Time out

Moving house.  It's a real joy.  Unfortunately I'm going to be a bit time poor for the next week or so whilst I move into a new apartment.  As a result I wont have too much time to follow the market or conduct any research, so the posts will be few and far between.  I haven't forgotton about my readers so do drop by every so often!  See you again soon.

Toro Energy trending up

Uranium stocks are ones that have been out of favour for a while now.  The big boys such as Paladin Energy (PDN) and Energy Resources (ERA) have been trending downwards and sideways respectively whilst uranium spot and contract prices have also been doing the same.  Despite this something appears to be going on behind the scenes with Toro Energy (TOE) if the trading in its shares are anything to go on.

I briefly mentioned Toro Energy in a post at the end of August and was impressed with an article that covered the company in the Australian Financial Review.  At the time the shares were trading at $0.099.  Since this time they have bobbled up and down however trading in the last couple of days has caught my eye.  At 3pm AEST the shares are up $0.015 to $0.13 on volume of 13.7 million and these kind of volumes haven't been seen since January this year.  I believe some form of good news is around the corner.

BC Iron Research Report

• Argonaut Securities has issued a research report on BC Iron (BCI)
• Report dated 29/09/2010
• Valuation: $2.90
• BCI last trade: $1.925 (05/10/2010)
• Research report link

Prima Biomed, worth a look.

Prima Biomed (PRR) is a company that specialises in cancer treatment technologies and it's flagship product is CVac, which is used in the treatment of ovarian cancer.  It has always been a company that I have avoided.  Early last year it traded under a cent and for me it was a bit of a 'pump and dump' penny dreadful.  Anyway, the company did come to life and surged as high as $0.29 in October last year before slowly trickling down to yesterday's closing price of $0.125.

One thing that has got me interested in the company is the fact that it is seeking a listing on the NASDAQ.  This is very good news.  The ASX has only a small space for Biotech stocks and it is a sector that hasn't had any love for a long time.  The US market on the other hand has a much larger interest in Biotechs and values these type of companies much higher than Australia.  I expect that the company stock price will appreciate in the lead up to being listed on the NASDAQ because of this and it appears to have already started to occur in the last few trading sessions.  The rise in share price has also been slow and steady and not like the old 'pump and dump' days.  For evidence of this phenomenon I recommend that readers take a look at Unilife Corporation (UNS) and it's movements prior to becoming listed in the US.

Accountability to shareholders rant

As with most investors I've been closely following the rare earths scene, after all there are some big gains (and some losses) to be made from the sector.  This has involved a lot of googling and investigation into which companies may have rare earths projects that have been mothballed or simply forgotten about by the market.

I came across 3D Resources (DDD) and their website about two weeks ago.  I was interested by the quote that "3D Resources Limited (3D Resources) is a minerals explorer targeting high value commodities (gold, copper, lead, zinc and nickel) and “future metals” (platinum, palladium, molybdenum, uranium and rare earth metals) in Western Australia."  I started trawling through information on their website, announcements and reports but didn't really have any success in finding anything out.

I recommend shareholders and potential shareholders to contact any company should they have any questions or queries as after all the board (directors) are accountable to their shareholders, yes they work for us.  Whilst directors will not be able to provide any sensitive information that has not already been releaseed to the market they quite often hint or use innuendo to communicate when drilling results may be due etc.  I decided to email DDD and two weeks later, no response!  Not very good PR especially considering it "is our policy that all emails sent to 3D Resources Limited at the above email address will be replied to within 8 business hours of being received."  Directors need to remember that their wages decrease the general funds available for shareholders and owners of the company.  I understand that quite often the directors are very busy people but for a company of this size that hasnt completed any works on their existing projects for some time and every quarterly activities reports released states that 'we are evaluating our projects and JV partners' over and over you wouldnt think it would be too difficult responding to an email.

If anyone has any details of the rare earths projects (if any) of this company I would definitely be interested to hear from you.  DDD last traded at $0.032 yesterday (04/10/2010).

Macquarie Harbour (MHM) Mining Research Report $3 Target

• RB Milestone Group have issued a research report on Macquarie Harbour Mining (MHM)
• Report dated 28/09/2010
• Target: $3
• MHM last trade: $0.67 (01/10/2010 1:57pm)
• Research report link

Sphere Minerals in the media

I recently posted on Sphere Minerals, a company currently under a takeover offer with the potential to receive counter bid(s).  The company yesterday got a nice little mention in an article in the UK's Telegraph. 
Apparently Sphere Minerals shareholders have been receiving calls from Xstrata appointed staff to contact clients and urge them to accept the takeover.  I've been in broking circles for some time however I have never heard of this occurring before.

For inexperienced readers it must be noted that there is always the risks associated with takeovers not succeeding and the stock then trading lower without the support (or floor) of that bid.