# Argex (RGX)



## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I recently bought a tranche of this penny stock for 1.01 on Monday and it is already 1.20 today.

This is a company in the TiO2 field. They have a titanium mine from which they will get tonnage to refine into TiO2 which they can sell to chemical firms which use it in pigments. This is a market that is facing supply side constraints and also quality constraints as the amount of high quality mineable supplies has been in decline.

What this company has done is find a new way to take lower grade supplies and then chemically produce higher grade TiO2 which they can then sell for a higher price. So not only are they a miner and a refiner but they can buy other firm's supplies and upgrade it to a value added product which they can sell to the major chemical firms in a tight supply market. If you check the market you'll see the stocks in this space have really gone up this year and the firms have had significant pricing power in the last couple of years.

This company hasn't had much revenue and they just became operational but the technology side is proven already and patented. They just signed a deal with PPG to supply for them and I see this company becoming a big player in the field. The buyers are putting tremendous pressure on this stock price and are gobbling up all the available shares on the market and making the chart go parabolic. Even though I am normally contrarian and a bottom fisher I see the huge potential here and just missed out on getting a tranche at 1.06 this morning and the stock ran up to 1.20 on me. It seems to be showing breakaway gaps everyday recently which to me suggests how confident the market is in its current undervaluation.

Do any of you guys have thoughts on this company?


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

penny stocks = a sure way to loose money 



PMREdmonton said:


> I recently bought a tranche of this penny stock for 1.01 on Monday and it is already 1.20 today.
> 
> This is a company in the TiO2 field. They have a titanium mine from which they will get tonnage to refine into TiO2 which they can sell to chemical firms which use it in pigments. This is a market that is facing supply side constraints and also quality constraints as the amount of high quality mineable supplies has been in decline.
> 
> ...


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

They do own a mine - actually 3 mining properties.

They have a new proprietary means of extracting 99.8% TiO2 from the tonnage and at a much better cystal size meaning it is higher grade than what other producers are able to make from most stocks.

They have signed an exclusivity agreement with PPG to supply them with TiO2.

They have demonstrated full upscalability of their new processing plant. The byproducts of their new extraction technique will be iron and vanadium which they can also sell.

The TiO2 market is very tight right now and they both have ample supplies of mining resources as well as an advanced technique of extraction.

But thanks for your insight. :rolleyes2:


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

One of the reasons I like this one is because of all the success Kronos has had recently. I so desperately wanted to buy this one during the summer sell-off but there are so many concerns about corporate governance as the CEO may be using the company's excess FCF to buy shares in another less valuable company of his and thus I assume transferring his losses to the shareholders of Kronos.

I really loved what the company was doing but have learned to stay away from crooked management.

I see this one as the chance of fulfilling my investing thesis in the same space but now with a start-up instead of an established player.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

do i have any thoughts.

the thought i have is that Edmonton's recent smallcap & microcap venture stock picks like gasfrac & caught-the-windy-thing are doing the trash can dance.

so the hour to rethink the *desperate* venture stock *loving* seems to have arrived.

edmonton if you've really been owning these stocks, you have probably lost a lot of money over the last few weeks. Isn't that telling you something ...


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Times have been tough, HP.

My positions in CTW and RGX are small - 0.5% of portfolio - my gambling money if you will. I've been looking more into transformational technology but on company's with real products and innovations that will make a real difference. I fully understand that I am risking and experiencing real losses on some positions but have also gained on others in the micro-cap space (i.e. PSD is a big winner where I accumulated at 1.69 and then waited a year for the payoff or IMUC in immuno-oncology). I am not afraid to hold a stock that is in a losing position if I believe strongly in what the company is doing (i.e. GFS, IMUC - although this one is a winner for me).

I keep my bets small on any of these companies. The only one I bought that doesn't have a real revenue stream is IMUC but they are in phase II trial of a product that will rock the world when it comes out. GBM is a devastating brain cancer that strikes young people and I hvae treated many people with this condition. Their results in phase I were earth shattering - 40% survival at 3 years compared to usual hx of 12 months.

Anyway, it has become a small hobby of mine to search for these transformational tech stories and then hop on when valuation is reasonable. I am hoping to get a tranche of WPT soon with their correction but want it at about 32. I'll probably a close to the money put to secure it and roll over every month until I get there.

I do understand why you are cautioning me and I do appreciate it. I won't risk too much of my holdings in this space - 10% total portfolio only. The rest is mostly dividend paying stable companies (PPL, MCD, VOD, TEF, CSX, NSC, PM, MO, RDS, PBR, NLY, GG, DTV, BNS, BIP, BAM). I just don't talk about those much because there really isn't much to say unless others have questions.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

None of you are responding so maybe you don't know much about the company.

This is a Canadian company that owns a mine that has good ore - about 30M tonnes of ore with 18% Titanium, 63% Iron and 0.45% Vanadium. There is a major shortage of quality TiO2 in the world right now. The price has doubled in the past few years and may double yet again in the next few years. Current spot prices are $3700 per tonne.

Right now Argex has developed a proprietary technique of taking ore and with minimal environmental damage and minimal need for high heat or pressure strip out the Iron and Vanadium and leave very high grade TiO2 of very high purity and with very little of the chemical lost in the process. This is what initially attracted me to them - I love companies that find ways to do things with less environmental damage. Argex developed this process with a company called CTL and this process is actually called CTL or . RGX has bought a 50.1% stake in CTL and basically have control of this technology all to themselves but could licence its use to another company. The exciting thing, though, is they control it so they can buy other company's low grade titanium containing ore and then use their extraction technique to add value. They don't need to do this right now as they have their own mine but sometime in the future this could be an avenue of growth for them.

They estimate right now they can do 15, 000 tons a year of Titanium dioxide. They are expanding capacity over time and estimate they will eventually do 195, 000 tonnes a year of Titanium dioxide. At this pace their mine will last 25 years.

So the big kicker is that right now spot price of Titanium dioxide is $3700. Well at 15,000 tonnes a year you get $55.5M revenue plus whatever they can get for the iron and vanadium (about 0.4 tonnes) that is spun off as a byproduct. Now at 195, 000 tons a year you have revenues at $3700 per tonne of $721M. The only thing is that Titanium dioxide is scarce and high quality supplies are even scarcer so the forecast price right now is $6000 per tonne by 2015. Of course, it will take the company some time to scale up operations before they will produce 195 000 tonnes a year. 

Nevertheless in year 1 of production (2014) they predict they can produce $55M of TiO2 for which they already have a buyer who will take all the TiO2 they can produce off of their hands. The buyer locked into this agreement to ensure they had access to TiO2 which they need for their chemical business as this chemical is very important in pigments (it makes Oreos white, it is in the white paint they put on roads, it is in most of the car paints) and the supplies of good TiO2 is getting scarcer and scarcer. Due to this scarcity PPG has signed an exclusivity agreement with them to purchase their Titanium dioxide.

In terms of margin right now they estimate the cost per ton of production of TiO2 will be $586. Right now the cost per ton is $4000 so the operating margin will be around 80% at today's prices.

So I see this company as a game changer in that they have a new way of getting the TiO2 with less energy and less environmental damage and with valuable iron and vanadium as by products. They are Canadian and are headquartered in Montreal and are listed on the CVE.

To me the obvious risk is despite all this they still haven't proven they can go to full-scale industrial production and execute. My answer is - of course. If they had they would be much, much more expensive. But if PPG has faith in them to sign an exclusivity agreement then I assume they done due diligence to ensure these guys will be able to execute their process.


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

Penny stocks are like lottery tickets. You may hit the occasional jackpot but on average, investors in these are throwing money away.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

This is a possible - there will be losses.

But the company has two massive high grade Ti deposits in Canada.

They have a patented process to produce higher grade Ti than is possible by any current known extraction technique. They do it with no created tailings ponds. They produce lots of Fe (45%) and Vanadian (0.4%) as byproducts which can be sold and decrease the cost of producing the Ti.

They have a customer lined up in PPG with deep pockets.

They have proven they can upscale their production technique.

Now all they need to do is build their processing plant and sell the Ti into a very supply constrained market.

Of course, anyone who invests here can lose their shirt - that is a given in this neck of the woods.

However, you're not investing in a dream. I believe the patent on the process is worth more than the company's net worth by a large factor. Then they have the two high grade Ti deposits with a 25-year mine life. Look at all the Ti producers in the last couple of years - they have skyrocketed. There just aren't many good TiO2 deposits to mine. It is a scarcity story and a technolgy and an environmental play all rolled into one.


