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Donner Metals Goes Beyond The Press Release In Video Interview About Latest Press Releases

Posted by AGORACOM at 5:49 PM on Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

I’m happy to present to you the with our latest installment of “Beyond the Press Release”, a video interview featuring Donner Metals (DON:TSXV) Chairman, Dave Patterson, discussing the significance of the Company’s last two press releases in layman’s terms for the benefit of retail investors.

The two press releases are as follows:

September 2, 2010: Donner Metals Receives A Positive Feasibility Study For The Bracemac-McLeod Deposit in the Matagami Base Metal Camp in Central Québec

September 1, 2010: Inferred Resources At Bracemac-McLeod Expand by 2.07 Million Tonnes of Massive Sulphides Grading 10.66% Zinc, 1.33% Copper, 41.72g/t Silver and 1.21g/t Gold Identified in the McLeod Deep Zone

If you’re a shareholder of Donner Metals, you will enjoy David’s candid and thorough responses during our discussion.  This is especially true given the fact junior resource companies are forced to issue highly technical press releases that are not always well understood by retail investors.

If you’re just discovering Donner for the first time, grab a coffee and kick back in your chair for the next 15 minutes.  Yes, we provide some online marketing services for Donner – so assume I am horribly conflicted.  Then take into account this junior has partnered with Xstrata Zinc Canada, who is now in the process of constructing a mine that is set for production in a couple of years.

Please click the image below to watch the full interview.

For more information about Donner and its exciting projects, please visit the following:

IR Hub / Company Website

ABOUT DONNER:

Donner Metals Ltd. is a Canadian base metals exploration and development company located in Vancouver B.C. The Company is focused on base and precious metal exploration throughout Canada. Donner’s flagship project is the Matagami Project option and joint venture with Xstrata Canada Corporation – Xstrata Zinc Canada Division (“Xstrata Zinc”) which was signed in 2006 and covers exploration and future development within the prolific Matagami Lake Mining Camp located in the Abitibi region of central Québec.

The Matagami Camp is supported by Xstrata Zinc’s existing mine infrastructure, highly experienced workforce and an operating 2,600 tonne per day mill, as well as highway, railway and town site infrastructure. This infrastructure will benefit discoveries made under Donner’s agreement with Xstrata Zinc.

Regards,
AGORACOM

GATA – Gold and Sliver Prices Are Likely To Explode From Here

Posted by AGORACOM at 11:13 AM on Tuesday, September 14th, 2010

Good morning to you all.  Last night at 11:30 PM EST, I received the following e-mail message from Le Metropole Cafe, which is run by gold pundit Bill Murphy.  Along with Chris Powell, Bill Murphy founded The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee (GATA), which was organized in January 1999 to advocate and undertake litigation against illegal collusion to control the price and supply of gold and related financial securities.

In a nutshell, these guys know what they are talking about and have been right about gold for more than a decade.  That doesn’t mean they walk on water and can’t be wrong – but when they speak I make sure to listen – and so should you.  This is especially true given the fact gold exploded this morning up $23 to $1,270, which breaks it free of $1,250 resistance.

Here is the message

==================

MIDAS ALERT!

In my commentary tonight, I reported on the ridiculous raid by JP Morgan Chase on the silver market to nullify the spectacular aspects of the technical close above $20 and a two and one year half high. The JPM bums, and long time Gold Cartel veteran gold GATA antagonists, took the price of silver from $ 20.11 to $19.93 in minutes in late Access Market trading for no reason … based on no outside market activity.

At post time, which is 9:30 CT, silver is $20.15 bid, which means the ALL MIGHTY silver banker tycoons have been stuffed. Even gold is challenging $1250, a key resistance area for the low-lifes of Larry Summers’

Behavioral Financial Program.

The reason for this alert is that I suspect, as a former limit position commodity trader, that the weak hand of the JP Morgan and allies short position, was just called into bluff ? and I THINK, that the JPM camp blinked and is standing a bit naked.

Gold and silver prices are likely to explode from here.

This could be a historic pricing period for precious metals. Those who know what GATA knows, will know why!

I salute Café members who will make fortunes in the years to come.

All the best,

MIDAS

=========================

Regards,
George

Credit Default Swaps 101

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:05 AM on Monday, September 13th, 2010

If you are serious about investing, then you should be serious about your ongoing education.  No doubt most of you have heard about Credit Default Swaps (CDS) and the role they played in the current financial crisis – but how many of you actually understand them?

I’ve posted information here in the past but the following presentation by Goldman Sachs is the most thorough resource we have found yet.  Enjoy.

