Small-Cap Energy Stocks Have Hit Bottom: Steve Palmer
Source: Peter Byrne of The Energy Report  (7/24/12)
Don't panic, because things can't get much worse. Instead, hold your cards and scout out buying opportunities. This is the strategy Steve Palmer employs at AlphaNorth Asset Management, a small-cap powerhouse with a track record of solid returns. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Palmer gives a quick-and-dirty assessment of resource markets and explains why he now favors energy stocks over precious metals in the current environment. More >

China Seeks North American Energy Reserves, Know-How
Source: Associated Press, Elaine Kurtenbach   (7/24/12)
"China's appetite for overseas energy assets remains as strong as ever despite its current economic slowdown. Weaker oil prices and a resolve to capture technologies China needs to unlock its own sizable but hard to extract reserves are powerful incentives for its energy companies to snap up foreign producers." More >

Do Gold, Silver Prices Fall in a Shrinking, Debt-Distressed World?
Source: Julian Phillips,Gold Forecaster  (7/24/12)
"In the U.S. there have been three recorded deflationary periods and gold increased its purchasing power in each of them, by between 44% (1929–1933) and 100% (1814–1830)." More >

Six Ways to Save Biotech
Source: BioSpace, Karl Thiel  (7/24/12)
"Of course, the number one way to return the biotech ecosystem to full health is to build a healthy economy in which there is more appetite for risk. But let's hope the current adversity will lead to some creativity that will better serve the industry in good times as well as bad." More >

South, North Korea Secretly Met Twice over Rare Earth Minerals
Source: Korean KoonAng Daily, Lee Eun-joo  (7/24/12)
"Officials from South and North Korea secretly met twice last year to discuss the joint development of rare earth resources in South Hwanghae Province, on the western coast of North Korea, the South's state-run Korea Resources Corporation (Kores) said." More >

South, North Korea Secretly Met Twice over Rare Earth Minerals
Source: Korean JoonAng Daily, Lee Eun-joo  (7/24/12)
"Officials from South and North Korea secretly met twice last year to discuss the joint development of rare earth resources in South Hwanghae Province, on the western coast of North Korea, the South's state-run Korea Resources Corporation (Kores) said." More >

Summer Shopping Opportunities for Mining Equities Abound: Rick Mills
Source: Sally Lowder of The Gold Report   (7/23/12)
Equity valuations have so far failed to keep pace with rising bullion prices, but that makes for some outstanding investor opportunities among a few particularly well-positioned juniors that Rick Mills identifies as running ahead of the herd this summer. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Mills, publisher of Ahead of the Herd newsletter, points to continued low interest rates and increasing inflation as reasons that precious metals prices will keep climbing. And if discussions about elevating gold to Tier 1 asset status come to fruition, hold onto your hat, because that could shift the rate of ascent from steady to meteoric in a New York minute. More >

Gold Prices on Hold as the US Dollar Strengthens
Source: Bob Kirtley, SK Options Trading  (7/23/12)
"This period of stagnation can be used to do all the due diligence necessary for you to feel comfortable with the purchases that you intend to make. Formulate your plan now, execute it when you are ready and ignore the white noise generated by the naysayers." More >

'Dollar Danger' Threatens Gold
Source: Ben Traynor, BullionVault  (7/23/12)
"'The great danger for the gold price is the stronger dollar, because of its long-term negative correlation to gold,' says Eugen Weinberg, head of commodity research at Commerzbank." More >

Nuggets of Value Seen in Canada's Midtier Gold Miners
Source: Reuters, Julie Gordon  (7/23/12)
"Midtier miners with low cash costs and affordable, near-term development projects offer good value in the current market." More >

Leading Gold ETF Sees Biggest Weekly Outflow of 2012
Source: Reuters, Jan Harvey  (7/23/12)
"The SPDR's holdings have fallen nearly 25 mt so far in July, putting ETF on track for its biggest monthly outflow since December." More >

China's Baotou Plans to Start Rare Earths Trading Exchange
Source: Reuters  (7/23/12)
"China's Baotou Steel will join six other firms to invest over $10M to start a rare earths trading platform in early August." More >

Venture Capital: Medical Device 'Big Exits' on the Rise
Source: Mass Device   (7/23/12)
"The device industry notched 18 'Big Exits,' beating biotech's 17 and extending an upward trend in exit activity in the life sciences, with more than 25 per year since 2009." More >

