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

1. Gold has traded between $1,625 and $1,646 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific the yellow metal is up $23 an ounce at $1,643…Gold prices are set to record their biggest weekly percentage gain since early August…Silver has jumped 19 cents to $18.52…Palladium, which has had a big week, is up $4 an ounce at 2,594…Palladium has soared in part because supply has been strained by years of stalled production by miners…Rhodium is now trading at $11,000…base metals are flat or off slightly with Copper at $2.59, Nickel at $5.65 and Zinc at 95 cents…Crude Oil has dipped $1.24 a barrel to $52.67 while the U.S. Dollar Index has retreated nearly half a point to to 99.42…reports overnight said China’s auto sales fell over 90% in February as coronavirus restrictions prevented buyers from visiting car dealerships….over 21 million autos were sold in China in 2019, making China the world’s largest auto market…the Hubei province is still in lockdown and officials there have pushed back the date for businesses to reopen to March 10…that date could be further delayed if covid-19 is not contained by then…China recorded over 800 new cases yesterday (up from around 400 Wednesday), with the total number of afflicted now at over 75,000 and over 2,200 dead…China’s central bank has loosened monetary policy, and there are concerns about Chinese companies increasing already-high debt levelsSouth Korea has reported over 200 confirmed covid-19 cases and the capital has banned all rallies in major downtown areas…Iran’s health ministry today reportedly confirmed the coronavirus had spread to several cities nationwide, before adding the flu-like virus might exist in all of them…

2.  B.C. Premier John Horgan told reporters yesterday that he’s willing to meet with the Wet’suwet’en “hereditary chiefs” under the right conditions, but cancelling the Coastal GasLink pipeline is “not an option for me”…he added he would not agree to an “open-ended” meeting with the “hereditary chiefs” who, unlike all the democratically elected First Nation groups along the pipeline route, are vehemently opposed to the project…“The notion that it would just be somehow, you have to come and talk to me without any understanding of what the end of that discussion would be, I’m not prepared to do that,” Horgan said…“I have no shortage of other nations, first of all, within B.C. that have exciting opportunities.  And they want to work with the province, and the federal government, and their local communities to find the prosperity that we all want for ourselves and our neighbours”…meanwhile, even as RCMP officers in British Columbia reportedly offered to move back from Wet’suwet’en territory – meeting one of the key demands of Indigenous protesters – there is still no end in sight to nationwide railway blockades…the economically punishing blockades are now entering their 3rd week and have led to layoffs and fears of supply shortages, with the incompetent Liberal federal government continuing to call for “patience” and “dialogue”…the Wet’suwet’en and their anarchist and eco-terrorist friends/supporters are actually ramping up their protests…an excellent example of the type of people involved came yesterday morning when a blockade was put up on a rail line between Kamloops and Chase in B.C.’s southern interior…Anushka Azadi, an activist who has previously been involved in Indigenous rights and anti-fish farm and anti-pipeline campaigns, posted photos of the blockade to Facebook with the caption “Sacred Fire CALL OUT: We are standing on the tracks across the highway from Neskonlith Hall. Come one come ALL!”…this is the typical protestor Justin Trudeau shamefully doesn’t want to stand up to…counter-protestors in Edmonton the other day showed Canadians how they can take matters into their own hands, in a non-violent way, since the police and government seem incapable of solving such an urgent problem…

3. Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) is on the move in early trading – just prior to the open the company announced that it has drilled into multiple new near-surface massive sulphide intervals and Nickel-Copper-rich mineralization at Nickel Mountain, including some spectacular PGE enrichment…in addition, a 50-m step-out to the east of the Lower Discovery Zone shows that the E&L gabbro – with its very distinctive geological and geochemical characteristics – is now known to extend at least 400 m along plunge…within just that footprint, a magmatic Nickel sulphide deposit with a high concentration of metals can easily become a mine…the eastern part of the Lower Discovery Zone thickens to the north as evidenced by drill hole EL-19–82 (and previous holes EL-18–24 and EL-18–16) and borehole EM data which notably shows two significant conductors immediately north of EL-19–82, suggesting there’s a large pool of massive sulphides nearby that could greatly build out this part of the LDZ…EL-19-82 cut nearly 10 m of massive sulphide grading 7.2% Ni, 3.6% Cu and 4.8 g/t combined Pd-Pt-Au within a broader 32.75 m highlighted by 2.7% Ni, 1.6% Cu and 1.5 g/t Pd-Pt-Au..3 m above that massive sulphide interval and the LDZ, this hole also clipped an extraordinary 38-cm vein that grades 10 g/t Pd, 4.3 g/t Pt, 3.4 g/t Au, 26 g/t Ag, 0.12% Co, 6.5% Ni and 4.8% Cu…this certainly shows the precious metal enrichment of the system…it’s quite possible the broader area between the LDZ and the Upper Discovery Zone (UDZ) carries high PGE’s…meanwhile, another part of the hole returned 6 m of the UDZ @ 4.3% Ni, 2.3% Cu and 1.5 g/t Pd-Pt-Au…multiple other holes delivered high-grade Nickel, Copper and PGE’s…EL-19–84, the last hole of the season, cut 5.42 m @ 7.7% Ni, 3.8% Cu and 6.56 g/t Pd-Pt-Au along the southern portion of the LDZ…EL-19–79 cut 63.8 m grading 1.6% combined Ni-Cu and 1.7 g/t Pd-Pt-Au 10 m north of the central part of the LDZ…this featured two narrow high-grade massive sulphide veins, one of which returned 5.4% Ni, 7.2% Cu, 20.8 g/t Pd-Pt-Au, 33 g/t Ag and 0.09% Cobalt…the intercepts keep coming – EL-19–78 returned an impressive 59 m of disseminated mineralization northwest of the LDZ grading 1.1% Ni, 1.2% Cu and 2.3 g/t Pd-Pt-Au…EL-19–76 cut 43.6 m of 1.6% Ni and 1.3% Cu starting just 110 m downhole, including 6.1 m of massive sulphides, as it successfully targeted a traditional style of higher-grade mineralization between the main chamber of the E&L Intrusion and the LDZ to help establish the scale of the mineral lens…Jeremy Hanson, VP-Exploration, stated, “The last 9 holes of the 2019 season all hit significant intervals of Nickel-Copper mineralization and clearly demonstrate the increasing potential of a very dynamic system at Nickel Mountain”…assays are also being carried out to determine grades of Rhodium, Iridium, Osmium and Ruthenium which are already known to exist in the massive sulphides…

4. The high-grade Fruta del Norte Gold mine in Ecuador is now in commercial production…that was announced by Lundin Gold (LUG, TSX) last night…“Lundin Gold has successfully built the first large-scale underground Gold mine in Ecuador and has reached commercial production ahead of schedule and on budget.  We are now focused on ramping up to name plate production and optimization. In addition, as soon as we receive the necessary permits, we will start exploration drilling at our high priority, Barbasco target,” stated Ron Hochstein, President and CEO…Fruta del Norte produced a total of 28,678 ounces of Gold by the end of 2019…the company exported initial production of both Gold concenrate and ore to a smelter and a refinery, respectively, in December, resulting in $20.9 million (U.S.) of concentrate sales…continued underground development is ahead of projections…153,000 tonnes of ore was stockpiled at year-end…Fruta del Norte has proven and probable reserves of 5 million ounces of Gold grading 8.74 g/t…production of approximately 325,000 ounces per year has been forecast with a mine life of 14 years…LUG is up 66 cents at $11.77 through the first 30 minutes of trading…

