Gold has traded between $1,053 and $1,072 so far today…as of 8:50 am Pacific, bullion is up $15 an ounce at $1,066…Silver is 42 cents higher at $14.11…Copper has jumped a nickel to $2.11…Crude Oil is up 57 cents at $35.52 while the U.S. Dollar Index is down more than one-tenth of a point at 98.80…
Bullion suffered its biggest single-day drop since July 20 yesterday as it came within a few dollars of a near 6-year low reached on December 3…holdings in exchange-traded products shrank the most in 2 weeks yesterday to the lowest level in more than 6 years…since 2013, around 38 million ounces of Gold ETF holdings have been liquidated globally, bringing total holdings to around 50 million ounces from the all-time high, according to UBS data…
The Gold ETF market saw steady growth for a decade, reaching an all-time high of 88 million ounces in 2012…the first annual net outflow only occurred in 2013 and selling has continued since, albeit at a much slower pace…the bulk of the buying seemed to have occurred in two waves according to UBS…the first wave was when Gold was trading between $800 and $1,000 – about 43 million ounces gross buying occurred around those levels…the second wave came when Gold was trading above $1,200, where an additional 59 million ounces of gross Gold ETF purchases were made (selling pressure has come from that second wave)…
Central Bank Moves
While the Bank of Mexico raised its policy rate yesterday, in a move that is expected to help protect the value of the peso, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, and the People’s Bank of China are pursuing easing policies to bolster flagging domestic demand…Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates each raised key interest rates yesterday to keep pace with the Fed, while Taiwan cut its benchmark rate to combat a recession…the Bank of Canada, meanwhile, is expected to keep rates on hold for quite some time, no matter what the Fed does – hence the loonie fell to a more than 11-year low yesterday, breaking support at 72.50…the loonie is down about 17% this year – 2008 was the only year that was worse at 18.6%…
Why Pull Our CF-18’s?
The Canadian fighter jets that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to pull out of Iraq played a key role in helping kill scores of ISIS terrorists in a battle around Mosul late Wednesday, it has been reported…ISIS initially mounted a major offensive, using car bombs, suicide bombers, small arms and even bulldozers, striking multiple sites in northern Iraq…however, Kurdish Peshmerga forces backed by U.S., Canadian, British and French support were able to rout these thugs in a 17-hour counter-attack that left more than 200 ISIS terrorists dead, according to U.S. defense officials…Trudeau has yet to give a valid reason why he wants Canada’s CF-18’s removed from this war, especially following the recent ISIS attacks in Paris and the terrorist shootings in San Bernardino…
Crude Oil Update
Goldman Sachs sees further weakness for Oil due to the worsening of already weak fundamentals after OPEC held back from cutting production at its recent meeting…the investment bank is standing by its prediction of $20 a barrel bottom…Goldman says the rebalancing is “far from achieved” as U.S. rig count and exploration and production guidance are “too high” for the required supply decline…OPEC is also likely to pump aggressively toward the high-end of Goldman’s 32-million-barrel a day forecast as Iran resumes production after U.S. sanctions are lifted over the next few months. “Despite the fiscal challenges that low Oil prices create now, the alternative (for OPEC) of cutting production reduces long-term revenues instead,” said the Goldman Sachs analysts…
The global supply glut that has brought prices close to 11-year lows this week means Brent Crude will post losses for a 3rd consecutive year, the first time that has happened since exchange-based Oil trading started in the 1980’s…WTI futures are set for a 2nd straight yearly loss, the first time that will have happened for the U.S. Oil pricing benchmark since 1998…
IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said today, “The current low oil price makes me worried because it means lower investments in new Oil projects. This year, Oil investments declined more than 20% and more importantly we expect it will decline next year as well. We have never seen in the last 30 years Oil investments decline 2 years in a row in the world.”
In today’s Morning Musings…
1. A profitable Venture company benefiting significantly from a low Canadian dollar…
2. Drill result of the day – 1 m @ 572 g/t Au…
3. Updated U.S. Dollar Index chart – what will it take to put the bulls on the defensive?
Plus more…to view the rest of today’s Morning Musings, login with your username and password, or click here to gain full access to this and other exclusive BMR content and features…
GGI. Looking forward to the president’s year end message, last year it was on December 23.
Comment by Iceclimber — December 18, 2015 @ 10:09 am
any word on the drilling for WRR?
Comment by bob bennett — December 18, 2015 @ 10:12 am
Just that they’re moving fwd, Bob, with drilling continuing. 20,000 feet planned, so they’re going aggressively at this…market looks good, so I take that as a positive sign of how things are moving along.
Comment by Jon - BMR — December 18, 2015 @ 10:35 am
Iceclimber – I am looking forward to a news release on assays for GGI.
