quote:
Originally posted by rickp:
Klempar77, Where did you see the PR?????
A Billion Shares Traded. Not For the NYSE. Stock Patrol Means for CMKM Alone
Jun 24, 2004 (financialwire.net via COMTEX) --
(FinancialWire) A billion share day would be good day for many stock exchanges, but it is almost routine for one company on the pink sheets, CMKM Diamonds, Inc. (OTC: CMKX), says Stock Patrol, an Investor Resource partner at Investrend Information (http://www.investrendinformation.com) .
Full reporting on this company and numerous others of dubious investment grade may be found at http://www.stockpatrol.com.
Activity in the company's stock, which included trading of 3.2 billion shares traded on Tuesday and 2,147,483,600 shares traded Monday, has been so great that the company appears to have had its own message board, at http://www.casavantmining.com, until it was temporarily shut down last Friday.
Urban Casavant is president of CMKM Diamonds. He explained the shutdown: "I would like to thank Melvin O'Neil for taking the necessary steps in shutting down our Message Board. It had come to his attention that the Message Board, which we provided as a service to our investors, was being used by unsavory persons to sling racial slurs. Melvin knew that this would not be tolerated by the company and so took the steps to shut down the Board until strict procedures can be implemented to ensure the proper use of the Board. An investigation into the improper use of the Message Board is expected to be launched by the Company shortly."
Stock Patrol said the company's volume has been "a bit odd," inasmuch as "the historical trading records available on the Investors Hub website indicate that CMKM also traded 2,147,483,600 shares on each of the following dates within the last month: May 25th, June 1st, June 4th, June 7th, June 9th, June 16th and June 17th. What are the chances of that happening? David Duval was a better bet to win the US Open."
Said Stock Patrol:
As we discovered, that recurring number is more likely the product of technical limitations than coincidence. Trading volume of 2,147,483,600 shares a day is the optimum number that reporting systems can post in the historical records available online. But while that may explain the odd repetition, it also opens the possibility that daily trading was well in excess of 2,147,483,600 on those days.
The overwhelming interest in CMKM stock is even more remarkable since it does not appear that any single brokerage firm has been driving the process. No firm has filed a Form 15c-211 to be listed as a market maker for that stock on the Pink Sheets.
While the share price for CMKM, .0006, remains microscopic, the trading volume is nonetheless noteworthy. Investors - albeit collectively - have been willing to spend almost $1.3 million a day to buy shares of CMKM, and on June 22nd they upped the ante to almost $2 million.
And billion share volume is hardly an aberration for CMKM. In recent weeks, daily trading volume for CMKM stock has repeatedly exceeded 1 billion shares. It signifies heady enthusiasm for a Company that does not file regular reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and whose financial condition remains a mystery.
So why are investors flocking to buy - and sell - billions of CMKM shares? They may just be searching for diamonds in the dark.
For over a year, investors have not been privy to verifiable information concerning CMKM, its existing business, its financial status, its corporate structure, its management team, or its immediate and long-term prospects. In the absence of public filings, those details are largely unavailable. Indeed, the minimal information available about CMKM has come principally from press releases and the corporate website.
What can investors learn about CMKM's business? Far too little. CMKM's website describes it as a "new company involved in the exploration for diamonds in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan." How new? The Company, which used to be called Casavant Mining Kimberlite International, Inc. was incorporated in Nevada on April 18, 2002.
CMKM says that it holds mineral claims to more than 1.4 million acres in the Fort a la Corne area of Saskatchewan. While the Company suggests that diamonds have been discovered in Saskatchewan in general, and Fort a la Corne in particular, there is nothing to indicate that CMKM has uncovered a source of diamonds that justifies the current level of interest in its common stock.
Indeed, while CMKM recently announced the discovery of minerals that were "positive" for "diamond content," the Company has not offered any expert analysis that would indicate that there is any likelihood this will lead to the discovery of marketable diamonds.
In other words, there is no sign that this Company is, or will soon become, a revenue producing business.
