Shares of Western Prospector Group added C$0.18 to close at C$0.53 after the company reported that 69 per cent of its shares were tenders to the C$0.56 per share offer from CNNC International.

With holidays in both Canada and the United States taking place over the next few days, trading action is expected to remain on the light side. We will see what Thursday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup:Wednesday, July 01st, 2009

Shares of Gold Reserve (AMEX:GRZ) have stabilized after reports came in that Venezuela terminated Gold Reserve’s concession for the large Brisas project. Rumours are now that Rusoro, which launched a failed takeover bid for Gold Reserve last year, may now end up in partnership with the Venezuelan government on the property. Gold Reserve ended the day flat at C$0.65.

Rimfire Minerals and Geoinformatics Exploration are looking to wed. Geoinformatics is coming off a failed merger with Southwestern Resources. Under the Rimfire deal, Geoinformatics will acquire Rimfire on the basis of 2.6 of Geoinformatic shares for each Rimfire share. Rimfire lost C$0.02 to close at C$0.40, while Geoinformatics added C$0.055 at C$0.225.

Linear Gold went shopping and bought the Goldfields project in Saskatchewan from financially plagued GLR Resources. The roughly 600,000 ounce reserve of 10.9 million tonnes grading 1.7 grams gold per tonne will cost $5.0 million in cash and 727,273 Linear Gold shares, plus Linear with will reimburse GLR for deposits made in connection with the equipment contracts in the amounts of $3 million and C$1.2 million. Linear Gold closed up C$0.23 at C$1.44.

Denison Mines (AMEX:DNN) went to the market and inked a C$82 million bought deal financing priced at C$2.05 per share. That was well below market so the uranium producer closed down C$0.28 to C$2.11.

A stock to watch is Underworld Resources. After the bell, the junior reported the results from the first three holes from the 2009 drilling program from the Golden Saddle zone at the White Gold property. Highlights included 3.39 grams gold per tonne over 104 metres. Underworld ended the day up C$0.11 at C$1.05.

The interest in commodity stocks continues to be strong and that has pushed Canada’s big board well above the 10,000 point mark. We shall see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup:Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Iamgold (NYSE:IAG) posted a first quarter profit of $52.5 million, or $0.17 per share, compared with $34.4 million, or $0.12 per share, in the same period a year earlier. The gold miner benefited from a sizeable tax gain of $29.4 million on the sale of gold bullion. Iamgold ended the day down C$0.11 at C$11.45.

Denison Mines (AMEX:DNN) tabled a loss of $1.3 million or $0.01 per share in the first quarter. The miner sold 225,000 pounds U3O8 during the quarter from U.S. production at an average price of $66.03 per pound and 98,000 pounds U3O8 from its Canadian production under an existing long-term contract at an average price of $49.91 per pound. Denison ended the day up C$0.02 at C$2.24.

The 10,000 point mark on the big board appears to be a resistant mark, while the junior board is keeping its head above the crucial 1,000 point threshold. We shall see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup:Friday, May 15th, 2009

Cameco (NYSE:CCJ), the world’s largest uranium miner tabled a 38 per cent drop in first quarter earnings to $82 million, or $0.22 per share down from the $133 million or $0.37 per share tallied in the same period of 2008. The average uranium selling price came in at C$46.72 per pound. Cameco expects to sell between 32 to 34 million pounds of uranium in 2009. Cameco ended the day up C$1.75 at C$29.15.

Sticking to the uranium theme, Northern Continental Resources and Denison Mines (AMEX:DNN) are looking to wed. Denison is offering one of its shares for every 10.87 shares of Northern. Northern ended the day up C$0.07 at C$0.195, while Denison closed at C$2.38 for a C$0.14 gain.

The Canadian currency and the Canada Market are making a strong move to the upside with commodity prices leading the way. We shall see what Monday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup:Monday, May 04th, 2009

Capstone Mining produced 26.1 million pounds of copper in concentrate in the first quarter of 2009 at total cash costs of $1.05 per pound. Meanwhile drilling at its Minto North target in the Yukon continues to show signs of adding tonnage to the Minto operation with results like 2.26 per cent copper and 1.11 gram gold per tonne over 26.7 metres. Capstone ended the day down C$0.11 at C$1.97.

Denison Mines (AMEX:DNN) added C$0.21 to close at C$1.51 after the uranium miner entered into a memorandum of understanding with Korea Electric Power (NYSE:KEP) to purchase 20% of Denison’s U3O8 production and acquire 58 million common shares of Denison by private placement at $1.30 per share.

Pan American Silver (NASDAQ:PAAS) has stepped up to the plate to co-develop Orko Silver’s La Preciosa project in Mexico. Pan American will fund the development in return for a 55 per cent stake. Orko ended the session down C$0.04 at C$0.96, while Pan American added C$0.13 at C$20.30.

San Gold cut 207 grams gold per tonne over 2.3 metres in a 50 metre step out hole from the Hinge zone on its Rice Lake property in Manitoba. San Gold ended the day up C$0.13 at C$1.73.

Shares of Rodinia Minerals added C$0.12 to C$0.295 after announcing that a two-dimensional reflective seismic survey has been contracted for its Clayton Valley lithium brine prospects in Nevada.

