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May 8, 2017

Tech-Savvy Junior Captures Cobalt Camp Advantage

BullMarketRun.com Special Report

If you’re looking for exceptional Cobalt opportunities in Canada, no junior is better positioned at the moment than technology-driven Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V) with the deepest roots in this country’s richest Cobalt region – northern Ontario.

Last week, CSR bucked the Venture weakness as it broke out above resistance in the mid-20’s with news of a major underground program of drilling and sampling plus creative plans to create a suite of Cobalt products through a game-changing 100%-owned hydrometallurgical process called “Re-2OX“.  Designed for high recovery of multiple metals and elements from all feeds with varying chemistries, Re-2OX was developed in conjunction with the National Research Council (NRC), the Government of Canada’s premier research organization supporting industrial innovation.

Significantly, Re-2OX is extremely adaptable, and CSR owns a past producing mine where it can immediately source Cobalt from underground.  Re-2OX will convert Cobalt concentrates into value-added, client-specific products (high purity powders) that CSR plans to test market with battery manufacturers.  In addition, SGS Lakefield is testing the Re-2OX process for its potential in revolutionizing how recycling is carried out with spent Lithium-ion batteries.

Throw in the upcoming drill program, together with the underground sampling, and there’s enough news flow, sizzle and excitement for CSR to capture a much broader audience in the days, weeks and months ahead.  Combined with excellent results, that’s what creates massive winners in the market.  CSR has soared 293% this year, and has the most momentum of any stock in the northern Ontario Cobalt region, but what’s even more significant is CSR’s current $10.3 million market cap –  extremely modest compared to some of its neighbors and peers in the industry including Scientific Metals (STM, TSX-V) at $45 millionCSR is just being discovered, and its advantages in terms of technology and critical underground access truly make it the new “Go-To” play among Cobalt stocks focused on Canada.

Castle Mine Gives CSR First-Mover Advantage Underground In Northern Ontario Cobalt Camp

CSR is no newcomer to the Cobalt market or northern Ontario, the world’s 3rd-highest Silver producing region as late as the 1960’s and a strategic supplier of Cobalt for Canada’s critical Second World War efforts.

Cobalt, Ontario, was the birthplace of Canadian hard rock mining after a major high-grade Silver discovery in 1903 sparked a boom even more significant and dramatic than the Klondike Gold Rush.  Fortunes were made as more than 100 mines sprung into operation.   The town of Cobalt became so famous, even the Royal Canadian Navy named a warship after the community – the HMCS Cobalt, commissioned in 1940.

Cobalt mineralization in this region is intimately associated with Silver, but historic operators focused almost exclusively on the more valuable Silver which was also easier to recover.  Miners simply used the quartz-carbonate “Cobalt” veins as a “tracer” to find what they were most interested in, the exceptionally high-grade Ag.  Much Cobalt, therefore, was left behind, and that’s why there’s so much interest in this region now – yes, there are likely still vast quantities of Silver to be discovered beyond the 600+ million ounces already officially produced through 1990, but the potential for this region to supply the world with much-needed Cobalt in this age of new technologies is profound.  Cobalt prices are now at levels not seen in nearly a decade, and more than 50% of global supply comes from the unstable Congo.  Grades in northern Ontario are also higher by orders of magnitude.

In its original form as a subsidiary of another Venture-listed company 6 years ago, CSR began to systematically lay the foundation for what it viewed as an emerging Cobalt market fueled by technology with big future opportunities in Silver as well.  Beginning in 2011, approximately $4 million was invested in 2 of the company’s key properties, both prolific past producers operated as recently as 1990 by Agnico Eagle (AEM, TSX) before the major suspended operations throughout the region due to plunging Silver prices.  Just over 2 years ago, Venture-listed Takara Resources acquired the assets of Castle Silver Mines Inc. and then Takara was renamed Castle Silver Mines (CSR, TSX-V) late last year.

CSR’s flagship Castle mine near Gowganda has an all-important closure plan with the Ontario government and First Nations agreements are also in place.  The main portal has been opened and the company has been granted full access to the first level at 21 m (70 feet) which extends approximately 365 m east-west and 360 m north-south.  An extensive network of tunnels, developed through a major financial investment many years ago, remains in excellent condition.  Only minor rehabilitation is necessary.  The mine features 11 levels and covers a massive footprint.

Visible Cobalt in veins that pinch and swell and continue intermittently throughout the first level has been noted by CSR’s exploration team, which is consistent with BMR’s observations during a recent site visit as well as comments in a large amount of invaluable historical Agnico Eagle data acquired by CSR.  Core was never assayed for Cobalt, or any other metal for that matter, but historic drill results returned Silver grades as high as 1,750 ounces per tonne from the first level.  Mining in the 1980’s was carried out at an average grade of 26 ounces per tonne Ag, more than 700 g/t.

CSR is immediately gearing up to launch its program of underground drilling and sampling at the Castle mine.

Technology-Exploration-Recovery Creates CSR Cash Flow Possibilities

CSR is focused on using its competitive advantages with regard to Re-2OX and its underground access to develop the leading Cobalt brand in Canada.

“With underground access at Castle, a unique hydrometallurgical process and other properties in this district where we have developed deep roots, CSR is powerfully positioned in northern Ontario’s prolific Cobalt-Silver corridor stretching from Gowganda to Cobalt and Silver Centre. We are leveraging our strengths to capture exciting opportunities related to exploration, potential development and clean technology,” stated President and CEO Frank Basa, a hydrometallurgical expert who had multiple roles with Agnico Eagle in this district in the 1980’s.  Basa has assembled an all-star team of geological, metallurgical and mining experts who have decades of experience including renowned underground miner Jacques Monette and geologist Doug Robinson who knows the district like the back of his hand.   