The mystery surrounding CMKM emanates largely from its decision to cease providing audited financial information to shareholders and potential investors. The Company stopped filing public reports in July 2003, shortly after it failed to file its Form 10-Q report for the quarter ended March 31, 2003. On May 16, 2003, CMKM advised the SEC that the March 31st report would be filed late (but no more than five days late) because it needed "further time" to prepare financial statements. Late turned out to be never.
In the absence of current financial statements, there is no simple way for investors to determine the assets, liabilities, revenues or expenses of CMKM - or even the number of outstanding shares. Some details about CMKM, at least circa early 2003, can be culled from an "Information Statement" filed by the Company with the SEC on February 3, 2003. That Information Statement offers modest insight into CMKM's very brief history as a public company engaged in mineral exploration.
Prior to November 25, 2002, the entity now known as CMKM was involved in a completely different enterprise. The Company, which was then called Cyber Mark International, Inc., had been in the electronic game business, although without appreciable success. According to its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2002, Cyber Mark's assets consisted of $344 in cash. There were no operating revenues. At the time the Company had approximately 352 million shares outstanding. The balance sheet was dismal - but at least there was a financial statement for investors to review.
On the other hand, the value of Casavant at that time (and CMKM at the present) seems to be a matter of some conjecture. The Company did not file any financial reports for Casavant, either at the time of the merger or subsequently. Consequently, investors must rely upon fragmentary information in the "Information Statement," which asserts that the Casavant mineral claims were valued at $10 million "in situ" at the time of the merger, not including pre-merger expenses of $3 million. It did not say how Casavant arrived at that valuation.
The number of outstanding shares increased exponentially soon after the merger. As of January 15, 2003, more than 7.2 billion common shares were outstanding. In order to accommodate the twenty-fold increase in outstanding shares in the months immediately following the merger, the Company increased its authorized common stock from 500 million to 10 billion shares.
Most of that stock - almost 7 billion shares or 85.8% of the outstanding stock - was purportedly held by individuals, corporations and trusts who acquired their interests "in consideration of $2,000,000 in cash and the forbearance of monies due them for loans and services rendered in connection with the Casavant Mineral Claims and their assignment to the Company."
The Information Statement did not provide a specific breakdown between the amount of cash paid and the value of services rendered in exchange for the shares. It did state that none of those shareholders controlled more than 4.9% of the Company's stock - meaning that they fell short of the 5% threshold that would have required their identities to be disclosed. In this case, however, the Information Statement suggested that information about those shareholders would be revealed. It was not.
Another 770 million shares were held by CMKM's President Urban Casavant and members of his family.
According to the Information Statement, the Casavant family, and the unidentified shareholders who owned 85.8% of the Company's shares, all voted in favor of the amendments increasing the authorized shares. But how was that possible since most of their shares could not have been issued until after the amendment was approved? After all, only 500 million shares were authorized when the merger was completed, and 352 million of them had already been issued before Casavant entered the picture.
Before the Company dropped the curtain on its public filings, it revealed one other stock issuance. On May 2, 2003, the Company filed a Form S-8 Registration Statement covering more than 1 billion shares that had been issued to two consultants.
It also filed a Form 8-K on April 25, 2003, indicating that the Company's President, Urban Casavant, had agreed not to sell, pledge or otherwise dispose of his 600 million shares of CMKM stock for three years. Presumably, that eliminates Mr. Casavant as one of the parties contributing to the recent sale volume for CMKM - unless, of course, that agreement was subsequently amended or revoked.
Unfortunately, these dated details do not reveal how many shares of CMKM are outstanding today, or even how many shares are presently authorized. Has the Company increased its authorized capital beyond 10 billion shares? It would seem likely that the answer to that question is yes.
According to information available from the Pink Sheets, CMKM split its common shares 2 for 1 on September 12, 2003. Based upon the most recent figures cited by CMKM in a public filing (7.2 billion shares issued as of January 15, 2003) there would have been at least 14.4 billion shares outstanding after the stock split.
