BullMarketRun.com

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

1. Spot Gold has traded between $1,722 and $1,690 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific the yellow metal is off $7 an ounce at $1,705…Gold is still on the verge of recording its best month in 4 years, up about 9%, as expectations of more monetary easing from central banks and persistent worries over a global recession continue to drive safe-haven demand…yesterday the Fed promised to expand emergency programs as needed to help the battered economy…meanwhile, the ECB has launched a fresh push to lend to banks at ultra-low rates after data published this morning showed that the euro zone’s economy shrank by the fastest rate on record in Q1…in a move to bolster the European banking system’s access to funds and to avoid a drying up of credit, the ECB said it would lend money at rates as low as minus 1% to banks…Silver has lost 16 cents to $15.11 after topping $15.50 overnight…Palladium has jumped $32 an ounce to $1,902…base metals are off slightly with Copper, Nickel and Zinc at $2.34, $5.49 and 87 cents, respectively…on the Crude Oil front, the June WTI contract has gained another $2.24 a barrel to $17.30…Royal Dutch Shell has cut its dividend for the first time since WWII – the drop in Oil prices triggered by the pandemic has cut the company’s quarterly earnings in half…Macy’s is planning to reopen 68 department stores Monday in states including South Carolina and Georgia where local governments are loosening lockdown restrictions…Macy’s expects to have all of its roughly 775 stores reopened in 6 weeks, should infection rates taper off and local governments allow retailers to proceed…Manitoba will begin to open some businesses and increase recreation opportunities starting next week, including non-essential healthcare and retail businesses, but they will need to operate under strict guidelines regarding physical distancing and cleaning practices…the province said its reopening plan, called “Restoring Safe Services: Manitoba’s Pandemic Recovery Roadmap”, consists of multiple phases…the timing of each phase is subject to change, based on the advice of medical experts…Canadians will get an update today on 2 of the costliest emergency aid programs the federal government has initiated to help them weather the COVID-19 crisis…the parliamentary budget officer is scheduled to post a costing note on the 75% wage subsidy – a program the government expects to cost $73 billion and which it has called the largest economic policy in Canada since WWII…Yves Giroux is also expected to post a costing note on the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), which is providing $2,000 a month for 4 months to Canadians forced out of work due to the pandemic…there are a myriad of problems with that expensive program, including the fact people can turn down work and “stay at home”, as Justin Trudeau encourages, and still receive their $2,000 a month payment – no incentive to return to the workforce this quarter…

2. First-time filings for unemployment insurance hit a modestly higher-than-expected 3.84 million in the U.S. last week as the wave of economic pain continues, though the worst appears to be in the past according to Labor Department figures this morning…jobless claims for the week ended April 25 came in at the lowest level since March 21 but bring the rolling 6-week total to 30.3 million as part of the worst employment crisis in U.S. history…claims hit a record 6.87 million for the week of March 28 and have declined each week since then…however, filings continue at a high pace as the government has expanded the list of those eligible for benefits and amid continued difficulties at state offices for claims filers…the Economic Policy Institute earlier this week estimated that the total current claims level probably undercounts by as much as 12 million those who are eligible for benefits but not getting them due to the inability to file or other roadblocks…

3. The United States is “neck-and-neck” with China in the race to develop an effective Wuhan COVID-19 virus vaccine, according to Johns Hopkins University health policy and management professor Dr. Marty Makary…“There are 70 vaccines in different stages of development,” said Makary, a Fox News contributor…“There are 7 that are being given in patients right now. We’re sort of neck-and-neck with China – we’ve got 3, they’ve got 3“…Makary added that the Chinese vaccines “are actually in further stages (of development). Their drugs are in Phase 2 or 3, and it’s a real race. The country that gets there first will have a significant advantage because they will control the supply for the rest of the world and the risk is if we aren’t there first, we could get locked out”…Makary concluded that the search for a vaccine was “moving along” but added that “it will probably take a year” before such a treatment becomes widely available…

4. Researchers released some good news about a possible treatment for the Wuhan COVID-19 virus yesterday – evidence that the experimental drug remdesivir might help patients recover more quickly from the infection…the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved any drugs for the treatment of the virus but it plans to announce an emergency-use authorization for remdesivir, according to media reports this morning…the authorization could come as soon as the middle of next week…the government-funded study found that patients who took remdesivir recovered faster than patients who did not…it’s not a home run, but federal officials are keen to provide any hope they can in a pandemic that has infected more than 1 million Americans and killed close to 60,000 of them…the FDA says it’s in talks with Gilead Sciences (GILD, NASDAQ) about making the drug available to patients…

