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Check back later this morning for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.

1. Gold has traded between $1,251 and $1,257 so far today, near a 1-month low, with a Fed announcement slated for later this morning following the FOMC’s 2-day meeting…no rate hike is expected today but markets will be evaluating Fed language with many traders expecting a rate hike next month…the just-released U.S. ADP national employment report showed a rise of 177,000 in April, slightly below market expectations…no impact on the precious metals markets…the Labor Department’s April non-farm payrolls report comes Friday and that could impact Gold prices, positively or negatively…the ISM non-manufacturing index for April just came out and hit 57.5, topping the consensus estimate of 55.8…as of 7:00 am Pacific, Gold is off $5 an ounce at $1,251 while Silver has dipped 22 cents to $16.59 as it hovers near January’s low…Crude Oil prices are steadying above 5-week lows near $48 after preliminary data showed a much higher-than-expected fall in U.S. Crude stockpiles…the EIA will report its numbers today…concern over OPEC’s output cuts and rising production in Libya and the U.S. are capping gains in Crude, for now at least…

2. The Venture’s streak of consecutive closes above 800, the longest since the 2nd half of 2014, was snapped at 33 yesterday with the Index finishing at 796 but within its 780 to 800 support band…we’ll have an updated Venture chart in today’s Morning Musings…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the Index is off 1 point at 795…the TSX is down 10 points while U.S. markets are slightly negative after Apple exceeded earnings estimates but fell short on revenue projections as well as iPhone shipments….

3. Tinka Resources (TK, TSX-V) released results this morning for 6 of the planned 25–30 drill holes at its Ayawilca Project in central Peru where a significant new discovery has been made at South Ayawilca…drill hole A-17–61, approximately 80 m off-section from the first 2 discovery holes, cut 3 separate intersections of high-grade Zinc beginning at 184 m with 18.6 m grading 10.4% Zn and 52 g/t Ag…other intervals were 13.4 m @ 18.7% Zn, 57 g/t Ag and 463 g/t Indium from 220 m, and 1.8 m at 37.0% Zinc, 85 g/t Ag and 808 g/t Indium from 265 m…the Zinc bodies dip gently to the south, with the thicker zones of mineralization lying between 2 interpreted west-dipping northeast-trending faults approximately 250 m apart…these structures were likely important conduits for the Zinc mineralization…mineralization at South Ayawilca remains open along strike in both directions based on this morning’s fresh results…TK is off 8 cents at 67 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading…

4. Darnley Bay (DBL, TSX-V), another Zinc play, released initial assay results this morning for the first hole of its winter 2017 drill program at a known deposit at its Pine Point Project near Hay River, NWT…the results have confirmed high-grade Zinc and lead mineralization with good continuity along with high-grade Gallium and Germanium values (it is not currently known whether these elements will be economically recoverable due to the limited capacity of Zinc smelters worldwide to recover them)…drilling was conducted at the W85 deposit, which was included in the recently reported Preliminary Economic Assessment (April 18, 2017) and was done for the purpose of obtaining a metallurgical sample as part of the upcoming Feasibility study…2 drill holes have been completed and a 2nd drill will be added as soon as ground conditions improve after breakup…the $5 million exploration program for 2017 includes drilling to confirm and possibly expand known historical deposits which were not included in the recent PEA…estimated recoveries in the PEA were lower than historically obtained by Cominco, and Darnley Bay expects that additional testing will improve recoveries in the final Feasibility Study…

5.  First Cobalt (FCC, TSX-V) has commenced a $1 million exploration program at its past producing Keeley-Frontier mine near Cobalt, Ontario, a program that will lead to 7,000 m of surface drilling including 5,000 m at Keeley-Frontier and 2,000 m of regional exploratory drilling…initial work will include surface sampling and mapping, geophysics and digital compilation of 50 years of historic mine data to generate a 3-D geologic model…Trent Mell, President and CEO, commented: “The Keeley-Frontier project is a cornerstone asset and this historic mine has not seen meaningful exploration activity in over 30 years…like many of the North American Gold mines developed during the last cycle, we believe that modern geoscience and mining methods have the potential to unlock value across the district. The Keeley-Frontier project area is a key component to our strategy of delivering leveraged access to the Cobalt market to meet growing global demand.”  FCC is up a nickel at 64 cents in early trading…

6.  Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V) is the first junior in the northern Ontario Greater Cobalt Camp to have underground access, and the company is now preparing to commence drilling and sampling programs from the first level (70 feet) where tunnels extend approximately 365 m (1,200 feet) east-west and north-south…significantly, CSR’s 100%-owned “Re-2OX” hydrometallurgical process, developed in conjunction with the National Research Council (NRC), is a potential game-changer in the district and the Cobalt market in general…Re-2OX is extremely adaptable and recovers multiple metals and elements from all feeds with varying chemistries…after producing a high-grade Cobalt concentrate, which CSR has already shown it can do, Re-2OX will then be applied to create value added, client specific Cobalt test products (namely, high purity powders) marketed to battery manufacturers…in addition, SGS Lakefield is using the Re-20X process in advanced staged testing to evaluate the amenability of the process for efficient recycling of spent Lithium-ion batteries…CSR, with just 35 million shares outstanding, is unchanged at 26 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

7. Tightly-held Deveron UAS (DVR, CSE), one of our favorites which is in the midst of completing a game-changing financing for at least $2 million (an initial tranche for $1.3 million has already closed), announced this morning that it has commenced flying for the 2017 agricultural season in Canada…DVR is focused on revenue generating and research driven drone data collection for the growing season in western and eastern Canada as it continues to build an on-demand, enterprise data collection network using drones…the company is also expanding its fleet of drones while also hiring additional licensed pilots to service key agricultural communities across Canada.  “In 2016, we focused on building credibility and relationships with some of Ontario’s largest farming companies by helping us pioneer the use of drone data in agriculture,” commented David MacMillan, Deveron’s President and CEO. “We are excited to see our initial customers coming back in 2017 with greater data needs and we are also thrilled about the new growth opportunities we see as our network has expanded out west.”  DVR is unchanged at 51 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

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