Peter Grandich's clients and Mark Morabito: Sheer coincidence, of course

And as is the way of these things, tonight after the bell a company called Ridgemont Iron Ore Corp (RDG.v) issued a news release that said the following:

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 10, 2011) - Ridgemont Iron Ore Corp. (TSX VENTURE:RDG - News; "Ridgemont") is pleased to announce that, subject to regulatory approval, Ridgemont has engaged the services of Grandich Publications LLC to provide public and shareholder communications and marketing services.

Grandich Publications LLC provides corporate communications services to public and private companies in North America and specializes in the development and management of customized public relations and marketing programs. The principal of Grandich Publications LLC, Mr. Peter Grandich, is a long-standing member of The New York Society of Security Analysts and The Society of Quantitative Analysts and is the editor of The Grandich Letter, first published in 1984.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ridgemont will pay Grandich Publications LLC a monthly fee of US$2,000 and will grant 200,000 incentive stock options to Peter Grandich, managing partner of Grandich Publications LLC. The options are exercisable at a price of CDN$1.11 each, with such options vesting over a twelve month period, and expiring on the 9th day of March, 2016. The agreement is for an initial term of 12 months. The agreement is subject to regulatory approval and all terms are subject to and in accordance with the rules of the TSX Venture Exchange.

So Peter Grandich gets another promo gig, good for him. The NR was signed off by RDG.v President and CEO, Mark J. Morabito. Fair enough, so let's just check to see if there are any previous relationships between the vehicles pumped by Peter Grandich and Mark Morabito:

1) Silver Quest Resources (SQI.v): A paying client of Peter Grandich with a director named Mark Morabito.

2) Alderon Resource (ADV.v): A paying client of Peter Grandich with a President and CEO named Mark Morabito.

3) Crosshair Exploration (CXX.v): A paying client of  Peter Grandich with an Executive Chairman named Mark Morabito.

4) Excelsior Mining Corp (MIN.v): A paying client of Peter Grandich with a Chairman named Mark Morabito.

5) Santa Fe Metals Corp (SFM.v): A paying client of Peter Grandich with a director named Mark Morabito.

Now isn't that just the strangest coincidence? Peter Grandich decides that not one, not two but six companies that have Mark Morabito as a company officer are worthy of his professional services and good enough to present as live investment prospects to his flock. But hey...move along now...nothing to see here...

The Otto Rock mailroom smackdown, episode 4,729

I get quite a lot of this type of thing below (surprised, huh?), but just for today and while I'm feeling all "come-peek-round-the-curtain", here's an example of an exchange between your humble scribe and a blog reader. We start with reader 'BS' (no kidding, those really are his initials and his full name was supplied) and his 'vociferous defence' of Peter Grandich after today's post by Grandich from your humble scribe. We then move to the reply and following that what was served up by BS afterwards. Further comment is minimized as this humble corner of cyberspace prefers to treat its readers as adults rather than spoonfeed them. Finally, please be clear that I asked for and was given permission to reprint the both mails written by 'BS'.

Reader BS writes:

The fact that you not only bash Peter Grandich but also many others in the mining community makes you the A-hole sir, not them!  They didn’t start the shit, you did!  You’re the one who looks bad, not them!

Otto replies:

Dear (Name),

1) Would you give me permission to reprint your mail on my blog? Refusal will not offend and unless permission is given, it will not be used.

2) The word is "asshole" (or "arsehole" if you prefer UK-type English).

3) How's FCO.to working out for you? Never bothered you that Grandich was being paid by FCO all the time he was pumping it to the world? Or EVG.v? Or a host of others, in fact.

Thanks for your mail, your opinion is appreciated (unlike in many other places).

Reader BS then replies:

1) Yes, if you’d like.

2) Yes, I know what the word is but I thought I’d use the shortened version as it’s a nicer way of saying it, and after all, I am a nice person.

3) I didn’t buy FCO.to, as a person can’t buy them all.  Having said that, I can tell you that I’ve made tens of thousands of dollars off the FREE suggestions of companies in Peter’s blog.  As I am a subscriber with Gary at Biiwii, the only company I bought which I know came from you at the time was mid-2008 when I bought VEM.to for $0.39 which subsequently tanked.  So you’re perfect?  Fortunately, I had a stop loss in so wasn’t hurt too badly.

As far as I’m concerned, if certain resource companies decide to engage Peter Grandich and pay the guy $20,000 or $30,000 a month for that, who the hell would refuse?  I know I wouldn’t.  If Peter Grandich has said it once, he’s said it a hundred times including today.  “Failure is the norm in the junior resource business and if you buy those companies you are speculating, which is gambling, so be prepared to lose some or all your money.”  The responsibility goes only to the individuals who choose to buy those types of companies.