5. The WGC said that ETF inflows in the 1st quarter were up more than 300% compared to inflows last year…in its Gold Demands Trends report issued this morning, the World Gold Council said that the dominant theme in the Gold market remains unprecedented investor demand for the yellow metal through exchange-traded funds…the report said that Gold-backed ETFs saw inflows of more than 298 tons in the first 3 months of the year, which pushed global holdings in these products to a record high of 3,185 tons…“The coronavirus outbreak, which swept the globe during the 1st quarter, was the single biggest factor influencing Gold demand. As the scale of the pandemic – and its potential economic impact – started to emerge, investors sought safe-haven assets”, the WGC stated...ETF demand, which hit its highest level in 4 years, helped drive prices to a nearly 8-year high…“Consequently, global Gold demand in value terms reached $55 billion (U.S.), the highest since Q2 2013,” the analysts said…a rush into ETFs is pretty much the 1 factor that drove Gold demand as key sectors saw significant declines…bullion investment in coins and bars in the 1st quarter, for example, fell to 241.6 tons, down 6% from the 1st quarter of 2019…however, it was a tale of 2 markets as Western demand for bullion coins hit a 3-year high of 76.9 tons, an increase of 36% from last year…while the Gold market continued to see demand growth, the market also saw a decline in supply…the WGC said that total Gold supply in the 1st quarter was 1,066.2 tons, down 4% compared to the same period last year…mine supply dropped 3% as many miners started shutting down production last month due to the pandemic…

6. The Dow is off 194 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…the index remains on target, though, for its best month since 1987 while the S&P 500 – if it rebounds into positive territory today – has a chance to post its best monthly performance since 1974…investors are looking beyond horrific economic data to the potential for a robust recovery during the 2nd half of the year…it was reported this morning that U.S. consumer spending, the economy’s key driver, fell 7.5% in March, the steepest monthly decline in records tracing back to 1959…in Toronto, the TSX is down nearly 200 points in early trading while the Venture has slipped 2 points to 475…Yamana Gold (YRI, TSX; AUY, NYSE) is up slightly after posting adjusted net earnings of $47.2 million (U.S.) or 5 cents per share (above the consensus estimate) compared to $24 million or 3 cents per share a year earlier…net free cash flow of $91.1 million exceeded the average of the past 4 quarters by 14%, following exceptional operational performances in Q1, despite the challenges stemming from the pandemic…the company is also increasing its dividend…Marathon Gold (MOZ, TSX), one of our favorite Gold stocks, is up a penny at $1.60, hitting its best level since January…1911 Gold (AUMB, TSX-V) has drilled 26.4 g/t Au over 2.03 m, including 51 g/t over 1.03 m, at the Tinney target at its 100%-owned Rice Lake Project…the zone consists of a shear vein with local visible Gold, hosted by intensely sheared tholeiitic basalt…another drill hole, located 290 m along strike to the west-northwest along the same structure, returned several widely spaced zones of Gold mineralization, highlighted by 43.27 g/t Au over 0.65 m (151.65 to 152.30 m downhole), from a shear vein containing visible Gold…significantly, this intercept is hosted by the Gunnar porphyry, indicating that the Tinney shear may intersect this intrusion at depth…results are pending from 1 additional drill hole that targeted the modelled line of intersection between the shear zone and porphyry…AUMB is up 3 pennies at 45 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…CloudMD (DOC, CSE) continues to roll along…the company announced this morning that Livecare has seen dramatic growth since January with almost 600 practitioners now using the stand-alone Telehealth platform…since March, CloudMD has onboarded over 200 new customers on the Livecare platform, averaging over 1,300 telemedicine visits a week and increasing…DOC is unchanged 74 cents as of 7:00 Pacific with our latest chart showing next resistance around the 90-cent level…with many in-person healthcare practices suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions, Livecare offers a turnkey solution for practitioners transitioning their businesses to provide instant virtual care to patients when they need it…

