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Gold has traded between $1,202 and $1,216 so far today…as of 9:25 am Pacific, bullion is up $1 an ounce at  $1,208…Silver has added 2 cents to $16.39…Copper is off 3 pennies at $2.58…Crude Oil is flat at $51.16 while the U.S. Dollar Index is down slightly at 94.34…

Global Gold mine production rose in 2014 by at least 2.25% to 2,875 tonnes, with Canada seeing a large jump in output last year, according to Natixis, a French-based investment bank…Canada’s Gold output rose 20% year-on-year to 150 tonnes, mainly due to the Canadian Malartic mine in northwest Quebec and the Detour Lake mine in Ontario…other countries that saw a lift in 2014 output included China, with a 5.5% rise to 451 tonnes, Australia, with a 3.2% rise to 274 tonnes and Russia, with an 8% increase to an estimated 275 tonnes…the U.S saw output drop 8% year-on-year to 211 tonnes while South African output was also lower at 165 tonnes – a 2% dip, Atixis said…

Germany and its allies are ready to let Greece leave the euro unless Greece accepts the conditions required to extend his country’s financial support, according to Malta’s Finance Minister Edward Scicluna in a report this morning from Bloomberg…the Euro group of regional finance ministers is meeting today to discuss Greece’s loan extension proposal… Germany rejected the plan yesterday and called it a “Trojan horse”…Greece faces the risk of default and exit from the euro zone if the country does not obtain enough funding or an extension beyond the Feb. 28 deadline…

Crude Oil Update

WTIC is headed for its first weekly loss in a month after data yesterday showed U.S. Oil supplies were at an 80-year high…the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. Crude inventories reached another record high last week, a sign that cheap prices haven’t started to affect production yet…

The EIA said Oil inventories grew by 7.7 million barrels last week to 426 million barrels, the highest level for this time of year for at least 80 years…

Technically, the recent rally in WTIC merely alleviated the extreme oversold conditions that persisted from early in the 4th quarter last year through the first half of January…the declining 50-day moving average (SMA), currently $51.21 on this 2+ year weekly chart, is still a problem area for WTIC…downside risk still remains high in this market…

Copper Updated Chart

The worst is over for Copper, at least for now as the metal appears to have temporarily found its footing around $2.50…the potential exists for a rally that takes Copper back toward the $3 level (perhaps by the summer) where there is now major resistance as that was such a key support area for several years…the declining 200-day SMA is currently $2.94…

This 13-year monthly chart shows RSI(14) is bouncing up after touching previous support, suggesting a rally has likely started…the broad trading range for the foreseeable future is $2.50 to $3.00…any move outside of those parameters, above or below, would be significant…what must hold is that long-term support line (going back more than a decade) now moving through the $2.20’s…it could certainly get tested, so Copper is by no means out of danger yet though it has stabilized for now…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Japan’s Nikkei climbed to a new 15-year high overnight, closing the week at 18332…

Europe

European markets were mixed today in cautious trading ahead of news regarding Greece…reports today showed French manufacturing weakened and Germany’s missed estimates even as a gauge of euro-area factory output and services strengthened this month…

North America

The Dow is up 20 points as of 9:30 am Pacific…the U.S. manufacturing sector appears to be picking up modestly this month, reversing some of the weakness at the start of the year, according to the latest PMI data…private research firm Markit said its February flash estimate PMI rose to a level of 54.3, compared to January’s final reading of 53.9…according to consensus reports, economists were expecting to see a relatively unchanged reading at 53.7…

In Toronto, the TSX is down 29 points while the Venture is 6 points higher at 698…Xmet Inc. (XME, TSX-V) is among the most active this morning after reporting that “heavy and widespread sulphide mineralization was encountered over the majority of the lengths of all 4 holes” drilled at the company’s Blackflake West Property…sounds promising and full assay results are pending; however, 4 paragraphs into the news the company revealed that a small batch of test assays consisting of 10 1-m sections from holes 1 and 2 have been received from the laboratory and the highest samples returned 0.3% Zn and 0.05% Cu…speculators have to hope that the complete assay results will show that Xmet has indeed hit an interesting VMS-style system…

North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V) Update

Following up on a discovery initially made in late 2013, North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V) earlier this month launched a 3,000-m drill program at its Pikko diamond project in Saskatchewan…excellent potential for additional success there given the exploration work that was completed last year which resulted in the identification of several new KIM trains, including 2 that are well defined and terminate within the project area…

Meanwhile, keep in mind that results from NAR’s 1,500-tonne bulk sample from its important Q1–4 kimberlite at the Qilalugaq Project in Nunavut are expected in April (the 12.5 hectare Q1–4 kimberlite is the largest diamondiferous kimberlite pipe in the eastern Canadian Arctic and 1 of 8 kimberlite pipes identified within the Qilalugaq Diamond Project…Q1–4 includes inferred resources as well as extremely rare yellow diamonds found in a sampling program)…

Significantly, NAR in January broke above a downtrend line going back to last summer, and pushed through the top (55 cents) of a horizontal basing channel as well..in addition, the 50-day SMA has reversed to the upside…looks promising for a very strong first quarter performance…

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

GoldQuest Mining (GQC, TSX-V) is on the comeback trail after clearly bottoming in December at 7.5 cents…there’s no denying the geological potential of GQC’s ground in the DR, and the company has had a history of delivering the occasional spectacular drill result…

Several weeks ago GQC commenced a 5,000-m drill program at new target areas within its Tireo project concessions…

Technically, what’s interesting is that not only did GQC overcome a downtrend line in early January, but RSI(14) is now looking very bullish on this 8-month daily chart…the key thing to watch for here is a potential breakout above the horizontal channel between 11.5 and 15 cents…

Walker River Resources Corp. (WRR, TSX-V) Update

PDAC is right around the corner, so we wouldn’t be surprised if Walker River Resources (WRR, TSX-V) makes some noise by then…the company has its permits in hand and is gearing up to drill its Lapon Canyon Gold Property in Nevada where they’re targeting high-grade mineralization in crosscutting shear structures…past underground activities on the property demonstrate its excellent potential to host high-grade vein-type mineralization…quite simply, Walker has some bulls-eye targets to go after, and we’ll review those in more detail next week…

Record volume and the recent breakout above the long-term downtrend line are two clear and typically highly accurate signals from a technical standpoint that something quite special (a “BLO“-type event) could be in the works here…

