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Tensions are increasing in Ukraine, giving a boost to Gold to start the new week…Russia is clearly attempting to destabilize the country in order to provide a pretext for military intervention…as of 8:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $11 an ounce at $1,329 after hitting a 3-week high of $1,332…Silver is up 6 cents at $20.02 (John has updated Silver charts at the bottom of today’s Morning Musings)…Copper is down a penny at $3.02…Crude Oil is 17 cents higher at $103.91 while the U.S. Dollar Index has gained more than one-tenth of a point to 79.75…Palladium hit a nearly 3-year high of $815 on potential supply concerns as tensions escalate over Ukraine…while Palladium and Platinum may be less likely to be subjected to western sanctions than other metals because of the difficulty in replacing them in European and U.S. markets, they may be a potential target of Russian counter-sanctions, Goldman Sachs wrote in a report yesterday…Palladium particularly is a “crucial and not substitutable input” in the car industry, it said…

A day after threatening a full-scale military operation to drive pro-Russian militants out of a string of eastern Ukrainian cities seized over the weekend, the country’s acting President offered an apparent olive branch today, saying he wasn’t opposed to a countrywide referendum on possibly granting regions greater autonomy…a referendum on greater independence from the central government in Kiev has been a key demand made by the militias that have commandeered government buildings in the east…Oleksandr Turchynov’s comments came as a deadline for the pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine to lay down their arms or face a full-scale “anti-terrorist” operation expired with no sign, as of yet, of military action…

Russia has apparently massed tens of thousands of well-equipped troops near the Ukrainian border in preparation for what could be a Crimea-style invasion, while Russia has denounced what it claims is Ukraine’s “Russophobic, anti-Semitic leadership”.  “Satellite images show that there are between 35,000 and 40,000 Russian troops in the vicinity of the border with Ukraine, equipped with combat aircraft, tanks, artillery and logistical support units,” stated Mark Lyall Grant, U.K. ambassador to the U.N.  “This is in addition to the 25,000 Russia troops based illegally in Crimea,” he added.

Asian Gold Enthusiasts Vastly Outnumber Western Gold Bears

Check out the article this morning by Mineweb’s Lawrence Williams at www.mineweb.com.  “Within an interesting almost hour-long discussion published on Chris Martenson’s Peak Prosperity website, Alasdair Macleod of Gold Money made the interesting – but in retrospect, patently obvious – comment that Gold buyers and sellers in the West are hugely outnumbered by a traditionally Gold hoarding community in Asia.  And as Asian economies develop, this Gold-oriented (carefully chosen word!) community is expanding rapidly as is its purchasing power. Macleod commented thus: ‘The point is there are 4 billion people in Asia who have got a very old-fashioned view of Gold, and they have become wealthy over the last 20 years. And their view is likely to prevail against the ~1 billion of us in North America and Western Europe. I mean it really is as simple as that. It’s not a question of Austrian economics, or Keynesian, or whatever. We’re outnumbered.'”

China’s Copper Grab Continues, Las Bambas Sells For $5.8 Billion

Glencore Xstrata said yesterday that is has agreed to sell the mining company’s Las Bambas Peruvian Copper Project to a Chinese consortium led by MMG Ltd. (MMG is the Hong Kong-listed offshore arm of China’s state-owned Minmetals Corp.) in an all-cash deal worth at least $5.8 billion…the acquisition is the largest Chinese purchase of an overseas mining asset since state-owned Aluminum Corp. of China, or Chinalco, took a 12% stake in Rio Tinto for $14 billion in 2008…like that purchase, this latest deal gives China greater control of the raw materials its industries crave…it also underlies the global scarcity of large high-quality Copper deposits and the continued Chinese demand for this metal…the country accounts for roughly 40% of global Copper demand…

Las Bambas, located in the Apurimac Region of Peru, is one of the world’s largest Copper projects under construction…it contains about 0.95 billion tonnes of reserves at 0.73% Copper but has no Gold…the measured and indicated resource is 1.2 billion tonnes at 0.66% copper and 0.02% molybdenum…it’s expected to produce more than 2 million tonnes of Copper concentrate in its first five years of operation, beginning in 2015…it has a 20-year projected mine life with opportunities to extend the existing resource as a significant proportion of the license area is currently unexplored…other companies interested in Las Bambas included a western consortium made up of Teck Resources Ltd. (TCK.B, TSX), Newmont Mining Corp. (NEM, NYSE) and private equity firms Blackstone Group and Magris Resources…

If you wonder why there is such keen interest in an emerging world class Copper-Gold porphyry district as the Sheslay Valley, look no further than the above…not only is their widespread porphyry Copper mineralization in this 1,500 sq. km district, but Gold, Silver and potentially molybdenum as well…

We’ll continue our coverage of the Sheslay Valley tomorrow after an extensive visit to the area…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Asian markets were mixed overnight…China’s Shanghai Composite added a point to close at 2132 while Japan’s Nikkei slipped 50 points to close at 13910…critical data from China will likely be the center of attention for market players this week, with first-quarter GDP, March retail sales, industrial output and fixed asset investment slated for release on Wednesday…economists surveyed by Reuters expect Chinese GDP to rise an annual 7.3% which would mark China’s slowest pace of growth since 2009 and come in well below the 7.7% reading in the final quarter of 2013…

Europe

European shares are mixed in late trading overseas…industrial production across the 18 countries that share the euro rose slightly in February, although output in many of the currency area’s troubled southern members declined…the modest nature of the industrial expansion, together with its narrow spread, underline the weakness of the euro zone’s recovery as policy makers at the ECB mull new measures to counter a period of very low inflation…

North America

The Dow has shot up 133 points as of 8:00 am Pacific after falling 410 points Thursday and Friday…the S&P 500, coming off its worst weekly decline since 2012, is 17 points higher while the Nasdaq has gained 50 points…Citigroup kicked off a big week for earnings reports, topping analysts’ expectations with a 4% increase in quarterly net profit as a narrower loss on its troubled assets made up for a big drop in revenue and profit from its core trading and lending businesses...meanwhile, the Commerce Department reported this morning that U.S. retail sales were up 1.1% in March, furthering the notion that the U.S. economy is recovering after harsh weather curbed spending at the beginning of the year…