7. All the COVID-19 shutdowns have impacted Silver mining production the most, according to the GlobalData report…the latest report from GlobalData looked at different mining sectors and how they have been affected across the globe…Silver fared the worst, while Gold was hurt the least out of all the major mining sectors the report looked at…there were temporary shutdowns introduced by more than 1,600 mines across 32 countries as of April 3, the report stated…since then, total mine shutdowns have dropped in half…aside from temporary shutdowns, the mines that were working were functioning at reduced capacity, limiting the number of workers on site to minimize the spread of COVID-19…at the end of the day, Silver production was hit the most by temporary shutdowns…as of April 27 there was an equivalent of 65.8% of yearly global Silver production still on hold, GlobalData identified…companies that withdrew production guidance included First Majestic, Hochschild, Hecla and Endeavour Silver…by comparison, 32% of Uranium production, 23.8% of Zinc, 19.5% Platinum, 14.6% of Nickel, 14.4% of diamonds, 12.7% of Copper, 12% of Lead, 10% of Manganese, and 9% of Gold production was placed on hold, said GlobalData senior mining analyst Vinneth Bajaj…lockdowns remain in place in several key jurisdictions including Peru and Mexico…

Most Popular Recent BMR Posts

Rapid Response!

How This Pandemic Will Ultimately Help Copper

Wuhan COVID-19 Virus Update

The Cost Of Doing Business With China (The CCP)

“Silver Lining”: Innovative Vancouver Company Provides Help During Crisis

COVID-19 Update

Smithers Shakes Off Turmoil For A Major 3-Day Event Connecting Hockey And The Resource Sector

Turbocharged Nickel

Commodity Check!

The Nickel Mountain Magma Highway

The Dramatic New Chase For A Nickel-Copper-Rich Massive Sulphide Deposit In The Heart Of A Famous Gold Camp

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

1. Spot Gold has traded between $1,705 and $1,695 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific the yellow metal is off $7 an ounce at $1,705 ahead of today’s Fed decision and Jerome Powell news conference…Wall Street expects calming words from the Fed…equity markets pushed aggressively higher at the open this morning, aided significantly by renewed hopes for a drug to fight the Wuhan COVID-19 pandemic…this helped investors shrug off data showing the biggest U.S. economic contraction since 2008 in the 1st quarter…upbeat earnings reports from Boeing and Google-parent Alphabet added to the bullish sentiment…the Fed is not expected to announce any new policy initiatives when its meeting ends later this morning, but it could provide more details on the unprecedented moves it made to help the economy and financial markets over the past 6 weeks…Silver has gained 8 cents to $15.23…Copper has added 3 pennies to $2.37 while Nickel and Zinc are both relatively flat at $5.55 and 87 cents, respectively…on the Crude Oil front, the June WTI contract has jumped by more than 25%, up $3.30 a barrel to $15.64, while the U.S. Dollar Index is off one-quarter of a point at 99.60…6 U.S. Oil firms are expected to shut 300,000 barrels per day of production in May and June…Oklahoma-based Continental Resources is taking the most drastic action thus far, Rystad reported, forecasting a cut of 69,000 bpd from Continental in April and nearly 150,000 bpd in May and June…in March, American producers were still pumping at record highs, even as prices plunged due to the loss of demand from the pandemic…government data showed production at 12.2 million bpd in the 3rd week of April, a stunning 900,000 bpd less than its record peak of 13.1 million bpd just a month prior…the European Central Bank is expected to scale up its giant bond-buying program, possibly as soon as tomorrow, as it seeks even more firepower to help support eurozone governments blunt the economic damage wrought by the pandemic and government actions to combat it…Elon Musk hit out against the lockdowns that have kept businesses throughout the U.S. closed for more than a month in a series of tweets late yesterday…“Give people their freedom back!”, the Tesla CEO said as he promoted a Wall Street Journal analysis that suggested closures don’t save many lives…

2. Commerzbank looks for Gold to remain underpinned by efforts of central banks, including the Federal Reserve, to expand liquidity…while easing slightly so far this week, the metal remains around the $1,700 level that it reclaimed this spring for the first time in 7 years…“We do not expect any new decisions to be taken at the meeting given that the Fed in March and April already set in motion far-reaching measures to combat the crisis caused by the lockdown,” said respected Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch…“As a result, the Fed’s balance sheet already soared by a good $2 trillion to $6.4 trillion in the space of 5 weeks. The ongoing bond purchases and various credit facilities could even see the balance sheet rise to $10 trillion in the next few months, which would equate to nearly half of U.S. GDP. This unprecedented expansion of liquidity should continue to boost Gold, as Gold cannot be reproduced at will in the same way”...