Eskay Mining Corp, (ESK, TSX-V) Update 

As regular BMR readers know, we love northern British Columbia…geologically, it is so richly endowed…the Sheslay area, we predict, will become a world-class Cu-Au porphyry district, making millionaires out of some investors who can grasp that now, but up and down northern B.C. there are still enormous opportunities for new discoveries of various types despite all that has been found (just the tip of the iceberg, really) over the past couple of decades…

Eskay Mining (ESK, TSX-V) is a company we initially introduced to our readers when it was trading at just 6 cents a year ago…given the collapse of the Venture to a record low in December, it’s quite remarkable that ESK is trading at 14 cents right now but that’s a testament to the quality of the company’s holdings…

ESK controls 40 sq. km surrounding the prolific past producing Eskay Creek mine, and they have some giant neighbors – Pretium Resources (PVG, TSX) and Seabridge Gold (SEA, TSX)…while it was in operation, Eskay Creek was the second richest deposit in North America and the fifth largest Silver producer in the world…a technical adviser for ESK is the highly respected James Rogers who was Chief Geologist at the Eskay Creek mine between 1994 and 2003…Rogers prepared an ESK corporate presentation which is available on their web site – we suggest our readers check it out…

Recently, Eskay added well-known geologist Charlie Greig to its technical team…Greig is a master at his craft and consults for Pretium as well as Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V)…

Technically, ESK broke out above a long-term downtrend a year ago and that’s initially what caught our attention along with a surge in volume…

Below is a 3-year weekly ESK chart from John…little news but this stock has been under heavy accumulation for a reason, we suspect…

Note:  John and Jon both hold share positions in WRR, BLO and GGI.

Gold climbed as high as $1,224 this morning but has since pulled back…as of 9:25 am Pacific, bullion is down $1 an ounce at $1,212 after touching a 6-week low yesterday when it found support as expected at the $1,200 level…Silver is flat at $16.50…Copper was down earlier this morning but is now unchanged at $2.61…Crude Oil, under pressure from another weekly build in U.S. inventories and a possible rise in Saudi output, briefly fell below $50 a barrel but has since recovered some of that lost ground…WTIC is now at $51.35, 80 cents lower for the day…the U.S. Dollar Index, meanwhile, has gained one-fifth of a point to 94.32…

While Gold’s correction from its January high hit nearly 8% yesterday following a 16% advance from its early November low (a healthy 50% pullback), Gold stocks have been more resilient in the face of bullion’s recent weakness – a bullish sign (today’s Morning Musings includes an updated TSX Gold Index chart)…and although the Venture has more of a correlation with Oil than Gold these days, a fact that’s in evidence again today, it’s nonetheless encouraging that the Venture recorded 9 positive sessions out of 13 (Jan. 30 through yesterday) while bullion fell $60 an ounce during that time to test support at $1,200…

Gold got a boost yesterday when minutes of the Fed’s Jan. 27-28 meeting showed that officials struggled to determine the appropriate timing for a rate hike…they appear reluctant to pull the trigger anytime soon…the Fed’s benchmark interest rate has been at a record low near zero since December 2008, and policymakers are obviously concerned that inflation has slipped further from the 2% target in recent months…this is due of course to big declines in energy prices and a stronger U.S. dollar which makes imported products cheaper for American consumers…

Copper Update

Overlooked during yesterday’s gyrations in Gold is that Copper prices managed to hit a 4-week high…analysts have started whittling down their estimates for how large a supply glut Copper markets will see this year after BHP Billiton said last week that its Olympic Dam may see a production shortfall of as much as 70,000 metric tons due to an electrical failure…on the demand side of the equation, investors will will be keeping their eyes on a flurry of PMI’s scheduled to be released toward the end of the month to gain a better idea on how the manufacturing sector in Asian and European countries fared in February…

Euro Zone Continues To Grapple With Greece

More drama on the way here…Greece and its euro zone creditors are poised for another round of tough negotiations over extending the government’s bailout program, after Germany today summarily rejected a request for an extension sent by Athens…

TSX Gold Index Update

The behavior of the TSX Gold Index continues to support the notion that bullion’s decline is temporary…the Index has retreated rather gently given the drop in Gold from $1,300 to $1,200, and an overall uptrend in the Gold Index remains firmly intact based on this 6-month daily chart…

The rising 50-day moving average (SMA) coincides with Fib. support in the mid 160’s while 175 Fib. support held yesterday on a closing basis…what we’re seeing here is normal consolidation after a powerful initial wave (an advance of just over 50% in less than 3 months) following the dramatic early November low…the next phase should be another substantial leg up to test resistance just above 200…there’s every reason to believe that the Fib. support range between 158 and 175 will hold…

Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX) Update

Our favorite producer remains Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX) which released Q4 and full-year financial results this morning…the company earned $8.2 million or 18 cents per share in 2014 on total Gold sales of 94,503 ounces at a cash cost per ounce of $956 CDN, 15% below 2013 levels…total 2014 revenues were up 47% to $132.2 million…

As of February 11, following the closing of a financing at $4 per share, Richmont had a cash balance of $67.5 million and limited long-term debt (under $6 million)…the company will be able to leverage its strong cash position to accelerate development plans for its Island Gold Mine (IGM) this year and begin to unlock the value of that northern Ontario asset…

Richmont is forecasting production of 78,000 to 88,000 ounces of Gold during this transitional year, but a steady ramp-up in production is expected thereafter as the company starts mining the impressive high-grade deep resource at IGM…

RIC is down 4 cents at $4.16 through the first 3 hours of trading today…

Below is an updated 4-year weekly RIC chart…breakouts above long-term downtrend lines, as occurred in RIC at the beginning of last year, are typically exceedingly bullish…the strong fundamentals with this company increase the likelihood that RIC will continue to follow the price uptrend line for an extended period…any pullbacks to that uptrend line, as witnessed late last year, are classic buying opportunities as the chart has already demonstrated…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Japanese stocks rose to a 15-year high overnight…the Nikkei gained 0.4% to finish at 18264.79, the highest since May 2000…China and some other Asian markets remain closed due to the Lunar New Year holiday period…

Europe

European markets were mostly modestly higher today despite news that Germany had rejected Greece’s request for an extension to its loan agreement with its creditors…

