With a gap-up this morning, Gold has traded between $1,215 and $1,224 so far today…as of 7:50 am Pacific, bullion has climbed $19 an ounce to $1,221…Silver is up 48 cents to $17.25…Copper is flat at $2.73…Crude Oil has jumped $1.91 a barrel to $51.05 as a technical rally is gaining stream (in addition, Saudi Arabia has raised prices for Crude sales to Asia for a 2nd month, signalling better demand in the region)…the U.S. Dollar Index, meanwhile, is down one-fifth of a point at 96.43 after Friday’s big drop following release of a much weaker than expected March jobs report…
Friday’s non-farm payrolls report from the Labor Department confirmed what many analysts already knew: The U.S. economy slowed markedly in the 1st quarter, and that virtually guarantees that a Fed rate hike is off the table until at least late this year (in fact, in some circles, there are even whispers of the possibility of QE4)…on Thursday, the day prior to the release of the jobs report, JPMorgan’s economic research team cut their 1st quarter GDP growth forecast to a mere 0.6%, citing poor consumer spending data…some economists, meanwhile, argue that weakness during the 1st quarter was merely a short-term aberration due mainly to the negative affects of cold weather and West Coast port strikes…
Chinese Gold flows, as represented by withdrawals from the Shanghai Gold Exchange, will hit record levels for the 1st quarter of the year…year-to-date withdrawals stood at 561.2 tonnes as of March 20…if this is indicative of the rest of the year, Gold flows could reach 2,300 tonnes or more in 2015, a new record…
It’s worth noting again that SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest Gold-backed ETF, recorded its biggest monthly outflow in March since December 2013…as we commented last week, this can actually can be interpreted as a bullish sign from a contrarian standpoint as the Gold price jumped by more than 15% in the two-and-a-half months following that large December 2013 outflow that pressured bullion down to a low around $1,180…
Gold Short Squeeze On The Way?
Gold last night had its first chance to react to Friday’s jobs report and the corresponding plunge in the U.S. Dollar Index, and the reaction was positive as expected…technically, a confirmed breakout above resistance at $1,200 seems almost certain today…Fib. resistance levels to watch, as outlined in John’s 6-month daily Gold chart Saturday, are $1,217, $1,240 and $1,264…
The possibility of a “short squeeze” in Gold is very real…as Zero Hedge (zergohedge.com) points out in the chart below, there has never been this many investors on the short side of the Gold bet…
Today’s Equity Markets
Asia
Asian markets were mostly higher overnight, though Japan bucked the trend as the Nikkei fell slightly to close at 19398…China’s Shanghai Composite continued to plow higher, adding another 38 points to finish at 3864…
Europe
European markets were closed Good Friday and again today for the Easter long weekend…
North America
The Dow was under pressure in early trading today but has since reversed…as of 7:50 am Pacific, the Dow is up 81 points…
Earnings season begins this week and analysts are concerned about what looks to be a tough stretch, perhaps the toughest since the financial crisis, according to Bloomberg data (a record run by the U.S. dollar will certainly take a bite out of many company’s earnings)…approximately 30% of S&P 500 companies are expected to suffer a drop in Q1 earnings led, of course, by the energy sector…sectors that are expected to do well are financials, health care and consumer discretionary…
In Toronto, the TSX has added 61 points as of 7:50 am Pacific while the Venture is 7 points higher at 690…it appears the Venture will confirm a breakout today above resistance in the low 680’s…
