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Gold is trying to follow through on Friday’s strength and has traded between a narrow range of $1,253 and $1,259 so far today on this U.S. holiday, hitting its highest level in six weeks…as of 7:15 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $2 an ounce at $1,256…holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest Gold-backed ETF, rose 7.49 tonnes to 797.05 tonnes on Friday – the first increase in a month…Silver is up 3 cents at $20.35 (see updated charts at bottom of today’s Morning Musings)…Copper is flat at $3.34…Crude Oil is down 50 cents at $93.87 while the U.S. Dollar Index has slipped more than one-tenth of a point to 81.07…Platinum has hit its highest level in two months as traders are factoring in seemingly increasing potential for a strike in the South African mining sector…

If it can hold above stubborn resistance around $1,250, which it pierced Friday, Gold has an excellent chance this week of challenging the important $1,275 area…“Go long, or be wrong” on Gold were comments on bullion from Frank Holmes, the opening speaker at the Vancouver Resource and Investment Conference yesterday…Holmes is quite upbeat on commodities for 2014, and we’ll explore some of his reasons why in more detail this week…

Good article this morning at www.mineweb.com from Kip Kean on a generally improved mood at the Resource Conference…

And an interesting headline story at www.CNBC.com (of all places) this morning – Why It’s Time To Turn Bullish On Miners...“After four years of sector under-performance due to oversupply and a lack of demand, miners present a buying opportunity in 2014, analysts say.”

Which leads us into our latest 3-year weekly chart on the Venture Exchange which has posted gains in 15 out of the last 18 sessions…after finishing Friday at 976, the Index has climbed 10% since its 887 close December 19…

Regular readers are already aware of how the Index broke above a long-term downtrend line in October which importantly then held as support through November and December, before the Index shot decisively above the downtrend line starting just before Christmas…

What’s we’re now seeing is a breakout in the RSI(14) – it’s now at 57%, pushing significantly above RSI(14) resistance levels that were encountered on the 3-year weekly chart during all major rallies since the bear market began in early 2011…as we noted in Saturday’s Week In Review And A Look Ahead, the Venture is indeed in the process of “turning around” after three very difficult years but selectivity and investor patience remain critical…technically, there has not yet been a “confirmed” breakout above the 970 resistance area but obviously that could come at some point this week…

Venture 3-Year Weekly Updated Chart

Today’s Markets

North America

U.S. markets are closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and that of course is impacting trading volumes in Canada…the TSX is up 56 points through the first 45 minutes of trading, while the Venture has added 4 points to 980…

Europe

European markets are mixed in late trading overseas…

Asia

Japan‘s Nikkei average slipped 93 points overnight to close at 15642…meanwhile, China’s Shanghai Composite dropped below the 2000 level for the first time in six months, closing 14 points lower at 1991, as fears over tight liquidity overshadowed slightly better-than-expected fourth quarter GDP data…

Still, China’s growth edged a bit lower in Q4 as Beijing eased back on efforts to rev up the economy, signaling a potential slow start for the new year as the country’s leaders seek to reshape the world’s second-largest economy…many economists already expect the Chinese economy to slow further in the coming year as the country’s leaders prepare to introduce reform measures…these would be aimed at reducing the economy’s dependence on investment and trade and boosting its reliance on domestic spending and the expansion in the service industries…

The nation’s economy grew 7.7% in the fourth quarter from a year ago, slower than the 7.8% it posted in the third quarter, according to data released today by China’s National Bureau of Statistics…for the year it also posted 7.7% growth, matching the revised pace it recorded in 2012…

“There was steady economic progress [last year] and this was no small achievement,” the bureau said in a statement. But it added that the Chinese economy still faces imbalances, while “fundamentals of the economic recovery are still not stable.”