North America

The Dow is down 31 points as of 9:40 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX is off 35 points while the Venture has dipped 5 points to 693 with the weakness in Oil this morning…

Ryan Kalt’s Gold Royalties (GRO, TSX-V) nearly doubled in price yesterday, surging 8 cents to close at 18.5 cents, thanks to a takeover offer from Sandstorm Gold (SSL, TSX)…Gold Royalties, which traded as high as $1 per share in 2012, has approximately $2 million in cash and a portfolio of 18 royalties on 13 mining projects in Canada, including 1 royalty that is generating cash flow from Gold production…upon the closing of the arrangement, Sandstorm will have a portfolio of 10 streams and 59 royalties…

Kalt can focus more now on Athabasca Nuclear (ASC, TSX-V) which has speculative potential as a large landholder in the emerging Pikoo diamond play…North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V) commenced a 3,000 m drill program at its Pikoo Project last week, so this is an area that could indeed heat up in the coming weeks and months…ASC is trading at just 3.5 cents…

Kaminak Gold Corp. (KAM, TSX-V) is raising more money, a $21 million bought deal financing with a syndicate of underwriters co-led by Cormark Securities Inc. and Raymond James Ltd. who have agreed to purchase a combination of hard dollar units at 90 cents per share and flow-through units at $1.15 per share…no warrants attached…Kaminak is off 2 cents at 92 cents on the news as of 9:25 am Pacific…

Venture 3-Year Weekly Chart

The Venture’s 3-year weekly chart shows a rebuilding pattern similar (so far at least) to the one witnessed during the summer of 2013…downside risk has eased considerably as the Index continues a slow recovery from its recent low (637 in mid-December)…

RSI(14) is trending higher after landing at previous support (the 2013 low)…important near-term chart and Fib. resistance (not shown below) exists at 707…if and when that area is cleared, the next major hurdle would be around 745 followed by 875 and then 970…so the Index has some work to do but the current trend offers encouragement with solid support around 680…

Help could come in the form of a rebound in commodity prices or a much-needed major discovery somewhere…

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

There are few exploration companies on the Venture with the kind of explosive, company-building opportunities Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) has in both Mexico and British Columbia…we came to that conclusion after extensive due diligence on Garibaldi in mid-2013, and since that time GGI has tripled in price despite a challenging overall market environment…the discovery at Rodadero in Mexico has long legs given Silver Eagle and a dozen nearby target areas, the La Patilla Gold Property has excellent near-term exploitation potential, while the Grizzly in northwest B.C. has massive scale to it in a district that continues to move in a highly encouraging direction…more near-term discoveries in the under-explored Sheslay region seem almost certain, and this could ultimately lead to a major mining company stepping in and taking out the likes of Doubleview Capital (DBV, TSX-V) and Garibaldi…given the results this emerging district continues to produce, incredible outcomes are possible here…geologists are thinking big…investors need to as well…

In the speculative junior resource market, volatility is the norm which it’s why it’s important to use technical analysis to better understand price movements including primary trends and healthy pullbacks…

In the case of GGI, the pullback from last year’s high of 32.5 cents can best be understood as a “Wave 4” correction within the context of a continuing primary uptrend as shown in this 2-year monthly chart…

“Wave 4” has been no different than “Wave 2” which also resulted in a 50% pullback…”Wave 3” was a powerful move to the upside…the stage appears almost set for “Wave 5” where Fib. resistance is indicated…

GGI 10-Year Monthly Chart

This 10-year monthly GGI chart provides additional perspective and also helps confirm the 2-year monthly chart…there are several important “takeaways” here:

1.  Note the rising 500-day moving average (SMA) at 15.5 cents which also coincides with Fib. support levels;

2.  The bullish +DI crossover in mid-2013 marked a major trend change which continues to hold;

3.  An extended period of sell pressure switched to buy pressure (CMF) in late 2013, and accumulation remains strong;

4.  RSI(14) has held within the 40% to 80% bullish range since mid-2013;

5.  GGI has significantly outperformed the Venture (in blue) since mid-2013 which puts the stock in an elite category.

When it comes to junior resource stocks, having a proper grasp of the bigger picture, both on the ground and in the market, doesn’t guarantee success but makes one less likely to commit silly trading/investing mistakes based on emotion…

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

Gold has hit 6-week lows this morning, slightly extending the previous day’s 1.8% drop as it flirts with the $1,200 level…hopes for a successful resolution to Greece’s debt talks have temporarily reduced safe haven demand but $1,200 support should be strong…as of 9:40 Pacific, bullion is down $11 an ounce at $1,199…Silver is off 17 cents at $16.30…Copper is up 2 pennies at $2.60…Crude Oil is off by more than $1 a barrel to $52.35 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up one-third of a point at 94.49…

The Gold market is awaiting further direction from the minutes of the latest FOMC policy meeting later today, but some analysts are saying that Gold is vulnerable to further losses with the absence of Chinese buyers during the Lunar New Year break…however, as we wrote yesterday, Gold actually came out of last year’s week-long Chinese national holiday period at a higher price…

In Asia overnight, precious metals house MKS said in a note that Gold trading volumes through Globex had been the lightest it had seen in months, as the Lunar New Year holidays commenced.  “The absence of China today certainly made an impact on turnover…and a quiet week is expected,” it said. “Tomorrow and Friday, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia will join them on holiday so things should slow down even further and liquidity will become even more scarce.”

