An excellent report on the ecological disaster Madre de Dios

This brand new report by Maria Emília Coelho cannot be praised too highly. We get taken through the gold mining zone of Madre de Dios, hear from the people (they know what damage they're causing, they're there because there's no work otherwise, they arrive at the rate of 300 per day) and see the rape of the jungle that's ignored by Peru's abysmal government.

And the photoshow on the page is outstanding. Here's just one of the shots of one of the many areas  of Peru's Amazon jungle being laid waste right here right now; other photos are even more compelling.

Coelho notes that in 2008, 9.5% of Peru's gold came from this area. We noted this week that this number has skyrocketed since then and now accounts for 18.8% of Peru's gold production, basically double in two years. So once your stomach has stopped turning, go read Coelho's most excellent report.

Casey Research frontruns its own clients AGAIN

Really, this is getting beyond a joke and it's about time that somebody with a bit of real clout like the BCSC investigates this ongoing pattern of lowball behaviour by Casey's Louis James, Marin Commission Katusa and the band of merry men there.

This time Sunward Resources (SWD.v) is the preferred play. On November 4th, Casey Research recommended the stock to its Tier One (i.e. pay more for advanced info) subscribers. That day, the stock went up 13.8% as seen on this chart.

So the December issue of the more popular (cos it's cheaper) 'International Speculator' comes out and...yes you've guessed it..they have a new buy recommendation on Sunward Resources (SWD.v). So far today SWD.v stock is up 5.1%, trading 3X average daily volumes in the first hour. (Update: SWD closed the day up 13.6% on 6X volumes).

Thing is, these whiter-than-white market riggers actually think they can just put a disclaimer in the Intl Speculator that says "Full disclosure: this stock was recommended to Casey’s Investment Alert subscribers on November 4" and then be in the clear. You know what? I'm not so sure about that. I know for a fact what they're doing is utterly immoral and offering an enormous nudge-and-wink advantage to anyone on the Tier One list that follows the pattern. But it is time that Canadian authorities looked at these unregulated, unaccountable-to-anyone peddlers of unfair advantages.

But hey...Vancouver right? 

Fronteer Gold (FRG) (FRG.to): That didn't take long, did it?

From yesterday's post "Fronteer Gold: Time for ten":

"FRG closed at U$9.42 last night. It'll be higher than that very soon and if we don't see 10 today, it's only a matter of time before we do. DYODD."

Here's the two day chart:

So it took precisely 24 hours and 35 minutes from that post yesterday. Just sayin'.

So you wanna know why Vena Resources (VEM.to) popped 14% at the bell?

This is why. DYODD, dude (the podcast is well worth your time, by the way).

Evo's tumour again

Despite Bolivia flatly denying that the operation Evo went through was to remove a tumour, another new Wikileak has emerged mentioning the case and getting pretty specific. Here's the excerpt from this cable:

Despite the official government position that 

President Morales will undergo treatment to correct a 

deviated septum immediately following the referendum, several 

contacts confirm that the problem is actually a tumor in the 


pituitary near the sella turcica and that Morales will travel 

to Spain for the operation.  xxxxxxxxxxxx 

xxxxxxxxxxxx told us Morales' first choice, Cuba, could not 

perform the surgery. 

Detailed stuff, right? In the end, note that Evo didn't travel to Spain or Cuba but had the corrective surgery in La Paz Bolivia. However, it was performed by Cuban surgeons. 

By the way, that very same cable linked above is evidence that The USA really doesn't have the first clue about Bolivia, even at a diplomatic level. Here's a dude writing his letters home from the La Paz Embassy talking about Bolivia's "quickly crumbling economy". Jeeez! For one thing Bolivia's "crumbling economy "just happened to be the number one best performing economy in the whole of The Americas in 2009 and for another, the economic policies have continued to this day, giving Bolivia a decent growth forecast for 2010. Currency reserves are at an all-time record, its trade surplus is excellent and the acid test of any country, its currency, shows strength all round, with the crawling peg recently ratcheted up a notch and Bolivians, for the first time ever, holding more savings in local currency than in the US Dollar. No wonder US policymakers get the country so wrong: they're informed by utter dumbasses. 

The 'Small Silvers' 2010 sweepstakes November update

The end of another month (wow, just one to go) and here's how our nine small silver stocks, along with our benchmark comparative ticker of the silver bullion ETF (SLV) has developed these last thirty days.

(click to enlarge or steal for your paranoid tinfoilhat bullboard...wouldn't be the first time and you never bother to say thankyou, do you?)

Still streaking out in the lead is U.S Silver (USA.v) which looks a racing certainty for the title this year. Second place is pretty much defined too, with First Majestic continuing to be strong as an ox. Bear Creek Mining (BCM.v) has been better-than-the-rest all year and shows no sign of losing that while the money continues to pour into the sector.

The big difference to this month's chart is that every single name is now positive on the year, perhaps the most telling fact of the silver sector right now as even the dogs get bought. Also, our benchmark ETF (SLV) beats out just three or the names now and apart from Impact (IPT.v) at the bottom, it's not beating them out by much. And they wonder why The IKN Weekly has been so bullish since the end of summer? I mean, even Wistar and MexMike are going to escape from this year with more money thanks to ECU.to's recent perk-up.....it's a generous market, this one.

Chart of the day is....

...the gold/silver ratio.

48.5X this morning, as the GSR passes its own little Rubicon. Is this time different, or will it now stall and settle around the 50X mark? YOU BE THE JUDGE! but the MACD and RSI are saying "overbot ratio" here.....chartists, eh?