Check back later today for an additional post and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.
1. Gold has traded between $1,277 and $1,287 so far today, touching a 1-month low…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $1 an ounce at $1,283…Silver is flat at $16.74…Copper is steady at $2.90…Nickel is up 3 cents at $4.65…Crude Oil has gained another 48 cents to $52.62 thanks to rising tension around northern Iraq following the autonomous Kurdistan region’s vote in favor of independence in a referendum…the Dollar Index has retreated one-third of a point to 93.16…Platinum is trading at a discount to Palladium for the first time since 2001…both metals are primarily consumed by automakers for catalytic converters, but Platinum is more heavily used in the diesel vehicles that have fallen out of favor…
2. The U.S. economy grew a bit faster than previously estimated in the 2nd quarter, recording its quickest pace in more than 2 years, but the momentum likely slowed in Q3 as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma temporarily curbed activity…GDP increased at a 3.1% annual rate in the April-June period, the Commerce Department reported in its 3rd estimate this morning…growth last quarter was the quickest since the 1st quarter of 2015 and followed a 1.2% pace in the January-March period…
3. Tax cuts Republicans are proposing will be paid for entirely through economic growth “substantially over 3%”, chief White House economic advisor Gary Cohn said today…Republicans issued a tax reform plan yesterday that simplifies the tax code, breaking rates down into 3 categories and slashing corporate rates…the ambitious framework also includes lower individual income tax rates, incentives for business investment, and the end of estate taxes…according to an estimate from the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the framework calls for about $5.8 trillion in tax cuts over a decade and includes about $3.6 trillion in revenue-raising provisions; that leaves a net cut of $2.2 trillion…Congress hasn’t overhauled the tax system in such an ambitious manner since Ronald Reagan was President in 1986…the risk is that deficits and debt push higher if revenues fall short of expectations, a scenario that would be Gold-bullish…
4. The World Gold Council (WGC) plans to form a committee soon to help set up India’s first spot Gold exchange within 12 to 18 months, a senior official of the industry body said today…a dedicated exchange for physical Gold is expected to pave the way for standard Gold pricing practices in India, apart from bringing transparency to a market that sees large cash transactions…a physical exchange would enable jewelers, retailers, refiners and banks to trade over a regulated platform, the WGC stated…China, the world’s top Gold consumer, runs such a bourse where Gold, both domestically produced and imported, can be bought and sold…
5. The Dow is 23 points lower as of 7:00 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX is off 8 points while the Venture is steady at 776…Macarthur Minerals (MMS, TSX-V) is the Venture volume leader for the 2nd straight session, touching the 10-cent level for the first time since early April…Macarthur has optioned 2 exploration licenses in Western Australia to ASX-listed Artemis Resources which recently raised $12 million and is interested in the conglomerate Gold potential of the Macarthur ground…Comstock Metals (CSL, TSX-V), which commenced a drill program in the Yukon’s White Gold district earlier this month, has bounced off its 52-week low this morning after releasing partial results featuring multiple high-grade Gold intercepts below the historical production trench at its Preview SW Project 40 km northeast of La Ronge, Saskatchewan…highlights from 4 separate drill holes included 3.25 m grading 87.2 g/t Au, 16.7 m @ 5.1 g/t Au, 4.2 m @ 9.7 g/t Au, and 5 m @ 16.2 g/t Au…
6. Interesting development in the northern Ontario Cobalt Camp…First Cobalt (FCC, TSX-V) has released high-grade Cobalt assays up to 3.76% Co from a sampling program of the historic muck piles from the past-producing Bellellen mine…of particular interest were samples with coarse, disseminated pyrite in altered mafic volcanic rock that run high Cobalt and elevated Silver as well as Copper…significantly, this type of Cobalt mineralization has not been previously described in the Cobalt Camp…Dr. Frank Santaguida, Vice President, Exploration commented: “Bellellen contains a different style of mineralization compared to Keeley-Frontier that at first looked uninteresting but in fact contains high Cobalt grades. This suggests that a more complex structural-hydrothermal setting may exist here than was previously considered.”
7. First Nations issues continue to impede progress on the Oil pipeline front in Canada…the Federal Court of Appeal has ordered Ottawa to renegotiate the terms under which the Trans Mountain pipeline crosses a First Nation’s reserve in British Columbia, raising new questions about the fate of Kinder Morgan’s federally approved plan to expand the pipeline…the court ruled that the feds failed in their duty to protect the interests of the Coldwater Indian Band in 2014 when it approved the transfer to Kinder Morgan of an easement agreement on the original pipeline which was completed in 1952…as a result, Ottawa must make a “re-determination” on the easement before Kinder Morgan can boost the flow of the pipeline as part of its expansion project…Coldwater is one of several First Nations communities in B.C. that are challenging the federal government’s approval of the $7.4-billion Trans Mountain expansion, claiming Ottawa failed to properly recognize indigenous rights…they now have the support of the NDP-Green provincial government…the Coldwater hearing begins next week…
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