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TSX Venture Exchange and Gold

It was a bumpy ride for the Venture to close out the month of April, so what’s on the horizon now?

Did you know that for as little as just over $2 a day, you can be a BMR subscriber and tap into the best analysis and picks for the junior resource sector that you’ll find anywhere?  Last year’s BMR Top 50 List returned a whopping 118% and we are delivering market-trouncing returns again in 2017.  BMR was the first to call the new bull market in the Venture in early 2016, and our coverage of the commodities space gives you valuable daily insights into price movements and critical trends.  BMR is daily information that puts you ahead of the crowd!

We also give first-time subscribers an industry-leading 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee.  If you don’t believe BMR has helped you make money for your first 6-month subscription period, we’ll refund your subscription fee in full – no questions asked!

To read the rest of today’s report, click here or login as a current subscriber with your username and password.

Gold has traded between $1,263 and $1,269 so far today…as of 11:20 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $3 an ounce at $1,267…Silver is flat at $17.22…Copper is up 2 pennies at $2.59…Nickel has climbed 6 cents to $4.26…Crude Oil is 39 cents higher at $49.36 while the U.S. Dollar Index has fallen one-fifth of a point to 98.99…

Gold showed resilience this week by holding support in the $1,260’s and at its 200-day moving average (SMA), but downside potential ($1,230’s) could certainly be tested next week as the market faces hurdles such as a Fed meeting (Tuesday-Wednesday) and employment numbers Friday…in addition, May has generally been Gold’s worst-performing month of the year going back a couple of decades…on the positive side, underlying technical support is very strong from the $1,230’s to the $1,260’s, Asian demand has picked up on the pullback from the recent yearly high, and ETF buying remains consistent…in addition, of course, the North Korea threat tops a list of multiple geopolitical problems which continue to provide safe-haven support for bullion…

Familiar Theme – U.S. Growth Slows During Q1

U.S. economic output failed to match the surging confidence expressed by consumers and businesses since November’s elections…for Q1, GDP growth at 0.7% came in well below the long-term trend…this has become common with first quarters in recent years, raising questions about the Commerce Department’s seasonal adjustment methods…

Oil Update

A rough month for Crude Oil but key technical support is holding…most analysts polled by Reuters expect the deal between OPEC and non-OPEC countries struck in December to be extended to the end of this year, but that bullish dynamic has been offset by a multitude of factors including increased U.S. production, lackluster gasoline demand and an overall stubborn global supply glut…the restart this week of 2 Libyan Oilfields didn’t help matters…Libyan Crude production stood at 491,000 bpd yesterday, but the OPEC member was targeting 800,000 bpd soon and 1 million to 1.1 million bpd by August…

The technical picture for WTIC trading is a little easier to follow than the sometimes confusing fundamental factors…there’s a consistent pattern on this 15-month weekly chart in terms of an uptrend line that started just over a year ago…it’s now cutting through the $48 area, so that’s quite an important level that Crude can’t afford to breach…the uptrend line, also accompanied by an inverted head-and-shoulders bottom, has been successfully tested on multiple occasions since late last year…

The 200-day SMA has flattened out at $49.40 while the declining 50-day, currently $50.77, is providing resistance…as long as Crude doesn’t breach its uptrend line with a confirmed breakdown, a strong case exists for a move to new highs during the 2nd half of the year when the supply glut is expected to ease considerably…

In Today’s Morning Musings….

1. Updates on half a dozen juniors in midst of important developments…

2. Not pools, but an “ocean” of Nickel sulphides around Nickel Mountain?…

3. Two BMR U.S. tech favorites surge this week…

4. Daniel’s Den – Friday Footnotes, updates on 10 stocks…

Did you know that for as little as just over $2 a day, you can be a BMR subscriber and tap into the best analysis and picks for the junior resource sector that you’ll find anywhere?  Last year’s BMR Top 50 List returned a whopping 118% and we are delivering market-trouncing returns again in 2017.  BMR was the first to call the new bull market in the Venture in early 2016, and our coverage of the commodities space gives you valuable daily insights into price movements and critical trends.  BMR is daily information that puts you ahead of the crowd!

