At least from Denver we get to see the webcasts.

I'm thinking of inviting all these companies to Bahamas in the Spring " but that's another story!

Tony Lesiak is a very good mining analyst. He works for UBS Canada, and he has his finger on the pulse. I recommend his work " not that I agree with all of it of course. Download UBS Sept 22 NA Mines, Metals & Gold Weekly.

I'm a little tired from too little sleep, too much dialogue (and a few drinks), which tends to happen at "show" time. So I won't drag this out too much.

I went to the Toronto show hoping to find 2 "stories" to write up out of maybe 200+ exhibitors. I probably found a dozen or more " some gold, some other metals, uranium, oil & gas, whatever.

This is the prospector-type play as opposed to the cash-flowing miners. Those are the people who took their show to Denver this week.

Usually the grassroots exploration stuff is a little too speculative for most of my readers, but this year it truly was different. That's what $1 billion a month capital raise-ups for small companies -- in the aggregate " can do.

Money talks. And most of the companies exhibiting in Toronto yesterday and today are flush. Many of them have raised millions. I haven't met so many young geologists and young investor relations people in all my life.

As penny stock trade-shows go this was a Dutch Golden Age painting " a masterful showcase of discovery possibilities.

Many not so masterful " but that's another story

I'll get into the individual companies tomorrow " I'd like to do it tonight but I'm into the Promised Land (a delightful Aussie Shiraz you know I enjoy on a too frequent basis).

One word of advice though " Ecuador.

More later.