Silver Dragon Identifies 44.8 Million Silver Equivalent Ounces at Award Winning Dadi Property

Silver Dragon (OTCBB:SDRG – News) has completed an initial National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical report for its Dadi Silver Polymetallic property in Inner Mongolia, China, of which Silver Dragon has a 40% interest.  The report is available upon request from the Company, and request we did.  Here’s how it breaks down.

Mineralization was defined in two zones, PD1 and PD2.  Within each zone, both indicated and inferred resources were identified.  The following table was compiled directly from information provided in the report, no calculations were made.

Using current prices for silver ($15), lead ($0.90), and zinc ($0.90), we used the above information to calculate an indicated resource of approximately 13.1 million silver equivalent ounces and an inferred resource of approximately 31.7 million silver equivalent ounces, as illustrated in the chart below.  That’s almost 45 million combined silver equivalent ounces.

Keep in mind too that this resource is the result of only limited drilling and tunneling on a small portion of the overall Dadi property.  As a result, the upside opportunity for this award winning property is unknown.

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2010 Course Selection: GoldStocks 101

According to Luke Burgess of istockanalyst.com, there’s no doubt about it… everything points to higher gold prices this year:

• Weakness in the U.S. dollar: The value of the dollar has fallen 35% since 2002 and 9% in the past 12 months. Meanwhile, the national debt is approaching $12.5 trillion and the 2010 budget deficit is projected to hit a new record: $1.56 trillion.
• Economic uncertainty: Investment markets worldwide continue to be on shaky ground. Gold is considered the most respected store of value. It is the ultimate safe haven and the least risky of all investments.
• Supply constraints: World gold production has fallen every year since 2001. Meanwhile, central banks have now become net buyers of gold after over 30 years of selling.
• Growing investment demand: Global investment demand has more than tripled in the past few years and continues to spike higher.
• Cyclical bull market: Gold prices are in a long-term cyclical bull market that will continue to push prices higher. The price of gold has increased over 150% while the Dow Jones has remained flat in the past five years.

China Building Stakes in Canadian Mining Companies

We’ve been talking to you about mining companies for at least the last five years.  Our subscriber base was believed to be mostly from the United States and Canada.  Perhaps there was another group, far away from our Southern California headquarters, which was taking in every word we said.  Based on the story below, it would appear that one or more managers of China’s $200 billion sovereign welath fund has been quietly heeding our advice.

China Investment Corp., the Asian economic superpower’s hulking $200-billion (U.S.) sovereign wealth fund, has been quietly accumulating stakes in resource firms including Canada’s Kinross Gold Corp. (K-T18.530.663.69%) and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, (POT-T112.873.533.23%) according to a filing with securities regulators.

CIC, whose chairman is former Communist Party of China insider Lou Jiwei, has spent billions of dollars on mining and energy related investments, the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reveals. China is the world’s largest commodity buyer and part of the fund’s mandate is to invest directly in materials producers to offset China’s costs.

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After the Gold Rush

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — It hasn’t been a good year for the black and gold.

Oh sure, fans of the New Orleans Saints are partying today following their team’s first Super Bowl victory. But investors in commodities who’ve made big bets on black gold (oil) and real gold can’t be in as festive a mood.

The price of gold has dipped 4% so far this year and is down nearly 15% from its all-time high last December. Meanwhile, oil prices are down 10% in 2010.

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Expectations for 2010: An Interview with Steve Altmann of ECU Silver

We recently sat down with Mr. Stephen Altmann, President of ECU Silver Mining Inc. (TSX: ECU) to get a sense of what to expect in 2010.  ECU Silver is well positioned for growth in 2010, having recently completed a financing, with expected significant results from operations in January, and a planned scoping study scheduled for completion in Q1 2010.  In this exclusive BabyBulls interview, he discusses the Company’s mineral resource estimates, the Company’s milling capabilities, and highlights from 2009. 

BabyBulls: Steve, to start things off could you give a brief description of your company’s history? 

Stephen Altmann: Sure, we are a company that that has been around for several years now. The area was mined many decades ago by artisanal miners which, in this day and age, highlighted the area as a very lucrative exploration area. Over the past 12 years we’ve been focused on exploration essentially growing the mineral resource by over 1,600% over the past four years, in particular, where today we have identified a large 43-101 mineral resource and also have two operating mills on the site.

BB: Can you give us an overview of your primary properties?