A weak earnings report on Friday from JPMorgan Chase prompted global markets to extend losses…through Friday, a mere 52% of companies topped earnings estimates and only 48% beat profit estimates – albeit it from a tiny sample of 29 companies that represent just 6% of the S&P 500…with regard to earnings, one concern is that many corporations have utilized the Fed’s zero-interest-rate policy to run up huge levels of cheap debt, which they then used for share buybacks…more than $1 trillion of buybacks have reduced share counts and thus “artificially” boosted earnings-per-share levels for some companies to record highs…the question now is whether companies can begin to drive earnings organically once the Fed ends QE, which has sent the central bank’s balance sheet to nearly $4.3 trillion…

The TSX is up 72 points  at 14258 while the Venture is 3 points higher at 1001…

Updated Venture Chart

Below is an updated 5-year Venture chart from John…buy pressure has remained steady on this long-term chart while RSI(14) may have found support at 50%…+DI remains above -DI on the ADX indicator which is bullish…the Venture is underpinned by tremendous technical support ranging from 945 to 985…the rising 100 and 200-day moving averages (SMA’s) are at 970 and 950, respectively…what this chart is telling us is that any weakness is a buying opportunities as the dynamics of this market have fundamentally changed in recent months…

Abcourt Mines Inc. (ABI, TSX-V) Update

Abcourt Mines (ABI, TSX-V) continues to make progress with the development of its Elder Mine near Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec…while Elder is not yet officially in production, Abcourt received gross proceeds of $2.1 million from the sale of Gold and Silver (1,436 ounces of Gold, 803 ounces of Silver) during the first quarter of 2014 as reported by the company last Friday…mine production averaged 4,164 tonnes per month with an impressive mill recovery rate of 96.8% and an average grade of 5.23 g/t Au…ABI expects to reach full mine production (12,500 tonnes per month) in the second half of this year…the company is keeping costs down and appears to be on track in terms of achieving its goal of turning Elder into a profitable small producer in the range of 15,000-20,000 ounces of Gold per year…

Technically, the challenge for ABI is to overcome the long-term downsloping channel resistance as you can see in this 2.5-year weekly chart…ABI is unchanged at 7 cents as of 8:00 am Pacific…

Alix Resources Corp. (AIX, TSX-V) Update

Our recent fly-over of the Sheslay Valley district revealed how strategic Alix Resources Corp.’s (AIX, TSX-V) North Cap East, North Cap West and South Fork projects are, and we’ll be expanding on that theme later this week with some pictures as well…the Golden Bear access road runs through much of the South Fork, where Alix will be targeting a couple of important MINFILE occurrences, while the company’s North Cap East holdings are contiguous to the entire northern border (approximately 8 km) of Prosper Gold Corp.’s (PGX, TSX-V) advanced Sheslay Project…North Cap West, meanwhile, stretches several km across the northwestern border of Garibaldi Resources Corp.’s (GGI, TSX-V) Corp.’s Grizzly Property where a very distinctive trend runs in a northwesterly/southeasterly direction…

Technically, a 4-year chart shows a turnaround in AIX with RSI(14) in a gradual uptrend and the stock trading in the parameters of an upsloping channel…AIX closed Friday at 4 cents…

Atico Mining Corp. (ATY, TSX-V)

We suggest our readers perform their due diligence on Atico Mining Corp. (ATY, TSX-V) which continues to make steady progress, both in terms of development and exploration, at its El Roble mine in Colombia…El Roble continues to operate at approximately 320 tonnes per day (scale-up to 650 tonnes per day is on schedule to be completed in the third quarter of this year) with ore currently being processed from the upper levels of the mine…of particular significance, high-grade mineralization has been discovered below historic workings, and the company expects that underground stope preparation in the Goliath and Maximus massive sulphide deposits will provide some high-grade ore prior to the start of full-scale stoping activities commencing this summer…

This 2-year weekly ATY chart shows a cup-with-handle pattern and strong support in the 60’s (watch for a potential breakout above the cup, but timing is uncertain)…ATY is up 2 pennies at 80 cents on light volume as of 8:00 am Pacific…

Silver Short-Term Chart

RSI(14) on this short-term Silver chart appears to have bottomed, hence Silver has stabilized above support around $19.75 after a 10% drop during the second half of March…Silver will have plenty of resistance to fight through, though, between $20 and $22…

Silver Long-Term Chart

This 11-year monthly chart confirms that the metal has exceptional support just below $20…sell pressure has been dominant since early last year but is weak…if and when Silver breaks above the main downtrend line, watch out (there are two downtrend lines to take note of)…RSI(2) has unwound from above 80% to 38%…

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI, DBV and AIX.  Jon also holds a share position in PGX.

Sheslay Valley, NW British Columbia

He’s a “gamer”.  He survived a bone-chilling cold snap in November, allowing Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) to drill a fifth hole – HAT-11 – in its second round of drilling which gave confirmation of an early-stage Cu-Au porphyry discovery at the Hat Property.  He returned to the property last month and led the charge to enable the company to quickly set up a winterized camp and resume drilling.  DBV field manager Ty George has experience at several large deposits in northern B.C. and is clearly a key member of the Doubleview team as it aggressively pursues a major discovery in the rapidly emerging Sheslay Valley district.

After a busy day on the site, Ty decided to take a spin on his own 2012 Ski-Doo Freeride 800 – which ultimately led to a spill as you’ll see in this 1-minute video.  But Ty is nonetheless an acrobat on the Ski-Doo, to go along with his many other talents.

Sheslay Valley, NW British Columbia

TSX Venture Exchange & Gold

Gold climbed higher last week, providing support for the Venture as U.S. equity markets retreated significantly.  The S&P 500, in fact, suffered its worst weekly decline (2.6%) since 2012.  The Dow tumbled 410 points Thursday and Friday, losing 2.4% for the week, while the Nasdaq shed 3.1% last week.  Biotechnology and Internet-related plays have been hit hard during what appears to be a global shift from high growth “momentum” stocks into “value” stocks with strong fundamentals and reasonable market caps.  Certain companies in the resource/exploration space should benefit from this shift.  The Venture gave up only 9 points or just under 1% to finish at 998 while the TSX also lost less than 1%.

Venture 9-Month Daily Chart

Below is an updated 9-month CDNX daily chart from John.  Sell pressure is declining in a similar way as it did in late December.  In addition, RSI(14) appears to have bottomed and is now threatening to push above a downtrend line on this short-term chart.  So it’s quite possible that the late March closing low of 985, at the 300-day moving average (SMA), may hold, which also corresponds with Elliott Wave Theory.  If not, the Venture is underpinned by other technical support including rising 100 and 200-day SMA’s at 970 and 950, respectively, and Fib. retracement levels (from the 1050 March high) between 945 and 983.