The Gold market in Shanghai has wound down for the annual “Festival” although premiums remained firm in the final hours ahead of the start of the week-long holiday…the premium in Shanghai for Gold for immediate delivery was quoted at $3 over the spot price on kilobars, although some sources reported it at as high as $4 on the Shanghai Gold Exchange’s au9999 contract…withdrawals from the SGE – a useful barometer for wholesale demand – hit 60 tonnes in the week ending February 13 and 59 tonnes in the previous week following withdrawals of 255 tonnes in January…Gold demand is not soft in China, despite what some mainstream media reports suggest…

Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson stuck with his holding in the world’s biggest Gold exchange-traded product at a time when other investors were dumping the metal…Paulson & Co., the largest holder of the SPDR Gold Trust, kept its stake at 10.23 million shares in the 3 months ended Dec. 31, a government filing showed…the position was unchanged for a 6th straight quarter…assets in the SPDR fund slumped 11% in 2014, and reached 704.83 metric tons in January, the lowest since September 2008…they have been recovering since…

So Much For The “Peace Deal” With Putin

Vladimir Putin’s thugs continue to be on the rampage in Ukraine despite last week’s very naive European-brokered cease-fire deal…news reports this morning confirmed that Ukraine withdrew troops from the embattled railway hub of Debaltseve early today after pro-Russian rebels overran much of the town…the retreat marks a major setback for Kiev’s forces…steadily losing ground across much of the front line, Ukrainian commanders had vowed to hold this important rail hub which is a vital link between the separatist capitals of Luhansk and Donetsk…

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said today that the actions of the Russian-supported rebels in Debaltseve were a “clear violation” of the cease-fire agreement and that the bloc stands ready to take “appropriate action” if such violations continue…as Teddy Roosevelt so effectively demonstrated, and some other American Presidents following him including Ronald Reagan, the key to successful foreign policy is that you “speak softly but carry a big stick”…the West has been doing the opposite with Putin (and others)…

How Gold will ultimately respond to the crisis in the Ukraine, and an expanding ISIS presence in Libya which is of growing concern, not to mention the weakening economic situation in the euro zone, is going to be fascinating to watch over the coming months…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

Japan’s Nikkei average surged more than 200 points overnight, thanks to a weaker yen…the Bank of Japan decided to leave its monetary policy unchanged at its 2-day Policy Board meeting that ended today…the central bank will thus continue to aim to increase the country’s monetary base at an annual pace of about ¥80 trillion under its QE program in order to achieve its 2% inflation target…

Europe

European markets were generally modestly higher today…

North America

The Dow is down 44 points as of 9:40 am Pacific…U.S. producer prices posted a record decline in January, weighed down by plunging energy costs, pointing to very benign inflation pressures in the near-term…the Labor Department reported this morning that its Wednesday its PPI index for final demand dropped 0.8% the biggest drop since the revamped series started in November 2009, after falling 0.2% in December…it was the third straight month of decline in the PPI…

The TSX is off 83 points as of 9:40 am Pacific…

Meanwhile, the Venture is down 2 points at 696 through the first 3+ hours of trading…near-term, the Venture faces chart and Fib. resistance at 707…that’s a hurdle the Index needs to overcome in order to pick up fresh momentum…it will “refuel”, so to speak, after successfully clearing 707…GoGold Resources (GGD, TSX-V) was halted just before 9:00 am Pacific and then released a NI-43-101 mineral resource estimate on its newly-acquired Promotora tailings at Parral…another Mexican explorer and producer with some excellent projects on the go…

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

North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V) continues to look very strong as drilling continues at its Pikoo Project in Saskatchewan…heavy volume hasn’t kicked in yet, but NAR is nonetheless climbing the ladder after a recent technical breakout…it’s up 2 pennies at 62 cents as of 9:40 am Pacific after a 4-cent jump yesterday…high quality play with very strong management…the emerging Pikoo diamond camp needs to be on one’s radar screen…

Venture-Gold Comparative Chart

Yesterday, we posted a chart comparing the Venture with WTIC which showed an unusually high correlation between the 2 going back to late 2013 – a much stronger correlation than what has existed between the Venture and Gold since early 2011…

It’s reasonable to expect that Gold will have more of a direct influence on the Venture beginning at some point this year, especially if and when bullion can break above key resistance around $1,300…

Gold Bullion Development Corp. (GBB, TSX-V) Update

Gold Bullion Development (GBB, TSX-V) is clearly beginning to regain its “mojo” in the LONG Bars Zone that it had back in 2010 following an important discovery at the Granada Gold Property near Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec…back then we stated that the LONG Bars Zone had multi-million ounce potential, and it has moved in that direction…in just 5 years from the time of that discovery, which in mining terms is really quite short, Granada is on the verge of a high-grade “rolling” production start with only 1 permit remaining out of 26 as the company reiterated in news this morning…last year’s Preliminary Feasibility Study gave robust economics for the rolling start based on proven and probable reserves…

What’s quickly developing now is exceptionally promising, and one doesn’t have to read between the lines of today’s news to appreciate that…despite frigid temperatures in northwest Quebec, the first phase of GBB’s 2015 exploration has now started in the LONG Bars Zone with trenching over strategic areas immediately west of the high-grade starter pit area, and up to 2 km east of there…the trenching should provide some fresh insight and help define new priority drill targets…

More significantly, GBB has reported that it’s in the final stages of updating the resource model for Granada…this has the potential of showing quite a significant increase in ounces given the fact that historical data from over 400 holes (pre-GBB) was not part of the last update in November 2012…

We are also intrigued by the new disclosure this morning that mineralization at Granada “may extend further west than previously thought”…that conclusion was based on 2 factors at least – geochemical water sampling (Gold indicator minerals were obviously picked up in water sampling), and a deformation zone immediately west of the starter pit area…we know the Cadillac fault traverses the northern part of Granada, and there are secondary faults (sort of “off-shoots” from that) as well…the presence of an important structural feature immediately west of the starter pits raises our eyebrows, especially if water sampling is indicating the presence of mineralization…also, we recall previous news from Adventure Gold (AGE, TSX-V) which holds some claims to the west…they reported some high-grade Gold in sampling…this was never followed up on due to market conditions…

We’re convinced that Canadian Gold producers and near-producers are going to enjoy a fabulous year, in part due to the low Canadian dollar and weak Oil prices…Gold Bullion should be part of that wave…

Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) Update

Based on the latest drill results from H-23 and yesterday’s announcement of Dr. Abdul Razique joining the Doubleview Capital (DBV, TSX-V) technical team as a full-time geoscientist, there is little doubt in our view that Doubleview has a rapidly growing and potential world class discovery on its hands at the Hat Project in the Sheslay District of northwest British Columbia…this could prove bigger than we even first imagined after spending 3 days on the property during a site visit in the spring of last year, and the consequences for the entire district should be obvious…

It’s no coincidence that H-23 is the best hole Doubleview has cut into so far at the Hat, with 1 section of 74 meters averaging nearly 1% CuEq, as senior technical adviser Pat McAndless (appointed last summer) is renowned for his ability to find the “sweet spot” in a cooked-up porphyry system such as this…keep in mind that assays are still pending for a third and even wider pyrite-chalcopyrite rich zone in H-23 that continues for at least 120 m (starting at 402 m)…already, a 278-meter section of this hole has averaged 0.53% CuEq, substantially better than the initial discovery holes H-08 and H-11 reported in January, 2014…Gold content is improving considerably at the Hat…in fact, the company is now referring to this as a Gold-Copper porphyry (vs. a Copper-Gold porphyry)…interesting…

