I was happy for Aurion and its shareholders, even though I'm not a shareholder, because discoveries and gains are good for the entire junior mining sector. At least I was happy until today when I pulled up the Aurion stock chart and noticed some peculiar trading action. Aurion started drilling on June 21 and the stock got a bit of a pop on the news, which is normal. But then, the volume and price suddenly jumped on August 15. Then the price really jumped on September 13 and IIROC halted the stock. One week later, the news of the gold intercept finally hits the market.
The Sep. 19 news release states "A total of approximately 5,239 metres (m) in 35 drillholes have been completed since early July." 5,239 m with two drills over about 2.5 months means that they are drilling roughly 70 m per day or 35 m per day per rig and the average depth is 150 m. There are four target areas being drilled. For the sake of argument, let's say one drill has been focused on the Main Target. That means by August 13 that rig would have been drilling for around 40 days and completed an estimated 1,400 metres. At 150 m per hole, that would be around 9 holes. Holy shit, what a coincidence! Hole AM18042 was the 10th hole on the Main Target. Now, how long do you figure assays take to turn around in Finland? Maybe one month. Again, holy shit, what a major coincidence! That's right around the time the stock popped again, before IIROC wisely halted it.
Obviously I'm being facetious here. Somebody involved with Aurion must be tipping off investors on results, as it seems highly unlikely that the stock moves on August 13 and September 15 were coincidence. When I see action like this, I run the other way because I'm at an information disadvantage. It's action like this that gives the mining sector a bad name.