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## tombiosis (Dec 18, 2010)

I enjoy your posts about these little known companies! I have learned alot from the way you explain their potential, earnings, liabilities, market position, competiton etc etc...
I also allocate a small portion of my investment dollars to "gambling", hoping to hit that homerun...
Lots of successful companies started as penny stocks, like this thread:

http://canadianmoneyforum.com/showthread.php/11337-The-top-performing-stock-of-the-last-25-years

Don't let the naysayers and potatoes dissuade you from putting the time you do into your interesting posts! Just because someone posts a photo of a water pump in response to your thread, doesn't mean others aren't benefitting from them.
Good luck with this stock! Hope you get rich.
Peace.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

awesome company, since you recommended it, it went down from 1.19 to 0.95


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## Toronto.gal (Jan 8, 2010)

I love your sarcasm, lol. :rolleyes2: 

I'm with CC & others; I like junior/struggling & risky companies, but penny stocks are the riskiest of them all and only for a very few, at least on this forum.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I didn't buy it at 1.19 - bout at 1.01. It is a small loss right now for me but a large gain for many others. There is some big profit taking going on amongst the early investors.

There is profit taking going on after a large move up - that is what happens to stocks. Look at Apple right now from 640 to 580. But those who bought at 310 like me aren't complaining - I was one of the profit takers.

This is a highly volatile stock coming off a big run up. The big payoff won't come until 2014 when they are in full production of Ti.

You get a company with two great things - Titanium deposits and a new metallurgy technique to get 99% high grade TiO2 which is very scarce.

You have to remember that when you invest you are buying a portion of the company. They have already done amazing things and am very happy to own this one and buy on the dips. I have an order right now at 0.85 to buy if it drops some more. If you don't like volatile, penny stocks (and most don't) then don't invest in this space. I didn't put a gun up to anyone's head. I was just alerting the board about a very innovative Cdn company and what they have accomplished and what I think they will soon have accomplished. The mine is real and the tech to produce the TiO2 is real. This isn't a pie in the sky story. Buy at your own risk (or reward) just like the rest of the market.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

i'm all up for finding a start up company that will make you rich, do what you have to do... reading too much into what they are doing and falling in love with a stock might turn out ugly (from personal experience), and you can't compare apple pullbacks to unknown company pullbacks, good luck



PMREdmonton said:


> I didn't buy it at 1.19 - bout at 1.01. It is a small loss right now for me but a large gain for many others. There is some big profit taking going on amongst the early investors.
> 
> There is profit taking going on after a large move up - that is what happens to stocks. Look at Apple right now from 640 to 580. But those who bought at 310 like me aren't complaining - I was one of the profit takers.
> 
> ...


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Thank you for your kind words.

The Apple analogy I drew was about stocks that have big gains in a short period of time will undergo a consolidation period as some investors will choose to lock in gains and sell at that point. The share price will then drop a bit and new investors will pile in and the market will balance itself out. The same thing is happening with RGX which has tripled in the last year - some people will take gains now.

This story won't be complete until they produce which is 2014. Until then the stock will fluctuate and then move as affirmations come in about execution of the business plan. If you buy this one you have to understand that you are talking about a 3-year time horizon to see the gains of them executing the business plan complete to frution with their 15 000 tonnes of TiO2 in the first year of production. 

What people have to understand is the company has a value due to tech, patents, trained workers, industrial agreements and mining assets. The market will argue what they are worth but they have considerable assets and I am very confident that if they wanted to go private they could be bought out at a large multiple today. Because it is public they won't get the large gains until they produce TiO2 profitably.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

humble_pie said:


> do i have any thoughts.
> 
> the thought i have is that Edmonton's recent smallcap & microcap venture stock picks like gasfrac & caught-the-windy-thing are doing the trash can dance.
> 
> ...


There are some indicators for these two...

http://tsxnews.blogspot.ca/2012/03/more-sales-for-undervalued-wind-power.html


http://seekingalpha.com/symbol/gsfvf.pk


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

indexxx it is interesting that you should mention these links.

"nawar alsaadi" is the internet's best-known gasfrac stock pump. His numerous touts infect seeking alpha as well as yahoo finance.

as for your other link, one could be ashamed of this. Stockhouse is, as i have mentioned recently in another thread, a charnel house populated by stock pumps, bashers, pimps, touts & whores. You do your name no service by promoting this brothel on cmf forum.

i'm an old gasfrac hand myself. One might even note that i'm the member who began the gfs thread, not long after the company commenced trading. Since you say you are a new investor, indexxx, presumably that was when you were still a plain bartender & nary a single publicly-traded share had yet entered your life.

i sold most of my gfs holding prior to the husky oil explosion at robb, alberta. I still own 1300 shares & am hoping that the recent penetration into new york state will inaugurate a new era of expansion for this historically dogged-by-trouble company.

in the meantime i'm sticking to my knitting. Red flags pop up for me when i see internet posters flogging marginal, penny or distressed stocks with words like "desperate" & "loving."


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

humble_pie said:


> indexxx it is interesting that you should mention these links.
> 
> "nawar alsaadi" is the internet's best-known gasfrac stock pump. His numerous touts infect seeking alpha as well as yahoo finance.
> 
> ...


Points taken. Just passing on info- no need for personal comments; 'plain bartender' is an offence to my craft. Stop by and I'll make you the very best Old Fashioned you've ever had, if you're so inclined.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

indexxx said:


> Just passing on info


If you really want to be taken in by what others are saying on the Internet, you might as well check out Stockchase.
At least, the analysts quoted there are not anonymous pumpers on some Internet forum.
If you check out Gasfrac over there, you will note that about half the analysts are pessimistic on this stock in the last 1 yr.



> Stop by and I'll make you the very best Old Fashioned you've ever had


I will take you up on that offer if you can spin up an Aberdeen Angus for me :biggrin:
And if you make it a double, I might even buy a few shares of GFS


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> If you check out Gasfrac over there, you will note that about half the analysts are pessimistic on this stock in the last 1 yr.


When everyone is pessimistic in a stock is one of the best times to invest (the actual best time to invest is early on in a game-changing technology).

Their pessimism just creates buying opportunities for those of us who are contrarian and can hold on during market downturns and add to our positions.

GFS has a great technology that has floundered due to poor management. They have built the best system there is available for fracking with the patents in place and exclusive licencing for use of the LPG from Chevron. So this is a company that can potentially charge large margins in the appropriate fields where their methods add to production rates and EUR. They also may gain access to frack some parts of the planet where hydraulic fracturing is banned giving them a monopoly on fracking in these areas. They may end up with a virtual monopoly in fracks in drought areas if politicians start limiting the amount of water for the frackers. So technologically there are a lot of reasons for this company to do well. They have now finished drills in most of the major basins and do have data to show superiority of results. They have even converted some wells from uneconomic status to profitable by increasing hydrocarbon flow substantially.

So what has been the problem - management has sold this company to the public as a fracking and pumping company. They invested in all these sets and the investing public was then waiting for results.

The problem is the previous regime was all technology orientated and not customer orientated. They were slow to do jobs, slow to clean up and didn't provide enough after service care. All they cared about was proving their technology is better. Well they did that in the end but the contracts have been a bit slow to come in. Meanwhile the investment community expects all these sets they ordered to be in full production and churning out large profits. The reality is the execs at the oil companies wanted more time to look at the results as the drilled wells produce over the first year to decide whether it is economic and were a bit unhappy with the service. So the jobs haven't flooded in, most of the sets have been quiet and the profits have been far below street expectation so the stock price has been punished.

Thankfully the company has seen the error of their ways. They were mostly engineer-scientists and not business men. They have now brought in those types of guys to run operations, re-set expectations, provide better service to the customers and get this company out there using their sets and pumping out profits.

The ultimate future of this company is to become a seller of their equipment, a licencer of their technology and a trainer of new crews so as to maintain a good safety record. Once this starts to get off the ground and the company's valuation is better they need to get taken out by a major to take this business model out to the masses - maybe Haliburton. The current CEO is ex-HAL executive.

Anyhow, I see this company just starting to put this plan in place and expect a good second half of the year. I will try to accumulate around 5.00-5.25 if the stock drops and otherwise will be patient and wait. I do believe strongly in what they are doing and I believe their tech will be transformative. They made the mistake of having an engineer-scientist as their CEO as they rolled out their business and it cost them severely.