We also give first-time subscribers an industry-leading 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee.  If you don’t believe BMR has helped you make money for your first 6-month subscription period, we’ll refund your subscription fee in full – no questions asked!

To read the rest of today’s Morning Musings, sign up NOW or login as a current subscriber with your username and password.

Check back later this morning for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.

1. Gold has traded between $1,264 and $1,269 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $2 an ounce at $1,266…a pick-up in Asian demand has helped support Gold prices in the $1,260’s this week…premiums in China increased to $8 to $10 above the international benchmark from $3 to $4 an ounce last week, while India has reported strong sales related to Akshaya Tritiya, the 2nd-biggest Gold-buying occasion in India after Dhanteras, which falls in October-November…while solid technical support for Gold exists in the $1,260’s, the Fib. $1,235 level could certainly be tested given the recent breakdown below a short-term uptrend line…however, the broader picture remains very positive and bargain hunters would likely step in vigorously on any additional minor weakness in Gold…

2. The U.S. economy turned in the weakest performance in 3 years in the January-March quarter as consumers sharply slowed their spending…the result repeats a pattern that has characterized the recovery since 2009 – lackluster starts to the year…the Commerce Department says GDP grew by just 0.7% in Q1 following a gain of 2.1% in the 4th quarter…economists polled by Reuters had expected a growth rate of 1.2%…the slowdown primarily reflected slower consumer spending, which grew by just 0.3% – the poorest showing in more than 7 years…however, business and consumer confidence have both shot up significantly during the first few months of the new Trump administration and that should translate into much better growth numbers later in the year…deep corporate and individual tax cuts, as proposed by the White House Wednesday, would also be a major boost if they can be pushed through Congress…

4. It has been a rough week for the Venture but an ideal time for astute investors to scoop up bargains given the tremendous technical support underpinning the Index between 780 and 800…the Venture has recovered 3 points to 803 as of 7:00 am Pacific on this final trading day of the month…PyroGenesis (PYR, TSX-V), which has climbed nearly 50% this week, is up a penny at 74 cents…in Toronto, the TSX has added 73 points with the Gold Index rebounding 4 points to 206…it fell as much as 8.2% this week…the NASDAQ has jumped another 14 points to 6063…Mitek Systems (MITK, NASDAQ), which we’ll have an update on in Morning Musings, is trading robustly after reporting record revenue and profitably for fiscal Q2…the Dow is off 16 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…

5. Enforcer Gold (EGM, TSX-V) just raised another $5 million (hard dollar at 20 cents, flow-through at 25 cents), completing the final tranche of an over-subscribed financing as announced yesterday…that’s $9 million the company has raised over the past 4 months as it prepares to commence a major exploration program set to commence in mid-May and run uninterrupted through late fall at its Montalembert Gold Project in northern Quebec…drilling is anticipated to commence in mid-to-late June and will initially test 4 high-priority targets based on the company’s review of historical data…VEIN is unchanged at 18 cents in early trading…

6. A top-performing stock this week has been Deveron UAS (DVR, CSE), one of our favorites which is in the midst of completing a game-changing financing for at least $2 million (the initial tranche for $1.3 million has already closed)…the company’s recently announced multi-year deal with Thompsons Ltd. is further evidence that DVR is dominating and leading innovation in drone-data-related precision agriculture…Norm Lamothe, the original owner and developer of UAS business Eagle Scout acquired by DVR last year, stated:  “There are so many opportunities to apply technology to the 88 million acres of farmland in Canada, and our UAV service delivers data analytics and solutions while saving the farmer the additional burden of owning hardware, interpreting data, planning flights and dealing with the regulatory system.”  Deveron UAS is making new inroads into Western Canada as well as the United States…

