(As of December 18, 2009)
We used to have a lot of fun with Joe Martin because the
guy who runs the Cambridge House mining shows across
the country in places like Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver
plus down in the states as well – with his contacts with all
the best mining people, best analysts, you-name-it – we’ve
had fun with him over the year because when he picked a
stock, it never seemed to perform. Lately however, things
have changed as all of a sudden Joe has been picking
stocks that have doubled, tripled and even better. So we
have to find out what the heck is going on!
David Pescod: Joe, you are just back from a trip down
south, can you tell us a bit about it?
Joe Martin: We went down late October/early November to
Guyana and we had a look at Sandspring Resources property,
it’s been an old alluvial mining gold area there for some
years, but they have been doing a lot of drilling there and
they have proven up an ore body. We were delighted to
buy into the deal and I think it started trading about 2 ½
weeks ago at $0.30, and I believe it is up over $1.00 right
D.P: Now you’ve got big expectations because this is the
stock you are currently picking for the next year I under-
J.M: The principals who are behind it, I am very impressed
with their mining background. John Adams who made a
career with uranium mines in Wyoming is behind it. The
guy heading it is Abraham Drost out of Thunder Bay. They
have a great line up of talent there and I understand there
are more things coming. I understand there are lots of peo-
ple looking at the project and I believe the concept of this
project is not to get into mining, but to prove up the ore
body and sell it off to a large company.
D.P: There is lots of speculation about just how many
ounces they might have. What would you feel safe talking
about at this point?
J.M: Around four or five million ounces.
D.P: Wow! So you are not being shy about this at all! Are
you saying this is another Martin pick that will be a double
or triple?
J.M: Yes it is.
D.P: We’ve been through cycles before and you’ve seen
more cycles than most people. Lots of people talking
about gold these days, people who never would have
talked about it before. We are wondering if this isn’t just
another bubble like high-tech, real estate, oil or whatever
we’ve gone through in the last decade. How long can you
see gold going and how high?
J.M: I am not an analyst or anything David, what I see is
the return of a number of companies that are financing
and participating in our conferences.
Our business
dropped about 55% from 2008 into 2009, but we are seeing
a turn around right here as we go into 2010. We are pretty
much sold out for our January conference. I see a lot of
financings and really, really good bargains. The other
thing I am seeing is the juniors are quick to step in wher-
ever there is a void and the rare earth metals are certainly
hot right now. I think gold has gone beyond being a sup-
ply/demand situation. It’s gone into its own currency level
now.
D.P: Just how high can you see gold going. But once
again, we want to corner you with the question – is this
something that will last six months, 12 months, or does it
go for two or three years?
J.M: I think the gold play is here for several years. Gold,
silver and precious metals and I wouldn’t predict a price,
but sure, I follow Jim Rogers as it will hit $2000 an ounce
sometime. Maybe not next year, but probably the year
after. I just don’t see it dropping right now.
D.P: A lot of people know about the Cambridge House
shows, but for those that have never followed junior min-
ing stories before, you next show in Vancouver is having
a bit of a problem because of the Olympics games and all
that. You are now set up in an interesting way…can you
explain?
J.M: Yes, we cannot get the Convention Center. We have
first right of refusal on those times except from the owner,
which is the Government of BC. I believe last September
they have shut the Convention Center down to be ready
for the Olympics. So we are using the Fairmont Hotel
(Vancouver) and the Hyatt Regency and we are going to
have people walk back and forth between the two hotels.