Comment by 02charoc — December 18, 2015 @ 11:37 am
EQT- Some buying coming in. Has been a bad wk., but when the drill
starts turning in the Newyear, will be renewed interest. Sounds like
they want to drill Target D again, from the ice surface of Garland Lk.,
when safe to do so.
Comment by Bob — December 18, 2015 @ 11:47 am
Nice correction for the US, as expected, psychological 500 for the v would be welcome going into next week, regoci would indeed make my list with a nr before Thursday.
Comment by Tombc — December 18, 2015 @ 12:36 pm
EQT- added a pile at 6 cents.
Bob, target D was drilled from a hillside to hit under a lake,
it was so broken up they couldn’t do a PEM downhole survey.
Northern area looks interesting at targets O P and D.
Comment by murf — December 18, 2015 @ 1:06 pm
Smart move, murf. The knee-jerk selling opened up some good opportunities this week. Garland is still in its very early stages, and the potential remains for a discovery. In the meantime, hopefully Hardy will roll out a 2nd project ASAP to build this out more and deal with the January paper problem.
Comment by Jon - BMR — December 18, 2015 @ 1:37 pm
Jon, you feel Regoci won’t be the Grinch who stole Christmas. Do you think he could deliver results next week?
Comment by Dan1 — December 18, 2015 @ 1:43 pm
Well kinda disappointed we haven’t heard anything from GGI regarding assays. Hopefully early next week…otherwise put this one on the shelf till after new years. So…we wait once again
Comment by weatheritout — December 18, 2015 @ 1:51 pm
EQT- Murf you’ll do well with .06 stock, I also added
today as it dipped to .055. Some of the best orebodies
are found under lakes. In hole 004 the PEM encountered
a very significant off hole response at 230m. The results
were unclear due to poor downhole conditions, and they plan
to redo the PEM on hole 004, before drilling. This will be
a first priority, when they restart.
Comment by Bob — December 18, 2015 @ 1:55 pm
What I don’t get is why companies don’t rush assays anymore. If you have something that will rock the market you get it out ASAP. Noront halted on a Friday released core pics and I believe Tuesday released the assays.
Comment by Dan1 — December 18, 2015 @ 1:58 pm
I’m sure he wouldn’t hesitate delivering them Christmas Eve if he gets them at the beginning of the week, Dan1…regardless, I’m sure he’ll have something nice under the tree for us. So I look fwd to next week.
Comment by Jon - BMR — December 18, 2015 @ 2:01 pm
Dan1, I’ll tell u why, and I’ve heard this from numerous company CEO’s…you pay more for “rush” assays and often you get a “rush” job with errors…second, labs are slow right now, but they are very short-staffed…so for that reason also, paying for “rush” assays to get numbers back a little sooner makes no sense…back in 2010//11 was different…
Comment by Jon - BMR — December 18, 2015 @ 2:26 pm
EQT- Bob good pickup at .055, I kept missing so I settled for .06
had a good chat today from the top
nickel sulphides have small footprints
with 300m VTEM line spacing lots and lots of anomalies
will not be detected.
for example Cominco showing was blind to our VTEM
I underestimated the Cominco showing because it was not in our VTEM, my bad.
The crew is very passionate and eager to get back to work.
I understand much better now and the 3 areas of focus really are technical sucesses.
target Q would be awesome if the downhole proves there is indeed a nearby conductor
Best of luck
Comment by murf — December 18, 2015 @ 2:45 pm
eqt-if you remember my post last weekend, i mentioned to shave your position, then if it ran on good results to buy on way up or if it dropped hard buy when selling slacked off. I expect news monday.
Comment by dave — December 18, 2015 @ 2:55 pm
EQT- Dave, curious about Mon. news so soon after Wed. NR,
perhaps Plan B? that Jon mentions…. Wonder if there will be
a KH interview on Korelin tomorrow, would be the correct time
to explain results, after the week we’ve had. Hope you’re getting
settled in for Xmas.
Comment by Bob — December 18, 2015 @ 3:14 pm
PGX. President issued Year end message.
Comment by Robert — December 18, 2015 @ 4:29 pm
Just my opinion here…but watching a lot of these venture plays offer the years…I have a feeling EQT is going to fade away. They have lost confidence and also the big prize of garland isn’t there. I always find the quicker you ditch these failing plays the better. In the end most resource plays are failures…the ones that made the money played EQT from .08 to .20
How a company handles the initial drill program says a lot. EQT is done. Again..just my opinion but I’ve watched enough of them to know second chances don’t usually materialize to much.
Comment by weatheritout — December 18, 2015 @ 5:07 pm
PGX like all Jr.mining companies is struggling to raise capital in order to continue exploration . Any of these companies that can not raise funds have put their programs on hold.
Comment by Les — December 18, 2015 @ 7:24 pm
I agree with you weather, but eqt still believes they have the massive sulphides. They did not drill that deep in round one and almost all dont hit right off the bat. They feel D and Q are key to success. You wont get an argument from me there. As for todays trading, look at the anon buys today, tell me who you think that is, then watch out for plan B.