7. Keep an eye on RJK Explorations (RJX.A, TSX-V) which has started Phase 2 of a 5,000-m drill program at its 100%-owned Maude Gold Property located on the Pipestone fault within the Timmins-Matheson Gold corridor…what’s significant is that the RJK is now targeting the area below the 330-m level where where historical drilling had returned high-grade Gold intersections including 8 m of 19.5 g/t Au at the 375-m level and 2.5 metres of 12.3 g/t Au at the 475-m level…potential to intersect significant high-grade zones exists with downplunge drilling…with only about 17 million shares outstanding, RJK’s current market cap is just $2.4 million with the stock trading at 14 cents…

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Wake Up, British Columbia!

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Visit our comments section during the day for breaking developments. BMR Morning Market Musings returns tomorrow.

1. Gold has traded between $1,261 and $1,268 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $8 an ounce at $1,261…while support exists in the $1,260’s, the Fib. $1,235 level could certainly be tested given the recent breakdown below a short-term uptrend line…the World Bank’s latest and just-released Commodity Markets Outlook estimates that 2017 Gold prices will average $1,225 an ounce but will gradually fall over the next 3 years to $1,206 in 2018, $1,187 in 2019 and $1,169 by 2020 (previous World Bank Gold price predictions have proven to be wildly incorrect, so contrarians will like what they’re saying now)…they state that upside risks to their current forecast include “widening geopolitical tensions, stronger-than-expected physical demand in China, delays in anticipated central bank rate increases, and mine supply shortfall” (no mention of government debt issues across the globe)…the downside risks are “stronger economic growth, faster-than-expected increases in U.S. interest rates, and weaker physical demand.”

2. Oil prices have come under pressure again this morning, dipping below $49 a barrel…U.S. data yesterday showed a drop in Crude Oil stocks; however, gasoline inventories surged as refiners produced more fuel than the market could consume…if gas inventories remain elevated after the summer driving season, it could dent demand for feedstock Crude Oil…meanwhile, U.S. Crude Oil production continues to rise, up 10% since mid-2016 at 9.27 million bpd…amidst all of this, the current expectation that OPEC will extend its production cuts to cover all of 2017 should provide ample support for prices at key technical levels in the upper $40’s…

3. The NASDAQ hit another new all-time high in early trading of 6,046…Kopin Corp. (KOPN, NASDAQ), one of our favorite technology plays, jumped 35 cents yesterday for its highest closing price ($4.20) in more than 2 years…the Dow is up 8 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…in Toronto, the TSX has slid 64 points on softness in Gold and Oil while the Venture is 1 point lower at 806…PyroGenesis Canada (PYR, TSX-V) continues to look strong and is unchanged at 77 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific after its 7th straight daily advance yesterday…

4. Marathon Gold (MOX, TSX) has reported impressive results this morning from the deepest holes ever drilled at its Marathon deposit in the Valentine Lake Gold Camp…drill hole MA-17–175 intersected broad intervals of intermittent moderate to high-grade Gold to depths of 966 m, including 1.77 g/t Au over 101 m (196 m to 297 m)…other highlights from the same hole included 19 m @ 4.09 g/t Au (includes 5 m @ 12.54 g/t Au) between 531 m and 550 m, and 32 m @ 3.25 g/t Au (includes 5 m @ 11.08 g/t Au) between 881 m and 913 m…drill hole MA-17–174 featured 76 m @ 1.36 g/t Au (223 m to 299 m) and 35 m @ 1.80 g/t Au (342 m to 377 m)…deeper intercepts in hole 174 along the hanging wall edge of the mineralized corridor weren’t as strong as those for hole 175 (the 2 holes were spaced 180 m apart along strike), but both holes clearly demonstrate the potential for definition of additional Gold resources beneath the lower limit of the February 2017 resource body…Marathon is a classic orogenic Gold deposit, so it has strong underground mining potential to go along with its large near-surface open-pit resource…MOZ opened higher at $1.25 this morning and climbed as high as $1.30 before pulling back…it’s up a penny at $1.22 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

