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

1. Gold has traded between $1,474 and $1,456 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is off another $8 an ounce at $1,460…optimism (false optimism?) around U.S.-China trade talks has dented bullion’s safe-haven appeal the last couple of days…technical support is strong at $1,450 with a major floor of support at $1,400…Silver has also taken a hit, though it remains firmly in the grips of a primary uptrend…Silver is currently down 27 cents at $16.82…Copper is unchanged at $2.69 while Nickel and Zinc are both off slightly at $7.29 and $1.14, respectively…Cobalt is holding steady at $16.10…CNBC reported this morning that an agreement between the United States and China to roll back existing tariffs as part of a Phase 1 trade deal faces fierce internal opposition in the White House and from outside advisers…the idea of a tariff rollback was not part of the original October “handshake” deal between Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and President Trump, according to CNBC sources…Chinese officials said earlier yesterday that tariff reductions had been agreed to, and a U.S. official confirmed that was the case…but there is a divide within the administration over whether rolling back tariffs will give away U.S. leverage in the negotiations…Canada’s energy sector is our country’s “family business”, says says Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce CEO Victor Dodig, who adds that the family business has fallen on tough times and needs the country to come together to find a solution…while renewables are the fastest growing source of energy in the world, Dodig, in a thoughtful Globe and Mail piece yesterday (“The Trans Mountain Expansion Is National-Building, Pure And Simple“), wrote that the reality is that fossil fuels will remain an important part of the global energy mix for decades…he says what the world needs is greater access to responsible energy production…and as a world leader in responsible energy production, Dodig says we help neither ourselves – nor the planet – if we undermine our own ability to compete on the world stage…

2. Islamist extremists have forced Semafo (SMF, TSX) to halt operations at its Boungou Gold mine in eastern Burkina Faso as the fallout widens from one of the worst-ever terrorist attacks on employees of a Canadian company (Trudeau of course is silent on this)…Semafo says it’s suspending work at its mine in the West African country, a day after Islamist terrorists ambushed a convoy carrying its employees to the mine site…Burkina Faso’s President, Roch Marc Kabore, said 38 people were killed, increasing the previous day’s tally…more than 60 others were injured, and dozens are still believed to be unaccounted for after the attack, which occurred on a road 40 km from the mine site…“This is the deadliest incident targeting the mining industry, or any private businesses, in the Sahel since the 2013 In Amenas hostage crisis,” Vincent Rouget, an analyst at Control Risks Group, told Reuters…Sahel is the name for a region of western and north-central Africa that has a large concentration of mining operations…extremist groups, mostly Islamist insurgents, also proliferate in the area…the attack highlights the increasing security threat for citizens and companies in Burkina Faso…almost everywhere you look around the world, it’s becoming more challenging to operate a mine with threats from governments to environmental extremists to terrorists…

3. An unprecedented run has come to an end – the latest data from the People’s Bank of China shows that the central bank did not purchase any Gold in October, ending a consecutive 10-month buying spree…according to data released yesterday, the Chinese central bank’s Gold reserves held steady at 62.64 million ounces in October…however, since December, the central bank has bought 105.8 tonnes of Gold…some analysts have noted that the end of China’s consecutive Gold purchases has stopped as the country has started to make some headway in its ongoing trade battle with the Trump administration…China has been a significant player in the Gold market this year…according to the latest research from the World Gold Council, central banks (net Gold buyers for 10 straight years) have bought nearly 550 tonnes of Gold so far in 2019…Gold in the current global environment is well suited to be an integral component of foreign reserves…

4. The Gold market saw record inflows into exchange traded products during the 3rd quarter and it appears that trend has continued into the early start of the 4th quarter…in a report yesterday, the WGC said that global Gold-backed ETFs saw $1.9 billion of net inflows last month…“Flows were driven primarily across Europe and North America, increasing their collective Gold holdings by 44.4t to a new record high of 2,900t,” the report said...“Momentum in October flows reflect the trends in the 3rd quarter which saw total investment demand up 110% compared to Q3 2018“…the WGC said that the increase in Gold-backed ETF holdings came as prices pushed back above $1,500 an ounce, increasing 2.9% on the month…for the year, Gold prices last month were up 18% and saw near all-time highs in every major G10 currency except for the U.S. dollar and Swiss franc…looking at regional inflows, the report said that European demand lend the way last month with European-listed funds seeing inflows of 31.3 tonnes last month, representing 67% of all inflows…Gold demand in Europe has been significant as investors have looked for safe-haven assets amidst growing economic uncertainty, ongoing turmoil surrounding Britain’s plan to leave the European Union and record level of negative bond yields…North American funds saw inflows of 13.2 tonnes in October…another growing trend in the marketplace is the popularity of low-cost gold-backed ETFs…the WGC said that low-cost Gold-backed ETFs in the U.S. have seen positive flows for 16 of the past 17 months and have increased their collective holdings by 55% so far this year…

