Research Note

We attended Mercator Minerals Ltd.’s (TSX: ML) annual meeting in June. The meeting was conducted at its wholly owned Mineral Park Mine located near Kingman, in northwest Arizona. Management reports...See full report.

We believe that the market does not fully recognize Etruscan Resources Ltd's (TSX: EET) position as a major exploration company, the current fundamental value of its achievements or its growing portfolio of opportunities.See full report.

We visited Minefinders Corporation’s (AMEX: MFN) Dolores mine in Chihuahua, Mexico. It was an exciting opportunity and a privilege to visit such a significant project at a time when the very first ore was being placed on the leach pad (picture on left).See full report.

Etruscan Resources Inc. (TSX: EET) reported results from 22 drill holes at the 1.7 km Tabakoroni Zone on its Finkalo Permit in Mali South. Resolute Mining Limited holds 60% of the joint venture and is the operator at Finkalo.See full report.

NovaGold and Teck have selected a new management team to advance Galore Creek. Teck has committed an additional $140 million to complete its earn in to 50%.We believe that this demonstrates that both companies place value on the opportunity and are aligned in their focus to advance the Galore Creek project as quickly as possible. See full report.

NovaGold Resources Inc. (AMEX: NG) and Teck Cominco Ltd. (NYSE: TCK) placed the Galore Creek project in British Columbia on hold until construction costs are brought into balance with conservative long-term copper metal price assumptions. NovaGold’s share price closed down about 50% on the announcement. See full report.

We recently toured the projects of several companies in the southeast corner of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. One of our favorites was Paramount Gold and Silver Corp. (AMEX,TSX: PZG). This was due to the combination of management, project(s) potential, and the fact that Paramount’s aggressive exploration activities are relatively unknown. See full report.

NovaGold Resources Inc. (AMEX: NG) reported drill results at Donlin Creek that we believe could be some of the most exceptionaldrill results of any mining company in 2007. The release represents the results of 156,000 meters of drilling completed over nearly two full years.See full report.

Etruscan Resources Inc. through Etruscan Diamonds has acquired the remaining 50% interest in the Tirisano Diamond Mine in South Africa. The acquisition of Tirisano increases the resource of the consolidated Blue Gum effectively doubling the previously scheduled production to 100,000 cubic meters per month. See full report.

We recently visited NovaGold’s Rock Creek Project in Nome, Alaska. While the anticipated production of 100,000 to 125,000 is dwarfed by the Company’s Galore Creek Projects, the Nome Gold District is very impressive. Approximately 10 million ounces of gold have been extracted from the beaches of Nome and placers across the Seward Peninsula since 1900. Rock Creek is the second hard rock mine (Big Hurrah being the first) in the area. See full report.

We recently joined NovaGold Resources (AMEX: NG) and Teck Cominco (NYSE: TCK) for the 2007 analyst day at their jointly owned Galore Creek project in northwestern British Columbia. This was our third visit to Galore Creek in three years and the progress is nothing short of amazing. The scope of the project has even attracted videographers from the Discovery Channel for their Extreme Engineering series. See full report.

Sonic Foundry Inc. (NasdaqNM: SOFO) has made possible free advanced search of rich media content to the public on its Mediasite. com website (www.mediasite.com). As opposed to limiting search to laborious manual tagging of data, Sonic Foundry has developed a automated advanced search platform for individualized search for data to be determined by the user. According to Sonic Foundry, See full report.

The Wall Street Journal article “Firms Take a Cue From YouTube” (1/2/07, B3) bodes well for Sonic Foundry Inc.(NasdaqNM: SOFO) in 2007. The article draws attention to corporations looking to video on the Internet to communicate to employees and customers. While this trend started well before YouTube, the acquisition by Google Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG) has warmed investors to the possibilities of video over the Internet. See full report.

Sonic Foundry Inc. (NasdaqNM: SOFO) announced an offering of 3,000,000 shares at $3.75 per share to close December 27, 2006. The announcement was completed within minutes of the publishing of our latest report. We had increased our 12-month target price to $6.50 per share from $3.00 per share. We also increased our risk assessment for potential volatility leading up to the company’s first quarter earnings release to High from Moderate. See full report.

Sonic Foundry, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: SOFO) rich media communication system has been selected as a finalist for the “Best Webcaster” in CMP Media LLC’s Network Computing Well-Connected Awards in the “Digital Convergence” category. The winners will be announced on April 28, 2005, coincidentally the same date as SOFO’s second quarter earnings conference call.See full report.