Page 4 N E W TYPE O F MI N E VEN TILA TIO N DUCTI NG En ergy sa vin g from 4 0 to 85 En su r es air qua lity b y it s su s tainability C lie n t s mo s t popul ar comm e n t s Bet te r t h a n exp ec te d N o le a ka ge W e ne ed m ore C o nt ac t us 1 8 66 79 7 94 36 C AN U S M E X We bs i t e WWWP L A S TICM IN E R C O M AU R ICO G OL D BA R R ICK G L E N CO R E XSTR ATA IAMGOL D VAL E RI C H MON T Proud suppl ie r o f f resh air a t It appea rs the Canadian minin g sector is heading into hard times Whether we bounce back short term or not f nancial and value issues will weigh on small companies for at least the next year or two The old way of thinking and speculating needs to be thrown out the window as this is an entirely new investing environment There is literally hundreds of low quality or mediocre exploration proj ects publicly traded right now And hundreds more looking for something All of these companies hope to raise capital from a shrink ing pool of fnanciers or investment banks willing to take on the risk and we also have fewer retail investors willing to speculate because many have lost a huge percentage of thei r portfolio on these stocks over the past 18 months In the junior mining sector compa nies today and tomorrow will need a strong balance sheet a very high im pact exploration project or grossly discounted proven reserves Also if the company s share structure is a mess then that is another serious con cern At some point the valuation has to be justifed or the stock will come crash ing back down once insiders decide the promotion al party is over or reality sets in that the company was overhyped All that is well and good but there are two facts that must never be for gotten amid the tears falling on Bay Street 1the world meaning our modern so ciety needs minerals There are no tall buildings no electronic gadgets no weapons of war no kitche n appli ances and no computers without base and precious metals They are abso lutely essential Period 2mining is a cyclical industry Ups are followed by downs and downs are followed by ups The last bust cycle was 20002005 And an eightyear boom cycle is coming to an end Y ou do not have to be very old to have lived through boom and bust times Y es the rules of the game are chang ing but that also has happened in the past Mining will survive Mining people are both adaptive and strong This is a harsh reality facin g many if not most smaller companies that have spent millions and often years By Glenn Dredhart Publisher Publisher s V iew Contd on pg 05