Gold has traded between $1,202 and $1,216 so far today…as of 9:25 am Pacific, bullion is up $1 an ounce at $1,208…Silver has added 2 cents to $16.39…Copper is off 3 pennies at $2.58…Crude Oil is flat at $51.16 while the U.S. Dollar Index is down slightly at 94.34…
Global Gold mine production rose in 2014 by at least 2.25% to 2,875 tonnes, with Canada seeing a large jump in output last year, according to Natixis, a French-based investment bank…Canada’s Gold output rose 20% year-on-year to 150 tonnes, mainly due to the Canadian Malartic mine in northwest Quebec and the Detour Lake mine in Ontario…other countries that saw a lift in 2014 output included China, with a 5.5% rise to 451 tonnes, Australia, with a 3.2% rise to 274 tonnes and Russia, with an 8% increase to an estimated 275 tonnes…the U.S saw output drop 8% year-on-year to 211 tonnes while South African output was also lower at 165 tonnes – a 2% dip, Atixis said…
Germany and its allies are ready to let Greece leave the euro unless Greece accepts the conditions required to extend his country’s financial support, according to Malta’s Finance Minister Edward Scicluna in a report this morning from Bloomberg…the Euro group of regional finance ministers is meeting today to discuss Greece’s loan extension proposal… Germany rejected the plan yesterday and called it a “Trojan horse”…Greece faces the risk of default and exit from the euro zone if the country does not obtain enough funding or an extension beyond the Feb. 28 deadline…
Crude Oil Update
WTIC is headed for its first weekly loss in a month after data yesterday showed U.S. Oil supplies were at an 80-year high…the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that U.S. Crude inventories reached another record high last week, a sign that cheap prices haven’t started to affect production yet…
The EIA said Oil inventories grew by 7.7 million barrels last week to 426 million barrels, the highest level for this time of year for at least 80 years…
Technically, the recent rally in WTIC merely alleviated the extreme oversold conditions that persisted from early in the 4th quarter last year through the first half of January…the declining 50-day moving average (SMA), currently $51.21 on this 2+ year weekly chart, is still a problem area for WTIC…downside risk still remains high in this market…
Copper Updated Chart
The worst is over for Copper, at least for now as the metal appears to have temporarily found its footing around $2.50…the potential exists for a rally that takes Copper back toward the $3 level (perhaps by the summer) where there is now major resistance as that was such a key support area for several years…the declining 200-day SMA is currently $2.94…
This 13-year monthly chart shows RSI(14) is bouncing up after touching previous support, suggesting a rally has likely started…the broad trading range for the foreseeable future is $2.50 to $3.00…any move outside of those parameters, above or below, would be significant…what must hold is that long-term support line (going back more than a decade) now moving through the $2.20’s…it could certainly get tested, so Copper is by no means out of danger yet though it has stabilized for now…
Today’s Equity Markets
Asia
Japan’s Nikkei climbed to a new 15-year high overnight, closing the week at 18332…
Europe
European markets were mixed today in cautious trading ahead of news regarding Greece…reports today showed French manufacturing weakened and Germany’s missed estimates even as a gauge of euro-area factory output and services strengthened this month…
North America
The Dow is up 20 points as of 9:30 am Pacific…the U.S. manufacturing sector appears to be picking up modestly this month, reversing some of the weakness at the start of the year, according to the latest PMI data…private research firm Markit said its February flash estimate PMI rose to a level of 54.3, compared to January’s final reading of 53.9…according to consensus reports, economists were expecting to see a relatively unchanged reading at 53.7…
In Toronto, the TSX is down 29 points while the Venture is 6 points higher at 698…Xmet Inc. (XME, TSX-V) is among the most active this morning after reporting that “heavy and widespread sulphide mineralization was encountered over the majority of the lengths of all 4 holes” drilled at the company’s Blackflake West Property…sounds promising and full assay results are pending; however, 4 paragraphs into the news the company revealed that a small batch of test assays consisting of 10 1-m sections from holes 1 and 2 have been received from the laboratory and the highest samples returned 0.3% Zn and 0.05% Cu…speculators have to hope that the complete assay results will show that Xmet has indeed hit an interesting VMS-style system…
North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V) Update
Following up on a discovery initially made in late 2013, North Arrow Minerals (NAR, TSX-V) earlier this month launched a 3,000-m drill program at its Pikko diamond project in Saskatchewan…excellent potential for additional success there given the exploration work that was completed last year which resulted in the identification of several new KIM trains, including 2 that are well defined and terminate within the project area…