The fact that the Venture is holding up so well in the face of a sell-off in U.S. equity markets is highly encouraging.  If the stock market in Greece can climb 45% in a year, so too can the Venture.  Overall, the Venture has a very bullish technical posture following the first quarter of 2014.  We see big things on the way, powered in part by fresh discoveries.

Speaking of discoveries, we’re in the heart of what we’re convinced will emerge as the most exciting Canadian exploration story of the year in 2014.  The Sheslay Valley in northwest British Columbia has enormous scale to it with mineralization evident from one corner to the other.  Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) continues drilling its Cu-Au porphyry discovery at “Anomaly B” and has the potential, based on publicly-available geological, geophysical and geochemical data, to make another discovery more than 2 km to the west-northwest at “Anomaly C” during this current round of drilling.

Meanwhile, Prosper Gold Corp. (PGX, TSX-V) and Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) are gearing up to begin their own drill programs, while other juniors in the area are busy accumulating data.   We have some spectacular pictures from a helicopter fly-over of the entire trend that we’re compiling and will post in the coming days.  Off to the west of the Sheslay Valley, a high-grade Gold play could be in the works and we’ll soon be informing our readers of that.  Most investors have yet to discover what’s unfolding here – the emergence of a potential world class mining district – but once critical mass sets in, look out.  Geologically, this is one of the most prospective areas in the entire world.  Literally many billions of pounds of Copper and many millions of ounces of Gold could be proven up in the Sheslay Valley with deposits on more than one property, creating unusually attractive economies of scale.  The fact that the three most advanced companies in this district have a current combined market cap of only $31 million speaks to the enormous wealth-building opportunity the Sheslay Valley may offer investors at this early stage.  One company alone could ultimately command a market cap of $300 million or more through one large Cu-Au porphyry deposit consistent in grade and tonnage to others in this mineral-rich province.  The Northwest Transmission Line is a game-changer in northern B.C. and will encourage new exploration and facilitate the development of new projects, so the Sheslay Valley’s time has arrived.

A view of a portion of the Sheslay Valley looking from above Doubleview's Hat Property toward the west-southwest. The Kaketsa pluton, believed to be an important "heat engine" contributing to mineralization throughout the district, is seen on the far right.

The Seeds Have Been Planted (And Continue To Be Planted) For The Next Big Run In Gold Stocks

There’s no better cure for low prices than low prices.  The great benefit of the collapse in Gold prices in 2013 is that it forced producers (at least most of them) to start to become much more lean in terms of their cost structures. Producers, big and small, have started to make hard decisions in terms of costs, projects, and rationalizing their their overall operations.  Exploration budgets among both producers and juniors have also been cut sharply.  In addition, government policies across much of the globe are making it more difficult (sometimes impossible) for mining companies to put Gold (or other) deposits into production, thanks to the ignorance of many politicians and the impact of radical and vocal environmentalists (technology has made it easier for groups opposing mining projects to organize and disseminate information, even in remote areas around the globe).   Ultimately, all of  these factors are going to create a supply problem – think about it, where are the next major Gold deposits going to come from? On top of that, grades have fallen significantly just over the past decade.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the next huge bull market in Gold stocks is just around the corner due to demand-supply dynamics, much leaner producers who will suddenly become earnings machines, and a junior market that will be healthier simply because a lot of the “lifestyle” companies sucking money out of investors will simply disappear or get taken over by individuals or groups who are actually competent and serious about building shareholder value.   A healthy “cleansing” in the market has been taking place.  As this continues, more and more seeds are being planted for an incredible future move in well-managed Gold producers and explorers that could make the dotcom bubble look like a tea party.  As for the juniors, focus on the small universe of companies that have the ability to execute both on the ground and in the market.  Companies that are strong financially, have superior exploration prospects, competent management and clean share structures.

Gold

Gold enjoyed a strong week, closing at $1,318.  Bullion has very solid chart and Fib. support around $1,275 while important resistance is at $1,350, just above a downtrend line. That will be the key area for Gold to push above and remain above in order to create the conditions for a sustained advance.

The “Big Picture” remains very positive in our view.  The question is timing.  When will Gold be ready to put on a show?  Many analysts are still bearish on bullion but that has to be considered bullish from a contrarian standpoint.

Below is an updated 1-year daily chart from John.  Over the past 10 months it appears that bullion has been forming a bullish cup-with-handle pattern with the handle now under construction and the $1,270’s acting as support.  The Russia-Ukraine situation is heating up, and that could give Gold a further boost in the coming week.

The Financial Times reported today that Mario Draghi has signaled that the ECB is getting ready to unleash new unconventional monetary policy in a bid to fight low inflation.  “The strengthening of the exchange rate would require, to make our monetary policy stance to remain equally accommodative, it would require further monetary policy accommodation,” Draghi said at a press conference in Washington today. “The strengthening of the exchange rate requires further monetary stimulus. That’s an important dimension for our price stability.” Draghi’s words came after he was pressured all weekend over the dangers of allowing inflation to slide lower – by the IMF, finance ministers and central bank governors from all over the world.

Silver finished the week at $19.96 while Copper closed at $3.03.  Crude Oil strengthened to $103.74 while the U.S. Dollar Index continues to struggle – it closed at 79.49 and appears destined to vigorously test critical support at 79.

The “Big Picture” View Of Gold

As Frank Holmes so effectively illustrates at www.usfunds.com, the long-term bull market in Gold has been driven by both the Fear Trade and the Love Trade.  The transfer of wealth from west to east, and the accumulation of wealth particularly in China and India, has had a huge impact on bullion.  Despite Gold’s largest annual drop in three decades in 2013, the fundamental long-term case for the metal remains solidly intact – currency instability and an overall lack of confidence in fiat currencies, governments and world leaders in general, an environment of historically low interest rates, a Fed balance sheet now at $4 trillion and still expanding, money supply growth around the globe, massive government debt from the United States to Europe, central bank buying, flat mine supply, physical demand (especially from China), emerging market growth, geopolitical unrest and conflicts…the list goes on.  However, deflationary concerns around the globe and the prospect of Fed tapering had a lot to do with Gold’s plunge during the spring of 2013  below the technically and psychologically important $1,500 level, along with the strong performance of equities which drew “momentum traders” away from bullion.  June’s low of $1,179 was likely the bottom for Gold.  Extreme levels of bearishness emerged in the metal last year.  With the long-term bull market remaining intact, we expect new all-time highs in Gold as the decade progresses.  Inflationary pressures should eventually kick in around the globe after years of ultra-loose monetary policy.

