Definitely the most interesting story I came across today was Rainy River Resources. Huge potential. Could grow the gold resource to 10 million oz. Will spend $20 million on exploration this year. Only happened to see them at the close of the trade show at noon when I came across our old friend Ray Threlkeld, formerly President at Western Goldfields (pre-merger with New Gold). Ray is on the New Gold board, and his former partner Randall Oliphant is the New Gold Chairman. Randall and Ray tried to buy the Rainy River company for Western Goldfields and were thwarted, so when Ray departed to look for his own deal rather than go into the New Gold, he hooked up with Rainy River, a Vancouver-based company but now setting up in Toronto with Ray who is President and CEO. I like this a lot.

The stock (TSX.V:RR) was trading at about C$2.00 at the end of Oct and $2.69 at the end of Nov. With the story out here at PDAC, the stock hit C$5.20, presently C$5.06. Short-term, I have no opinion on the price, but, after we look over the detailed geological data, the RR will likely join our focus list with a long-term view to building positions. As a veteran of the mining wars said to me last evening, there are a lot of accountants and M&A specialists in this industry, pumping up share prices, but in the end it comes down to one basic factor -- the rock.

Speaking of this, our old friend Guyana Gold (TSX:GUY) has the rock, and their share price moved from a low of C$0.61 in Oct-2008 to a high of C$8.34 in Dec-2009. The price has dropped off a bit here to C$6.59, but will eventually trade much higher.

I also ran into Crystallex (KRY). There is a glimmer of hope.

I'll enjoy a few hospitality suites this afternoon, and then call it a year. Best PDAC ever, this one was, although you need to be organized to ensure you get to meet the people who may be important to you. From my list of 53, I knocked off probably 48 plus about a dozen more. Sixty mining-related companies plus a few trade show equipment exhibitors I was able to meet. That could not possibly be done anywhere else as some of these people came here from the most remote places on earth just for this meeting.

I have very strong views that the global economy will stabilize in 2010 and begin to grow at a rapid rate starting in 2011. Natural resources will be a big play for wealth managers. You really should not miss PDAC.