I have to admire los (and las) cojones some market technicians and economists have for forecasting broad shifts.

I have never been one to call gold prices, for instance. Even though I did, at longtime metals researcher and conference organizer Timothy Wood’s invitation, enter a cute little price-guessing contest the other day. (Okay already: $2,200 high for gold in 2011; $58 for silver; $3,300 for platinum.) That’s MineFund.com.

I find that my bread and butter, personally and for Ticker Trax paying subscribers via natural resources media giant Stockhouse, is hustling after individual companies/events/projects.

Now don’t get me wrong: I like themes. I love the gold theme and have for many years. Ditto platinum and silver. Lately, I am enthused about the non-golds: tantalum, tellurium, scandium, manganese, iron ore, molybdenum, graphite, maybe even tungsten and cobalt.

On the micro end, I also love certain jurisdictions: British Columbia and Peru for moly; Africa for tantalum; Australia for scandium; Nevada, Ontario, Colombia, Ghana, Mali and Peru for gold. Nevada for silver. Mexico for silver. Mexico for graphite. West Africa for iron ore. Brazil for iron ore and manganese.

Lately, I even am getting fired up about gold in Nicaragua and copper in Panama. Cheap oil in Colombia. Oh, and I have been heads-over-heels in love with anything copper in Peru.

But these are landscape themes. Like I said, my pan y mantequilla is in the particulars. Hence:

• Trueclaim: This is from Trueclaim Exploration (TSX: V.TRM, Stock Forum) and its president, John Carter. Trueclaim has the Scadding Gold Project in Ontario. He personally guarantees his company will succeed where others have failed. “The core shack and the team are ready for what promises to be a very successful program. The drilling started on Thursday two days later than expected due to some mechanical problems brought on by – 25 degree Celsius temperatures. The first hole is now complete and we are today moving to Hole 2. We also had the pleasure of spending time with the Wahnapitae First Nations. I am pleased to say we are building a strong relationship with the WFN. The shares at 17 cents Canadian are worthy of purchase, and I do not own the stock.


• Goldgroup Mining (TSX: T.GGA, Stock Forum): I do not own the shares, but I believe you might consider them. Keith Piggott and Gregg Sedun have plenty of skin in this one. I will be visiting GGA’s Caballo Blanco near Veracruz in Mexico in less than two weeks; along with us will be several savvy asset managers and independent geologists. Please see our coverage at Stockhouse and at our password-secure Ticker Trax Library.


• Alange: I have little in the way of energy coverage here in Ticker Trax. One that might be poised to pop is troubled Colombian company Alange Energy (TSX: V.ALE, Stock Forum). To be candid here, the last time I kept track of the rapidly-growing Alange was more than a year ago, when I dined with CEO Luis Giusti and Colombian financier Serafino Iacono in Bogota – on the heels of a tour of a Pacific Rubiales (TSX: T.PRE, Stock Forum) property in that splendid country. I think Alange last week saw its low point on the stock scale – 27 cents Canadian. Alange shares have pivoted sharply since late October, when they were as high as 80 cents. I expect some sort of recapitalization and fresh faces to turn things around. Who knows: perhaps Mr. Iacono will wield the same influence as a financier, interim CEO or executive chairman as he has done at Medoro Resources (TSX: V.MRS, Stock Forum), Pacific Rubiales and other Colombia success stories. I do not own the stock.


• I am perusing several non-gold companies that mine or prospect for tantalum, tellurium, scandium and other industrial (but not rare earth) elements. They are all highly speculative. I own a couple of them but consider them highly volatile, illiquid and not for the faint of heart.


• The non-golds are faring well. I think that aggressive investors might consider accumulating shares of Sola Resource Corp. (TSX: V.SL, Stock Forum), whose principals I have met. Sola is into manganese. The entire layout is here – and events will accelerate for Brazil’s Sola in the next two weeks. I do not own the shares.


• Iron ore: Guinea in West Africa is on the radar screen after I got a heads-up the other day on a financing for one venture. Westward Explorations (TSX: V.WWE.H, Stock Forum) is combining with Sky Alliance Resources Guinee SA. The Guinea company’s parent is called SARI. Trading in Westward, which essentially is a shell stock on the TSX Venture Exchange, is halted. At the close of all this and a $12 million money-raise, the name likely becomes West African Iron Ore. We will try to keep an eye on it.


• Graphite is out there, and in Mexico. There might be a “deal” here somewhere. This from Peter Megaw, doctor geologist from Tucson, Arizona, a Mexico silver pioneer and a director at Candente Gold (TSX: V.CGD, Stock Forum) and Candente Copper (TSX: T.DNT, Stock Forum) – whose shares I own — and other Mexico and Canada prospectors: “Sonora Mexico produces some of the world’s best flake graphite … and one of my Mexican associates knows one of the principal claim owners in the graphite zone very well, having done geologic work for him in the past.  The mines are historically operated on a stope and hope basis but there is abundant opportunity to block out reserves and go after the stuff in a miner-like manner.” Graphite is a sort of greasy carbon used in pencils, some paints, rocket nozzles and even, I am told, nuclear power plants.


• I will be attending the Vancouver Investment Conference this coming weekend. It comes just as the Minerals Round-Up for geologists starts that same week of January 24 in Vancouver, Canada. Please see the speakers’ agenda. Companies I hope to catch up on include Michael Nikiforuk’s African Gold Group (TSX: V.AGG, Stock Forum), which is operating in Mali and Ghana and whose projects I intend to visit in February; Also Thomas Klein’s Golden Phoenix Minerals (OTC: BB: GPXM, Stock Forum) in Ontario, Nevada and Peru. I own none of these shares.  
  
  Peruse the Ticker Trax archives if you are a subscriber. If we are correct in our assumptions, most of these companies will gain market cap in coming weeks and in coming months, industry market share, based in part on drill assays, feasibility studies, off-take metal pacts and other events.

Speaking, ahem …

The Vancouver Investment Conference from Cambridge House comes just as the Minerals Round-Up for geologists starts that same week of January 23 in Vancouver, Canada. Holy iron ore! That is this weekend! Please see the Cambridge speakers’ agenda.  I am a speaker. Thank you.

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HOLDINGS: Thom’s holdings are listed for Stockhouse members at www.Stockhouse.com under the “portfolio setting” for user TCALANDRA. It is public and free to view. He owns shares of about 30 companies.

THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Trax helps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom was founding editor of MarketWatch, CBS MarketWatch and FT MarketWatch. He was the voice of Thom Calandra’s StockWatch and The Calandra Report. Thom has been covering life-sciences and natural resources since 1988.