April 11, 2011
Interview with Mark Brown, CFO and Director of Rare Element Resources
theinvestar.com: Hello Mark. I would like to first
thank you for taking the time to talk with us today about Rare Element
Resources.
Mr. Brown: Thank you for taking the time to contact
us. Don, Jim and I are happy to discuss Rare Element’s projects with writers
and only a few of them actually take the time to contact us directly.
theinvestar.com: Before we focus on Rare Element Resources,
can you give investors a little background on the industry itself, and what
attracted you to this sector of the resource market?
Mr. Brown: I’m one of the founders of Rare Element
and we started the company over 10 years ago. Our basic premise back then was
that the Bear Lodge REE deposit had a lot of potential to be a Rare Earth mine
and we were focused on how much rare earths were to be used in hybrid cars in
the batteries and the electric motors. We also knew that the world supply was
dominated by production from China – particularly that about 50% of the world’s
REE production comes from the Bayan Obo Mine and that another 45% of the world’s
supply comes from other mines in China.
Read full article...
February 07, 2011
Revisiting Stans Energy
A few months ago we were one of the first to bring Stans
Energy to the attention of investors. Since that time, much has changed with
the company gaining the attention of investors and many newsletter writers.
The returns for our readers and others that have purchased shares over the past
few months have been tremendous.
Read full article...
January 12, 2011
Why Rare Earth Elements are Rare, Really!
The rare earth element equities have been the strongest
movers over the past year, even the past 18 months if one were to look that far
back. We feel that we have done a good job highlighting individual equities
for investors, however based on some of the questions we have received and
recent market events where companies have been identified as rare earth element
companies but which certainly were not, we believe that we should highlight the
basics for our readers.
Read full article...
January 10, 2011
Potash Juniors Poised to Rise
The potash industry has rebounded nicely since our article
on January 4, 2010 where we called the bottom in contract prices for potash
(see here). Two
junior exploration firms in Saskatchewan have been taken over, or announced
agreements to be taken over in the case of Potash One, while the others have
seen significant price appreciation on the heels of BHP buying Athabasca Potash
and then submitting a failed bid for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan. It is
our belief that these healthy gains we have seen in the price of potash are
simply the beginning of another powerful bull move upwards, rather than another
top as the bears would have you believe.
Read full article...
January 06, 2011
The Rare Earth Company that Wasn’t
Over our years of investing and covering hot resource plays,
one thing has become blatantly obvious to us; the unbelievable amount of
untruths prevalent out in the marketplace. Usually these ‘untruths’ are lies
based upon enough fact to be believable to day-traders and the fast money crowd
for a short period of time. Almost always we have learned that the big news
media usually pick up on the ‘untruths’ and expose them for what they are, or
at least their guests in-the-know will do this.
Read full article...
December 28, 2010
Quest Rare Minerals: Rare Earth Player Poised to Move Significantly Higher
Over the past few months we have watched rare earth stocks
trading in America catch fire. It all started with the IPO of Molycorp (MCP –
NYSE) followed by Rare Element (REE –AMEX) and, most recently, Avalon Rare
Metals (AVL – AMEX) both getting dual listings. In each case, American
investors’ appetite for liquid, marginable rare earth plays has fueled
spectacular gains.
Read full article...
December 21, 2010
Uranium is Back
The last few weeks have been quite eventful in the uranium arena, to say the least. The uranium spot price has come to life as Chinese buying gobbled up supply and hedge funds began to nibble based on fundamentals. We have been uranium bulls for some time, a niche bull market in a much larger multi-year commodity bull currently taking place, and now that the uranium spot prices have crossed the US$60/lb threshold we see no return.
Read full article...
November 8, 2010
The Uranium Bull Lives
It is not often that one has an opportunity to invest to in
two spectacular bull markets, but our analysis on the uranium and rare earths
markets indicate that this is exactly what investors have the chance to do over
the next few years. The rare earths have attracted the most attention recently
with their extraordinary gains over the past year, however uranium has sported
healthy gains as the spot price for uranium oxide has begun to rise. Investors
should begin to place capital in both sectors, starting with the near-term
producers and eventually working their way down to the exploration plays as
this new bull market plays out.
Read full article...