I see a $15-20 stock price in 2 years based on expected profits from utilization of their current sets and a 12 multiple. I expect a buyout at a 50-100% premium by a major sometime after that. Maybe I am too optimistic but that is what I feel this technology is worth (approx $3-5B). The world needs the oil and this is the best way to get it without destroying the planet and it improves oil production. The LPG used can be recycled. There is no water to bring in to the site and there is no need to treat the waste water. It is a win-win-win. That's why I like it. The investment community is too short-sighted and disagrees with me and I can accept that.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

HaroldCrump said:


> I will take you up on that offer if you can spin up an Aberdeen Angus for me :biggrin:
> And if you make it a double, I might even buy a few shares of GFS


Anything with Drambuie is alright by me! The trick to the Angus is preheating the Drambuie so it flames correctly.
Try this one at your next Xmas party, it's one of my recipes:

"Under The Kilt"

in a Champagne flute-

1/2 oz Drambuie
1 oz cloudy apple juice
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/4 oz honey syrup (equal parts honey and hot water)
dash of cinnamon

shake briefly with ice, fine strain into a champagne flute, and top with chilled Prosecco or champagne


Now back to our regularly scheduled program-

Yes, I've seen Stockchase. I agree that GFS is a risk, but I also have a fair degree of confidence that it will be adopted and prove worthy.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Some news from Argex today:

http://argex.ca/documents/argexnreng04232012ENG.pdf

Disclaimer: this stock is extremely dangerous - wade in at your own risk. The investment thesis has already been explained and will not be repeated. I'm posting only for those interested in this stock.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

it is not quite right imho to post up a series of messages that read like resounding pumps for a penny stock, then to visit the party later, as soon as bad news strikes, to dump disclaimers all over one's previous utterances.

yesterday's argex news release is a nifty piece of spin doctoring. However, a careful look at the news release can discern what spooked shareholders.

in the first place, the ores the company is trialling at the Ortech facility are old ores stored since 2005 that were mined by the mine's previous management, not by argex.

testing will continue on " higher grade TiO2 ilmenite concentrates selected from existing feedstock producers from around the world," the news release continues recites. Again, not argex-mined ores.

the news release also describes, in somewhat inflated language, the results of a flyover survey conducted at lac brulé for argex' current management. According to the survey, certain orebodies are thought to be present. But the news release continues:

_" Such tonnage is however not confirmed by the recent NI 43-101 report. 

" A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and Argex is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves."_

so these are a couple of reasons why argex shareholders panicked & sold sharply yesterday.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Actually I don't view this as bad news at all.

They used their CTL technique on samples from their second mining site and the process worked to near perfection - actually better than it had on the previous mineral sample from LaBlache.

They do have significant inferred resources of TiO2 and no one disputes this - they just have to formally quantify it. Regardless, I have always viewed this one as a technological company who happens to have mining resources. So to me showing their CTL process works on a different metallurgy leads increasing credence that they could become a refiner of TiO2 for other companies with significant deposits.

In terms of the NI 43-101 reports you are misleading people here, HP. LaBlache has always been the main deposit with 30.8M tonnes compared to the estimated 3.8M tonnes at LaBrule:

_In June 2011, Argex completed a National Instrument 43-101-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) on its La Blache Property. This MRE includes 30,888,000 tonnes in the measured and indicated categories, with in situ grades of 18.78% TiO2 (titanium dioxide), 63.29% Fe2O3 (iron oxide) and 0.45% V2O5 (vanadium pentoxide). This MRE also includes 13,013,000 tonnes in the inferred category, with in situ grades of 18.67% TiO2, 63.06% Fe2O3 and 0.43% V2O5. Argex has only drilled 2 of the 3 known lenses on its La Blache deposit. In 2010, a 20,934-metre drilling campaign was conducted at West Hervieux and East Hervieux; there was no drilling at Schmoo Lake. As per Met-Chem Canada, who authored this Technical Report, both deposits are open at depth._

Here is the Argex website explaining their resources:

http://www.argex.ca/investors/overview/


Now I view the recent decrease in price as just a parabolic spike blow off into a phase of consolidation until more information becomes available and they get closer to large scale production which is slated for 2014.

I think your post was highly misleading in suggesting they don't have much NI 43-101 reserves as the larger mine deposit has been proven at 30.8M tonnes. The most recent note was only about a mineral sample from the smaller mining deposit which has not been reported yet on NI 43-101. Even if it is less than presently estimated it only represented about 10% of their reserves at the prior estimate.

So I am still very bullish on the stock and any risk tolerant individual who likes the stock will have to do their DD to see if it has a place in the risk part of their portfolio.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

for highly misleading posts, one has only to look at pumps by pmrEdmonton on gasfrac, catchthewind & argex. High-flown language followed by average drops of 20-30% over 7 or 8 weeks in all 3 stocks. Bizarre, distressing stories.

the argex news release yesterday clearly states that the ores being tested are from old 2005 stores mined by previous management.

the news release further states that testing will involve "concentrates selected from existing feedstock producers from around the world."

the 2nd part of the news release focuses only on the lac brulé flyovers. These are early-stage exploration studies whose resources are not yet officially approved. As required, the news release states this.

yesterday's argex price plunge was precisely related to yesterday's news release. It is written in advanced spin-doctorese, so it is not easy to read through the fluff in order to examine the above-mentioned troublesome issues. Nevertheless, many are succeeding.

stock is down again this morning. Mister market is not sharing edmonton's enthusiasm. I for one believe that the enthusiasm is misplaced.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

humble_pie said:


> for highly misleading posts, one has only to look at pumps by pmrEdmonton on gasfrac, catchthewind & argex. High-flown language followed by average drops of 20-30% over 7 or 8 weeks in all 3 stocks. Bizarre, distressing stories.
> 
> the argex news release yesterday clearly states that the ores being tested are from old 2005 stores mined by previous management.
> 
> ...



Why are you so concerned about when the mining sample was collected - either they can get high grade TiO2 out of it or not. Age doesn't matter to the process involved.

They have shown they can extract TiO2 in a scalable process now for both of their mines from the samples they have done.

They have proven reserves of 30.8M tonnes from LaBluche. They have not yet verified the 3.8M tonnes at LaBrule by N43-101 standards.

The stock price will do what it does - I'm just talking about the company. 

I am not pumping - just reporting the news.

Stocks do go up and down. You can't talk about the performance of stocks in a meaningful manner over such short periods of time. These are risky plays as they are microcaps. 

Although you don't like the penny stocks, I do like talking about penny stocks with an environmental bent - GFS, RGX, CTW. It is a passion of mine and I look for opportunities to invest in such promising companies as I think it is the way of the future. Maybe I'm wrong but that is why I write about them - because I am passionate about the cause and look for companies that will decrease waste and these companies can all do it. I do try to look at these stocks as bets for the future - 2 to 3 years is the timeframe to execution for them so I'm not so concerned about day to day performance of the share price. Anyone who does should not invest in these type of stocks.

If the company is so bad why is PPG already signing agreements to secure supply in 2 years. Obviously they believe in the company and as they are the giant in the field and have been working side by side with them for a few months I trust their judgment that this company has a very bright future ahead of it.

Basically, I resent the notion that I am pumping them in any way. I don't sell any financial products. I am not hired by the company. I am just informing people who are interested in it what the company is about and what they are doing and what the potential of the market is. I will confine most of my remarks to news releases. Please let the subject drop as I don't want to discuss it anymore.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

looking forward to your next recommendation so I can short it


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

oh, but i think we cannot let the issue drop, because there are too many marginal stocks that are suddenly being promoted.

too frequently.
in language that is too purple.
shorn of all the cautions & concerns that should be present.
in a forum like this one, which normally is propaganda-free.
where there are many new investors,
who are not yet able to analyze the risks inherent in these marginal stocks.
but some of whom are being egged on to buy dangerous stocks.
even though they should not.

with respect to the argex/PPG trials ongoing at this moment, i do not believe the deal is done. I believe it is a trial to determine if the titanium dioxide pigments that could be produced, ultimately from the argex quebec mines, can be used by PPG industries. If the trial fails the deal will not close.

moreover, the way i read the argex news release of 3 april/12 is that one important engineered & environmentally-friendly new procedure involved in the trial belongs uniquely to PPG. Argex is or will be the supplier of titanium dioxide. The procedure has been loaned to argex strictly for the Ortech trial in Mississauga. If the trial fails, the procedure will remain 100% in the hands of PPG.

therefore i would not agree with your claim that argex is "a technological company who happens to have mining resources." The way i see it, argex will be valued by PPG, if the trial succeeds & the deal goes through, strictly as a mining resource company.

lastly, it is not appropriate for you to make remarks as to whether i like penny stocks or not. I might like a few. I might exchange PMs with other investors here in this forum. We might wish to avoid influencing new investors, who are not yet able to handle the risks. Therefore we might not say anything in public.

save & except for the very rare times, perhaps once or twice a year, when we are more than sure that we have stumbled into a situation that is phenomenonally interesting. 

once or twice a year is a far cry from several times a month.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I will only reply with news as you are the one spreading misinformation which I must correct again:

http://www.argex.ca/investors/overview/

_*Proprietary Metallurgical Process*

In conjunction with the principals of Canadian Titanium Limited (“CTL”), Argex has developed a proprietary metallurgical process to separate the TiO2 from the ore. On October 18, 2011 *Argex acquired a 50.1% interest in CTL, and thereby own and control this technology*._

_It is important to note that this process produces a TiO2 product that ranks very high in terms of purity, brightness and colour. These are important criteria for eventual customers of Argex’s TiO2. Argex believes that its process will enable it to command premium prices for its product.

