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Gold has traded between $1,257 and $1,270 today as the metal pushes above the critical $1,260 level to a 4-week high…as of 11:00 am Pacific, Gold is up $13 an ounce at 1,268…Silver is 18 cents higher at $17.29…Copper is off slightly at $2.56…Nickel is up 3 cents at $4.11…Crude Oil has gained 83 cents to $49.73 while the U.S. Dollar Index has rallied one-fifth of a point to 97.42…

An options market at expiration and some associated short-covering was a likely contributor to the rally in Gold today…Monday is a U.S. holiday, so we’ll have to wait until Tuesday/Wednesday to find out if there has been a confirmed breakout in the metal above key resistance at $1,260…one day does not a breakout make, but Gold is nonetheless looking quite bullish – especially when one considers that a rate hike is likely on the way in the U.S. in less than 3 weeks…

According to analysts at Commerzbank, physical Gold buying – notably from China and India – has been strong lately…

Clearly one of the key events for Gold this week, in our view, came Wednesday when Fed minutes showed how the central bank seems to have struck a consensus on a proposal to start gradually shrinking its $4.5 trillion in holdings of Treasury and mortgage securities later in the year…once the Fed starts to wind down its balance sheet, the idea that it will “double tighten” seems very unlikely – in other words, after 1 or 2 more rate hikes, the Fed will start focusing on its balance sheet and leave rates alone for a period of time…if the economy unexpectedly turns negative, they’ll also have the ability to adjust rates a little lower…this has to be interpreted as negative for the greenback and bullish for Gold…

The U.S. dollar chart has a decidedly bearish set-up for the final half of the year with a declining momentum trend and a 200-day moving average (SMA) that’s expected to reverse to the downside within a couple of months…this implies strength in commodities and the Venture during Q3 and Q4, perhaps even some highly powerful moves…President Trump is content with a falling greenback as that would strengthen the U.S. trade position…

Oil Update

Crude Oil sold off sharply yesterday, about 5%, in what was essentially a predictable “sell on news” event after a big jump in prices leading into yesterday’s OPEC meeting when a 9-month extension to the production cut agreement was officially announced…

Goldman Sachs attributed the drop to 3 aspects of the OPEC deal: 1) Lack of deeper cuts; 2) Failure to impose production caps for Libya and Nigeria, which are exempt from the reductions; and 3) the absence of “a clear exit strategy” beyond attempts to manage seasonal stockpile builds in the first quarter of 2018…those are reasonable points…however, one key theme that has been reinforced is that the Saudis in particular are determined to put a floor on Crude right around $50 a barrel with the intent to push prices significantly higher later this year…Saudis determination should not be underestimated…

Venture Update

Watching the Venture most of this week has been akin to watching paint dry…even excellent news from a number of companies has barely moved stock prices, but we view this as just temporary…even during the Venture’s previous bull market (2009 to early 2011), there were periods like this (and much worse) but the Index would always hold key support and ultimately regain momentum and push much higher…the key is to be patient and wait for the eventual turn in sentiment which will spark a sense of urgency among investors to jump in aggressively on the buy side…the Venture is in the very late stages of a healthy consolidation period that began last August after a rapid 82% climb in just 7 months…

Since mid-month, the Venture has been reasserting support at 800 where the EMA(8) and EMA(20) have now joined together…note the RSI(14) downtrend line…this is actually a bullish set-up for the summer as we expect a breakout above the downtrend line sometime in June, quite possibly after another Fed rate hike is out of the way…

Longer-term charts confirm the Venture bull market is fully intact and will enter a dynamic new phase during the 2nd half of the year, if not next month…trading has certainly been better today…

In today’s Morning Musings….

1. Overseas interest in CSR…

2. Fascinating chart for Eskay Mining (ESK, TSX-V) combines with Silver Standard dynamic…

3. RJK Explorations (RJX, TSX-V) raises more money for Maude Lake as drilling continues…

4. Daniel’s Den – why Manganese matters, and a quick rundown on 8 stocks…

Did you know that for as little as just over $2 a day, you can be a BMR subscriber and tap into the best analysis and picks for the junior resource sector that you’ll find anywhere?  Last year’s BMR Top 50 List returned a whopping 118% and we are delivering market-trouncing returns again in 2017.  BMR was the first to call the new bull market in the Venture in early 2016, and our coverage of the commodities space gives you valuable daily insights into price movements and critical trends.  BMR is daily information that puts you ahead of the crowd!

