Strategic Metals (SMD:TSXV) has enjoyed some serious insider buying from one of its largest shareholders, Condire Investors, of late.
On April 22nd, Condire, which is an insider to the company, bought 1,025,000 shares at a price of $0.40. Strategic Metals bought 100,000 shares on that day as well.
Doug Eaton, the company’s President and CEO, bought 100,000 shares on April 16th.
The 1 million share purchase on April 22nd was not reported until earlier this week, but has now catapulted Stragetic to the top of the all TSX Venture issuers in respect to insider buying, according to TMX Money.
Condire’s most recent purchase prior to April 22nd was in late January when it purchased 549,000 shares at a price of $0.385 per share.
These are significant purchases considering Strategic has only 89 million shares outstanding.
Strategic is focused in the Yukon and is a project generator to the umph degree.
Strategic Metals Ltd. has interests in more than 140 properties assembled by an accomplished exploration team utilizing a proprietary database. Strategic is a project generator at a very large scale and currently has 12 properties optioned to third parties.
Through project farm-outs, investments, and royalty sales, Strategic has been able to rapidly grow its treasury to more than $34 million.
Condire Investors
On November 6th, 2013, Strategic Metals announced an addition to its Board and the appointment of Vice-President of Communications. An excerpt from this press release which highlights the involvement of Condire Investors is below.
Strategic Metals Ltd. (TSX-V: SMD) (“Strategic” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce the appointments of Ryan E. Schedler to the Company’s Board of Directors and Richard Drechsler as Vice-President Communications.
“The addition of Ryan and Richard to the Strategic team increases our strength and depth” states Doug Eaton, President and CEO. “Ryan’s business and financial experience should open new doors for the Company while Richard’s enthusiasm will help us address the increasingly important tasks of First Nations and community consultation.”
Mr. Schedler is an investment professional with a technical background and over twenty years of experience in natural resources and related industries. He currently serves as a Managing Director of Condire Investors in Dallas, Texas and is a director of International Northair Mines. Prior to co-founding Condire in 2012, Mr. Schedler spent almost a decade with Trellus Management, an investment firm based in New York City. Previously, he was an investment banker with Lehman Brothers and BT Alex Brown/Deutsche Bank. Mr. Schedler began his career as field officer with the US Army Corps of Engineers, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Lafayette College, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Click here to read the entire press release.
Schedler’s firm has been stepping up in Strategic Metals’ open market of late.
On Thursday Strategic Metals traded for $0.385 per share and had a market cap of $34.27 million.
In that same November 6th, 2013 press release, Strategic announced it had a current cash position of more than $34 million. The company has not released news in 2014, but, on its home page as of May 1st 2014, states that it has in excess of $34 million in its treasury.
Strategic is not the only junior resource stock being valued at, or less than, cash value. This will become a more normal occurrence as the markets head into the weak summer months.
Strategic states on its homepage that it currently owns 8.6% of ATAC Resources Ltd (ATC:TSXV). ATAC had an incredible beginning to 2014, rising from a low of $0.52 to a high of $1.73. It has since been hammered down to $1.23 per share, but nevertheless had a market cap of $141.36 million Thursday.
Simple math values Strategic’s ownership in ATAC at over $10 million.
Remember, ATAC is a stock that traded above $10 per share in 2011.
Strategic also reports owning 31.2% of Rockhaven Resources Ltd. If Strategic still holds its 31% position of Rockhaven it would be worth nearly $4.7 million today. Rockhaven had a market cap of $15.8 million Thursday afternoon.
The TSX Venture has had a decent year thus far and is still up considerably from its December lows. The Venture was up a point Thursday afternoon to 1003.14.
Strategic is a company uniquely positioned to weather this ongoing resource bear market.