Each round of drilling has produced better results at this property, and that’s a trend you look for in an emerging major deposit…Doubleview is indeed inching closer to a potential high-grade core as the company is now stating…those are always very challenging to find, but DBV certainly has the technical expertise to figure it out…

H-23 is the deepest hole ever drilled in the Sheslay District and it’s a game-changer for Doubleview…they are beginning to figure out the puzzle at the Hat, and it’s a massive puzzle that could easily enlarge to at least 2 km x 2 km given the quality of the targets contiguous to the Lisle Zone…as of now, the Lisle Zone has been defined over 1 km by 500 m…

Several Targets = 1 Big System?

Recently, while doing some research and going through DBV’s web site, we noticed something very strange…on a map of the Hat Property there’s a note stating that “assays are pending” from Target “A” which adjoins Target “B” (the Lisle Zone) from the north…

Why would assays be pending from Target “A” when the last 18 holes have all been drilled in the Lisle Zone?…

Our immediate theory is that Target “A” is being revisited, that something perhaps very significant was overlooked in at least some of the 5 holes that were drilled there in mid-2013 (total length of those holes was around 1100 m)…was some of the core simply dismissed and not sent in for assaying?…were the holes not drilled deep enough or in the right direction?…

Keep in mind, Doubleview’s understanding of the Hat has grown immeasurably in just the last 6 months…some of those initial 5 holes – approximately 1500 m north of H-23 – produced some interesting intersections, albeit short, including 1.07% Cu and 0.84 g/t Au in H-4 between 111.5 and 112.6 meters, after a lower grade mineralized zone over 17.8 m at a shallower depth…

H-23 has extended the northern boundary of the Lisle Zone by 110 meters…Pat McAndless and his team may now be of the opinion that the Lisle Zone actually begins much further to the north or northwest over Target “A”, and then of course there’s Target “E” north and northeast of the Lisle Zone.

All together, 5 target areas have been defined at the Hat over a distance covering 4.5 km x 3.5 km, and only 1 of those targets has been drilled in a systematic fashion to date…both “A” and “C” are perhaps a lot better than we initially imagined, and tonnage and grade are building rapidly at “B” in the Lisle Zone…

Updated DBV 3-Year Weekly Chart

Below is John’s latest DBV chart…the takeaway here is the significance of the 16-cent level which represents Fib. resistance and the 200-day moving average (SMA) which is flattening out…directly beneath the 200-day (not shown on this chart) is a now rising 50-day SMA at 13.5 cents…the reversal to the upside in the 50-day is significant…the 200-day could be gearing up to do the same…

Importantly, sell pressure (CMF) which was dominant from late 2013 turned into buy pressure beginning at the end of September last year, and that buy pressure has remained dominant since…this has a lot of bullish tones to it…

Blackbird Energy Inc. (BBI, TSX-V) Update

We followed Blackbird Energy (BBI, TSX-V) fairly closely throughout 2013 as it raised a lot of money and made quite a move in the market (hitting John’s Fib. measured resistance) before a stumble in December took it as low as 18.5 cents…BBI has obviously recovered sharply over the last couple of months, proving to be very resilient to the weakness in Oil prices…

What’s important to note right now, technically, is that BBI has broken above Fib. measured resistance at 43 cents…this is impressive given the current market environment…as always, perform your own due diligence…

Note:  John, Jon and Terry hold share positions in GBB.  John and Jon also hold share positions in DBV.

Gold is testing support at $1,200 which is not totally unexpected…it has traded between $1,203 and $1,230 so far today…as of 9:30 am Pacific, bullion is down $23 an ounce at $1,205 but Gold stocks are holding up quite well considering the weakness in the metal this morning…Silver is off exactly $1 an ounce at $16.32…Copper has fallen a nickel to $2.56…Crude Oil, up earlier this morning, has reversed and is now down $1 a barrel to $51.76 while the U.S. Dollar Index is weaker, trading at 94.20…

Investors last year who assumed that Gold would weaken immediately following the Chinese Lunar New Year (January 31 in 2014) or during the long holiday break associated with it, were proven wrong…below are comments from UBS going back to February 7, 2014:

“This year, Gold is actually over 1% higher than where it was before participants in China left for the New Year break a week ago, and yet demand seems to be very resilient upon their return.  This suggests that demand in China is robust.” – UBS, February 7, 2014

The first day of the 2015 New Year in the Chinese calendar is this Thursday, Feb. 19…traders got it wrong last year when they dumped Gold just before the Chinese started their national holiday period – they could be repeating the same mistake now…

Meanwhile, China’s economic growth could slow to between 6.9% and 7.1% this year as the country fends off deflation risks, the head of the Chinese central bank’s research bureau said today according to a Reuters report…in an opinion piece in the China Daily newspaper, Lu Lei said fixed asset investment growth in the world’s second-largest economy is likely to cool further this year, dragged by a sagging property market and a fall-off in state investment.  “China’s economic growth rate may remain stable at a relatively lower level in 2015, between 6.9% and 7.1%, restricted by sluggish demand,” Lu wrote.  “The biggest medium-term uncertainty for the economy is deflation risk.”

It’s interesting that Bank of England Governor Mark Carney doesn’t see deflation as a serious risk in Britain…last week he warned that U.K. inflation was expected to fall below zero in coming months, but would hit the central bank’s 2% target within 2 years’ time – sooner than earlier forecasts…in an accompanying open letter to U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, Carney said the current period of falling prices was “temporary” and a “fundamentally distinct phenomenon from deflation.”