News this morning that drilling is proceeding smoothly and on schedule, 24/7, at International Montoro Resources‘ (IMT, TSX-V) Pecors Ni-Cu-PGE target in northern Ontario…the high-grade discovery potential at depth, given the character of a massive geophysical anomaly and other supporting data, is what has numerous geologists (including those at the Ontario Geological Survey) excited about this project…drilling is now getting into the beginning of the targeted “sweet spot”…we’ve been conducting some revealing additional research on the geological dynamics at work at Pecors, and we’re looking forward to presenting that as part of tomorrow’s Morning Musings…
Venture Long-Term Monthly Chart
This Venture long-term chart certainly seems to suggest that 637 in mid-December marked an important low for this market – hopefully, the final bottom of a vicious bear cycle that started in early 2011…
At the very least, a significant rally is a distinct possibility given the current position of all the indicators…the 680 level is particularly key – this represents long-term support on the monthly chart that interestingly held in December, January, February and March, despite dips during each of those months below 680…
680 is also critical from a short-term chart perspective – if the Index can start to gain immediate traction above 680 on decent volume, as it’s showing so far today, the near-term technical picture would improve dramatically…the Venture is currently on the edge of a potential breakout that could take many investors by surprise with the possibility of a 10% advance this quarter to test resistance around 750 (a major hurdle to clear first would be chart and Fib. resistance at 707)…a weaker greenback and a commodities rally would underpin this move…it’ll be fascinating to see how April unfolds…
Venture 10-Year Monthly Chart
Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) Update
Over the past few weeks, since the news of Garibaldi Resources‘ (GGI, TSX-V) latest high-grade hit at its 100%-owned Rodadero Project in central Sonora State, Mexico, we’ve conducted interviews and fresh research to get an even better understanding of this intriguing area and how it could evolve over the coming months…what is now increasingly apparent, as we first mentioned late last year, the early stage “road map” that led Yamana Gold (YRI, TSX) to a major Gold-Silver discovery in 2007 at the Mercedes Project in north-central Sonora State (Mercedes is now in commercial production) looks remarkably similar to the road map Garibaldi is currently following at Rodadero…
Keep in mind, Garibaldi already has a proven track record in Mexico…this company was the first junior in that country to use hyperspectral remote sensing technology on a wide scale…hyperspectral “hot spot” signatures have been instrumental in the discovery at Rodadero, just like they were several years ago when GGI identified the Don Ese target at San Miguel and sold that optioned ground to Paramount Gold & Silver (PZG, NYSE)…the rich Don Ese vein system is what convinced Coeur Mining (CDE, NYSE) to recently buy out Paramount in a deal that closes later this month…in addition, Garibaldi’s head geologist in Mexico is Dr. Craig Gibson who is highly respected for his 20+ years of work down there – he has been involved in several major discoveries over his distinguished career on a variety of deposit types…
We (and others) would describe Dr. Gibson as a “conservative” geologist – by that, we mean if he says he thinks a particular deposit may have half a million ounces, you can be sure it has at least half a million and probably a whole lot more…he’s not promotional, he just tells it like it is…
Which is why, after our conversation with him, we’re even more fascinated with Rodadero…
Dr. Craig Gibson (BMR photo) who has a distinguished career of involvement in major mineral discoveries in Mexico.
“Rodadero is very interesting because there are so many mineralized areas,” Dr. Gibson stated. “It seems to be at this point that all these targets are potentially part of a large mineralized system. With the type of mineralization, and the wide spectrum of metals, these systems do tend to be large. There are numerous examples in Mexico. None of them are exactly the same but this style of mineralization is known in many places. What’s a little bit different is the number of targets and the fact that one company (Garibaldi) controls much of the district.”