5. Eskay Mining (ESK, TSX-V) has finalized a formal option agreement with Silver Standard Resources (SSO, TSX) to accelerate exploration and development of ESK’s highly prospective SIB Property contiguous to the prolific Eskay Creek mine…under the terms of the deal, Silver Standard can earn up to a 60% undivided interest in the SIB, starting with an aggregate of $11.7 million in exploration expenditures over the next 3 years including $3.7 million in the first year…Carl Edmunds, chief geologist at Silver Standard, calls SIB an “extraordinary opportunity” given the fact it hosts numerous Gold-Silver occurrences over 4 km within the same volcanic rocks that host the Gold-Silver-enriched VMS deposits mined at Eskay Creek…historical drill results at the Lulu zone include 14.3 m @ 14.4 g/t Au and 1,060 g/t Ag, and 24.8 m @ 10.8 g/t Au and 766 g/t Ag…significantly, since those results in the 1990’s, Eskay Mining has found the extension of the Lulu and Eskay Creek host felsic volcanic rocks below a fault that had hindered further exploration efforts…the SIB is the best-chance immediate opportunity in British Columbia for another Eskay Creek-type deposit…at 44 sq. km, SIB represents just under 10% of ESK’s sprawling land package which features multiple other target areas prospective for various types of deposit styles including Eskay Creek-style mineralization…ESK was halted pre-market yesterday and has to be cleared to resume trading…

6. As we speculated yesterday in this space, Barkerville Gold Mines (BGM, TSX-V) seemed to have a financing in the works given a recent flurry of news releases on drill results from their Cariboo Gold Project…sure enough, the company this morning announced a $15 million bought deal at 95 cents with Haywood Securities as lead underwriter…meanwhile, BGM also intends to complete a concurrent non-brokered private placement of 16.7 million units on the same terms and conditions to Osisko Gold Royalties (OR, TSX) and Osisko Mining (OSK, TSX) for gross proceeds of $15.8 million, such that OR and OSK maintain their respective percentage ownerships in Barkerville…closing is expected by the middle of May…BGM, which already has more than 300 million shares outstanding, is off 4 pennies at 97 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading…

7. Pure Gold Mining (PGM, TSX-V) has intersected 133.4 g/t Au over 2 m in drill hole PG17–307 at a depth of 225 m below surface, the highest grade result to date from the McVeigh zone at its 100%-owned Madsen Gold Project where a 70,000-m, multiple drill rig exploration program continues…this intercept lies approximately 150 m below mined stopes on level 2 and outside of conceptual areas studied for potential mining development in the 2016 PEA…drilling has also confirmed that the structures hosting mineralization in the McVeigh extend over 600 m to the southwest as drill hole PG17–359 returned 13.9 g/t Au over 1.5 m in the Fork zone…the McVeigh, Fork and Starratt target areas link into a common mineral system extending for over 5 km…PGM is off a penny at 57 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Wake Up, British Columbia!

Northern Ontario Gem

A 50,000-m Drill Program?  The Explorer That’s Punching Way Above Its Weight Class!

Compelling Zinc-Copper Play With High

Gold has traded between $1,260 and $1,269 so far today…as of 11:30 am Pacific, the yellow metal is now up $3 an ounce at $1,267…Silver is off 11 cents at $17.46…Copper is up a penny at $2.58…Nickel has fallen 4 cents to $4.16…Crude Oil is 19 cents higher at $49.75 while the U.S. Dollar Index has added one-tenth of a point to 98.99…

For the first time in 6 quarterly earnings reports, Barrick Gold (ABX, TSX) missed analyst earnings targets yesterday…combined with weakness in Gold, the news led to a 10% drop in Barrick’s share price which contributed to a 2nd straight nasty day for the TSX Gold Index, down 14 points or 6.4% Monday and Tuesday…it touched a low of 199.99 this morning before reversing…the market focused on Barrick’s lowered production forecast for the current year, 5.3 million to 5.6 million ounces (down from the original 5.6 million to 5.9 million range), mostly as a result of selling half its stake in the Veladero mine to Shandong Gold Group…