We also give first-time subscribers an industry-leading 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee.  If you don’t believe BMR has helped you make money for your first 6-month subscription period, we’ll refund your subscription fee in full – no questions asked!

Did you know that for as little as just over $2 a day, you can be a BMR subscriber and tap into the best analysis and picks for the junior resource sector that you’ll find anywhere?  Last year’s BMR Top 50 List returned a whopping 118% and we are delivering market-trouncing returns again in 2017.  BMR was the first to call the new bull market in the Venture in early 2016, and our coverage of the commodities space gives you valuable daily insights into price movements and critical trends.  BMR is daily information that puts you ahead of the crowd!

We also give first-time subscribers an industry-leading 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee.  If you don’t believe BMR has helped you make money for your first 6-month subscription period, we’ll refund your subscription fee in full – no questions asked!

To read the rest of today’s Morning Market Musings, sign up NOW or login as a current subscriber with your username and password.

Check back later this morning for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.

1. Gold is now attempting to break out above resistance at $1,260, hitting its highest level in 4 weeks ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day long weekend despite modest gains in the greenback…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal has added $11 an ounce to $1,267…Silver is up sharply, adding 20 cents to $17.31, and is on track to mark its biggest weekly rise since mid-April…meanwhile, Copper prices hit a 3-week high this week thanks to continuing unrest at Freeport McMorRan’s Grasberg mine where workers have vowed to extend a strike into a 2nd week…another terrorist attack this morning as masked gunmen opened fire on a bus carrying Coptic Christians to a monastery in southern Egypt, killing at least 20 people in the latest attack on the minority Christian community…ISIS vowed last year to step up attacks on Coptic Christians and claimed responsibility for 2 recent attacks on Palm Sunday when at least 45 worshippers were killed at 2 separate churches…

2. U.S. economic growth in early 2017 was stronger than initially thought, and broad growth is poised to pick up in the current quarter…GDP expanded at an inflation and seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.2% in the 1st quarter, the Commerce Department announced this morning in a modestly higher than expected upward revision…consumer spending, which accounts for the majority of U.S. economic output, slowed a bit less during Q1 than previously estimated…the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s GDPNow model last week projected a Q2 growth rate of 4.1% while forecasting firm Macroeconomic Advisers yesterday predicted 3.2% growth in the spring quarter…meanwhile, the University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index was just released and came in at a strong 97.1 in May, albeit slightly below the consensus estimate of 97.5…

3.  Northern Vertex Mining (NEE, TSX-V) has partnered with Greenstone Resources LP to finance the company’s Moss mine Gold/Silver Project in western Arizona through to positive cash flow and launch a U.S. Gold consolidation strategy…commercial production is now targeted to begin earlier than expected, later this year…NEE has entered into a subscription agreement for a non-brokered private placement with Greenstone for aggregate gross proceeds of $20 million (U.S.) through the issuance and sale of a total of of 51.8 million units at a purchase price of 52 cents per unit…Northern Vertex has also completed a separate non-brokered private placement of $5 million (U.S.) on the same terms as the Greenstone financing…Greenstone is a private equity fund specializing in the mining and metals sector…NEE is up a penny at 52 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

4. Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V) has just announced that it has closed the 2nd tranche of an oversubscribed private placement, bringing total gross proceeds so far to $966,500, with the company increasing the PP to $1.2 million due to investor demand…CSR, preparing for the start of a Phase 1 underground drilling and sampling program at its 100%-owned Castle mine, says a high-grade Cobalt vein structure featuring black sulphides and cobalt “bloom” has been identified on the first level of the mine and is the initial target of upcoming extraction that will utilize the company’s Re-20X process to produce value added high-purity Cobalt powder test samples for end users in the battery sector…a 3D underground model is also being produced using extensive historical data from all levels that includes some exceptionally high-grade Silver values…12 drill holes on the first level, for example, feature weighted average grades of 100 oz/ton Silver (3,428 g/tonne) or better over 1-foot intervals (9 holes with 1 such interval each, 2 holes with 2 such intervals, and 1 hole with 3 such intervals)…