Exploration stocks with an interesting tech twist can really capture the imagination and excitement of investors, and that’s what we see unfolding with CSR in the very near future.  In addition, the company is starting to reach out aggressively to new markets outside of Canada to tell its story.

Powerful 1-2-3 Punch! 

  • Re-2OX for exceptional mineral recovery, energy market and clean tech opportunities;
  • Upcoming underground drilling and sampling – tremendous news flow and high-grade mineralization given history of Castle mine;
  • Excellent share structure – only 37.5 million shares outstanding.

Conclusion

There are multiple moving parts to the CSR story, including the high-grade Beaver mine near the town of Cobalt, which will keep investors vigorously engaged in the months ahead – critical in terms of building shareholder value.  The company is fully funded for its upcoming programs.

If “CSR Rocks with Re-2OX” is one of our upcoming headlines, then investors’ success to date with this play will lead to a summer of celebration.

Note:  John, Jon and Daniel hold share positions in CSR.

Disclaimer:
BullMarketRun.com (BMR) is subscriber-funded, we accept no advertising on our site, and no fee was paid to BMR or its associates for the creation or distribution of this report.  Our stock coverage is for informational and entertainment purposes only and must not be viewed or interpreted as “buy”, “sell” or “hold” recommendations. No investment opinion or other advice is being rendered on any stock or company. We strongly recommend that you consult with a qualified investment adviser, one licensed by appropriate regulatory agencies in your legal jurisdiction, and do your own due diligence and research before making any investment decisions. The stocks we cover, by definition, are highly speculative and potentially very volatile. Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment if they make a purchase or short sale in these speculative stocks. We are not Registered Securities Advisers. Our opinions can only be construed as a solicitation to buy and sell securities when they are subject to the prior approval and endorsement of a Registered Securities Adviser operating in accordance with the appropriate regulation in your area of jurisdiction. It should be assumed that BMR personnel, writers and their associates may hold or dispose of or trade in positions in any securities mentioned herein at any time. Owner/Publisher of BullMarketRun.com is Terry Dyer of Langley, British Columbia.
Forward Looking Statements:

All statements in BMR’s reports, other than statements of historical fact, may be forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or future performance. Forward-looking statements are often but not always identified by the use of words such a “seek”, “anticipate”, “plan”, “continue”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “project”, “predict”, “potential”, “targeting”, “intend”, “could”, “might”, “should”, “believe” and similar expressions.

May 25, 2017

7 @ 7:00

Check our comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information. 7 @ 7:00 is a daily BMR feature while BMR Morning Market Musings is featured Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

1. Gold has traded between $1,254 and resistance at $1,260 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $2 an ounce at $1,256…yesterday’s minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting suggested the central bank could take a more cautious approach to interest rate increases later this year, though another rate hike is still widely expected next month…Silver is relatively unchanged at $17.21…Copper has added 3 pennies to $2.59 while the U.S. Dollar Index is modestly higher, just above nearest support at 97.00

2. OPEC surprised no one this morning as the cartel agreed to extend cuts in production by 9 months to March 2018, hence Crude prices have backed off somewhat on the news that was already largely baked into the price…some investors were hoping to see OPEC actually do more to help balance the market…ahead of a closed-door meeting today, Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy and industry Oil minister told CNBC, “Nine months with the same level of production that our member countries have been producing at is a very safe and almost certain option to do the trick“...WTI has retreated 21 cents to $51.15

3. In another intra-day jump of more than $200, Bitcoin has surged to a new all-time high of $2,790 this morning on strong Asian buying, more than double its price at the end of April…there will be a correction and it could be severe, but it’s unclear if that correction will start from current prices around $2,800 or from some place considerably higher…trade denominated in the Japanese yen accounted for about 31% of trade volume overnight, while Chinese yuan and Korean won accounted for 16% and 12%, respectively, according to CryptoCompare…Japanese interest in Bitcoin has risen ever since the local government approved it as a legal payment method last month…over the weekend, yen-denominated trade volume accounted for more than half of total volume, helping send Bitcoin above $2,000 for the first time…Bitcoin has surged nearly 50% since last Thursday and more than 180% this year…

4.  Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) announced this morning that its recently completed VTEM survey has outlined multiple large conductors at the E&L deposit and surrounding claims in the heart of the prolific Eskay Camp in northwest British Columbia, with new data continuing to be analyzed…each conductor is at least half a km long (up to 1 km) and 3 of them appear to be part of the same mineralized system over a 3 km trend…EM response south of the known mineralized zone also confirms the potential for massive sulphides…significantly, each of the 5 conductors features core areas of B-field responses, indicative of highly conductive bedrock sources as would be expected for significant accumulations of massive sulphides…there is now overwhelming geological and geophysical evidence of a mineralized system at Nickel Mountain that is robust and widespread – likely the largest and richest Nickel sulphide deposit ever found in British Columbia…GGI will commence a field program at the E&L shortly, followed by a major summer drill program…the company has also arranged a $1.3 million financing, mostly for the E&L, but some of the proceeds are being directed toward Mexico where GGI has several promising properties including ground next to Marlin Gold’s (MLN, TSX-V) La Trinidad mine that delivered one of its best Gold intercepts ever yesterday…GGI is up half a penny at 16.5 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…its 1,000-day SMA is now reversing aggressively to the upside for the first time since 2004 when a 10-fold move took the stock to nearly $1 per share…

5.  Barkerville Gold Mines (BGM, TSX-V) has intersected 12.7 m grading 24.13 g/t Au in continuing Phase 2 Island Mountain drilling at the company’s flagship Cariboo Gold Project…the company is currently exploring and delineating the Valley Zone with 4 drill rigs…the new high-grade intercept reported this morning is located 160 m down plunge of the former Mosquito Creek mine at a vertical depth of 100 m below surface…this new faulted occurrence correlates 35 m up plunge to previously reported Phase 1 drill hole BGM-16553 which intersected 56.3 g/t Au over 4.1 m…BGM is up 2 pennies at $1.19 as of 7:00 am Pacific