Another example of undervalued opportunities in the junior sector – Mariana Resources (MARL, TSX-V) is up 68% as of 11:30 am Pacific, trading at $1.71, after news this morning that Sandstorm Gold (SSL, TSX) is acquiring the junior for cash and 0.2573 of a Sandstorm share for each Mariana share held…Mariana’s most advanced asset is the high-grade Hot Maden Gold-Copper Project in northeast Turkey, a low cap-ex joint venture with Turkish partner Lidya (30% Mariana and 70% Lidya)…Sandstorm already owns 9 million shares of Mariana for a 7% interest in the company, plus warrants…

Dubai’s New Architectural Wonder – Gold-Plated 150-Meter Frame

Dubai’s Gold-plated 150-m-high frame, scheduled to be opened at the end of this year. The project has been under construction for 4 years and is costing the city nearly $50 million (U.S.).

Gold Update

Like the Venture, Gold has breached its short-term uptrend support but keep in mind that this also occurred at the beginning of March and represented a fantastic buying opportunity in both bullion and the Venture…

While it’s possible that support for the metal could hold in the $1,260’s, which was fierce resistance until earlier this month, there’s a good chance bullion will test the nearest Fib. level on this 9-month daily chart which is $1,235…that’s about $12 below the rising 50-day moving average (SMA)…

Gold’s Fib. levels on this chart have proven to be highly accurate…

Why Do Some Governments Not Understand Supply And Demand? 

The Ontario Liberals, arguably the most incompetent provincial government ever inflicted on Canadians, is now trying to convince voters it has abused for many years that it has the right solutions to a problem – soaring home prices in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) – that it actually helped create!…

A report released yesterday shows that the Ontario government’s 2006 growth plan for residential land development has spurred soaring increases in house prices in the Toronto region by limiting construction of new low-rise family homes…while the number of housing units built in the Greater Toronto Area over the past decade has roughly tracked the increase in population in the region, there has been “a marked mismatch” between the types of units completed and the types demanded, according to the report from the Centre for Urban Research and Land Development at Ryerson University in Toronto…

Demand for low-rise homes, especially detached homes, has not been matched by new supply, while the supply of condominium units has soared, the report stated…the result has been major price inflation in all types of “ground-level” homes, including townhouses, semi-detached and detached homes…

The growth plan was anchored in climate change fanaticism – it was aimed at encouraging denser development in the Toronto area and reducing the “environmental impact” of urban sprawl, but it had the unintended consequences of driving prices higher by creating scarcity…

The Ryerson report comes as the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), which represents developers in the Toronto region, issued a report last week showing a record-low inventory of low-rise homes for sale in the GTA…at the end of March, there were only 932 new low-rise homes – including just 233 detached houses – available for buyers in builders’ inventories, compared with 17,854 in March, 2007, and 1,001 in February this year…

The Law of Unintended Consequences hurts governments all the time, hence the argument for limited government…our legislators can often do more by simply doing less and doing it well…

In Today’s Morning Musings….

1. Massive breakout on the way in PyroGenesis Canada (PYR, TSX-V)?…

2. Putting the Venture’s bad start to the week into context…

3. Enforcer Gold (VEIN, TSX-V) prepares for up to 9,000 m of drilling at high-grade Gold property…

4. Daniel’s Den – Shares in Canadian forest products producer push higher after U.S. slaps import tariff, what gives?…

Did you know that for as little as just over $2 a day, you can be a BMR subscriber and tap into the best analysis and picks for the junior resource sector that you’ll find anywhere?  Last year’s BMR Top 50 List returned a whopping 118% and we are delivering market-trouncing returns again in 2017.  BMR was the first to call the new bull market in the Venture in early 2016, and our coverage of the commodities space gives you valuable daily insights into price movements and critical trends.  BMR is daily information that puts you ahead of the crowd!

