(Golfyeti responded with an equally insightful message which I'll re-post here if he doesn't)

oct.31/2011 closing of $2million p/p @$1.35/share

it is interesting how our share price closed today $.13 below yesterdays $2 million private placement closing price of $1.35. what is even more interesting is that the prior private placement of $5million also went thru @$1.35/share even though the cuu s/p was sitting around $.90 at that time.

it begs the question - why would ernesto opt to pay up to a 50% premium for the private placement shares versus purchasing the shares on the open market? if ernesto had purchased shares on the open market, then 3 things would have occurred. 1) ernesto would have probably accumulated more shares for the same price of the private placement and 2) he would have caused the daily s/p of cuu to GO UP substantially (especially with such low daily volumes traded) 3) the shorters would have been hurt by this action and they would be less likely to want to attack our s/p in the future.

so why wouldn't ernesto want to support the cuu daily s/p especially when he owns over 200 million shares and every $.01 drop in the share price equates to a supposed $2million loss to his net worth? or vice versa, every $.05 rise in cuu s/p is worth $10 million to ernesto's well being. does it appear that ernesto is concerned with the daily s/p movements and current negative world events when he invested $7million in private placements this past month? does one not think that this must be part of ernesto's exit strategy to better facilitate a buyout offer(s) so that he can maximize his returns(and all cuu longs' returns as well)?

why the major emphasis NOW on having p/p funds for last minute drilling and acquisitions when supposedly ernesto should be supporting a higher current share price because the common wisdom is the premium on a buyout might only be a 30 or 40% over the current share price. in other words, why wouldn't ernesto pump up the current cuu s/p just prior to a pending buyout?

could it be that he senses that the s/p spike that happened to peregrine metals (pgm.to) this past july from a "surprise" buyout offer from stillwater resources will also occur for cuu ( especially if higher grades and/or more resources are proven up)?

perhaps another reason ernesto is able to stay so calm amongst all the recent volatility and negative world events is that an "understanding" in principle might already be in place with teck and there is also a formula in place to finalize values- hence the private placements and hurried drilling.

"follow the money"
glta longs
hkahka