We are in the process of updating our eAlert list, especially in light of recent exploration discoveries and the much improved Venture outlook for 2014.  If you wish to be included in the BMR eAlert system, which sends out occasional important and timely market information that’s not always posted on our site (or before it’s posted on our site), simply click on the “Contact Us” button you see in the top right hand corner of this page, type in “Alert” in the subject line, give us your first name, and hit the send button.  Your email address is not given out to any other party.

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Greetings again from the Sheslay Valley as we continue to learn more about this unique mineral-rich and under-explored area of northwest British Columbia…after a few days up here and a fly-over of the trend in a helicopter, we have enormous amounts of material that we’ve compiled, including pictures and video footage, that we’ll be sharing with our readers next week…

Gold has traded between $1,313 and $1,325 so far today…as of 9:10 am Pacific, the yellow metal is unchanged at $1,318…Silver is off 2 pennies at $20.01…Copper is flat at $3.02…Crude Oil has added 78 cents to $104.18 while the U.S. Dollar Index is relatively unchanged at 79.43 and headed for a sharp weekly decline…the Index appears destined for a serious test of the critical 79 support level in the very near future…

Gold hit a two-week high yesterday, a day after minutes of the Fed’s March meeting were released and showed that several policy makers said projections for an interest rate rise might be overstated…Fed Chair Janet Yellen indicated last week that the U.S. economy will need stimulus for “some time” after stating last month that rates might start to rise about six months after asset purchases end…

Bullion has been showing some strength this week but volume for the benchmark Gold contract in China, the largest user, is nearly 40% less than three weeks ago, according to data from the Shanghai Gold Exchange…“The Gold price is continuing to find support from the unexpectedly dovish Fed minutes from mid-week because the U.S. dollar has been tending towards weakness ever since,” analysts at Commerzbank AG wrote in a report today. “Because physical demand is also generating little impetus at present, the latest price rise is likely to have been driven predominantly by speculation.”

Gold and Silver imports into India, the world’s second-biggest buyer of the metal, dropped 40% to $33.46 billion in 2013/14, a trade ministry source said today, following a series of restrictions imposed by the federal government to curtail the current account deficit…however, the fall in Gold and Silver imports narrowed in March, down 17.27% from a year earlier to $2.76 billion, a source told Reuters…last month, the Indian central bank allowed five more private banks to import the yellow metal, in what many saw as a first significant step in easing of tough rules on imports…

OPEC Production Declines In March

Production by OPEC, which supplies more than one-third of the Oil consumed globally, fell by over half a million barrels a day last month to 29.6 million barrels daily, the group said in its monthly Oil market report…a steep drop in Iraq’s Oil output of nearly 300,000 barrels a day led the decline, though there also was a substantial downturn in production from Angola, Libya and Saudi Arabia last month…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Japan’s Nikkei posted its biggest weekly fall since the March 2011 nuclear disaster, a 7% setback after a 340-point drop overnight…the Nikkei closed at 13960, its first close below 14000 since October…meanwhile, China’s Shanghai Composite lost only 4 points overnight to finish at 2131 after closing at its highest level in nearly two months yesterday…revealing comments from the Vice Governor of the People’s Bank of China who was speaking in the U.S. yesterday…he said officials should be careful in implementing stimulus measures since they are less efficient than natural market forces in boosting growth…the Chinese are learning…his comments come one day after Premier Li Keqiang said Beijing won’t take any short-term easing measures to combat economic volatility…

Interestingly, the Chinese government was unable to sell all the bonds offered at an auction today, its first such failure in nearly a year amid concerns about slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy…the bond failure followed inflation data that showed prices fell in China last month, reinforcing the picture of a sluggish economy weighed down in part by government efforts to squeeze leverage out of the financial system…consumer prices fell 0.5% in March from the previous month, while producer prices remained mired in deflationary territory for a 25th consecutive month, according to figures published by the National Bureau of Statistics today…

Europe

European markets were down significantly (over 1%) today…

North America

The Dow is off another 62 points as of 9:10 am Pacific…U.S. producer prices recorded their largest increase in nine months in March as the cost of food and services rose, pointing to some pockets of inflation at the factory gate…the Labor Department said this morning that it’s seasonally adjusted PPI for final demand increased 0.5% last month after slipping 0.1% in February…that was the largest increase since June last year – a good sign, actually, as a little inflation at this point is needed…meanwhile, new data shows that the U.S. budget deficit shrank to $37 billion in March from $107 billion in the same month last year…that’s the lowest read for the month of March in 14 years…

Nasdaq Updated Chart

The Nasdaq has been beaten up significantly since its March 6 intra-day high of 4372, thanks to a sell-off in tech and biotech stocks…the Nasdaq dropped as low as 4007 in early trading today, an 8.3% drop in just over a month but a healthy and quite normal pullback nonetheless…the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF has been the tip of the arrow when it comes to trading momentum…it peaked at 272.23 on Feb. 25 and has since lost nearly 20% as it hovers precariously above its 200-day moving average…

Below is 3-year weekly Nasdaq chart from John that provides some critical perspective…there are two important channels of support to be aware of with regard to the Nasdaq…the Index has landed on the first channel as you can see below, just above the SMA(40) on this weekly chart…the second channel is the long-term uptrend line that goes back to late 2011…the Nasdaq would have to fall another 10% to touch this support which is currently just above 3600…it also coincides with the Fib. 50% retracement level (3588)…the recent drop-off in buy pressure, combined with a bearish -DI crossover and an RSI(14) that may need to unwind a little more, suggest that a test of the 3600 area is very possible but this would likely present a tremendous buying opportunity – especially if such a move were to happen quickly in “panic” fashion…

The TSX is down 39 points as of 9:10 am Pacific…Goldcorp Inc. (G, TSX) has raised its hostile bid for Osisko Mining Corp. (OSK, TSX-V) to $3.6-billion ($7.65 per share) in an attempt to squash a friendly, albeit convoluted, deal from Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI, TSX)…investors pushed OSK shares slightly above Goldcorp’s revised bid yesterday…

The Venture is holding steady, up 2 points at 996 as of 9:10 am Pacific…

“Buckle Up”:  A Wild Ride At The Hat In Recent Months Could Soon Accelerate

After 11 drill holes, entering this current round of drilling, getting a handle on the geometry of a potential sizable deposit at the Hat is a priority for the Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) technical team…a critical member of that team with extensive international experience and an impressive track record at figuring out porphyry deposits is 63 year-old John Buckle who’s both a geologist and a geophysicist…he began his career with Teck in 1972…Buckle’s interpretations of historical data from Utah Mines were hugely important in allowing DBV to hit the margins of the mineralized system on just the 6th hole last year.  “We were in the right neighborhood when we started at Anomaly A,” Buckle told us, “but hole 6 at Anomaly B gave us the sniff we were looking for, and that’s very early into a drill program.  After holes 8 and 11, we’re getting much closer to finding the right house.  I told Farshad, if this isn’t a mineralized porphyry I’d eat my hat.”