5. Osisko Mining (OSK, TSX) has announced that drilling carried out in 2019 at Windfall Lake has increased the Indicated mineral resource estimate by 60% (added 452,000 ounces) and increased the Inferred mineral resource estimate by 66% (added 1,572,000 ounces)…the Windfall Project now hosts Indicated mineral resources of 1.21 million ounces(4.1 Mt @ 9.1 g/t) and Inferred resources of 3.94 Moz (14.5 Mt @ 8.4 g/t), entirely above 1,200 m vertical depth…located in Quebec, this mineral resource estimate moves Windfall to world-class status in terms of scale and grade…Sean Roosen, Chair and CEO of Osisko, stated: “We would like to extend our congratulations to the Osisko Mining team, led by John Burzynski, for recently completing 1 million m of drilling and delivering this world-class resource.  Osisko and Osisko Mining’s teams have collectively worked on three world class Gold deposits discovered in Quebec over the past 15 years – Canadian Malartic, Eleonore, and now Windfall. This couldn’t have been possible without the strong support of all stakeholders.  The Windfall Project will deliver substantial benefits to the province of Quebec, the area’s First Nations communities and other stakeholders”…

6. The Dow has fallen 244 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…U.S. markets are on track for their 1st weekly loss in 3…in Toronto, the TSX is down 64 points with the Gold Index bucking the trend, up 7 points to 282…Teck Resources (TECK.B, TSX; TECK, NYSE) lost $891 million in Q4 compared with a profit of $433 million in the final quarter of 2018…“Ongoing global economic uncertainty negatively impacted commodity prices in the 4th quarter and that has continued into 2020, exacerbated by the effect on markets from the Coronavirus and the impact of severe weather conditions in British Columbia, followed by blockades on rail lines,” stated President and CEO Don Lindsay…Wheaton Precious Metals (WPM, TSX, NYSE) has exceeded original Gold production guidance for the 8th consecutive year with record numbers for 2019…“We look forward to continued steady growth over the next 5 years from the highest-quality portfolio of long-life, low-cost assets in the streaming space,” stated President and CEO Randy Smallwood…the Venture is up 3 points at 584…grade is King…GGI is showing it in early trading, up 6 cents at 91 cents as a breakout builds above 85 cents…Canada Cobalt (CCW, TSX-V) should be next…Silver has broken out vigorously and that would be the catalyst that’s going to drive CCW to new highs, combined with the latest developments – more news expected shortly – at Northern Ontario’s most significant high-grade Silver discovery in the last several decades…the short-term chart shows a new wave to the upside has started following a recent healthy pullback to key support…on the Palladium stock front, the junior with the best near-term chance to report an impressive market-moving high-grade intercept (drilling started during the 1st half of January at the advanced Sunday Lake Project, news expected soon) is Transition Metals (XTM, TSX-V) which shot higher on a big volume increase last month as a prelude to what could be an explosive move very soon to new multi-year highs above key resistance in the low 20’s…the stock quickly doubled in price last April on results from Sunday Lake…heavy volume in Ridgestone Mining (RMI, TSX-V) to kick off the trading session, a clear indication this stock is coming into play with a drill program at a high-grade property in Mexico set to begin at its 35 sq. km Rebecca Gold-Copper Property in Sorona approximately 115 km east of Hermosillo…yesterday, the company announced the closing of three-quarters of a $1 million financing at 15 cents…at the open, over 2 million shares crossed at 19.5 cents and as of 7:00 am Pacific the stock is trading at 20 cents on record volume of 3 million shares…a 2,500 kg bulk sampling program from waste rock material mined principally from the Alaska vein as recently as the 1960’s returned impressive Gold grades including 6.7 g/t from just over 400 kg in 21 samples from “Veta Grande”…initial drilling will be targeting a never previously drilled breccia that has returned widespread Gold and Copper mineralization at surface…this is a relatively new company (just 2 years old) with only 37 million shares outstanding entering this $1 million round…

