non-gold mining in Paraguay

Latin American Minerals (LAT.v), Sheldon Inwentash's Hail Mary shot at mining gold in Paraguay, was featured in this report by Paraguay's newspaper of record, ABC Color, late last month. To say that progress has been slow over at LAT.v is an understatement but at least here we find out why. The report tells of local protests, of artisanal miners who want a part of the LAT.v Paso Yobái concession handed over so they can mine for gold, of violent protests against the ABC Color reporter who covered the story etc. The last paragraph of the report seems to sum up the situation well, as the reporter quotes local company manager Juan Carlos Benítez:

"Benítez added that for the last 22 days the company has removed its personnel from Paso Yobái, due to violent threats from the protestors. "

Moral: When playing the LatAm junior mining sector, stick to the serious countries.

Sheldon Heart Sheldon's Companies

The CEO pose

We're often snarky and scathing about blatant insider selling by company directors that care far more about their own back pockets than the wellbeing of shareholders, so it's fair dinkum* to note some significant insider buying today, point a finger at a director using his money to add stock in his companies and say "Good on yer, mate"*

So let's highlight Sheldon Inwentash, head honcho at Pinetree Capital (PNP.to) and w00t him with a "Hey dude..serious buying". Here's the latest set of filings....

Pinetree Capital Ltd. (PNP)						As of December 3rd, 2009
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Dec 03/09	Dec 02/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	20,600	$2.217
Dec 03/09	Dec 02/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	8,000	$2.150
Dec 03/09	Dec 02/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	116,500	$2.169
Dec 03/09	Dec 02/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	54,900	$2.224
Dec 02/09	Dec 01/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	68,700	$2.123
Dec 02/09	Dec 01/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	4,200	$2.142
Dec 02/09	Dec 01/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	103,000	$2.105
Dec 02/09	Dec 01/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	24,100	$2.143
Dec 02/09	Nov 30/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	8,100	$2.078
Dec 02/09	Nov 30/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	91,900	$2.092

....but that's just brushing the surface really, as our hero Shelly has added a total 1,103,900 shares of PNP to his portfolio in November and December 2009 to bring his total up to 3,136,144. But wait! There's more! In the same period he's tacked on insider purchases in other companies where he sits as director or advisor or general moneybagman. The list includes 434,000 shares of Latin American Minerals (LAT.v), 830,000 shares of Mega Uranium (MGA.to) as well as other purchases in smaller stuff. So hats off to Sheldon for putting his money where his mouth is. Say what you like about the guy, but at least he has confidence in himself and his companies.

*I've come over all Australian today. No idea why.

Insider sellers, insider buyers

ECU Silver (ECU.to) still bailing to the suckers who still lunatic enough believe in this POS

ECU Silver Mining Inc. (ECU)						As of September 18th, 2009
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Sep 18/09	Sep 11/09	Bélanger, Clifford	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-10,000	$0.650
Sep 18/09	Sep 15/09	Bélanger, Clifford	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-10,000	$0.600
Sep 17/09	Sep 11/09	Thériault, Francine	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-10,000

Hank Van Alphen dumped 32,000 Int'l Tower Hill (ITH.v) shares on the market since September 10th this month, at prices from $4.38 upwards. This guy looks after himself and then number one then Henk Van Alphen and then later might have a moment for other people, so take the hint.

International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (ITH)						As of September 18th, 2009
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Sep 18/09	Sep 15/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-2,000	$4.500
Sep 18/09	Sep 15/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-2,200	$4.580
Sep 18/09	Sep 14/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-100	$4.584
Sep 18/09	Sep 14/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-700	$4.580
Sep 18/09	Sep 11/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-3,000	$4.750
Sep 18/09	Sep 11/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-3,000	$4.580
Sep 18/09	Sep 11/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-1,000	$4.600
Sep 18/09	Sep 11/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-4,000	$4.640
Sep 18/09	Sep 11/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-4,000	$4.480
Sep 18/09	Sep 10/09	Van Alphen, Hendrik	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-4,000	$4.440

Meanwhile, the B2gold chairman Robert Cross has suddenly taken a liking to his stock. He's never owned a share in BTO.to until this week and now here he is with 250,000 bought on the open market.

B2Gold Corp. (BTO)						As of September 18th, 2009
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Sep 18/09	Sep 17/09	Cross, Robert Melvin Douglas	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	150,000	$0.730
Sep 18/09	Sep 16/09	Cross, Robert Melvin Douglas	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	100,000	$0.740

And Sheldon is falling in love with Pinetree again. Just like starting over, no?