And the number of targets continues to grow with 2 of them now confirmed to be structurally linked – Silver Eagle and Reales…they form what’s now called the “SR High-Grade Zone” which features mostly near-surface Silver at Silver Eagle and then Silver with Lead and Zinc at Reales…the last reported hole at Silver Eagle, SE-14–15, hit bonanza grades at a very shallow depth in a hole collared 150 m north of discovery hole SE-14–01…that was the biggest step-out yet at Silver Eagle, and SE-14–15 returned an impressive 1,307 g/t Ag over 1.5 m within a broader interval of 6 m grading 346 g/t Ag…
While Dr. Gibson is impressed with the shallowness of the high-grade mineralization (generally within 50 m) encountered in drilling so far at Silver Eagle, and sampling results throughout the district that also show the presence of high-grade Gold in addition to Silver to the east, southeast and north of Silver Eagle and Reales, it’s the number of total targets and the fact that they all could be connected somehow at depth that has him so intrigued as a geologist…
One point that we (BMR) overlooked from Garibaldi’s March 5 news is the existence of a large ENE, WSW-trending vein system near the northern edge of Rodadero, approximately 4 km north of Silver Eagle…sampling by Garibaldi has confirmed that this system, which was exploited historically, extends both east and west onto claims (Dolores and El Rey) held by Garibaldi…
Below is a map of the Rodadero Project, taken from the GGI web site, with a couple of our own notes added…the widespread nature of the mineralization, over a 45 sq. km area, speaks volumes about the potential of Rodadero to indeed emerge as an important new mineral camp in central Sonora…tomorrow, we’ll examine how the Rodadero “road map” looks strikingly similar to the one followed by Yamana at Mercedes…
Pretium Resources Inc. (PVG, TSX) Update
Robert Quartermain’s Pretium Resources (PVG, TSX) has much in its favor right now including recent B.C. government approval of its $450 million Brucejack Gold Project, native support, and the strong financial backing of Zigin, China’s largest Gold producer…assuming federal approval, which seems almost certain, construction of the underground mine is expected to begin this summer with commercial production targeted for 2017…the project will create approximately 500 jobs during the 2-year construction period and 300 permanent jobs during its projected 16-year life…
The focus of the Brucejack Project, of course, is the Valley of the Kings which comprises high-grade visible Gold stringers within a lower grade Gold quartz stockwork system…a feasibility study completed in June of last year outlined proven and probable mineral reserves in the Valley of the Kings of 6.9 million ounces of Gold (13.6 million tonnes grading 15.7 g/t Au)…
Technically, Pretium is well-positioned to benefit from an uptick in Gold prices…note the breakout that’s now unfolding above the downtrend line in place since late January on this 6-month daily chart…a bullish “W” in the RSI(14) and a +DI/-DI crossover confirm the direction of the trend…
PVG is up 55 cents at $7.68 as of 7:50 am Pacific…
Niogold Corp. (NOX, TSX-V) Update
With Sean Roosen and Robert Wares at the helm, it’s hard to believe that Niogold Mining (NOX, TSX-V) won’t continue to be a leader in this market…drilling continues to uncover high-grade shoots surrounded by lower-grade halos that characterize the wider, mineralized shear zones at Niogold’s 100%-owned Marban deposit in northwest Quebec…recent results included 15.8 m @ 4.95 g/t Au, including 4.2 m grading 12.58 g/t Au, in hole MB-14–372 at a vertical depth of 120 m…the infill program has been expanded from 40,000 m to 50,000 m as drilling density is being increased on the eastern part of the pit shell…
Technically, NOX has performed exceptionally well in turbulent markets since the beginning of last year…look at the steady uptrend in the 2+ yearly chart below…consistently, NOX has found strong support at its rising 200-day moving average (SMA), currently 30 cents…
Buy pressure remains strong as indicated by the CMF…excellent possibilities here for the balance of 2015 – likely just a matter of time before NOX overcomes resistance at 44 cents as a more robust resource model for Marban appears to be on track for later this year…
NOX is off 1.5 cents at 40 cents as of 7:50 am Pacific…
Columbus Gold Corp. (CGT, TSX-V) Update
Another high-quality play that investors should have on their radar screens as this 2nd quarter progresses is Columbus Gold Corp. (CGT, TSX-V)…