Meanwhile, keep in mind that results from NAR’s 1,500-tonne bulk sample from its important Q1–4 kimberlite at the Qilalugaq Project in Nunavut are expected in April (the 12.5 hectare Q1–4 kimberlite is the largest diamondiferous kimberlite pipe in the eastern Canadian Arctic and 1 of 8 kimberlite pipes identified within the Qilalugaq Diamond Project…Q1–4 includes inferred resources as well as extremely rare yellow diamonds found in a sampling program)…
Significantly, NAR in January broke above a downtrend line going back to last summer, and pushed through the top (55 cents) of a horizontal basing channel as well..in addition, the 50-day SMA has reversed to the upside…looks promising for a very strong first quarter performance…
GoldQuest Mining Corp. (GQC, TSX-V) Update
GoldQuest Mining (GQC, TSX-V) is on the comeback trail after clearly bottoming in December at 7.5 cents…there’s no denying the geological potential of GQC’s ground in the DR, and the company has had a history of delivering the occasional spectacular drill result…
Several weeks ago GQC commenced a 5,000-m drill program at new target areas within its Tireo project concessions…
Technically, what’s interesting is that not only did GQC overcome a downtrend line in early January, but RSI(14) is now looking very bullish on this 8-month daily chart…the key thing to watch for here is a potential breakout above the horizontal channel between 11.5 and 15 cents…
Walker River Resources Corp. (WRR, TSX-V) Update
PDAC is right around the corner, so we wouldn’t be surprised if Walker River Resources (WRR, TSX-V) makes some noise by then…the company has its permits in hand and is gearing up to drill its Lapon Canyon Gold Property in Nevada where they’re targeting high-grade mineralization in crosscutting shear structures…past underground activities on the property demonstrate its excellent potential to host high-grade vein-type mineralization…quite simply, Walker has some bulls-eye targets to go after, and we’ll review those in more detail next week…
Record volume and the recent breakout above the long-term downtrend line are two clear and typically highly accurate signals from a technical standpoint that something quite special (a “BLO“-type event) could be in the works here…
Eskay Mining Corp, (ESK, TSX-V) Update
As regular BMR readers know, we love northern British Columbia…geologically, it is so richly endowed…the Sheslay area, we predict, will become a world-class Cu-Au porphyry district, making millionaires out of some investors who can grasp that now, but up and down northern B.C. there are still enormous opportunities for new discoveries of various types despite all that has been found (just the tip of the iceberg, really) over the past couple of decades…
Eskay Mining (ESK, TSX-V) is a company we initially introduced to our readers when it was trading at just 6 cents a year ago…given the collapse of the Venture to a record low in December, it’s quite remarkable that ESK is trading at 14 cents right now but that’s a testament to the quality of the company’s holdings…
ESK controls 40 sq. km surrounding the prolific past producing Eskay Creek mine, and they have some giant neighbors – Pretium Resources (PVG, TSX) and Seabridge Gold (SEA, TSX)…while it was in operation, Eskay Creek was the second richest deposit in North America and the fifth largest Silver producer in the world…a technical adviser for ESK is the highly respected James Rogers who was Chief Geologist at the Eskay Creek mine between 1994 and 2003…Rogers prepared an ESK corporate presentation which is available on their web site – we suggest our readers check it out…
Recently, Eskay added well-known geologist Charlie Greig to its technical team…Greig is a master at his craft and consults for Pretium as well as Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V)…
Technically, ESK broke out above a long-term downtrend a year ago and that’s initially what caught our attention along with a surge in volume…
Below is a 3-year weekly ESK chart from John…little news but this stock has been under heavy accumulation for a reason, we suspect…
Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in WRR, BLO and GGI.
and I can’t wait till WRR blows. No short term trading here Jon. I want the middle teens at least.
Comment by dave — February 20, 2015 @ 9:38 am
With you on that, Dave. I’m keeping my ears to the ground on this one as it has all the makings of a big score and rather quickly.
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 20, 2015 @ 9:46 am
Dave
middle teens in dollars or cents???:)
Comment by Greg — February 20, 2015 @ 10:11 am
BLO
You can now trade and get quotes online at TD.
Comment by John BMR — February 20, 2015 @ 10:43 am
The 15-20 cent range during the drilling process is a reasonable target area, Greg, based on fundamental and technical factors (and speculation)…WRR went from .05 to .18 rather quickly in 2013; .18 is the all-time high, so a move thru that level would obviously be interesting. A hit on the first hole or two, and then it’s really off to the races….
