Q & A with Geovic Mining President Barbara Filas

BabyBulls (SAN DIEGO) – BabyBulls had the recent opportunity to speak with Barb Filas, President of Geovic Mining Corp. (OTCBB: GVCM; TSX: GMC).  Barb updated us on the Company’s operations in Cameroon, Africa as well as in New Mexico and provided us with a number of milestones to look for as we head into 2012.

Advanced Explorations Corporate Update

Advanced Explorations (OTC Other: ADEXF; TSX-V: AXI) and 7th Sea Holding Company have terminated their option agreement as a result of not being able to reach mutually satisfactory terms.  Advanced Explorations will continue to ensure that its highest priority projects, including Roche Bay and Tuktu, are fully supported.

According to John Gingerich, President and CEO of the Company, “The Company’s primary commitment is the Roche Bay development opportunity. In addition to advancing our flagship iron projects, we are also focusing on the restructuring process of our West Melville holdings. The copper-nickel and copper-silver properties are emerging as a very important opportunity with the potential to add significant future value to our shareholders. AEI expects to provide an update on the partnering/spin-out prospects of these assets early in the New Year.”

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Julian Phillips: Gold Downside Seems Limited, Upside Potential is Remarkable

GoldForecaster.com (BENONI) – In 2011 investors saw gold perform outstandingly in the quiet season in July, August. $2,000 looked a certainty before the end of the year, but then unusual forces pummelled the gold price and all other global financial markets. Shades of the credit crunch hit the markets under the title of the Eurozone debt crisis. This had been going on for the last two years, but it entered a very dangerous stage in the final quarter of 2011.

Investors have been used to prices falling for fundamental or technical analysis reasons, but the phenomenon that we first saw in 2007/8 reared its ugly head again –Investor Meltdown as we called it.

Functional Technologies Year End Update

Functional Technologies (OTC Other: FEBTF; TSX-V: FEB), according to its CEO, Howard Louie, “has accomplished significant achievements in the past year, particularly in building technical and commercial value for our proprietary acrylamide-preventing (“AP”) yeast platform. This extends from demonstrating compelling efficacy data, to the cultivation of strategic relationships with multiple tier one and tier two yeast producers as well as an increasing range of food processing end users. Our corporate goal to drive technologies from bench to commercialization is being realized with our H₂S-preventing wine yeasts, achieving increasing market presence through significant growth in the number of wineries purchasing introductory quantities of our product with results that reflect a strong market interest across several new regional markets. Meanwhile, our technical research and development team continue to improve and increase the quality and breadth of our wine yeast product offering to fulfill our goals to develop and increase market share while establishing the business model of our technology as a platform.”

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James West Strongly Bullish for Gold and More So for Silver

PETALUMA, CA –  

The Gold Report: Since you launched the Midas Letter Opportunity Fund earlier this year, some might suggest The Midas Letter is beholden to companies held by funds and is not as objective as it once was.

James West: It’s definitely not as objective as it was once. I’m very biased toward the companies I choose to cover because I am invested in them, my retail subscribers are invested in them and now my institutional clients are invested in them. But the caveat is that the companies are now beholden to me-not vice versa-because if they don’t deliver on what they represent, I will ensure that the whole world knows about that.

Demand Eases for Gold and Silver American Eagles

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United States Mint said on Wednesday it has enough American Eagle gold and silver bullion coins to meet demand and does not expect to allocate them in early 2012.

Sales of the U.S. gold and silver bullion coins have slowed in the fourth quarter as precious metals prices retreated from record highs, bucking a trend earlier this year when investors flocked to physical gold and silver as safe havens.

Research Head at China’s Central Bank says “Buy Gold, It’s the Only Safe Haven”

BEIJING (Reuters) – China should buy gold to further diversify and protect its foreign exchange reserves, the head of research at China’s central bank said in comments published on Monday.

Gold has become “the only safe heaven for risk-averse investors” when other assets from government bonds to property are losing value, Zhang Jianhua, the head of the research department at the People’s Bank of China, wrote in the Financial News, a newspaper published by the central bank.

Rick Mills: Investing in Junior Miners

COQUITLAM, BC (Ahead of the Herd) – It’s a fact in the mining world that most discoveries are made by a) junior mining companies and b) old time individual prospectors.

It’s hard to invest in a prospector, fortunately if you want to invest in a potential discovery or the building of something of value – be in on the discovery of a mineral deposit and be there as the company moves it down the development path towards a mine – there are quality junior companies to choose from, there are opportunities to back excellent management teams with your investment money.

Juniors, not majors, own the world’s future mines and juniors are the ones most adept at finding these future mines. They already own, and find more of, what the world’s larger mining companies need to replace reserves and grow their asset base.

Thom Calandra: White Sabbath For Moscow

MOSCOW (BabyBulls.com) – Just back from Russia, where I was researching what might be a diamond in the rough. More on that early next year after some double-D.

I returned from Moscow on Saturday, when 100,000 or so Russians demonstrated peacefully amidst slush, ice and bitter cold. Their white sabbath came after a protest three weeks ago against election shenanigans and  Kremlin leaders P&M. Prime Minister Putin and his onetime campaign manager, President Medvedev,  ”are two midgets who will keep tossing their balls back and forth as long as they can,” one investment banker told me during my visit.

This Concert Poster Needs No Explanation: Go Ozzie GO

Avanti Mining Submits Kitsault Mine Project Environmental Assessment Application

Avanti Mining (OTC Other: AVNMF; TSX-V: AVT) has submitted its Environmental Assessment (“EA”) Application for the Kitsault Mine Project in northern BC for the required 30-day review. This over 7,000+ page document will be reviewed for its compliance with our Application Information Requirements by the British Columbia Environmental Assesment Office, the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and members of the Kitsault EA Working Group. The 30-day Screening Review period ends January 22, 2012, however Avanti has requested and BC EAO is considering a 15 day extension to this period because of the holiday season.

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