Check back later today for an additional post and visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information.
1. Gold has traded between $1,268 and $1,273 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $1 an ounce at $1,270…Silver is up 6 pennies at $16.62…on the base metal front, Copper is steady at $2.94 while Nickel has jumped 11 cents to $4.81…Crude Oil is flat at $50.55 while the Dollar Index is off slightly at 93.60…Gold prices are just below their 100-day moving average and liquidity has been hampered by a market void of Chinese demand given the week-long holiday in that country…the yellow metal has strong technical support at $1,260…
2. TD Securities on bullion: “Gold specs again convincingly reduced their net-long exposure this week after continued chatter from various Fed officials confirmed their commitment to reducing the central bank’s balance sheet and increasing rates this year and next. Investors took profits, which prompted long liquidation and the taking out of new short positions in anticipation that the price drop will continue. However, notwithstanding the uncertainties surrounding who the next Fed chair will be – a hawk or a dove – the lack of inflation in the system as shown by the core PCE (personal consumption expenditures) data and technicals should see investors stay put and assess conditions before materially adjusting their spec positions further.”
3. Authorities in China are serious about an anti-pollution drive which is pushing prices of certain metals higher…Zinc has hit 10-year highs for a second straight day, touching $1.52 a pound, as worries over production outages in China continue to boost bullish sentiment…about 60% of Lead-Zinc mines are undergoing month-long shutdowns during environment inspections in Sichuan province…Zinc and Lead spreads are also now in backwardation, a sign of tight supplies…LME Zinc inventories fell by another 1,025 tonnes, data today showed, bringing the decline so far this year to 64%…one party controlled 50–80% of those stocks, according to LME data…
4. Money managers, encouraged by a signs of rebalancing between supply and demand, upped their bullish bets on Brent Crude to a record high in the last week…historically, though, the 4th quarter is not too kind to the price of Oil given the switch from summer demand to expectations of winter demand…in the last 25 years, U.S. Crude generated an average negative return of –7.5% and traded positive only 40% of the time in the 4th quarter, according to a CNBC study…WTI may buck that trend this year depending on how successful the Saudis are at restraining OPEC production and if that can offset increased U.S. shale activity…late last week analysts surveyed by Reuters pegged OPEC’s September output at 32.86 million barrels a day, up from the previous month and above its production cap, indicating a fall in compliance by its members…
5. Global equity value hit yet another all-time high this morning as investors extend the so-called reflation trade amid a rallying U.S. dollar and higher government bond yields linked to optimism that President Trump’s pro-growth tax proposals will find support from lawmakers…all 3 major U.S. stock indexes hit fresh all-time highs at the open, building on gains set in the previous quarter…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the Dow is 57 points higher while the TSX has added 23 points…the Venture is breaking into the 780’s, up 5 points at 785…Eric Sprott has acquired 10.7% of Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) and what’s shaping up to be the most significant Nickel sulphide discovery in Canada in at least a decade at Nickel Mountain near Eskay Creek…meanwhile, Sprott has also grabbed a slice of GGI neighbor Metallis Resources (MTS, TSX-V)…both are buoyant in early trading, hitting new highs…Otis Gold (OOO, TSX-V) has firmed up after releasing assay results from the first 3 holes of its continuing 2017 drill program at the Kilgore Project in Idaho…highlights include 129.4 m grading 1.66 g/t Au (includes 24.4 m grading 3.45 g/t) in hole OKC-356 and 73.1 m @ 1.13 g/t Au in hole OKC-358…the ongoing program comprises a total of 7,300 m of drilling over 23 holes…to date, 20 holes have been drilled totaling 6,100 m with core logging on-going and more assays pending…
6. Seabridge Gold (SEA, TSX) has drilled 925 m grading 0.71 g/t Au and 0.46% Cu, including 491 m @ 0.98 g/t Au and 0.60% Cu, targeting the plunge projection of the Iron Cap deposit at KSM in the Eskay Heart of Gold Camp…long runs of higher grades continue to support revisions to the KSM’s mine plan which could substantially improve project economics…Seabridge Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk noted that “Iron Cap is permitted as a block cave and it’s ideally located close to, and dips towards, the proposed ore conveyance tunnel between the mine site and process facility. This fact strongly suggests that changing the mine plan to exploit Iron Cap just after the Mitchell deposit and before Kerr could offer substantial economic improvements. This change could substantially reduce development costs and increase Gold production in the earlier years. The reason we decided to mine Kerr first was the smaller size of the Iron Cap resource, but the extraordinary widths we are encountering in the drilling make it clear to us that Iron Cap will probably rival Kerr in size and grade.”
7. Blue Moon Zinc (MOON, TSX-V) has provided a mineral resource update for its 100%-owned Blue Moon Zinc deposit in the U.S. southwest…it now comprises 3.7 million tons in the Indicated category, grading 8.3% Zinc equivalent, and 4.1 million tons of Inferred @ 7.8% ZnEq, both at a 4.0% ZnEq cut-off grade…Patrick McGrath, CEO, stated, “The updated Mineral Resource contains an estimated 377 million pounds of Zinc in the Indicated Mineral Resource category and a further 395 million pounds of Zinc in the Inferred Mineral Resource category, both at a conservative 4.0% ZnEq cut-off grade. The Mineral Resource update coupled with prior metallurgical testing by Lakefield Research in 1998 (now SGS) which indicated excellent recovery and a clean concentrate, gives us confidence to proceed with the Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Blue Moon deposit.” MOON is an active trader again this morning, down 1.5 cents at 9 cents on a sell-on-news day…a strong overall technical uptrend remains in place, however…
The Nickel Mountain Magma Highway
Two Big Plays Emerge in B.C., Setting The Stage For A Summer To Remember
How To Bring A Junior Resource Market To Life!
Northern Ontario Cobalt Junior Attracts Interest From Metal Trading Companies
The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began