Hat Tip to the good people at distressed volatility.

State of the Market Cds 101

Regards,
George

Harmony Gold – A Potential Near-Term Gold Producer

Posted by AGORACOM at 6:44 AM on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

PROFILE AS OF SEPTEMBER 3RD 2010

WHY HARMONY GOLD CORP?

With Gold At Historic Highs, Now is the Time to Consider Adding a Potential Near-Term Gold Producer to Your Portfolio

Harmony Gold Corp. (TSX-V: H)

• Latest drill results from Lucky Shot highlighted by 36.38 g/t of gold over 7.3 meters

• Flagship Lucky Shot Project, a past producing, high grade gold property just north of Anchorage, Alaska.

• During production from 1921 – 1942 the Lucky Shot mine averaged a grade of 1.48 ounces to the ton gold and produced 250,000 ounces

• Harmony Gold is on pace to become a gold producer in 2011

• At least 12 gold prospects within a three mile radius of the Lucky Shot property

• A 200 ton per day mill is currently on the property

• CDN$2.3 million available in cash and cash equivalents (as of March 31, 2010)

About Harmony Gold Corp.

Harmony Gold Corp. (the “Company”) is a Canadian based resource company and is one of the newest companies to list on the TSX Venture Exchange with a current market cap of approximately $6 Million.

The Company was created by some of the top mining people in the industry with a combined experience of over 150 years. The aim of Harmony Gold is to expose shareholders to near-term cash flow and also provide growth through mergers and acquisitions.

The past producing Lucky Shot Gold Property is the company’s primary asset, of which it holds an 60% interest (with an option to increase its interest up to 80% ownership) with the remaining 40% held by joint venture partner Full Metal Minerals.  Lucky Shot consists of approximately 8,800 acres with 7 historically mined veins or fault systems.

Harmony Gold will focus 100% of its efforts on the Lucky Shot Gold Mine just 60 miles north of Anchorage, Alaska. With all infrastructures in place, the Company intends to be in production sometime in 2011. The underground nature of the mine allows the Company to produce year-round. The mine will produce 250 tons per day and Harmony’s intent would be to reach commercial operations with no debt.

About Lucky Shot Gold Property

Lucky Shot is a past producing, high grade gold property north of Anchorage, Alaska.  Although recent exploration work on Lucky Shot started in 2005, most of the production work was pre-1939 when the war measures act ordered men away from the mines, and into the war.

The project is located in the historic Willow Creek Mining District. Past-producing mines in the District are considered to be among the highest grade in the Northern Cordillera, with documented production from company records and The Alaska Department of Mines listed at over 620,000 ounces Au from multiple veins and shears, at an average grade of approximately 1.0 ounce per ton of Gold.

On February 11, 2010 Harmony announced assay results from an infill and step-out drilling program completed at the Lucky Shot Gold Property. During September and October of 2009, 26 drill holes were completed totaling 4,200 meters of drilling. Highlights include:

C09-152: 3.6 meters averaging 24.14 g/t Au
C09-153: 0.9 meters averaging 102.00 g/t Au
C09-158: 0.6 meters averaging 58.20 g/t Au
C09-169: 3.7 meters averaging 19.23 g/t Au
C09-171: 7.3 meters averaging 36.38 g/t Au

Why Gold, Why Now?

Sept. 24, 2010 – Gold Sets Record Again Ends Below $1,300 (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

Sept. 23, 2010 – Gold, Silver Soar To New Record High On Global Surge (Source: The Times Of India)

Sept. 14, 2010 – Gold Hits Record As Econ Worries Rise Again (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

Sept. 2, 2010 – Gold May Rise as Slowdown Spurs Investor Demand Survey Shows (Source: Bloomberg)

Aug. 27, 2010 – Global Demand for Gold on the Upswing (Source: CTV News)

Aug. 20, 2010Gold Gains As Investors Seek Safety (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

To Learn more about the Harmony Gold Corp. (TSX-V: H) opportunity And Get On The Investor List:


HARMONY GOLD INVESTOR LIST
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Disclaimer

The Harmony Gold Corp. profile is provided for guidance and informational
purposes only.
The information contained herein has been compiled from sources deemed
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throughout the AGORACOM website and affiliate websites.

CNBC’s Erin Burnett Blows A Gasket On Bond Bear.

Posted by AGORACOM at 6:19 PM on Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

(Hat tip to Zero Hedge for putting us onto this story)

For some strange reason, Erin Burnett of CNBC blew a gasket today when Bond Bear Mike Pento made his case for a bubble bond market.  She claims that he “was rude” but I just don’t see it.  What I see is a “moderator” (what she called herself) that didn’t like hearing someone make the case for a blowup in the US bond market.

