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1. Gold has traded between $1,303 and $1,312 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $3 an ounce at $1,309…Silver has added a penny to $15.65 as it continues to grapple with key resistance at $15.75…contrary to the inflows seen in Gold ETFs throughout January, Silver ETF flows have been moving in the opposite direction despite recent price gains, decoupling somewhat from the momentum seen in Gold, with total known holdings down 1.6% throughout the month while the Gold/Silver ratio remains well above the 5-year average of 74, currently sitting just above 83…Nickel has jumped 7 cents to $5.84…Copper is unchanged at $2.82 while Zinc is up a penny at $1.24…Crude Oil has fallen 65 cents a barrel to $53.65 after U.S. Crude inventories rose and the country’s production held at record levels, but OPEC-led supply cuts and Washington’s sanctions against Venezuela are supporting the market…there was more downbeat economic news this morning out of the European Union, the world’s 3rd-largest economy…the EU’s European Commission cut its growth forecast for the euro zone to 1.3% in 2019, which is well down from a 1.9% growth rate forecast in November…the report laid part of the blame for the slower growth rate on U.S.-China trade tensions, but that’s a poor excuse – the Europeans need to get their act together in terms of more growth-oriented domestic policies…in Germany, industrial output in December was down 0.4% from November when a rise of 0.8% was expected…
2. The push against Bill C-69: Key senators are rightfully questioning whether the Trudeau government’s “project assessment” legislation will result in speedier approvals for major resource projects…at a committee hearing yesterday, senators argued the legislation is too complex and lacking in clarity to give industry proponents any confidence that their projects will not be bogged down in interminable reviews, with uncertain results and the likelihood of court challenges when controversial developments are okayed…despite government promises that good projects will be approved more quickly than is currently the case, Bill C-69 has been labelled the “No Pipelines Bill” by critics, with several provinces, including Alberta’s NDP government, demanding significant amendments…in testimony yesterday, senior government officials claimed the legislation contains several features that will make the review process more predictable, including an early planning phase in which parties will identify key issues to be assessed, tighter timelines and greater accountability by requiring ministers to publish reasons for decisions they make throughout the process…
3. In the wrong lane: A poor attempt at “spin” by Timothy Lane, the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, who said yesterday that uncertainty over U.S. trade policies is holding back Canadian business investment and temporarily helping to slow growth…really?…that’s Canada’s problem?…the slow-growth Trudeau economy has nothing to do with over-regulation, poor regulation, a disastrous National Energy Program, and high taxes?…Lane knows the liberal Trump-hating mainstream media in Canada will eagerly use the excuse of U.S. trade policies as the reason Canada is struggling right now…at least he admitted a fact, “The past year has seen an important change in the relative performance of the two economies” (Canada and U.S.)…the same left-wing agenda that wreaked havoc on the province of Ontario has been pushed by the federal government since Trudeau got elected in late 2014, and the results speak for themselves while the U.S. economy – going in a much different direction under Trump – speeds along at a growth rate twice that of Canada’s…what’s more, Trump is promoting the U.S. resource sector while Trudeau is trying to diminish Canada’s resource sector with a greater urgency to get pot to market than Oil to market…
4. Oops – maybe these batteries need more Cobalt!…hoping to increase the appeal of their battery-electric vehicles, automakers have started rolling out an assortment of “long-range” models, such as the Tesla Model 3, Chevrolet Bolt EV, Jaguar I-Pace and Nissan Leaf Plus… under ideal conditions, these products can deliver more than 200 miles per charge and, in some cases, even 300…but as many owners discovered last week as winter storms slammed much of the U.S., cold weather does not qualify as “ideal”…a new AAA study finds that when the thermometer dropped to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, range fell by an average of 41% on the 5 models it tested…“We found that the impact of temperature on EVs is significantly more than we expected,” said Greg Brannon, AAA’s director of automotive engineering…the AAA study appears to be the first to have used standard, repeatable methodology to confirm the problem and compare the effect of winter temperatures on different models…it’s something all automakers are going to have to deal with as they push for further EV deployment…
5. The Dow is off 182 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…in the biggest bank deal since the 2008 financial crisis, BB&T will buy SunTrust Banks for about $28 billion in an all-stock deal, creating the 6th largest U.S. lender…the combined company will operate under a new name and have around $442 billion in assets, $301 billion in loans and $324 billion in deposits, and will rival U.S. Bancorp that has about $467 billion in assets…in Toronto, the TSX is down 23 points while the Venture has slipped 3 points to 617…very solid results yesterday from Marathon Gold (MOZ, TSX) which is up slightly again in early trading…drill holes MA-19–348 and MA-19–349 were strategically located between existing, strongly mineralized drill holes in the open-pit portion of the Marathon deposit…these holes succeeded in intersecting en echelon stacked QTP-Au (quartz-tourmaline-pyrite-Gold) veining with wide intervals of higher-grade intercepts…assays included separate intersections of 23 m @ 3.9 g/t Au and 10 m @ 3.6 g/t in MA-19–348, and 38 m @ 1.3 g/t, 24 m @ 1.96 g/t, and 29 m @ 2.1 g/t in MA-19–349 (near true widths)…those results demonstrate the extensive lateral continuity of the QTP-Au veining into adjacent drill holes both along and across strike…
