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The Google Tool for Resource Company Investors By William Cate
If you are an investor in a resource company, ask the company
for the longitude and latitude of the mine, mineral prospect,
oil well, timberlands, farm, ranch or whatever resource the
company claims to be developing. Then, download "Google Earth."
The basic software is free. The upgrades cost money. The
upgrades are justified, if you have a major investment in any
resource company or prefer investing in resource stocks. Using
the company supplied longitude and latitude; you can get a
satellite view of the company's resource property. It takes a
few seconds, but there is the company property. Study the
satellite image carefully. When the company announces drilling
programs or any time of surface activity, use Google Earth to
revisit the company's property. The satellite image should show
the reported activity. If it doesn't, you have a serious problem!
If your resource company's project is within a military
installation, the system doesn't work. However, on most of the
planet, the system works well. If you buy the $400 version of
their software, you can see cars and people on the surface,
details that should be more than adequate to determine if the
work is being done as the news release or other report claims.
Even the free software allows you to compare post satellite
images with the current photo.
The rule of thumb in resource investing is that five cents of
every dollar raised goes into the ground. The remaining
ninety-five cents goes to promoting the company's stock or into
the pockets of the company's officers, directors and insiders.
If investors would start monitoring their investments with
Google Earth, there is a very good chance that this equation
would be reversed or at least modified in favor of the investors.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should require
all public resource companies to publish, within any news
release, the longitude and latitude of the project within that
news release. The company should be required to state the
longitude and latitude of all their projects in all their
filings. And hypsters should be required to give the longitude
and latitude of the project in 12-point type. In fact, the SEC
should require that these folks publish their disclaimer in
12-point or larger type.
If you are a resource investor, get the company's longitude and
latitude for their projects before you buy their shares. If you
are an accredited investor being asked for a bundle of money for
a resource company, a Google Earth search should be part of your
Due Diligence effort.
There are weaknesses in the Google Earth software. Photo image
resolution outside the US is poor. The software only works with
a PC. However, Google says they are working on a Mac version.
Google can supply angle photos of city buildings and should soon
have front views of these buildings. You can expect the
technology to spread to rural areas and to non-U.S. satellite
photos over the next 18 months or so.
The SEC, State Securities Regulators and their Canadian
counterparts should be doing everything possible to encourage
the growth of Google Earth. It's a new tool that will inhibit
the sale of mining scams, oil well ripoffs and stock swindles.
It's a grassroots tool that the public can easily use to protect
themselves from the horde of swindlers always seeking the unwary
who want to invest in a nonexistent gold mine.
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