FYI, the following is an email I sent to Gary at Biiwii on Feb. 25th:

“Gary: 

I know you meant well on your post about the “3 Amigos”, and as it’s been on my mind for some time, I felt compelled to respond.  As I found it to be a small pain to comment on your blog, thought I’d email instead. 

Mickey Fulp and the Metal Augmentor may be very nice fellows and I’m sure they are, but as I occasionally read Otto Rock’s blog being a PM investor, I’m not sure how anyone could say the same for him, with all due respect to you and your opinion.  To see him continually calling the likes of anyone from Casey Research, anyone from GATA, Peter Grandich, Mike Kachanovsky, etc, etc, nothing but scumbags, scammers, pump and dump artists and the like, well, I’m sorry but I find it difficult to have any respect for a man like that.  Peter Grandich is a Christian, a nice man, and I’ve made tens of thousands of dollars off his free mentions of mining companies that he makes on his blog.  But to see someone like Otto Rock, with his idiotic and immature rants teeing off on so many members in the mining area is quite simply a little hard to take.  I honestly don’t know why a person has to resort to that type of behaviour.  I read tons of articles and blogs and I don’t know of one other person out there who does anything like that.  And I wouldn’t subscribe to anyone who does.  Hopefully on his one month vacation he took a look into a mirror at least once.”

Otto, really and truly, why don’t you just stick to what should be the only two things to talk about on your blog.  That being LatAm issues and resource stocks!

Last serving of Otto:

That was was great, too! Can I use this second mail of yours, too? I'm glad to see you have a high opinion of yourself. Oh by the way, apportioning blame for your bad VEM trade via something written somewhere else is not a smart investment attitude. I've been on VEM since 18c and 21c, been reco'ing it since then, have the dated publications to prove it and continue to recommend it. One reason is that it's not a scam and refuses to bend over and lube itself to the Canadian brokerage system  and its innumerable parasites that you seem to prefer. Hey, takes all sorts I suppose....

And as is correct we allow the aggressor to have the last word (experience has taught that if you don't these things go on forever). Here's BS:

Sure, fly right at it big guy!  BTW, I did 41% last year so I’m not complaining.  On another note, it’s unfortunate we live so far apart.  I’m sure we could be best buds! 

IKN back. So if you feel like spicing up your day and mailing over your slice of vitriol, go ahead knock yourself out and be like BS too. But do yourself a favour and find out how to use an exclamation mark correctly first, yeah? It'd make your mail that much easier to read this end. Oh, and don't expect a reply because normally I can't be bothered. Mojitos served, the end.

Good news about Peter Grandich

The good news is that he's perfectly aware there's at least one place on the interwebnetpipes that isn't taken in by his bible-bashing, holier-than-thou shepherding bullshit and self-serving parasitical habits around junior miners....and what's more, he seems to have a bug up his tush about the site as well. Your author thanks reader 'R' for the headsup and excerpts from the March 9th Grandich letter:

"I have stated most recently that the few individuals who use the Internet to make unsubstantiated claims about me never once have said such in any public forum or to my knowledge to any proper authority. I never engage them and from time to time remind supporters it’s a waste of time to do so because they will never come out into the light of day. Even a third-rate (and that’s a far higher rating than he truly deserves) newsletter writer/blogger (who can’t even pay a few bucks to have his own site but blogs on Google) attacks me and many others from the comfort of thousands of miles away in South America. Like the others, his accusations and rants are not just vulgar, but are obviously done with a skirt on. To engage these poor souls would only play into their world and my maker said I was to be in the world but not of it (Praise God!)."

Yup, amen to that, bro. Just that you're aware of this blog's existence makes my day, Grandich. By the way Petey, just a little point but here we go with reasons for me sticking to a blogspot URL

1. Only dumbasses care
2. Google blogger is a very good service and there's no need for a dose of social cachet to be dolloped on the world by having a trendy addresss....unless you're a dumbass of course (see point 1)
3. Because it's inside the Googlypeople's world it can't be hacked, a little matter that annoys the people who have gotten rich on the backs of others and are now afraid of seeing truth spilled out about their two-faced worlds. Know anyone like that?

Your ridiculing of a Google Blogger URL says much more about you than it does about me, dude. It also sounds like you think there's something second-grade about South America, so would you like to expand on that point please? For the record, I live here out of choice and not necessity as it's far more pleasant than the screwed-up Northern Hemisphere....for one thing, people are genuine and don't just fake friendship with strangers.

PS: How do you know I'm a third-rate newsletter writer, Pete? You're not on the subscription list, so has somebody been bunging you my original ideas so that you can rip them off?

Regarding porcine make-up sessions

My thanks to reader 'DM' for the headsup.