While China is trying to deleverage and slow lending, it’s hot real estate market continues unabated – news this morning that the value of new home sales surged 27% in 2013 year-on-year…

Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) Hits At The Hat

News just out within the last hour from Doubleview Capital (DBV, TSX-V) which has made a very interesting early-stage drilling discovery at its Hat Property in northwest B.C.’s Sheslay Valley…in the market, it’s all about exceeding expectations and DBV has managed to do that in our view…we’re still reviewing details of the news release, which came out just shortly prior to the opening bell, but here are some quick highlights:

• Drill hole H-8 returned a 287-metre interval grading 0.29% CuEq – what’s particularly interesting is that mineralization increased with depth (0.31% Cu and 0.22 g/t Au over 75 m between 326 m and 401 m);

• Drill hole H-11 intersected, from surface to the end of the hole, 313 m grading 0.32% CuEq (0.22% Cu, 0.18 g/t Au and 0.85 g/t Ag) – it also ended in strong Cu-Au mineralization;
  

• Very important – the horizontal distance from mineral zones in drill hole H-6 to drill hole H-8 is almost one kilometre, with mineralization at this point open in all directions.

• According to Doubleview, “On the basis of geological characteristics, mineralization and size potential, Doubleview believes that the Hat property qualifies as a Copper-Gold alkalic porphyry-type deposit.”

This is a legitimate early-stage discovery that clearly underscores the potential of the entire Sheslay Valley district…from Prosper Gold Corp. (PGX, TSX-V) to Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) and now Doubleview as a very serious player, the Sheslay Valley area is going to light up like a Christmas tree with at least three major exploration/drilling programs now in the works…much more tomorrow as we continue to review details…

Below is a DBV 3-year weekly chart from John entering this morning’s trading for our readers’ due diligence…DBV is up a nickel at 13 cents on volume of more than 1 million shares as of 7:15 am Pacific (it started trading at 7:00 am Pacific)…

Osisko Mining Corp. (OSK, TSX) Posts Record Q4 Production

Osisko Mining (OSK, TSX), the target of a takeover attempt by Goldcorp Inc. (G, TSX), has reported record fourth quarter Gold production of 137,321 ounces at estimated cash costs of $713 per ounce, compared with 101,544 ounces at cash costs of $833 per ounce in the corresponding period of 2012…Gold production for all of 2013 totaled 475,277 ounces at estimated cash costs of $760 per ounce, compared to 388,478 ounces at cash costs of $849 per ounce for 2012, giving a production increase of 22% year-on-year with cash costs decreasing 11% year-on-year…Gold recoveries were 88.9%, well above the 85.9% planned in the feasibility study…Osisko, like other Canadian producers, stands to benefit from a lower Canadian dollar…

Azincourt Uranium Inc. (AAZ, TSX-V)

Azincourt Uranium (AAZ, TSX-V) and JV partner and operator Fission Uranium (FCU, TSX-V) have commenced a $1 million winter diamond drilling program (eight to 10 holes) at the Patterson Lake North Property…a radon survey and ground geophysical program will also be carried out…drilling will test a north-northwest trending central conductive meta-sedimentary belt, geophysical anomalies under Hodge Lake, and a prospective north-northwest trending conductor…

Castle Mountain Mining Company Ltd. (CMM, TSX-V)

Castle Mountain Mining Company (CMM, TSX-V) is worthy of our readers’ due diligence as the company continues to advance its already permitted Castle Mountain Gold Project in San Bernardino County, California…CMM completed a $5 million bought deal financing at 55 cents late last year after releasing a maiden NI-43-101 resource estimate (see Nov. 21 NR) totaling 3.4 million ounces (indicated and inferred) at an average grade of 0.94 g/t Au (at a 0.34 g/t cut-off)…Chairman Robert Buchan stated,  “The combination of size, grade, pervasive oxidation and a full mining permit position Castle Mountain amongst the very best development assets in North America. The asset is further differentiated by our expectation to deliver scalable production in a short period of time, at expected low capital and operating costs.”

Below is 9-month weekly chart from John showing CMM attempting to break out of a horizontal channel between Fib. support at 46 cents (the rising 100-day SMA is at 48 cents) and resistance at 60 cents…as of 7:15 am Pacific, CMM is up a nickel at 65 cents…

Silver Short-Term Chart

Silver is showing signs of wanting to push above resistance at $20.50 – watch for that this week…RSI(14) on the 6-month daily chart remains in a nice uptrend that started near the end of November…

Silver Long-Term Chart

A double bottom in Silver, like in Gold?…quite possible…clearly there is very strong support for Silver around the $19-$20 area where it faced stiff resistance between 2008 and late 2010…

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI.  Jon also holds share positions in PGX and DBV.