November 1, 2010
Uranium Equities Getting Stronger
Over the past year our focus has mainly been on the rare
earths sector, which has provided spectacular gains for clients and readers
alike. At the same time we have been focused upon our uranium companies and
watching their stock prices appreciate considerably at the same time. We were
correct in sticking with our guns and riding the rare earths to further gains
while not totally neglecting the uranium companies as they too rose, although
far less significantly.
Read full article...
October 20, 2010
Interview with Robert Mackay, CEO of Stans Energy Corp.
Theinvestar.com: Mr. Mackay, can you tell us about Stans Energy and
your REE projects, including the past producing HREE mine Kutessay II?
Robert
Mackay: Stans
Energy Corp was founded in 2005 when we travelled to Kyrgyzstan to look at a
gold property. We met with Dr. Gennady Savchenko who is now our Managing
Director in Kyrgyzstan and we were impressed with his knowledge of the country
and his professionalism. When you work in jurisdictions that you are not
familiar with, it is VERY important that you have the right people you can
trust and know the culture and the industry locally.
Read full article...
October 18, 2010
Rare Earth Roundup
The past few months have been frantic in the rare earth
sector with many companies seeing their share prices double or triple.
Investors are beginning to pile into the premier names and even venturing into
the more speculative plays which has forced some of the more leveraged plays to
move forcefully higher. We continue to believe that investors finding the
near-term producers will make the most money in the coming years, while others
will return solid returns for investors until the markets realize that they
will not beat the competition to market.
Read full article...
October 13, 2010
Stans Energy Could be the Real Winner in Rare Earths Race
This first leg up in the young and vibrant rare earth bull
market has given birth to many newfound skeptics on the industry. It is our
firm belief that these very skeptics are now laying the very foundation of the
proverbial ‘wall of worry’ which we will next stampede over. At this point, rather than focusing on industry-wide
investing, it is our opinion that company specific events will provide the most
upside, thus starting now we will begin to shed light on the most exciting and
lucrative opportunities in the sector. Read full article...
September 27, 2010
Interview with Mark Saxon, CEO of Tasman Metals Ltd.
Earlier this month we were able to conduct an interview with
Mark Saxon, CEO of Tasman Metals Ltd., one of the top rare earth exploration
companies. Below is a transcript of the on-the-record questions.
Theinvestar.com: Tasman is a relatively new company
in an industry just now beginning to be discovered by investors. So can you
give us an overview of the sector in which you are operating?
Mark Saxon: Recognition of the rare earth element (REE)
sector as an investment opportunity has occurred slowly, as it has taken
investors time to understand the critical role played by these metals in every
facet of modern society. While the metals can’t be seen everyday like copper
or gold, rare earth elements play a key role in almost every piece of high-tech
equipment that surrounds us in our home and working lives. Read full article...
September 16, 2010
Phoenix Rising
Trends in the mining industry come and go, great management teams keep companies relevant and stable when their targeted resources are no longer the toast of the town. Mawson Resources Ltd. (MAW – Toronto, MWSNF - OTC) is one of those companies, with their new gold properties really piquing investors’, and Areva’s (currently a 10%+ owner of the shares), interest in the shares. The stock is up nearly 130% (from when we wrote about it last December) with volume surging, clearly indicating investors’ appetite for shares in the company. We had a chance to discuss Mawson with its CEO Michael Hudson recently, and we walked away from the conversation even more bullish on our outlook for the company. Mawson is going to be focusing much of their exploration budget on their two highly prospective gold plays, Rompas (gold and uranium) in Finland and Alto Quemado (gold and copper) in Peru. They will also spend about 15% of their exploration budget on their uranium properties in Sweden. The company is investing exploration dollars in red hot gold and uranium, which seems to be beginning a new bull market itself. Read full article...
