Visit our comments section throughout the day. BMR Morning Market Musings returns tomorrow.
1. Gold has traded between $1,265 and $1,275 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $9 an ounce at $1,267 as solid support in the $1,260’s continues to be tested after the metal yesterday fell to its lowest level since April 11 following first round results of the French presidential elections…holdings of SPDR Gold, the world’s largest Gold-backed exchange-traded fund, actually rose slightly (0.17%) yesterday and are up 6 tonnes over the past 2 sessions…heightened security risks continue to provide some support for bullion…North Korea conducted a live-fire exercise today as a U.S. submarine docked in South Korea in a show of force amid concern over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs…
2. China’s net-Gold imports via main conduit Hong Kong more than doubled month-on-month in March, data showed today…net-Gold imports by the world’s top Gold consumer through the port of Hong Kong rose to 111.647 tonnes in March, the highest in a year, from 47.931 tonnes in February, according to data obtained by Reuters from the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department…
3. Crude Oil prices are stable this morning, hovering around $49 a barrel with WTI trying to avoid a 7th straight losing session…Russia said yesterday that its Oil output could climb to the highest rate in 30 years if OPEC and non-OPEC producers do not extend their supply reduction deal beyond June 30…meanwhile, J.P. Morgan said that to reduce the global supply overhang, OPEC “will be forced to renew, and possibly deepen the agreement if they wish to keep prices much above $50 per barrel”…other analysts disagree, saying U.S., Europe, Singapore and floating storage inventories have been falling at a rate over the last 6 weeks that will lead to a very significant draw down by year-end…
4. The NASDAQ touched 6,000 for the first time ever this morning amid strong earnings reports while the Dow is up another 202 points as of 7:00 am Pacific after a 216 point jump yesterday…the TSX is 79 points higher while the Venture is off 4 points at 814…after a breakout session yesterday, PyroGenesis Canada (PYR, TSX-V) is up 2 pennies at 65 cents on volume of more than 800,000 shares through the first 30 minutes with the company just releasing news that it has signed its first contract, and received the down payment, for an order of Titanium powder (Ti-6Al-4V) and Inconel from a multinational conglomerate (the name and origin of which will not be disclosed for competitive reasons)…this order was placed during the ramp-up phase of the company’s powder production system…
5. Camino Minerals (COR, TSX-V) is up slightly in early trading after releasing results for the remaining 3 reverse circulation drill holes completed at its Los Chapitos Project in southern Peru…all 3 holes extended the oxide mineralization along strike or at depth…hole CHR-004 intersected the same magnetite rich zone as in hole CHR-002…however, it reached the maximum depth limits of the drill while still in the magnetite rich zone at 360 m and did not test the projected horizon of the host rocks for the sulphide mineralization that was intersected in hole CHR-002 (106 m @ 1.3% Cu)…highlights from holes CHR-003 and CHR-005 were 32 m @ 0.64% Cu over 32 m including 1.5% Cu over 10 m, and 44 m @ 0.86% Cu including 1.85% Cu over 16 m, respectively…the Phase 1 program resumes early next month with diamond drilling…COR is up 8 cents at $1.53 as of 7:00 am Pacific…
6. In-fill drilling has resulted in a substantial boost in resources for Trilogy Metals’ (TMQ, TSX-V) Arctic deposit, one of the highest-grade Copper deposits known in the world with an average grade of about 6% Copper equivalent…the polymetallic VMS project is located approximately 470 km northwest of Fairbanks, Alaska…this morning, the company reported a 50% increase in resource tonnes in the Indicated category at substantially the same average grades as the previous estimate, containing over 40% more Copper and Zinc…at a base case 0.5% CuEq cut-off grade, the Arctic deposit is estimated to contain in-pit Indicated Resources of 36 million tonnes grading 3.07% Cu, 4.2% Zinc, 0.73% Lead, 0.63 g/t Gold and 47.6 g/t Silver for 2.4 billion pounds of contained Copper and 3.4 billion pounds of contained Zinc…this is a robust deposit that’s not sensitive to cut-off grade (and assumed metal prices) as a 300% increase in the cut-off grade would result in less than a 1% decrease in contained Copper and Zinc metal at higher average grades…current activities are focussed on engineering and environmental site investigation studies that will form the basis for completing a future pre-feasibility study…TMQ is 3 cents higher at $1.01 as of 7:00 am Pacific…
7. NuLegacy Gold (NUG, TSX-V) has commenced an initial 40-hole, 35,000-foot 2017 drill program at its Red Hill Project in Nevada…of the initial 35,000 ft. planned, 65% will consist of deeper drilling to explore for additional deposits and 35% will concentrate on expanding the Gold footprint of the near-surface Iceberg deposit which is an exploration target of 90 to 110 million tonnes of 0.9 to 1.1 g/t Au…priorities will include expanding the extent of Gold mineralization in the Avocado deposit, drilling the Deep Iceberg IP anomaly to confirm it as the 3rd Gold deposit identified to date, and exploring the VIO and Jasperoid Basin anomalies to establish their prospectivity as deposits…NUG is unchanged at 28 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…
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A 50,000-m Drill Program? The Explorer That’s Punching Way Above Its Weight Class!
