Check back later this morning for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.
1. Gold has traded between $1,240 and $1,248 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $1 an ounce at $1,246…Silver has jumped 13 cents to $17.68 while the U.S. Dollar Index is unchanged at 99.75…Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and St. Louis Fed Chief James Bullard are scheduled to make appearances later this morning and their comments will be closely watched for clues on the future path of interest rate hikes…Gold could also be impacted today in the lead-up to a critical U.S. House vote on healthcare reform…
2. Palladium is up another $12 an ounce to $812, its highest price since March 2015…the metal used in catalytic converters that curb pollution from vehicle exhausts has climbed more than 5% this week thanks to strong economic data and demand from the automobile sector…
3. Workers at BHP Billiton’s (BHP, NYSE) majority-owned Minera Escondida mine in Chile will end a strike at the world’s biggest Copper operation this weekend, a union leader said yesterday according to media reports…workers at Escondida, which accounts for about 5% of the global Copper production, went on strike February 9, halting production at the mine and sending Copper prices higher on concerns about a supply shortage…
4. After more than 8 years of political haggling over its future, thanks to President Obama, the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline running from Canada to America’s heartland has been approved by President Trump according to TransCanada Corp. with the official announcement expected from the White House within the hour…the move overturns Obama’s 2015 decision when he pandered to climate change fanatics…the multibillion dollar pipeline would bring more than 800,000 barrels per day of heavy crude from Canada’s Oil sands in Alberta into Nebraska, linking to an existing pipeline network feeding U.S. refineries and ports along the Gulf of Mexico…TransCanada (TRP, TSX) is up 64 cents at $62.40 after the first 30 minutes of trading…
5. Republicans are taking a high-stakes gamble today when they’re expected to bring to the House floor, at President Trump’s urging, a GOP bill to replace Obamacare without knowing whether the vote will produce a victory or an embarrassing defeat…markets will be watching closely…
6. The Dow and TSX are up mildly in early trading…investors have been encouraged by stronger than expected U.S. manufacturing data this morning as the Commerce Department said new orders of durable goods increased by $3.9 billion or 1.7% to $235.4 billion last month, following January’s revised 2.3% increase…the Venture is up 1 point at 802 as of 7:00 am Pacific…Great Thunder Gold (GTG, TSX.V) which we mentioned earlier this week following a property acquisition and a revised private placement at a higher price, touched 8 cents in early trading and is up 2 cents at 7.5 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…another 5-cent play to watch, with higher than usual volume this morning ahead of the completion of a financing, is iMetal Resources (IMR, TSX-V)…meanwhile, Cobalt prices are threatening to push through resistance at $25 (U.S.) a pound and that would renew the focus on Cobalt stocks that have taken a slight breather this month…
7. Klondex Mines (KDX, TSX, KLDX, NYSE) reversed to a 4th quarter profit as the company sold a quarterly record 47,745 Gold-equivalent ounces for revenue of $56.1 million, a quarterly high…net income was listed by Klondex at $2.2 million, or 2 cents per share, compared to a loss of $1.7 million for the same period a year ago…Klondex expects to produce between 210,000 and 225,000 AuEq ounces in 2017, an increase of approximately 36% from the prior year…KDX is off a nickel at $5.95 as of 7:00 am Pacific…
The 3 most popular recent BMR articles…
BMR Morning Market Musings: Gold Is Showing That It May Soon Take Many Traders By Surprise
Update: Who’s Who In The Northern Ontario Cobalt Camp
The Drone Revolution: Deveron UAS Carves A Niche In The Booming AgTech Sector
Cobalt – looking forward to the updated cobalt chart
Thanks
Comment by Foz1971 — March 24, 2017 @ 7:41 am
Did you see yesterday’s drill results from Mariana Resources (MARL)? High grade gold and copper over 66 to 102 metres! The market is asleep
on this one. Should be 40% higher at least!
Comment by Rick — March 24, 2017 @ 8:24 am
Hey guys.. you may not get many accolades for the 7 at 7.. but it is a great roundup of the leading stories is cool..
Comment by Patricia — March 24, 2017 @ 8:38 am
Keep an eye on DYA….dynacert. Legit technology with massive sales in the pipeline. Unfortunately halted today but keep it on your radar during periods of weakness.
Comment by weatheritout — March 24, 2017 @ 9:48 am
Keep an eye on DYA…dynacert. Legit technology with massive sales in the pipeline. Unfortunately halted today but keep it on your radar during periods of weakness.