*Thus Argex has complete control over the technology and has named itself as the sole licensee of the CTL process in North America*._


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

won't you please look again at the argex news release of 3 april/12 concerning the PPG agreement.

this refers to a technical collaboration agreement between argex & PPG industries to:

_"develop and optimize PPG's technology for titanium dioxide pigment for paints and coatings applications to be produced by Argex, intended to make Argex's TiO2 pigment compatible with various end-use applications for PPG."_

this technical collaboration, in which the "technology" is specifically referred to as belonging to PPG, is the collaborative experience now being trialled in ontario.

the ctl procedure, which you mention so frequently, is an innovative earlier-stage processing procedure in the manufacture of titanium dioxide that belongs exclusively to argex & is carried out entirely by argex. 

as far as i know, the ctl procedure is not an issue at present nor is it even in the news. What is in the news is the pigment trial with PPG industries.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

blin10 said:


> looking forward to your next recommendation so I can short it


Marquee Energy Limited was my most recent buy - have at it. A sure double on the short side. :hopelessness:


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Argex has mines containing quite a bit of TiO2.

Argex developed with CTL the "CTL process" of producing TiO2 from the ore containing Fe, Va and Ti. They can extract unheard of purities of TiO2.

That is owned by Argex. That is the part of the company that is extremely valuable.


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## indexxx (Oct 31, 2011)

PMREdmonton said:


> Marquee Energy Limited was my most recent buy - have at it. A sure double on the short side. :hopelessness:


Wait- reverse psychology to go long??!!


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

No, I'm kidding.

I'm long MQL and have been trying to buy on the dip to 1.25 but keep missing. I think the company has a very bright future but all the junior energy companies are getting crushed right now and it doesn't help that they don't have a dividend to put a floor under the stock. However, they are right to pour their cash flow into capex to build up the company.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

volume too low, give me some other pick that has volume over few mills 



PMREdmonton said:


> Marquee Energy Limited was my most recent buy - have at it. A sure double on the short side. :hopelessness:


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

blin10 said:


> volume too low, give me some other pick that has volume over few mills


TEF - telefonica is my latest larger cap buy. There is lots of liquidity there and everyone is bearish on Spain. I have 600 shares just bought. Knock yourself out on the short.

If you want Canadian but slightly larger cap there is PSN where my ACB is 14.02 and current SP is 13.66 so you haven't missed much of the drop yet at only 3% or so.

However, why not just short the 3 I've bought into in the past to diversify your shorts a bit - CTW, RGX and GFS. They are all in slightly different fields so you get some type of diversification from an industrial manufacturer (my ACB is .105 and the stock is .95 so you've only missed 10% of the run down on it, or a miner in RGX were my ACB is 1.03 and present price is 0.87 so you've missed out on 15% but there's still plenty more room towards 0 or energy services in GFS where ACB is 6.50 so you may be a bit late on this one with current share price at 5.28 as that is a good 22% down).

So plenty of shorts for you from this list to choose from.


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## moneyisfornothing (Feb 18, 2012)

PMREdmonton said:


> TEF - telefonica.
> 
> There is lots of liquidity there and everyone is bearish on Spain. I have 600 shares just bought. Knock yourself out on the short.


do u mean TEF-N?
just curious here.it is my nature.
cheers


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## moneyisfornothing (Feb 18, 2012)

PMREdmonton said:


> No, I'm kidding.
> 
> I'm long MQL and have been trying to buy on the dip to 1.25 but keep missing. I think the company has a very bright future but all the junior energy companies are getting crushed right now and it doesn't help that they don't have a dividend to put a floor under the stock. However, they are right to pour their cash flow into capex to build up the company.


may I ask if 1.28/1.29 makes a huge difference on marquee?
it traded today on the ask side if i am not wrong.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Yes, it is a US listed ADR for the Spanish telecom Telefonica (TEF).

Spain has a 21% dividend withholding tax if you want to invest here which can't be claimed in a taxable account FYI. Some Spanish companies like STD (soon to become SAN) have been letting foreigners have shares equivalent to the dividend to avoid the withholding taxes. It is like a drip in essence. You can then choose to monetize the share dividend by selling them. I'm not sure if TEF is going to do this as I have not yet received an offer from them.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

There is very little difference. I'm too busy during the day to fuss around with it too much so I just have an order sitting there in my account to buy at 1.25. I already have 9000 shares so I"m not too interested in accumulating more except on a massive discount which I"ve priced at 1.25.


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## moneyisfornothing (Feb 18, 2012)

PMREdmonton said:


> Yes, it is a US listed ADR for the Spanish telecom Telefonica (TEF).
> 
> Spain has a 21% dividend withholding tax if you want to invest here which can't be claimed in a taxable account FYI. Some Spanish companies like STD (soon to become SAN) have been letting foreigners have shares equivalent to the dividend to avoid the withholding taxes. It is like a drip in essence. You can then choose to monetize the share dividend by selling them. I'm not sure if TEF is going to do this as I have not yet received an offer from them.


oh well thks :encouragement:
another 5 year low price stock buyer:tongue-new:
now picture a 1o year low that would be really yummy:02.47-tranquillity:


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## moneyisfornothing (Feb 18, 2012)

PMREdmonton said:


> There is very little difference. I'm too busy during the day to fuss around with it too much so I just have an order sitting there in my account to buy at 1.25. I already have 9000 shares so I"m not too interested in accumulating more except on a massive discount which I"ve priced at 1.25.


thks for the reply.
GL with ur Bid


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

No problem.

TEF is one of the mega-cap telcos in the world but has just got caught up in a bunch of bad news scenarios from inefficient homeland business, lifetime Spanish employees, high debt, need to build infrastructure and now the Spanish government debt issue. The company is very strong and the vast majority of their incomes comes from outside of Spain. 

If you want something safer try Vodafone from Britain so if you buy the US listed ADR you will pay no income tax in a registered account and it pays a decent dividend, too. It is also a major international player and owns 45% of Verizon wireless. I have quite a few of these as well. I actually like the telcos around the world except the US - Apple is taking them to the shed.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

whoever bought this since it was recommended date would be down 25% today...


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

blin10 said:


> whoever bought this since it was recommended date would be down 25% today...


I'm not a market timer.

This one pays off in 2014 when they go into production.

The timeline has to be on that frame - anything can happen until then but the price usually goes up as you move forward to production.

The only short-term catalyst will be if reserves of TiO2 at LaBrule are bigger than currently estimated or if their extraction methodology is applicable to other ilmenite ores that contain Titanium. That is the potential of the company that has me so excited about it as TiO2 is very scarce in the world and the extraction technique is far superior to anything else out there by quite a large margin.

I've bought in, I have not sold and am prepared to wait.

Any luck shorting my other picks yet?