An updated resource estimate for the company’s Montagne d’Or deposit in French Guiana is expected by the end of June after more than 25,000 m of Phase 2 drilling that was completed late last year…all expenditures were financed by London-listed NordGold (the world’s 13th largest Gold producer) as part of a $30 million exploration and development program pursuant to which they can earn a 50.01% interest in the project by completing a bankable feasibility study by no later than March, 2017…the deposit is presently defined over 2,500 m x 400 m and to an average depth of 250 m from surface, so a significant open-pit operation is being targeted here…
Meanwhile, Columbus announced a week ago that it expects to commence a 250-hole, 64,000 m drill program at its Eastside Project in Nevada sometime in May or June…
Technically, CGT held up impressively well through the Venture’s 40% sell-off from September to December last year…the rising 500-day SMA, not indicated on this chart, coincides with Fib. support at 39 cents…strong chart resistance exists in the low-to-mid-50’s – if and when that area is cleared, CGT has the potential to power much higher…
CGT is up a penny at 46 cents as of 7:50 am Pacific…
Silver Short-Term Chart
Silver got a boost recently when it broke out of a short-term downsloping flag that was in place since late January…the metal found support at the bottom of that flag during the middle of last month which was critical, setting the stage for a move higher…
Following the brief pullback from the late March high of $17.41 to unwind temporarily overbought conditions, Silver is showing new strength as April begins given the weakness that has crept into the greenback…
A key area to watch over the near-term will be the first of 4 Fib. resistance levels on this 9-month daily chart – $17.87…
The metal reacted in January at $18.50 – almost exactly at another key resistance level – and then went into a consolidation phase within the downsloping channel…we were waiting for a move above or below that channel, and it came immediately after the Fed policy statement…
In December, Silver finally staged a definitive breakout above a downtrend line from the summer (note how the downtrend line became new support that month)…that breakout gave Silver the fuel it needed to test higher levels in January…
Silver Long-Term Chart
This 34-year monthly chart continues to give hope that Silver could be in the very early stages of a powerful “Wave 5” move to the upside, though we caution that this could take some time to play out (if indeed this theory is correct)…the reasons for such a possible move are also not clear at the moment…
RSI(14) has bounced off previous long-term support which will need to hold along with key price support in the immediate vicinity of $15…
One note of concern on this chart is the sell pressure that has prevailed since the beginning of 2013, after a decade-long period of buy pressure…based on historical patterns, sell pressure could persist for a considerable time yet – though that doesn’t necessarily mean that the price can’t still trend higher…nonetheless, it would be encouraging to see this sell pressure begin to abate…it has eased off only very slightly in recent months…
Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI and IMT.
It has been three and a half months since the drill bit last turned on the Hat project which is being reflected in the DBV share price ; but surely investors have to see the connection between DBV , Dr. Abdul Razique and Antofagasta the mining giant. It is of my opinion that Dr. Razique is well connected to Antofagasta and it is Antofagasta that has great interest in DBV.
Comment by Les — April 6, 2015 @ 8:05 am
Les- Glad that you see the light as many really don’t understand the potential or the reasons for Dr Razique and Pat McAndless joining the team. Here is what I heard, Dr Razique was a contractor for Antofagasta and his job was to evaluate potential projects for them. I heard he evaluated over 30 projects in various countries and guess who he chose to work with???? Although his bio says he was a contractor for Antofagasta until Jan 2015 which is the date he started with DBV. Does anyone think that Dr Razique just walked away from a major like Antofagasta to work for a junior that has difficulties finding money to effectively drill with a market cap of only $8 million? Look at the man’s bio and achievements and this gets me excited knowing that he chose to work for DBV and he is the one that approached the company….it wasn’t Farshad that chased him down to get him on the team with a big salary so that he would leave Antofagasta! I am pretty sure he is working for DBV to confirm what he thinks is there on behalf of Antofagasta a the pieces of the puzzle fit nicely. Also, we know recently that Antofagasta is interested in BC and looking at the companies web site they have an appetite for porphyrys (gold/copper).
