Deadly Lode (Trace Brandon Book 1) (26 page)

“
Which means what the fuck to me?
”

“
It means
,
Al, they are going to have to try and find it. And they may or may not. It also means
,
when word gets out
,
the share
price is
going south.
”

“
How many people know about this?
”

“
Only Montana Creek
’
s board
,
the drillers
, me
,
and now you
.
”

“
So, your man on their board called you with the info?
”

“
You got it.
”

“
So we
’
re on the inside?
”
Al asked.

“
Totally, at least until Trace puts out an update to the shareholders and regulators.
”

“
I assume you
’
ve got a plan to take advantage of this situation?
”

“
I
do, Al.
I
’
m shorting the stock when the market opens tomorrow. I suggest you do likewise.
”

“
How many shares
do you think I should sell
?
”

“
Well
,
you
’
ve got
half
a million shares
, Al. Y
ou could
short against
all of them
.
”

“
How many
shares
are you selling short?
”

“
A million.
”

“
Jesus
! A
re you
g
od
-
damned
sure about this, Cyrus?
”

“
Look
,
the shares are going to tank when th
e news
gets out. You sell short a
half
mill
ion shares
at two bucks and buy it back at a
lower price
, a
nd it could be a much lower price.
You
could
make
several
hundred grand
,
and still have
your
half
-
million shares
.
”

“
Okay, Cyrus, I
’
m in. But you better keep me posted, and I mean up to the fuck
ing
minute
posted
.
”

“
Don
’
t worry, Al
. W
e
’
re partners.
”

F
ish was pouring over cross sections and fence diagrams of the cores
.
“
Trace, it has to be a fault. The damn vein was nearly thirty
-
feet thick in the drill hole before we lost it. It can
’
t have totally disappeared in a thousand feet. It
’
s offset somehow.
”

I looked at Fish
’
s sections and agreed. We needed to get to the working face on level one and see how it looked.

Bob Malott
’
s crew was already on-site and hauling six
-
by
-
six mine timbers and military
-
surplus
,
perforated steel plate, commonly called
PSP
, into the mine adit.

“
Morning
,
Trace,
Fish
,
”
Bob said.
“
We
’
ll lay the six
-
by
-
six
’s
across the winze and then cover it with the PSP. It
’
s about a five
-
foot
-
wide span, but
the timbers and PSP will be strong enough to take an underground drill across
, if needed
.
”

“
Perfect. Just let me know when
we
can get across,
”
I said
, turning to Fish
.
“
Let
’
s get geared up.
”

It took Bob
’
s crew
only
about an hour to bridge enough of the winze so Fish and I could cross. The working face was about a thousand feet past the winze.

“
Here it is
,
Trace,
”
Fish said, shining his mine lantern on the rock wall where the adit came to an end.

“
No sign of the vein
,
but
look at these horsetail striations
,
”
I said, pointing to the feathery lineations
cut into the rock face
.
“
A fault has cut the vein
,
and from the
looks of the horsetails,
I
’
d say she
’
s be
en
displaced
downward
and to the southwest.
”

Fish examined the
striations in
the
rock and checked his compass
.
“
Agreed.
It
explains
why the old
-
timers stopped
advancing
this adit. They
ran into the same problem as us. They
lost the vein
.
”

Fish made a few
calculations on his clipboard
.
“
W
e need to either back
the rig off to the southwest or drill a very steep hole from the current location. And we
’
ll have to go deeper.
”

“
I vote for the steeper hole from Red
’
s current drill pad. If we move him farther to the southwest, we
’
ll need to revise our permits and build a new location.
”

“
Agreed
—i
t
’
s worth a shot
. I
f we miss it, we
’
ll just have to re
-
permit and get after it.
”

Fish and I exited the
mine
adit and
found Bob and Red waiting for us. I explained the plan of attack based on our findings in the mine.

“
Sounds like a plan,
”
Red said.
“
I
’
ll get the rig ready to start drilling.
We
’
ll
use the down
-
hole hammer and catch samples
until we hit the vein.
”

“
Okay, Red
,
”
I replied
,
“
a
ngle the hole at seventy
-
five degrees
and g
rab samples every ten feet until you get to three hundred feet. After that, I
’
ll need samples every five feet.
”

“
You got it
,
”
Red replied.
“
I
’
ll get the rig fired up
,
and we
’
ll be making hole in about fifteen minutes.
”

“
Trace, if you don
’
t need us anymore,
”
Bob said,
“
I
’
ll send my crew back to town. We
’
ll leave the extra timbers and PSP by the mine entrance
, i
n case it
’
s needed later.
”

“
Perfect,
”
I replied, shaking hands with Bob.
“
We
’
ll
make some hole and
see if we can
’
t get
back in ore.
”

Cyrus was on the phone to his broker, Nigel Cunningham, at Cayman Island Securities
,
as
soon as
the market opened.

“
Nigel, Cyrus McSweeny here.
”

“
Cyrus, good to hear from you. Are you on
-
i
s
l
and?
”

“
Yes, just flew in and will be leaving shortly. Listen, Nigel, I want to place a short
-
sell order
against some shares
held in
Carib International
and Twisp River Resources
’
account
s
.
”

“
Okay, Cyrus, what
’
s the company name and symbol?
”

“
It
’
s Montana Creek Mining Corp
. Symbol is
MCM.V
,
on the
Vancouver Stock Exchange.
”

“
We
’
ve been buying shares on MCM for both accounts. Now you want to go short?
”

“
You got it. I
’
ve got a hunch they
’
re oversold and looking at a correction.
”

“
Uh-huh. How many shares do you want to sell short?
”

“
A million.
”

“
Damn, Cyrus
. M
y
information
shows they only have about eight million
shares
issued and outstanding. You
’
re talking about twelve and a
half
percent of the company.
”

“
Your information is correct, Nigel. Place the order.
”

“
Do you think
I
,
t
hat is
,
our firm
,
should short them as well?
”

“
You mean a naked short?
”

“
Naked shorts are illegal,
Cyrus,
at least in the U
.
S. But I reckon we could borrow some shares from a Canadian brokerage. If we thought the risk was worth
taking
.
”

“
If they get hit with a lot of short selling, it
’
s sort of a self
-
fulfilling prophecy
,
is it not?
”

“
Unless the company generate
s enough
buying
to squeeze the short sellers. Sometimes all it takes is a
significant
positive
announcement.
It can be a r
isky
proposition
, Cyrus.
”

“
No balls
,
no bucks, Nigel. Listen, I think the
company is
way overpriced at two dollars Canadian. You make your own decision. You
’
ve got a bunch of analysts
. C
runch the numbers.
”