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

PMREdmonton said:


> This one pays off in 2014 when they go into production.



there is no guarantee whatsoever that this obscure mining company will "go into production" in 2014 or at any date.

the larger possibility is that, like so many hundreds of thousands of canadian penny stock mining venture startups over the span of the past century, this one will fail.

here are 2 significant negatives:

(1) Argex is a promotion being hyped by promoters. Look at their histories & backgrounds. Most of this story is PR & fluff. The charting history alone should alert an investor that something bizarre is going on. The stock tripled from just north of 40 pennies in january/12 to 1.20, but is now falling back severely.

next, *the majority of slap-happy penny stock investors in this promotion do not understand that the company has no operating mines near baie comeau nor any means - yet - to build such mines.

what argex owns are bare land properties with certified geological study histories that date all the way back to 1952. * At intervals over the past 60 years, the original ore discoveries have been refined with additional flyovers, seismic studies & sampling.

there are hundreds of thousands of such properties in northern canada. Quebec alone has tens of thousands of them. There's no doubt but that these properties are showing geologists that valuable resources lie buried. The problem is that most of these sites are remote from infrastructure. There are no roads, there is no hydroelectric power.

these properties cannot be developed until the price of the buried ore not only booms but stays north long enough for a profitable mine, with road & hydro, to be operated. This is particularly crucial for a resource whose ore is low-grade.

i for one certainly do not follow the price of titanium, but i am willing to bet that peter smith from fancamp - this is the geological explorer that sold most of the baie comeau properties to argex, in return for a healthy whack of the capital plus royalties - i would bet that peter smith knows a canny thing or two about whether mining titanium has swung up near the probability of being profitable. He's a knowledgeable geologist who knows northern quebec like the back of his hand. One could say that fancamp is more or less the geological brains behind argex.

in the meantime, the argex properties remain bare undeveloped land. It is highly comical to see them being promoted, over on stockhouse the pumpers' charnel house, as fully developed mines.

(2)* another negative could be the CTL procedure. Present argex management is doing a poor job of explaining why this procedure is so valuable. It is not enough to keep repeating that the process is rapid, non-toxic & cheep cheep cheep. Any promoter could say the same thing about countless products. A manufacturer of lollipops could probably make the same claim.

in particular, i would like to know more about why Ortech - who developed CTL, patented it & sold it to argex for a song last year - why did Ortech sell this process so cheaply if, indeed, the process is so extraordinary & valuable.*

they are not dumb at Ortech. There must be some reason why they sold the patented CTL process to a group of promoters like argex for a mere million dollars plus a bunch of shares, warrants & royalties.

so one wants to know, had Ortech been shopping the CTL technology around for a few years previously but failed to raise any buyers ? is that why they sold to argex at fire sale prices ?

the titanium dioxide industry is not dumb either. If Ortech's CTL technology had truly been the best thing for TiO2 since sliced bread, why didn't companies other than argex step up to the auction & pay more.

one last point, if i may. My mind is perfectly open that the CTL sale to argex may have been a lucky fluke for argex. Such stories absolutely do happen. In that case, not all is lost with argex shares, although clearly their price is falling right now from the cuckoo highs associated with the PPG news. No one should have been buying argex recently.

many powerful challenges await the argex startup. Will the CTL process be acceptable to PPG, which has its own proprietary technology ? If acceptable, from where & at what cost will argex buy & import titanium ore for processing, in order to be able to sell TiO2 to PPG in the necessary quantities that PPG is going to demand ? How will argex raise the $100 million or more that will be needed to built just one single mine near baie comeau ?


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Thanks for the insight, HP.

That is the kind of information that I was hoping some of you might add to the thread.

The CTL process is well explained on the website as a series of chemical extractions one at a time for the Fe and then Va and then Ti.

As far as I know Ortech maintained almost a 50% (49.9%)share in the benefits of the process and they co-developed it with RGX over the last couple of years.

As far as the TiO2 market it has been under extreme stress over the past couple of years with prices already up to $5K per tonne and the stuff is essential in many industries such as paints, oreos and plastics. There are a limited number of mines in the world that are in production and like most such industries it makes mines that were previously uneconomic to produce, economic now. This is magnified by the new process. RGX estimate a total cost per production of a tonne of TiO2 to be around $580 including the sale of byproducts of the process.

You are wrong about the states of their reserves. Their larger deposite is LaBlache and this is where they surveyed in 2010:

_NI 43-101 Mineral Resources

In 2010, Argex completed an aggressive exploration program on Hervieux West and Hervieux East with more than 20,000 m of diamond drilling. Based on the drilling results, Met-Chem Canada Inc. completed in May 2011 an initial NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate for both Hervieux West and Hervieux East deposits. Met-Chem reported that the drill holes completed by Argex show that the Hervieux East and Hervieux West deposits are in large part open at depth. _

The tables available here at the Argex site summarize the results of the drilling program:

http://www.argex.ca/properties/la-blache/

The LaBrule mine is a smaller and less proven project but it is only 10% of their Ti resources. 

Here is the economic assessment of the LaBlache project from the Argex website:

_Preliminary Economic Assessment

On October 26, 2011, Argex released the results of the Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) completed on its 100%-owned La Blache project. The PEA study was completed by BBA Inc. of Montreal, Quebec with the collaboration of Met-Chem Canada Inc. and Genivar.

The PEA study shows a net present value (NPV) of $ 2.2 billion at a cash flow discount rate of 8 per cent over a 25 year time period. The model is based on an initial production profile of 15,000 tonnes of TiO2 per year, which is subsequently scaled up to 195,000 tonnes per year. The internal rate of return (IRR) for the project is 32% (before tax). The study assumes a three-year trailing average price for TiO2 of $2,846 per tonne. However, in a recent market report by Credit Suisse dated October 13, 2011, the current price for TiO2 now exceeds $3,740 per tonne and is forecasted to almost double by the year 2015.
_

Now if they are correct their deposits have a NPV of more than 20 times the company's current valuation. This analysis gives a 0 value to the CTL process which may allow them to refine other company's ore or alternatively licence out the technology to other miners so they can do the refining at the site of extraction.


As for infrastructure, they claim to have road access to railway and then from railway to shipping port. The thing that I'm not sure about is where they are going to do the processing. My understanding is they are going to build a chemical processing plant that will last the lifetime of the mine which is 25-30 years in total. The averaged cost of everything per tonne of TiO2 is supposed to be $586 according to the engineering team that did the PEA. Even if they come in 100% above that cost level it still leaves the mine operation economic with current TiO2 prices. The reason why they may meet the 2-year timeframe is this is going to be an open pit mine which is a lot simpler and cheaper and quicker to get into production than underground mines. They have also intimated that they may be outsourcing the actual mining to a 3rd party and thus they may need less capital than would otherwise be the case.

The thing I'm not sure about is where they will build the full-scale plant and how far they will have to ship the ore. I know they are intending to go ahead with this now that all their chips are lined up. Perhaps this will be part of the partnership they are arranging with PPG or perhaps they will borrow or perhaps they will do a secondary offering. I think they may be building it at a place with access to good infrastructure from seaport to railway as they envision themselves as possible refiners of ore from other operations in the future if the CTL process will work on other ilmenite deposits which is presently unknown.

To me the working relationship with PPG is the key to the whole thesis on RGX. PPG has been working with them for a number of months and they are the kings of this industry. They obviously see something of strategic interest in RGX to have this much interest in the company 2 years before they begin mining. 

The mistake I made and this is part of being a rookie still is I bought in during the parabolic spike up. I should have waited like I have been waiting on WPT. WPT has come back to me by waiting but now I realize it probably even has more room to go down as their engines are still unprofitable and Cummins is going to build their own engines outside of the Cummins-Westport arrangement and this announcement destroyed a lot of the value that was created with the signing. I suppose the same thing could happen with PPG in the end but the advantage RGX has is they own CTL (50.1% of it anyways) and they own the physical mines.

I bought some more at $0.80. I may buy some more if it falls a bit more but am happy with the amount I hold for right now.

My usual disclaimer applies: this is a very, very risky stock. You may lose all your money if you invest here. You have to have extreme risk tolerance to even look at this stock and should probably not bother investing until they have started production.