6. Canopy Growth (WEED, TSX) announced this morning that it intends to increase its total investment in Canopy Rivers (RIV, TSX-V) by $30 million…the investment will be made through a private placement of subordinated voting shares in the capital of Canopy Rivers concurrent with Canopy Rivers‘ bought deal offering of subordinate voting shares for total gross proceeds of approximately $55 million…the financing is expected to close by month-end, after which WEED will own 27.3% of Canopy Rivers (vs. 26.5% now)…Bruce Linton, Founder and Co-CEO, Canopy Growth, stated…“The advantage of a strengthened Canopy Rivers/Canopy Growth relationship is that it accelerates and de-risks execution for invested companies. The strength of the Canopy Rivers’ team, coupled with their selective approach to business development and execution of strategic investments, creates value for shareholders and for Canopy Growth. By increasing Canopy Growth’s investment in Canopy Rivers, we are demonstrating our interest in growing great companies, developing selective opportunities and delivering Canopy’s shareholders more growth,” added Linton…
7. Simon Moores, managing director, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources earlier this week…he was summoned by the Senate Committee to testify on the Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel and Graphite supply chains for energy storage…“Benchmark Mineral Intelligence is now tracking 70 Lithium ion battery megafactories under construction across 4 continents, 46 of which are based in China with only 5 currently planned for the United States. When I gave my last testimony in October 2017, the global total was at 17,” Moores said…he added that these megafactories are being built almost exclusively to make Lithium ion battery cells using two chemistries: Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese (NCM) and Nickel-Cobalt-Aluminium (NCA)…“This means the supply of Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese to produce the cathode for these cells, alongside graphite to produce battery anodes, needs to rapidly evolve for the 21st century,” Moores testified…he presented a chart based on the assumption that all of these megafactories are built and run at 100% capacity utilization…“Under this scenario, Lithium demand will increase by over 8 times, Graphite anode by over 7 times, Nickel by a massive 19 times, and Cobalt demand will rise 4-fold, which takes into account the industry trend of reducing Cobalt usage in a battery,” Moores testified…
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BMR, are you a fan of MXR?
Comment by flyinthruu — February 7, 2019 @ 8:51 am
It’s on our radar screen, flyinthru – certainly looks interesting but more homework required…
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 7, 2019 @ 8:59 am
Jon, are you surprised by the prolonged silence from GGI?
Comment by pole — February 7, 2019 @ 9:33 am
Excellent question pole.
Almost every subscriber to BMR would like to know that answer.
Comment by Marshall — February 7, 2019 @ 10:55 am
Not surprised and not concerned, pole…totally at peace with how things are shaping up at Nickel Mountain…a mine in the making and I’m sure we’ll see more evidence of that when they report next…on top on that, Nickel keeps climbing – gotta love it…
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 7, 2019 @ 11:10 am
Thanks for that Jon. Hopefully we get a NR or two before PDAC.
Comment by pole — February 7, 2019 @ 11:32 am
I’m not concerned either, it’s called sucker fishing in my book… leave it alone and don’t get hooked.
Comment by Laddy — February 7, 2019 @ 11:53 am
I would expect we’ll be hearing a lot before PDAC, pole…
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 7, 2019 @ 12:28 pm
In regards to BAR results GGI didn’t even bother reporting anything under 1% nickel. They have 100’s of metres of .5-.75 nickel which will be important when it comes to mining. Grade is king and high grade with a low grade halo always makes a mine.
Comment by Patrick — February 7, 2019 @ 12:41 pm
Jon, think we hear from CCW tomorrow? Frank likes Fridays.
Comment by Dan1 — February 7, 2019 @ 3:09 pm
News is Imminent, dan1
Comment by miningman — February 7, 2019 @ 5:52 pm
The problem with going too long between news is that investors lose faith and the stock starts to drift downward. If a stock loses 50% of its value then it has to gain 100% to get back to where it was. February is an absolute key month for these stocks, you would think that if they have anything positive to report then we would hear before PDAC.
Comment by Danny — February 8, 2019 @ 4:37 pm
Well, I guess CLM is a big step closer to exploration news…
The last thing in the way of Venture approval of the CLM-Romios agreement was the Technical Report which has now been submitted…looks quite certain we’ll start to get flow from CLM next week, plus likely some others including overdue CCW and GGI…
CRYSTAL LAKE SUBMITS TECHNICAL REPORT
ENTERS INTO IR AGREEMENT
The date for receipt of regulatory approval of the definitive agreement dated Nov. 29, 2018, between Crystal Lake Mining Corp. and Romios Gold Resources Inc. for the option to acquire the Newmont Lake project in northwest British Columbia’s Golden Triangle was extended by the parties to Feb. 22, 2019, to allow for the submission to the TSX Venture Exchange of a National Instrument 43-101 technical report on the project by Crystal Lake. That technical report was submitted yesterday. Terms of the option were set out in the news release dated September 24, 2018.
Investor Relations Agreement
Crystal Lake has retained the services of MarketSmart Communications Inc. (“MarketSmart”), a Vancouver- based corporate communications company.
MarketSmart will work to develop and implement a strategic corporate communications program to increase visibility and exposure for Crystal Lake among industry stakeholders and investors across Canada. MarketSmart has been in operation since 2002.
In connection with the engagement, which is subject to TSXV approval, MarketSmart has been awarded a one-year investor relations contract effective February 15, 2019. Pursuant to the terms of the contract, MarketSmart will be paid $6,000 + GST per month.
About Crystal Lake Mining
Crystal Lake Mining is a Canadian-based junior exploration company focused on building shareholder value through the discovery of new magmatic nickel sulfide deposits and other deposit types using technical excellence in exploration target development.
We seek Safe Harbor.
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 8, 2019 @ 5:58 pm