6. The Venture is flat at 802 through the first 30 minutes of trading…another strong session for Jaxon Minerals (JAX, TSX-V) which is up 3 pennies at 21.5 cents…the Venture volume leader is Skeena Resources (SKE, TSX-V) which is off half a penny at 5.5 cents after announcing a $5 million financing the other day “in the context of the market” – that’s the kind of dilution investors ought to be concerned about…the TSX has gained 63 points while the Dow has added 65 points as of 7:00 am Pacific

7. Scientific Metals has changed its name to U.S. Cobalt and has started trading under that new name on the Venture this morning…the new stock symbol is USCO…CEO Wayne Tisdale stated, “We are excited to announce the rebranding of the company from Scientific Metals to U.S. Cobalt Inc. This change highlights the corporate focus we’ve undertaken at our flagship Iron Creek Cobalt Project in Idaho, USA. We believe strongly that the demand for homegrown and ethically sourced Cobalt will continue its meteoric rise.  Many people are not aware that the current exponential growth in demand for Lithium-ion batteries directly correlates with the increased demand for Cobalt. Cobalt is an essential component of the batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to consumer electronics.  Additionally, the Cobalt supply chains of brands such as Apple, Tesla, GM and Microsoft are being closely scrutinized. In excess of 50% of the world’s Cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC has a deplorable record when it comes to human rights and labour practices. The company is well positioned to provide a solution to this dilemma. There is no question that President Trump and his administration are strongly in favour of developing American solutions to issues such as this and we look forward to being part of that development.”

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Venture Update – The Surprise That’s Just Around The Corner!

Their Last Deal Was Just Shy of a 100-Bagger!

The Best Kept Secret In Canadian

May 24, 2017

7 @ 7:00

Check back later for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.

1. Gold has traded between $1,247 and $1,255 so far today after retreating yesterday from key resistance at $1,260as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $2 an ounce at $1,253Moody’s has downgraded China’s credit rating while minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s early May meeting are due to be released later this morning (11:00 am Pacific)…interest rate futures imply that traders see about an 83% chance of a rate increase next month, up from 79% on Monday…Silver is relatively unchanged at $17.04 while base metals are quiet so far today…the U.S. Dollar Index is down slightly at 97.37 after bouncing off support yesterday…

2. Oil prices are steady at $51.50 as of 7:00 am Pacific with the latest weekly reading on U.S. Crude stockpiles due within the next 30 minutes…data from industry group American Petroleum Institute yesterday showed a decline of 1.5 million barrels…meanwhile, traders are eyeing tomorrow’s OPEC meeting for confirmation that OPEC and certain non-OPEC producers will agree to extend production cuts through the 1st quarter of next year…we’ll have an updated WTI chart in today’s Morning Musings

3. Plenty of buzz on social media surrounding Bitcoin which continues to surge on this final day of “Consensus 2017” in New York featuring 100+ speakers and 2,000+ attendees from leading industry startups, investors, financial institutions, enterprise tech leaders, and academic and policy groups who are building the foundations of the blockchain and digital currency economy…Bitcoin hit a new record high of $2,418 today…

4.  Marlin Gold Mining (MLN, TSX-V) has released one of the highest grade times thickness intercepts ever drilled at the company’s wholly owned La Trinidad mine in Sinaloa, Mexico…hole 17TRD50 intersected 7.6 g/t Gold (5.1 g/t cut) over 63.35 m (26.7 meters true width), including 29.3 g/t Au (13.8 g/t cut) over 10 m (4.2 m true width)…this exploration hole now stands as the 2nd highest grade x thickness intercept at the Taunus pit of the La Trinidad mine since its original discovery in the early 1990’s17TRD50 is surpassed only by the HS Zone discovery hole in 2008 that cut 8.5 g/t Au over 61 m…17TRD50 was an infill hole located 25 m to the north of 17TRD44 which intersected 15.5 g/t Au over 15.45 m (April 2017), and 34 m south of 16TRD22 which returned 6.9 g/t Au over 11 m (May 2016)…the upper portion of the 17TRD50 intercept was previously interpreted as waste and should therefore have a positive impact on the modeled grade and tonnage in this area of the deposit…the company plans to be mining the area around this high-grade intercept by the end of this year…

5. The Venture is off 1 point at 803 through the first 30 minutes of trading…Precipitate Gold (PRG, TSX-V) has just announced that it has restarted its diamond drill program at Ginger Ridge in the Dominican Republic, while Jaxon Minerals (JAX, TSX-V) announced shortly after the open that crews are mobilizing next week to initiate the first phase of its 2017 field program at its Hazelton Property (VMS target) near Smithers…Jaxon also announced that it has purchased and received data from a 2012 Geotech (VTEM) resistivity/conductivity and magnetics airborne survey (464 line km) flown at Hazelton in 2012 that a previous operator had commissioned but couldn’t fully pay for…the TSX has slipped 24 points while U.S. markets are on their best daily winning streak in more than 3 months with the Dow up 28 points…

6. Atlantic Gold (AGB, TSX-V) released more encouraging assay results this morning from ongoing drill programs at its Fifteen Mile Stream and Cochrane Hill Gold deposits where resource definition drilling on 25 m x 20 m centers is designed to upgrade resources to Measured and Indicated categories…highlights this morning are from holes drilled at Fifteen Mile Stream through the core of the anticline, and these are indicating considerable widths of attractive grades which is very positive in the context of open-pit extraction…total widths of significantly mineralized intervals intersected in hole FMS-17124 aggregate to 78 m @ 1.75 g/t and in hole FMS-17113 to 60 m @ 1.73 g/t…the 25,000 m drill program at Fifteen Mile Stream is expected to be completed in a week’s time…the company plans to use the results from the drill programs at Fifteen Mile Stream and Cochrane Hill to undertake further analysis to determine the economic viability of the 2 deposits which would include analysis of the economics of processing mineralized material at the Moose River Consolidated facility by way of a Pre-Feasibility Study…

