Some time in the next week or so we should hear from AIM-listed Ariana (AAU) with another quarterly report from the Kiziltepe gold production plant in Turkey. Ordinarily I would suggest that it will come next week, but given the amount that is going on – especially with regard to the partial sale of assets to Ozaltin – Kerim Sener and his team might be forgiven if it takes a little longer. But with the stock having closed at just 5.05p in the middle on Friday, what news might we expect?

Hello, Share Team. During and after the attack on the Senate, the Dow soared to new heights. Does that tell us that big instances of frightening chaos won’t hit stocks and shares? No, it tells us that optimism is so high among US traders that even this hugely damaging national setback can’t dent it. We should be even more optimistic about the progress of our stock market in 2021. And here’s why.

Audio visual communications provider to organisations, Immedia (IME) has announced that it “is raising funds to provide capital to facilitate the growth of the group through a selective acquisition strategy”. Hmmm – I last year questioned it stating it “has cash reserves, and plans in place to manage these resources”. So what is the financial situation?…

I refer to Elon Musk vs my friend Evil Knievil and so far, I am sad to report, the forces of light and truth, that is to say EK, are half a Bernie down and Tesla’s Elon is drowning in filthy lucre. I consider life in the year 2000 and today’s bull market madness. I look at Plutus Powergen (PPG), MyHealthChecked (MHC), Grafenia (GRA), BigDish (DISH) and Eurasia Mining (EUA asking if the regulators will ever force it to make a statement.

I am asked for where we are with Big Sofa (BST). As you may know, it delisted last April saying PLC costs were not worth it. It then raised £1 million at 3p a share in October so how is it doing?  I hope that it is making its way towards profitability and a trade sale. Just as I hope that Cheryl Cole has something special for me for my birthday next week. But in both cases I think it is sensible to plan for the the outcome not being entirely as one might have wished. Anyhow Big Sofa has sent a missive to some of its shareholders, some folks being more equal than others. So for those of you plebs who did not receive an update on trading, here it is.

The business model of AB McKinley and his LSE Share Talk company is to ramp penny share dreadfuls in return for a fee. At 2.8p, Remote Monitored Systems (RMS)  – no sales, cash c£3.5 million, directors sold 40% of the equity before a string of warnings, etc etc – is capitalised at £58 million. So AB is on the case “No need to ramp” he says before, er…ramping away. What a way to spend your life. Having folks like this on board is a classic red flag.

EnQuest (ENQ) is a company that I have followed for a long time and have previously been invested in myself, but over the past few years its shares have performed terribly and has never really recovered from the previous oil price slump, which bottomed out in 2016.

When I last commented on Gold I noted that it seemed to have smashed through overhead resistance at $1900-1925 but cautioned that it may turn tail again in the short term. My view was – and remains – that it will head sharply higher over the next year to eighteen months but we must await the return of the Gold Bull. Well, it seems that it has indeed turned tail – we will be waiting a little longer for the bull to reappear.

Which Bulletin Board Moron said we couldn’t tip a waiter? J Sainsbury (SBRY) has issued a Q3 trading statement. There were Christmas sales changes due to smaller gatherings but despite this and, even after forgoing business rates relief, it still expects to report underlying pre-tax profit of “at least” £330 million in the financial year to March 2021. That is better than we and the market had hoped for.

One of these days, folks are going to wake up and realise that it was all a dream, that prices they were paying for shares in some small caps in these early days of January 2021 were plain bonkers. You may think you know better but some of us old fools have seen it all before.

Silver Guru David Morgan says that in inflation-adjusted terms silver is near all time lows and that “90% of the move comes in the last 10% of the time.” Physical demand in 2020 for silver from ETF’s has been unprecedented, and the gold-silver ratio has also outperformed. He argues that silver should continue to outpace gold, and he expects this bull run to continue for another two or three years.

Hello Share Mates. It might seem a little late in the day to commend to your further attention a company which tests for the virus. But a lot more of that sort of thing will be needed before the vaccines finally squash the disease. Unlike some companies which are thrashing around in the market, SourceBio International (SBI) has seen a big demand for its laboratory testing.

Security and surveillance systems company Synectics (SNX) has announced that it has successfully deployed the first phase of its “pioneering” operational management system for Deutsche Bahn’s S-Bahn operation in Berlin – and the shares have currently responded to 112.5p, approaching 10% higher. What’s the detail?…

Yup, if he does an interview with me and my tough questions, shares in Optibiotix (OPTI) go down.  So, going forward, it is only those paid-for interviews with folks like Proactive. “Steve, is your schlonger enormous or gigantic? Why are your shares so cheap? etc etc.” Whatever, I apologise to you all for asking the odd question. Without my malign influence, Optibiotix would clearly be in the FTSE 100. I discuss this company’s prospects and also those of Skinbiotherapeutics (SBTX) where I am also a loyal shareholder. I look at Trainline (TRN), Online Blockchain (OBC) and Vast Resources (VAST).

Analyst Kirian van Hest is a specialist on the Comex and where its delivery default risk may be heading in the coming months. Kirian was expecting more stimulus this last Autumn and more investment in the precious metals. He says that the numbers Comex is reporting are highly suspect, and it appears that it’s now one big fraud. He feels that by February or the latest, the middle of 2021, the Comex’s fraud will become very evident.

Ironveld (IRON) has followed a, 29th December 2020, ‘no one watching o’clock’ day results announcement with announcing the initiation of equity research on the company by Align Research – the research headed “Financing deal to unlock tremendous value at a world-class high purity iron, vanadium and titanium project in the Bushveld”. Sounds interesting – with at a current 0.675p share price, the Ironveld market cap £8.8 million…

It can’t be very entertaining being a shareholder in Lekoil (LEK), but get your beer and popcorn at the ready for it sure is entertaining watching from the sidelines as this company goes down the plughole.

With London’s worst Nomad, Roland “Fatty” Cornish, advising it, we have time and again warned you that VAST Resources (VAST) is the sort of dog that even paid for hustlers like Zak Mir wouldn’t tip. Okay he probably would but you get the picture. Today we have a major disaster and the shares have crashed.

If I have ever given the impression that Mr David Lenigas, aka Big Dave, is a shameless ramper and promoter of penny shares, I would like to apologise most sincerely. As a fellow shareholder In Wishbone Gold (WSBN), I note the tweet below and it must now be clear to all that Mr Lenigas is the most thoughtful, balanced and objective analyst of gold stocks here in London and, as the late great father of the late Paula Yates used to say, “I mean that most sincerely.” Mind you, on this occasion, Mr Lenigas might actually be right.

A “First Quarter Trading Update” from restaurants and pubs company Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) includes that it currently has cash balances on hand of £125 million and that Chief Executive Phil Urban has “every confidence that we can emerge in a strong competitive position once the current restrictions on us are lifted”. So why a current 7% lower share price response, to around 220p?…