5.  IDM Mining (IDM, TSX-V) announced this morning that it has completed the acquisition of the mineral claims and certain other related assets comprising the Red Mountain Project from Seabridge Gold (SEA, TSX)…IDM acquired the 100% interest, subject to certain underlying agreements and royalties, pursuant to the option agreement entered into in April 2014…the Red Mountain Project covers an area of 17,125 hectares and is located 15 km northeast of Stewart…in accordance with the option agreement, IDM has replaced Seabridge’s $1.0 million reclamation security held by the province…IDM is obligated to make a $1.5 million cash payment to Seabridge upon the commencement of commercial production at Red Mountain and Seabridge retains the right to acquire 10% of the annual Gold production from the project at a cost of $1,000 U.S. per ounce up to a maximum of 500,000 ounces produced (50,000 ounces to Seabridge)…alternatively, at Seabridge’s sole option, Seabridge may elect to receive a one-time cash payment of $4 million at the commencement of production in exchange for the Gold metal stream interest.  “Completing the acquisition of title for a 100% interest in the Red Mountain Project is another significant step for IDM Mining,” said Rob McLeod, President and CEO of IDM Mining. “We are grateful to have worked with Seabridge as the property vendor, and are excited for further milestones as we advance the project towards a production decision for a high-grade Gold, bulk mining underground operation.”

6. Strength in precious metals this morning has lifted the Venture 4 points higher to 804 through the first 30 minutes of trading, though there are no runaway leaders so far this morning…today marks the final day of trading on the Venture for success story Nighthawk Gold (NHK, TSX-V) which graduates to the TSX Monday, a pivotal moment in the company’s evolution…NHK commenced a 25,000 m drill program in March at its advanced Indin Lake Gold Property in the Northwest Territories…initial drill results are expected shortly and should further delineate the high-grade potential at Colomac…the TSX is off slightly in early trading along with U.S. markets…U.S. equities came into today’s session riding a 6-day winning streak with the S&P and Nasdaq indexes notching new record highs yesterday…

7. Enforcer Gold (VEIN, TSX-V) has enjoyed a strong week, thanks largely to a big jump yesterday on volume of more than 2 million shares…VEIN is off a penny at 22 cents through the first 30 minutes of trading today…VEIN has commenced a major field exploration program at the Montalembert Gold Project in northern Quebec…this will include the first-ever large diameter core drilling campaign (expected to commence in mid-to-late June) to be conducted on the high-grade Galena and No. 2 veins…the exploration program is expected to run uninterrupted through the late fall of 2017 and is fully funded…the style of the vein systems at Montalembert is shear-hosted quartz-carbonate Gold mineralization, the most significant source of Gold in the Abitibi greenstone belt…

The most popular recent BMR articles…

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Check our comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information. 7 @ 7:00 is a daily BMR feature while BMR Morning Market Musings is featured Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

1. Gold has traded between $1,254 and resistance at $1,260 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $2 an ounce at $1,256…yesterday’s minutes from the most recent Federal Reserve meeting suggested the central bank could take a more cautious approach to interest rate increases later this year, though another rate hike is still widely expected next month…Silver is relatively unchanged at $17.21…Copper has added 3 pennies to $2.59 while the U.S. Dollar Index is modestly higher, just above nearest support at 97.00…

2. OPEC surprised no one this morning as the cartel agreed to extend cuts in production by 9 months to March 2018, hence Crude prices have backed off somewhat on the news that was already largely baked into the price…some investors were hoping to see OPEC actually do more to help balance the market…ahead of a closed-door meeting today, Khalid Al-Falih, Saudi Arabia’s energy and industry Oil minister told CNBC, “Nine months with the same level of production that our member countries have been producing at is a very safe and almost certain option to do the trick“...WTI has retreated 21 cents to $51.15…