Given the fact a Bond Bull was also on the show at the exact same time, you would think that a moderator would love salivate over such a strong opposing opinion to make great TV.

Nope.

Rather than sitting back and having the Bull and Bear go at it, Burnett decides to take the bull position by making a statement in the form of a question that challenge Pento’s bear position.  OK, it’s her show …. but why does she blow a gasket when Pento begins – rightfully so – challenging her?  He wasn’t rude in the least.  He was firm in his position.  I don’t care if you think the guy is right or wrong – you have to love the fact he is taking a position and backing it up.

So why does she blow a gasket?  Cheerleaders don’t like the opposing team.  Unfortunately, Burnett forgot she was the referee and the other team had already taken the field.

Am I wrong? You decide and let me know.

Regards,
George

Small-Cap CEO Lesson: Lost Wall Street Trust Is Potential Small-Cap Gain

Posted by AGORACOM at 11:10 AM on Tuesday, September 7th, 2010

THIS IS AN UPDATE TO A POST ORIGINALLY MADE IN MARCH 2009

I originally posted this story in March of 2009 and concluded it by stating:

Wall Street is out of favor … waaayyy out of favor. Take advantage of the environment, get out there and show investors why you and your hard working small-cap company can be trusted.

So why am I repeating it?  Take a look at the following quotes from two great sources this morning:

“Retail is absolutely moribund, there’s nothing going on in retail,” Sanford Bernstein’s Hintz said. “The retail investor has dug his foxhole and put on his helmet, and he’s just sitting there.”  Bloomberg – Wall Street Needs Off The Charts September To Rescue Quarter

“…the ongoing boycott by retail investors (who incidentally hold the bulk of the S&P’s market cap) of terminally broken capital markets may finally achieve more than all futile campaigns to pull deposits out of the TBTF banks ever could. It is no secret that regular, non computerized, investors have now shut out Wall Street as they now have absolutely no faith left in capital markets, a phenomenon we have been tracking since its inception.” Zero Hedge – Surging Retail Outflows Mean Worst Quarter For Wall Street Since 2008

Since 2008, I’ve talked about the loss of trust being the greatest risk to markets. Specifically, investors can flow with market cycles and always come back. However, if they lose trust, it will take a long time for Wall Street to gain them back.  Thanks to information provided by Dominic Jones over at IR Web Report, the data showed that trust was officially broken in 2009. He cites a number of reports here, here and here – but here are some of the highlights, starting with this telling graphic:

  • Nearly two-thirds of investors (62%) trust corporations less than they did a year ago.
  • Only 38% said they trust business to do what is right, a 20% plunge since last year.
  • Only 17% said they trust information from a company’s CEO.
  • In China, the “trust in business” score actually rose from 54% to 71% among 35-to-64-year-olds.
  • Specialists remain the most trusted purveyors of information about a company, with 62% globally saying an academic or expert on a company’s industry or issues would be extremely or very credible.
  • Employees and peers are also considered credible sources of information about a company, with 47% trusting what they hear from “a person like yourself” and 40% trusting conversations they have with employees.

LOST WALL STREET TRUST IS POTENTIAL SMALL CAP GAIN

In short, investors don’t trust Wall St CEO’s – but they do still trust people like themselves.  Most Small-Cap CEO’s fit the description perfectly because they are typically people that resemble retail investors far more than Wall Street CEO’s.

GET OUT FROM BEHIND THE PRESS RELEASE

This tells me quite clearly that there is no better time for an online investor relations campaign by small-cap companies.  I say online because this mode of investor relations provides the most direct channel of communications with online retail investors.  Specifically, videos, webcasts, audio interviews, blog posts and Twitter posts are simple and cost efficient ways to speak directly with retail investors.  Take advantage of the opportunity because you may never have this kind of opportunity again.

If you have any fears about speaking with investors directly, just remember that you’ve already done it dozens of times at conferences, AGM’s and other real-world meetings.  Get out from behind the press release.  If you’re not already doing so, you have to ask yourself, Why Am I Not Talking To Investors? If you need help answering this question, give me a call and let’s start implementing a solution.

Wall Street is out of favor … waaayyy out of favor. Take advantage of the environment, get out there and show investors why you and your hard working small-cap company can be trusted.