We’ll have much more with Buckle next week – he’s an interesting individual who brings not only his unique expertise to the table, but humor and character as well…he’s one reason we’re so confident that DBV is on the right track at the Hat.  “I do know that if we keep on hitting it where we think it is, then we’ll soon get this thing unraveled,” he stated. “It’ll depend on what we see.  Hole 11 ended in mineralization, so we don’t know where the limit of this is yet.  We haven’t hit the edges yet.  It could take a few deep holes before we begin to see where the edges of this thing are.”

Doubleview consulting geoscientist John Buckle inspects core from discovery hole HAT-11.

Ashburton Ventures Inc. (ABR, TSX-V) Update

A situation we’ll be exploring in some detail next week is Ashburton’s (ABR, TSX-V) Hackett Property which we have just visited…it’s only 1000 metres from Doubleview’s discovery holes, and just 300 metres shy of the historical Hoey showing…unquestionably, the trend of mineralization leads right to the Hackett (never previously drilled or systematically explored) which makes ABR at 5.5 cents (with only 36 million shares outstanding) a very compelling speculative opportunity in our view…if DBV is able to prove up a major deposit, ABR could literally explode…

“We couldn’t be in a better place at a better time,” ABR President Kyler Hardy told BMR.  “Looking at the data, it’s publicly available, we’re very much on that trend with the DBV discovery…it’s very interesting.  We’re in a good position to experience similar success to DBV.  In my opinion,” Hardy continued, “we’re into a very, very large regional play rather than simply an isolated deposit (Sheslay Star target) that was looked at previously.  Garibaldi as well, they’re got a very interesting project with the Grizzly.  It does look like a parallel-type structure.  What we’ve been seeing so far, everything seems to line up.”

Below is a 2.5-year weekly ABR chart showing the horizontal channel that has been in place since late 2012…consistent accumulation has occurred since early this year, following the announcement of DBV’s discovery, and the overall bullish trend remains intact as confirmed by the ADX indicator…

Prosper Gold Corp. (PGX, TSX-V) Update

We captured some excellent aerial shots of Prosper’s Sheslay Property yesterday, and we’ll be sharing some of those with our readers next week…keep in mind that Prosper could be drilling the Sheslay in as little as three weeks, and any success in step-out drilling between the Star targets, and/or in drilling at Pyrrhotite Creek, could really ignite this entire district…only 9 holes have ever been drilled at Pyrrhotite Creek and that was over 40 years ago…one of the last holes returned 480 feet of 0.39% Cu from surface (never assayed for Gold)…it is a distinct, multiple-target area, approximately 4.5 km southwest of the Star, with all the geological and geophysical signatures of a potential major new discovery…Prosper has a world class technical team led by Dr. Dirk Tempelman-Kluit who discovered the multi-million ounce Blackwater deposit that was acquired by New Gold Inc. (NGD, TSX) from Richfield Ventures in early 2011…guided by Pete Bernier and Tempelman-Kluit, Richfield soared from pennies to more than $10 a share on the buy-out…that’s the kind of success they could repeat with Prosper and the Sheslay Property which they optioned from Firesteel Resources Inc. (FTR, TSX-V) last year after looking at more than 150 other properties throughout the world…

Below is a 2.5-year weekly PGX chart from John…the strong support band between 45 and 50 cents has held, laying a solid foundation for a powerful upside move on strong drill results…

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in DBV and GGI.  Jon also holds share positions in PGX and ABR.

Greetings again from northwest British Columbia where we continue to enhance our understanding of the prolific Sheslay Valley…a helicopter tour of the entire known NW/SE trending corridor has given us new insight and some spectacular pictures that we’ll be sharing with our readers over the next few days and beyond…suffice to say, the Sheslay Valley is exhibiting all the signatures of a classic large-scale Cu-Au porphyry district capable of hosting not one, not two, but several world class deposits over a broad area…the fact that Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V), Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) and Prosper Gold Corp. (PGX, TSX-V) – the three most prominent players who will soon be carrying out simultaneous drill programs – have a combined market cap of just $32 million underscores the unique opportunities investors currently have before a much greater awareness of this area sets in among the masses…as always, perform your own due diligence…our readers should find our efforts up here extremely helpful over the coming days in terms of assessing the potential of this mineral-rich district which is also blessed with certain infrastructure advantages not typically seen with projects in other remote parts of this province…

Gold has traded between $1,315 and $1,326 so far today…as of 9:45 am Pacific, bullion is up $7 an ounce at $1,319…Silver has pushed 24 cents higher to $20.09…Copper is up 2 cents to $3.02…Crude Oil is off slightly at $103.44 while the struggling U.S. Dollar Index is down more than one-tenth of a point to 79.39…

Gold reacted favorably yesterday to the release of Fed minutes from its March 18-19 meeting….those minutes showed that the Fed plans to favor low short-term rates longer than many had assumed…two weeks before the Fed’s regular meeting, it held an unusual and previously unannounced video conference to debate the issue, according to the minutes released yesterday…in the end, the Fed settled on an open-ended approach – even after employment and inflation are nearly back to normal, short-term rates may need to stay unusually low for a while because the economy isn’t fully healthy…

UBS has reduced its 2014 average Silver price forecast to $21.80 an ounce from $22.30, saying the metal struggled to fully benefit from Gold’s safe-haven first-quarter gains…it should do better when the economy recovers, but Silver “needs convincing economic growth before it can start outperforming Gold,” according to UBS…it’s keeping its 2014 average Gold price forecast at $1,300, saying the yellow metal should continue to trade in a fairly tight range…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