A stock to watch is Western Prospector Group. The company was halted from trading pending news at C$0.54. CNNC International has offered to acquire all Western shares for C$0.56 each.

The broader bourse appears to be at a crossroads in terms of direction. Perhaps it is merely a consolidation phase after a nice runup or perhaps buyers have run out of gas. We shall see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

A great way to play the airlines woes is by investing in vanadium. The little-known metal is in high demand due its use in fuel-efficient engine technology. Its primary use is in ultra-light, super-strong metal alloys.

Vanadium is scarce. And there’s high demand for it. This makes it a great investment, says Chris Mayer…

Ultra high-strength and super-light steels are the plastics of the 21st century. There is high demand for these steels for use in everything from jet engines to rail components. In turn, there is a big push for the quirky metals so critical in making them. And in those quirky metals are good opportunities for investors. One of them is vanadium.

For some industries, such as airlines, finding a more fuel-efficient way to do business is a matter of survival. According to a recent Financial Times article, it’s “triggered a massive jump in the price of obscure and scarce metals that are used to improve the fuel economy of jet engines.”

The quest for fuel-efficiency goes beyond just the airlines, of course. It extends to rail cars and automobiles, to power plants and high-speed drilling. Vanadium’s primary use: to strengthen steel. Combine it with titanium and you get the best strength-to-weight ratio of any engineered material. That makes it practically irreplaceable in aerospace and other industries. Companies also use vanadium to produce sulfuric acid, and in nuclear power plants. Vanadium also promises new advances in battery technology. Giant vanadium batteries power wind farms and solar power plants.

In the great infrastructure boom, vanadium takes its place at the table of other rare and obscure metals that are growing much more important. The price of vanadium, as with many of these metals, is way up. For most of last year, vanadium cost $40 per kilogram. In February, it hit $90 per kilogram. It has since come back some, but it rallied to over $80 again recently.

The rocketing vanadium price is no mystery. Demand is strong, while supplies are constrained. A big part of the supply constraint lies in South Africa. That’s because a massive electricity shortage is preventing many mines from operating at full capacity. As the CEO of Windimurra Vanadium (ASX:WVL), an Australian mining company, put it: “The market is very sensitive to power supply issues. Large South African miners are facing up to 15 percent restrictions to their power supply… The supply of vanadium will remain tight, and that’s factoring in a best scenario for South African producers, which is no guarantee.” In March, Xstrata (LON:XTA), which produces about 12 percent of the world’s vanadium, said it would cut its deliveries by 10-15 percent in the second quarter. And Highveld, the world’s biggest producer of vanadium, said in February that power outages posed a “considerable threat” to future output.

The vanadium market also has some interesting quirks. For example, 98 percent of the world’s vanadium comes from only three countries — China, Russia and South Africa. South Africa, we know, has power issues. China’s Sichuan province, devastated by earthquake, was also a rich vanadium producer. Moreover, China is becoming as much a consumer of vanadium as a producer. So vanadium exports from China are dropping. Last year, China ended its export credits for vanadium because it needed the metal more at home. This year, China went further and put an export tariff in place.

China’s vanadium use per quantity of steel is still well behind the curve compared with the U.S.’ If China were to use as much vanadium as U.S. steel producers, the vanadium market would face a one-third increase in demand. That’s a pretty nice long-term tail wind for vanadium.

Russia’s Evraz Group (LON:EVR) is the world’s largest producer of vanadium, with about 27 percent of supply. I think it’s safe to say that Russia has been an uneven producer of certain commodities. And as the Russians like to change the rules of the game as it suits them, I would not rely too heavily on Russian supply. And finally, there are no stockpiles of vanadium or substitutes of equal quality.

So where are the opportunities?

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It’s tough to find a good pure play that is easy to buy. Most of the producers are in China or South Africa or Australia. And these producers make lots of other metals. You wouldn’t buy Xstrata just because you like vanadium. You’d also have to understand a host of other metals that contribute much more to Xstrata’s bottom line than vanadium. One interesting company is Denison Mines (AMEX:DNN). Vanadium could represent up to a third of Denison Mines’ revenues in 2008. The problem with Denison is that it is mainly a uranium play. To invest in Denison, you have to like uranium; you get the vanadium exposure as a bonus. Denison is probably cheap, although I haven’t looked at it in great detail.

Some of the best ideas are just in the prospecting stage or emerging as producers. There are a few in Australia, including Windimurra Vanadium and Reed Resources. Both have big vanadium resources and could each eventually represent 6-8 percent of global production.

One of my favorite vanadium ideas I’m keeping an eye on is Largo Resources (CVE:LGO). Largo has the world’s highest-grade vanadium mine, in Brazil. It’s close to infrastructure and located in a mining-friendly state. The company should have a completed feasibility study in July. Production should start in 2010. It’s highly speculative, but promising.

The company also has a molybdenum and tungsten project in the Yukon, called Northern Dance. These metals are also important in infrastructure.

Scarcity is a great thing when you are an investor. Finding companies that own something scarce — with good long-term demand behind it — is a winning formula for finding good ideas.

Source: Finding Fuel Efficient Metals