Wallace Street Journal
Sterling Is Leaking, But Where?
David Bond
Archives
Editor, Silver Valley
Mining Journal
February 7, 2005
Writer's Note: Perhaps we were a bit rough on Clive
Maund last night. He was gracious enough to respond quickly to
my column which follows. With Clive's permission, his response
is reprinted unedited and in full, below, at the end of this
rant -dpb
Wallace, Idaho, 6th February 2005 - This is the most soul-searching
Wallace Street Journal I will ever have written, and it may be
my last. No, not a suicide note. Just a desire not to swim anymore
in the befouled waters excreted by the so-called resource analysts
you good people seem to trust.
Analysts that I used to trust.
Sterling Mining Co. got screwed this month and last by blowhard
ignorance and reporting more shoddy than the Times v. Sullivan
decision would allow, and I am here to tell you how it happened.
But first you will permit me to digress. And if you managed somehow
to short Sterling this week, buddy you'd better hock your house,
because you're gonna need to, to cover your assets. If you're
not long Sterling this week, you've missed your chance. But I
will digress, damnit, because it's time you heard from somebody
who doesn't play the "analyst" game.
I've heard these bullshit analysts bellow from the pulpits in
Toronto, Denver, New York, London, Vancouver, Moscow, Beijing
and all the rotten little rues in between. And I even believed
them, a time or two. I stood up for Thom Calandra in a column
two years ago, because he sure seemed to know how to pick 'em,
until one ugly gray morning in San Francisco, in between his
publicity stunts for that copper monstrosity in Outer Mongolia,
he was asked by a pretty gray lady where, as a first time investor,
she should plunk her money down.
And this skinny guy with the wide ears began to flog his own
book. CBS Marketwatch was a helluva good buy, he said.
A fluke of self-aggrandizement, I thought, then next thing, I
was reading about an Alford plea with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. And another of his fellow prognosticators stood on
the same podium six months later and said of all the great discoveries
that Bob Friedland had made, Calandra was the best. I wonder
how that pretty gray lady in San Francisco did. Did she buy Thom's
stock right before he cratered it? Did she get a piece of that
500 large he paid to keep the feds quiet? And I wonder if jail
in lieu of fines might keep more analysts honest.
And I swear I have never heard investment stock analysts creeping
up to a company and for an offer of a kazillion shares of restricted
stock, promise to write nice about them. "Pump and dump"
is not a phrase I've ever heard, nosireee, not here, not never,
not now.
I would not accuse Clive Maund of being dishonest. Not my thing
to impugn motive. But I can accuse him of being one sloppy sonofabitch,
and probably flirting with Times v. Sullivan.
And you can thank Clive if you want to know why Sterling Mining
Company went into the tank last month, from $7 to $3-something.
Start with this:
"An example of a stock
that is out of fashion is Sterling Mining, a warning about which
was issued on the site back on 27th October.
"There is simply no point in trying to bottom fish such
an issue, at least until it has steadied and formed some kind
of base, all you are doing is tying up capital in something that
at best is likely to go nowhere, and at worst may drop still
further. For those readers who "have to know the reason
why" Sterling is so weak, a little bird told me that the
Sunshine mine has a lot of water in its lower reaches, which
would cost millions to pump out, although I must emphasize that
I cannot guarantee the veracity of this information, however,
if true it would probably explain the recent weakness. This is
the sort of thing that mining companies are traditionally loath
to discuss in their glossy brochures and press releases, which
is perhaps understandable."
This sort of journalism is
beneath contempt. I hired some crappy reporters in my time at
newspapers whose newsrooms I have run on both coasts, but no
zit-covered tyro ever tried to feed me a story a little bird
told him.
"I cannot guarantee the
veracity of this information . . ." Jesus, Clive, have you
ever met a telephone? Ever surfed to a website? Here is how you
verify this information: You call Sterling Mining Company at
208.666.4070 and ask for Ray DeMotte. He is their CEO. Or go
down the street from whatever moribund and ossified hell you
live in, plunk a pound sterling or Euro down in the internet
café of your choice, and look up http://www.sterlingmining.com.
Surf through that website long enough and you'll find a photograph
a friend of mine took of DeMotte and Bunker Hill's Bob Hopper
standing at the 3100 Jewell Shaft station. That, buddy-pal, is
3,100 feet below the shaft collar, a thousand feet below sea
level. Are they wearing SCUBA gear?
You never called anybody at Sterling, Sunshine or Bunker Hill
to "guarantee the veracity of this information," did
you? By every journalistic standard I hew to, by every principle
I believe in, you flunk. Not just as a stock analyst. Not even
as a tyro reporter.