SA: We have three properties right now – we have our main Velardena property and immediately adjacent to it we have the Chicago property and then further to the north, about eight miles away is our San Diego property, where we have a 50/50 joint venture with a junior exploration company. Our main focus of interest  continues to be at the Velardena main property – where we have mining operations, milling operations and that’s where we’ve done the bulk of our exploration activities.

BB: So all of your active properties are in Mexico then?

SA: Yes, all of our properties are in Mexico and we are the registered title holder of all of the claims on our property.

BB: Over the last several years you have identified a significant indicated and inferred resource that’s primarily silver at your Velardena property. Will you continue your exploration efforts or do you see yourself transitioning your focus more over to the production side?

SA: Right now, as you’ve correctly point out, we have a large mineral resource. We have a resource of forty million ounces of silver equivalent in the measured and indicated range, and we have another three hundred and ninety one million ounces of silver equivalent in our inferred category. It’s important to note that our mineral resource is very continuous and we have a lot of confidence in our inferred resource due to the material continuity of our resource at depth and laterally. Given that we have a very bullish outlook for silver and gold prices going forward, we do want to ensure that our milling operations are running at their optimal levels. And so, as with any mining company, the focus of this Company is to eventually grow this into a mid to senior tier silver and gold producer. In our case, we have the opportunity to experience growth both on the mineral resource side and on the production side. The resource currently is large enough to provide feed for a very large production operation down the road, however the continuity of the veins that I mentioned earlier, give rise to the opportunity for very strong potential to materially enhance the size of our resource. So we’re in an attractive situation where we have a large resource, we have milling and mining operations on site and we have the opportunity and ability to significantly grow both, on the production side and on the mineral resource side.

Triangle Petroleum Acquires Acreage in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale

Triangle Petroleum Corp. (OTCBB: TPLM; TSX-V: TPE) acquired 4,000 net acres in Williams and McKenzie counties in North Dakota.  The Company further announced a new partnership with Slawson Exploration, a leading operator in the fairway, aimed at the acquisition and development of acreage in known areas of production from the Middle Bakken and Three Forks formations of the Williston Basin.

According to Dr. Peter Hill, CEO of Triangle, “Our business strategy is to directly acquire and develop acreage prospective for capturing the Bakken resource base at attractive margins. Today marks the first step in that strategy and we will continue to grow and develop the business platform needed to deliver both early production and the turn round of Triangle.”

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The Recent Sell-Off in Gold Could Mean the Correction is Nearly Complete

JOHANNESBURG - Sometimes markets seem to defy logic. Recently we have seen a “rush to safety” back into the U.S. dollar. But, what is safe about the US dollar when the national debt of the US is approaching 12 trillion, unemployment is at 9.7% and the economy is not booming. Whether or not this makes any sense, the fact remains that we have seen a strong rally in the dollar since the beginning of December 2009 and this has put pressure on the price of gold.

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China and U.S. Heading for a Cold War? What Impact on Gold?

LONDON - Chinese and U.S relations are at a low ebb and continuing to deteriorate fast so it seems and an article in today’s Sunday Times in London says many Chinese hawks are promoting a cold war.  Indeed things appear to have got so bad that military leaders in China are preparing for the possibility of a limited armed conflict, possibly over Taiwan or Korea, although this seems very unlikely.

Gold Hit Hard, But Bugs Buoyant

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Gold had a pretty rough week, but some gold bugs remain remarkably cheerful.

Last Friday’s down-$10.20 close at $1,052.80 in New York was the lowest since October 30th. Gold has now completely erased the spectacular November rally which carried it over $1,200.

True, gold and gold shares did participate enthusiastically in the peculiar late Friday afternoon rally which brightened the general stock scene. Nyse Arca Gold Bugs (INDEX:HUI) and Phlx Gold Silver Index (INDEX:XAU) in particular both rose over 5%, far outpacing the general market.

No one really knows whether to take this seriously — gold normally barely trades late on Fridays. The possibility of window dressing is obvious.

What next?

The chart damage done last week was horrible. Martin Pring noted in his Weekly InfoMovie Report that gold “has completed an upward sloping head and shoulders pattern and has just violated the major up trendline…that suggests to me… a more protracted correction.”

Are Banks Creating Gold Price Bubble?

Two months after gold posted the historic high price of $1,227 per ounce, bullion investors have been caught in pains of losing money for every ounce of the yellow metal. On Thursday, gold plunged to its biggest one-day loss in 16 months. The yellow metal fell 4.4% in volatile trade, plunging below $1,060 an ounce.

Is all the bubble talk on gold turning true? Is gold price headed down to $1,000 or below that level in February? That is the question bullion investors and gold analysts are asking these days.

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