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Gold is softer this morning ahead of today’s Fed policy statement…as of 6:25 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $10 an ounce at $1,656…Silver is off 22 cents at $31.83…Copper has retreated 3 pennies to $3.76…Crude Oil is 56 cents lower at $98.39 while the U.S. Dollar Index is up nearly half a point at 80.19…

Dow futures as of 6:25 am Pacific are pointing to a modestly lower open…the Venture Exchange closed down 13 points on profit-taking yesterday to 1576…the Index is looking very strong and has plenty of support, so we view any additional weakness as an opportunity right now…

Fed Could Influence Markets Today

The Federal Reserve is set to issue its latest policy statement at 12:30 pm eastern today, followed by chairman Ben Bernanke’s news conference at 2:15 pm…the Fed is widely expected to keep monetary policy on hold with forecasts expected to show interest rates will be near zero for at least two more years…today’s new conference will include details of where Fed members expect the federal funds rate to be at the end of each of the next three years, and when they expect the first rate hike will occur…

Obama’s Campaign Speech

President Obama’s State of the Union address last night was more of the same from this President – government is the solution to America’s problems, an approach that really goes contrary to American tradition…Obama put very little emphasis on the debt and spoke at length about how government can do this, that and just about everything else at a time when it’s almost broke…how does that make any sense?…people’s expectations of government need to be reduced at this time, not inflated, and individuals need to exhibit more personal responsibility…one certainly can’t expand the scope of government in the United States without a major tax increase…of course Wall Street was blamed for the financial crisis (government certainly could never have contributed to it, could it?) and the “rich” need to cough up more to the government in taxes…quite simply, Obama wants to take from those who have and redistribute it to those who don’t…that’s what all good socialists aspire to do…he did not propose fundamental across-the-board tax reform which is necessary…the 2012 elections will be all about the role of government in Americans’ lives…Obama sees government as a positive force…government doesn’t need to be restrained or limited in his view…that’s very much the same thinking that guided Canada’s Pierre Trudeau, and Canadians are still paying for what he inflicted on this country…the only good thing about Obama’s speech last night was that it paints a very clear choice come November…if the Republicans can get their act together, Obama will thankfully end up being just a one-term President…

Europe – Massive Monetary Easing Required?

Europe needs “massive monetary easing” to get out of its debt crisis, otherwise Greece will likely abandon the euro in a year and a half, famous economist Nouriel Roubini told CNBC yesterday…private investors who lent Greece money, such as banks and investment funds, are meeting in Paris after talks on a debt swap that would change shorter maturity Greek bonds for longer maturity ones to give the country more chances to reduce its debt were inconclusive last week and earlier this week…

Silver

One of our readers was asking about the Sprott Physical Silver Trust (PHS.U, TSX) after our piece Monday regarding Silver after we listened to a presentation by Sprott Private Wealth CEO David Franklin at the Vancouver Resource Show…we’re very bullish on Silver and that was before hearing Franklin who called Silver “the investment of the decade”…anyway, below is a chart from John on the Sprott Physical Silver Trust which recently raised $350 million for a major physical purchase of Silver last week…

Seafield Resources Update

More solid results from Seafield Resources‘ (SFF, TSX-V) this morning from the company’s Miraflores Project in the Quinchia District of Colombia…drill hole #24 intersected 167.75 metres grading 1.05 g/t Au and confirms the continuity of mineralization at depth…another hole, #25, has extended mineralization of the breccia pipe to the southwest, outside of the known resource area…Seafield CEO Cesar Lopez is doing a terrific job with this company and we’re convinced it’ll be a great performer in 2012, especially with a turnaround in the markets…Seafield is also working on its Dos Quebradas Property and we wouldn’t be surprised if the company expands its presence in the Quinchia District or picks up additional land elsewhere…Lopez seems very aggressive and determined to make things happen…

BMR’s Rainbow Resources’ Interview

As mentioned yesterday, BMR has conducted an extensive and revealing interview with Rainbow Resources’ (RBW, TSX-V) President David Johnston…we’ll be incorporating that interview into a major article that’s being worked on now…we threw some tough questions at Johnston and he handled them gracefully and professionally…the bottom line with RBW is this…up until several months ago, the stock was essentially a shell…by acquiring Braveheart Resources, Rainbow’s fortunes have changed dramatically and the trading activity the past couple of months reflects that…Rainbow’s new assets include individuals such as Johnston and well-known and respected Calgary businessman Bob Libin, plus an attractive West Kootenay land package assembled and developed by Braveheart…one of the properties (Ottawa) was the #1 producer in the Slocan Mining Camp in the 1900’s with phenomenal grades (approximately 2,000 g/t Ag)…the International Property, though, could be the best of them all…Johnston says he’s eagerly looking forward to the upcoming 43-101 report on all the properties (which will include historical information) in the very near future…I also got the sense he may have some interesting “irons in the fire” as he clearly stated we can expect Rainbow to be very aggressive in 2012…

Below are a few excerpts from my very lengthy discussion with David Johnston that we’ll be turning into a major article…

About Building A Company

“The most important thing is your people.”

About Values

“Integrity – you have it or you don’t, that simple.  You can’t have a little bit of integrity for one thing, and maybe just so much for another.  You have it or you don’t.”

About Life

“All life is, is solving problems.  Case closed.  That’s all it is.  If you get up in the morning and you got problems to solve, you’re lucky.  And if you don’t have any problems to solve, you should throw yourself on your knees immediately and ask God to give you some problems to solve.  When you get up and you got a handful of problems, just get at them.  Start working on them.  I’m a survivor, my father was a survivor.  Most everyone I hang around with is positive.  Negative people don’t migrate in my direction because I won’t allow them to suck the energy out of me.”

About The International Property

“We now have close to 16 square miles around the area we hope to make a mine.  It has been almost seven years of our own development (through Braveheart).  That property was a significant discovery in the early 1900’s but the Depression, the War, access issues and the crown grants being in the wrong hands prevented development.  Access is now excellent, we have the crown grants and the area all around the crown grants.”

About RBW’s Overall Land Package

“When the oldtimers found the outcrops, when they found the rich veins on the surface, they followed them to the end and took the easy stuff away.  Some of the adits we’ve been in, you can see where they mined and went in with hand tools.  They went right by veins they never touched or bothered with.  They never drilled a single hole, ever.  So none of these areas has been drilled.  The surface has only been scratched.”

About Vision And Going Forward

“Building shareholder wealth is our focus.  We have the right people and the right strategy to do it.  And some fabulous properties.  Just watch.”

Additional Charts

John has three additional charts this morning including this update on Arian Silver Corp. (AGQ, TSX-V) which we first mentioned last week when it was trading in the upper 20’s…the company hopes to produce about 500,000 ounces of Silver this year at its San Jose Project in Mexico and will be updating its 43-101 resources after the current Phase 4 drill program which is nearing completion…so AGQ is currently generating cash flow and could benefit substantially from anticipated higher Silver prices as the year progresses…

Note: John holds a position in AGQ (Jon and Terry do not).

Two other interesting situations, from a technical perspective at least, are Huldra Silver Inc. (HDA, TSX-V) and Hana Mining Ltd. (HMG, TSX-V)…John has charts for both below…

Hulda Silver

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in HDA.

Hana Mining

Note: John, Jon and Terry do not hold positions in HMG.