So what does Simon Ridgway know about Radius Gold (RDU.v) that we don't?

Probably quite a lot, actually. Here's a list of all Ridgway's insider trades in Radius Gold (RDU.v) this past 12 months. First up, it's notable that the only thing he's done is buy...not a single sale.

Simon Ridgway likes Radius Gold (RDU.v)
trade filed	purchase	price	tot shares owned
14/12/2009	+12,000	0.21	584,423
14/12/2009	+1,000	0.21	585,423
11/12/2009	+12,000	0.21	597,423
07/01/2010	+100,000	0.215	697,423
02/02/2010	+3,000	0.41	700,423
12/02/2010	+30,000	0.33	730,423
25/02/2010	+80,000	0.325	810,423
17/03/2010	+12,000	0.37	822,423
17/03/2010	+5,000	0.375	827,423
17/03/2010	+8,000	0.38	835,423
07/05/2010	+10,500	0.37	845,923
07/05/2010	500	0.39	846,423
07/05/2010	+1,000	0.395	847,423
07/05/2010	+85,000	0.38	932,423
07/05/2010	+5,500	0.36	937,923
07/05/2010	+6,500	0.37	944,423
11/05/2010	+1,500	0.36	945,923
22/06/2010	+1,000,000	0.35	1,945,923
27/07/2010	+4,000	0.3	1,949,923
27/07/2010	+23,000	0.3	1,972,923
28/07/2010	+10,000	0.3	1,982,923
30/07/2010	+5,000	0.3	1,987,923
26/10/2010	+2,000	0.59	1,989,923
26/10/2010	+73,000	0.6	2,062,923
17/11/2010	+4,500	0.66	2,067,423
17/11/2010	500	0.64	2,067,923
18/11/2010	+15,000	0.57	2,082,923
22/11/2010	+10,000	0.56	2,092,923

Second up, split that lot up into months. Here's how it looks:

Jan	100000
feb	33000
mar	25000
apr	0
may	120000
jun	1000000
jul	42000
aug	0
sep	0
oct	75000
nov	30000

So apart from April, he was a busy little buyer in the first half of the year, was he not? Thirdly, compare the year's price action in RDU to Ridgway's purchases:

To this humble scribe, it does seem quite significant that he's stepping up again and buying in this 56c to 66c range after letting August, September and 3/4 of October go by without doing anything on those elevated prices. DYODD.

disclosure: i've owned it before, but right now no position in RDU

What we have learned this year about Rene Marion, President and CEO of Gammon Gold (GRS) (GAM.to)

1) He's an amazingly lucky seller, managing to get rid of nearly half his personal holding of Gammon Gold (GAM.to) (GRS) shares just before a really bad YE report that saw the share price dump badly.

2) He's a crap buyer. Those 50,000 shares he's recently bought back cost him $312,377. With the PPS right now at U$5.10 (and dropping fast), that puts the dude over $42,000 in the hole (forex adjusted, of course).

(click to enlarge)

Y'see, that's what happens when mediocrity doesn't have the unfair advantage of rock solid inside information on its side.

So here's the scorecard on Rene Marion:

• Couldn't organize a piss-up in a brewery, let alone run a mine at a profit
• Has no idea how to count mineral reserves properly
• Has the labour relations skills of Josef Stalin
• Gets rich on front-running inside information
• Can't trade the market for toffee

Jeesh, they'll employ anyone these days....

Winning friends and influencing people with insider trading

Three examples picked out of the hat this morning.

So let's see now....Quast of CIBC thinks Fortuna Silver (FVI.to) is cheap right now...and Nicholas CampbellSoup at the can of corn thinks FVI is cheap right now....and there there's this humble scribe....and then who else? Err, what about company Chariman Simon 'Accent' Ridgway?

Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (FVI)						As of May 4th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
May 04/10	Apr 28/10	Ridgway, Simon T.P.	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	10,000	$2.200

Yeah, he thinks it's cheap right now, too. Funny dat, innit?