We also give first-time subscribers an industry-leading 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee.  If you don’t believe BMR has helped you make money for your first 6-month subscription period, we’ll refund your subscription fee in full – no questions asked!

To read the rest of today’s Morning Musings, sign up NOW or login as a current subscriber with your username and password.

Check back later this morning for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.

1. Gold has traded between $1,261 and $1,267 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $1 an ounce at $1,263…updated Gold chart in today’s Morning Musings…solid support exists in the $1,260’s, but the Fib. $1,235 level could certainly be tested given a breakdown below a short-term uptrend line…the broader picture for Gold remains positive, however…holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest Gold-backed ETF, fell 0.69% to 854.25 tonnes yesterday after 6 tonnes of inflows the previous 2 sessions…

2. An opinion poll released yesterday has put British Columbia’s socialist NDP in a commanding 10-point lead over Christy Clark’s free enterprise coalition Liberal Party ahead of tonight’s critical televised leaders’ debate…the poll represents the first “breakout” in the campaign…there’s a reason the NDP in B.C. haven’t held power for 16 years – they ran the province’s economy into the ditch in the 1990’s with an anti-resource, tax-regulate-and-spend agenda, and their far left policy platform is even more radical today now that it’s wrapped in climate change fanaticism after 8 years of Obama…the problem is that for current voters under the age of 35, the world didn’t really begin until Facebook in 2004…going back even earlier, the NDP had an equally disastrous but shorter governing stint in B.C. in the early 1970’s and an angry electorate quickly got buyer’s remorse and banished the dreamy eyed socialists to the political wilderness for 16 years (memories fade after 16 years?)…B.C. voters at the moment appear to be taking the fastest growing economy in Canada, supported by low taxes and budget surpluses, for granted…however, it’s important to keep in mind that the NDP held a significant lead in the polls going into election night 2013 and the Liberals still pulled off a majority government…it’s not too late for Clark and her team to sound the alarm and rally the free enterprise troops – the business community needs to stand up – but they must pull together immediately with the election set for Tuesday, May 9…the province’s entire economy, including the all-important resource sector, is at stake as an NDP government has the proven ability to destroy wealth at the speed of a tweet…

3. President Trump today plans to propose steep cuts in corporate taxes and repatriated offshore corporate profits as the administration continues to work toward creating a more business-friendly economic climate in the United States (somehow, Canada at provincial and federal levels will have to learn to compete)…Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Economic Director Gary Cohn are set to conduct a joint news conference around 10:30 am Pacific from the White House Briefing Room, but Mnuchin commented this morning that the proposal would be “the biggest tax cut and the largest tax reform in the history of our country”…

4. The NASDAQ briefly touched a new all-time high this morning of 6,037 before pulling back slightly…it has gained 115 points or 1.9% the last 2 sessions on the strength of corporate earnings and word of the Trump tax plan…the Dow is up 26 points through the first 30 minutes…the TSX is off 6 points while the Venture is flat at 805 after falling 21 points or 2.5% the last 2 sessions…the Venture broke below a short-term uptrend line but has deep support between 780 and 800…

5. The news is flowing furiously from Barkerville Gold Mines (BGM, TSX-V), which means the company could be looking at raising more money soon…this morning BGM reported a new discovery in its continuing 130,000-m Phase 2 Island Mountain drill program at its flagship Cariboo Gold Project…the company is currently exploring and delineating the Valley Zone with 4 drill rigs…located at a vertical depth of 280 m below surface, drill hole IM-17–081 intersected a new veining occurrence averaging 23.3 g/t Au over 7.8 m…this veining occurs in the largely untested area between the former Aurum and Mosquito Creek mines…further downhole, at a vertical depth of 400 m, a second vein set grading 7.4 g/t Au over 2 m was also intersected…the 2 occurrences are open for expansion given a lack of drilling at this depth…meanwhile, drilling has also extended the Shaft Zone as a series of veins averaging 13.6 g/t Au over 14.5 m was intersected at a vertical depth of 250 m…the interval occurs 45 m along vein strike of previously reported drill hole IM-17–036 which graded 16.9 g/t Au over 5.1 m…BGM is up 4 pennies at 93 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