5. No surprise – the over-taxed, over-regulated, anti-Oil Trudeau economy shed jobs in October, a number that would have been far worse if it weren’t for a jump in public administration (government) positions…what an economic basket case Canada is turning into versus its neighbor to the south with a much smarter and effective approach to wealth and job creation at the federal level…Canada lost 1,800 net positions last month, Statistics Canada reported this morning, as employment declined in manufacturing and construction…the only real bright spot was that wages for permanent employees rose by 4.4%…the services sector gained 39,000 in October (public administration was a major contributor) but this was more than offset by a loss of 40,900 jobs in goods-producing sectors…

6. The Dow, having posted 6 triple digit gains in the last 10 sessions, has retreated 72 points on profit-taking as of 7:00 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX is up 22 points…the Gold Index has rebounded slightly to 235 despite a further drop in the metal price…very strong support stretches from the high 220’s…Skeena Resources (SKE, TSX-V) is up another 6 cents at 70 cents (its best price in nearly 2 years) in early trading following yesterday’s release of a robust PEA for its Eskay Creek Gold-Silver Project…taking advantage of existing infrastructure from the past producing underground mine, one of the richest ore bodies ever discovered, the PEA envisions an open-pit averaging 3.2 g/t Au and 78 g/t Ag…after-tax NPV(5%) is $491 million (U.S.) with a 51% IRR and a 1.2-year payback period…the 8.6-year life-of-mine annual production is estimated at 236,000 oz Au and 5.8 million oz Ag at a CAPEX of only $233 million (U.S.)…success at Eskay Creek will benefit the entire Eskay Camp, including the Nickel Mountain Project just 10 miles to the southeast…the rebirth of Eskay Creek is a major development in Northwest B.C., just as the rebirth of the historic mining towns of Cobalt and Gowganda in in Northern Ontario is going to be a story of national interest fuelled by multiple initiatives from Canada Cobalt (CCW, TSX-V)…CCW is up on record high volume this week as the company prepares to execute imminently on several immediate/near-term plans enhanced by the closing of a game-changing deal to acquire the PolyMet facility in the town of Cobalt…

7. Canopy Growth (WEED, TSX; CGC, NYSE) founder Bruce Linton has been named Executive Chairman of U.S. cannabis company Vireo Health International (VREO, CSE; VREOF, OTC) headquartered in Minneapolis…the company says he will serve on the board of directors and work closely with Vireo CEO and founder Kyle Kingsley…Vireo, licensed in 11 markets, produces and sells cannabis and pharmaceutical-grade cannabis extracts…Linton was recently ousted from the co-CEO job (as well as Chairman) at Canopy in July after Constellation Brands said it was disappointed in the company’ s latest results…Linton told Yahoo Finance, “I am delighted to be joining Vireo, one of the most exciting cannabis companies in the United States with an impressive medical and scientific team developing the next generation of cannabis products.  We are confident Vireo can become a top U.S. producer and distributor of high-margin, proprietary products within the next several years and create unprecedented long-term shareholder value”…VREO gained 20 cents on the news yesterday, closing at $1.55, and is up another 3 pennies at $1.58 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

