Colombia Has Much To Prove

"Our Rock Creek permitting is with the agencies, they are crossing every T, dotting every I." That works for me. I am a long-term shareholder and used to research the company. Rock Creek legal and permitting issues have been in the works for the better part of two decades.

Revett has been piling on the court and administrative "wins" for Rock Creek in the past two years. It is a corker if it happens.

Now, Mr.Shanahan and team need to see Troy back in production mode and profitably at that.

SYSOREX GLOBAL (SYRX) : Still rising. I continue to purchase as I can.

The computer systems integrator is presenting to investors in Toronto this week. SYRX in USA. 

Abitibi Royalties ($RZZ:CA) (ATBYF) : A fresh high today. The new Osisko Mining ($OSK:CA) must deal, deal, deal with our Malartic CHL joint venture partner. Golden Valley Mines (GZZ:CA) (GLVMF) also is benefiting. 

Abitibi could become a "friendly" takeover target for the "new" Osisko.

COLOMBIA: SOLVISTA GOLD ($SVV:CA) ($SVVZF) just cleaned house, a day after the president was re-elected to another four-year term. The CEO's departure, Miller O'Prey, along with others, is a vote against the way Colombia does business. 

Other prospectors and producers are ailing in the stock market today as well.

Most prospectors expect the same slow grind when it comes to permitting of new project, or staking of mineral claims. Plus, there is a small chance that President Santos, just by his re-election by a narrow margin, will divide his country.

I am in touch with Norvista, the Gerry McCarvill merchant bank in Toronto that calls the shots at Solvista Gold. Don Christie there tells us, "We believe at this point in the cycle there are a number of potential opportunities in jurisdictions outside of Colombia. IAMGOLD is a solid partner to have for our Colombian projects."

Mr. Christie, the CFO, does not mean Guadalupe in addition to Caramanta, which is optioned out to much larger Iamgold (IAG) . 

Kinross will be looking at Guadalupe in Colombia this month, he says. In the meantine, Solvista will avoid anything else in COLOMBIA and instead look in Mexico, USA and Canada. It has about $4 million of cash left on the books.

"We really want to take advantage of these compressed valuations ‎in good jurisdictions,"  Mr. Christie says.

The shares are a disaster, and I hold more than 200,000 of them as SVVZF. 

Our TCR audience will recall that when we first started researching, and visiting, the company, we saw the shares go to above $1 CAD from 20 cents or so.

What can I say except that all of our Colombia holdings are now under review. 

Meet the new president, same as the old president.

John Gomez, a Canadian who is active in the country on the minerals front, says Colombia's mining minister almost surely will be ousted. Whether that is window dressing for President Santos, who has much to prove in this second term, remains to be seen. Mr. Gomez recently was a director of Inovent Capital, a Vancouver, Canada, company.

Still, even if every mining official in the country resigns, many mineral prospectors — gold, silver, copper, coal, even energy — are sure to give Colombia the cold shoulder. The nation is rich in resource and dirt poor in common sense and cooperation. As Mr. Gomez says, "At least there is still the Colombia soccer team to root for." 

Let's pray President Santos does not travel to Brazil to see the team play on Thursday. I'm a fan of Colombia.

Solvista almost surely will exit the TCR 7. More to come on Atico Mining (ATY:CA), another Colombia company in our featured list.

Atico in the stock market is outpacing its Colombian cousins — perhaps because it is family run and operates a producing mine in an area sheltered from the evil-sowing FARC rebels.

Outside of Colombia, Bitterroot Resources ($BTT:CA) (BITTF)  is trending higher. The tiny platinum group metals prospector is working its Michigan site. This is all or none for Bitterroot. If something hits the bit (of the drill), the shares will rise fivefold or more in a week. We will know more come July. You will have to purchase the shares now to participate.

True North Gems ($TGX:CA) shares are trending higher on good volume. Waiting to hear the latest from Nick Houghton on the Greenland ruby miner. … We shall be sharing photos of the American Sands Energy (AMSE) pilot plan demonstration — later this week. AMSE is starting to attract bankers and oil-fund managers who are just learning about the Utah property that CEO Will Gibbs is developng for heavy sands oil. The demo took place last week.

By Thom Calandra

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