7. Scientific Metals has changed its name to U.S. Cobalt and will begin trading under that new name on the Venture beginning tomorrow…the new stock symbol will be USCO…CEO Wayne Tisdale stated, “We are excited to announce the rebranding of the company from Scientific Metals to U.S. Cobalt Inc. This change highlights the corporate focus we’ve undertaken at our flagship Iron Creek Cobalt Project in Idaho, USA. We believe strongly that the demand for homegrown and ethically sourced Cobalt will continue its meteoric rise.  Many people are not aware that the current exponential growth in demand for Lithium-ion batteries directly correlates with the increased demand for Cobalt. Cobalt is an essential component of the batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to consumer electronics.  Additionally, the Cobalt supply chains of brands such as Apple, Tesla, GM and Microsoft are being closely scrutinized. In excess of 50% of the world’s Cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC has a deplorable record when it comes to human rights and labour practices. The company is well positioned to provide a solution to this dilemma. There is no question that President Trump and his administration are strongly in favour of developing American solutions to issues such as this and we look forward to being part of that development.”

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Venture Update – The Surprise That’s Just Around The Corner!

Their Last Deal Was Just Shy of a 100-Bagger!

The Best Kept Secret In Canadian Co

May 23, 2017

7 @ 7:00

Check our comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information, and visit us as well for potential additional posts today. BMR Morning Market Musings returns tomorrow.

1. Gold, coming off its best weekly performance since April, has traded between $1,258 and $1,264 so far today as it continues to battle key resistance around $1,260…yesterday, Gold’s 50-day moving average (SMA) crossed above its 200-day SMA, potentially signaling further immediate/near-term gains…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up slightly at $1,262 following a massacre in Manchester last night, a terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert at Europe’s largest indoor arena…22 people, including children, were killed and many more were injured…ISIS has claimed responsibility…President Trump, who has highlighted the evil of Islamist terrorism on his first overseas trip, delivered a passionate speech this morning during which he called on “all civilized nations” to unite against terrorism and “obliterate this evil ideology”…Silver has gained 12 cents to $17.26 while the U.S. Dollar Index is relatively unchanged, trading around temporary strong support at 97…the euro set a 6-month high against the dollar today as the latest economic data from the bloc made for encouraging reading, especially in Germany…

2. Oil prices are up slightly this morning despite the announcement of a White House plan, in its just-released budget, to sell off half of the nation’s 688 million barrel Oil stockpile from 2018 to 2027 in order to raise $16.5 billion and reduce the deficit…the budget is only a proposal ($3.6 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade in a dramatic rethinking of the role of government in the American economy) and the final version will likely look quite different after the House and Senate start playing with it…WTI is up 11 cents to $51.24 as of 7:00 am PacificOPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, and other participating producers will meet Thursday and are expected to extend the period of their pledge to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day from just the first half of this year to all of 2017 and the 1st quarter of 2018

3. The price of Bitcoin has soared to a new record high today of $2,249 (U.S.)…yesterday marked the 7th anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day, widely considered to be the first transaction using the cryptocurrency…if you bought $100 worth of Bitcoin on May 22, 2010, you’d be sitting on around $72.9 million today (seriously)…a number of factors are responsible for Bitcoin’s rise, from increased trading in Japan (recently passed legislation allowed retailers in Japan to begin accepting Bitcoin as a legal currency) to debates over the future the Bitcoin’s underlying technology…

4.  A revised mining code that the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government will present to parliament imminently is the same draft proposal introduced to legislators in 2015 and opposed by industry, Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu has confirmed…a proposed revision of the 2002 mining code was approved by the government in March 2015 and introduced to parliament, but never debated…planned changes include increasing profit takes to 35% from 30%, raising the government’s free share of new mining projects to 10% from 5%, and hiking royalties on Copper and Cobalt by 75% to 3.5% from 2%…the Chamber of Mines at the Federation des Entreprises du Congo, the country’s biggest industry group, opposed the revisions when they were submitted to parliament in 2015. “It would spell disaster for both the Copper and Gold-mining sectors,” the FEC said at the time in a position paper on the new code…the mining and Oil sectors account for about 95% of export revenues for the DRC…Congo’s Copper production jumped more than 20% in the 1st quarter of this year as commodity prices recovered…the Chamber of Mines expects annual production to hit about 1.5 million tonnes in 2018, up from around 1 million in 2016

5. The Venture has posted back-to-back strong weekly advances as it begins to gain traction again above 800…the Index is up another 3 points at 810 through the first 30 minutes of trading as Canadian markets return to action following yesterday’s holiday…there are no spectacular movers on the Venture so far this morning…the TSX has climbed 58 points while U.S. markets are mixed in early trading…

6. IDM Mining (IDM, TSX-V) released robust assay results this morning from its first 6 underground core holes for the 2017 season at the Red Mountain Gold Project, 15 km east of Stewart…to date, 23 underground drill holes have been completed with current drilling focusing on areas up to 300 m north of NI-43-101 resources, proximal to historic high-grade intercepts…highlights of the first batch of holes released this morning include 25 m @ 6.1 g/t Au and 37.7 g/t Ag (infill); 5 m @ 8.8 g/t Au and 53 g/t Ag (AV Zone step-out); 6.2 m @ 12.9 g/t Au and 48.8 g/t Ag (AV Zone step-out), and 1.8 m @ 19.2 g/t Au and 35.6 g/t Ag (AV Zone step-out)…all intervals are true width…

7. Cobalt Power Group (CPO, TSX-V) has commenced a Phase 1 drill program at its Smith Cobalt Property near Cobalt, Ontario…the 1,800-m campaign has 4 main objectives: 1) Expanding the company’s knowledge of the geological setting of known veins that extend from the Deer Horn mine onto the Smith Property; 2) Extending the strike length of those veins from the historic Smith underground workings toward the southeast; 3) Confirming the values from muck pile sampling; 4) Making initial determinations of grade and thickness of the Cobalt and Silver-bearing veins…BMR site visit coverage of the district is scheduled for next week with a strong focus on Cobalt Power plus Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V)…

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Venture Update – The Surprise That’s Just Around The Corner!