China’s Shanghai Composite gained 29 points overnight to close at 2134 despite weaker-than-expected trade data…exports slumped 6.6% in March, well below estimates for a 4% gain and following February’s dramatic 18% plunge…imports meanwhile, fell an annual 11.3%, under-performing expectations for a 2.4% rise…following the data, Chinese Premier Li said the government won’t take any immediate stimulus measures to deal with the economy’s short-term volatility…

China’s imports of Copper and iron ore, however, continued to surge in March as cheaper prices spurred stockpiling, bucking the trend of sharply lower overall exports and imports in the month…Copper shipments rose 31.4% on year to 420,000 tons while iron ore imports rose 15% from a year earlier to 74 million metric tons, according to customs data…Copper imports in March may have been influenced by deals in which Chinese investors were locked into buying the metal to back bank loans…volumes of Copper and iron ore imports were off record highs in January…but growth in import demand has remained robust, despite signs China’s economic growth is likely to slow this year from a 7.7% expansion in 2013…

Europe

European shares were off modestly today…the Bank of England announced it was holding interest rates at a record low of 0.5%, with asset purchases unchanged at a total of £375 billion ($629 billion U.S.)…this was as expected, and came after the IMF upped its forecast for U.K. growth yesterday…

North America

The Dow has retreated 144 points as of 9:45 am Pacific while the Nasdaq has plunged another 2.5% amid a continued sell-off of tech and biotech shares…the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell sharply last week to the lowest level in almost seven years, which could bolster views of an acceleration in job growth after a cold winter dampened hiring…initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 32,000 to a seasonally adjusted 300,000 for the week ended April 5, the lowest level since May 2007, the Labor Department reported this morning…

The TSX is down 97 points while the Venture is off 1 point at 1002 as of 9:45 am Pacific…Gold Bullion Development Corp. (GBB, TSX-V), halted yesterday, is up a penny-and-a-half to 4.5 cents on strong volume after announcing an MOU with Iamgold Corp. (IMG, TSX) with respect to Iamgold processing ore emanating from the Granada mine site at its Westwood mill…

TSX Gold Index Updated Chart

The TSX Gold Index appears to have found solid support at its 200-day moving average, currently at 179, which is also within Fib. retracement levels between 175 and 182…after a sharp but healthy correction in late March, the Gold Index is now trading in an upsloping channel but is also now in area of resistance at and immediately below its 50-day SMA…a move through this resistance would be significant…a bullish +DI crossover on this 6-month chart is an encouraging sign…

Direct From The Hat Property:  Doubleview Capital’s Opportunity For A Second Discovery

The Sheslay Valley district as a whole has scale, but so too does Doubleview’s Hat Property where drilling is not only following up on discovery holes at Anomaly B, over a horizontal extent of approximately 1 km, but will also test the potential for a mineralized porphyry on trend to the northwest at Anomaly C…prior to listening to our interview, we suggest readers review DBV’s March 18 news release which made note of the fact that “similar Gold-Copper mineralization is present in outcrops” at Anomaly C…the area is also “coincident with the highest chargeability readings obtained in Doubleview’s 2013 induced polarization geophysical survey.”

We saw this outcropping mineralization at Anomaly C and it is impressive…combined with geochemical and geophysical evidence (these signatures are strong at Anomaly C but there are some differences with those seen at Anomaly B which only drilling can answer), this target area has to be considered highly prospective for a second potential discovery at the Hat…below is a picture of DBV President and CEO Farshad Shirvani collecting more samples from Anomaly C, and this location is where we conducted a short interview…

Doubleview has discovered outcropping mineralization at Anomaly C, an important target area along a structural trend with Anomaly B. IP chargeability readings at Anomaly C are the highest on the property, and these are coincident with geochemical signatures and outcropping mineralization.

Simply click on the forward arrow to listen to a 3-minute excerpt of this interview between Jon and Farshad – requires Adobe Flash Player version 9 or above):

Balmoral Resources Ltd. (BAR, TSX) Update

We continue to keep a close eye on Balmoral Resources (BAR, TSX) which resumed drilling about three weeks ago at its Grasset Ni-Cu-PGE early-stage drilling discovery in Quebec…interestingly, after a downhole EM survey, BAR is targeting an anomaly nearly 400 m northwest of hole GR-14-17 in an untested area along strike from the known zone of mineralization…as reported by the company March 19, this anomaly demonstrates strong conductivity, considerable strike/depth extent and appears to be located at/near the base of the host ultramafic intrusion, the most favourable location for development of massive sulphides within the system…

Below is a 1-year weekly chart from John showing the next measured Fib. resistance at 91 cents…BAR is unchanged at 66 cents as of 9:45 am Pacific…

GoldQuest Mining Corp. (GQC, TSX-V) Update

Technically, GoldQuest Mining (GQC, TSX) is slowing gearing up for what could be a very strong second half of 2014…GQC is already up 26% for the year based on yesterday’s closing price of 31.5 cents…in February, the company launched an airborne ZTEM survey covering the large Tireo belt surrounding its Romero Gold-Copper Project, and a PEA for Romero is expected during this second quarter…this 2+ year weekly chart shows that buy pressure, while still weak, has replaced sell pressure which was dominant from late 2012 until early this year…

Canada Coal Inc. (CCK, TSX-V) Updated Chart

Canada Coal (CCK, TSX-V) is in a strong cash position and announced March 27 that it’s “actively evaluating new projects in both the resource and non-resource sectors.”  That gave the share price a boost from 2.5 cents to a high of 8.5 cents where there is technical resistance as you can see in this 3-year weekly chart from John…a breakout above 8.5 cents would obviously be significant and that’s where CCK is trading (up half a penny) as of 9:45 am Pacific…

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI and DBV.  Jon also holds share positions in PGX and CCK.

Greetings from the Sheslay Valley, northwest British Columbia, where BMR is on an extensive research mission to gain an even greater understanding of this rapidly emerging Cu-Au porphyry district (1,500+ sq. km) that clearly has the potential to develop into the most exciting and prolific Canadian exploration story in 2014, though the “masses” have yet to discover it…one company, Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V), is already drilling while two more companies – Prosper Gold Corp. (PGX, TSX-V) and Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) – are gearing up for drill programs as well…

BMR has landed at DBV’s Hat Property where drilling has resumed to follow up on a Cu-Au porphyry discovery reported in late January.

