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SAN FRANCISCO – “This is a 3 to 5X.”

When I hear asset managers say that, I recall 2003, when commodities equities ran briefly, then stumbled and fell.

This time around, projections of wealth creation based on drill assays unnerve me. I am one of those researchers who “buy fear and sell hope,” and I transact only with miners, engineers, execs and geos I know personally. And on properties I have walked, climbed or gone underground.

Thus, in these accelerating and high-risk commodities equities markets, when I look at a prospector that is already on a run, I have to get my nerve up. There are several worth perusing. One of them, Gold Canyon Resources (TSX: V.GCU, Stock Forum), is sitting on sizeable gold grades across significant meters in the Red Lake Mining district of Ontario.

Investors have stepped up to the plate in the past two weeks after seeing the Springpole assays. A summer drill program is striking fairly consistent grades of gold and silver in breccias-hosted pods and veins. Still, Gold Canyon stock is now at three times its $50 million market capitalization of August.

To believe the momentum continues is to believe further assays due in December will show lengthy intercepts of significant gold grades at this alkaline intrusion deposit. If you are doing the math, Springpole might hold as much as eight million ounces of gold. Thus, even with a lowly peg of $100-per-ounce in the ground, Barrick Gold (TSX: T.ABX, Stock Forum) or another large miner would need to spend about $800 million on a purchase. On a fully-diluted basis, the $2 stock one day could be worth $7 or more. Gold Canyon has other projects as well.

Flip side of coin: I ran into Calibre Gold (TSX: V.CXB, Stock Forum) at the recent SF Hard Assets show. The Nicaragua prospector caught my eye 18 months ago because of CEO Robert Brown, who once headed Canada exploration for Barrick Gold. Oh, and Doug Forster, a Vancouver-based geologist and financier who has been connected to several successful mining groups, most recently Potash One. Calibre’s Mark Caruthers told me he was hunting along communications avenues and says the team is getting ready for some serious steps ahead. I hope so. This company has yet to join the rally for gold, silver and copper equities. Calibre has its fingers in at least five gold, silver and copper concessions in Nicaragua, maybe more thanks in part to ties to B2Gold. Several companies, including Yamana Gold (TSX: T.YRI, Stock Forum), own shares of Calibre. Alas, so do I, at a higher price than its 12-cent shares. Lucky for me, it’s only $4,000 worth.

Drill plays & Cash: When a “play” combines with a corporate treasury that does not require immediate replenishing, that rocks my boat. Gold Standard Ventures’ Jonathan Adwe says the tiny company is drilling in Nevada. “We have 15 holes planned and $6.2 million in cash. There are three rigs on property right now, and we have the geologist, Dave Mathewson, who discovered the Rain District in Nevada in 1992.”

Gold Standard (TSX: V.GV, Stock Forum) and its Railroad Project are near the city of Elko. Newmont Mining (TSX: T.NEM, Stock Forum) is putting its nearby Emigrant Project into production. Other companies in the area, whose characteristic is collapsed breccias (low sulphidation gold deposits) include Evolving Gold (TSX: V.EVG, Stock Forum) and US Gold (TSX: T.UXG, Stock Forum). Mr. Mathewson, lead geologist, once headed Newmont Nevada’s exploration unit.

“This is a big alteration system on the Carlin Trend,” Mr. Mathewson tells me. Drill results could catapult Gold Standard’s 60-cent Canadian shares. Assays likely will come in the next several weeks.

Beneath The Sea: We dined in San Francisco this week with CAROL and BOB ALLEN of Colombia [Grupo de Bullet, Continental Gold (TSX: T.CNL, Stock Forum)] and Frank Holmes of U.S. Global Investors. Aside from the cioppino, risotto mare and baccala salad at Sotto di Mare in North Beach, I got a serving of three up-and-comers on their natural resources plates. More in Ticker Trax. Bibs are required. (See photo above.)

Accelerated markets: Commodities markets continue to accelerate. We are probing another small company that aspires to gold in multiple jurisdictions: Thomas Klein’s Golden Phoenix Minerals (OTC:BB: GPXM, Stock Forum), which is active in Nevada, Ontario and Peru. I also am looking at companies that prospect for tantalum, tellurium and scandium.

Note: Thom Calandra owns none of the stocks in this report.

Ticker Trax™ Please see tickertrax.com to learn more about the subscriber service. For an index of free Thom Calandra articles, please click here. For an explanation of our strategies, research methods and disclosure procedures regarding of Ticker Trax and our Stockhouse reports, please visit our readily available Stockhouse articles at Stockhouse.com. Please see: Stockhouse articles – Core Box Revealed. Companies whose site tours I attend for research purposes pay part or all of my airfare and hotel. For the password-protected Ticker Trax library, please see: www.tickertrax.com/Login.aspx.

HOLDINGS: Thom’s holdings are listed for Stockhouse members at www.Stockhouse.com under the “portfolio setting” for user TCALANDRA. It is public and free to view. He owns shares of about 30 companies.

THOM CALANDRA of Ticker Trax helps his audience find value in a quagmire of investment choices. Thom was founding editor of MarketWatch, CBS MarketWatch and FT MarketWatch. He was the voice of Thom Calandra’s StockWatch and The Calandra Report. Thom has been covering life-sciences and natural resources since 1988.

Regards,

Don