Why Vale's Massive Potash Project Isn't Bad News for Juniors
Source: Kip Keen, Mineweb  (7/23/12)
"Vale's huge Rio Colorado project might seem like a buzzkill for Brazil-based juniors, but according to Mackie Research Analyst Jaret Anderson, there is plenty of room for additional potash projects in the country." More >

Money Is Technology!
Source: Byron King, The Daily Reckoning  (7/23/12)
"Silver has a long, steadfast history as money, going back to ancient times. Yet it's also a substance with a promising future, thanks to its critical role as an industrial-technological metal." More >

Platinum Plumbs Deepest Discount to Gold in 7-1/2 Months
Source: Reuters, Jan Harvey  (7/23/12)
"Gold's premium over platinum reached its highest in 7-1/2 months on Wednesday at over $210 oz and could rise still further as the white metal suffers from its heavy exposure to the beleaguered European car market." More >

Silver: A Metal of Sunken Treasure and Champions
Source: Eric McWhinnie, Wall St. Cheat Sheet  (7/21/12)
"Odyssey Marine Exploration's underwater silver recovery is the heaviest and deepest haul of precious metals to date." More >

The Trajectory Shows Oil Prices Will Rise
Source: Kent Moors, Oil & Energy Investor  (7/21/12)
"We are now witnessing a return to a 'normal' oil market. But that doesn't mean a lack of volatility or a narrow range of trading." More >

Three Important Biotech Names
Source: George S. Mack, The Life Sciences Report  (7/21/12)
The term reovirus (respiratory enteric orphan virus) was originated by Albert Sabin, who is now synonymous with the oral poliomyelitis vaccine that bears his name. Now, after more than a half-century of research, investigators at a handful of biotech companies are moving the virus forward as a cancer-fighting agent. The reovirus is found extensively in nature, and most humans have had a GI tract infection with it by the time they are beyond childhood or into early adulthood. Reovirus infection is in most cases asymptomatic, and it is not at all considered to be virulent. So, what meaning does a harmless virus have for disease, and especially for deadly cancers? More >

How to Minimize Risk and Increase Returns on Juniors: Joe Mazumdar
Source: Peter Byrne of The Gold Report  (7/20/12)
Joe Mazumdar, senior mining analyst at Vancouver's Haywood Securities, adheres to certain fundamental metrics when reviewing the pedigree of a junior firm. In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Mazumdar explains why some juniors are positioned to do better than some majors in the current geopolitical climate and he counsels pragmatism: the key to unlocking golden opportunities is locating firms with experienced management and adequate cash flow that can qualify for mixed-source financing in the international context of uneven gold prices. He shares a few picks in that space. More >

'Flat Momentum' Sees Gold in Contracting Range
Source: Ben Traynor, BullionVault  (7/20/12)
"The U.S. dollar gold price hovered above $1,580/oz during Friday morning trading in London—in line with where it has spent the last two weeks—while stocks and commodities ticked lower and U.S. Treasuries gained." More >

New Gold-Mining Technology Scaling Technical Hurdles
Source: Mining Weekly, Martin Creamer  (7/20/12)
"South Africa still has one of the biggest gold resources in the world, but that gold is at depth. The proposed new way of mining dispenses with all blasting, keeps people away from the danger areas, facilitates mining round-the-clock every day of the year and refocuses on revenue." More >

Copper Fares Better Than Gold and Silver
Source: MarketWatch, Myra Saefong  (7/20/12)
"Copper prices have been trading higher to unchanged on the year and 'this is a good signal that economic conditions around the globe may not be as dire as has been reported,' said John Person, president of NationalFutures.com." More >

Another Gold Mining Company CEO Walks the Plank
Source: Lawrence Williams, Mineweb  (7/20/12)
"We are beginning to see carnage at the CEO level in 'underperforming' gold mining companies (which in current markets means most of them)." More >

Silver Is Undervalued
Source: Adam Hamilton, Zeal Intelligence  (7/20/12)
"While there are rare and short-lived exceptions, the vast majority of the time silver only rallies significantly when gold is strong and only sells off materially when gold is weak. Gold is the key to silver’s price action." More >