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Check back later today for Daniel’s Den and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.

1. Gold, coming off its best week in nearly 2 years, has traded between $1,343 and $1,354 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up another $6 an ounce at $1,353…Silver has added 19 cents to $16.72…Copper dipped as low as $2.95 but is bouncing back, now off just a penny at $2.99…Nickel has reversed higher as well, up 4 cents at $5.87…Zinc has gained 2 cents to $1.48…Cobalt, which has climbed nearly 20% in 3 weeks, has eased off 34 cents to $42.98…Crude Oil has retreated 30 cents to $65.58 while the U.S. Dollar Index has fallen another one-third of a point to 89.12…President Trump’s hardball trade strategy with China already appears to be having its intended effect, and equity markets are responding accordingly this morning…the Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. and China have quietly started negotiating to improve American access to Chinese markets…in another report from the Financial Times, China has apparently offered to buy more semiconductors from the U.S. by diverting some purchases from South Korea and Taiwan…meanwhile, the FT also reported that Chinese officials are rushing to finalize new regulations by May that will allow foreign financial groups to take majority stakes in its securities firms…

2. China’s yuan-denominated Crude Oil futures surged on their long-awaited debut today, indicating positive initial sentiment toward the new market which Beijing hopes will eventually give the country an Oil benchmark to rival those in the U.S. and Europe…the most actively traded futures contract due for delivery in September closed up 3.3% at 429.9 yuan ($68.07) per barrel on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange, after opening up more than 6% from a starting reference point of 416 yuan per barrel…over 42,000 lots or more than 21 million barrels of Oil valued at 18.3 billion yuan ($2.9 billion) were traded today…Beijing has been planning to launch its own Oil market for several years with the aim of providing an Oil price that will be more closely aligned to local supply and demand conditions…China is the world’s biggest importer of Oil after the U.S., and its 4th-largest producer…the new Oil futures traded in Shanghai are open to foreign investors, the first time China has allowed them to trade in its domestic commodities markets in this way…

3. China has a massive and growing appetite for Crude Oil but the climate change extremists now running the British Columbia government believe the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion – the centerpiece of Canada’s plan to ship heavy Crude Oil to energy-hungry Asia – is “unnecessary”…B.C.’s Environment Minister, George Heyman, has lashed out upon learning that the Federal Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed the government’s attempt to overturn a National Energy Board ruling against the City of Burnaby…Heyman said the decision allows for local rules and regulations to be “needlessly undermined” (pipelines, of course, fall under federal jurisdiction) and he added that the B.C. NDP will continue to explore other legal ways to “defend the interests of British Columbians against this unnecessary project” (our emphasis)…the fact that a majority of British Columbians actually support the pipeline expansion, based on various opinion polls, means nothing to the NDP which stole power by teaming up with the Greens to form what is essentially an urban-based Metro Vancouver/Vancouver Island coalition of climate change extremists backed by radical Americans carrying out smear campaigns against Alberta Oil…we’ll see how “unnecessary” that pipeline is when Alberta finally musters the courage to start restricting the Oil and gas flows to Burnaby in order to send B.C.’s wacko political leaders a message that they cannot violate the Constitution and the rule of law by blocking an already approved project that is unquestionably in Canada’s national interest…meanwhile, Prime Minister Trudeau’s recent silence regarding this controversy is a gross abdication of leadership…he has already killed 2 pipeline projects (Northern Gateway and Energy East) and might be secretly hoping that Kinder Morgan walks away from the Burnaby expansion given an abundance of Liberal seats in Metro Vancouver as a 2019 federal election approaches…meanwhile, as a recent bank report stated, the Canadian economy is taking a $16 billion annual hit due to our lack of pipeline capacity…that’s enough to knock nearly a full point off the country’s GDP…investment and jobs are headed elsewhere but many Canadians don’t seem to mind – they’re going to “save the planet”!..