7. Alamos Gold (AGI, TSX, NYSE) has enjoyed a strong week following an update on the Island Gold mine as well as the release Q4 and 2019 financials…Alamos, which posted net earnings of $96.1 million (U.S.) in 2019, produced 122,000 ounces of Gold in Q4 for a yearly total of 494,500 ounces, meeting guidance for the 5th consecutive year…Island Gold, the company’s cornerstone asset,exceeded guidance with record production of 150,400 ounces, driving record mine-site free cash flow of $64.5 million (U.S.)…full year all-in-sustaining costs of $951 (U.S.) were in line with expectations…“We expect 2020 will be a transformational year for Alamos, driven by several significant catalysts,” stated President and CEO John McCluskey…”On the back of another substantial increase in mineral reserves and resources at Island Gold it is clear the ore body is evolving into a world class deposit.  A Phase 3 expansion study will be completed in the 2nd quarter and is expected to showcase a larger, highly profitable and longer-life operation.  The lower mine expansion at Young-Davidson is on track for completion in June after which we expect to transition to strong free cash flow growth”…AGI has jumped 16 cents to $9.17 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 $1,601 and $1,612 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific the yellow metal is up $3 an ounce at $1,604…Gold settled above $1,600 yesterday for the first time since April 2013…Silver has added 7 cents to $18.22…both Gold and Silver have broken out technically on short-term charts and can be expected to push higher through month-end…meanwhile, Citi is now calling for $2,000 Gold over the next 12 to 24 months, a pretty safe bet…“Gold should perform as a convex macro asset market hedge, resilient during ongoing risk market rallies but a better hedge during sell-offs and volume spikes,” Citi analysts commented…Palladium is up $75 an ounce at $2,591 after hitting significantly higher levels overnight…major breakout above key resistance at $2,350…Platinum has crossed the $1,000 ounce mark, gaining $11 to $1,001, while Rhodium has jumped another $300 an ounce to $10,800…Copper, Nickel and Zinc are off slightly at $2.59, $5.76 and 96 cents…Crude Oil has gained 72 cents to $52.77 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up another one-fifth of a point to 99.63…investors continue to seek safety in the greenback and U.S. equity markets thanks to the strong Trump economy…China’s central bank said today that the impact of the coronavirus on its economy will be limited as the epidemic has not changed the country’s economic fundamentals…The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said it would help anti-virus efforts by extending credit, including by providing favorable loans or interest rates to companies involved in controlling the epidemic…in its 4th-quarter monetary policy implementation report, the bank added that it would also would keep the yuan stable and maintain its prudent monetary policy to ensure financial stability…China’s Communist Party’s National Health Commission today reported an additional 1,749 cases of the coronavirus nationwide, with 136 deaths…through yesterday, authorities say there had been a total of 74,185 confirmed cases and 2,004 cumulative deaths…British Columbia’s decline has started under the NDP (the province has seen this horror movie before)…yesterday, the government’s budget introduced a major tax increase on so-called “rich” British Columbians earning more than $220,000 a year…B.C. now has one of the highest income tax rates for entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners anywhere in North America – if you are successful and “rich”, B.C.’s socialist government will punish you by taxing the hell out of you…makes so much sense, doesn’t it?…