September 13, 2010
Rare Earth Stock Poised to Make a Run
The world has finally awoken to the dire situation it faces with the shrinking supply of rare earths with no quick, easy fixes to boost production in the immediate near-term. It is a daunting task indeed for countries such as the United States and its European brethren who figured they would be able to build tomorrow’s devices with yesterday’s low rare earth prices. Ironically, tomorrow’s energy plans for the wind turbines and electric cars to create ‘green energy economies’ could simply turn out to be a pipe dream as China appears more and more reluctant to export their rare earths abroad at any price. It has always been our view of the world that from time to time certain situations tilt from one extreme to another, generally spending the majority of the time somewhere in between. Over the last decade or two America has exported its idea of free trade and capitalism, creating harsh competition among producers which drove down prices as everything became streamlined. Now China is assuming its rightful place among the world’s leading economies and is doing what all the previous world powers did to assume their massive power, assembling supply of resources to fuel their future growth. In the past, the British used their colonies to supply them with the necessary resources, America was blessed with everything needed within their massive landmass until after the second world war when growth really exploded. Going further back even the Romans imported the resources they needed to expand their economy, using massive road networks and aqueducts to get what they needed. Read full article...
September 6, 2010
Rare Earths Just Beginning to Heat Up
Our rare earth stocks have been heating up over the past two weeks as it has become increasingly clear to investors that there is a real long-term supply issue materializing, forming a catalyst for a major bull market. Many of these stocks are up a few hundred percent, however it is still our opinion that many in the industry continue to see their shares undervalued in relation to the true potential value of their projects. We have been in this business for years and followed many sectors as they move from relative obscurity into the mainstream. Whether it be uranium or potash of recent history or gold and silver form many years past, the pattern is the same. It is our opinion that we are still in the early years of the rare earth bull market. Looking forward investors probably have three more years of a rising tide lifting all boats, so to speak. After that investors will then be required to value the companies based upon their production and technology, really the keys in this business. Read full article...
August 25, 2010
Interview with Michael Hudson, CEO of Mawson Resources
Theinvestar.com: Since we reintroduced Mawson to our clients and readers, the stock is up 100%, fueled by the company’s deployment of its large cash holdings into new projects, most notably two highly prospective gold properties. Can you tell us about the company’s current focus?
Michael Hudson: Mawson is a gold and uranium exploration company focused in Scandinavia and Peru.
The current project focus for the Company is the Rompas project in Finland, a new discovery with bonanza gold where samples up to 12,800 g/t (373 oz/ton) gold and 43.6% uranium have been identified. In addition, the Company is exploring for gold and copper in the highly prospective Cordillera of Peru (true “elephant” country), with a focus on a new high grade gold discovery at Alto Quemado.
Read full article...
May 20, 2010
REEs Developing Leadership
Industry is quickly evolving, prospects looking bright. For those paying serious attention to the rare earth sector, it probably has not escaped your notice that a consolidation is taking place. Part of this is due to the ‘Aegean Contagion’ fears plaguing Europe and the fear of a double dip here in America. The fear in the market today is keeping rare earth stocks down, however I am not one to buy into the end of this young bull market. Our view is that nothing has changed regarding the big picture for the industry, in fact in our opinion the news has been good. China continues to crack down on their domestic rare earths industry, the world builds more high-tech gadgets that are groundbreaking (think Apple’s new iPad), the world continues to develop, and all of this results in higher demand for rare earths. Each day the long-term supply-demand situation tightens and those companies with current deposits should be the biggest beneficiaries. Read full article...
April 14, 2010
Rare Earth Elements Taking Off
REEs in Early Stage of Prolonged Bull Market Our roots go back to the uranium industry and we can honestly say that there are many parallels between today’s rare earth mining industry and that of the uranium mining industry nearly 10 years ago, long before the huge run-ups in uranium mining shares. There is a dominant player in the industry who is a wild card, China, and no one knows what they will do with their supply (think the Russians with their Megatons for Megawatts deal), the entire industry could be had for a little over $1 billion (small peanuts when you consider exactly how strategically important REEs are) and that there are relatively few companies out there right now exploring for them. There were over 400 uranium miners out there that we could keep track of on the 3 exchanges that we followed and probably countless others that were private, on other exchanges around the world, or just below our radar. We believe that the search for REEs is currently in the very early stages of a bull market, with plenty of room to run. These markets do not go straight up, but take legs and we should figure that investors should buy shares and simply tuck them away, or if you must establish two positions, one for long-term, and the other for short- to medium-term trading purposes. Read full article...