This morning, new statistics showed that U.K. inflation has hit its lowest level since records began in 1989…Carney is 1 of the most respected central bankers in the world…will he be proven right or wrong?…

Gold Since 1980

Below is a 34-year monthly chart that puts Gold’s current situation into perspective…

John’s interpretation is that bullion has been consolidating in a “Wave 4” pattern since surging to an all-time high of just over $1,900 U.S. in 2011…it climbed nearly 300% in “Wave 1” and 183% in “Wave 3“…Gold could easily double from current levels in a “Wave 5” move over the next few years…

The current RSI(14) pattern bears watching…it has similar signatures to the one just prior to the beginning of the “Wave 1” push that got the bull market in Gold going in 2001…as bullion has been consolidating since its high in 2011, overbought RSI(14) conditions have gradually unwound and what we’ve seen over the last couple of years are higher highs and higher lows in this indicator…at 44%, it’s at an appropriate level for a possible breakout during 2015…

Sell pressure, as demonstrated by the CMF, appears to be abating – that’s another key indicator to watch…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

China’s Shanghai Composite gained 25 points in light trading overnight while Japan’s Nikkei average finished essentially unchanged…

Europe

European markets closed mixed today but there are clearly some concerns over Greece’s debt problems…a bunch of academics and communists are now running the Greek government and they could be on the verge of learning some difficult financial lessons in the real world…

North America

The Dow is down 15 points as of 9:30 am Pacific…the TSX is up 41 points while the Venture has slid 2 points to 695…

Venture-WTIC Comparative

Below is a 15-year monthly chart comparing the Venture with Crude Oil (WTIC)…both have been moving in lockstep since late 2013 – the correlation is extremely high (more so for the Venture and WTIC vs. the Venture and Gold)…

Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) Update

Interesting news from Doubleview Capital (DBV, TSX-V) this morning as the company confirmed that it has retained Dr. Abdul Razique as a full-time geoscientist…Dr. Razique has a highly impressive resume and a proven porphyry discovery track record over the last 2 decades…his gift of being able to assemble the pieces of a major porphyry puzzle could have game-changing consequences for the Hat Project and the Sheslay District in general…

Interestingly, over the last 18 months, Dr. Razique has been evaluating projects in British Columbia, Quebec and the United States on behalf of a “major international mining company and its joint venture partners”…that company wasn’t mentioned in DBV’s news this morning but it’s believed to be Antofagasta Minerals Canada, based on Dr. Razique’s LinkedIn profile…it’s therefore fair to speculate that Antofagasta, which has always shown an appetite for large porphyry deposits and has the ability to turn them into profitable mines, may have the Hat Project on its radar screen and indeed could be conducting some initial “due diligence”…

Why would a major like Antofagasta be interested in the Hat Project?…there’s ample evidence that the Hat has massive volume potential…geophysical signatures and alteration patterns throughout this area strongly suggest that the Lisle Zone is just one part of a very big system that likely begins further to the north and northwest (NW-SE trending), and the limited number of holes drilled into Anomaly “A” and Anomaly “C” back up that theory…more on that tomorrow…

Of course it’s not only volume which is critical, but grade as well…on that note, Doubleview is making progress given what they’ve hit in H-23 – the highest grades yet at the Hat including a 110.9-m section that returned 0.73% CuEq…more assays are pending from this hole – specifically, for the bottom 250 m which is known to include a third, wider chalcopyrite-pyrite zone that was visually observed to extend for at least 120 m beginning at a depth of 402 m…it’s quite possible DBV may continue this hole beyond 650 m where it was halted just prior to the Christmas break…it’s the deepest hole ever drilled in the Sheslay district…Dr. Razique would certainly be able to confirm that these systems often extend to depths of up to 1200 m or more, and there’s an obvious example to the southeast at Red Chris…

What’s amazing about the Hat Project – what underscores the incredible potential here – is that less than 2 years ago, this was just a grassroots project with not a single drill hole ever put into it…and each round of drilling at the Hat since then has produced better results…

What we’ve witnessed since mid-2013 at the Hat is Canadian exploration at its best – and, in our view, it’s about to get even more interesting and significant (not just at the Hat, either, as there’s also a very large Grizzly in the neighborhood that’s about to heard from)…

Gold Bullion Development Corp. (GBB, TSX-V) Update

Where we also see a growing deposit with exceptional potential is in northwest Quebec where Gold Bullion Development (GBB, TSX-V) is on the comeback trail with the Granada Gold Property and the LONG Bars Zone…

What reignited our interest in GBB in December is the fact that this company is drawing closer to the production stage (in this case, a high-grade “rolling start”), and Canadian Gold producers are looking particularly attractive given the strength of the Gold price in Canadian dollar terms and of course the collapse in Oil prices…for open-pit producers in particular, Oil is a major cost factor…Crude is trading at half the level it was a year ago…GBB’s Preliminary Feasibility Study for Granada, released in May of last year, revealed robust economics for the 3-year “rolling start” based on a Gold price of $1,400 CDN (a 90-cent loonie) and fuel costs of $1.30 per liter…

Another factor to consider regarding Granada – the LONG Bars Zone is open for expansion in all directions, and several hundred historical holes have yet to be incorporated into the resource model which was last updated in late 2012…so lots of potential exists here to add ounces…

Technically, the downtrend in the stock that started in early 2011 is over as one can easily see in this 5-year weekly chart…GBB finally broke out above the downtrend line in the summer of last year…in classic technical fashion, there was a “throwback” to the downtrend line in the fourth quarter of last year…sell pressure has been dominant for much of the time since late 2010 but buy pressure is now reappearing…

GBB is unchanged at 4.5 cents as of 9:30 am Pacific…

Silver Short-Term Chart Update

What to make of the volatility in Silver?…RSI(14) “W” patterns are bullish signals and it’s not often they’re wrong, so it’ll be very interesting to see how Silver behaves the rest of this week as today’s activity could simply be a “head fake”…

Silver in December finally staged a definitive breakout above a downtrend line that was in place since the summer on this updated 9-month daily chart (note how the downtrend line became new support in early December)…

The December 1 dramatic move from an intra-day low of $14.15 to a close above $16 was technically highly significant…as expected, superb support was demonstrated around $15…

The metal climbed as high as $18.50 in January, just a few pennies of the the Fib. 50% resistance level…while doing so, RSI(14) edged into overbought territory but has since unwound and was at 54% entering after Friday…

It’ll be very interesting to see if Silver can reassert itself above $17 this week…

Silver Long-Term Chart Update

This 34-year monthly chart continues to give hope that Silver could be in the very early stages of a powerful “Wave 5” move to the upside, though we caution that this could take some time to play out (if indeed this theory is correct)…the reasons for such a move are also not clear…over the past couple of months, Silver jumped by as much as 30% – it led Gold to the upside…

RSI(14) has bounced off previous long-term support which will need to hold along with key price support in the immediate vicinity of $15…

One note of concern on this chart is the sell pressure that has prevailed since the beginning of 2013, after a decade-long period of buy pressure…based on historical patterns, sell pressure could persist for a considerable time yet – though that doesn’t necessarily mean that the price can’t still trend higher…nonetheless, it would be encouraging to see this sell pressure begin to abate…

Note:  John and Jon both hold share positions in DBV and GBB while Terry also holds a share position in GBB.