6. Eskay Mining (ESK, TSX-V) was halted 2 hours before market open, pending news…the last significant news from the company came February 2 when it announced that St. Andrew Goldfields Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX), which holds a 20% undivided interest in ESK’s SIB property, waived its right of first refusal and Eskay was therefore proceeding to negotiate the terms of a formal agreement for the option of up to a 60% undivided interest in the SIB to Silver Standard Resources (SSO, TSX)…we’re convinced, and so are some highly respected geologists, that there is another Eskay Creek (perhaps more than one) at SIB given all that’s now understood about this amazing property after more than $30 million in exploration expenditures since the 1980’s…the rocks and stratigraphy at SIB match Eskay Creek and there’s now a solid theory on where to find the “motherlode” – hence the return to the district of Silver Standard… 

7.  First Mining Finance (FFC, TSX-V) released encouraging assay results this morning from the first 12 holes of a 106-hole, 28,500-m diamond drill infill program at its 100%-owned Goldlund Gold Project located near the town of Sioux Lookout in Northwestern Ontario…highlights included 52 m @ 2.21 g/t Au (GL-17–017) and 26 m grading 2.14 g/t Au (GL-17–044)…good results, but not worthy of a trading halt…the most intriguing part of the news release was the following comment from First Mining Chairman Keith Neumeyer:  “We also wanted to take this opportunity to comment on recent trading activity in the junior Gold market. In December of last year, First Mining was added to the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners Exchange Traded Fund (GDXJ), a well-known exchange-traded fund that invests in junior Gold companies. According to their most recent public filings, the GDXJ holds over 15% of the outstanding shares of First Mining. The GDXJ recently announced a change in their investment criteria in order to allow a larger number of companies into their portfolio so that they could distribute their capital over a larger pool of companies. These changes mean that the GDXJ will be required to significantly rebalance its portfolio. We believe that this announcement has contributed to the recent declines in the share price of First Mining, along with a number of other junior Gold companies. We wanted to let investors know that it is business as usual at First Mining. We are making good progress with our exploration programs at our projects and expect to release further drill results from our Goldlund Project over the next few weeks. I remain as convinced as ever that the fundamentals for gold remain strong and that the volatility we are seeing is only a temporary distortion.”

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Northern Ontario Gem

A 50,000-m Drill Program?  The Explorer That’s Punching Way Above Its Weight Class!

Compelling Zinc-Copper Play With High-Grade Bonus

Visit our comments section throughout the day. BMR Morning Market Musings returns tomorrow.

1. Gold has traded between $1,265 and $1,275 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $9 an ounce at $1,267 as solid support in the $1,260’s continues to be tested after the metal yesterday fell to its lowest level since April 11 following first round results of the French presidential elections…holdings of SPDR Gold, the world’s largest Gold-backed exchange-traded fund, actually rose slightly (0.17%) yesterday and are up 6 tonnes over the past 2 sessions…heightened security risks continue to provide some support for bullion…North Korea conducted a live-fire exercise today as a U.S. submarine docked in South Korea in a show of force amid concern over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs…

2. China’s net-Gold imports via main conduit Hong Kong more than doubled month-on-month in March, data showed today…net-Gold imports by the world’s top Gold consumer through the port of Hong Kong rose to 111.647 tonnes in March, the highest in a year, from 47.931 tonnes in February, according to data obtained by Reuters from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department…