Regards,
George

Bob Chapman – The Reckless Mess Created By The Fed. A Must Read

Posted by AGORACOM at 1:51 PM on Monday, September 6th, 2010

I came across this very insightful article by Bob Chapman today.  It is potentially scary and will be viewed by some as fear mongering supported by great data and a smattering of conspiracy theories.

Personally, I gave the article a lot of thought and concluded it made too much sense to be ignored – especially given the fact I am fresh off watching CNBC’s Documentary “House Of Cards“.  As with the video, I strongly recommend that you read the article, think about it, discuss it with people smarter than you and then decide your course of action.

To this end, please find enclosed a few bullet point highlights, followed by the entire article.  I would love to hear what you think.

Regards,
George

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • October will report the annual fiscal deficit of 9/30/10 of about $1.5 trillion, a figure thought impossible just 1-1/2 to 2 years ago.
  • The sale of Treasuries for the past six months was easy with a strong US dollar caused by a manufactured crisis in Greece and in the euro.
  • What the Fed has been approaching since June is a “liquidity trap.” That is when loans are offered to business and they refuse to borrow.
  • Gold has gained 15% a year for those last 7 years. This is a secular bull market and cannot be denied. Further, gold has appreciated annually against every currency.
  • All we can say is we will never understand how bright people miss the obvious. There is no logic here, only agenda.
  • the Fed will sell mortgage backed securities they paid banks $0.70 to $0.80 on the dollar for, back to them for $0.20 on the dollar. This allows the banks to carry this paper on their good books at market value and allows the taxpayer to pay the difference, and the Fed cleans up their books. They do not have to do this, but they are going to do so. The losses will be about $1.2 trillion.
  • At the same time inflation will rage. The worst of all investment worlds, except for those in gold and silver related assets. Just as an example, during the period from 1929 to 1936, gold doubled and gold and silver shares rose over 500% in a deflationary period.
  • Between 1978 and 1981, during an inflationary recession the average gold and silver share appreciated 40 times the price of gold bullion.
  • The high-end market in homes is virtually non-existent. No sales for the past two months. Only 1,000 units priced over $500,000 were sold.
  • There you have it, and it is quite a mess. Unfortunately it is going to get worse.

FULL ARTICLE:

September 1 2010:

Almost two years ago the US Treasury was selling large amounts of short-term Treasury bills to fund bailouts and stimulus. That caused a major increase in debt. Most of that paper was 2-year bills and it is coming due for rollover shortly. While that transpires, October will report the annual fiscal deficit of 9/30/10 of about $1.5 trillion, a figure thought impossible just 1-1/2 to 2 years ago. (more…)

CNBC “House Of Cards”. How Wall Street Fucked America and The World. Why They Will Do It Again

Posted by AGORACOM at 1:34 PM on Monday, September 6th, 2010

The growing criticism of CNBC amongst financial bloggers and commentators (including me) is growing and warranted.  Too much cheer leading, too much emphasis on entertaining us, too little guest analysis beyond short octobox/decabox sound bites.

Having said that, they have some great talent over there and one of those people is David Faber, who put together the 90-minute must see documentary.  I’ve embedded it below.  I don’t care how busy you are, put the family to bed and find the time to watch it.  It will not only tell you how Wall Street greed fucked the global financial system – I believe it demonstrates why Wall Street greed is in the process of doing it again.

After all, no Wall Street CEO has gone to jail or even been forced to payback the hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses generated during Sub-Prime / CDO scam, so you count on them looking after themselves all over again during QE1 and the soon to be released sequel QE2.

Skip a movie, skip a game, skip anything that won’t arm you with the information you need to potentially protect your financial future.  Watch this video, absorb the information, never trust Wall Street again and do what you must to protect yourself.

CNBC presents the defining story of our time. Correspondent David Faber investigates the origins of the global economic crisis and the events leading to the most devastating financial collapse since the Great Depression.

Mobile Devices Drive 16,000 Small-Cap Visits To AGORACOM In August

Posted by AGORACOM at 4:38 PM on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Good afternoon to you all.  From the “I love traffic data” department, I’m happy to provide you with mobile data traffic to AGORACOM for the month of August.  Here is a snapshot of the overall data, followed by my comments:

USAGE HIGHLIGHTS:

  • All comparisons above are to January 2010 – and man is mobile skyrocketing
  • Given the fact August is an even slower month than December for investor traffic, I am pleasantly surprised to see that we received 16,000 visits from mobile devices this month.  That is a 45% increase vs. January of 2010.
  • Mobile devices accounted for just over 3% of all visits to AGORACOM in August.
  • 6.12 pages per visit – an increase of 40.15%tells me that investors have moved beyond basic skimming from their mobile devices and are relying on them as much as their PC’s and laptops.  The entire site average for August was 9.68 pages per visit.
  • Likewise, average time on the site jumped 39.5% to 6mins 33secs.  When you consider the site average for August was 8:22, you have even more evidence that mobile investor access is no longer for hit an run purposes

DEVICE HIGHLIGHTS:

This one is a real shocker.  Despite Apple’s popularity, I would not have expected small-cap investor access via iPhones, iPods and iPads  to surpass that of business intensive Blackberry users. This should be doubly true when you consider the fact we have a significant content partnership with Blackberry.  Apple didn’t surpass, it destroyed Blackberry.