March 16, 2010
A Conversation with Strathmore Mineral’s David Miller Recently we had the chance to once again interview Strathmore Mineral’s CEO, David Miller. We always find his insights and opinions quite useful and on the money. In our conversation we discussed many topics ranging from Strathmore, the current uranium market, the future of the uranium market and the current state of the industry. Strathmore has been one of the leading uranium companies developing American uranium properties since we began covering the uranium market years ago. The company has properties located throughout the western United States and those properties are in historical mining districts. Over the years, Strathmore has developed the projects and now has two projects quite close to actual development, one in the Gas Hills and the company’s flagship Roca Honda Project (a 50:50 joint venture with Sumitomo). All of this has positioned Strathmore among the premier American uranium developers, and from our conversation with Mr. Miller investors should keep an eye on the company as new developments should help to move the stock higher. Read full article...
February 01, 2010
BHP Quickly Expanding
Latest Move Should Improve Economics of Potash Project. There are moments in life that we have to sit back and just laugh at the irony of certain events. Last week we gave an interview to a reporter at Kiplinger’s where we stated we were not sure of the economics of BHP’s Jansen Project, which was acquired through BHP’s purchase of Anglo Potash, as we had not seen the latest figures. We wondered how they would make the Jansen Project economical enough to take on the establishment represented by Canpotex Ltd. BHP likes to have low cost mines that they can run at 100% capacity in good times and bad and we were not sure how they could do that with Jansen. Enter the news announced on Thursday, when Athabasca Potash announced that they would be purchased by BHP Billiton for C$341 million, or C$8.35/share. The acquisition will give BHP the Burr Project, which is located next to their Jansen Project. This changes the economics of the whole project as only one actual production plant will need to be built, although now a bit larger than they had at first anticipated. Read full article...
January 27, 2010
Strathmore Minerals is Back! Investors seem to have rediscovered this stock over the past few months and the company has made major news in its own right. Ironic in its own right as Strathmore (STM.v) was one of the first companies to rediscover uranium just before it began making headlines. Many who follow our articles will remember our thinking early last year that we would know when it was safe to move back into the resource sector across the board from top to bottom when most companies could raise money via equity offerings. Strathmore was a company which we did not recommend buying on dips at that time as we wanted to stick with the companies which either had production or were fully funded through production. It now seems apparent to us that most companies are able to raise money across the board, a plus for explorers needing to constantly raise cash to continue in their search for resources. Strathmore however simply needed capital flow in the markets to continue to cut deals as this is how we believe they will get to production. Strathmore is playing a game of chess, sacrificing some projects to pave the way for others, much as you would sacrifice your pawns and everything else to keep your king. Read full article...
January 04, 2010
Negativity on Potash Industry: Overblown?
Recent activity could be marking bottom.
With the recent Chinese potash supply deal signed with BPC (Belarrussian Potash Co.) coming in roughly 24% below the deal signed with India many analysts and investors are worried. The Indian deal was signed almost 6 months ago, and just like the Chinese deal included shipping. In the industry these deals are referred to as free-on-board price, and during the recent bull markets in the potash and shipping industries not all supply deals included shipping. The recent activity regarding the equity issues we follow seem to be in-line with potential pricing pressure Canpotex Ltd. will have to deal with. For those not familiar with Canpotex Ltd., it is the marketing arm of the three big North American potash producers- Potash Corp. (POT), Agrium (AGU) and Mosaic (MOS). Read full article...
December 10, 2009
In our experience of investing in new trends, it always pays to own those companies which were first movers in the industry. In the past few years our readers have learned this firsthand in the uranium industry and then later in the potash industry. In both of these instances it paid to invest in those companies which had pounds in the ground and the best projects before the masses had their epiphany moment. It is our belief that investors should seek out those companies with pounds in the ground and some experience while being far more cautious when considering the newcomers to the field.
One company in the rare earth elements field that is one of the best buys is Mawson Resources Ltd. The company is much like Quest Uranium and Ucore Uranium in that it is a uranium company with exposure to rare earths. Where the three differ is that Mawson’s stock has not moved up in unison with Quest or Ucore and the stock trades around cash on hand. In short, an investor can get all this exposure to uranium, rare earths and phosphate for free. With roughly 38 million shares outstanding, when investors discover this stock and its merits as an explorer it should be able to move. Already it is undervalued based on its rare earth exposure, but with recent events in Sweden indicating that the government has warmed up to uranium mining and the company working diligently on getting Spain to lift the state reserves on the Don Bonito project we believe that the uranium segment is vastly undervalued as well. Read full article...