3. The U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter by its fastest rate since the 2008 financial crisis, ending the longest expansion on record as lockdowns aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic choked off economic activity…GDP, the value of all goods and services produced by the economy, shrank at a 4.8% cent annualized rate in the first 3 months of the year, according to the preliminary estimate released this morning by the Commerce Department…Q1 marked the first quarterly contraction in 6 years and compared with economists’ forecasts for a 4% decline in output…this 2nd quarter will be horrendous – the worst ever in U.S. history – but equity markets are looking beyond that to a potential robust recovery during the 2nd half of the year…much of the mainstream media, though, actually seems to be rooting for more misery in their hope that the pandemic and a bad economy will allow Joe Biden to upend Trump in November…

4. Canada’s economic recovery can be expected to be slower than it should be, in part due to the the Trudeau government’s CERB program which is fundamentally flawed…CERB recipients are not required to actively seek work or even be “ready and willing” to…already there are stories about people on CERB refusing to return to work or accept new employment opportunities when they have arisen…there’s simply no incentive for them to return to the workforce the next few months…between April 6 and 23, the government received 7.12 million unique CERB applications and paid $22.4 billion in benefits…the longer the CERB lasts, and the more familiar its rules become both to potential users and to employees who must choose whether they work and how much they earn, the more the program’s distortions of Canada’s labour market begin to matter…that’s Economics 101…the current federal government simply doesn’t have the economic management skills to drive Canada vigorously and successfully out of this severe downturn…

5. This should prove interesting: Quebec, refreshingly, is going in the opposite direction of Ontario (and just about every other province in Canada) in terms of how it’s dealing with the reopening of its economy…Quebec has seen the most COVID-19 cases and deaths than any other province (the epidemic has been mostly centred in Montreal, and long-term care homes have been hit especially hard) but it also plans to reopen businesses and schools faster than anywhere else…the province’s schedule stands in sharp contrast to Ford’s Ontario and other provinces who are moving much more slowly – even provinces where new cases have effectively disappeared…New Brunswick, for example, is only infected by a virus of fear – it has reported zero new cases for 10 days in a row, but ridiculously is still taking more gradual steps than Quebec, which reported 775 new cases and 83 new deaths yesterday alone…Quebec Premier François Legault announced that most retail stores will be able to reopen on May 4, except in Montreal, which will be a week later…the construction and the manufacturing sectors will be allowed to start reopening May 11…this follows yesterday’s announcement that elementary schools and daycares will start reopening on May 11…“Our challenge is to gradually re-start the economy without re-starting the pandemic,” Legault said, adding that announcements for more sectors to reopen will come over the next few weeks (mining and exploration has already been declared an essential service)…“The idea is to gradually add workers and analyze the effect on the contagion. But one thing is clear: If we want our plan to work, we need to continue our efforts of physical distancing, and we need to continue to protect the most vulnerable”…Horacio Arruda, Quebec’s public health director, said the virus will continue to circulate and needs to be carefully managed, but said it’s also important to balance other health objectives such as mental health that are affected by shuttering the economy…about 1.2 million Quebecers have lost their jobs since lockdown measures were implemented and the new measures target bringing about 450,000 of them back by the end of May…Canada is closing in on 50,000 known cases of the Wuhan virus, of which more than 2,700 have been fatal…deaths in senior and long-term care facilities make up 79% of COVID-19 fatalities, according to government data – particularly in Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia…

6. The Dow is up 456 points through the first 30 minutes of trading as it approaches the key 25,000 level…the market was encouraged by the results of a study of Gilead’s (GILD, NASDAQ) remdesivir drug conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases…the study met its primary endpoint, the drugmaker said this morning, lifting expectations for a potential coronavirus treatment…the clinical trial involved 397 patients with severe cases of COVID-19 (remember last week’s Fake News negative report from China regarding remdesivir, “accidentally” leaked by their enablers at the WHO?)…DarioHealth (DRIO, NASDAQ), a recent BMR recommendation and a pioneer in global digital therapeutics (DTx), announced this morning a new partnership with value-based telemedicine provider MediOrbis to expand Dario’s existing service offering with a full suite of telemedicine capabilities for its 50,000 active users…the decision to expand Dario’s remote care services is driven by the increased risk for COVID-19 complications faced by Dario’s 50,000 users who depend on Dario’s digital platform to manage chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension and obesity…in Toronto, the TSX has shot up 286 points while the Venture is 3 points higher at 474…VSBLTY Groupie Technologies (VSBY, CSE) broke out above a 1-year down channel on its weekly chart on record volume yesterday…it’s off a penny at 27 cents in early trading but the trend is your friend – the technical pattern is highly reliable and another robust move to the upside can be expected after yesterday’s 5-cent gain…Probe Metals (PRB, TSX-V) is up for the 6th consecutive session following very encouraging drill results from the company’s Monique Property, next to a 3+ million ounce resource, while PRB has also gained 100% ownership of a large land package along the Detour Trend, hugging Kirkland Lake Gold (KL, TSX, NYSE) after buying out SOQUEM’s 25% interest in the 2 companies’ JV…