Moreover, I fully expected Android usage (phones carrying the operating system created by Google) to be a distant 3rd this early in the game.  Think again.

Here are the numbers:

  • 1st – Apple accounted for 75% of all mobile visits to AGORACOM in August, broken down as follows:
    • iPhone 8,521;
    • iPad 2,293;
    • iPod 1,500
  • 2nd – Android 14.5%
  • 3rd – Blackberry 6.1%

CONCLUSIONS

I can only conclude from the above noted data that

1.  Our iPhone app launch on September 15th is a well timed step in the right direction.

2.  Even though Blackberry users as a group tend to be a significantly larger proportion of business/market people, Apple users appear to be a significantly larger proportion of retail investors that prefer to access online financial communities such as AGORACOM.

3.  Android – as expected – will be a force to be reckoned with.  Time to find an Android app developer!

Regards,
George


AGORACOM Traffic – Visits and Visitors Continue To Climb In H1 2010

Posted by AGORACOM at 12:16 PM on Friday, August 27th, 2010

Good morning to you all.  As most of you know, I like to share AGORACOM traffic data on a regular basis and today is no exception, especially given the fact we are in the dog days of summer.

Please find enclosed a Google Analytics shot of our traffic in H1 2010, compared to H12009 (Click on the image for a larger version):

I’m pleased to report that the number of visits (3,600,000) and visitors (547,000) to AGORACOM remain very strong.  The strength and YoY increases can be attributed to the following reasons.

1. Social Media

We have really turned on our social media efforts in 2010, which have resulted in:

Furthermore, we’ve worked hard at cross-promoting our social media channels AND providing different content on each.  If you’re a small-cap company that is simply creating accounts to post duplicate press releases across each, you are simply wasting your time.  Cross-promote and differentiate so that investors have options to consume what is most important to them.

2. Great Content

We recently introduced a “News Flash” feature that allows us to provide investors in every corner of AGORACOM with breaking/important news as it happens (both small-cap specific or macro-market related).  As a result, investors that may be focused on a particular HUB or group of HUBS on AGORACOM now feel as if they aren’t missing important news.  Click-through analysis shows these are a big hit with AGORACOM visitors and a good reason to both keep returning to the site and consuming our content.

3. Great Platform

Small-Cap Investors continue to flock to AGORACOM thanks to what we believe is the best small-cap community platform on the web.  By providing Wiki and UGC tools to our members, we’ve put significant control into their hands and that has benefited the entire community.  From adding/editing/updating content, to self-policing their own HUBS, members have created a small-cap community that is more informative and cleaner than any other small-cap site on the web.  It isn’t perfect – but it is as close to perfect as you can get using today’s technology.

What is perfect is the level of member satisfaction with AGORACOM.  We thank all of our members for fully embracing our platform and will continue to reward your efforts by improving on what we do.

DECREASE IN PAGE VIEWS

On the flip side, we did see an 8.46% decrease in page views that can probably be attributed to two items. First,  one of our busier HUBS was Freewest Resources which was acquired by Cliff’s Natural Resources in Q4 2009, so we haven’t had the benefit of page views for one of the prominent players within the Ring Of Fire.  Second, as a result of our OSC matter, several of our high-profile HUBS have been put on hold.

Nonetheless, we are extremely pleased at our ability to register gains on the visits and visitor front, while holding firm on the total page views.  This points to very positive prospects once the matter has passed.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the increases in visitors and visits are more important to both our clients and ecosystem as they will drive page views as more news develops within the small-cap industry. Going forward, we’ll be adding further fuel to the fire via the following exciting initiatives:

* Our upcoming mobile push in H2 (iPhone, Viigo and of course our Blackberry partnership)

* An expanded content push in H2  (Holding our cards close to our chest)

* A greater social media push (Look for Facebook and Twitter announcements in H2)

Thanks to our great clients and members for continuing to make AGORACOM the best community platform within the small-cap industry.

Regards,
George