Gold traded as low as $1,268 this morning but has staged a significant reversal…as of 6:45 am Pacific, bullion is now unchanged at $1,284…keep in mind that Gold is one of the best performing financial assets so far in 2014 with a gain of nearly 7%…technically, it hit an area of very strong support this morning along with Silver which briefly dipped below $19 an ounce…Silver is now up 4 cents at $19.49…Copper is 3 cents higher at $3.04…Crude Oil is trading just below $102, up nearly 50 cents, while the U.S. Dollar Index is relatively unchanged at 79.87…
A Dubai based Chinese mafia appears to be playing a key role in Gold smuggling incidents, especially in South India, according to customs officials in India as reported by Mineweb. “Though it sounds incredulous, investigators have come across enough evidence to indicate that Chinese gangs are hiring operators in other countries and smuggling Gold into Hyderabad, Kerala and other Indian cities,” said Kalyan Revella, Assistant Commissioner, Customs and Central Excise, at Hyderabad…how incredulous that is, we’re not so sure, but India’s flawed policy on Gold imports was the genesis of the smuggling problem…it’s not surprising that India’s Commerce Ministry has now come out in favor of axing restrictions on Gold imports. “The present Gold import policy is workable only for a short distance,” Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher told the media yesterday. “When this policy was conceptualized, it was for a limited objective. The Department of Commerce has taken a very clear decision that this policy is not sustainable in the long run.” He added that the policy needed to be appropriately amended…in order to check India’s rising current account deficit, the government significantly raised import duties on bullion while the Reserve Bank of India imposed additional curbs on the import of the metal to jewellery exporters…
The crisis in the Ukraine continues to heat up which should lend support to Gold…Ukrainian authorities said this morning that five pro-Russian militants have been killed outside an eastern city in Ukraine…Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, says the use of the army against Ukrainian civilians is a “serious crime” by Kiev…the real crime, however, is being carried out by the Putin regime which is clearly doing all it can to destabilize Ukraine as a pretext for what could be a potential invasion…
Today’s Equity Markets
Asia
China’s Shanghai Composite closed at its lowest level in three weeks, falling 10 points overnight to finish at 2057 despite the announcement of further economic reforms…the State Council said yesterday that it would ease restrictions on private sector investments for infrastructure projects in railway, telecommunications, clean energy and pipelines…
Japan’s Nikkei average slipped 141 points to close at 14405…
Europe
European markets are mixed in late trading overseas…Greece has achieved a primary surplus in 2013 – what’s left when interest payments are stripped out, while Portugal has easily tapped bond investors for 10-year cash…
North America
The Dow is off 4 points as of 6:45 am Pacific…Apple dazzled investors with a big earnings beat last night (quarterly net profit of $10.2 billion) while Facebook also reported better than expected earnings…the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased more than expected last week; however, orders for long-lasting U.s. manufactured goods in March exceeded expectations while a measure of business capital spending plans surged, bolstering views of an acceleration in growth in the second quarter…
The TSX is up 10 points through the first 15 minutes of trading while the Venture has added 1 point to 1012…the Venture appears to be poised to confirm a breakout above resistance at 1007…
TSX Gold Index Updated Chart
The TSX Gold Index, which surged nearly 50% from the end of December to a seven-month high of 216 in mid-March, has found consistent support at its 200-day moving average (SMA), currently at 180, and reversed higher after touching 182 in very early trading…a very strong support band, which includes Fib. levels, exists between 175 and 182 and it would be surprising to see that not hold given chart patterns as well as the strength underpinning the Venture which is such a reliable leading indicator of future Gold prices…below is a 6-month daily Gold Index chart…
CRB Index Updated Chart
The behavior of the CRB Index, as demonstrated by this 20-year monthly chart, is additional evidence that the Venture is in a bullish new phase…there are several interesting aspects regarding this chart including the fact that RSI(14) has broken above long-term resistance at 50 which had been in place for more than two years since late 2011…the Index has also blasted through a downtrend line…commodities are headed higher as the year progresses – that’s what this long-term chart is telling us…
Contact Exploration Inc. (CEX, TSX-V) Update
The energy sector is hot as evidenced by yesterday’s announcement from Crescent Point Energy Corp. (CPG, TSX) that it has entered into a $1.1 billion deal to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of a privately held southeast Saskatchewan oil and gas producer with a large Torquay land position and production of approximately 10,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d)…
One of our favorite energy companies is Contact Exploration (CEX, TSX-V) whichstaged an important breakout in December above a horizontal channel in place for more than a year…Contact continues to accelerate its Kakwa Montney play, and is poised for further increases in production as East Kakwa pushes westward…
Technically, CEX has performed in textbook fashion – occasionally retracing to test the uptrend support – as you can see in John’s 2.5-year weekly chart…important resistance is around 38 cents, yesterday’s closing price, and a near-term breakout appears quite possible based on the posture of this chart…CEX is unchanged at 38 cents as of 6:45 am Pacific…
Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. (PNE, TSX-V)
Speaking of energy plays, another rapidly growing company we’ve been tracking is Pine Cliff Energy (PNE, TSX-V) which reported a 775% increase in fourth quarter 2013 production of 6,443 boe per day as compared to 832 boe per day during the same period in 2012…it’ll be interesting to see how PNE handles resistance at current levels, but any pullback in the near future to cleanse an overbought RSI(14) condition on this 5-year weekly chart should be considered an opportunity…if you believe in energy, this is certainly a company worthy of your due diligence…PNE is off 2 pennies at $1.58 as of 6:45 am Pacific…
Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) – Part 3 Of Video Interview With John Buckle
During our recent Sheslay Valley and Hat Property visit, we had the opportunity to meet Doubleview Capital (DBV, TSX-V) consulting geologist and geophysicist John Buckle who has played a critical role in selecting drill targets at the Hat…through our hundreds of hours of Sheslay Valley research, one thing is certainly clear – geophysics has been and is going to continue to be instrumental in drill target selection for all companies throughout this district…the dots are connecting, so to speak, with regard to certain signatures…
Below is the third excerpt of our interview with Buckle which took place inside one of the camp units, hence some occasional background noise and movements…in this segment, he discusses the 11 holes completed before the start of this current program and provides some insight into what could be shaping up at the Hat…Buckle started his career in 1972 with Teck…former president of the Canadian Geophysical Society, and also former president of the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario, Buckle has worked in 10 countries and has several discoveries under his belt…he specializes in porphyry Copper, Gold, Nickel, kimberlite and polymetallic exploration…
Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in DBV.