Yesterday morning we noted the drilling results and wondered out loud just how Peter 'Holier-Than-Thou' Grandich would lipstick this pig of a NR to his flock of devotees. Well we didn't have to wait long, it seems. Here's the charlatan's call on EVG's news:

"...management has a better understanding of what they may be dealing with at both projects. I also would pay attention to the notation made about Rattlesnake that said:

“…Coupled with the distribution and intensity of potassic alteration and the nearby mineralized porphyry dikes in RSC-027, the mineralization at the bottom of RSC-006 is interpreted as potentially peripheral to a mineralized porphyry…”

Yeah, that feeder system just waiting to be drilled out Petey....

Of course, this rosy picture of a company with 140m shares out (which has exploded from 81m as at March 2009), around 18c to 20c of cash to back that up, a eyepopping burn rate and properties that ain't worth the cactus on top of them is not at all affected by Grandich's 1.1m shares held in EVG that he disclosed this spring, bought around the buck mark. Oh no, not at all.

Lithium One (LI.v): Another one to cross off your list forever

1) It's Lithium
2) It's Argentina
3) It's desperate
4) It's run by stupid people

Numbers three and four in the above list are explained by today's press release, as Lithium One (LI.v) has just retained the world's scammiest bullshit merchant as its pumpo Commander in Chief. These people think this will add value? Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'd rather hold Osama Bin Laden's penis than this stock. NR please!

VANCOUVER, CANADA--(Marketwire - June 23, 2010) - Lithium One Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:LI - News), is pleased to announce that it has engaged the services of Mr. Peter Grandich (the "Consultant") to assist with the Company's public and investor relations and communications programs. Mr. Grandich specializes in the development and management of customized public relations and marketing programs to public and private companies in North America. He is a long-standing member of yada yada continues here

ATW Gold (ATW.v): What can it all mean?

The scumball fraudster front-running piece of crap Graham Harris bails even more:

ATW Gold Corp. (ATW)						As of April 15th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Apr 15/10	Apr 09/10	Harris, Graham	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-194,500	$0.140
Apr 15/10	Apr 07/10	Harris, Graham	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-5,500	$0.150
Apr 15/10	Apr 05/10	Harris, Graham	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-300,000	$0.160
Apr 15/10	Apr 12/10	Harris, Graham	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-50,000	$0.140
Apr 15/10	Apr 05/10	Harris, Graham	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-50,000	$0.155
Apr 15/10	Apr 01/10	Harris, Graham	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-100,000	$0.160

Let's remember that the above is the tip of a very dirty and illegally run iceberg. Let's also note that the OSC hasn't said a word about the illegal, frontrunning, late filing activities of Graham Harris and of the other scumball insider dealers at ATW.v. And finally let's remember what that other twisting scumball Peter 'Holier Than Thou' Grandich said about Graham Harris way back when these two were in cahoots and fobbing worthless paper off to the masses:

I’ve known Graham Harris, one of ATW’s Directors, for almost 20 years. He’s always been a straight shooter, particularly when he was in the financial arena, and finding a straight shooter in the financial arena is like finding a needle in a haystack. So I’ve always had confidence in his honesty. He was very excited about this project. He brought me in about a year ago; it just keeps being advanced. We should be in production there in short order.

Suspicious actions by Agoracom

In the light of the OSC action against online pumper's paradise and illegally acting bullboard host Agoracom, some strange things are happening over at that site

• Top example concerns Evolving Gold (EVG.v), a company that paid the grandaddy bullshit pumper Peter Grandich thousands of dollars per month to pump, pump and pump again its message while Grandich was at Agoracom. Now that the Grandichrat has left the sinking ship, by some sheer coincidence Agoracom has wiped its Evolving Gold discussion board clean off the map. Go there now and all you get is an innocent "oh, we don't have a hub for this stock" message, where before it was the pump central for Grandich's shiller activities. Can you smell fish? Yeah, me too.
  

• But Evolving Gold is not the only example. Firestone Ventures (FV.v) was a paying client of Agoracom until recently. It too had a hub at the site. Now it too has all its records wiped clean and Agoracom claiming that it doesn't cover the stock.

• This is also true for ATW Gold (ATW.v), the notorious pump-job promoted by Peter Grandich at the top of his voice in 2008 and 2009 (cos they paid the charlatan), only to be found out last year as a front bullshit liars, mining ineptitude and inside trading activity nothing short of criminal. It too has had its hub disappeared by Agoracom.

Those are just three this author found on a quick flyover of this scammy bullboard operator. If you know of any more, feel free to send over a headsup.


UPDATE: Longtime sparring partner and 100% good egg sez_me_man chimes in with another (in comments section below and re-pasted here):

Hey Otto,

Grandich erased history on Geologix as well. (GIX.TO).

Not all history disappears, however. From "top pick" to not a word.

Keep up the fine investigative reporting.

M.