October 06, 2009
Over the years we have prided ourselves with being able to get our investors into new investing ideas early. One sector that has caught our eye as of late is that of the rare earth elements which has caught fire. After evaluating the sector and dabbling in it with a few trades here and there while conducting our original research we decided it was an opportunity too good not to share with our readers. A few years ago we were early on the uranium bandwagon. So early in fact, that there really was not any information out there available to the public for free. When we caught wind of the REE idea a few months back in mid-summer the available information was much the same, very little. Since then there has been an explosion of interest in the sector as well as a flurry of information.
Read full article...
Uranium One’s Resurrection
June 17, 2009
When we saw the news regarding Kazakhstan’s announcement that some foreign uranium deals were illegal, and named one of Uranium One’s mines in their probe we simply shook our heads. It was hardly surprising considering all that we have been through before. Although one of our favorite companies because of their commitment to bringing supply online and aggressively expanding their operations, they conduct business in risky areas and seem to consistently bet the farm.
This all brings us to today. The Kazakhstan government has said that they will not renegotiate any contracts after talking with their partners in the country but investors seemed hardly moved by this announcement and the damage was done. Many still felt that the government was going to somehow increase its grip on the mines in the country and that its previous announcement indicated that the Kazakhs were interested in not only being the world’s largest producer of uranium, but owning the production as well. Read full article...
Potash Awakening
May 22, 2009
Over the past few months, investors’ appetite for risk has increased dramatically. With that we have seen a transition back into those sectors which were hot, and had quickly become not. Our two favorite sectors here at theinvestar.com, LLC have been uranium and potash. We have been bulls on these two sectors for some time and the reasons are becoming more and more apparent in the potash industry.
Pricing power is one of the most attractive qualities for the potash industry as a whole. Canpotex is a price setter at the end of the day, certainly not a price taker. This is the Canadian marketing arm for North America’s largest potash producers, in short a “cartel”. Although demand has slumped in recent months due to the world slowdown, many other commodity prices have fallen dramatically and still supply outstrips demand. With the potash industry right now, yes earnings are falling along with revenues as sales fall, but fortunately the companies are not flooding the market now to get these prices and forfeiting the health of tomorrow’s market. Too often we see this, but it seems the Russian/Ukrainian potash companies are on board and need not sell all of their production. Read full article...
A Rising Tide
April 24, 2009
The past year for uranium investors has been a painful chain of lower lows followed by further lows. Most of those late to the game in the last bull market lost their shirts and those of us with large paper gains saw those dissipate into paper losses. Our feeling is that this market is finally turning into long-term uranium bulls’ favor now that credit and capital markets have thawed to their current state.
Back on November 3, 2008 we authored an article entitled, “Uranium Equities: Time to Test the Water,” in which we stated that, “for the first time in many, many months we saw some strong buying in uranium stocks which was not met by even stronger selling.” Our recommendation was to gently wade back in, and we supplied two stocks, Cameco and Ur-Energy. Cameco is up 18.72% from that date and we are proud to report that Ur-Energy is up a whopping 44.23%! All of this taking place during the greatest bear markets since 1929, and to take this for granted would be remiss. Read full article...
Oilsands Quest: A Speculative, Intelligent Play
Thursday November 13, 2008
One of the most important lessons we have learned over the years, when it comes to investing, is to trust your gut and your intuition. We were purchasing commodities during the technology peak in the late 1990s and early part of the turn of the millennia. Our favorite was of course oil, and on September 11, 2001 it seemed that all of our profits we had racked up since our buying began near the bottom would surely be wiped out along with a healthy portion of our already invested capital. When markets reopened, we made our move and purchased more shares in oil companies such as Talisman Energy (NYSE: TLM) sticking to our belief that oil prices would rise due to higher demand from emerging economies and the lack of investment in new oil fields and infrastructure for so long. Looking back, it was a brilliant trade, and sure it would be easy to say that it was a no brainer, but there were no guarantees at that moment and it took tremendous courage to move into the market at that time. Read full article...
