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Website Launches Survey of Mining Companies Jeff Phillips In March, Kevin Graham launched his own website. I got to meet Kevin on a site tour in Mexico of Animas Resources last December. Animas Resources is a company I helped launch - www.animasresources.com. Already, he's got some useful tools you won't find anywhere else. You can find them at www.grahamanalytics.com. His latest project is going to be the crowning jewel in a portfolio of useful resources. The challenge. Graham needs to come up with a short list of companies worth visiting and worth writing about. His own reputation depends on it. There are too many companies out there for him to come up to speed the old fashioned way. Ten times as many now as there were a decade ago. In this market, it's overwhelming even to think about it. He's a data junkie. He wants all he can get his hands on, and he wants it for as many as 1,000 mining and exploration companies. And he wants it now. Think big, but how do you get from 0 to 100 mph in no time flat, and not blow your engine? Here's how. He's created an online survey for the juniors. Up to 200 data points for each company. A standardized form, covering personnel, financings, insider holdings, ABCP, and impressive detail on flagship properties. Drilling results, budgets, nearby operators, elevation from sea level, distance to power, water, and transport. He even asks how far it is to the nearest wildlife refuge and tourist resort. In short, it's a great kick start to anybody's efforts in due diligence, including my own company when doing initial research. I will use this tool, and I have been sending companies that contact me on to Kevin to fill out his survey form. It tends to weed out the riff raff and most of them are just that. I will also be encouraging Kevin to come up with a data tool that requires executive management to list their past positions with mining companies (10 years or more worth). These companies' highs and lows and their comments on the success or failure of these companies. If they can't take the time to do this, why would I want to risk my capital on their new venture. This will further weed out the companies I have no interest in (which will be most). For participating companies, it may take a half-hour to fill out and submit the company form, but it will save them a fortune in time later, not having to answer these same questions by phone and email, over and over again. It's a chance to tell their story in a factual, standardized format. And when the story changes, they just go online, and update the form. It's a chance to differentiate themselves from the hundreds of less than stellar listings out there, representing no more than a piece of paper and a name. Most of the junior mining companies are in the business of creating paper, not mining. Many of the so-called heads of these companies have 3 or 4 that they are actually working on and no real money in their deals, just penny paper. No thanks. For Graham, it's data collection in the extreme. In case you're wondering how he's going to handle all that data when it gets dumped on his lap, fear not. His other business for more than twenty years - conducting surveys. Already, his site features a number of reports based on early company submissions, with more in the pipe, and more promised. For you, this project is a gift. It would take you several days to gather the information contained in just one of these reports. In fact, he's even published a dummy of the survey on his site. You can't submit it to him (that's for the companies to do), but you can fill it out and use it as a guideline for your own apples-for-apples due diligence. Graham hopes to revolutionize the way we look at this junior resource market. If he can bring a few hundred companies into the pool of participants, there may be a few hundred other companies finding it very difficult to secure new money in the near future. If you're one of the 650 companies included in the recent launch, you don't want to be left out. If you weren't included, it would be a good idea to get involved now. Email Kevin at kevin@grahamanalytics.com and get on the list. If you're an investor, frustrated with missing information on companies you own, or are looking at, call them up and tell them to get with the program. I wish Kevin well with this one. He is applying his extensive skills in data collection and analysis to the junior mining sector. Kevin is a hard worker and a fast learner and I expect he will garner more influence over the coming decade. Junior resource investors already face enough risk, even when they identify a company in the top 10%. If this project works, and I predict it will, we'll all be better off. Jeff Phillips Mr. Phillips is currently President of Global Market Development in San Diego, California www.globalmarketdev.com . Mr. Phillips brings extensive experience in the areas of finance, marketing, and corporate communications for publicly traded companies. His past natural resource clients have included: Metallica Resources, Ultra Petroleum, Silver Standard Resources, Strathmore Uranium, Penaco Energy, Guyana Goldfields, and Boron Chemicals. He currently works for Animas Resources and Rare Element Resources. ### |