Their Last Deal Was Just Shy of a 100-Bagger!

The Best Kept Secret In Canadian Co

May 19, 2017

7 @ 7:00

Check back later this morning for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.

1. Gold, on track for its best weekly performance since April, has traded between $1,247 and $1,257 (200-day SMA) so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $6 an ounce at $1,253 as the greenback comes under renewed pressure…the Dollar Index is off half a point at 97.26…we’ll have an updated Gold chart in today’s Morning Musings – the bulls remain in firm control and it’s just a matter of time before bullion bursts through resistance at $1,260…holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest Gold-backed ETF, fell slightly to 850.71 tonnes during yesterday’s mini-pullback in Gold…base metals are all trading robustly this morning, led by Zinc, Lead, Nickel and Copper on a percentage gain basis…

2. Oil prices are firm again today and are headed for a 2nd week of gains on growing expectations that big Crude exporters will extend output cuts next week to curb a persistent glut in inventories…WTI is up 83 cents to $50.18 as of 7:00 am Pacific as it crosses the $50 barrier for the first time in 3 weeks…not surprisingly, the Saudis and Russians strategically stepped in immediately after Crude slipped below key support at $48, propping the market back up after a mini flash crash to just above next support at $43…meanwhile, the first decline in U.S. production in 13 weeks has also provided some support to prices this week…

3. Bitcoin broke through the $1,900 mark for the first time today, driven by global political uncertainty and key developments within the cryptocurrency world…the digital currency hit a fresh record high of $1,954 (U.S.) before pulling back slightly to $1,943 as of 7:00 am Pacific, according to Coindesk’s Bitcoin price index…the current level marks a nearly 7% rise from a week ago…Bitcoin’s market capitalization now exceeds $30 billion…a number of factors are responsible for Bitcoin’s rise, from increased trading in Japan (recently passed legislation allowed retailers in Japan to begin accepting Bitcoin as a legal currency) to debates over the future the Bitcoin’s underlying technology…

4. Brazil’s President Michel Temer is under investigation in connection with a sprawling corruption scandal, the country’s Supreme Court said yesterday, as opponents called for his impeachment and financial markets plunged in Latin America’s biggest country…the Ibovespa stock index closed 8.8% lower yesterday after declining as much as 10% earlier in the day, prompting the stock market to suspend trading for the first time in almost 9 years…the index has recovered about 2% today…meanwhile, Brazil’s real tumbled 8% yesterday in the currency’s biggest fall in more than a decade…the country’s central bank said it was monitoring markets to ensure proper functioning…

5. Governments that get greedy and raise taxes and royalties to increase their share of mining revenues and profits often scare away investors…Democratic Republic of Congo’s government (the DRC) plans to re-introduce legislation in parliament next week to revise the mining code a year after withdrawing it amid fierce opposition from mining companies, the mines minister told Reuters today…the government of Africa’s largest Copper producer, which also accounts for more than half of the world’s Cobalt supply, suspended consideration of the revised code in March 2016 due to low commodity prices…companies complained that increased royalties and shortened stability clauses would make their projects unprofitable…mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu did not say whether the legislation, aimed at boosting government revenues, would be identical to the earlier proposal…low commodity prices since 2015 have left the government in desperate need of cash and caused the franc currency to lose half its value since last year…the mining and Oil sectors account for about 95% of export revenues for the DRC…Congo’s Copper production jumped more than 20% in the 1st quarter of this year as prices recovered…the Chamber of Mines expects annual production to hit about 1.5 million tonnes in 2018, up from around 1 million in 2016

6. The Venture will post its second straight weekly advance today with new support also indicative at 800…the Index is off 1 point at 800 as of 7:00 am PacificWhite Gold (WGO, TSX-V) came out with major news this morning, announcing a deal with Kinross Gold (K, TSX) that will increase WGO’s control of the White Gold district to 40% while also adding approximately 1 million ounces of Gold grading between 2.7 and 3.2 g/t on the Golden Saddle area based on historic estimates of Measured and Indicated resources on the White Gold Property…following the completion of the land package acquisition and an Agnico financing also announced this morning, Agnico and Kinross will each own approximately 19.9% of White Gold which will also have about $22 million cash on its balance sheet…WGO is up 14 cents at $2.14 through the first 30 minutes of trading…the TSX has climbed 118 points while the Dow has added 85 points…

7. Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V) has further bolstered its cash position, closing the first tranche of an previously unannounced hard dollar private placement for gross proceeds of $500,000 (2.5 million units at 20 cents)…the company says it expects to soon close the second and final tranche for up to an additional $250,000…the move comes just a couple of weeks after the company unveiled its unique Re-2OX hydrometallurgical process to create high-purity Cobalt powders for end-users in the battery sector…equipment and personnel have been mobilized to the Castle mine site in preparation for an extensive underground drilling and sampling program…

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Venture Update – The Surprise That’s Just Around The Corner!

Their Last Deal Was Just Shy of a 100-Bagger!

The Best Kept Secret In Canadian Cobalt

May 18, 2017

7 @ 7:00

Check back later today for potential additional posts and tomorrow morning for BMR Morning Market Musings.