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 20, 2015 @ 10:53 am
Thanks Dave
Comment by Greg — February 20, 2015 @ 11:31 am
Someone was inquiring about XME earlier. I would suggest that
someone had/have some cheap paper & are comfortable selling at 0.05.
The last financing was at 0.05 plus a warrant & of course, that warrant
ensures they can relax until 2017.. It’s elementary Mr. Watson, things
always work out for the money pockets, that’s why Jon owns a wing of a
certain Bank.
Comment by Bert — February 20, 2015 @ 11:39 am
middle teens in cents – but I’ll take dollars, te he
Comment by dave — February 20, 2015 @ 11:47 am
WRR – also remember, we are waiting on the pp to close. It is being held back for that reason. Keep in mind, she has no resistance after she breaks .06 – she can have a few good spike days like BLO after the .06 – If you want to make some easy money, I would watch it and not let the .06 get away from you before your in.
Comment by dave — February 20, 2015 @ 11:57 am
XME – this is another one with no resistance after .06 – volume precedes price movement just like we are seeing in WRR. XME is one to watch whoever it was that brought that one up. Jon had a good point though, its not really running after partial assays, It will be interesting to see how it does on Monday.
Comment by dave — February 20, 2015 @ 12:42 pm
Thanks John regarding blo/ td
Comment by Greg J. — February 20, 2015 @ 1:02 pm
cmon now – I’m wanting more WRR at .035 and it looks like its going to drop and fill. The daw garn .04 start getting filled and right before the close the bids build at .04 – this is frustrating.
Comment by dave — February 20, 2015 @ 1:07 pm
I’m thinking of taking a position in DBV monday. she just went very bullish (intermediate term). I should call it the Dave meter (hahahaha).
Also, WRR just went bullish across the board. It was neutral, bullish,bullish. Now its bullish all across.
I can kick myself for selling NPH a while back. Got tired of waiting on it to move. Just goes to show how patience is the first thing you lose when you get old. Oh well. I saw it run up thursday to .195 again and thought she was gonna blow and still did not pull the trigger yesterday or today. Just something about that one I didn’t feel right about. Win some, lose some. I mentioned it on this board back when TLT was running, congrats if anyone was in that and traded out today for a nice gain.
Comment by dave — February 20, 2015 @ 5:44 pm
Bert show me a junior that doesn’t have pp n warrent hangover at one point or another. If they hit it will run to some extent regardless. Also they are ready to drill grasset so two properties that could potentially cause some spec and excitement. Who knows what will happen but in this market a companies being aggressive drilling two properties is definitely worth a look. Seems like a decent entry point, I’ll grab a ticket and see what happens I think
Comment by Franky g — February 21, 2015 @ 8:40 am
I understand that WRR is working with an Aussie company does any one know the name am interested thanks
Comment by Eddie — February 21, 2015 @ 9:34 am
I agree, but what i stated wasn’t meant to leave a negative
impression, instead, just my opinion as what is going on. My
average is close & by the way, i have held it since i don’t
know when, so it’s been very slow going. Whatever, it’s another
gamble, depending on the results. I was just thinking how
fast time flies, i remember last year Jon & I both agreed
that MAY last year, may not be the time to sell but it was
& here we are, thinking about MAY again.
Comment by Bert — February 21, 2015 @ 9:40 am
Eddie – interesting you bring up an Aussie company involved with WRR. I am not sure if you read all posts everyday, but I mentioned few days ago about some Aussie investors that bought a mine very close to WRR. The Geologist I met in nevada sold them the mine. The PEA shows a billion+ dollars of goods in it.
Something else Jon, have you noticed that Desi is buying a lot of those shares at .04. I am sure that you are familiar with all the houses, but Desi does not buy for a gain of just pennies.
Comment by dave — February 21, 2015 @ 10:29 am
Post #16 was in reply to Franky regarding XME. Sorry !
Comment by Bert — February 21, 2015 @ 10:40 am
Davie it was from your post that I picked up the info about the Aussie company its interesting to see that Aussies are at BC which to me is a better option the Africa and Indonesia to just mention two.
Can you let me know the Aussie company it may be worth a punt ? Good to hear that you like DBV my top investment at present.
Hope that with Patrick and Abdul working on the drilling program Farshad can concentrate on finance keeping the drill turning and time for good PR service.
Comment by Eddie — February 21, 2015 @ 11:44 pm
The Aussie I mention is not associated with WRR. They bought a mine near WRR. The Geologist only told me they were investors. Not sure what company they are with.
Comment by dave — February 22, 2015 @ 9:27 am