Now, look at Pat McAndless’s bio and history. He is one of the top geos in the region with some big discoveries under his belt. After a long successful career with Imperial Metals (climbed up the ladder and finished as VP Exploration which he held for 26 years!) he retired. A year into retirement he is intrigued about what he heard about the HAT and come out of retirement to join the DBV team! Once again, do you think he would come out of retirement following a successful career to work for a company that may taint and overshadow his successes? Who would want to follow up a career like his wasting time on a junior without any hope or potential? I see the only reason why Pat McAndless came out of retirement would be to add another big BC discovery under is belt. Once again, it wasn’t Farshad that went knocking at his retirement house twisting his arm and waving a big cheque in front of him that got him on the team……he approached DBV voluntarily and wanted to be part of the team like Dr Razique did. I wonder why he would do such a thing????
Talent like these 2 chase down promising projects and don’t waste their time unless their gut feeling and experience tell them their efforts will pay off.
Pat McAndless and Dr Razique make up the BC dream team and together they give DBV a huge advantage. They have the experience, background and honest desire to see this succeed. I really look forward to the drilling campaign under these 2 as Dr Razique has full control of the drilling. Pat McAndless came on board right when they were drilling and the drilling ended with the best hole the HAT or the region has seen! Now lets see how these 2 talented experienced porphyry hunters do in finding the high grades. Every drill campaign has resulted in better grades but I think we will be in for a big surprised with the experience of these 2!
I really look forward to the rest of H23 and especially their aggressive drilling campaign they have planned. They plan on have up to 3 rigs going……things could quickly heat up at the HAT soon imo………
Comment by D4 — April 6, 2015 @ 9:25 am
DBV – I guess house #2 RBC doesnt’ agree
Comment by dave — April 6, 2015 @ 10:04 am
WRR – Cmon, lets get those drills turning
Comment by dave — April 6, 2015 @ 10:05 am
Dave- I guess not….lol. Their timing is bad and I wouldn’t be selling right before H23 results. Some will say they might know something about H23 but I am 100% they don’t! They had a large sell order at higher prices for a long time and now I guess they got tired of waiting!
Comment by D4 — April 6, 2015 @ 10:52 am
Hole 23 was drilled in December and here we are in April waiting for some of the results. That does not sit well with me. We were told that the drilling was stopped ”for the Christmas break”. It’s now Easter and they still have not started the drill!!!!!
Comment by Tom UK — April 6, 2015 @ 11:30 am
18 new picture on website of DBV !
Comment by Guy Delisle — April 6, 2015 @ 3:23 pm
Tom UK – Not being able to get those cores to the lab and not drilling through the winter as promised is very unsettling , this has hurt the share price with a number of people getting out .
Clearly , the inability to raise funds has put a damper on DBV efforts to continue the drill program and that Dr. Razique may have wanted to examine all the information available before continuing drilling . Recently DBV has been able raise funds and Dr. Razique is presently on site , I would suspect those cores will be sent to the lab and the drill program to start pdq.
Comment by Les — April 6, 2015 @ 4:04 pm
GGI – Increased volume today. Hopefully Regoci starts the news flow he promised during the last NR. News is due.
Comment by Dan — April 6, 2015 @ 4:54 pm
DBV does not look good… it will test the 10 cents mark…very weak in support. If you want to buy this one now, put a buy at 9.5 cents… you will get it. TH continues to show strength and stays firm at $1.10. This one is still my favourite and good potential to move back to $2 mark. GBB… 3 cents lot will be dumped soon… believe it or not.
Comment by Theodore — April 6, 2015 @ 5:05 pm
The pictures of DBV’s H23 core that were just added look very very good….plenty of pyrite, chalcopyrite and quartz. I think the next batch of results will be a lot better! Results should follow soon.
Although I should have waited a little longer to buy more, I think this flushing out of shares is healthy going forward. Ideally, I would like to see these sellers done and out of shares before H23 comes out so that we don’t have as big of an overhang to eat through on the way back up!
I believe sellers will regret it….drilling to start up this month.
Comment by D4 — April 7, 2015 @ 1:55 am
In DBV’s pictures you can see Farshad’s secretary with Dr Razique….talk about team work…..the whole team is up there helping out!