1. This is a special early edition of 7 @ 7:00 due to travel in preparation for some BMR special coverage…Morning Musings returns tomorrow…Gold, after yesterday’s strong surge, traded between $1,253 and $1,263 overnight…as of 3:00 am Pacific, bullion is unchanged at $1,261…the metal is aiming for a 6th straight winning session today…immediate resistance is $1,260 which is also just $3 above the 200-day moving average (SMA)…the U.S. Dollar Index has broken below a short-term downtrend line as it faces continued pressure…the greenback has recovered slightly this morning but the outlook for the balance of the year is growing increasingly negative from at least a technical standpoint, and that’s bullish for both Gold and the Venture

2. Crude Oil prices are trying to reestablish support at $48 a barrel…U.S. data yesterday showed that stockpiles of Oil and fuel continued to drop and Oil production slipped for the first time since February…U.S. oil stocks fell by 1.75 million barrels last week, the 6th consecutive weekly decline, as refiners ramped up their purchases of Crude, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration…the decline fell short of the 2.2 million barrel decline forecast by analysts and traders, but was a more bullish figure than the 882,000 barrel increase reported Tuesday by the American Petroleum Institute…stockpiles of gasoline and diesel fuel also fell last week, and the relentless rise in U.S. Oil production paused for the first time in 13 weeks (fell by 9,000 bpd) as falling production in Alaska offset increases elsewhere…

3. Canadian Oil output is expected to hit an all-time high this year at around 4.7 million barrels a day – growth of around 200,000 bpd as some long-planned projects come online…just like American shale drillers across the border, Canadian producers have also benefited from improved technologies and increased efficiency as they cut costs…earlier this month, the number of rigs drilling for Oil rose to an annual average of 86, the highest since December 2015, according to data from Oil services provider Baker HughesCenovus Energy (CVE, TSX), one of Canada’s biggest Oil sands producers, says it has cut per-barrel operating costs by 30% between 2014 and 2016…the company expects its production to double this year, helped by expanding capacity and new acquisitions…yesterday, CVE announced that it has closed its previously announced purchase of assets in Western Canada from ConocoPhillips after receiving all necessary regulatory approvals for the transaction…investors have reacted negatively to that deal announced at the end of March as it increased Cenovus debt and pushed it into the largely unknown territory of Natural Gas…

4. The Venture’s 5-session winning streak was snapped yesterday, though the Index lost just a fraction of a point to close at 807.87 after hitting an intra-day new monthly high of 813…the Venture’s EMA(8) and EMA(20) have each reversed to the upside and have converged at 800 which is new Venture support again after the Index closed below that level for 9 straight trading days…May will finish much differently for the Venture than it began…U.S. markets had their worst day of the year yesterday as mainstream media hysteria over Everything Trump injected some fear into the equity markets…the Dow lost 370 points, recording its worst day since September last year…on the data front today, U.S. jobless claims and the Philly Fed Survey will both be released at 5:30 am Pacific

5. Nighthawk Gold (NHK, TSX-V) hit a new 5-year high of $1.15 yesterday as the company announced that it has received conditional approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange to graduate from the Venture and list its common shares on the TSX where it will continue to use the stock symbol NHKNighthawk started a 25,000-m drill program early last month at its 100%-owned Indin Lake Gold Property in the Northwest Territories which includes the Colomac Project and multiple other targets within a highly prospective regional package with obvious multi-million ounce potential…

6.  With Gold trading at more than $1,700 CDN, juniors with significant ounces in the ground and near-term production possibilities have become very attractive takeover targets as demonstrated earlier this week when Eldorado Gold (ELD, TSX) announced it’s acquiring Integra Gold (ICG, TSX-V) in a deal valued at nearly $600 million…we can’t help but think that Granada Gold (GGM, TSX-V) is drawing some attention from certain players after releasing a resource update Tuesday…it was highlighted by a maiden Inferred resource of 10.4 million tonnes grading 4.6 g/t Au (1.5 million ounces) at a cut-off grade of 1.5 g/t Au over 600 m of strike length in a new discovery area at depth immediately north of its previously outlined LONG Bars Zone near-surface deposit at the Granada Gold Property near Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec…only a fraction of the total area of 1.8 km x 2.1 km north of the Measured and Indicated LONG Bars Zone has been drill-tested, and GGM will be targeting additional tonnage and even higher grades in this under-explored part of the property…meanwhile, the company’s updated Block Model reveals 4.98 million in situ ounces at Granada (1.53 million M&I, 3.45 million Inferred) in areas drilled to date, nearly double the amount estimated in the initial 2012 Block Model…DRA Global, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated engineering firms, continues to examine innovative solutions to put the open-pit deposit into production…technically, GGM has confirmed a breakout above 7 cents and a downsloping channel going back 1 year…Secutor Capital’s flow-through share supply is also rapidly dwindling and the near-term removal of that supply from the market will have bullish implications…

7. EnGold Mines (EGM, TSX-V) released assay results last night from 2 more drill holes at its Lac La Hache Property, but nothing spectacular…best result came from G1707 which targeted mineralization 50 m south of G1703G1707 intercepted 6.05 m from 351.25 to 357.3 m downhole grading 1.01% Cu, 0.18 g/t Au and 8.02 g/t Ag…assays are pending from holes G1709 and G1710, which targeted intercepts 50 m west and east of holes G1704 and G1703, respectively, and encountered mineralization over significantly narrower widths than holes G1601, G1703 and G1704…an intercept of approximately 11 m from hole G1711, located 50 m north of discovery hole G1601, is now being prepared for assay…holes G1712 and G1713 are still in progress…mineralization appears to be narrowing to the south, east and west, as suggested by the local magnetic and gravity geophysical anomalies in the discovery area…the anomalies define a trend extending to the north of the discovery hole where EnGold will continue to test potential extension of the zone…EGM still commands a market cap in excess of $80 million after yesterday’s 45-cent close…

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Venture Update – The Surprise That’s Just Around The Corner!