And, again according to the Pink Sheets, there was more. On September 19, 2003, one week after the stock split, the Company issued a dividend of one additional share for each share held as of that date. In other words, at least 28.8 billion shares would have been outstanding - more than double the 10 billion shares authorized in early 2003.
To make matters even more confusing, on October 10, 2003 the Company issued a press release announcing the retirement of 9,020,371,427 shares. Then, on November 6th, the Company declared that it had retired more than 20 billion shares - more than double the number of shares that had been authorized in February 2003.
So just how many shares of CMKM are floating around? Without public filings there is just no way to be certain.
In the absence of public filings, information on CMKM has come via a series of press releases. Unfortunately, those press releases reveal little information that would demonstrate the viability of CMKM's business or the value of its stock.
CMKM has regularly relied upon press releases to spread snippets of news, as it did when it revealed that billions of shares had been surrendered to the Company's treasury. Those late 2003 press releases also suggested that drilling in search of diamonds was imminent, but gave no sign that it actually had commenced.
In early 2004, the Company began to issue press releases with even greater regularity - but offered little useful information for investors trying to assess the value of CMKM. Consider the following:
On February 26, 2004 the Company issued a press release announcing that it would participate, together with several other U.S. and Canadian public companies, in an airborne survey of the Fort a la Corne Canadian kimberlite fields.
The survey, according to CMKM's President, Urban Casavant, would "identify known as well as search for new potential kimberlite pipes within our claims."
What does this mean? Kimberlite occurs in "kimberlite pipes," vertical columns of rock that rise from below the earth's surface and sometimes contain diamonds. Sometime, but not always. And while the Company's press release states that another survey in the Fort a la Corne area produced "outstanding known results," it conceded that "[t]here is no guarantee, however, that the survey will identify any kimberlite or kimberlite pipes." Even if it did, the Company cautioned "there is no guarantee that any such kimberlite pipes will contain any diamonds."
And the Company might have gone on to say - but did not - even the presence of diamond "content" does not guarantee the existence of marketable diamonds.
The next two press releases, on March 2nd and 9th, revealed the Company's plan to change its trading symbol from CMKM to CMKX - hardly the sort of news that would create interest among thoughtful investors.
The next press release, issued on March 11th, announced plans to begin drilling on privately owned land where CMKM owned mineral rights. While the Company promised to provide a live video stream of the drilling, it acknowledged that there was no guarantee that the exploration or drilling would result in any economic benefit.
If the March 11th press release offered little meaningful information, the next press release, issued on March 13th, provided even less. On March 13th the Company declared that it had begun its drilling "two days ahead of schedule," targeting areas with the "highest probability of a kimberlite find." The Company did not say how it had identified those target areas. Once again, however, it reminded the public that there was no guarantee that the project would produce anything of economic value to the Company.
The March 13th press release also stated that CMKM had secured funding for "an aggressive six month drill program." It did not reveal the amount of that funding, how it had been obtained, or its terms. Consequently, shareholders and investors were once again left without significant details that might indicate the Company's financial condition.
A press release with the next drilling update appeared on March 18th. The Company stated that its exploration and drilling program was proceeding as planned, that drilling on one "target hole" had reached sufficient depth, and that samples would be analyzed. It also disclosed that CMKM had purchased certain drilling equipment, although neither the cost of that equipment nor the source of funds were revealed. The Company promised to drill more holes, but still, there was no sign that CMKM had discovered any marketable diamonds or produced any alternative source of revenue.
On March 22nd, the Company issued a press release announcing that it had acquired a 25% interest in twenty-seven mining claims for consideration of $50,000. The Company promised that $200,000 (Canadian) would be spent to develop the property over the next year, but did not specify how those funds would be raised. Once again, there was no indication that the claims had, or were likely to, produce any meaningful quantity of marketable diamonds or other valuable minerals.
The onslaught of minimally informative press releases continued the next day, March 23rd, with an announcement that video footage of the Company's drilling was now available on the corporate website.