3. Crude Oil prices are stable this morning, hovering around $49 a barrel with WTI trying to avoid a 7th straight losing session…Russia said yesterday that its Oil output could climb to the highest rate in 30 years if OPEC and non-OPEC producers do not extend their supply reduction deal beyond June 30…meanwhile, J.P. Morgan said that to reduce the global supply overhang, OPEC “will be forced to renew, and possibly deepen the agreement if they wish to keep prices much above $50 per barrel”…other analysts disagree, saying U.S., Europe, Singapore and floating storage inventories have been falling at a rate over the last 6 weeks that will lead to a very significant draw down by year-end… 

4. The NASDAQ touched 6,000 for the first time ever this morning amid strong earnings reports while the Dow is up another 202 points as of 7:00 am Pacific after a 216 point jump yesterday…the TSX is 79 points higher while the Venture is off 4 points at 814…after a breakout session yesterday, PyroGenesis Canada (PYR, TSX-V) is up 2 pennies at 65 cents on volume of more than 800,000 shares through the first 30 minutes with the company just releasing news that it has signed its first contract, and received the down payment, for an order of Titanium powder (Ti-6Al-4V) and Inconel from a multinational conglomerate (the name and origin of which will not be disclosed for competitive reasons)…this order was placed during the ramp-up phase of the company’s powder production system…

5. Camino Minerals (COR, TSX-V) is up slightly in early trading after releasing results for the remaining 3 reverse circulation drill holes completed at its Los Chapitos Project in southern Peru…all 3 holes extended the oxide mineralization along strike or at depth…hole CHR-004 intersected the same magnetite rich zone as in hole CHR-002…however, it reached the maximum depth limits of the drill while still in the magnetite rich zone at 360 m and did not test the projected horizon of the host rocks for the sulphide mineralization that was intersected in hole CHR-002 (106 m @ 1.3% Cu)…highlights from holes CHR-003 and CHR-005 were 32 m @ 0.64% Cu over 32 m including 1.5% Cu over 10 m, and 44 m @ 0.86% Cu including 1.85% Cu over 16 m, respectively…the Phase 1 program resumes early next month with diamond drilling…COR is up 8 cents at $1.53 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

6. In-fill drilling has resulted in a substantial boost in resources for Trilogy Metals’ (TMQ, TSX-V) Arctic deposit, one of the highest-grade Copper deposits known in the world with an average grade of about 6% Copper equivalent…the polymetallic VMS project is located approximately 470 km northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska…this morning, the company reported a 50% increase in resource tonnes in the Indicated category at substantially the same average grades as the previous estimate, containing over 40% more Copper and Zinc…at a base case 0.5% CuEq cut-off grade, the Arctic deposit is estimated to contain in-pit Indicated Resources of 36 million tonnes grading 3.07% Cu, 4.2% Zinc, 0.73% Lead, 0.63 g/t Gold and 47.6 g/t Silver for 2.4 billion pounds of contained Copper and 3.4 billion pounds of contained Zinc…this is a robust deposit that’s not sensitive to cut-off grade (and assumed metal prices) as a 300% increase in the cut-off grade would result in less than a 1% decrease in contained Copper and Zinc metal at higher average grades…current activities are focussed on engineering and environmental site investigation studies that will form the basis for completing a future pre-feasibility study…TMQ is 3 cents higher at $1.01 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

7. NuLegacy Gold (NUG, TSX-V) has commenced an initial 40-hole, 35,000-foot 2017 drill program at its Red Hill Project in Nevada…of the initial 35,000 ft. planned, 65% will consist of deeper drilling to explore for additional deposits and 35% will concentrate on expanding the Gold footprint of the near-surface Iceberg deposit which is an exploration target of 90 to 110 million tonnes of 0.9 to 1.1 g/t Au…priorities will include expanding the extent of Gold mineralization in the Avocado deposit, drilling the Deep Iceberg IP anomaly to confirm it as the 3rd Gold deposit identified to date, and exploring the VIO and Jasperoid Basin anomalies to establish their prospectivity as deposits…NUG is unchanged at 28 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

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