Today we’re reporting directly from the Hat Property (wireless Internet is available) and as we get settled in, we’ll be starting our coverage with excerpts of an interview with DBV President and CEO Farshad Shirvani, and some pictures to give our readers an initial glimpse into how things look on the ground and from the air at the Hat…much more to come in the days ahead as we gather and organize material from the Hat and elsewhere in the district…Doubleview has done an exceptional job setting up camp…also, our visit has opened our eyes to a potential game-changing infrastructure issue – direct road access to the Hat Property…we’ll quickly update the markets first, then return to what’s happening at the Hat…

Gold has traded between $1,300 and $1,315 so far today…as of 8:10 am Pacific, bullion is down $2 an ounce at $1,306 as traders anxiously wait to see the minutes – due later this morning – from the the most recent Fed meeting…investors will try to discern if there is a more hawkish tone coming out of the Fed, particularly after Chair Janet Yellen stated during her March 19 press briefing that the Fed could start raising short-term interest rates about six months after ending its bond-buying program…Silver is down 29 cents at $19.77…Copper is off 4 pennies to $2.99…Crude Oil is up 8 cents at $102.62 while the U.S. Dollar Index has slipped another one-tenth of a point to 79.66…

Holdings of the SPDR Gold Trust fell 2.7 tonnes to 806.48 tonnes yesterday…that reduced its net inflow for the year to just 8 tonnes…the fund has not seen any fresh inflows since March 24…buying has picked up slightly in China…bullion prices on the Shanghai Gold Exchange reached a premium of about $1 an ounce to spot prices for the first time since early last month…they were at a discount of as much as $10 at the end of the month…

U.S. Dollar Index Updated Chart

One factor in Gold’s favor at the moment is a U.S. Dollar Index that continues to struggle…after a brief run to climb out of temporarily oversold conditions, the Dollar Index ran into resistance and must hold critical support around 79 in order to avoid a potential free-fall…below is a 4-month daily chart update from John…it’s hard to imagine that the Dollar Index won’t face a serious test of the 79 area in the immediate or near future…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

China’s Shanghai Composite gained 7 more points overnight to close at a near two-month high, 2105…Japan’s Nikkei, however, lost over 300 points or 2% to finish at 14300…

Europe

European shares were up moderately today…

North America

The Dow is up 28 points as of 8:10 am Pacific…the TSX is 27 points higher while the Venture is unchanged at 999…

Direct Road Access Coming To The Hat?

Below is a picture of a helicopter picking up fuel at the start of the Golden Bear access road, approximately 30 km SE of the Hat and immediately off the very well maintained Telegraph Creek road…

Mustang Helicopters, contracted by Doubleview, picks up fuel at the beginning of the Golden Bear access road.

Our visit is already giving us valuable new insight into infrastructure issues in the Sheslay district…of particular importance is the distinct possibility of near-term ground access directly to the Hat from a road that was built by Utah Mines many years ago, branching off from the Golden Bear access road…the Utah Mines route, which also passes through Garibaldi’s Hat East claims and Ashburton Venture Inc.’s (ABR, TSX-V) Hackett Property, requires improvements to a bridge, an effort that is expected to be spearheaded by Doubleview with the goal of completion before the start of summer…this would provide a very economical “shortcut” route to mobilize personnel and equipment to the the Hat Property, and potentially other properties, as an alternative to long distance and/or fixed wing aircraft support…the savings in exploration costs would be substantial…

Fixing of the Utah Mines route would be a major development, connecting a potential deposit at the Hat by ground…although remote, overall infrastructure in the Sheslay Valley district suggests that exploration costs – and ultimately capital costs to develop any deposits that are ultimately proven up – could be significantly less than remote properties elsewhere in the province…we’ll explore that issue more in the days ahead…

The Importance Of Scale

We’ve stated this before but it’s worth repeating – investors need to grasp the potential size of the Sheslay Valley porphyry system and understand how the strong possibility of a series of deposits over a long and broadening corridor could turn this area into a world class mining mining district…there are never any guarantees in the risky exploration business, but this is looking about as good as it ever gets…so far, the numbers back that up that statement…only 59 holes have been drilled into this district – 48 into the Sheslay Property (42 historically and six by Prosper Gold last year) and 11 by Doubleview, all last year, with DBV just starting a new round…remarkably, the “hit ratio” on those holes is approximately 75% with three important discoveries (still in the early stages) over wide distances – the Star target, about 9 km northwest of where we are right now, Pyrrhotite Creek, 4.5 km southwest of the Star, and of course the Hat…those facts clearly demonstrate that the Sheslay district, for lack of a better term, is
“pregnant”…significant catalysts over the last year have rekindled interest in a geologically prolific area whose time has finally arrived…

Exploring The Hat – Drilling Follows Up On Anomaly “B” Discovery With Anomaly “C” The Next Target

Refer to the map below and click on the forward arrow to listen to an excerpt of an audio interview (just over 3 minutes) between Jon and DBV CEO and President Farshad Shirvani– requires Adobe Flash Player version 9 or above):

7-Picture Slide Show From The Hat & Surrounding Area

We will have many more pictures to share in the coming days but below is a start (pictures will automatically rotate):

[aslideshow effect=”fade” play=true playframe=false controls_play=true]

An aerial view from the east-southeast toward the Sheslay Valley with Mount Kaketsa, a critical topographical feature, in the far background.

Topography over many parts of the Sheslay Valley is gentle to moderate sloping, very favorable for potential mining.  This is an aerial view of a portion of Doubleview’s Hat Property.

Coming in for landing at the Hat – parts of the camp can be seen on the far right.

Doubleview has constructed 9 fully winterized camp “tents” including a kitchen and other services, currently serving a crew of more than a dozen.

Doubleview President and CEO Farshad Shirvani (right), standing beside consulting geologist and geophysicist John Buckle, at discovery hole HAT-11. Farshad is pointing toward hole #12 to the west.

Shirvani and Buckle review some core from HAT-11 which returned 313 m grading 0.32% CuEq including a 52-m section of 0.42% Cu and 0.34 g/t Au near the bottom of the hole.

Shirvani and field manager Ty George examine outcropping mineralization as reported at Anomaly “C”.