TSX Venture Exchange and Gold

Note to readers:  U.S. stock markets are closed Monday for President’s Day.  Canadian markets are closed due to Family Day in most of the country including Ontario (B.C., for some odd reason, celebrates Family Day a week earlier).  Regular Morning Musings resumes Tuesday.

The Venture continued to move forward last week, albeit at a snail’s pace as the Index posted just a 4-point gain to close at 697.  The underlying tone with the Venture has been generally bullish since the 637 all-time low in December but this market is advancing slowly and with hesitation – a whopper of a hole, a discovery somewhere – especially in Canada – is just what the Index needs in order to gain momentum and accelerate to the upside.  There’s nothing like a major success story to suddenly wake up the junior resource market and literally turn it around overnight.  Just 1 possibility is the next 120 meters of Hole 23 at the Hat Project in the Sheslay District.  From diamonds to Gold to Silver, other discovery opportunities exist as well, not just in Canada of course but in other friendly jurisdictions.

Venture 2-Month Daily Chart

Strong support is 680, resistance is 707 (chart and Fib.).  Based on increasing increasing buy pressure (CMF) and RSI(14) momentum, it’s reasonable to expect the Venture to challenge that resistance near-term, probably in the week ahead.  The trend is bullish at the moment and the 20-day moving average (SMA) has been on the rise since the beginning of the month.

As we’ll show in a chart Tuesday, there’s an extremely high correlation at the moment between the Venture and Crude Oil (more so than between the Venture and Gold).  So it’s important to keep that in mind.  The longer Oil can stabilize and remain above $50 a barrel, the Venture’s chances of a breakout improve.  Another plunge in Oil would hurt the Index, though money would probably flow into certain Gold plays.

Venture 6-Month Daily Chart

The Venture’s 6-month chart shows 2 important developments:

1.  A confirmed breakout above the 50-day SMA (this moving average is currently at 680 – Venture support – and is beginning to flatten out.  It needs to reverse higher for the Index to gain traction);

2.  A confirmed breakout (during the second half of January) above the downtrend line in place since September.

Bollinger Band Width remains low, which reflects how the Venture is like a very slow moving train right now.  But at least the train has left the station and at some point should start to pick up speed.

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 carry out exploration or 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 eventually create a supply problem and therefore great opportunities in Gold and quality Gold stocks.  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.

Gold

Last week we indicated how Gold would probably test somewhat lower levels near-term due to some bearish chart signals, and indeed bullion fell to its 100-day SMA and Fib. support just below $1,220 before recovering modestly to close the week down slightly at $1,228.

This 6-month daily chart looks more favorable now and it’s possible, though not certain, that Fib. support at $1,216 may hold.  Very strong support, of course, exists at $1,200 and could be tested.  Our interpretation of Gold’s action since the January high of $1,308 is that bullion has been going through a healthy and normal consolidation after a near 20% run-up from its early November low.  Interestingly, the U.S. Dollar Index is also in a consolidation pattern at the moment.  Both have been moving in tandem the last few months which goes against the historical norm.  The next sharp jump in the Dollar Index (it’s in a powerful primary bull market) could also be accompanied by another move higher in bullion.  Gold and the greenback are the 2 strongest currencies in the world.

Silver encouragingly climbed back above $17 an ounce, gaining 64 cents to finish at $17.21 (updated Silver charts Tuesday).   Copper added 6 cents to close at $2.61.  Crude Oil rallied for the third straight week, gaining $1.09 a barrel to finish at $52.78.  The U.S. Dollar Index, despite Friday’s surge, was down half a point for the week at 94.19.   

The “Big Picture” View Of Gold

Gold has traded between $1,222 and $1,236 so far today…as of 9:30 am Pacific, bullion is up $9 an ounce at $1,231…Silver has added 55 cents to $17.39…Copper is flat at $2.60…Crude Oil has gained $1.50 a barrel to $52.72 while the U.S. Dollar Index is relatively unchanged at 94.13…

Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest Gold-backed exchange-traded fund, fell 0.23% to 771.51 tonnes yesterday, but that’s up considerably for the year…meanwhile, Chinese buying remained stable ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday next week..premiums on the Shanghai Gold Exchange traded unchanged today at $3-$4 an ounce…

Mineweb’s (www.mineweb.com) ace writer Lawrence Williams, who has an exceptional understanding of demand/supply trends in Gold, had these important comments this morning on yesterday’s World Gold Council (WGC) Global Demand Trends report…

“The latest report from the WGC does indeed suggest that total ‘consumer’ demand for the precious metal in India last year did exceed that of China after falling behind in the previous year. But the report is careful not to actually state that India’s total Gold demand exceeded China’s due to the substantial amount of Gold flowing into China’s banks, which falls outside the GFMS calculated ‘consumer demand’ parameters. At last we have an explanation for the huge disparity between the apparent Gold demand figures in the GFMS reports, which the WGC utilizes, and the continuing huge levels of Chinese demand suggested by the reported withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE).”

ING Bank senior strategist Hamza Khan summed up Gold’s current state quite accurately in our view in comments to Reuters:   “We are in a holding pattern between $1,150 and $1,300 just because there isn’t enough clarity around when the Fed is going to be hiking interest rates and what is going to be happening with Greece.  So until we see what is going to happen in the long term, Gold is likely to remain in this range.”

Oil Update

Wishful thinking, self-serving comments or insightful analysis?…Royal Dutch Shell PLC Chief Executive Ben van Beurden sees Oil demand outpacing supply growth this year, and is warning that supply may decline if Oil prices stay low…he said said a rapid recovery in Oil prices could occur “if projects are postponed or even canceled. This would lead to less new supply – not so much now, but in 2 or 3 years. Combined with economic growth, the market could tighten quickly in this scenario.”

