Gold has traded between $1,290 and $1,306 so far today, after yesterday’s impressive intra-day turnaround following a test of strong support around $1,270…Silver is off 4 cents at $19.61…Copper is up a penny at $3.07…Crude Oil is down 60 cents at $101.35 while the U.S. Dollar Index while Crude Oil is off slightly at 79.73…
The Russia-Ukraine crisis continues to intensify – who knows what may develop over the weekend – and that’s certainly helping to underpin bullion…reports of a pick-up in Chinese demand in recent days is also encouraging as far as Gold is concerned…
Ukraine’s prime minister said today that Russia “wants to start World War III” and Moscow’s veiled threats of military action could start an armed conflict in Europe…Arseniy Yatsenyuk made the comments a day after Russia said it had been “forced” to start fresh military drills just over the border because of increased activity by NATO and the Ukrainian military…
Russia’s central bank boosted interest rates today in a surprise move aimed at reining in inflation while the confrontation with the West over Ukraine escalates…the decision followed hot on the heels of a downgrade of Russia’s credit rating to one notch above junk by Standard and Poor’s Rating Services, which turned up on the pressure on beleaguered Russian assets…Russia’s already-slowing economy has been hard hit by capital flight during the Ukraine crisis…when the central bank lifted rates by 1.5 percentage points in March, it said the move was temporary. “The probability of inflation exceeding the 5% target at the end of 2014 has increased substantially,” the bank said, pointing to the weaker currency as a contributing factor…
Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the largest Gold-backed exchange-traded product, were unchanged for a third day yesterday at 792.14 metric tons…
Goldcorp Inc. (G, TSX) Updated Chart
This Goldcorp (G, TSX) chart from John is telling us that the fun may have just begun in Gold stocks which were despised by so many investors just a few months ago…with no less than three bullish reversal patterns (double bottom, cup-with handle and inverted H&S), the Goldcorp chart is a great example of how encouraging this sector looks at the moment (the inverted H&S is not shown on this 15-month weekly chart for simplicity purposes)…Goldcorp is up 18 cents at $27.26 as of 8:30 am Pacific…
Palladium Soars
Deutsche Bank says it continues to favor Platinum group metals, even though a lengthy South African strike has not meant materially higher Platinum prices yet…the bank cites several supportive influences, including the 13-week-old strike, political crisis surrounding Ukraine which has led to worries about sanctions against key PGM producer Russia, the launch of two Palladium ETF’s in South Africa and robust sales of motor vehicles, which use PGMs for catalysts…
This 2.5-year weekly chart from John shows how Palladium (outperforming Platinum) really broke out earlier this month…Russia is the world’s largest palladium producer, accounting for roughly 40% of supply…
Today’s Equity Markets
Asia
China’s Shanghai Composite ended the week at a three-week low of 2037, falling 21 points overnight to close at 2037…Japan’s Nikkei gained 24 points…
Europe
European shares were down moderately today on concerns over Ukraine…Germany in particular has heavy exposure to Russian companies…
North America
The Dow is off 128 points through the first two hours of trading…U.S. consumer sentiment rose in April to a nine-month high as views on current and near-term conditions surged, a survey released this morning showed…the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan’s final April reading on the overall index of consumer sentiment came in at 84.1, beating an expectation of 83.0 in a Reuters survey and up from 80.0 the month before…the preliminary April reading was 82.6…the headline number was the highest reading since July 2013…
The TSX has shed 55 points while the Venture is down just 2 points at 1013 as of 8:30 am Pacific…
Venture Updated Chart
The Venture has regained momentum after a mild correction of just under 7% between March 11 and April 15 when the Index fell from a high of 1050 to an intra-day low on the 15th of 979…John’s charts correctly called the closing low of 985 on March 27…there is a highly impressive degree of technical strength underpinning this market, and a confirmed breakout has now occurred above the 1007 resistance…“Wave 5” has a target of around 1150…
Sheslay Shakeup
Interesting developments in the Sheslay district this morning…Ashburton Ventures (ABR, TSX-V) has taken out Victory Ventures‘ (VVN, TSX-V) position contiguous to the western border of Garibaldi Resources‘ (GGI, TSX-V) Grizzly Property…Victory is going for the pot (new participant in the medical marijuana chase) while Ashburton is going for the pot of Gold and Copper, so to speak…ABR, showing a good sense of timing, has completed a transaction to acquire Victory’s two claim blocks (“Victory 1” and “Victory 2”) totaling just over 1,700 hectares, and is calling them the “Grizzly West Extension Project”…this ground covers about half (6 km) of the north-south distance of the Garibaldi western border…ABR is now within about 2 km of GGI’s well-defined Grizzly West porphyry target that has yet to be drilled but is open in all directions based on a large geochemical anomaly with promising geophysics…ABR noted that historical data for this area has been reviewed extensively by its geologists, leading us to believe they may have developed some new theories surrounding the Kaketsa pluton and the apparent Pyrrhotite Creek-West Kaketsa-Grizzly West connection…meanwhile, Ashburton also holds the highly strategic Hackett Property contiguous to Doubleview Capital Corp.’s (DBV, TSX-V) Hat Property, and we’ll be exploring the potential of that opportunity for ABR in more detail next week…ABR is up half a penny at a nickel as of 8:30 am Pacific…
