Beaufield (BFD.V) announced further results from the recent resource-definition oriented drilling at its Tortigny poly-metallic deposit. Grades were once again eye-popping with one hole returning 33.5m of 11.51% Zn, 4.77% Cu, 126.06 g/t Ag and 0.64 g/t Au. The real news here is that the original V shaped deposit has now been expanded below what Noranda, the previous operator, had considered to be the bottom of the deposit.

 The objective of Tortigny was to increase the historically defined size of the deposit from the estimated 0.5 million tons to at least 1 million tons of ore. A 43-101 resource estimate is being prepared and it is expected to be complete sometime in the fall. With continued expansion and great results I have high hopes that Tortigny will become a mine eventually.

Beaufield has also commenced work on their other very prospective Schefferville iron property in Quebec. Remember that Beaufield's property is surrounded by New Millennium Iron (NML.V), Labrador Iron Mines (LIM.T), Champion Minerals (CHM.T), and Century Iron Mines (FER.V). Tata Steel has invested $300m in the area. Beaufield has so far identified DSO (Direct Shipping Ore) type mineralization in at least 5 distinct areas. At one location the DSO horizon was traced for more than one kilometer.

I continue to accumulate shares, at these low levels, on speculation that the Tortigny discovery will turn into an economic deposit, and that the Scheferville iron ore property will bring in significant appreciation to company's market cap as the exploration work carries forward. 

Bioasis (BTI.V) Transcend program is in full swing with new recombination tests on-going. Following the independent confirmation by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) that Transcend, the company's P-97 proprietary  drug delivery technology, can deliver therapeutics into the brain, the company's profile has risen significantly. Bioasis is now quickly working to develop an entire platform of patent protected compounds which can be used for the treatment of to-date untreatable brain diseases and disorders. Over the past few months the company has announced several incredibly important developments:

1. Mice studies have shown that Bioasis' p97 Transcend technology can deliver Genzyme's Aldurazyme ($167M in annual US sales), Lysosomal Acid Lipase drug across the BBB. 

2. In Vitro studies at NRC have shown that Roche's Herceptin cancer drug crosses the blood brain barrier when combined with p97.

3. In Vitro studies at BC Cancer Agency show that Herceptin + p97 combo is better at killing cancer cells than Herceptin alone.

Herceptin is one of the best known breast cancer drugs in use since 1998, with annual sales around $6bn. In many breast cancer cases there is a spread of cancer to the brain which inevitably results in death as Herceptin does not cross into the brain on its own. Having the ability to deliver Herceptin to the brain would be a remarkable feat that will garner a lot of attention.

The Herceptin news has really spurred other pharmas to take a good look at Bioasis' technology. Not because they were interested in taking a piece of the $6bn Herceptin sales pie (although this is something that Roche (RHHBY.PK) and generic drug makers will definitely be calling Bioasis about), but rather because they see the potential for a scientific breakthrough in the fight against central nervous system diseases.

I mentioned this in my Bioasis article before, crossing the blood brain barrier is the holy grail of the CNS research. Many pharmas have spent a lot of money on BBB research, namely because the payout would be fantastic. This is a $100bn market. What Bioasis has is in a way invaluable. If it works out, we could be looking at $100s of millions in annual revenue from licensing agreements alone. For a $15M market cap company this presents a huge upside potential. Pay close attention for animal studies results for Herceptin as this could be a defining moment for Bioasis. 

Sama (SME.V) is getting a lot of attention with its West African poly metallic discovery. So much so that recently Minmetals Resources, one of the world's largest producers of zinc and copper, invested $2,190,000 in the company via a private placement financing. The financing was at $0.60, a whopping 50% premium to the market price at the time. Warrants were priced at $0.80.

Needless to say, this is a great development for the company. Sama is keeping the share dilution to a minimum while progressing with an aggressive exploration program. This move certainly validates my expectation that Sama could be a $5 stock within 12 to 24 months. The company is working towards a 43-101 on a poly-metallic deposit that could produce between 10-20M of Ni-Cu from their main Samapleu deposit. This deposit, once it becomes a mine, could be operational for 10 to 15 years at annual revenues of $150M. In addition, there are numerous other satellite targets that have already returned significant drill results. All of this makes this story incredibly exciting. The retail market is still oblivious to Sama's potential giving us a chance to pickup cheap shares in the $0.30s. I really like the potential of Sama. I think the political risk in Ivory Coast has subsided significantly. As the exploration work progresses we should see the price appreciate to new levels.