[/aslideshow]

Updated DBV Chart

Below is an updated 3-year weekly chart for DBV…notice the recent “cleansing” of the overbought RSI(14) condition…previous Fib. resistance in the low 20’s is now support…as always, perform your own due diligence…as of 8:10 am Pacific, DBV is off a penny at 22 cents…

Rackla Metals Inc. (RAK, TSX-V)

Simon Ridgway has turned his attention away from the Yukon and is finding success in South America – one example being Cordoba Minerals Corp. (CDB, TSX-V) which recently raised $15 million for an exciting porphyry project (the Cordoba and San Matias properties) in Colombia…mere speculation on our part, but it wouldn’t surprise us if Ridgway were to find something new in the exploration sector (not medical marijuana) for Rackla Metals Inc. (RAK, TSX-V) – perhaps far away from the Yukon and somewhere in South America?…RAK has been firming up a little bit recently with an increase in volume as well – this caught John’s attention, hence the 2.5-year weekly chart below for our readers’ due diligence…RAK is up a penny at a nickel on light volume as of 8:10 am Pacific…

North Arrow Minerals Inc. (NAR, TSX-V) Updated Chart

North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V), aggressively on the hunt for diamond discoveries, continues to look strong fundamentally and technically…below is an updated 1-year weekly chart from John…at 80 cents, NAR is threatening to breakout to a new 52-week high…

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in DBV and GGI.  Jon also holds share positions in PGX, ABR and RAK.

Greetings from Smithers, a northern British Columbia staging area for our trip to the Sheslay Valley – about an 8-hour drive northwest where our 2-member team will be picked up by helicopter at the Golden Bear access road near Telegraph Creek and flown to the Hat Property, currently being drilled by Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V)…we’ll have several days of coverage from the Hat and this rapidly emerging world class Cu-Au porphyry district beginning tomorrow…

Gold is pushing higher today…as of 7:35 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $13 an ounce at $1,310…Silver has gained 18 cents to $20.05…Copper is off a penny at $3.02…Crude Oil is 49 cents higher at $100.93 while the U.S. Dollar Index has tumbled nearly half a point to 79.79…

Pro-Russia unrest – no doubt aided by the Kremlin – is swelling in the Ukraine, giving bullion a lift today…Russia’s foreign ministry warned today that any use of force by Ukrainian authorities to dislodge pro-Kremlin separatists who have seized control of government buildings in three cities in eastern Ukraine could plunge the country into civil war…

India’s Gold imports in March rose to nearly 50 tonnes, the highest since the Reserve Bank of India’s import curbs came into force in May last year, according to an estimate by the the All India Gems and Jewellery Trade Federation…the country’s finance minister has indicated that the government could further ease restrictions on Gold imports after more banks were allowed to import bullion just a few days…

Gold traders will be paying close attention to the release of minutes (due tomorrow) from the latest Federal Reserve meeting…fears about what could be in those minutes contributed to bullion’s plunge to $1,277…

Updated Gold Chart

Below is a 1-year weekly Gold chart from John…important Fibonacci and chart support held during the recent sell-off, and the ADX indicator shows that the bearish bias that formed during the last half of March is weakening…from last May to now, Gold has been constructing a cup-with-handle pattern which remains valid as long as bullion does not close below $1,270…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

After a holiday Monday, China’s Shanghai Composite shook off another bad day on Wall Street with a 39-point gain overnight to finish at 2098, a 6-week closing high…Japan’s Nikkei fell 202 points…

Europe

European shares are off their lows of the day in late trading overseas…

North America

The Dow, which fell over 300 points Friday and Monday, is down another 35 points as of 7:35 am Pacific… yesterday, the S&P 500 was pushed into the red for the first time this year while the Nasdaq recorded its biggest 3-day drop since 2011…

Nasdaq 3-Year Weekly Chart

The Nasdaq landed on channel support yesterday though keep in mind that a test of Fibonacci support levels and the long-term trendline could still easily occur during this second quarter or beyond after an extended period of technically overbought conditions…note in this chart from John that a bearish -DI crossover has also occurred…

In Toronto, the TSX is off 4 points as of 7:35 am Pacific…good riddance to the separatists and socialists in Quebec as the PQ was crushed in last night’s provincial election…the new Liberal majority government should remove a lot of uncertainty surrounding the mining and exploration sector in Quebec…the Venture is down 3 points at 994 through the first 65 minutes of trading…

Smithers – Serving Northwest B.C.’s Exploration Needs

What could be more Canadian than this – a view of a hockey arena, the Smithers Civic Center off the main highway, with a mountain backdrop?…actually, the small town of Smithers (population 5,500), halfway between Prince George and Prince Rupert, has produced several notable NHL stars over the years including the Watson brothers (Joe and Jimmy won Stanley Cups with the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1970’s), Ron Flockhart and Alan Kerr…Smithers serves a trading area of approximately 20,000 and is also home to an important regional office of the B.C. Ministry of Energy and Mines…this area has a long history of dairy farming and locals claim that a Smithers chicken farmer invented the egg carton in the early 1900’s…

Smithers, nestled in the beautiful Bulkley Valley that features some of the world's best steelhead fishing, celebrated its 100th birthday last year and is also home to numerous diamond drilling companies.

Northwest B.C. Exploration + Updated Venture Charts

Exploration in northwest B.C. – particularly in the emerging Sheslay Valley district where the discovery of multiple new Cu-Au porphyry deposits is clearly possible – could be an important catalyst for a major move higher in the Venture over the coming months…historically, this is a market that requires significant discoveries in order to maintain investor confidence and generate excitement, and of course there’s nothing like an old-fashioned, rip-roaring Canadian area play…we’ll explore that issue in more detail in the coming days in addition to the potential impact of the critical Northwest Transmission Line that has opened up so much more of this mineral-rich province for exploration and mining…

Venture 9-Month Daily Chart

Below is a short-term Venture chart from John that shows a market bouncing between strong support at 985 and resistance at 1007…the Venture of course is underpinned by other strong support below 985, so a drop below that level would not derail the primary uptrend…it’ll be interesting to see how this short-term battle between 985 and 1007 plays out…

Venture 5-Year Weekly Chart

This long-term weekly chart demonstrates how the Venture’s overall technical health is better than at any time since 2010…the rising 200-day moving average (SMA) at 956 is closing in on already superb support at 970…

Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) Chart Update

A company with a huge stake in the Sheslay Valley, of course, is Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) which controls more than 50% of the district’s mineralized  “corridor”…below is a very interesting fresh chart from John on GGI that goes back 10 years and provides an exceedingly positive long-term perspective…note the increasing up momentum in the RSI(14) at 55%, the strong accumulation and the uptrend support line…GGI remains locked in a powerful overall bullish phase that could continue for many months given what the technicals are suggesting…between B.C. and Mexico, Garibaldi is well-positioned on the ground for some major successes which is consistent with what the chart is telling us…as always, perform your own due diligence…GGI is off a penny at 17 cents in light trading as of 7:35 am Pacific…

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI and DBV.