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The Best Kept Secret In Canadian Cobalt

May 17, 2017

7 @ 7:00

Check back later today for an evening edition of Daniel’s Den (BMR Morning Musings returns Friday as Jon is travelling on special assignment).

1. This is a special early edition of 7 @ 7:00 due to travel in preparation for some BMR special coverage…Gold, at a 2-week high with growing evidence of significant further upside potential through the balance of this quarter, has traded between $1,241 and $1,247 so far today as it continues to benefit from political distractions in Washington, concerns over North Korea and a U.S. dollar that continues to suffer technical deterioration…the Dollar Index has fallen to its lowest level since early November; increasingly, the trend in the greenback for the balance of the year is looking unfavorable and that’s bullish for commodities and the Ventureas of 3:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $9 an ounce at $1,246…the Fed is still expected to raise interest rates next month, though futures traders have cut the odds from 100% to about 75%…what will the Fed be able to do after June 14 is the question many traders are starting to ask and that’s one reason why the greenback has come under pressure…

2. The world’s two biggest Oil producers, Russia and Saudi Arabia, sent Crude prices higher yesterday with a rare joint statement that output cuts should be extended into March 2018…the Russia-Saudi message is the strongest signal yet that OPEC and a coalition of producers outside the cartel will continue their efforts to influence Oil prices by cutting supply, despite production increases in North America and elsewhere…OPEC’s 13 members and 11 non-OPEC producers agreed last year to cut almost 1.8 million barrels a day through June in hopes of bringing supply and demand back into balance…those efforts have been more challenging than expected but are yielding some results…WTI, trying to reclaim support above $48, is off slightly at $48.53 as of 3:00 am Pacific

3. The Venture posted its 5th straight advance yesterday, closing at 808 and just 1 point below its monthly high which came on May 1…one notable mover yesterday was Barkerville Gold (BGM, TSX-V) which closed at a new 4+ year high of $1.26…markets will take the path of least resistance and the Venture’s superb support in the high 700’s appears more powerful than resistance around 850 as the bull market prepares for its next phase…futures are pointing toward a lower open on Wall Street this morning…

4. Nighthawk Gold (NHK, TSX-V) climbed 8 cents yesterday to close at a new 5-year high of $1.06, confirming a breakout above 97 cents Fib. resistance on a long-term monthly chart…Nighthawk started a 25,000-m drill program early last month at its 100%-owned Indin Lake Gold Property in the Northwest Territories which includes the Colomac Project and multiple other targets within a highly prospective regional package with obvious multi-million ounce potential…

5.  Granada Gold (GGM, TSX-V) has revealed a maiden high-grade Inferred resource of 10.4 million tonnes grading 4.6 g/t Au (1.5 million ounces) at a cut-off grade of 1.5 g/t Au over 600 m of strike length in a new discovery area at depth immediately north of its previously outlined LONG Bars Zone near-surface deposit at the Granada Gold Property near Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec…only a fraction of the total area of 1.8 km x 2.1 km north of the Measured and Indicated LONG Bars Zone has been drill-tested, and GGM will be targeting additional tonnage and even higher grades in this under-explored part of the property…meanwhile, the company’s updated Block Model reveals 4.98 million ounces at Granada (1.53 million M&I, 3.45 million Inferred) in areas drilled to date, nearly double the amount estimated in the initial 2012 Block Model, a figure that along with the new high-grade underground resource will draw the attention of several companies that could be looking at Granada…DRA Global, one of the world’s leading vertically integrated engineering firms, continues to examine innovative solutions to put the open-pit deposit into production…technically, GGM has confirmed a breakout above 7 cents and a downsloping channel going back 1 year…Secutor Capital’s flow-through share supply is also rapidly dwindling and the near-term removal of that supply from the market will have bullish implications…

6.  RJK Explorations (RJX.A, TSX-V) is getting a $1 million boost to its treasury, a major development for a company with just 17 million shares outstanding…RJK has entered into a purchase agreement with New Gold (NGD, TSX) to sell to the producer all of its interest in its claims in the Blackwater district of British Columbia for total cash consideration of $1 million as NGD continues to consolidate the Camp…the sale is expected to close by the end of next month immediately following anticipated approval from RJK shareholders at a special meeting June 26RJK is current in the midst of a drill program at its very prospective high-grade Maude Lake Gold Property north of Kirkland…

7. Marathon Gold (MOZ, TSX) has released its updated financials, showing the company had $5 million cash on hand at the end of March…it’s also in the process of completing a $16 million bought deal this month through a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets…the proceeds from the financing will fund an aggressive program of infill and extension drilling at the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits; exploration drilling focused on showings between the Victory Northeast area and the Leprechaun deposit and extensions of the Spite deposit with favorable geophysical characteristics; a summer field exploration program including mapping, geochemical soil sampling and prospecting focused on the northeastern part of the Valentine Lake Property where there are indications of Gold mineralization but limited historical exploration activity; advanced environmental studies which will be used in economic studies on the project and for permitting; and a preliminary economic assessment following a resource update to incorporate the results of Marathon’s aggressive 2017 drilling program…MOZ closed at $1.15 yesterday and is viewed as one of our top Gold stocks for 2017

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Undervalued Quebec Gold Play on Verge of Fresh Catalysts

Venture Update – The Surprise That’s Just Around The Corner!

Their Last Deal Was Just Shy of a 100-Bagger!

The Best Kept Secret In Canadian

May 16, 2017

7 @ 7:00

Visit our comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information, and check BMR later today for today possible separate post(s).

