock dropped like a stone.



There are many petty and not-so-petty thieves like Karl Kottmeier that populate the backwaters of Vancouver's capital markets and do what they want with total impunity. A guy with a track record of "borrowing" money from student societies while studying history....and then becomes a stockbroker? Who then becomes becomes head honcho of a junior miner? Gimme a freakin' break here!!! And the funniest thing is that there are always a whole bunch of idiots that throw their cash at a scamster operation such as this without doing the slightest bit of DD on the people or the companies. PT Barnum was right about one being born every minute.



As for Kottmeier, as usual expect nothing from the OSC or other Canadian regulatory bodies, spineless creatures that they are. But even worse, expect no word from the wider junior mining community, as the very people that should ostracize scum like Kottmeier will keep their lips buttoned tightly...for fear of being investigated themselves.



Canada: The world's most corrupt capital market, populated by thieves and funded by suckers.

The Cambridge House Vancouver show: A special IKN free gift primer type thingy

Happy days are here again in the southwestern corner of Canada. The sun is out, the thaw is thawed (or so they tell me) and the coffee is freshbrewed. Also, this weekend sees a major junior mining bash happening over that corner of the world, the "2009 World Resource Investment Conference" over at the VCC (get there early Sunday and don't miss Mickey Fulp's jawbone session. It'll be SRO and he's always good for a non-BS view of things).

Unfortunately your humble correspondent will not be in attendance due to future illness (conferences make me sick) but as IKN loves you like your very own parents, here's a special cut-out-and-keep table to take along with you to the show...guaranteed to break the ice with those extra special superduper rock stars of rock (tell Rick! Otto sez "hi" if you see him, yeah?).

The Vancouver Sun just published a list of BC's top paid executives. You can read the whole thing here, but below are the people that matter to us. IKN has filtered the list via two criteria:

• mining or junior mining companies
• company made a loss in 2008 (bar Mansfield, that returned a very slight paper profit)

The result you see is the number of mining executives amongst those that pulled in $1m or more in the region that need rotten eggs and flour thrown at them as soon as they give you the "Yeah, well, 2008 was a hard year for everyone, but ..........." line.

Special applause for Rick! of course, but the real biscuit-taker is Robert Friedland, who not only heads the list but manages to make it there twice thanks to Ivanhoe Mining and Ivanhoe Energy (that between them lost $233m last year). What a player, Robbie! Your shareholders must feel so very proud of you!

	Name	Company	2008 Total	2008 Company
			Compensation	(Profits (C$)
1	Robert Friedland	Ivanhoe Mines	$10,663,034	($198,470,580)
2	Rui Feng	Silvercorp Metals	$10,019,212	($16,512,000)
9	John Macken	Ivanhoe Mines	$4,709,169	($198,470,580)
10	Peter Meredith	Ivanhoe Mines	$4,556,361	($198,470,580)
15	Stephen Sorensen	UEX Corporation	$4,023,481	($8,800,000)
16	Doug Kirwin	Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.	$4,017,718	($198,470,580)
20	Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse	NovaGold	$3,324,161	($194,970,000)
25	Patrick Downey	Aura Minerals Inc.	$3,083,675	($55,610,000)
37	Clifford Davis	New Gold Inc.	$2,239,315	($110,689,040)
40	Robert Friedland	Ivanhoe Energy Inc.	$2,078,952	($36,856,820)
44	Meghan Lewis	Aura Minerals Inc.	$1,988,964	($55,610,000)
46	Mark O'Dea	Fronteer Development	$1,893,859	($31,710,000)
49	Fausto Taddei	Aura Minerals Inc.	$1,796,860	($55,610,000)
51	Robert Quartermain	Silver Standard	$1,780,868	($10,596,740)
64	Stephen Rogers	Nautilus Minerals Inc.	$1,598,802	($87,954,020)
65	Tony Giardini	Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.	$1,566,068	($198,470,580)
66	Phillip Kotze	Anooraq Resources	$1,559,428	($13,490,000)
67	Gordon Leask	Mansfield Minerals Inc.	$1,555,200	$230,000
67	John Leask	Mansfield Minerals Inc.	$1,555,200	$230,000
73	Steve Garcia	Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.	$1,488,534	($198,470,580)
76	Tumelo Motsisi	Anooraq Resources	$1,461,985	($13,490,000)
80	George Paspalas	Silver Standard	$1,423,203	($10,596,740)
81	Jean Nortier	Uranium One	$1,421,119	($2,636,626,300)
82	David Woodall	Ivanhoe Mines Ltd.	$1,402,564	($198,470,580)
86	Harold Motaung	Anooraq Resources	$1,370,535	($13,490,000)
87	Joseph Ovsenek	Silver Standard	$1,366,313	($10,596,740)
89	Marco Romero	Polaris Minerals Corp.	$1,346,661	($10,553,620)
92	Joel Kesler	Anooraq Resources	$1,320,935	($13,490,000)
94	Paul Martin	New Gold Inc.	$1,287,283	($110,689,040)
96	Sierd Eriks	UEX Corporation	$1,281,245	($8,800,000)
99	Michele Jones	Aura Minerals Inc.	$1,216,648	($55,610,000)
99	Anthony George	Aura Minerals Inc.	$1,216,648	($55,610,000)
102	Myles Gao	Silvercorp Metals Inc.	$1,203,969	($16,000,000)
103	Antony Harwood	Africo Resources Ltd.	$1,173,903	($6,457,220)
105	Christopher Bradbrook	New Gold Inc.	$1,153,407	($110,689,040)
106	Chris Theodoropoulos	Africo Resources Ltd.	$1,142,406	($6,457,220)
109	Quinton Hennigh	Evolving Gold Corp.	$1,113,325	($8,742,364)
110	Rupert Legge	Plutonic Power Corp.	$1,103,651	($14,320,000)
111	Robert Gallagher	New Gold Inc.	$1,102,522	($110,689,040)
120	Robert Bick	Evolving Gold Corp.	$1,023,953	($8,742,364)
121	Ronald Thiessen	Northern Dynasty	$1,015,141	($149,910,000)
122	Louie Zioulas	UEX Corporation	$1,006,342	($8,800,000)