Uranium Equities: Time to Test the Water
Monday November 3, 2008 For the first time in many, many months we saw some strong buying in uranium stocks which was not met by even stronger selling. For some time we had been speculating that the hedge funds had exited the uranium equities and then began the slow and painful exodus out of their physical uranium yellowcake holdings. Never could we have imagined that it would take this long to reach this point, nor the thought of some companies’ market capitalizations being below that of their cash-on-hand levels. Sadly many of the uranium companies were not only hit by the hedge funds exiting the uranium arena, but also by investing alongside hedge funds in commercial paper and mortgage backed securities. Generally when you venture outside your field of expertise, you get stung and this experience fell in line for many of those firms who were exploring for the best yield on their cash reserves rather than exploring for uranium. Read full article...
And we're back!
September 09, 2008 After round the clock work this weekend, theinvestar.com is now back up and running better than ever. Content will continue to be added over the next several days. In the meantime, we at theinvestar.com would like to invite our users to check out the new message board system. Simply fill out a quick registration and begin posting on topics relevant to uranium, potash, or anything else of interest! Theinvestar.com team will be able to answer any questions and communicate with all of it's clients through this new system. Also, for those that have not seen our publications, please feel free to download the full reports or individual company reports from our new high speed server. Our articles are also available dating back to 2006. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please fill out the form on the contact page. Please enjoy your stay here and come back to see us soon. Thanks, theinvestar.com, LLC team
Cameco: A Falling Tree?
Friday, August 22, 2008
Over the years we have been amazed by many events and how investors react and perceive them. One question our mentor asked us recently brought a smile to our face as it hit home with what many investors are thinking and feeling right this very moment. His question to me was, “If a tree falls in a forest and no one hears it, did it really fall?” My initial response was that, “What happens when everyone hears it fall, but fail to either believe or recognize that it no longer remains?” Read full article...
Potash Sprouting New Entrants
June 19, 2008 The world's major potash producers' stocks keep powering higher day after day with Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (NYSE- POT), The Mosaic Company (NYSE- MOS), and Agrium Inc. (NYSE- AGU) moving strongly higher over the past two weeks. Investors are beginning to reinvest their gains in these larger players down the food chain into some of the potash explorers. So long as these larger companies can keep up their momentum and avoid any sharp downturns, the juniors should continue upwards as well. Read full article...
Potash Companies are Enfuego
June 12, 2008
All things potash have been enfuego as of late as producers, explorers and holding companies have all seen their share prices rise as investors exuberantly bid up shares. We highlighted Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan in our June 2, 2008 article (click here) declaring that the stock was ready to make a move upwards. We also highlighted the much smaller explorers who we have consistently said hold much promise for investors. Read full article...
Potash: Setting Up for a Rally
June 2, 2008
Over the past few weeks it seems that volume has slowed on the potash stocks we follow as the share prices have taken a breather. Interest has waned yet share prices have found themselves in a bit of a trading range, especially when one consults a chart of Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (POT), The Mosaic Company (MOS) and Agrium Incorporated (AGU). Not much has changed in the past few weeks, and investors understand that the fertilizer stocks will be around for a while. Right now we have some sideways movement, which could soon end. Read full article...
Red Hot Yellow Cake
May 21, 2008
Over the past few weeks we here at theinvestar.com, LLC had speculated that uranium equities could be poised to rise higher if only they could hold recent gains and stay above support levels established in April and subsequently rise above previously established resistance levels. Read full article...
Potash Arena Shrinking After BHP's Acquisition of Anglo Potash
May 13, 2008
The big news today in the potash arena has to be the fact that BHP Billiton (BHP- NYSE) has purchased their joint venture partner, Anglo Potash Limited (AGP- Vancouver), at C$8.15 per share for a total of C$284 million in cash. For those not familiar with the situation, Anglo Potash owned 25% of a joint venture with BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc., a subsidiary of BHP Billiton. With this transaction, BHP has placed a value on the project of roughly C$1.136 Billion for a project which may come into production in 2014 at the earliest assuming smooth sailing from here on out. Read full article...
Uranium: Powering the Future
May 8, 2008
Uranium equities have continued their downturn after a period where it appeared we may have been flat-lining. Unfortunately for those still holding, many of these stocks dipped further in recent trading days resulting in a new all-time low for theinvestar's Canadian Uranium Average (TICUA). We noticed during those down days that volume spiked on many of the smaller uranium stocks included in the average as well as those which we follow on the side. Read full article...
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