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

1. Gold has traded between $1,493 and $1,480 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is off $6 an ounce to $1,484…Silver is 6 cents lower at $17.53…Copper has added 3 pennies to 2.69…Copper prices have gained more than 4% in the past month, thanks to a better tone in U.S.-China trade relations…hedge funds and other speculative investors are the least bearish they have been on Copper since April, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission…Nickel is off slightly at $7.41…Indonesia will decide on Monday whether to resume Nickel ore exports after halting shipments to investigate reports of export rule violations, Indonesia Investment Board chief Bahlil Lahadalia said today…the government ordered a temporary halt to exports of Nickel ore on October 28 following reports that exports had surged after Indonesia confirmed that an export ban will be implemented from January 2020, bringing it forward from 2022…the recent export surge reportedly included large sales of high-grade Nickel ore from Indonesia, which only allows exports of ore with less than 1.7% Nickel content…Zinc and Cobalt are both flat at $1.16 and $16.10, respectively…Crude Oil has jumped 98 cents to $57.33 while the U.S. Dollar Index is unchanged at 98.00…the Bank of England held interest rates steady today, opting not to adjust borrowing costs in the world’s 5th-largest economy ahead of a snap election…the EU slashed its growth forecasts for the euro zone today, blaming global trade tensions for limiting economic expansion…the warning from the EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, comes at time when the ECB has started a new round of stimulus to prop up fragile growth…“The fact that growth is no longer expected to rebound meaningfully in the next 2 years is a major shift compared to previous forecasts and is based on the assessment that many features of the global slowdown will be persistent,” the European Commission said this morning in its Autumn Economic Forecasts report…“Most importantly, the surge in trade tensions and record-high uncertainty about trade policies is likely to have inflicted lasting damage to world trade,” the Commission added…what they’re not willing to admit is the need for much more sensible and growth-oriented fiscal policies in the euro zone, but that would mean abandoning anti-growth socialist models..

2. U.S. stock futures turned higher overnight after China said the world’s 2 largest economies had agreed to remove existing trade tariffs…Gao Feng, a ministry spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry, said that both sides had agreed to simultaneously cancel some existing tariffs on one another’s goods, according to the country’s state broadcaster…the ministry spokesperson said that both sides were closer to a so-called “Phase 1” trade agreement following constructive negotiations over the past 2 weeks…one important condition for a limited trade agreement, Feng insisted, was that the U.S. and China must remove the same amount of charges at the same time…it comes after reports that a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could be postponed until December – delaying a chance for the 2 leaders to sign an interim trade deal…market participants had expected the 2 economic giants to sign a deal later this month, after both Washington and Beijing spoke of progress in talks late last week…

3. Jurisdictional risk – that’s one of the biggest concerns of investors right now, and this horrific incident underscores that point: An attack on employees of Quebec Gold producer Semafo (SMF, TSX) in Burkina Faso has left at least 37 people dead and dozens injured…the attack occurred about 40 km from the Boungou mine – one of the 2 sites operated by the company in the West African country – when a convoy of 5 buses carrying mine employees and accompanied by a military escort was ambushed by Islamic extremists…the military vehicle ahead was reported to have struck an explosive device…the rest of the convoy was then shot in what is believed to be the deadliest attack since Islamic extremists became active in the country in 2015…Semafo said in a statement that the Boungou mine site “remains safe and our operations have not been affected…We are working actively with all concerned authorities to ensure the health and safety of our employees, contractors and suppliers”…

4. One of the best places in the world to be for an exploration or mining company is the Eskay Camp…Skeena Resources (SKE, TSX-V) has released a robust Preliminary Economic Assessment this morning for its Eskay Creek Gold-Silver Project, taking advantage of existing infrastructure from the past producing mine…the PEA envisions a high-grade open-pit averaging 3.23 g/t Au, 78 g/t Ag (4.17 g/t AuEq, diluted)…after-tax NPV(5%) is $491 million (U.S.) with a 51% IRR and 1.2-year payback period…life-of-mine average annual production is estimated at 236,000 oz Au and 5.8 million oz Ag at a CAPEX of $233 million (U.S.)…the open-pit operation would feature a 6,850-tonne per day mill and flotation plant producing saleable concentrate…Skeena CEO Walter Coles commented, “Eskay Creek was a remarkable discovery that became an extraordinary underground mine in 1994 and produced until 2008.  This PEA demonstrates that Eskay Creek still has a bright future ahead, revitalized as an open-pit Gold and Silver mine, with the additional possibility for underground mining.  The project has the potential to produce an average of 306,000 Gold-equivalent ounces per year with a diluted mill feed grade of 4.17 g/t Gold-equivalent.  Also, as a brownfield site, Eskay Creek benefits from tremendous infrastructure installed by the previous operators.  Finally, by creating a Gold concentrate rather than doré, we are able to keep initial capital costs very low, at $233 million (U.S.), relative to the amount of precious metals produced; this also simplifies and reduces technical risks for the project”…SKE is up 4 cents at 60 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading…

