1. Gold, coming off its 5th straight weekly gain, has hit a fresh 4-month high, trading between $1,338 and $1,345 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $3 an ounce at $1,340…Silver has added 12 cents to $17.32…Copper is 5 cents higher at $3.25 while Nickel continues to look strong, up another 6 cents to $5.85…Palladium has hit a new record high of $1,140 amid a supply deficit and high demand from the auto industry…Crude Oil has gained 23 cents to $64.23 while the struggling U.S. Dollar Index has tumbled another half point to 90.46 as it approaches key support at 90…downside momentum favors the Dollar Index pushing below 90 toward an uptrend line around 87 from 2011…
2. The promise of accelerating economic growth overseas is propelling investor funds into the yen, euro and many emerging-market currencies, intensifying a year-long siege on the greenback…compounding the dollar’s woes is the fact the U.S. budget deficit continues to trend higher (positive for Gold)…historically, the dollar tends to fall when the deficit expands, reflecting in part the rising need for the nation to sell bonds to close its funding gap…recently approved widespread U.S. tax cuts will likely drive the U.S. deficit even higher this year, and trillion dollar annual deficits could easily return if Congress can’t get spending under better control…
3. U.S. Crude futures are approaching $65, up more than 6% this year for the strongest first 2 weeks of a year since 2005…this push higher has come despite the U.S. Energy Information Administration saying it expects domestic producers will pump 10.3 million barrels a day in 2018, shattering the previous record of 9.6 million bpd in 1970…meanwhile, the number of rigs drilling Oil wells in the U.S. rose by 10 last week to 752, a 4-month high…expectations surrounding shale haven’t changed dramatically…what has changed is a roaring global economy that has fueled demand for Crude at a faster clip than many had anticipated, stoking demand for fuel in industrial machinery and transportation….thanks to that, and following more than a year of production cuts from some of the world’s largest exporters, the world is no longer awash in Oil…
4. Royal Nickel (RNX, TSX) has firmed up this morning on news that it expects to undertake a “series of initiatives” during 2018 to position the company to make a decision to begin construction of the Dumont Nickel-Cobalt Project in northwest Quebec…Dumont contains the world’s largest undeveloped reserves of both Cobalt and Nickel, though at very low grades…with many market participants expecting explosive growth in Nickel and Cobalt demand from the electric vehicle market over the coming decade, Royal Nickel says it “continues to be approached by a number of potential strategic investors, off-take partners and financiers who could provide the financing required to begin construction,” which only underscores the incredible opportunity at Nickel Mountain in the Eskay Camp where Nickel grades in massive sulphides range from 5% to more than 8% with intervals in the top 1% of global deposits…Royal Nickel’s Dumont deposit contains approximately 6.9 billion pounds of Nickel in the Proven and Probable reserve categories (1.2 billion tonnes) but at a grade of 0.27% Nickel…an economic analysis in June 2013 showed an after-tax IRR of only 15.2% and a 6-year payback period…moving a lot of dirt isn’t very profitable…Grade is always King…
5. U.S. equity markets are closed today for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday…the S&P 500 just completed its best 10-day start to a year in 15 years…meanwhile, the Dow has already posted three 200-point gains this year (there were only six of them in all of 2017)…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the TSX is up 35 points while the Venture has added 6 points to 884…Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V), soon expected to announce its proposed new name to better reflect its Cobalt focus, has touched a new multi-year high of 53 cents in early trading…the company closed a $1 million financing Friday to expand its underground Cobalt program…CSR is the only company in the northern Ontario Cobalt Camp with underground access…Wolfden Resources (WLF, TSX-V) has completed the first 2 holes of a 10,000-m drill program at Pickett Mountain in northern Maine, one of the highest-grade undeveloped VMS projects in North America…both holes intersected massive sulphide mineralization in the West Lens, above and below historical drill hole intersections…assays are pending…the project has not been explored in 30 years and remains open at depth and along strike…Calyx Bio-Ventures (CYX, TSX-V) is up on news that its wholly-owned Canada Blockchain Holdings has recognized revenues of approximately $50,000 (U.S.) in its first full month of operation (December), utilizing one-quarter of its owned capacity…
6. The law apparently means nothing in Guatemala, forcing Tahoe Resources (THO, TSX) to announce this morning that it has made a significant reduction to its workforce at its Escobal mine, one of the largest Silver operations in the world…Tahoe says it has been committed to maintaining Escobal’s full workforce since the July 5, 2017, mining license suspension…the Guatemalan Constitutional Court heard the appeals of the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate the Escobal mining license on October 25, 2017…according to Guatemalan law, the Constitutional Court must rule within 5 calendar days of the public hearing…at this time, however, the Constitutional Court has yet to rule. Tahoe President Ron Clayton stated, “We are very disappointed to reduce our workforce at this time, but this is a natural consequence to the prolonged inaction in the legal system. We are hopeful that the Constitutional Court will honor their own legal procedures and precedents and urge them to provide a fair and transparent ruling quickly that demonstrates Guatemala remains open for responsible foreign investment. A productive Escobal is in the best interests of all of our stakeholders, including the Government of Guatemala, the local communities, our employees, our suppliers, and Tahoe’s shareholders.”
7. Marijuana stocks have rebounded this morning after 3 straight losing sessions…Aphria (APH, TSX) has announced that it has entered into a binding letter agreement to acquire Broken Coast Cannabis Inc., a leading premium cannabis producer located in British Columbia…Aphria says Broken Coast adds award-winning premium production and a proven West Coast brand to its asset portfolio, affirming the company’s market position ahead of a legal adult recreational use market in Canada…the transaction is expected to add incremental annual production of 10,500 kgs, a portion of which is market ready today, elevating Aphria’s forecast annual production to 230,000 kgs while also providing the company with geographic diversification, a cross-Canada distribution platform, and access to over 40,000 medical patients…in combination with its low cost and scaled greenhouse platform in Leamington, Ontario, the addition of Broken Coast establishes Aphria as a Canadian leader in premium indoor cannabis production…
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Fnc.v continues to grind higher. Closed today at multi year high. 9.2 million options granted today to directors and officers at 15 cents.
Comment by Tony t — January 15, 2018 @ 5:19 pm
Gtt thoughts?
Comment by Sooch — January 15, 2018 @ 10:26 pm