Thanks for your input, HP.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

As for your question regarding Ortech and why they didn't shop the process in the open market:

On the Argex website they claim the process was developed in *collaboration* with Argex. Once the process was developed Argex got a 50.1% stake. Here is the press release from 2011:

ARGEX COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF MAJORITY INTEREST
IN CANADIAN TITANIUM LIMITED
- CTL grants license to Argex for the recovery of titanium dioxide (TiO2)
Montreal, Québec – October 18, 2011 - Argex Mining Inc. is pleased to announce that it has completed its previously-announced acquisition of a 50.1%-ownership interest in privately-owned Canadian Titanium Limited (CTL). At the closing of the transaction, Argex acquired 50.1% of the issued and outstanding shares of CTL for a *cash consideration of $1 million as well as the issuance of 2 million Argex common shares to the selling shareholders of CTL.*
At the same time, CTL granted Argex an exclusive license in the Province of Québec and a non-exclusive license for the rest of the world to use the licensed technology for the recovery of titanium dioxide (TiO2). CTL will provide Argex with all of the know-how and information which is applicable to the licensed technology and products. Argex will pay CTL a 2% royalty on its production of titanium dioxide (TiO2).
Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, *CTL is a private company which owns technology and underlying patents which Argex will use, through the License and Royalty Agreement, to process titanium-bearing ore, thereby creating a high-value product. CTL was created by the selling shareholders to hold the technology and underlying patents relating to the extraction of high-grade titanium dioxide (TiO2). Other than holding the patents and technology and entering into the License and Royalty Agreement with Argex, CTL has no commercial activities.*
As a result of the acquisition, there are 92,136,228 common shares of Argex issued and outstanding. Under applicable securities legislation, the securities issued to the selling shareholders of CTL are subject to a four-month hold period, expiring on February 19, 2012.
About Argex


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

oh c'mon. I am *not* wrong about the properties. each: I never said one word about the reserves. What i said is that no mines have yet been built on the properties.

all the argex properties are still bare land. "Land" is a word that refers to the superficie only of an area or region. It does not refer to assets buried underground. In canada, land rights are legally distinct from underground mineral rights, although the fine differentiations vary not only from province to province but also between crown land & privately-owned land.

what i posted is that there are many reports prepared by geologists over the past 60 years. These analyze the buried orebodies that are present in the argex properties. Several of these are NI 43-101 compliant studies. They were carried out by flyovers, seismic testing & analysis of drilled core samples.

once again, no operating mine has ever been built. There is no point pretending that a buried reserve is the same thing as mined ore already brought to the surface.

building a mine today costs $100 million & up. Argex has not even begun to speak publicly about how they will raise this staggering amount of money. It will mean a secondary financing. Parties purchasing such shares will want hard evidence that the new mining project will be able to make money, not just for a year or 2, but over the projected life of the mine.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Yes, there are certainly questions about how to convert their assets (50.1% ownership of CTL and two Titanium-containing deposits) into free cash flow. I recognize there is a lot of ground to cover before the cash starts rolling in on this one.

However, I have been following the TiO2 market for over a year with my initial interest in Kronos which I backed down on due to poor corporate governance from the CEO. I know this is a very stressed market right now and there just aren't many deposits of TiO2 like this known in the world. The companies that use it have a vested interest in getting the stuff out of the ground and processed. The situation is so tight that PPG has set a goal of decreasing the amount used per year by 4-6% so they can continue to produce their products - they foresee a big world shortage upcoming and the price of ore has been steadily increasing and now is already over $4K per tonne (it was 2800 in late 2010, 3700 in late 2011).

I see a lot of promise with this stock and I like how well the company has executed over the last while with the CTL deal and getting PPG interested. They now have to move into execution phase of the project and I have made my claim of the company because I think they will be successful in the end.

BTW, isn't that why they hired all those chemical and engineering firms do a PEA - to demonstrate to investors and financers the project will be economic. They mention $2.2B NPV using discounted cash flows with 8% discount rate over 25 years based on a $2.8K per tonne selling price. At that time they projected a whole life cycle of mine cost of $586 per tonne of TiO2. 

Now I really don't know how a company goes about making those estimates or how accurate they tend to be in the end. I know on lots of projects I"ve been seeing lately that 50 to 100% over-runs seem to be fairly common in gold mines and oil sands projects. Now if they are true here and we are at $1200 per tonne of TiO2 produced, that is still a gross margin of 70% at today's values for TiO2. So I do believe there is significant buffer space for them to achieve an economic mine here in the end. So I"m fairly content they will be very profitable in the end.

The part of the deal that I'm not sure about is whether the CTL process will work on other ilmenite samples around the world. This is the next potential catalyst for this stock as current processes usually only get about 60% of the Ti or so. They seem to be getting in the range of 90-95% so far but on their own ore.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

PMREdmonton said:


> I'm not a market timer.
> 
> *This one pays off in 2014 when they go into production.
> *
> ...


dude are you serious about what you said? you're locking up your money to a penny stock that MIGHT pay off (most likely not) in 2014 !? you know if another recession starts and markets sink you have a good chance to loose all your money because little companies will not survive ? it will not matter what they make when shorts step in


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Yes, I will be patient with this one. My time frame is 2014 and I may buy some dips and sell some peaks with it.

I don't think it'll trade too much with the broad market because it is a specialty stock but it will be hurt in the risk off modes just like all stocks are but probably more so.

There are a few resources which I see as being incredibly important in the future. One is hydrocarbons, one is uranium and one is Ti. I am quite comfortable going long in these positions even when they are being pounded by the market because we fundamentally need those things. PPG has a huge R&D program ongoing right now with a goal of decreasing TiO2 use by 4-6% per year because they envision the shortage coming but it is hard to meet these targets without sacrificing product quality. There are only four decent Ti deposits in the world and Argex has one of them. They also potentially have a way of increasing the amount of TiO2 that can be yielded from ilmenite from 60% to 90-95%.

I had wanted to play this market with a current producer and the best one I found leveraged to TiO2 was Kronos (KRO) but I didn't buy because of corporate governance issues. The CEO has about four main companies but one of them is a holding company traded publically where he owns about 95% of the stock. He then began using KRO's extra FCF to buy stocks in his own holding company effectively transferring money from KRO's shareholders into his own pockets. I just couldn't accept this. This is the same reason I would invest in Shaw (SJR) and the same reason I've avoided Chesapeake (CHK) even though now is tempting with the rumours of McClendon being ousted.

So I'm relegated to placing my bets (and it is a bet) on RGX because of its advantages of owning rare mining assets and owning a technology that may increase current yields by a substantial margin from existing producers. If they really can increase yields of high-grade TiO2 from low-grade ilmenite ore as they have suggested they can probably collect large licencing fees from CTL of which they own 50.1%. They have partnered up with the giant in the field in PPG and they should be able to act as deal-makers with the other miners and help alleviate the current shortage in TiO2.

Anyway, the PEA suggests the miining assets with CTL technology have a PV of $2.2B and company has a market cap of about $90M right now so you can see the potential value here and that was based on a TiO2 price of $2.8K per tonne and it is already over $4K per tonne and currently forecast to be $6K per tonne by 2015. Again, the PV calculation does not give them any credit for licencing out CTL which is another potential revenue stream which is being explored. They are getting ore samples now and have to prove they can improve yields with CTL compared to current technology. They have already done so with samples from LaBlache and LaBrule.

Disclaimer: This stock is extremely risky. It has gone down from 1.20 to .83 in the past week. It may go down a lot more for all I know. There may need to be a secondary offering as HP has suggested which would further dilute present shareholders. The costs to get he mine and plant up and running may be more than the engineering firms have forecasted. The CTL process may not work on other ilmenite samples from around the world.

*Thanks everyone for all your contributions. I think you have shed a lot of light on the downsides of this investment.*


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I did ask about the refining operations and the rumours are it may be in a place called Benancour, Quebec which has good access to St. Lawrence River as well as the Great Lakes. There is an issue with lack of gas supply by the mine and it would make sense to have operations close to major waterways if they see themselves refining deposits from other mines.

This has all been considered within the cost structure of producing TiO2 as the CEO talked about cost issues in a small article in a French newspaper. 

http://www.radio-canada.ca/regions/.../003-argex-construction-usine-becancour.shtml


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Has moved up in the past few days on news:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/992369/argex-announces-ctl-process-breakthrough

Rumours are they may try to divest the Ti mines and become solely a processor of Titanium ore. If there process works as well as they claim it will increase the value of the mining deposits which will be strategically located next to the processor of the ore for the interested mining company.

This plan would certainly be a way to unlock the value of CTL much more quickly than if they wanted to start a de novo mining operation to obtain the ore.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

yup when they can get timmie's to pour 6 XL coffees into 12 reg cups in a box for the XL price, this is a "milestone breakthrough" for argex.

they're kinda slow
up in baie comeau


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Pavlov's dog comes to mind for some reason.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

pavlov's dogs, exactly. One of those dubious penny stocks gives a twitch of life & bingo the doggies salivate.

.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I don't consider it all that dubious.

It has an amazing technology which it is attempting to monetize. There will be some bumps along the ride so you pay the volatility price to get the return. I really believe strongly in the Titanium market and I think this is the best stock levered to this due to the ability to increase yield of high grade Titanium from the increasingly prevalent low grade ores that are left to harvest. If you don't believe that these things are true (i.e. that their process will be revolutionary, that a Ti crunch is coming, that high grade Ti is becoming scarce) then I can easily see why one would not see value in the stock.