7. Papua New Guinea’s reputation as a relatively “safe” mining jurisdiction is coming into question…the government has threatened to take control of a Gold mine operated by Barrick (ABX, TSX; GOLD, NYSE) after the company’s local unit suspended operations on the weekend following news the mine’s lease would not be renewed…Barrick had applied for a 20-year lease renewal with its joint-venture partner, China’s Zijin Mining Group, of the Porgera mine that Papua New Guinea rejected last Friday…Barrick had run into opposition from some Papua New Guinea landowners and residents…critics say the Porgera mine has polluted the water supply and created other environmental and social problems, with minimal economic returns for locals…Barrick says the lack of renewal is tantamount to nationalization…its local unit, Barrick (Niugini) Ltd., suspended operations on Saturday because the government had not indicated that it would renew the lease…Barrick and Zijin each own 47.5%of the mine, with the remaining 5% by a local landowner group…PNG Prime Minister James Marape warned Barrick in a social-media post late Monday that the government would be forced to take control of the mine if it were to be closed…K92 Mining (KNT, TSX-V), which operates the Kainantu Gold mine in Papua New Guinea, has lost 15% of its value since last Thursday due to Barrick’s troubles in that country…

Most Popular Recent BMR Posts

Rapid Response!

How This Pandemic Will Ultimately Help Copper

Wuhan COVID-19 Virus Update

The Cost Of Doing Business With China (The CCP)

“Silver Lining”: Innovative Vancouver Company Provides Help During Crisis

COVID-19 Update

Smithers Shakes Off Turmoil For A Major 3-Day Event Connecting Hockey And The Resource Sector

Turbocharged Nickel

Commodity Check!

The Nickel Mountain Magma Highway

The Dramatic New Chase For A Nickel-Copper-Rich Massive Sulphide Deposit In The Heart Of A Famous Gold Camp

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

1. Spot Gold has traded between $1,718 and $1,691 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific the yellow metal is off $15 an ounce at $1,698…Silver has retreated 19 cents to $15.01…Nickel, aiming for its 4th straight weekly advance, is up another 6 cents at $5.57…Copper has gained 2 cents to $2.24 while Zinc is up a penny at 87 cents…Crude Oil has alternated between gains and losses in a volatile session that at one point saw the June WTI contract drop by more than 20%…as of 7:00 am Pacific, WTI is off 7 cents at $12.71…traders continue to eye dwindling storage capacity worldwide, although some of Crude’s losses were offset by optimism around reopening of economies…the economic impact of the Wuhan COVID-19 virus has ripped through the Oil industry in dramatic phases…first it destroyed demand as lockdowns shut factories and kept drivers at home…then storage started filling up and traders resorted to ocean-going tankers to store Crude in the hope of better prices ahead…now shipping prices are surging to stratospheric levels as the industry runs out of tankers, a sign of just how distorted the market has become…the U.S. Dollar Index has slipped more than a quarter of a point to 99.75…online sales in the U.S. jumped 49% from March 12 to April 11, compared with a baseline from March 1 to March 11, according to Adobe Analytics…the United States “could be in for a bad fall” if researchers don’t find an effective treatment to fight the the virus by then, White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci stated during an interview this morning with The Economic Club of Washington, DC…the virus will certainly make a comeback in the U.S. even as cases begin to stabilize, he warned…COVID-19 is “not going to disappear from the planet,” he said, adding infectious disease experts are learning about how the virus behaves by watching emerging outbreaks in other countries such as Southern Africa that are starting to enter their colder seasons…President Trump said yesterday that China could have stopped the coronavirus before it swept the globe and said his administration was conducting “serious investigations” into what happened…“We are not happy with China,” Trump stated at a White House news conference…“There are a lot of ways you can hold them accountable. We believe it could have been stopped at the source. It could have been stopped quickly and it wouldn’t have spread all over the world”…

