Greg's Note: The legend of an untapped goldmine, teaming with treasures yet to be found, sounds like something out of an Indiana Jones sequel. But Chris Mayer has word of such an untapped mine, rich with bounty just waiting to be uncovered. Only this isn't a legendary undiscovered goldmine. We're talking about oil here. Is Chris on to something, or is he cracking his whip in the wrong direction? Let us know what you think at: greg@whiskeyandgunpowder.com Whiskey & Gunpowder
Isabella Lucy Bird (1831-1904) was an amazing traveler and a pretty good writer. I have a soft spot for adventurers. Especially for those who can write well. In her time, she traveled all over the world. She traveled throughout Asia. She lived for a time among the Ainu people in northern Japan. Bird also made it to Hawaii, where she climbed the Mauna Loa volcano. She also wandered in Australia and rode horses in Persia. This is just a snippet of her life's itinerary. She got around. In 1873, Bird set off for the Rocky Mountains. Back then, the Rocky Mountain region was an untamed wilderness, peopled with a few hardscrabble pioneers. Bird began her journey in San Francisco. She headed west across Nevada and then trudged into the Colorado Territory. Bird set her adventures down in a series of letters to her sister Henrietta. She stitched them together in a book, published in 1879. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Special~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Big Mining Gains Without the Big Risk Owning mining stocks is a great way to make big gains. During our current boom in resource stocks, now is the best time to get in. Unfortunately, there is usually a big risk associated with these stocks. Not anymore. Here's a way to get the big mining gains, without the big risks. Click here... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here she records her vivid descriptions of the landscapes of the Rockies. She writes of the "snow-splotched mountains," the glades and sloping lawns, the elk and the bears. One bear came so close she "heard the grass, crisp with hoar frost, crackle under his feet." She writes of the profound stillness and "cherry-fringed beds of dry streams." And the "deep, vast, canyons…[that] lie in purple gloom." It's that vastness and beauty, that sense of exploring, that still gives the Rocky Mountains a romantic aura even to this day. I enjoyed reading Bird's letters…and they got me in the mood for today's column. Today, despite all of our sophisticated toys, the Rocky Mountains remain mysterious in ways of oil and gas. Oilmen and speculators wonder just how much oil and gas might lie in this region. Some of the hottest exploratory regions in America lie in the Rocky Mountain region. In particular, in the so-called Bakken Trend. Steven Ward is a former employee of Amoco Oil. He now works as an independent oil analyst specializing in Canadian and Western European oil companies. He wrote a neat piece that I stumbled on as I was researching my next recommendation. The title was "The Bakken Trend: Lost Dutchmen Mine of the Oil Patch?" The Lost Dutchmen Mine is a legendary gold mine somewhere in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix. It's a fascinating story. If you Google "Lost Dutchmen Mine," you'll come up with all kinds of interesting commentary. But Ward used the Dutchmen legend as a takeoff to talk about various similar legends about oil riches in oddball places. "Stories abound about great oil riches in faraway places yet undiscovered; the foot of the Himalayas, the Spratly Islands, the Atlantic Rockall volcanic peak," Ward writes. He relates how similar legends exist about the continental U.S. and Canada. Specifically, these legends proliferate around a region called the Bakken Trend. It lies in the giant Williston Basin that stretches across parts of the Dakotas, Montana, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He writes about geochemist L.C. Price, who worked for the U.S. Geological Survey. Price delivered a stunning report on the Bakken Trend. He concluded that it contained 200-500 billion barrels of oil. He turned in his report to the USGS, which began its review. But Price died in 2002 with the USGS still holding onto the report, refusing to release it. Here you have similarities to the story of the Lost Dutchmen Mine. In this tale, a German immigrant named Jacob Walz supposedly found gold in the Superstition Mountains. He died before vindicating his claim. Ward writes, "Bakken oil remained elusive…the stuff that makes a good story around bars filled with oilmen." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~Special~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your Chance to Repeat History There are hundreds of investment stories that are famous for making investors extremely wealthy. The only problem is, they're usually tales of the past; stories of lucky investors who got in on the ground floor of something about to take off. Well now's your chance to repeat history. You can be at the foreground of the next big boom, and you could double your money in just three years. How is history repeating itself? Click here to find out… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Long story short, the Bakken is getting attention again. New work on the area confirms the essence of Price's research, if not the 200-500 billion barrel estimate. "Finally," Ward writes, "it now appears that the Bakken Rush is finally on in the U.S. as well as in Canada." A number of companies have been buying up unexplored land areas in the Bakken. EOG Resources is one significant producer in the Bakken. Marathon Oil, according to Ward, is the only integrated oil company with an office in North Dakota. Its sole mission: Explore the Bakken. "Still doubting?" Ward writes. He offers more recent analysis by geologists, from 2006. This work put the estimated barrels in place at 300 billion in North Dakota and Montana alone. Also, geologist Julie LeFever, who worked with L.C. Price on his initial report, published a paper adding that additional barrels lie in various layers of the Bakken. "The rush for the Bakken is finally on," Ward writes. "Investors should catch it if they can." I recently recommended a play on the Bakken Trend to the subscribers of my investment service, Mayer's Special Situations. The company I recommended holds significant assets in the Bakken. It also has another, potentially bigger asset in a rich basin in Wyoming. This stock has already performed extremely well since I recommended it, but I'm still expecting larger gains. Meanwhile, I'm continuing to explore for other stocks that are focused on the Bakken Trend. I would encourage all investors to do the same. The investment opportunities in the Bakken are just beginning to emerge. Regards, P.S.: Whenever you're looking to make gains in mining, there are always inherent risks involved. A company can have all the access, exploration equipment, and necessary assets to mine an untapped part of the world, but there is no guarantee for success. But that is not the case when it comes to the "Chaffee Royalty Program." That's a way to make the big mining gains you want, without any of the risks. And this program is open to new investors for the first time in six years. Check out the "Chaffee Royalty Program" by clicking here… |
Whiskey & Gunpowder Special Reports $1,000 Gold and Rising... 5 Entirely New Ways To Play the Gold Trend The 10 Shocking Reasons for China's Pollution Problem Geothermal Energy: Investment in the Future Here's One Coal Stock That's Set to Skyrocket Investing in Exchange Traded Funds The Real Story Behind the True Gold Bull Market If someone forwarded you this copy, please look here to start your own subscription. Wanna let us know what you thought of today's issue? Now you can... click on this link. Whiskey & Gunpowder is a free e-mail service brought to you by a team of rebellious brigands. If you have not already done so, please click here to confirm your subscription. This will help us ensure you get every Whiskey & Gunpowder without interruption. Are you having trouble receiving your Whiskey & Gunpowder? You can ensure its arrival in your mailbox here. Please note: we sent this e-mail to lemmetry@gmail.com because you subscribed to this service. To end your Whiskey & Gunpowder e-mail subscription, click here. Nothing in this e-mail should be considered personalized investment advice. Although our employees may answer your general customer service questions, they are not licensed under securities laws to address your particular investment situation. No communication by our employees to you should be deemed as personalized investment advice.We expressly forbid our writers from having a financial interest in any security recommended to our readers. All of our employees and agents must wait 24 hours after on-line publication or 72 hours after the mailing of a printed-only publication prior to following an initial recommendation. Any investments recommended in this letter should be made only after consulting with your investment advisor and only after reviewing the prospectus or financial statements of the company. © 2008 Agora Financial, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Protected by copyright laws of the United States and international treaties. This newsletter may only be used pursuant to the subscription agreement and any reproduction, copying, or redistribution (electronic or otherwise, including on the World Wide Web), in whole or in part, is strictly prohibited without the express written permission of Agora Financial, LLC. 808 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore MD 21202. |