All I see lately is one news report after another of confirmation that their new process is working very well at producing high grade TiO2 out of low grade ore at higher yields and lower cost than any known process. They continue to show progress in upscaling their process as they prepare to build their extraction plant.

This stock has overall been very, very strong over the past year with the exception of one short period after a parabolic upspike lasting about six weeks in total so the market seems to disagree with you.

Even if the stock is moving nowhere I have played the volatility to my advantage and am up 10% even though the stock is down from when I first invested in it so it is working very well for me as an investor.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Up again today to $0.94 or about 50% from its low a month ago.

Here are some thoughts on why this company may be running up right now:

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk...es-collaboration-with-argex-mining-44363.html


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Here is a very recent interview with the CEO of Argex. It is interesting that they discuss the possibility of using tailings from neighbouring mining companies as the source of Ti to initially use in the processing plant that they are going to build. This is what the recent Jefferies report was speculating about with an estimated cost of $1000/tonne to produce TiO2 from such tailings and current spot price of TiO2 being in the $4500 range. They are aiming for 50 000 tonnes a year of production which suggests profits of $175M per year. If you want to put a 15 multiple on that company you would have a market cap of $2.6 Billion. Now add in the properties with La Blache's NPV placed at $2.2B and drilling about to begin on LaBrule and the CEO believing the higher ore content of this deposit works even better with CTL than the lower grade LaBlache deposit suggests even more possible value to be unlocked. Then, of course, there is the issue of putting up plants around the world to process other miners' low grade ilmenite ore to feed a very hungry market. So we are looking at a company that can be extremely profitable in the future but currently having a market cap of $100M or so.

Here is the interview for those who are interested:

http://www.decisionplus.com/video/interviews/Corporate_Videos.aspx


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

dude don't waist your time posting stuff, nobody is buying this pos...


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I really don't care whether anyone buys it or not.

I do know some people have told me they like to hear about this company so I will continue to post *news* about it.

Feel free to ignore this thread and anything else I post anywhere.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

edmonton you are not posting news you are posting mostly pumpsters' bumph about obscure penny stocks, some of which are worthless imho.

some of the stuff you post is copiepasta from tsxwealth dot blogspot dot ca. Right down to some unfortunate stock picks like ctw & yellow. My, how you do both like to rant that an obscure penny is about to "skyrocket."

in argex, there is no real news. Company still has a tiny trial cycling onwards in mississauga that they say is scheduled to wind up at the end of this year. That's more than 6 months off. Plus they own some bare land near baie comeau with promising geological reports.

argex could not even get a "news" release past compliance at toronto stk exchange right now because there is no news. What's underway is another heavy-duty promotional campaign by the promoters. Edmonton's UK proactive link is a pumpster's forum.

decisionplus here in canada is a paid service that pumps penny stocks. Owner of decisionplus michel carignan is a former oil refinery worker with zero journo training & zero finance industry qualifications. True to his beginnings in the refineries, carignan is still in the business of scraping up oily sludge.

but tout de même one has to agree that ee still azz zat legendary ffrennnch charme, non ?


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

An interview with the CEO is news in my books.

News about completing the first phase of the upscale project is news.

Discussion about feedstock as tailings from local projects is news as no one had ever discussed this possibility before.

Results of yields of Titanium from different ore feed stock is news.

Your opinion that the stock is useless pump/dump is not news.

I am now up almost 20% in my position from accumulating during its momentary dip so the position is working out well for the longs overall.

Even if you don't believe me or the CEO there are analysts who like the stock (Jefferies recently rated as a buy), PPG has been working very closely with them for several months on their CTL process so that the TiO2 produced will meet their industrial standards. There is sometimes wisdom in the markets and this stock has been on a very strong run for well over a year now so the market seems to believe in this story.

I do think the next spike up will be a good place to take profits for anyone holding this one and then wait for another pullback to accumulate. The best way to play this one is a highly volatile trade and those who are uncomfortable doing this should avoid holding this company in their portfolio.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

HP, explain why you are so negative on this stock? The market clearly disagrees with you based on their run over the last year. Even the last correction was met with a strong bounce back. Only those who bought in a very narrow time window would be down in their holdings. Now that is no guarantee of future returns but the market is voting everyday on this company's prospects and for the last year it has been in an uptrend outside of one month after a parabolic upspike.

In their favour:

They have a legitimate patented process. 

They have presented at major conferences in the chemical industry.

PPG has signed an agreement with them to work on bringing their TiO2 to the market and they are the second biggest paint company in the world and one of the world's leading users of TiO2.

TiO2 is becoming a scarce commodity now and it is not easily replaced in chemical applications.

They do have TiO2 containing ore to mine with LaBlache also having a ni43-101 compliant reading of resources available and there was an independent PEA done on this mining project suggesting a lot of value in this source.

They have a second TiO2 source in LaBrule with higher grade Ti ilmenite ore. This mining project does not have a Ni43-101 report completed but they will soon start drilling to produce one and then a PEA will follow.

The CEO is now openly talking about the process being suitable to treating tailings from local miners. If this is subsequently proven to be accurate it would mean they will soon be able to generate TiO2 without having to mine at all. This would substantially de-risk the company as it would eliminate mining risk from them.

Is it that you don't believe Canadians can be successful in the chemical processing world? That is a very cynical world view if that is your basis for disbelief.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

PMRE, this stock happens to be a darling with the pumps right now.
I have seen the exact same arguments that you are putting forth here over on the Stockhouse forums, which I am sure you are aware is happy hunting grounds for all kinds of pumpers - both amateur and professional.

Both this Argex and CTW that you are so fond of seem to follow the same pattern of pumping across multiple boards.
The TSX News and TSX Wealth websites also seem to be barely disguised pumping platforms for both these stocks.

The reason some of us appear skeptical is not anything personal against you or these stocks - it is simply the pattern of pumping of these stocks.

Many pumps are very skilled and convincing. Some have technical qualifications to speak the geek language of the industry, too.
Some have held junior positions in some companies so they put on a facade of being insiders having some specialized knowledge.

Have you considered that unbeknownst to yourself, you are being misled and brainwashed by all this pumping that you are reading on the Internet.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I agree that there is always the possibility with a penny stock that it ultimately may not be able to fulfill its promise and become a long-term successful company. That is why when you invest in such companies you should always be looking to turn gains into permanent profits when the environment is suitable. 

As for Argex Mining, I only came to know about them when I saw a segment on them on BNN when the CEO was interviewed. I was immediately very interested in them as I have been following the TiO2 industry for awhile and almost invested in Kronos last year before I was scared away by concerns of malfeasance by the CEO. When Argex began to talk about the results of CTL and the potential to get high-grade TiO2 out of lower grade ore I immediately became quite interested in the prospects of this company. The supply of high grade Ti-ore is rapidly dwindling while there is still lots of lower grade ore which doesn't yield nearly as good a product to the chemical industry. They were promising something completely different. When PPG announced their partnership and I read the PEA and the environmental benefits of the production I became very, very interested in the company. I really do see value here in a $100M company with a major technological advantage over every other TiO2 producer out there. I see their potential to become a worldwide processor of TiO2.

I do understand other people's skepticism because it is a small company and they have to prove the ability to sign these deals, obtain financing to build their plant, hire the workers necessary to do the work and produce the TiO2 for the market. There are quite a few major steps for the company to make before the cash flow starts but the potential is enormous.

CTW is a totally different beast, though. That is a pure contrarian play. That stock was just bludgeoned into oblivion down to $0.06 before it bounced from the IPO price of $2 or 97%. I got interested around $0.13 and then averaged down a bit. The stock was mostly pummeled because of fraudulent management who used the corporate funds to enhance their lifestyle with the purchase of a company jet and other ridiculous excesses. The company makes a very product at a high gross margin that can be retrofit on most wind turbines to increase power production and more importantly decrease maintenance needs on the turbine. The increased power is proven in academic studies while the decreased maintenance is presently imputed from the ability to lessen damage from severe wind gusts by sensing them in advance and adjusting the blades prior to the gusts's arrival. 

This one is a pure trade and I plan on starting to exit the trade around $0.20-0.25 but I may keep a few thousand after it reaches that price and let them ride.

I certainly don't want any novice or risk adverse person to enter these trades but such individuals should really be using a financial advisor to guide them.