Over at Guyana Gold (GUY.to), head honcho Sheridan is cashing in a bit:

Guyana Goldfields Inc. (GUY)						As of May 4th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
May 04/10	Apr 26/10	Sheridan, Patrick John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-2,100	$6.650
May 04/10	Apr 26/10	Sheridan, Patrick John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,000	$6.750
May 03/10	Apr 28/10	Sheridan, Patrick John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-13,900	$6.650
Apr 30/10	Apr 27/10	Sheridan, Patrick John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,000	$6.700
Apr 29/10	Apr 26/10	Sheridan, Patrick John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,000	$6.750
Apr 28/10	Apr 23/10	Sheridan, Patrick John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-30,000	$6.800

Must be fed up waiting for IAMGold to make a bid and wants that new SUV now.


And finally, it's not the size of the selling at Lydian Intl (LYD.to) that you should be worried about....

Lydian International Limited (LYD)						As of May 4th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
May 04/10	Apr 27/10	Coughlin, Timothy James	Control or Direction	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-15,000	$1.120
May 04/10	Apr 26/10	Coughlin, Timothy James	Control or Direction	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-10,000	$1.095
May 04/10	May 03/10	Corrie, Roderick	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-10,000	$1.160

.....it's more that the insiders seem to do nothing but sell and sell and sell. I wonder if the IFC are happy about seeing their cash go straight into the pockets of already rich people?

The inside track

Back with another one of our occasional looks at insider trades, with two today worthy of comment. Firstly, we note that Eike Batista is buying small ($1.5m or so is small for him) lumps of Ventana Gold (VEN.to) and topping up his large position on the open market:

Ventana Gold Corp. (VEN)						As of April 8th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Apr 08/10	Apr 05/10	63X Master Fund	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	75,200	$10.208
Apr 08/10	Apr 01/10	63X Master Fund	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	79,000	$9.676

That smacks of confidence.


On the flipside, what are the people running Baja Mining (BAJ.to) trying to tell us?

Baja Mining Corp. (BAJ)						As of April 8th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Apr 08/10	Apr 07/10	Thody, Graham Campbell	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-10,000	$0.830
Apr 08/10	Apr 07/10	Low, Kendra Leigh	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-80,000	$0.800
Apr 08/10	Apr 07/10	Low, Kendra Leigh	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	51 - Exercise of options	80,000	$0.350
Apr 08/10	Apr 07/10	Low, Kendra Leigh	Direct Ownership	Options	51 - Exercise of options	-80,000
Mar 25/10	Mar 24/10	Glanville, Ross Owen	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-120,000	$0.750
Mar 25/10	Mar 24/10	Glanville, Ross Owen	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	51 - Exercise of options	210,000	$0.350
Mar 25/10	Mar 24/10	Glanville, Ross Owen	Direct Ownership	Options	51 - Exercise of options	-210,000	$0.350

Not one but three insiders are telling us that selling BAJ.to at the levels seen in the last few days is a good idea. Do you see a red flag here too, or are you daltonian?

DYODD, dude.

An eye on the insiders

Three inside trades that caught the eye of this humble scribe while perusing CadInsider this morning.

First up Evolving Gold (EVG.v), the company with good (though at depth) drill results coming from its USA project. Sadly, it's also pumped by über-BSmerchant Peter Grandich, which is enough reason in itself to avoid this stock forever, good rock or not. And lo and behold! we got insiders bailing right now, too:

Evolving Gold Corp. (EVG)						As of March 25th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Mar 25/10	Mar 19/10	Bick, Robert	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-48,500	$0.960
Mar 25/10	Mar 18/10	Bick, Robert	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-42,500	$0.970
Mar 25/10	Mar 18/10	Bick, Robert	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-7,500	$0.980
Mar 25/10	Mar 17/10	Bick, Robert	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-2,000	$0.980
Mar 25/10	Mar 17/10	Bick, Robert	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,000	$0.960
Mar 25/10	Mar 17/10	Bick, Robert	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-6,000	$0.980
Mar 25/10	Mar 16/10	Bick, Robert	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-18,000	$0.980
Mar 25/10	Mar 16/10	Bick, Robert	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	51 - Exercise of options	129,500	$0.230
Mar 25/10	Mar 16/10	Bick, Robert	Direct Ownership	Options	51 - Exercise of options	-129,500	$0.230

All at the same time that Grandich pumps this stock to his sheep. Whatever can it mean?