4. As Canadian Oil rig activity continues to plummet, thanks to hugely discounted Western Canadian Select prices, U.S. Oil rig activity continues to climb…are Canadians oblivious to what’s unfolding here????…U.S. Oil output has already jumped by a quarter since mid-2016 to 10.4 million barrels per day, and last week the number of Oil rigs operating in the U.S. hit a 3-year high…tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, along with the possibility of the U.S. pulling out of the flawed multi-country nuclear deal with Iran, are keeping a firm bid under Crude…Saudi air defenses shot down 7 ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militia yesterday, some of which targeted Saudi capital Riyadh…Crude Oil prices are headed higher and we’ll have an updated chart by tomorrow…

5. U.S. equity markets are rebounding sharply following the worst week in 2 years…the Dow has jumped 483 points as of 7:00 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX is 98 points higher while the Venture has added 1 point to 819…PolyMet Mining (POM, TSX) has negotiated a 12-month payment extension and reduction in interest rates on approximately $152 million of debt owed to Glencore…the company also secured a commitment for an additional $80 million in debentures from Glencore over the next 12 months to complete pre and post-permitting work for the NorthMet Copper-Nickel-Cobalt-Precious Metals Project in northeastern Minnesota…

6.  International Zeolite (IZ, TSX-V) has entered into a binding agreement to acquire 55% of the outstanding share capital of Ichaana Indo-Can Zeolite Private Ltd., an Indian company focused on introducing various products of natural Zeolite to the Indian agriculture and farming sectors…under the agreement, Ichaana will attempt to secure all federal, state and municipal certifications, permits and clearances the to enable International Zeolite’s natural Zeolite and Zeolite products to be used in Indian agriculture, farming, horticulture, poultry, organic farming as well as water pollution treatment applications…Ichaana will also undertake to secure an initial offtake agreement for the purchase of a minimum of 30,000 metric tonnes of bulk natural Zeolite to be supplied by International Zeolite…IZ will also be granted a right of first refusal to acquire the remaining 45% interest in Ichaana…IZ is up 6 cents at 44 cents as of 7:00 am…

7. Hempco Food and Fiber (HEMP, TSX-V) is up strongly in early trading on news that Aurora Cannabis (ACB, TSX) has exercised 10.6 million warrants to purchase common shares of the company for total proceeds to Hempco of $4.3 million…Aurora now owns just over 21 million Hempco shares, reflecting an ownership interest of approximately 35%.  “With this further investment by Aurora we are now very well capitalized to accelerate our various strategic initiatives to drive growth at Hempco,” said Diane Jang, CEO of Hempco. “Since taking the helm at Hempco, we have made a number of tactical and strategic moves that position the company well to take advantage of a number of opportunities in the health lifestyle food supplements market, as well as for the pet and equine markets. Additionally, with the positive vote on the second reading of Bill C-45 in the Senate, implementation of the new Cannabis Act is that much closer, which would position us very well for whole-plant utilization and further acceleration of our business plan. These funds, and the presence of a large, stable shareholder, puts Hempco in a strong position to pursue a multitude of opportunities and create further shareholder value.”

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Check back later today for Daniel’s Den and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.

1. Gold is once again responding bullishly post-Fed meeting as the greenback retreats while investors find comfort in bullion amid trade tensions between the U.S. and China…China is well known for its economic espionage, which works against American (and Canadian) interests, so the fact an American President who understands business is finally standing up to the communist country is actually a positive development…if there’s a “trade war”, it was started by China long before Donald Trump became President…he’ll finish it…Gold continues to gain momentum as it approaches key resistance around $1,350…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $16 an ounce at $1,345…Silver has jumped 20 cents to $16.44…Copper, Nickel and Zinc are all down slightly to $3.00, $5.89 and $1.45 respectively, but Cobalt is a big winner – it’s up more than $2 a pound to a new decade high of $43.32…Crude Oil, which has enjoyed a strong week, has climbed another 73 cents to $65.03 while the U.S. Dollar Index has slipped one-tenth of a point to 89.58…China intervened to support its stock market today, news reports say, after fears of a trade war with the U.S. sparked the steepest intra-day sell-off in 6 weeks…

2. The U.S. Senate passed a $1.3 trillion spending bill early this morning, virtually assuring a trillion dollar U.S. budget deficit for this fiscal year which is music to Gold bugs’ ears…Congress acted to avert a government shutdown with less than 24 hours to spare, bringing to a close a messy negotiating process over the sprawling measure (2,200 pages, how many members of Congress actually read all of it?)…the bill gives the Obama-depleted military its biggest funding boost since World War II but came at the expense of accepting Democrats’ demands for increased domestic program spending…President Trump was expected to quickly sign the bill into law, and almost certainly will, but this morning he pushed out this message in a seemingly strategic tweet, “I am considering a VETO of the Omnibus Spending Bill based on the fact that the 800,000 plus DACA recipients have been totally abandoned by the Democrats (not even mentioned in Bill) and the BORDER WALL, which is desperately needed for our National Defense, is not fully funded.” 