I only discuss them here because I find them interesting and have taken long positions. To me this is a different kind of investment than other investments in that you try to value the company more on hypotheticals and not on results. This can lead to huge price changes both to the positive and the negative based on the company's performance. This is what I'm after - if I can bat 0.333 on these picks I figure I'll have huge gains in the end by riding my winners. Meanwhile my losses are limited only to what I invest. I just want to see if I have any acumen in this space populated by companies under $1B market cap (some under $100M). I have developed now a large list of such company's that I am following and awaiting the time to pounce on the shares. I know it is high risk and most people lose when buying volatile stocks but I think I have the temperament to do well in this space. I can use the volatility to my advantage by selling on strength and buying on weakness.

Now I wish everyone good luck with their investment strategies and plans.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

when a publicly-traded canadian company has news - defined as a material change in circumstances - it is required to issue a press release. It has no choice. Because it trades publicly, it must inform its shareholders, so a press release is mandatory.

company must first submit the press release to the toronto stock exchange for approval. 

it is required to disseminate its news via this press release to the media after TSX compliance has approved the document. In addition, the press release must be permanently filed on SEDAR.

argex has not taken this route, because it has no real news to announce. All it has are gossipy leftovers & in-house trivia, clumsily inflated by pumping stations in the internet.

the decisionplus "interview" that doKtor edmonton keeps citing is not "news" in the least. It is paid-for advertising from a low-quality machine pumping station with zero credentials.

it's shameful when company promoters have to stoop to this level.

unfortunately, many VSE penny dreadfuls do so stoop. They are nothing more than promoters' smokescreens. Their internet pushers attempt to portray trivial house gossip - such as whether argex might try to search for ores in tailings heaps - as real "news." It isn't news. It's pixie dust.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Fair enough, HP. It is pure speculation about the tailings.

Their chemical processing patents and Ni 43-101 on the LaBlache mining project and the PEA are not speculative, though.

Their current working relationship with PPG is also not speculation - both sides have admitted to working together for about a year. Whether that amounts to a definitive business agreement that leads to cash flow or a joint venture or loan to build a processing plant is all speculation at this point.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

News on a non-brokered private placement for $5M at $0.93 per share without warrants and with no commissions. That's a pretty good deal for them to sell at a slight premium without warrants - avoids excessive dilution but let's them get some much needed capital:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/992369/argex-announces-ctl-process-breakthrough

The share price is holding up surprisingly well during this market downturn.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

do you see visible uptrend in this anytime soon?


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

That term is too imprecise to mean anything to me.

The next thing the company needs to do is prove further upscale of their chemical processing up to 10 kg/day. At that point they will likely try to obtain funds to build a chemical processing plant and secure a Titanium ore supply to process.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I have to thank HP for reminding me about Argex Titanium (name changed in July to emphasize Titanium production rather than mining which they may not pursue).

They completed the scale-up from 30 grams/day Titanium to 10 kg/day which was a 3000% scale-up. It was a pilot project to demonstrate they could scale up production to industrial type levels. Their short-term goal is to build a plant capable of producing 50, 000 tonnes a year:

http://argex.ca/documents/Argex Pilot Plant Successful - Final.pdf

They are now actively engaged in the process of designing and building a plant as the next phase for this company.

They continue to be engaged in talks with PPG about becoming a major supplier of Ti for their chemical applications.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

blin10 said:


> do you see visible uptrend in this anytime soon?


Maybe now - you be the judge.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

here we go again with argex & orbite aluminae. If not twins, they sure do sound like kissing cousins.

isn't jovian capital behind them both ?

both claim to have developed a game-changing new method of processing a widely-used metal from rock ore.

and both happen to have big mineral deposits of that ore conveniently located in quebec, or so they say. Although the processing/mine property marriage at argex is reportedly turning rocky.

take orbite's deposits at murdochville QC. Ever since world war II murdochville in the gaspésie has meant mine failure. Noranda built a big smelter at murdochville with government help, but it failed. No one has ever heard of a mining company that succeeded in murdochville. The only name in quebec mining that's more of a widow-maker than murdochville right now is Asbestos QC.


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## blin10 (Jun 27, 2011)

lol pie, you're killing it :]


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

The stock is up 140% over 1 year. The market believes in this story right now as does PPG.

You are wrong about the scale up - it went off without a hitch. The only trouble was getting an order filled for a piece of equipment needed to do the job. Once they got it they expanded their operation and got up to 10 kg/day and actually refined the process to decrease the processing costs which increases the profitability of the operation.

Titanium is being increasingly used in multiple applications and is becoming harder to find. In particular, it is hard to get high purity Titanium that is useful in chemical applications and they have found a way to do it.

You can believe whether the business will succeed or not but they do have a proven large scale way to process low-grade Titanium containing ore into high-grade Titanium dioxide in an environmentally friendly way with little wastage and virtually no tailings. I think they have a bright future. You seem to disagree and that is fine. For now the market agrees with me.

Right now this is very speculative as they have no proven revenue stream and that is the bet you make when you invest - that they will eventually produce a profit stream.


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

no, the market has not been agreeing with edmonton during the time frame that he has been promoting this stock.

edmonton commenced promoting argex on 17 april 2012 with a maiden post that inaugurated this thread. On that day, 17 april/12, RGX closed at 1.20. Yesterday, RGX closed at 1.10. This drop represents a loss of 8.33%.

here was edmonton's rosy prediction for RGX at 1.20 on 17 april/12:



> " The buyers are putting tremendous pressure on this stock price and are gobbling up all the available shares on the market and making the chart go parabolic."


it is easy to see how unfortunate the hype has been. During the 5 months from april to late september/12, RGX sagged into the 60-penny range as expectations flagged. It has risen recently, but it is not clear whether this rise is due to recent heavy pumping throughout the internet or whether it is due to recent mild news that the project is on target.

one could say that losing 8.33% over 5 months is a shabby sub-performance. However, compared to some of edmonton's other touts here in cmf forum, shedding 8.33% is actually a reasonable outcome. It is certainly not on the disastrous scale of gasfrac or catch-the-wind, where investors have lost well over half their money.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

Again, why talk about buying at the peak.

If you believed in it you could have accumulated in the 65 cent range and have an 80% gain.

I am up about 30% overall with an 83 cent ACB.

Those who would sell on a blip in a stock like this have no business buying it.

143% return yoy = market belief over the past year.

stock momentarily got overbought.

Industrial type scale-up is proven which takes some risk off the table and timeline of rise suggests the stock has moved on that news.

The next step up will be plant construction and revenue stream - timeline is 1.5 years.


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## PMREdmonton (Apr 6, 2009)

I just read this report from Ubika research analysts and their opinions on the stock.

http://www.smallcappower.com/posts/article-argex-titanium-top-performer-30-11-12

This is a critical period for them as they now have to build a processing plant, secure supply of Ti containing ore (possibly begin a mining operation on their properties) and then produce industrial amounts of high-purity Ti for chemical applications, possibly through PPG. 

I still believe this company is very attractively valued because they will be the low-cost producer of a scarce resource whose price has escalated nicely over the last 5 years. The ability to use low-cost feedstock to produce high grade Ti is what makes the company so valuable. Their product has been verified by PPG as suitable for their high end use in pigments which is a considerable achievement given the low-grade ore they started with. On top of that they produce very little tailings and get hematite and vanadium as value-added byproducts. The energy they need in heat to regenerate their hydrochloric acid can be sourced close to the plant.

Other possibilities to gain higher results more quickly would be if cash-rich PPG just tries to acquire them (hopefully at a premium) to then put the squeeze on their competitors by internalizing the low-cost Ti supply for themselves. Or they could use their might to set up several plants around the world and then become the supplier of Ti to competitors like Dupont and Sherwin Williams.

I still prefer the option of them remaining an independent company which builds several processing plants around the world near Ti ore supplies and use the high margins on their processing capabilities to produce a high return on capital investment.

Anyhow, the usual disclaimer that you could lose your shirt on this one. They still don't have any revenue, any secured Ti ore supply and haven't built their plant. Market cap is about 160M now so it'll get harder to move the needle now and the stock price may be dormant for awhile unless they get bought out which I am hoping will not happen.


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## junior minor (Jun 5, 2019)

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releas...tcy-and-insolvency-act-canada--845051904.html
A shame, really. Like the northern diamond company, it didn't really go as well as intended. The province of Quebec lost five millions to that endeavor. I'm guessing the potential was there if the purchase had been possible. Sorry to hear that it went wrong. I found this thread while looking for informations on Vanadium. Will post it elsewhere 
:apologetic:


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