Garibaldi Mexico Update
While it’s gearing up for a major exploration/drill program in B.C.’s hottest camp, GGI continues to advance its operations in Mexico…late yesterday, GGI released solid first-ever drilling results from the La Patilla Gold Property in Sinaloa State…five of six holes in the La Patilla vein system hit broad zones of mineralization including some impressive high-grade shorter intervals…the system is open in all directions, so there is both tonnage and grade potential here…we’ll be reviewing the numbers and the drill map over the weekend for a more detailed interpretation in Monday’s Morning Musings, but La Patilla is clearly showing potential in these early stages to develop into a small-scale producer which would be another very significant development for this company…GGI is already carrying out first pass metallurgical testing and is lining up targets for follow-up drilling at La Patilla…meanwhile, GGI is also now drilling at Rodadero (high-grade Silver target) in Sonora State and is also preparing to carry out first-ever drilling at the Iris Project which is in the heart of a robust mining and exploration camp in Chihuahua State…GGI is up 2 cents at 17.5 cents as of 8:30 am Pacific…
Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) – Part 4 Of Video Interview With John Buckle
Doubleview is finishing the week on a strong note with warrant selling pressure having ended, and as speculation begins to mount regarding drilling that started at the Hat more than three weeks ago to follow up discovery holes HAT-08 and HAT-11…DBV is up 4 cents at 25 cents as of 8:30 am Pacific…
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 fourth excerpt of our interview with Buckle which took place inside one of the camp units, hence some occasional background noise and movements…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 GGI, DBV and ABR.
Jon went into all John Buckle interview, very interesting, lurn alot, this hole area will be for sale in a not to distant future :-). But for now does not worth nothing or so, 55 000 @ 0.05 trade yet
Comment by Martin Dagenais — April 25, 2014 @ 11:39 am
for ABR, i mean, AIX is not doing nothing itheir
Comment by Martin Dagenais — April 25, 2014 @ 11:44 am
Just to provide some clarification on Ashburton’s recent ‘take-out’ of Victory Venture’s claim holdings along the west side of Garibldi’s Sheslay-Grizzly property.
It looks as though Victory has made a smart decision making a great option deal with Ashburton on a piece of ground that currently has no proven mineral potential. If Ashburton gets some encouragement this summer, both Victory and Ashburton will come out winners.
Also, no worries about Victory Ventures ‘going to pot’. Victory Ventures is first and foremost in the mineral exploration business and is currently`seeking new opportunities to enhance shareholder value
Comment by Greg — April 25, 2014 @ 12:19 pm
Another 688,000 shares GBB dumped at 3 cents… 3 cents lot coming to an end and 2.5 cents, are you guys ready?
Comment by Theodore — April 25, 2014 @ 6:09 pm
a good read here:
321gold.com/editorials/hamilton/hamilton042514.html
Comment by STEVEN1 — April 25, 2014 @ 6:59 pm
It’s good to see the overhang of the DBV warrants being exercised and out of the way! the stock looks clean and good to move back up now! wonder how much they raised?
Comment by STEVEN1 — April 26, 2014 @ 6:43 am
STEVEN1, previously there have been NRs detailing how much cash has been raised from exercise of warrants. There is a fair chance that the 1st hole will be reported this week, maybe Farshad will also give details of how much cash he has raised. I’d also like to hear how much drilling this will fund, as they will have to do a PP in the not to distant future. The more holes they drill with positive results, the less dilution there will be as the PP will be done at a higher share price (hopefully).
Comment by Tom — April 26, 2014 @ 11:17 am
Thanks Tom! Let’s hope this area gets going as we see more companies start to explore and drill as drilling season begins up there in a big way!
Comment by STEVEN1 — April 26, 2014 @ 5:56 pm
Hey Jon, what do we have to do to get this thing going, I mean not us, but the market! we have grade comparable to Galore, Red Cris, … wider distance , i mean what is next!
Comment by Martin Dagenais — April 27, 2014 @ 12:31 pm
It has to hit critical mass, Martin, and I think it’s definitely edging closer to that…several important catalysts are just around the corner from PGX drilling to DBV results to GGI drilling to other activity in the area to an overall increasing awareness of the Sheslay district…the “herd” is still behind the geological developments and the overall story…to make money, you accumulate ahead of the herd…the big money is made when the herd eventually gets ahead of the story…that’s if you eventually take profits off the table, of course, when the masses are fully engaged…we are in the very fortunate position of being in on the ground floor of what I’m convinced is going to be one of the most dramatic area plays through the rest of 2014 that B.C. has witnessed in many years with multiple discoveries…the geology speaks to that…relax and enjoy the next number of months because they’re going to be a lot of fun IMHO…
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 27, 2014 @ 12:55 pm