1. This is a special early edition of 7 @ 7:00 due to travelGold is up slightly as of 5:00 am Pacific, trading in a narrow range overnight between $1,232 and $1,236…bullion has demonstrated its very strong technical support in the low $1,200’s in recent sessions and respected TD Securities‘ commodity analysts Bart Malek and Ryan McKay see no reasons, not even a Fed rate hike, for Gold to fall below the $1,200 floor.  “The FOMC will continue to be very gentle in how it removes monetary accommodation,” they wrote in a report.   “A more robust hawkish attitude would only occur if they thought the economy will grow fast enough to place them behind the curve. Still, the risk that they do fall behind the inflation curve, as seen through the eyes of the Gold market, and equity market correction risk suggest investors don’t abandon Gold.”

2. Global Oil markets are on course to reach a supply-demand balance in 2017, the International Energy Agency (EIA) stated today in its closely-watched monthly report issued just 9 days before OPEC’s much anticipated ministerial meeting.  “In the first quarter of 2017, we might not have seen a resounding return to deficits but this report confirms our recent message that re-balancing is essentially here and, in the short term at least, is accelerating,” the IEA said…meanwhile, OPEC appears poised to extend Oil production cuts at its upcoming meeting, perhaps through the 1st quarter of 2018, with most investors expecting the 13-member cartel to continue with its attempts to eliminate a global supply overhang which has depressed prices to less than half their 2014 high…the EIA’s overall outlook for non-OPEC countries, 11 of which are voluntarily cutting production to support OPEC, shows growth of nearly 600,000 barrels a day in 2017, up from last month’s forecast of 490,000 barrels a day…

3.  Commodity prices historically perform the best when the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, a study from Goldman Sachs shows…annual returns for the S&P GSCI Commodity Index average 19% when the Fed is raising rates in response to a strengthening economy…the Fed has forecast 2 more rate increases this year with the next one likely June 14…that hike could prove to be the trigger for a major summer advance in commodities and the Venture

4. The Venture posted its 4th straight advance yesterday with its best session in 2 months, an 11-point climb on strong volume as the Index finished at a monthly closing high of 805…markets will take the path of least resistance and the Venture’s superb support in the high 700’s appears more powerful than resistance around 850 as the bull market prepares for its next phase…in New York, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ closed at record highs yesterday on strength in Oil and tech stocks…

5.  Quebec Gold stocks grabbed investors’ attention yesterday as Eldorado Gold (ELD, TSX) announced it’s acquiring Integra Gold (ICG, TSX-V) in a deal valued at approximately $600 millionIntegra’s principal asset is the Lamaque Project near Val-d’Or which hosts an NI-43101 Indicated resource of 5.1 million tonnes at a grade of 9.13 g/t Au and an Inferred resource of 3.5 million tonnes at a grade of 7.94 g/t Au, at a cut-off of 5 g/t…just down the Golden Highway from Lamaque is Granada Gold’s (GGM, TSX-V) Granada deposit, and this morning GGM released an updated NI-43101 resource estimate and Global Classified Block Model for Granada with the big surprise being a 10 million tonne maiden Inferred resource grading 4.6 g/t Au (1.5 million ounces) immediately north of the previously known near-surface deposit which is already permitted for production based on the Company’s 2014 Pre-Feasibility Study…GGM stated, “The ‘heat engine’ for Granada mineralization is believed to exist in the northwest part of the property, a high priority untested area now referred to as the ‘Genesis Target’ that includes a large granite intrusion and intense shearing immediately south of the Cadillac fault.  An initial Inferred underground resource of 10,386,500 tonnes grading 4.56 g/t Au at a cut-off grade of 1.5 g/t Au (1.5 million oz. Au) has been outlined along 600 m of strike east of Genesis based on drilling by Granada Gold in late 2016 and early this year.  This is a major development in the evolution of the Granada Property and even higher grades are being targeted in the discovery area and to the west-northwest at Genesis which has never been previously drilled. Significantly, only a fraction of the total area (1.8 km north-south x 2.1 km east-west) north of the LONG Bars Zone Measured and Indicated near-surface resource has been drill-tested, further solidifying Granada as one of the premier exploration and development opportunities along the prolific Cadillac Trend.”  Meanwhile, GGM’s updated Block Model reveals 4.98 million ounces at Granada (1.53 million M&I, 3.45 million Inferred) in areas drilled to date, nearly double the amount estimated in the initial 2012 Block Model…GGM closed yesterday at 7.5 cents for a market cap of just $29 million

6.  In British Columbia, New Gold (NGD, TSX) has decided to pay Parlane Resource (PPP, TSX-V) $2.5 million for its Big Bear Property immediately northwest of New Gold’s Blackwater deposit…while that’s less value than what Parlane was hoping for from Big Bear, it’s nonetheless $2.5 million cash to give the company close to $3 million in the bank…Parlane has only 15 million shares outstanding, so that’s 20 cents per share in cash and the stock closed yesterday at 14.5 cents…the Big Bear sale is subject to a Parlane shareholder vote next month…deal is expected to close by the end of June…

7. Marathon Gold (MOZ, TSX) released updated financials last night, showing the company had $5 million cash on hand at the end of March…it’s also in the process of completing a $16 million bought deal this month through a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets…the proceeds from the financing will fund an aggressive program of infill and extension drilling at the Marathon and Leprechaun deposits; exploration drilling focused on showings between the Victory Northeast area and the Leprechaun deposit and extensions of the Spite deposit with favorable geophysical characteristics; a summer field exploration program including mapping, geochemical soil sampling and prospecting focused on the northeastern part of the Valentine Lake Property where there are indications of Gold mineralization but limited historical exploration activity; advanced environmental studies which will be used in economic studies on the project and for permitting; and a preliminary economic assessment following a resource update to incorporate the results of Marathon’s aggressive 2017 drilling program…MOZ closed at $1.15 yesterday and is viewed as one of our top Gold stocks for 2017

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Undervalued Quebec Gold Play on Verge of Fresh Catalysts

Venture Update – The Surprise That’s Just Around The Corner!

Their Last Deal Was Just Shy of a 100-Bagger!

The Best Kept Secret In Canadian Cobalt!

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