I don't know when you combine this from the website...:

we screen dozens of contributors articles every day for publication and we search the web for news regarding the various resource sectors

...with this from the sponsor costs...:

The cost to sponsor aheadoftheherd.com is $6,000 per year (+tax). There will be an approximate business card size ad, your logo, on the front page of the site. The front page logo will be linked to your company’s sponsor page.

...it does sort of look like someone contributed the article and it was favourably received. I would hope Rick Mills gave it the once over when he agreed to publish it as an article.

Somebody I know who used to run one of these junior mining stocks used to receive this newsletter in the mail. I thought that leant credibility to it, but it could have been foisted on him, or his company could have been a sponsor.

Still, it can't hurt either way to have some promotion.