2. Probe Metals (PRB, TSX-V) has made a series of new discoveries at its 100%-owned Val d’Or East Monique Property, an open-pit past producer with a significant current resource and just 5 km southeast of the company’s New Beliveau deposit along the Pascalis Gold trend…drill hole MO-39 cut 18.4 g/t Au over 2.3 m starting just 26.5 m downhole, confirming a new zone parallel to the I zone…the same hole also intersected 14 m grading 1.6 g/t starting 133 m downhole…high grades at Monique are now known to extend from near-surface to at least 550 m vertical depth…MO-33 was designed to test the A and B zones to depth…this hole intersected the zones where predicted and represents some of the best assay results from the A zone to date, with a wide interval of 5.2 g/t over 14 m including 15 g/t over 3.1 m…this zone, which was intersected at a vertical depth of approximately 550 m, continues to show strong mineralization and is open along strike and at depth…meanwhile, hole MO-41 was designed to test the western extension of the I zone and cut 4.5 g/t over 14 m at 80 m vertical depth, including 18.2 g/t over 2 m…this hole is located 150 m west of an historical hole that returned 14.1 g/t over 9.1 m…Dr. David Palmer, President and CEO of Probe, stated: “The first results from the Monique drilling have exceeded our expectations and represent some of the best intersections to date from this property. Results show higher Gold grades over significant widths, and include a new high-grade discovery south of the former open-pit. In its first resource estimate the Monique deposits grew to 660,000 ounces of Gold and we believe that the current results indicate excellent potential to continue expanding these resources within the current permitted and active mining lease. These types of results are becoming the hallmark of this property, and the Val-d’Or East project in general, and confirm our belief in the strong potential for new discoveries and large-scale growth along the eastern half of this prolific mining camp”…yesterday, Probe announced it now owns 100% of the 3rd largest property on the Quebec side of the Detour Trend, 50 km of strike length along the Lower Detour Deformation Zone contiguous with Kirkland Lake Gold’s (KL, TSX, NYSE) high-grade Zone 58N and Zone 75 discoveries…PRB has strong momentum and is up 3 pennies at $1.03 through the first 30 minutes of trading…undervalued Probe is well financed with over $30 million in its treasury and no debt, on top of 3.4 million ounces in Gold resources and growing…technically, PRB’s 50-day EMA in the upper 80’s is reversing to the upside…

3. Crisis in the Oil and gas sector intensifies: Calfrac Well Services (CFW, TSX), one of Canada’s largest Oilfield services companies, announced this morning that it’s cutting 70% of its North American workforce, cutting salaries of executives, board members and remaining staff…the company is also delaying filing its financial statement for the quarter and reducing its capital program by roughly half to $55 million…Calfrac operates in Western Canada, the United States, Russia and Argentina and is considered one of the largest hydraulic fracturing companies in the world, but is now facing a slowdown in each of the markets to varying degrees…“Since December 31, 2019, there has been a rapid and unforeseen deterioration in business conditions resulting from the COVID-19 global pandemic and the Oil price war among OPEC+ members,” the company said in a statement this morning…“These historic events caused an unprecedented decline in Oil prices globally, resulting in reductions in the planned spending of essentially all of Calfrac’s clients”…

4. As the COVID-19 approach across much of Canada risks turning many of the country’s workers into welfare slackers, America starts rebounding: Texas, Ohio and multiple other states have taken steps to ease lockdown orders and reopen their battered economies…leaders in states hit harder by the pandemic, however, were moving more slowly and urging people to stay home as officials sought to expand testing capacity and create contact-tracing teams…after weeks of closures and physical distancing orders in the U.S., states from Mississippi to Tennessee to Colorado began to permit some businesses to reopen yesterday, welcoming customers back and letting some employees return to work…over the weekend, some businesses had resumed in Georgia, Oklahoma, Alaska, Texas and South Carolina, with physical distancing measures in place…retail stores, restaurants, malls, movie theatres, museums and libraries in Texas will be allowed to open Friday at 25% capacity, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said yesterday…he will allow a stay-home order now in place to expire Thursday…“The executive order has done its job,” he said. “Now it is time to start a new course”…many are watching Texas’s phased reopening as a test…the country’s second most populous state has relatively low rates of COVID-19, but among the lowest testing rates, leading critics to say there is no way to know how prevalent the virus really is…