Melkior (MKR.V) reported further results from the West Timmins gold project. Reported results were  the best result to date with an intercept of 13.25 meters grading 5.1 g/t gold at depth of only 200m. The discovery zones keep getting expanded and grades keep improving with further drilling. These results further the case that Melkior will discover an economic, near-surface deposit in West Timmins. Results for a further 7 holes are still pending. The company is now evaluating the geologic model on the property before returning for further drilling.

While the results from the West Timmins project are being assessed, the company has switched to its other flagship project in the McFaulds East Rim project, located in the Ring of Fire area of James Bay, Ontario. Melkior is excited about several gravity high areas which are interpreted as proximal to known nickel-copper sulphide mineralization of Noront Resources (NOT.V) Eagle Nest discovery. It will be exciting to see what results Melkior will get from its drilling campaign in this region.

Coming into the latest drilling season in West Timmins there was a lot of excitement as Lake Shore Gold (LSG.T), and the entire West Timmins gold camp were considered one of the hottest gold exploration regions in Canada. There was some excitement about Melkior performing some deeper drilling on the project as it was expected the gold mineralization would be found at depths of 700m, similar to depths of other discoveries in West Timmins. Through the exploration work however, Melkior has discovered near-surface gold mineralization, something unique in the West Timmins camp, and has now focused on exploring the near surface potential of this mineralization. As such, the excitement of an instant discovery through deep drilling has faded, and to compound the matter, Lake Shore Gold has seen a 50% decline in its share price.

Both these developments have contributed to Melkior's price pulling back 50% from its early year highs. Nothing fundamental has changed about Melkior's project, in fact I like the West Timmin project even more so now than I did last year. With $2.6M in exploration funds, Melkior is an attractive speculative buy oportunity at these levels. I am buying under $0.15.

Medicago (MDG.T) - Since the Nov 2010 call to buy at $0.40, Medicago has motored to a new 52 week high of $0.74. For those that buy low and sell high that was a potential 80% return in seven months. Medicago still remains a compelling buy opportunity, notwithstanding current market conditions. They have:

• Completed clinical studies for their avian flu pandemic vaccine.
• In clinical studies for the seasonal influenza vaccine.
• Signed on a major pharma partner to explore new applications of their plant protein expression technology.
• DARPA-sponsored vaccine manufacturing facility coming on-line in the fall 2011.
• Market cap over $100M.

With these milestones Medicago is now an attractive investment for a much wider institutional audience. They have a big investor in Phillip Morris International, and they could surprise with a number of new developments with their cheaper, faster, better vaccine technology. Great company to accumulate on pullbacks. I added more at $0.57.

Chemaphor (CFR.V) had a tremendous appreciation in share price of late, reaching a high of $0.15 before settling back to $0.07 level. As is typical of junior stocks they all have wild gyrations in the share price throughout the year. Latest price spike was caused by new investors coming into the stock on high expectations following the company's announcement that "Building upon the very positive response of Canadian pet owners in just six months, Avivagen is now working on establishing agreements with partners for international distribution of Oximunol Chewables." These are encouraging news as the US distribution channel through an established partner could provide a real boost for the value of CFR. I am cautiously optimistic about the Chemaphor's future here because the company will need to raise further funds in the near future and the current market conditions are far from ideal for a financing. At $0.06 CFR.V is a good speculative buy.

ICO Therapeutics (ICO.V) After a long delay, ICO is finally starting the Phase II trial for its ICO-007 Diabetic Macular Edema drug. For those of you that have followed our letter you may recall that we were very excited about ICO's tight share structure, and an excellent ocular drug targeted at market that would welcome improvements that ICO-007 seems to offer.  Following successful Phase I trials it looked like the company was about to land a lucrative deal, similar to the $50M up-front payment deal that Macusight got for its Perceiva, Phase I ocular disease drug, through the sale of Japanese and Asian rights to Santen. Unfortunately, despite what seemed like strong interest in the drug, ICO was unable to close a partnership deal. The Macusight deal itself did not work out too well and that put the brakes on any lofty dreams involving ICO-007, during Phase I trials.

Despite this initial setback with ICO-007, ICO was able to land a deal (that eventually could be worth worth $33M) for its ICO-008 drug. Now the focus is back on the Phase II studies for ICO-007. If the initial results from this study are positive, ICO will once again draw interest from many big pharmas interested in the ocular space. This is a very lucrative market-segment, with a lot of licensing/takeover activity and interest from global pharmaceutical companies. I have a large position in ICO and I am patiently waiting for the phase II trials to unfold. At a market cap of only $10M ICO presents an attractive speculative buy opportunity for a potenital 500% return in as little as 12 months.