CPO – share price inconsistent with activity. Jon, do you think their drilling plans fall short /not robust (i.e., 1800m). Thx
Foz
Comment by Foz1971 — April 25, 2017 @ 11:25 am
So now what.. ??? Venture broke the trend line.. no longer ‘feels’ like a bull market.. feels like it did in 2011 … the Nazz over 6000??? this is where the money is and will be for a while yet.. what we are left with is going to be interesting… the only markets that are improving…
here.. weed, silver, gold, and everything canadian is focked for now…
Believe that with May coming and retail nervous we are doomed to repeat past behaviour…. which means the Venture down to 500-600….
and some wonder why we drink!!
Comment by Jeremy — April 25, 2017 @ 11:37 am
GGI – Jon how far below surface do you think the mineralization (to be confirmed) in the q anomaly is when compared to the ovoid which was close to surface and hence very attractive economically speaking? Also, the VTEM survey will go to a depth of 300m so will capture near surface sulphide zones (those that intersect the surface especially), however it will not pick up ore bodies at lower depths correct? As you know the Eastern Deeps (250 to 800m below surface and east of the Ovoid) was discovered via deep drilling and is considered a “blind ore body”. It seems likely that a parallel exists at E&L from conversations I have had. Again, I note this because I would not expect VTEM to pick this up but just like Voisey’s, finding a large deposit near surface will be huge!
Cheers
Foz
Comment by Foz1971 — April 25, 2017 @ 5:10 pm
Jeremy, I guess I have to remind you that the last time you were this negative about the Venture (and Gold) was back in mid-late December, which was actually the best time to be a buyer.
What’s the big deal with a drop below a short-term uptrend line, in terms of the big picture? Don’t understand your nervousness over that. Doesn’t alter the bull market one bit. Today the Index landed at 804, just slightly above its rising 100-day SMA.
Yes, nearest support was at the top of the uptrend line which coincided with Fib. support around 817…so it’s not surprising that some selling came into the market when that was breached (shows you that TA works); however, that’s just 1 level of support among SEVERAL levels…in fact, the Index could even drop to the 300-day SMA at 750 and that still wouldn’t break the back of the bull market…huge support, however, between 780 and 800…
It’s also interesting to note that in late December, the Venture also breached a short-term uptrend line and that proved to be a “head fake”. Same thing is likely happening now.
Today, don’t forget, was also month-end settlement date. Those trading days historically have been known to produce some exaggerated selling.
The Venture was up 82% over just 6 months last year. Since then it has experienced a normal and healthy consolidation, preparing the ground for the next wave up. The Index is just 46 points or about 5% below a 30-month high. The bull market continues and every pulse of selling over the past 15 months has been a buying opportunity.
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 25, 2017 @ 6:28 pm
Jon.. we all dont live and breathe what you do… and it is refreshing to get your dander up:) and you explain things in your view which most of the time makes sense..
realizing that most of us dont live and breathe numbers and trends, a negative perception brings out the best in you:) and this is the response that most of us need to understand the nuances of the day/week/month …
thx mate!! I think that most of us are so concerned that we are going to get buried like 2011…. once burned twice.. well you know:)
Month end settlement?? didnt have a clue.. thx 🙂
Comment by Jeremy — April 25, 2017 @ 6:51 pm
Everyone has fond memories of the 2010 bull market, Jeremy, but almost everyone also forgets that there was a period of a few months during the 1st half of 2010 when it didn’t feel like a bull market at all, and many were questioning it…of course that was exactly the time to be doubling down because the market nearly doubled from the 2010 low to the early 2011 high…the current Venture patterns are quite similar…
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 26, 2017 @ 4:59 am
Fox1971, obviously the high-grade mineralization at surface at the top of Nickel Mountain has a source…we know there’s a near-surface deposit there, at least several irregularly shaped zones that extend to a depth up to 150 m as proven by drilling…open in all directions…the elevation difference between the top of Nickel Mountain and the Q anomaly to the south is about 300 to 400 m…that could turn out to be very significant…the VTEM can read to a depth of at least 300 m from surface…I’m sure they’ll do tight spacing (50 m?) to capture the signatures of the actual known deposit, and those signatures of massive-semi-massive-disseminated sulphides will be compared to signatures found elsewhere…taking into account the elevation difference, the VTEM over the Q anomaly will actually read at a depth of at least 600 m below the high-grade surface showings at Nickel Mountain…lots of room for blind ore bodies at the E&L, and magnetics also indicates a conduit-shaped structure at the Q which could be a rich feeder zone…the oldtimers were only focused on what they could see at surface…think about the pattern of exploration activity and discoveries in this district over the last half century, especially the last 30 years since Eskay Creek…this is why Nickel Mountain is the top Nickel sulfide prospect in the entire country…
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 26, 2017 @ 5:16 am
Heads up, everyone…Eskay Mining (ESK, TSX-V) halted at 4:30 am Pacific, at the request of the company, pending news.
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 26, 2017 @ 5:45 am
Jon – indeed:) BTW FF was halted and reported very nice drill results…
Comment by Jeremy — April 26, 2017 @ 6:06 am
Jon – thank you. Good point re: elevation difference. Expecting valuable info from the VTEM.
Cheers
Foz
Comment by Foz1971 — April 26, 2017 @ 6:54 am