Here is an interesting article written in a realistic and un-biased tone. Are there any red flags in Tyhee? I would like to know folks opinions on this.

http://www.kitco.com/ind/Cook/2014-01-24-Rules-of-Thumb-for-Junior-Mining-Speculators-A-Light-at-the-End-of-the-Tunnel.html

On another note, i've been following Martin Armstrong regarding the dynamics of capital flows and he has been right on the mark the past 2 years. Gold will have it's time in the near future especially after October 2015 but maybe not quite yet. Only when gold becomes a preferable place to put capital to work or protect it will the uptrend in gold price begin again. Right now there are better perceived places to allocate capital although the recent emerging market chaos might be the beginning of the trend change, time will tell. Manipulation is certainly going on and with comex February options expiry this week it's not a surprise the price has had downward pressure to avoid strike price redemptions for those concerned. It seems there are a lot of factors that can dictate the short term price action of gold but in the long run the "invisible hand" and natural market forces will prevail. Also combined with this is the spot on technical work of Louise Yamada regarding the price of gold. Her monthly updates have been very accurate and she is still calling for possible lower prices in the coming months based on technicals. I'm patiently waiting for her to give the all clear signal on a resumption of the gold bull market based on the charts. Of course nothing is fool proof but i believe these two sources of information will serve us well in coming months and years in following events in the precious metals space. Also js mineset is a great web site to find information. I went to see Jim Sinclair speak at the Palmer House in Chicago last year and his analysis of our current economic predicament in the U.S. was riveting. The new MyRA plan that President Obama mentioned in his SOU was predicted by Sinclair and speaks to the subtle ways government will get at more American's money. From an investment standpoint it might be one of the worst ideas i've ever heard and will ultimately hurt the regular folk it is supposed to help. A 1.5% return on a U.S. government bond when the fed is trying to create 2-3% inflation, wow. Just another way for the government to get at our money like they did with social security, the very idea of this MYRA is really an admission that there is nothing left in social security and the government needs a new source of revenue to fund the debt spending. Also a way to sell more government debt when no one else will buy it, unfortunately the bond market is headed for a crash just to make matters worse. Finally, i just finished reading David Stockman's book "The Great Deformation" a 700+ page history of the fed and it's policies. This guy knows what he's talking about as he worked for Reagan in the Budget Office and he's seen things from the inside. Anyhow, just a few thoughts on things as i haven't posted on here for a while and i look forward to hearing commentary on the rules of thumb for juniors.

That's all for now.

Pat