Gold has traded between $1,501 and $1,518 so far today…as of 7:55 am Pacific, the yellow metal is unchanged at $1,507…this follows a nice reversal yesterday…Silver climbed as high as $36.50 but has pulled back…it’s currently up 72 cents at $35.34…crude oil is 41 cents higher at 99.38 while the U.S. Dollar Index is strengthening after some weakness this morning and is currently up slightly from yesterday at 75.31…better than expected economic growth data came out of Germany and France this morning…Martin Murenbeeld, chief economist for Dundee Wealth Economics, says his firm sees an average price of Gold at $1,515 this year, rising to $1,675 for 2012…U.S. consumer prices rose as expected in April on higher food and energy prices but continued to exhibit little sign of a broader pick-up in inflation that would concern the Federal Reserve…the Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index increased 0.4% last month after rising 0.5% in March…core CPI – excluding food and energy – gained 0.2% after edging up 0.1% in March which was in line with economists’ expectations…the monthly increase in core CPI has been bouncing around 0.1% and 0.2% since November…gasoline prices accounted for almost half of the rise in overall consumer inflation last month, advancing 3.3%…the CDNX managed to hold support yesterday and is currently up 5 points at 2055…there were no major surprises in Gold Bullion’s assay results yesterday…25 new holes were released (#108 was previously announced)…the most significant result was clearly hole #173, collared over 100 metres northeast of hole #55, which returned 80 metres grading 1.36 g/t Au and 238.25 metres of 0.52 g/t Au within a total intersection of 363 metres grading 0.35 g/t Au…results from six more holes (165, 168, 178, 243, 248 and 254) will give a really good picture of just how much the mineralization is broadening out over this promising northern part of the LONG Bars Zone Eastern Extension…hole #200 in the southeast portion of the Eastern Extension (northeast of discovery hole #86) returned an impressive interval of 48.50 metres grading 1.68 g/t Au within a total intersection of 210.5 metres of 0.44 g/t Au…results from the second most northerly hole drilled north of the Preliminary Block Model suggest more drilling is definitely required in that area…hole #31 hit a modest 18.5 meters grading 0.64 g/t Au close to surface (36 to 54.15 metres) and another 28 metres grading 0.59 g/t Au between a depth of 125 to 153 metres…where’s there’s smoke, there’s fire, and our theory is that there could be a significant trail of mineralization running north of the Preliminary Block Model and connecting with what has been discovered over the northern part of the Eastern Extension…six more holes (213, 214, 215, 217, 221 and 224 and 224) from the southwest portion of the Preliminary Block Model returned mixed results – we were hoping to see a couple of stellar holes from that area but that hasn’t materialized yet…overall, Gold Bullion continues to hit long intersections of lower grade mineralization over a wide area at Granada…this is a massive project with much more drilling required but the multi-million ounce model that Frank Basa has in mind remains intact…the 43-101 resource estimate, expected sometime over the summer, should give this play more focus and a big lift…drilling is also underway now in LONG Bars Zone 2 near the old Aukeko Property (2 kilometres east of Phase 1 discovery hole #17) and if Gold Bullion is able to connect these two zones, look out…GBB is unchanged at the moment at 37 cents…Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX), which has become one of our favorites due to the success of its exploration program at Wasamac near Rouyn-Noranda, has released stellar first quarter financials showing net earnings of 28 cents per share ($8.7 million vs. $1.8 million or 7 cents per share in Q1 2010)…Gold sales increased to 19,234 ounces, a slight increase from the fourth quarter of last year…lower cash costs and higher grades at the Island Gold Mine helped give Richmont its robust numbers for the first quarter…the only negative is that commerical production at the Francoeur Mine will not commence as scheduled by the middle of this year and instead will likely not begin until the first quarter of 2012…Richmont should produce at least 80,000 ounces of Gold this year and that will increase significantly next year with an annual rate of 35,000 ounces expected from Francoeur…the company hopes to eventually bring Wasamac into production at the rate of approximately 100,000 ounces per year…Richmont has only 31.5 million shares outstanding and $50 million in working capital with no long-term debt…long-term investors need to take a serious look at RIC, especially if any additional overall market weakness sends the stock lower…RIC has important technical support right around $7 where the rising 50-day moving average (SMA) sits…RIC’s 20-day SMA has started to decline, however, for the first time since February which suggests there could be some weakness ahead…RIC is currently up 63 cents at $7.72…we continue to keep a close eye on the CRB Index which needs to hold support around current levels…below is a chart through yesterday and John remains encouraged…
Checking the volume leaders on the Venture Exchange this morning, it’s not hard to tell that resource companies aren’t exactly the flavor of the month right now…Intertainment Media (INT, TSX-V), Poynt Corporation (PYN, TSX-V), Selectore Ltd. (SCG, TSX-V) and Fireswirl Technologies (FSW, TSX-V) are all up this morning and dominating trading…Currie Rose Resources (CUI, TSX-V) continues to show favorable technical signs and there has been some obvious accumulation in this stock over recent weeks…it has been trading between 16 and 17 cents so far today…lately we’ve been pointing out the very oversold technical conditions in Visible Gold Mines (VGD, TSX-V) which is also armed with about 18 cents per share in cash…a bullish “W” appears to be forming on the RSI for VGD…the stock closed up a penny at 28 cents yesterday, 1 cent above its rising 500-day moving average, on the best volume in several trading sessions…
Abcourt out with some news yesterday
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Comment by Hugh — May 13, 2011 @ 7:25 am