3. Fresh U.S. economic data point to a continued robust economy…new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods rebounded much more than expected in February after 2 straight monthly declines and shipments surged, pointing to strong growth in business spending on equipment during Q1…February orders for durable goods rose by 3.1% to $247.7 billion, led by a sharp jump in orders for transportation equipment…the rise in orders reversed a 3.5% decrease in January…

4. Saudi talk continues to underpin Oil prices…Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih says OPEC will need to keep coordinating supply cuts with non-member countries including Russia into 2019 to further reduce global inventories…Morgan Stanley also cited an expected pick-up in seasonal demand in the coming months.  “We are only 3–4 weeks away from peak refinery maintenance, after which Crude and product demand should accelerate…global inventories are already at the bottom end of the 5-year range,” the U.S. bank said, adding, “There are sufficient reasons to expect Oil prices to strengthen further from here.”  It’s great that WTI and Brent prices are pushing higher but Western Canadian Select is still trading at a huge discount thanks to Canada’s self-inflicted wounds that have created a serious problem with respect to pipeline capacity (this is costing Canada at least $1.5 billion per month, according to a recent report, but our reward is we’ll save the planet!)…

5. Cracks are starting to appear in the NDP-Green alliance in British Columbia after the NDP announced yesterday a new framework to support a liquified natural gas industry in the province…tax breaks include relief from PST (in line with others in the manufacturing sector), the elimination of the LNG income tax and capping carbon at $30 per tonne if the LNG facility can show it’s the cleanest in the world…at stake is a potential $40 billion investment by LNG Canada and 10,000 jobs…a decision is expected within the coming weeks or months…if built, it would be the single largest investment in an industrial project in B.C. history…however, at a news conference yesterday, Wacky Weaver The Professor said the NDP’s plans for LNG break the confidence and supply agreement between the Greens and NDP, but that he won’t be taking the government down right now on the issue.  “If you are going to add 8 to 10 megatonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and you are going to meet our targets, then all other aspects of the economy must make up the difference,” said Wacky Weaver. “What that means is by 2030 all other aspects of our economy, other than LNG Canada, would have to cut emissions by 50%.”  Wacky Weaver, of course, is a globalist who participates in foreign-funded, foreign-orchestrated smear campaigns against Canadian jobs…he’s a climate change extremist who of course cites David Suzuki as his hero, and he has no respect for democracy or the rule of law as he’s knowingly opposing the Canadian Constitution in doing everything he can to block the already approved Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion…Wacky Weaver won’t be totally at peace until British Columbia “saves the planet” and becomes a fossil fuel free zone…by that time, he will have accomplished another one of his goals which is to bring “affordable housing” to the province…nothing slows down a booming real estate market faster than a flood of jobs and investment leaving the province to other jurisdictions, which has occurred previously in B.C. history when economic lunatics grabbed the reigns of power…the fact that Wacky Weaver and two of his Green compatriots are holding the B.C. government and the B.C. economy hostage is not only absurd but dangerous… 

6. North American equity markets are rebounding after nervous nellies threw a tariff tantrum yesterday...the Dow is up 86 points at 24,044 as of 7:00 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX has added 28 points to 15,428 thanks to strength in Gold and Oil stocks…the Venture is 8 points higher at 825…one of the top performers on the Venture this week has been Pascal Biosciences (PAS, TSX-V) which has traded nearly 8 million shares…it’s up another half penny at 48 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…Cornerstone Metals (CCC, TSX-V), which has also enjoyed a strong week, has completed its $3 million private placement at 30 cents per unit…more drill results are pending from the company’s Carlin Vanadium Project in Nevada…Colorado Resources‘ (CXO, TSX-V) April 17 AGM may more resemble a Jerry Springer episode as two internal factions battle for control…CXO issued another news release this morning with the headline, “Colorado Resources‘ Disgruntled Ex-CEO Travis Continues To Demonstrate Ignorance Of Corporate Governance”…shareholders have until April 13 to vote the “blue” proxy or the “yellow” proxy…”none of the above” is not an option, though some shareholders may wish it were…