You don't spread lies you are too lazy to "guarantee the
veracity" of. Not if you're a man. Not when it's as easy
as a telephone call to check your facts, dude.
You charge your readers several large a year to log on to your
site. Insofar as you are not a responsible reporter, what are
you? A huckster with a position? I cannot believe people pay
for such treacle.
It's time the market learned about you and the whole lot of you...
[Editor's (Barb's)
comment: I have to point out here that I can't think which is
worse; a 'responsible' writer producing a piece for publication
-- a piece that most PM websites are going to post -- that totally
disregards the copyright laws. And the writing tone... you need
to go to a charm school, Dave. Slapped wrist for you!]
Or you, Clive, you Doppy Loon -- publishing unchecked LittleBirdTalk.
Slapped wrist for you, too!]
...I have never dumped a single share of Sterling Mining Company
stock upon my readers because I do not own any position in Sterling
Mining Company stock, nor ever will I, but for different reasons
than yours, according to a little bird.
McGraw Hill, you may have heard of them, publishes Metals Week,
Aviation Week, plus lots of books, and owns Standard & Poor's.
They publish my work and they pay my rent and they absolutely
forbid me from having an equity interest in any stock I report
upon. Keeps me honest, according to them. That's where I come
from.
So the bottom line is, Thom/Clive, what you do to Sterling's
stock is none of my business. It will neither enrich nor impoverish
me. My mortgage payment stays the same, and so do my freelancer's
fees. My bank balances remains zero, as always. These things
wash out. I have absolutely no pecuniary interest in setting
the record straight, except that untruth ruins my peace of mind.
So why don't you come here to the Coeur d'Alene Mining District
and go underground in a real silver mine to real silver veins,
not some silver scam you pull off the web? A real silver mine,
bored through some of the hardest Precambrian rock in the Earth's
crust? Go down a mile deep at the Sunshine, the Bunker Hill,
the Lucky Friday, the Coeur, the Galena, the biggest, deepest
primary silver mines on this planet?
Guess what? They're all filling full of water. Apparently you
never dug a hole in your erudite little backyard. All holes in
the ground fill with water. It's why God invented pumps. You
will not, despite the impression you have spread, require diving
gear. Miners let their mines flood to within 400 feet of their
active workings. Water supports the ground, keeps the track from
rusting and the timber from rotting. It's what you do. It's how
you mine. Apparently, you need to learn about mining.
Clive, here is my telephone number (it's in the book), 208.752.1196.
Call me and you can go into any of these mines at the behest
of their owners, many of whom are the longest-traded NYSE firms
still on the big-board. You are welcome to the guest room in
my house and I will treat your graciously. Wander around this
mining town and talk to any miner you wish about how it's done.
You will be greeted honorably. It is the nature of a mining camp.
And you can listen to my "little bird": a big-assed
green Amazon parrot named Buzzard, who sucks the marrow out of
chicken bones and eschews liars. Until you do, Clive, leave my
friends at the Sunshine alone or I will take this issue to print.
***
Here is Mr. Maund's response. After all the other things I called
him in the preceding, I will add this: He is a gentleman. A dialogue
has ensued. This is a good thing.
"David
"I do take your point that I should perhaps not have put
that "little bird" reference in my article, at least
not without doing some checking first, but don't you think you
are overreacting?
"I am flattered that you think that my humble offerings
have that much effect on the marketplace, but the fact is that
my website is a subscription website which relatively few people
get to read. A while back I forecast a steep drop in Sterling
if it broke the $5 support level, but that was based purely on
market technicals. There is no way I could have "caused"
that drop, because I simply don't have that much influence on
the market.
"I do not have any intention to be disparaging to Sterling
or any other mining company, for that matter, and I do not receive
gratuities from any companies and do not trade in stocks myself.
"Sincerely
"Clive Maund"
To which I can only respond
(this is David again, speaking):
Nothing will better serve silver and gold than the truth. And
it appears Mr. Maund is a fellow seeker.
February 6, 2005
David Bond
email:deepee@usamedia.tv
Archives
Editor: Silver Valley
Mining Journal
David Bond covers
gold and silver mining equities for a number of national and
international publishers, including Platts Metals Week, a division
of McGraw-Hill. He lives in Wallace, Idaho, heart of the planet's
richest silver fields, the Coeur d'Alene Mining District. He
is former editor of the Wallace Miner, and holds regional and
national firsts in investigative journalism from the Atlantic
City Press Club (National Headliner) and from the Society of
Professional Journalists (SDX/SPJ) and has edited or written
for newspapers on both coasts, Canada and Alaska.
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321gold Inc
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