2. As court orders are burned on rail tracks by aboriginal anarchists and eco-terrorists, CN Rail has announced the layoffs of 450 workers at its operations in Eastern Canada after cancelling more than 400 trains in the past week over the ongoing rail blockades…that’s really just the tip of the iceberg as far as the broader economic impact is concerned across the nation…quite simply, Canada has become a dysfunctional country under “progressive” federal leadership – taxation without representation, in effect, because the feds are not representing taxpayers right now…the Montreal-based railway says the situation is “regrettable” because the impact on the economy and its employees from the protests is unrelated to CN’s activities and beyond its control…Conservative leader Andrew Scheer summed up the national protests accurately yesterday when he stated in the House of Commons, “Standing between our country and prosperity is a small group of radical activists, many of whom have little to no connection to First Nations communities, a bunch of radical activists who won’t rest ’till our Oil and gas industry is entirely shut down.  They are appropriating an Indigenous agenda which they are willfully misrepresenting”…not surprisingly, Scheer’s opinion is in stark contrast to that of Prime Minister Trudeau, who continues to call for “patience” and “dialogue” (how is that possible when you’re dealing with anarchists and eco-terrorists?) and his “progressive” NDP, Green and Bloc allies who are not standing up for the resource sector, Canadian workers, or specifically even the democratically elected First Nation groups who are 100% behind the Coastal GasLink pipeline…President Trump would never allow such a state of affairs in the United States  – all the more reason why capital will increasingly flow from Canada to the United States…Canadians will pay a very heavy price economically if this nonsense continues…

3. Azimut Exploration (AZM, TSX-V) is pushing higher after announcing this morning that it has arranged a non-brokered flow-through private placement in the amount of $6 million at a price of $2.45 per flow-through share…proceeds from the financing, supported by “1 strategic investor”, according to the company, will be used by Azimut to incur eligible Canadian exploration expenses with a focus on its 100%-owned Elmer Gold Property in northern Quebec…shareholders are anxiously waiting for CEO Jean-Marc Lulin and Azimut to publish IP results over the Elmer/Patwon discovery (3.1 g/t Au over 102 m, including 10.1 g/t Au over 20 m)…drill results announced January 14 were a game-changer for the company and tripled the stock price…follow-up drilling begins soon…AZM is up 17 cents at $1.64 as of 7:00 am Pacific…key resistance is $1.50…

4. Alamos Gold (AGI, YSX; NYSE), which will release quarterly and yearly financial results following today’s close, has reported a major increase in reserves and mineral resources at its high-grade Island Gold mine in Northern Ontario…Proven and Probable reserves are now 1.22 million ounces (3.6 million tonnes grading 10.37 g/t Au), net of mining depletion, while Inferred resources have jumped 46% to 2.3 million ounces (5.4 million tonnes grading 13.26 g/t), with grades also increasing 13%, reflecting higher grade additions at Island East…combined mineral reserves and resources now total 3.7 million ounces, double the 1.84 million ounces at the time of acquisition in 2017, net of 364,000 ounces of mining depletion…“We had another tremendous year at Island Gold on all fronts, with the asset continuing to evolve into a world-class orebody,” stated John A. McCluskey, President and CEO.  “Over the past 2 years, we have added more than 2 million ounces of mineral reserves and resources, before mining depletion, with the deposit now approaching four million ounces in all categories. We see strong potential for this growth to continue with the deposit open laterally and down plunge across multiple areas of focus.  The majority of this growth is being incorporated into a Phase 3 expansion study of Island Gold, supporting what we expect will be a larger, increasingly profitable, long-life operation in one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world”…AGI is off 11 cents at $8.33 in early trading…

5. More high-grade drill results from Wesdome Gold Mines (WDO, TSX), including 114.8 g/t over 10 m, as underground definition and exploration drilling continue at its 100%-owned Kiena mine complex in Val d’Or…7 underground drills are now in operation completing the infill and up and down plunge extension drilling of the Kiena Deep A Zone…this drilling continues to confirm the overall continuity of the geometry and the high-grade Gold mineralization of the A Zone and identify additional mineralization outside of the most recent resource estimate…recent drilling, including hole 6580 and its associated wedge holes, have extended mineralization in the A Zone an additional 100 m down plunge…it now extends for more than 830 m…a total of 40,850 m in 136 new drill holes have now been drilled since the latest resource estimate, which is expected to be updated later this year…hole 6580 returned 114.8 g/t Au over a 10-m core length (32.8 g/t cut over true width of 5.6 m)…other highlights from the Kiena Deep A Zone include 25.3 g/t over 17.2 m in hole 6580W1 (21 g/t cut over 11.6 m true width) and 86.5 g/t over 9.7 m in hole 6580W2 (31.7 g/t cut over 4.2 m true width)…meanwhile, the 79 level drift, consisting of 576 m of down ramp development and drill platforms, has now been completed and 2 drills have been mobilized to commence drilling of the potential up plunge extension of the A Zone…previous limited drilling into the up plunge area from 67 level returned a number of good intersections that require follow up…Duncan Middlemiss, President and CEO, commented, “We are extremely pleased with the recent infill drilling results from the Kiena Deep A Zone that continues to confirm the grade continuity and will be used to convert Inferred resources to Indicated resources in the updated resource estimate later this year.  The PEA study is ongoing and expected to be completed in Q2 2020; which will be based on the latest Kiena Mineral Resource Estimate from September 2019. Ongoing drilling of the A Zone continues to expand the size of this zone and is expected to grow the resource base”…WDO is up 15 cents at $9.88 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