John and Jon
was curious if you guys had to sign any non disclosure agreements when you visited the DBV camp, in other words were you made privy to any non public info that you cannot disclose or trade on? If you saw the cores is that considered non public info? just curious how that works?
thanks
Comment by Greg — April 24, 2014 @ 4:02 pm
Hi Greg, good point. Things were tight up there, as they should be, especially given the significance of this district and what’s developing. We were not made privy to any info not already in the public domain and all core from the current program was covered up, and I signed off confirming that.
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 24, 2014 @ 4:13 pm
GOOD REVERSAL IN GOLD/SILVER TODAY! ANY THOUGHTS ON GOLD GOING BACK TO 1180-1000 RANGE AS SOME ANALYSTS ARE PREDICTING? THANKS.
Comment by STEVEN1 — April 24, 2014 @ 4:14 pm
News GGI
Comment by ???? — April 24, 2014 @ 4:19 pm
Thanks Jon
also any comment on the GGI nr just released?
Comment by Greg — April 24, 2014 @ 4:55 pm
Greg, just looked at it in detail, excellent start at La Patilla for GGI. The key now will be to build tonnage in this next phase, and broaden this out. Advantages are how near-surface the mineralization is. The fact they’re already going into metallurgical testing suggests they think they can succeed in their goal of putting together a resource that can be easily extracted through low-cost methods, and that’s been the game plan from the beginning for this property. Would have liked to have seen them get under the breccia to the NE of the La Patilla vein system, but that will have to wait for the second round. To get those kind of numbers in first-ever drilling on a property is an accomplishment. Now drilling at Rodadero, so it looks like the plan is to quickly drill Rodadero and Iris, figure out phase 2 drill targets at La Patilla, and then go back to La Patilla. So lots of activity in Mexico. Having said that, it’s still the Grizzly IMHO that’s going to be the big driver for GGI.
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 24, 2014 @ 5:21 pm
GBB ‘s 3 cents buy lot will be filled very soon… sell before 2.5 cents take over in the BUY lot.
Comment by Theodore — April 24, 2014 @ 5:49 pm
Anyone see the dow’s close yesterday? 0.00 pts. You don’t see that very often.
Comment by Tony T — April 25, 2014 @ 1:00 am
Ashburton More Than Doubles Land Position in Sheslay Valley-Acquires Claims Contiguous to Grizzly And Applies for Drill Permits at Hackett
Comment by Martin — April 25, 2014 @ 5:11 am
Nice news this morning!
Comment by Martin — April 25, 2014 @ 5:18 am
Interesting, Martin…good to see ABR has confirmed they’re going to sink the drill bit into the Hackett as it’s within shouting distance of the Hat discovery…we have some pictures of the Hoey showing from our recent visit which we’ll be posting next week – obviously the mineralization is trending NW/SE given the location of holes 8 and 11, the Hoey showing, and the overall district trend…ABR has a great chance there, and they’ve also pulled off a coup IMHO with regard to acquiring Victory’s claims bordering Grizzly West…
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 25, 2014 @ 5:22 am
Jon
any idea when GGI is going to announce their drilling plans for the grizzly?
thanks
Comment by Greg — April 25, 2014 @ 7:32 am
Greg, GGI already laid out an initial blueprint for their Grizzly plans if you look at the March 13 news…if you’re asking when drilling will commence, and precisely where, that’s a scenario they’re working through and is very strategic as you can imagine. I would expect we’ll be hearing from all the players in the Sheslay district in May with regard to their immediate plans and continued progress. Things are going to heat up again very soon I suspect.
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 25, 2014 @ 8:19 am