5. Canada’s 2 most populous provinces have chosen widely divergent paths as they unveiled lockdown-lifting plans yesterday that contrast Ontario’s caution with Quebec’s more ambitious approach (ironic, for sure, considering that All Hat, No Cattle Ford has tried to brand Ontario as being “Open For Business”)…Ontario set out benchmarks including a consistent decrease in the number of Wuhan COVID-19 cases before some workplaces and public spaces open…Quebec, meanwhile, is facing hundreds of new cases and dozen of deaths each day (90% in long-term care homes) but still set May 11 as the start for opening elementary schools and daycare centres (a plan for businesses will be announced today)…Ontario’s plan doesn’t even mention schools, which are closed until at least the end of May…“The framework is about how we’re reopening – now when we’re reopening,” Ford said yesterday as he unveiled the province’s 12-page plan…“This is a road map, it’s not a calendar”…

7. Seabridge Gold (SEA, TSX) continues to track higher after releasing an updated PEA yesterday for its 100%-owned KSM Project in the Eskay Camp, supporting the potential for a dramatic improvement in project economics by incorporating the recently expanded, higher-grade Iron Cap deposit into mine plans…this alternate scenario does not impact the current Preliminary Feasibility Study which remains in effect and will be included with the 2020 PEA in an updated NI-43–101 Technical Report to be filed on SEDAR within 45 days…KSM is the world’s largest undeveloped Gold/Copper project measured by Reserves…the project has both Federal and Provincial Environmental Assessment (EA) certificates and the company is maintaining a strong “social license”, having signed Impact Benefit Agreements with the Nishka and Tahltan First Nations, an environmental agreement with the Gitanyow Nation, while letters of support have come from the Gitxsan Nation…Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk noted that the 2020 PEA was undertaken to assess an alternate approach to developing KSM by incorporating a much larger Iron Cap block cave mine into the production schedule accompanied by smaller open pits compared to prior studies and developing this opportunity much earlier in the project’s mine life…“The benefits of incorporating Iron Cap into mine plans at an early stage have exceeded the upper end of our expectations, not only for the improvements in projected economics but also for the reduction in environmental impact. The PEA is based on Iron Cap’s inferred resource estimate but we are very confident these resources will upgrade to higher categories with further drilling as they have in the past at the project’s other deposits. We therefore think the new Technical Report gives investors a compelling view of the project’s potential,” Fronk said…

2020 KSM PEA Highlights ($U.S.)

• After tax NPV at a 5% discount rate of $6 billion using Base Case 3-year average price assumptions of $1,340/oz Gold, $2.80/lb Copper and a Canadian dollar assumption of 76 cents vs. the U.S. dollar;
• 44-year mine production plan capturing 19.6 million ounces of Gold and 5.4 billion pounds of Copper from the Measured and Indicated categories plus an additional 20.8 million ounces of Gold and 13.8 billion pounds of Copper from the Inferred category;
• Life of mine recovered production of 27.6 million ounces Gold and 17 billion pounds Copper;
• 170,000 tonne per day processing rate capturing 2.4 billion tonnes of mill feed, or only 30% of the total mineral resource;
• 4-year payback on $5.2 billion initial capital;
• Average annual pre-tax free cash flow of $1.45 billion from 1.3 million oz Gold and 265 million pounds Copper produced per year during the initial 5 years of production;
• Life of mine average operating cost of negative $472 per ounce of Gold produced, net of Copper and Silver by-product revenues;
• Life of mine total cost of $4 per ounce of Gold produced, inclusive of all project capital and net of Copper and Silver by-product revenues;
• 57% reduction in mine waste rock compared to the approved EA;
• 33% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from mine operations compared to the approved EA.

Most Popular Recent BMR Posts

Rapid Response!

How This Pandemic Will Ultimately Help Copper

Wuhan COVID-19 Virus Update

The Cost Of Doing Business With China (The CCP)

“Silver Lining”: Innovative Vancouver Company Provides Help During Crisis

COVID-19 Update

Smithers Shakes Off Turmoil For A Major 3-Day Event Connecting Hockey And The Resource Sector

Turbocharged Nickel

Commodity Check!

The Nickel Mountain Magma Highway

The Dramatic New Chase For A Nickel-Copper-Rich Massive Sulphide Deposit In The Heart Of A Famous Gold Camp