Comment by dave — December 18, 2015 @ 7:30 pm
Not sure I am prepared to say that EQT is fading away yet. There is a lot of money in treasury and quite a good management team assembled. Not sure if Garland will ever turn out the way they pitched it but there has been one heck of staking rush by a lot of companies for sure. When the treasury is depleted, all the targets explored, and if this famous yet to be announced plan B proves a dud, I will stop watching this stock.
Comment by Jamie — December 18, 2015 @ 7:32 pm
oh, eqt is far from done. At .21, it just lifted its head. Congrats to all the ones who grabbed at .06 and Merry Christmas
Comment by dave — December 18, 2015 @ 7:40 pm
post 18
not seeing the PGX President message on website
can you please tell me where you are seeing this ?
thanks
Comment by GREGH — December 18, 2015 @ 7:51 pm
EQT- With all due respect weatheritout, your statement that they have lost confidence is incorrect but you’re
entitled to your opinion.
Very few projects hit on the first holes, Voisey’s Bay did not, as well as the vast majority of successful projects.
The stock is down because many investors wanted a home run on their first at bat which was unrealistic.
They have a technical success in that they have identified their three best areas of interest and are anxious to
get back into the field that’s why they will return to the project hopefully in early February rather than
in mid June as they had previously planned.
Comment by murf — December 18, 2015 @ 8:13 pm
Western Lithium WLC.TO – coming off a double bottom if up on Monday should be a good buy
Comment by kelly — December 19, 2015 @ 6:38 am
Not getting assay results from GGI is a bit frustrating but we have been kept well informed. Between BMR’s good work with interviews and insights, and NRs from the company along with updated maps and drill sore on their website we should be able to draw our own conclusions as to whether or not they have been successful. I am holding my shares with confidence.
Comment by Tom UK — December 19, 2015 @ 7:00 am
“Again..just my opinion but I’ve watched enough of them to know second chances don’t usually materialize to much.”
How many companies successfully found the glory hole or deposit on the first few holes? Not many. Matter of fact, many deposits are not found by the 1st or 2nd companies to explore the property. If finding a deposit was easy and quick there would be many finding them but unfortunately discoveries don’t happen often. Exploration is a complex game of hide and go seek and the deposit has a big advantage in this game. High risk/high reward which involves tremendous DD and most importantly patience. I’ve been playing this sector since 1997 and wouldn’t want to invest in anything but it (occasional exceptions)…..even with these bad couples of years as the good years are tremendously profitable!
Comment by DDD4 — December 19, 2015 @ 8:21 am
Gregh PGX looking for JV to fund drilling program also they are looking for gold properties in Ontario and Quebec.
Comment by Robert — December 19, 2015 @ 12:17 pm
I totally agree with you DDD4 that most times it can take several companies to find a deposit. That is why it is so important to have early success. Kudos to any investor that is willing to hold onto an exploration play for the long haul. The unfortunate part is if they don’t have early success you have a very dilutive affect and the original shareholders can be left with a fraction of their original investment. For my personal investment style….if I don’t see early success in drilling I don’t hang around. As far as any existing EQT shareholders I hope they do well….just no longer fits for me….but that’s me.
Comment by weatheritout — December 19, 2015 @ 2:17 pm
This is a quote from Noront’s 2007 news release
The samples from hole NOT-07-01 have now been selected, and sealed and readied for immediate shipment to ALS Chemex laboratory in Thunder Bay Ontario. The first ten samples have been labeled “RUSH” for assay. All unnecessary communication from the field camp has been curtailed, the local workers (drillers, pilots and First Nation workers) have been briefed on security measures that are now being implemented with respect to information discussion and release. Upon receipt of the assay information, Noront will request a further halt on the trading, until such time as the assay results are fully disseminated.
That’s the dream release of any speculator in resource stocks. Rush samples. They knew what they had. I don’t really agree with you Jon in the case of Rush samples being inaccurate…your paying for staff to possibly work overtime or extra staff to be called in to work on your samples. They are still held to the same high standards. Noront’s shareholders were rewarded with them handling that drill program perfectly and with early success.
Any extra cost in the Rush samples will be more than made up in the value of the stock…..as long as they have an idea that it is worth rushing the samples. I am long GGI due to their prospects and there handling of the drill program so far, I just hope that the delays are truly because of hardly any staff working in the assay labs.
Comment by weatheritout — December 19, 2015 @ 2:26 pm
Noront submitted initial core samples on August 28th and released results on September 10th 2007. One could also argue that at that time there were so many companies submitting assays that it should have taken longer. I’m not sure if I buy this whole short staffed story at assay labs…I guess it is what it is though
Comment by weatheritout — December 19, 2015 @ 7:48 pm