Next we check out Baja Mining (BAJ.to) which is also flashing a "management think it's a good place to lighten" signal via this filed trade:

Baja Mining Corp. (BAJ)						As of March 25th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Mar 25/10	Mar 24/10	Glanville, Ross Owen	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-120,000	$0.750
Mar 25/10	Mar 24/10	Glanville, Ross Owen	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	51 - Exercise of options	210,000	$0.350
Mar 25/10	Mar 24/10	Glanville, Ross Owen	Direct Ownership	Options	51 - Exercise of options	-210,000	$0.350

Finally, we have a bit of positive flipside: Apoquindo Minerals' (AQM.v) have a management team that are putting money where their mouths are. This is healthy:

Apoquindo Minerals Inc. (AQM)						As of March 25th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Mar 25/10	Mar 17/10	Lopez, Cesar	Direct Ownership	Warrants	11 - Acquisition carried out privately	100,000	$1.000
Mar 25/10	Mar 17/10	Lopez, Cesar	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	11 - Acquisition carried out privately	200,000	$0.850
Mar 25/10	Mar 17/10	Villarzu Rodhe, Juan Rodolfo	Indirect Ownership	Warrants	11 - Acquisition carried out privately	59,941	$1.000
Mar 25/10	Jan 07/08	Villarzu Rodhe, Juan Rodolfo	Indirect Ownership	Warrants	00 - Opening Balance-Initial SEDI Report
Mar 25/10	Mar 17/10	Villarzu Rodhe, Juan Rodolfo	Indirect Ownership	Warrants	11 - Acquisition carried out privately	59,941	$1.000
Mar 25/10	Jan 07/08	Villarzu Rodhe, Juan Rodolfo	Indirect Ownership	Warrants	00 - Opening Balance-Initial SEDI Report
Mar 25/10	Mar 17/10	Villarzu Rodhe, Juan Rodolfo	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	11 - Acquisition carried out privately	119,882	$0.850
Mar 25/10	Jan 07/08	Villarzu Rodhe, Juan Rodolfo	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	00 - Opening Balance-Initial SEDI Report
Mar 25/10	Mar 17/10	Villarzu Rodhe, Juan Rodolfo	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	11 - Acquisition carried out privately	119,882	$0.850
Mar 25/10	Jan 07/08	Villarzu Rodhe, Juan Rodolfo	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	00 - Opening Balance-Initial SEDI Report

Also, those with a memory for mining names will note the heavy-hitters that run AQM.v.

Disclosure: no position in any stock, though BAJ.to and AQM.v are part of the IKN Weekly 'Copper Basket' of junior exploration stage copper companies.

Copper Fox (CUU.v): Oh no, nothing suspicious going on round here...oh no no no no

Old Macdonald, sheep he farmed, eee ay eee ay ooooh!

The latest insider filings from Copper Fox (CUU.v) below. Funny how these people are quick to declare the buy but forget to declare a sale that happened on the very same day. Funny dat, innit? All in PDAC week, too.