Canada is such a generous country.

Capella Resources (KPS.v) and a Trip Down the Investor Relations Rabbit Hole

Our scamsters over at Capella Resources (KPS.v) came out with news last night. They've hired a firm of investor relations to help promote their rip-off by the name of Senergy Communications. Based in Vancouver (just across from the Hotel Vancouver in fact), Senergy provides (ahem..clear my throat):

"strategic investor relations, public relations, and (sic comma) marketing solutions that are customized to the needs of your organization".

Senergy also boast of having a 30,000 name database of North American investors.

In other words, they're a bucketshop pumphouse that are about to phone 30,000 houses in the next couple of weeks to see if they can dig out a patsy or two. However, by their fruits shall ye know them (Matthew 7:16 dude on a hill talking to a crowd 2,000 years ago) so let's see how Senergy clients have been getting on recently.

Let's kick off with Troymet Exploration (TYE.v) who hired Senergy in August last year to tell the world just how wonderful they really are. Let's check the chart, and.........
....hmmmm. I've seen better, has to be said.

Never mind, how about Senergy's previous client, Petro Vista Energy (PTV.v). When Senergy got the job of relaying to the world the stuff that PTV.v was made of the stock stood at $0.75.

Now it's at 20 cents. Time for a quick joke! Q: How do you make a small fortune in penny stocks? A: Start with a large fortune and believe what they tell you.

Then there's "True North Energy" (T8E.f), another client of Senergy's...
.......but you should be getting the picture by now.

However my fave story is that of Fox Petroleum (FXPT.ob) that hired Senergy to promote the company back in June 2007 (not July like wot I writted on the chart). Before getting fired by FXPT in September 2008, Senergy had overseen the stock price as it moved from $5.15 to $1.85.

Fox is now a $0.35 company. Death spiralz iz wot death spiralz duz and Fox were not happy bunnies with the service provided by Senergy. The telling phrase come in FXPT's filing on the matter that states;

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On September 1, 2008, we terminated an investor relations agreement with Senergy Communications Inc. whereby Senergy Communications Inc. provided investor relations services to us for US$10,000 per month

We terminated the agreement with Senergy Communications Inc. to improve the investor relations facility for new and old investors.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

You just can't the staff these days, can you? And those four were the only companies still in existence that have been mad enough to hire Senergy for IR work, according to my Google skills anyway (feel free to correct me if you know of any other suckers). So this is the cruddy IR firm just hired by the even cruddier Capella Resources to pump its BS to a bunch of greenhorns in the days to come. Just don't say I didn't try to warn you.

More on Capella Resources (KPS.v) and the scum behind the scam

This is an update to this morning's post which can be found below or on this link.

My oh my, what a company! Check out this link at one of my fave mineblogs, I Think Mining. Capella has a real reputation in the trade, as does the puppeteer behind the show, Brian Gracey.

Also unmissable is David Baines report on the ultra-shady Gracey, linked right here. Here's how the Baines report starts:

Brian Gracey's business doesn't look like a cash cow, but it is.

His office is located on the fourth floor of the tired Credit Foncier building at 850 West Hastings. The sign at the entrance says "apella Resources," a wounded vestige of Capella Resources, one of many TSX Venture Exchange-listed companies that he has controlled or managed during his two decades on Howe Street.

His office is, well, shabby. Some old steel filing cabinets, a couple of desks, no receptionist, just somebody who answers the door if you knock loudly enough. But appearances can be deceiving. Gracey has made a good living on Howe Street, good enough to afford to live in a $2.2-million home in the British Properties.

CONTINUES HERE

Also worth a quick look is this post from a blog back in 2006 that shows Capella Resources has been pumped and dumped previously....not a surprise, though.

The more you look, the more incredible it seems that the Canadian OSC regulators have never lifted a finger to protect innocent retail shareholders from these criminals. Now you know why I keep on calling the Canadian market one of the most corrupt in the world.

Related Post

Capella Resoures (KPS.v): A fraudulent scam for the ages