6. The Dow has climbed 47 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…the S&P 500 and NASDAQ have hit new record highs…in Toronto, the TSX is up 30 points with the Gold Index steady at 270 after a big jump yesterday…the Venture is up 3 points at 580…key resistance is 585…DynaCERT (DYA, TSX-V) is up 7 cents at $1.02 as it threatens to hit a new multi-year high…Canadian Palladium (BULL, CSE) is steady at 22 cents after a 4-cent jump yesterday…drilling at the company’s Palladium project near Sudbury could generate some buzz at PDAC…high-grade drill results last April from the Sunday Lake Project, including 9.1 g/t PGM over 15.8 m, more than doubled the share price of Transition Metals (XTM, TSX-V)…Palladium prices are now much higher and fresh results are due soon from drilling that started last month…the thickest and highest-grade intercepts yet from this property are possible given the significant new anomalies that were targeted…XTM, with only about 45 million shares outstanding, holds a 25% free-carried interest in the project, in addition to a 100% interest in multiple other PGE properties…XTM closed up half a penny at 18 cents yesterday with the rising 50-day SMA preparing to cross above the 200-day SMA at 17 cents in a classic “Golden Cross”…

7. First Majestic (FR, TSX; AG, NYSE) has reported record revenues of $363.9 million (U.S.) in 2019, a 21% increase from 2018, with adjusted net earnings coming in at $7.3 million (4 cents per share)…total production reached 25.6 million Silver equivalent ounces, a 15% increase over 2018, reaching the top end of the company’s 2019 guidance range of 24.4 million to 26.0 million ounces…Silver production reached 13.2 million ounces, a 13% increase over 2018, and inline with the company’s guidance range of 12.8 to 13.5 million ounces…FR generated a record $140 million (U.S.) of cash from operating activities, and mine operating earnings were $66.2 million (U.S.) compared to $11.9 million (U.S.) in 2018 primarily due to higher revenues, metal prices and lower cash costs…all-in sustaining costs of $12.64 (U.S.) per payable Silver ounce represented a 15% decrease compared to 2018, beating the 2019 guidance range of $12.98 to $13.94 per ounce…cash costs of $5.16 (U.S.) per payable Silver ounce was a 26% decrease compared to 2018, also beating guidance…the company achieved annual consolidated Silver recoveries of 86%, a new record, due to ongoing investments in metallurgical processing and innovation…First Majestic successfully commissioned the new 3,000 tpd high-intensity grinding (“HIG”) mill at Santa Elena, making it the only whole-ore, hard rock mining application of this technology in Latin America…the company also commenced earthwork and ramp development activities at Santa Elena’s Ermitano Project in advance of initial production scheduled for early 2021…First Majestic ended 2019 with the highest cash balance in the company’s 18-year history (cash and cash equivalents of $169 million (U.S.), up from $57 million (U.S.) at the end of 2018) as the Silver bull market intensifies…FR is down 14 cents at $13.32 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

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