Pinetree Capital Ltd. (PNP)						As of September 18th, 2009
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Sep 18/09	Sep 10/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	500	$1.640
Sep 18/09	Sep 10/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	101,300	$1.634
Sep 18/09	Sep 10/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	50,000	$1.678
Sep 18/09	Sep 09/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	5,200	$1.650
Sep 18/09	Sep 09/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	2,800	$1.644
Sep 18/09	Sep 09/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	148,300	$1.644
Sep 18/09	Sep 09/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	18,500	$1.660
Sep 18/09	Sep 08/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	147,300	$1.673
Sep 14/09	Sep 04/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	10,100	$1.641
Sep 14/09	Sep 04/09	Inwentash, Sheldon	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	300	$1.640

Latin American Minerals (LAT.v): Play them at their own game

Attractive and successful Sheldon, attractive and successful

wife, attractive and successful necktie

This post is about Latin American Minerals (LAT.v), a tiny and normally very unlikeable junior exploration play with a real mixed bunch of assets in South America. It's a bit of a departure from my normal way of searching for a possible investment, but as it's been itching at me for some time and today brought a possible news catalyst let's write up the general line of thinking.

Firstly, and by way of a preamble, let's look some of the recent issues around Colossus Minerals (CSI.to). We can sum up what we need to consider in the following way:

• CSI.to has a gold project in South America (Brazil)
• It's a well-known artisanal mine in the area
  
• The project has rich gold-bearing mineral and drilling in the right place is all but guaranteed to return excellent grades
• The area has serious political issues, especially with the local artisanal miners, that the company either ignores or claims are not important
• Sheldon Inwentash of Pinetree is on board with a sizeable investment
• The recent upmove in the stock price has come on the back of press releases containing those excellent drill returns and a concerted PR campaign (that has totally ignored the political risk) from people like....Sheldon Inwentash. I particularly loved the way he said that CSI.to was "almost too good to be true"....a real hoot! Here's the three month chart of CSI.to

Here's the three month chart of CSI.to to show that the pump worked a treat.

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So let's imagine, for our purposes at least, that CSI.to is some kind of blueprint for what might be about to happen at Latin Amerian Minerals (LAT.v). The basic idea here is that LAT.v is doing a Mini-Me on CSI.to. Consider the following:

• CSI.to has a gold project in South America (Paraguay)
• It's a well-known artisanal mine in the area
  
• The project has rich gold-bearing mineral and drilling in the right place is all but guaranteed to return excellent grades
• The area has serious political issues, especially with the local artisanal miners, that the company either ignores or claims are not important
• Sheldon Inwentash of Pinetree is on board with a sizeable investment.

Now the LAT.v stock price hasn't really moved yet........

....especially considering LAT.v went way above a loonie once upon a time when the company got pumped by the normally astute Coffin Brothers (hey...nobody's perfect), but that's the point of considering it as a possible splash'n'dash investment right now. Better to be chased than to chase in this game. Also, LAT.v isn't an exact apples-to-apples with CSI.to as it has its own baggage (including diamond-hunting and that very silly lithium potash thing in Argentina that they might use to throw stardust into the eyes of the unsuspecting), but what is true is that our Sheldon has been picking up chunks of LAT.v in the last couple of months:

Mar 27/09	Mar 20/09	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	100,000	$0.180
Feb 26/09	Feb 17/09	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	434,500	$0.204
Feb 13/09	Feb 04/09	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	100,000	$0.145
Feb 11/09	Feb 02/09	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	200,000	$0.134
Feb 04/09	Jan 26/09	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	50,000	$0.080
Feb 02/09	Jan 23/09	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	51,000	$0.080
Jan 30/09	Jan 22/09	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	150,000	$0.080
Jan 23/09	Sep 19/08	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Warrants	00 - Opening Balance-Initial SEDI Report
Jan 23/09	Dec 23/08	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	74,000	$0.075
Jan 23/09	Dec 19/08	Pinetree Capital Ltd.	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Acquisition in the public market	400,000	$0.063

That's a chunky 1.5m shares to add to the bunch previously held at Pinetree. So with this press release today to tell the world that LAT.v is drilling once again at its Paraguay gold prospect and that visual returns have been good, the chances are that the next press release(s) contain(s) drill returns that everyone at the company knew would be good....much like the recent Colossus tactics, to put it bluntly. Give 'em the old razzle dazzle, boyz.....

The bottom line is that although LAT.v is more than a bit suspect as a long term investment (errr...that's putting it as diplomatically as possible...I've been trying hard to avoid the S word while writing about both CSI.to and LAT.v today) it may be about to get the full-court Canadian pumperooney treatment. I personally have this whole BS integrity baggage that stops me from buying into these things normally, but there are times when I tell myself to "lighten up dude...just buy a few...it ain't illegal" and I might just do that this time. This kind of attempt to second-guess the market is a high risk activity, get that straight in your head and crystalline in its clarity, but LAT.v does have the hallmarks of being set up for the mark right now. We shall see.

Über-important to DYODD on this one, dudettes and dudes; check out that latest press release and if you speak Spanish I'd recommend that you Google "Paso Yobai Paraguay" and find out more about the local issues involved with the project.