7. TMX Group is launching a cryptocurrency platform which will bring the 166-year-old marketplace into the brave new world for Bitcoin and other digital currencies…TMX subsidiary Shorcan Brokers Ltd. said yesterday that it’s building the first exchange-owned brokerage platform for cryptocurrency investors, and plans services that compile data on digital currencies and publish performance benchmarks such as indexes. “We’re looking at a global market that is in its infancy, and as the digital-currency network grows and traditional financial institutions want access, we are building a bridge between those two worlds,” Shorcan President Peter Conroy said…the new platform is called Shorcan Digital Currency Network (Shorcan DCN) and is expected to debut in the 2nd quarter of this year…it will initially focus on trading and data in the two most common cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ether…Bank of Montreal is backstopping the business by providing payment and settlement services…TMX acquired Shorcan, a fixed-income trading business, in 2006…

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Visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.

1. Gold has traded in a narrow range between $1,327 and $1,324 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is off $2 an ounce at $1,330 as of 7:00 am Pacific…as expected, the Fed raised interest rates by 25 basis points yesterday and upgraded its economic outlook, saying that the economy and job gains had been strong in recent months…however, new Fed Chairman Jerome Powell struck a moderate tone in his news conference and the central bank maintained its rate outlook for 2018 with 2 more hikes planned for later this year…the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dropped the most in 6 months this morning…Silver is down 14 cents at $16.41…Copper has slipped 4 pennies to $3.04…Nickel is off 5 cents at $6.02…Zinc is down a penny at $1.47 while Cobalt has jumped nearly $1 a pound to a new decade high of $41.05…Crude Oil, hot in recent days, has retreated 55 cents to $64.62 while the U.S. Dollar Index is flat at 89.64…Republicans control the White House, the Senate and the House, but Washington’s deficits and debt continue to accelerate…Congressional leaders released a massive $1.3 trillion government spending bill (2,200 pages) last night after striking agreement on some major points of contention…lawmakers will now rush to pass the legislation to keep the government running through September by the midnight Friday deadline to avoid the 3rd government shutdown this year…

2. Canada’s federal government remains oblivious to the urgent calls from the Oil and gas industry to address the problem of getting the country’s Oil to market, highlighted of course by the uncertainty around the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion aggressively opposed by the Green Monster in British Columbia…Cenovus Energy (CVE, TSX) announced this morning that it has been operating its Oil sands facilities at reduced production rates and is storing excess barrels in its reservoirs in response to wider-than-normal light-heavy price differentials and recent pipeline capacity constraints as well as the slow pace of the ramp-up in Crude-by-rail export capacity in Alberta.  “We’re taking steps to respond to a critical shortage of export pipeline capacity in Western Canada that is beyond our control and is having a negative impact on our industry and the broader Canadian economy,” stated President and CEO Alex Pourbaix. “These transportation challenges faced by our industry clearly demonstrate the urgent need for approved pipeline projects in Canada to proceed as soon as possible.”  Let’s not hold our collective breaths…

3. First Quantum Minerals (FM, TSX) has declined as much as 23% this week as a wave of African tax hikes continues to engulf some of Canada’s mining companies…Zambian authorities have told First Quantum to pay an extra $8 billion (U.S.) in taxes and penalties for allegedly failing to pay proper duties on imported supplies over the past 5 years, news that sent the stock tumbling to an intra-day low of $16.32 yesterday…First Quantum boss Philip Pascall admitted yesterday that he had been blindsided by the shock announcement…the amount of First Quantum’s tax bill is huge – larger than Zambia’s entire annual government budget…on a hastily arranged morning conference call, Pascall rejected the $7.9-billion figure – more than two-thirds of the company’s market capitalization…however, he declined to describe the worst-case scenario for the Copper producer which derived 83.5% of its revenue in 2017 from 4 mines in Zambia and is hoping to develop a 3rd mine in the country…the Zambian government has likely thrown an outrageous number at First Quantum as a negotiating ploy, but the fact remains that this is yet another example of jurisdictional risk for resource companies which is a growing problem not just in Africa but throughout the world…