Copper Fox Metals Inc. (CUU)						As of March 16th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Mar 16/10	Mar 08/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Control or Direction	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-948,000	$0.180
Mar 16/10	Mar 08/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Control or Direction	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-20,000	$0.180
Mar 12/10	Mar 08/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	22,000	$0.210
Mar 12/10	Mar 08/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	30,500	$0.185
Mar 12/10	Mar 08/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	25,000	$0.205
Mar 12/10	Mar 08/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	206,000	$0.195
Mar 12/10	Mar 08/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	948,500	$0.180
Mar 09/10	Mar 05/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	25,000	$0.155
Mar 09/10	Mar 04/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	109,500	$0.155
Mar 09/10	Mar 03/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	75,000	$0.155

If you're wondering why this kind of pattern is a red flag, do yourself a favour and don't bother investing in junior miners.

Keeping in with the insiders

A few fun insider trades to note from yesterday's filings:

More insider selling at Colossus (CSI.to) where persona non grata at Serra Pelada Kishida dumps more, along with head honcho Sussman and another 10k at $5.90 on December 30th finally filed. You have to wonder why these people are so keen on dumping at these current levels........

Colossus Minerals Inc. (CSI)						As of January 11th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Jan 11/10	Jan 05/10	Kishida, Augusto	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-100	$5.720
Jan 11/10	Jan 05/10	Kishida, Augusto	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-100	$5.720
Jan 11/10	Jan 05/10	Kishida, Augusto	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-200	$5.720
Jan 11/10	Jan 05/10	Kishida, Augusto	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-4,600	$5.720
Jan 11/10	Jan 05/10	Kishida, Augusto	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,000	$5.720
Jan 11/10	Jan 05/10	Kishida, Augusto	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,000	$5.710
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Kishida, Augusto	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,000	$5.720
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Sussman, Ari b	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	54 - Exercise of warrants	10,000	$0.400
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Sussman, Ari b	Direct Ownership	Warrants	54 - Exercise of warrants	-10,000
Jan 11/10	Dec 30/09	Sussman, Ari b	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-10,000	$5.900

It's not all bad trades we note at IKN, though. Copper Fox (CUU.v) director David MacDonald has decided that he likes his stock here:

Copper Fox Metals Inc. (CUU)						As of January 11th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Jan 11/10	Jan 08/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	60,000	$0.175
Jan 11/10	Jan 08/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	40,000	$0.170
Jan 11/10	Jan 07/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	35,500	$0.175
Jan 11/10	Jan 07/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	50,000	$0.180
Jan 11/10	Jan 07/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	50,000	$0.175
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	24,500	$0.180
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	500	$0.175
Jan 06/10	Jan 05/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	50,000	$0.160
Jan 06/10	Jan 04/10	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	50,000	$0.155
Jan 04/10	Dec 31/09	Macdonald, David Morris	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	75,000	$0.150

Meanwhile, reporting direct from HowTheOtherHalfLives, we catch up with Haywood's Chairman John Tognetti who's been shuffling a few tokens around and selling chunks of fast-rising hotpot Mirasol (MRZ.v)...

Mirasol Resources Ltd. (MRZ)						As of January 11th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Jan 11/10	Oct 31/08	Tognetti, John	Control or Direction	Warrants	00 - Opening Balance-Initial SEDI Report
Jan 11/10	Jan 08/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-3,000	$2.330
Jan 11/10	Jan 08/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-1,000	$2.310
Jan 11/10	Jan 08/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,700	$2.350
Jan 11/10	Jan 08/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,300	$2.400
Jan 11/10	Jan 07/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-121,200	$2.462
Jan 11/10	Jan 07/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	66,400	$2.459
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-3,000	$2.459
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-1,000	$2.250
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-3,000	$2.350

....and also AuEx Ventures (XAU.to):

AuEx Ventures, Inc. (XAU)						As of January 11th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-100	$3.220
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-22,400	$3.271
Jan 11/10	Jan 06/10	Tognetti, John	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-2,500	$3.200

But then again, as the Tognetti dude still has 4,050,000 shares of MRZ.v and 5,139,450 shares of XAU.to hanging around (as well as a whole bucketful of in-the-money warrants and stuff) I hardly think we should worry about this one too much. Probably paying his lunch tab or something.......