Comment by weatheritout — March 24, 2017 @ 9:50 am
sorry for the double post
Comment by weatheritout — March 24, 2017 @ 10:36 am
Hey Jon….I remember when the price of nickel shot up many old mines in the Sudbury area were brought back into production in high hopes of becoming profitable. Very few were profitable and most ended up going bankrupt with the decrease in the nickel price. What are your thoughts of the cobalt camp actually being able to quickly ramp up production to make some profits? I hear rumblings in the cobalt market that big funds have taken very large positions in the physical cobalt market and will “flood the market” at the right price point. I remember during the oil peak funds were purchasing large inventories of oil and storing offshore until the price increased and would offload into the market. I’m always nervous of old mines coming back into production. Very few make that jump. Have you had any conversations with the CEO of Castle as to what price point he thinks he needs cobalt to be for them to be profitable?
Comment by weatheritout — March 24, 2017 @ 11:10 am
Hey Jon…still trying to see if Castle fits my investment style. I’m looking at historic cobalt production from their properties from early 1900 till 1989 totalling roughly 450000 lbs of cobalt ( x full value of $25/pound = $11.25 million ). Then looking at their recent drill hole of 188 ounces silver per ton but at a depth of over 500 metres. Current market cap of 9 million or so I’m really having a hard time seeing the potential upside. Is your upside based on your thoughts that cobalt will go much higher than current levels? Thanks, any info appreciated
Comment by weatheritout — March 25, 2017 @ 10:17 am
Spring Break is over! Time to get back to work next week!
Comment by STEVEN1 — March 25, 2017 @ 11:44 am
weatheritout, you’re missing the whole point we (and others) have been making re: the Cobalt in this district…the Cobalt wasn’t targeted, either at the Castle or the Beaver or at most other properties in Gowganda-Cobalt-Silver Center, etc…they followed the Cobalt to get to the very high-grade Silver, so the historical Cobalt production # you just quoted means nothing…there were also issues with regard to recovery and processing…that has all changed now…when I was in the Castle main adit last month, almost as soon as you walk in, you look up and there’s this really nice Cobalt vein that pinches and swells and runs for many tens of meters…never touched! but the grades are there (Cobalt “bloom”, the right alteration)….so much Cobalt (and Silver) left behind…there are a vast number of situations like that in the Cobalt Camp…..Cobalt (and Cobalt with Silver) left untouched…that’s why there has been such a massive land grab in this region…
Will CSR head much higher? It definitely will, as I see it…they have lots of competitive advantages at both the Castle and Beaver properties….the Silver-Cobalt combination Cobalt will take things over the top…
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 25, 2017 @ 12:40 pm
So that being said Jon, how soon could you see them going into production?
Thanks
Comment by weatheritout — March 25, 2017 @ 1:49 pm
I think I will step aside on this one Jon….and I realize that all investments are suitable for all investors. Still appreciate all your insight. I did come across this interesting article from 2008 when they were then investigating using the tailings from Castle to see if they were feasible. Cobalt prices then were at a spike as well…going above $50/lb. Anyways might be interesting reading. I will still keep an eye on the cobalt camp and it will no doubt still attract money.
http://www.sudburyminingsolutions.com/bioleaching-plant-proposed-for-cobalt.html
Comment by weatheritout — March 25, 2017 @ 2:18 pm
What I’d like to see them do over the coming months, weatheriout, is demonstrate potential scale and grade of the Silver-Cobalt system at Castle through drilling (likely including underground drilling) and carry out some smaller scale production testing; also a separate Gold structure at Castle that requires follow-up; full access to the adit where a lot of work can be done, also an agreement with First Nations which is critical…lots of surface work can be carried out at the Beaver in advance of drilling where Cobalt veins run right to the surface (and some bulk sampling)…the Beaver produced at staggering grades of Silver (170 opt) and Agnico was still pulling ore out of there, like the Castle, as late as 1990…tight share structure and the right shareholders involved – this deal will rock…advances in knowing how to handle the arsenic in the ore (common to the district) and efficiently separating the Cobalt and Silver from that gives today’s players another big advantage over the historical explorers and miners, who were nonetheless able to produce over half a billion ounces of Silver (plus Cobalt) from Gowganda down to Silver Center…
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 25, 2017 @ 2:44 pm
Jon: any comments on the Obamacare stuff that’s been overhanging the market with Trump,etc??
Comment by STEVEN1 — March 25, 2017 @ 2:52 pm
Personally, Steven 1, I think Trump should have tackled tax reform before Obamacare (healthcare) which is like quicksand – easy to sink into and hard to navigate through and maneuver out of; Obamacare is a disaster and will eventually implode—perhaps only then will all the politicians finally wake up and find a healthcare fix; Trump needs to bounce back and score some wins and I’m sure he will…I said all along the markets were overestimating how easy it would be for Trump to push through his agenda despite a Republican controlled Congress…he’s fighting a lot of entrenched forces who prefer the status quo…could be 2018 before there are noticeable changes…while this may disappoint the market, it may also mean the Fed is less aggressive on rate hikes which the market will like…
constructive environment for Gold prices…
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 25, 2017 @ 3:18 pm