4. The Dow has tumbled 271 points after the first 30 minutes of trading…markets are throwing a tariff tantrum again as President Trump gets tough on China…the President is scheduled to make an announcement later this morning on tariffs and investment restrictions aimed at China and designed to get Beijing to halt practices that violate U.S. intellectual property rights (tariffs are expected to be placed on about $60 billion worth of Chinese goods coming to the U.S., just over 10% of all Chinese goods exported to America)…the U.S. is also expected to announce it would sue China at the World Trade Organization for trade law violations…in Toronto, the TSX has fallen 148 points…Eldorado Gold (ELD, TSX) continues to plummet after reporting a 4th quarter net loss of $20.7 million…Royal Nickel (RNX, TSX) is putting its Beta Hunt Gold and Nickel mine in Western Australia on the auction block in favor of focusing on development of its Dumont Nickel-Cobalt Project in Quebec, a low-grade deposit with significant potential recovery issues the company is touting as “one of the few large-scale, shovel-ready projects positioned to deliver large quantities of Nickel and Cobalt to market in the next few years”…some geologists claim it’s the largest asbestos deposit in the world…the Venture is off 7 points at 824 through the first 30 minutes of trading, weighed down by a drop in Cronos Group (CRON, TSX-V, CRON, NASDAQ) which has announced a $100 million bought deal financing at $9.60 per share…Pascal Biosciences (PAS, TSX-V) continues to trade briskly, up half a penny at 49 cents after 3.4 million shares changed hands yesterday…the stock has broken out above a symmetrical triangle that formed during the recent financing period ($5.2 million was raised at 40 cents)…an $8.9 million program has been approved by Dolly Varden Silver’s (DV, TSX-V) board of directors for the 2018 exploration season…the largest expenditure will be for diamond drilling of approximately 25,000 m in 60 to 75 drill holes…President and CEO Gary Cope stated, “The 2018 exploration program will be larger than last year’s program and is divided 80% for mineral resource purposes and 20% for exploration in this highly prospective mineral camp”…

5. Three days, three straight news releases from Snipp Interactive (SPN, TSX-V) which is rubbing shoulders with as many cannabis companies as possible…it seems to be working as SPN jumped as high as 19 cents yesterday on total volume (all exchanges) of 15.5 million shares…this morning, Snipp remains active after announcing that Avana Canada, one of only 4 companies awarded a license to operate recreational cannabis retail outlets in Manitoba, has joined Snipp’s “Cannabis Marketing Research Centre”…a global loyalty and promotions company that develops “disruptive” engagement platforms, Snipp is in the process of wrapping up a $2.5 million financing at 10 cents…two tranches of that PP have already closed…the stock is up a penny at 16 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

6. A deep targeted infill drill hole at the Marathon Gold deposit in central Newfoundland has returned one of the thickest and highest-grade Gold intervals to date within that deposit…MA-18–282 cut 18.7 g/t Au over 13 m (from 473 m to 486 m) including 70.7 g/t over 2 m, demonstrating good high-grade potential at depth where not a lot of holes have been drilled yet…Marathon Gold (MOZ, TSX) says this new mineralization, as well as Gold found in other new drill holes, is expected to add significant ounces to the next resource update…the company says a PEA remains on schedule for release by mid-May…

7. Corvus Gold (KOR, TSX), one of the best performing Gold stocks this year, reported more high-grade results this morning from its Mother Lode Project in Nevada…drill hole Hole ML18–049, which cut 7.6 m grading 21.8 g/t Au, represents the highest-grade intercept drilled to date in the Mother Lode system as a new high-grade area continues to be defined in the eastern part of the deposit…results to date from the East zone have now outlined a system at least 400 m long running northwest from the eastern edge of the historic pit and hosted in the favorable Tertiary sedimentary rock package…the area remains open to the north and east and will be followed up with additional step-out holes…KOR is up slightly at $1.98 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

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