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

China’s Shanghai Composite, on a 5-session winning streak, closed up 1% overnight while Japan’s Nikkei average fell slightly…

Europe

European stock markets finished in positive territory today, ending a volatile week at 7-year highs…there were signs of  stabilization in the euro zone economy today and renewed hopes that Greece would reach a deal with its creditors…

Barclays says it’s uncertain if a Greek exit from the euro zone would create financial instability across the region, but the biggest contagion risk would be Spain. “While the direct exposures of other member states to Greece appear manageable, a Greek exit could leave the door open for speculation that other EMU members may follow, especially where the election of new governments hostile to the current policy approach appears likely,” they stated.

A strong pickup in Germany led an acceleration in euro zone economic growth in the final 3 months of 2014, but large parts of the currency area were either close to stagnation or still contracting…

The EU statistics agency said today that the combined GDP of the 18 countries that then shared the euro was 0.3% higher in the fourth quarter than in the third…that was a stronger outcome than the 0.2% rate forecast by economists who were surveyed by The Wall Street Journal last week…on an annualized basis, the economy grew by 1.4%, a much weaker performance than the 2.6% rate of growth recorded by the U.S. during the same period…

North America

The Dow is up 29 points through the first 3 hours of trading today…the TSX has added 83 points while the Venture is up 2 points at 694…Canadian markets are closed Monday for Family Day in most of the country…

U.S. import prices recorded their biggest drop in 6 years in January as prices fell broadly, a sign that domestic inflation pressures could remain muted for a while…the Labor Department said today that import prices tumbled 2.8% last month…this was somewhat less than expected but nonetheless represented the largest decline since December 2008…it was the seventh straight month of declines in import prices…

Nasdaq Updated Chart

All indications are that the Nasdaq, as John speculated earlier, is on its way to a new all-time high, especially after a breakout out this month above chart resistance at 4800 (a series of Fib. resistance levels have also been overcome)…the retail market might wake up after news headlines of the Nasdaq recovering all of its losses after the 1999 high of just over 5000…

Venture High-Lows – Long-Term Chart

Below is an interesting chart that provides a comparison between the value of the Venture spanning the last 13 years and new 52-week highs minus new lows (referred to as CDHL) in individual stocks…

“The way I see it,” says John, “since 2008, all but 2 months (outliers) the CDHL low has been between 0 and 50.  When it exceeds 50, the Venture is in trouble.  Interesting in that it does not occur in 2 consecutive months.  Notice that the CDHL led led the Venture in every major trend change, including the one right now.”

In other words, what this chart seems to confirm is that the current uptrend remains firmly intact…the Venture needs a catalyst, however – a new discovery, a jump in commodity prices – to pick up steam…Venture new highs started to gain momentum after the market’s 2013 low…there are early signs that this is occurring again following a record low in the Index reached in December…

Cannabix Technologies Inc. (BLO, CSE, BLOZF, OTC) Update

What a volatile week for Cannabix Technologies (BLO, CSE, BLOZF, OTC) which broke out massively to a new high of 77 cents on the CSE before retracing sharply to an intra-day low of 34 cents yesterday…that was a healthy, necessary pullback given how far this moved in such a short period of time…

Below is a an updated 5-month daily chart in U.S. dollars (Stockcharts.com does not yet provide charts for CSE-listed stocks)…

BLO found support just above its 2014 high on yesterday’s pullback, and RSI(2) – which was in extreme overbought territory – substantially cleansed itself by falling to 32% yesterday…looking good…

HGD (Gold Index Reverse ETF) Updated Chart

The HGD, which is essentially the TSX Gold Index in reverse (double short ETF), has started to stir this week, showing signs of a possible near-term modest spike higher which would be consistent with the current consolidation in the TSX Gold Index after a 50% run-up between early November and the beginning of this month…

The HGD has pushed above an RSI(14) downtrend line…important chart resistance is at $10…if a confirmed breakout were to occur above the $10 level, this would suggest the TSX Gold Index may test 1 of 3 Fib. support levels that John outlined in Wednesday’s chart – 175, 166 or 158…keep in mind, however, that the Gold Index appears to be in the early stages of a major new uptrend, so any pullback shouldn’t frighten anyone…

Cadillac Trend Update

We are approaching a return visit to northwest Quebec and the Cadillac Trend, our first in several years…there are some highly interesting situations there, not the least of which is a major resurgence we see unfolding in Gold Bullion Development Corp. (GBB, TSX-V) which is focusing on expanding its LONG Bars Zone resource (major upside exploration potential still) and preparing for a high-grade rolling production start (many permits have been received, just 1 remains outstanding)…

Updates on 2 other situations…

Integra Gold Corp. (ICG, TSX-V)

Integra Gold Corp. (ICG, TSX-V) continues to make significant progress with its high-grade Lamaque Gold Project in Val-d’Or…an updated resource estimate was released earlier this week and the market responded well…

In John’s most recent ICG chart in December, he pointed out how the stock had managed to hold important support in the 15-17 cent range and was likely due for a new uptrend after bottoming at 14 cents in early November…

ICG has performed exceptionally well so far this year and is now grappling with 1 more Fib. resistance level at 30 cents, after clearing 3 earlier levels…this remains an important play to keep a close eye on through the balance of 2015…

Falco Resources Ltd. (FPC, TSX-V)

We’re bullish about what may unfold here – Falco Resources (FPC, TSX-V) has commenced an initial drill program on the Horne 5 Gold-Silver-Copper-Zinc deposit in Rouyn-Noranda…this program is intended to confirm historical drill data, upgrade the size and confidence level of the mineral resource estimate, and provide material for metallurgical testing…

The Horne project area encompasses the former-producing Horne and Quemont mines, as well as the Horne 5 deposit…the Horne mine, of course, was operated by Noranda from the 1920’s to 1976 and has an incredible history as we’ve previously documented…it produced 11.6 million ounces of Gold and 2.5 billion pounds of Copper…the Quemont mine is located 600 m north of Horne, and produced approximately 2 million ounces of Gold and 400 million pounds of copper between 1949 and 1971…

Technically, FPC broke below an uptrend line in late September when the overall market went into a tailspin, but the stock has been clawing its way back since November…an important development is a reversal to the upside in the 200-day moving average (SMA)…

Note:  John and Jon both hold share positions in BLO.  John, Terry and Jon hold share positions in GBB.