5. A fabulous 3rd quarter for the Apple of Gold stocks, Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX; KL, NYSE)…KL reported net earnings of $176.6 million (U.S.) or 84 cents per basic share…net earnings tripled from $55.9 million, or 27 cents per share, in the 3rd quarter of 2018 and were 69% higher than this year’s previous quarter…Tony Makuch, President and CEO, commented:  “Q3 2019 was our best quarter to date driven by exceptional results at Fosterville and a solid quarter of performance at Macassa.  At Fosterville, production increased by almost 70,000 ounces from Q3 2018 largely reflecting a 75% improvement in the average grade, to 41.8 g/t.  Grades of this level are rarely seen in our industry and resulted from the ramp up in production of the high-grade Swan Zone.  We mined our first Swan stope during last year’s 3rd quarter, which contributed about 7,500 ounces of production.  We have ramped up production since then and, in Q3 2019, mined 11 Swan Zone stopes, which contributed about 94% of the 158,327 ounces produced for the quarter. Substantially higher grades resulted in further improvement in unit costs which, combined with rising Gold prices, led to significant margin expansion at Fosterville during the quarter.  Turning to Macassa, the mine had a strong quarter in Q3 2019 with tonnes processed increasing 18% and the average grade improving to 23.3 g/t from 21.5 g/t in Q2 2019.  We expect Fosterville and Macassa to finish 2019 with strong 4th quarters, which will position both mines to easily achieve their full-year 2019 production guidance.  At the Holt Complex, we have lowered our production guidance for full-year 2019 based on results to date and are now assessing a future strategy for this operation”…

6. The Dow, continuing to make new record highs, is up 214 points as of 7:00 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX has added 77 points…Canadian Tire (CTC, TSX) is off marginally after an earnings miss, though $227.7 million for Q3 and an increase in the dividend is not too shabby…Barrick Gold (ABX, TSX; GOLD, NYSE) reported strong Q3 results yesterday, beating quarterly profit estimates and raising its dividend payout on higher production and improved Gold prices…B2Gold (BTO, TSX; BTG, NYSE) reported record quarterly consolidated Gold production of 258,200 ounces…Q3 net earnings were $65.6 million (U.S.)…the company has also declared its first dividend of 1 cent per share beginning in Q4 (4 cents per share on an annualized basis)…Silver producer First Majestic (FR, TSX; AG, NYSE) posted net earnings of $8.6 million (U.S.) in Q3, up 46% compared to the same period last year…AISC were reduced by 29% to $10.76 per payable Silver ounce compared to $15.12 per ounce in Q3 2018…the Venture is off 1 point at 538 in early trading…Canada Cobalt (CCW, TSX-V), the pacesetter in the Northern Ontario Silver-Cobalt Camp, has added another 2 cents to 39 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific as it closes in on a fresh 8-month high…yesterday it set a new all-time single session volume record with 3.8 million shares changing hands…Wallbridge Mining (WM, TSX) has retreated 2 cents to 69 cents while neighbor Balmoral Resources (BAR, TSX) remains unchanged at the key 24-cent level…Bee Vectoring Technologies (BEE, TSX-V), after a strong session on news yesterday, has eased off a couple of pennies to 49 cents…BEE has signed 2 new grower deals in the blueberry market as it progresses in the commercial phase of operations…

7. China has officially launched research and development work for 6G mobile networks, having only just rolled out 5G…the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a statement posted today that it will set up 2 working groups to carry out the task…1 group will consist of relevant government departments responsible for promoting how 6G research and development will be carried out…the other team will be made up of 37 universities, research institutes and enterprises, which will lay out the technical side of 6G and offer advice…5G refers to next-generation mobile networks that offer super-fast data speeds that promise to support technologies like driverless cars and virtual reality…China turned on its 5G networks earlier this month ahead of an initial 2020 schedule…5G is still in its infancy as most people around the world are still on 4G networks…

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