Comment by D4 — April 7, 2015 @ 2:48 am
Based on the photos and the previous written descriptions, D4, my guess is that this third zone could be around 150 m and should be at least as rich as the second zone…if that’s the case, if you do the math, my estimate is we’ll see a 500-m interval of about .50% CuEq from this hole, and within that perhaps 350 m of 0.70% CuEq which would make this the best hole in the district so far…that will wake some people up as that’s the kind of intercept that leads to a mine, especially if we’re talking about a part of the deposit which is merely the southeastern tip…more knowledge of a deposit makes it easier to find even better grades…we all know about the NW-SE trend at the Hat which is also common to the district – it runs all the way down through all of the Grizzly and onto Teck’s ground…cross-cutting faults (NE-SW) are also evident at the Hat and elsewhere…it’s at the intersection of those structures where you get the “swell zone” in the porphyry system and the likely higher grades…what we’re ultimately going to be looking at here is massive – at the Hat and district-wide…give this a few weeks and it’s Game On…
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 7, 2015 @ 2:53 am
Dan, don’t read too much in to the volume on GGI, I can account for nearly half the volume due to switching from taxable accounts in to non taxable accounts. 6th April is start of new tax year so I hope to avoid Capital Gains Tax by switching out of my trading account. I’ll be doing some on GBB as well.
Comment by Tom UK — April 7, 2015 @ 3:30 am
Jon- I agree with everything except the expected CuEq. Based on how the 400m ended, the pictures (pyrite, chalcopyrite and quartz), gut feeling and opinions of geo friends that have been following DBV- I expect gold grades to be much higher giving us well above .50% CuEq. I hope I am right and you’re wrong…sorry….lol.
Comment by D4 — April 7, 2015 @ 3:30 am
I wouldn’t argue with your assessment, D4…that wasn’t my “best case” scenario…there could certainly be a bigger than expected Gold kick in this next section, as you’re suggesting, we’ll have to wait and see…but still, an interval of 350 m of 0.70% CuEq would be a number that would call the market’s attention…I’m confident with that number if this section is similar to the last or slightly better…the Lab will have the final say…
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 7, 2015 @ 3:43 am
The presence of Pyrite associated with quartz looks very good in gold and probably lots gold disseminated !
Comment by guy delisle — April 7, 2015 @ 4:39 am
Check out hcti. 2 m market cap just signed agreement with company for 20m annual revenue.
Comment by Matt — April 7, 2015 @ 6:25 am
Does anyone know about the core samples from holes ( H 1 to H 5 from anomaly A ) that are pending ?
Are those core samples still on site and are they being prepped to be sent for analysts?
Comment by Les — April 7, 2015 @ 6:46 am
VID will be lifting off soon.
Comment by dave — April 7, 2015 @ 7:43 am
Les, who knows if that core is still on site but if it is, it probably won’t be for long…I would assume that samples from those first 5 holes, in the event they may have missed something, will be sent to the lab at roughly the same time as the remaining core from Hole 23…I would anticipate that by now, they’ve probably had enough time to log everything and prepare the samples for shipment to the lab this week.
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 7, 2015 @ 7:54 am
BMR – Thanks Jon , I had suspected something was overlooked in holes 1 to 5 as only small parts were analyzed and Dr. Razique has seen something upon his obsevation that requires analysts.
Comment by Les — April 7, 2015 @ 8:17 am
It’s possible, Les, that something may have been overlooked; for his own comfort, I believe Dr. Razique just wants to assay core that did not appear interesting to those at the time. And that’s also important to getting a complete understanding of how the Hat Complex is coming together. If DBV is lucky, perhaps there’s a surprise from one or more of those holes. But the key focus is obviously #23 and where they will drill next.
Comment by Jon - BMR — April 7, 2015 @ 1:14 pm
Matt watch that one tomorrow. Huge volumes and many new investors
Comment by Len — April 7, 2015 @ 3:36 pm
Hcti the next blo!
Comment by Matt — April 7, 2015 @ 4:24 pm