Shortly after 11:00 am on March 29th, the Company issued a press release announcing that kimberlite ore had been discovered on property located in Saskatchewan and jointly owned by CMKM and three other companies. The Company, which said the discovery would be named "The Carolyn Pipe," after the wife of CMKM's President Urban Casavant, noted that it was "too early for specifics on the mineral content and/or the possibility of diamonds," but claimed that the preliminary test was very encouraging and noted that "the kimberlite pipe is consistent with other diamondiferous kimberlite bodies located in close proximity."
Later that day, the Company issued a press release "updating" progress on The Carolyn Pipe. What merited the intra-day bulletin? The Company said that its drilling was well past 600 feet, and still in kimberlite ore.
The following day the Company continued what was beginning to seem like its foot-by-foot progress reports. The March 30th press release declared that drilling had passed 900 feet and was still in kimberlite ore.
Then there was silence. After the frenzy of press releases issued between February 26th and March 30th, the Company stopped issuing reports for almost two months. When it resumed, there was more news on The Carolyn Pipe.
A May 27th press release stated that the Company had completed its first phase of drilling at The Carolyn Pipe, having drilled five holes, four of which intersected kimberlite. The Company said that samples from two holes had been sent to an independent laboratory for analysis.
The press release addressed some of CMKM's other pending plans. The company revealed that plans to drill on its "Green Lake" claims would be delayed because of the potential difficulty of drilling through ice. It also said that its aerial survey of the Fort a la Corne area was continuing.
On June 10th, the Company announced that the independent laboratory, identified as Saskatchewan Research Council, had reported that samples from The Carolyn Pipe were "positive" for diamond content. The press release did not elaborate on those findings or offer any comment on the value or potential marketability of the diamond content, but again warned that there is no guarantee of an economic benefit to the Company.
The Company did not say that while the presence of "diamond content" may well be a promising sign, it does not in itself signify the value of the claim. It did, however, note - once again - that "[t]here is no guarantee that further exploration or drilling will produce any economic benefit to the company or the shareholders of the company."
Between February 26, 2004 and June 11, 2004, CMKM had issued eleven press releases noting its exploration efforts, but had not revealed facts that would establish the viability of the Company, its financial condition, or the potential value of its claims. The Company recently issued another press release worth noting. On June 3, 2004, the Company addressed an issue that had remained on the backburner for almost six months.
On December 8, 2003, CMKM had announced its intention to spin-off its subsidiary, Casavant Mining International (CSI) as a separate public company. At the time, CSI apparently was involved in mining for zinc deposits. On December 19th, CMKM provided some details of the potential spin-off, saying that it would involve a share exchange with Mirador Corporation, a company trading on the Pink Sheets.
We found no further mention of the proposed spin-off until June 3, 2004, when CMKM issued a press release stating that the Mirador transaction had been abandoned because the Company wanted to focus on its diamond drilling program. The press release also indicated that CMKM planned to change its transfer agent, although it offered no explanation for the switch.
These press releases kept CMKM in the public eye, but provided only a modicum of information, and no financial details to guide investors or comfort shareholders. Is that about to change? On June 4, 2004, the Company announced that it had retained a securities law firm and planned "to begin the process of bringing the company into full compliance in order to be fully reporting." A second press release later that day disclosed the name of the law firm, Edwards & Angell. A third announcement, on June 16th, said that the lawyers had begun to work on "securities and corporate issues faced by the company."
Exactly what "issues" does the Company face? Like so many details concerning CMKM, that remains a mystery. The June 16th press release quoted the Company's new attorney, Roger Glenn of Edwards & Angell, who stated that "[w]e have been retained by the company to resolve the problems it has been facing, and we expect to devote significant efforts immediately toward that goal. The company has advised us that it is dedicated to complying fully with all requirements on it, and we are pleased to act as counsel to it on that basis."
The press release did not enumerate those "problems."
Public filings, if they do resume, could clarify all of these "issues," and provide verifiable details of The Carolyn Pipe "diamond content" discovery. Until that happens, it is difficult to understand why investors would want to jump aboard the daily billion share volume train, Stock Patrol concluded.
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.. but i'm saving that money to hire the help!
