If, as they say, it is darkest just before the dawn, then surely for gold at least, the sun must be cresting the horizon now ?

Slung off AIM a few weeks ago, Frontera Resources (FRR) still has its fans in the Bullettin Board Moron community but the latest trove of emails to emerge, which we publish in full below, will shock even them as the extent of the fraud emerges.

Hello, Share Cats. Yesterday, I commended Centamin (CEY) to your further research. But I have to admit that buying shares in gold miners is not the safest way to invest in the glittery metal. For one thing, the production of the yellow stuff is notoriously difficult to predict. And Centamin saw a big share tumble last year when it announced that its quality of gold was not as high as hoped. But with world fears about a forthcoming recession growing, gold, silver and platinum remain useful fallback positions...

Union Jack Oil (UJO) has updated that the appeal against the refusal of planning consent for the development of the Wressle oil discovery by the North Lincolnshire Council's Planning Committee on 28^th November has been submitted to the Planning Inspectorate…

Early this year we showed the top shorted London-listed shares at the start of 2019. After the first month of the year, here's the monthly update on performance (those in bold remain from 2018)...

Fully-listed Interserve (IRV) announced some details of its deleveraging plan – aka debt for equity – and the market has responded very positively. Certainly, on the face of it shareholders might think they’ve got off lightly. But there are a few questions which might make the market rethink its positive response.

In today's bearcast I look at the woes of Lucian Miers, at Yourgene (YGEN), Interserve (IRV), Greatland Gold (GGP) - do the maths its placing ahoy! - WH Ireland (WHI) and FinnCrap (FCAP). Then I explain what will be the major financial scandal of 2019 hitting well over a hundred thousand folks where the FCA is only belatedly waking up to the problem, a problem it helped to create.

An AGM update from “high performance polymer solutions, focused on the strategic markets of Automotive, Aerospace, Energy, Electronics and Medical”-company Victrex (VCT) includes “our expectations for the second half are unchanged, with new projects and reduced headwinds supporting our assumptions” – and the shares have currently nudged further ahead of 2300p. However, that compares to circa 3400p at the start of October. Hmmm…

Oracle Power (ORCP) seems to have become popular all of a sudden and has seen its share price rise by around 80% in the past week, but as usual some on the bulletin boards seem to be claiming that it should actually be worth many multiples of its current valuation.

First Derivatives (FDP) has rather shocked us all with news that it has secured a new banking facility for £130 million.  But that begs another big question which I have added to my list for tomorrow’s capital markets rampfest. 

I own these shares and it was a tip of the year ( which is up). I update on that tip in light of the share option news of yesterday evening but also comment on Big Sofa's (BST) award and rebasing of options, one aspect of which is totally unacceptable and repellant.

Having announced yesterday lunchtime that “a fire started in a section of the ambient grid of our Andover CFC… The incident and the measures being taken to contain it appears to have affected a proportion of the mechanical handling equipment and some of the grid… Andover suspended operation this morning preventing further fulfilment of orders”, a further update today from Ocado (OCDO) commences; “Unfortunately the fire which started yesterday morning in a corner of the ambient grid was not contained as we believed, and last night expanded”...

Hello, Share Jumpers. As the Footsie continues to gain ground with the growing prospect that there’ll be a Brexit soft landing, after all, you could be tempted to veer away from investing in gold. But I’m still minded to have at least a toehold in this hedge against recessions, both homegrown and worldwide...

I start with my big moral dilemna - listeners do you have any advice? Then I look at another day of shame for AIM ref Maestrano (MNO) and, more particularly, Immotion (IMMO). I look at Gama Aviation (GMAA), Numis (NUM), Finncrap (FCAP), Greatland (GGP) - another Dave Lenigas twitter ramp heading south - and at Avanti Communications (AVN)

2018 should be seen as a reset year for lithium. Low-quality Chinese lithium surprised the market, but it doesn’t change the long-term demand picture. If anything demand continues to strengthen and he has never seen a more significant disconnect in any commodity. Analyst Chris Berry says, “Energy metals are a compelling place to be investing.”

Okay so follow the money….

A “Trading Statement” from “technology focussed consultancy and staffing business”, Parity Group (PTY) – and the shares currently slightly ahead, closer to 7p. Good news then? Well, they were close to 10p at the start of November and more than 15p in the summer…

Floated on the AIM Cesspit in May 2018 at 15p a share and raising £6 million Maestrano (MNO) describes itself as a “cloud business integration platform with cross-app data synchronization” I’d describe it as an univestable piece of shit.

I have always liked Dave Richards of Wandisco (WAND) and indeed own a few shares. In the video below he tells the BBC how his firm was almost ruined and wiped out by folks parachuted on to the board from big corporations. But that is only half the tale. The question is who imposed them and backed them? The answer is City advisors and institutional fund managers. I spoke to someone close to Dave this morning and Dave will spill the beans on the City grandees who almost screwed his company up. He's a brave guy for speaking out. This is going to be illuminating and entertaining and will cause some real discomfort in the Square Mile. Bring it on...

A tip last month on HotStockRockets - the shares are already comfortably ahead on the tip price, but there looks much more to come...