3. In another intra-day jump of more than $200, Bitcoin has surged to a new all-time high of $2,790 this morning on strong Asian buying, more than double its price at the end of April…there will be a correction and it could be severe, but it’s unclear if that correction will start from current prices around $2,800 or from some place considerably higher…trade denominated in the Japanese yen accounted for about 31% of trade volume overnight, while Chinese yuan and Korean won accounted for 16% and 12%, respectively, according to CryptoCompare…Japanese interest in Bitcoin has risen ever since the local government approved it as a legal payment method last month…over the weekend, yen-denominated trade volume accounted for more than half of total volume, helping send Bitcoin above $2,000 for the first time…Bitcoin has surged nearly 50% since last Thursday and more than 180% this year…

4.  Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) announced this morning that its recently completed VTEM survey has outlined multiple large conductors at the E&L deposit and surrounding claims in the heart of the prolific Eskay Camp in northwest British Columbia, with new data continuing to be analyzed…each conductor is at least half a km long (up to 1 km) and 3 of them appear to be part of the same mineralized system over a 3 km trend…EM response south of the known mineralized zone also confirms the potential for massive sulphides…significantly, each of the 5 conductors features core areas of B-field responses, indicative of highly conductive bedrock sources as would be expected for significant accumulations of massive sulphides…there is now overwhelming geological and geophysical evidence of a mineralized system at Nickel Mountain that is robust and widespread – likely the largest and richest Nickel sulphide deposit ever found in British Columbia…GGI will commence a field program at the E&L shortly, followed by a major summer drill program…the company has also arranged a $1.3 million financing, mostly for the E&L, but some of the proceeds are being directed toward Mexico where GGI has several promising properties including ground next to Marlin Gold’s (MLN, TSX-V) La Trinidad mine that delivered one of its best Gold intercepts ever yesterday…GGI is up half a penny at 16.5 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…its 1,000-day SMA is now reversing aggressively to the upside for the first time since 2004 when a 10-fold move took the stock to nearly $1 per share…

5.  Barkerville Gold Mines (BGM, TSX-V) has intersected 12.7 m grading 24.13 g/t Au in continuing Phase 2 Island Mountain drilling at the company’s flagship Cariboo Gold Project…the company is currently exploring and delineating the Valley Zone with 4 drill rigs…the new high-grade intercept reported this morning is located 160 m down plunge of the former Mosquito Creek mine at a vertical depth of 100 m below surface…this new faulted occurrence correlates 35 m up plunge to previously reported Phase 1 drill hole BGM-16–553 which intersected 56.3 g/t Au over 4.1 m…BGM is up 2 pennies at $1.19 as of 7:00 am Pacific…

6. The Venture is flat at 802 through the first 30 minutes of trading…another strong session for Jaxon Minerals (JAX, TSX-V) which is up 3 pennies at 21.5 cents…the Venture volume leader is Skeena Resources (SKE, TSX-V) which is off half a penny at 5.5 cents after announcing a $5 million financing the other day “in the context of the market” – that’s the kind of dilution investors ought to be concerned about…the TSX has gained 63 points while the Dow has added 65 points as of 7:00 am Pacific…

7. Scientific Metals has changed its name to U.S. Cobalt and has started trading under that new name on the Venture this morning…the new stock symbol is USCO…CEO Wayne Tisdale stated, “We are excited to announce the rebranding of the company from Scientific Metals to U.S. Cobalt Inc. This change highlights the corporate focus we’ve undertaken at our flagship Iron Creek Cobalt Project in Idaho, USA. We believe strongly that the demand for homegrown and ethically sourced Cobalt will continue its meteoric rise.  Many people are not aware that the current exponential growth in demand for Lithium-ion batteries directly correlates with the increased demand for Cobalt. Cobalt is an essential component of the batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to consumer electronics.  Additionally, the Cobalt supply chains of brands such as Apple, Tesla, GM and Microsoft are being closely scrutinized. In excess of 50% of the world’s Cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC has a deplorable record when it comes to human rights and labour practices. The company is well positioned to provide a solution to this dilemma. There is no question that President Trump and his administration are strongly in favour of developing American solutions to issues such as this and we look forward to being part of that development.”

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Venture Update – The Surprise That’s Just Around The Corner!

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The Best Kept Secret In Canadian

Gold traded as high as $1,260 today, once again challenging that key resistance level…as of 7:45 pm Pacific, in this special evening edition of BMR Market Musings, the yellow metal is down $1 an ounce at $1,257…Silver is off slightly at $17.15…Copper is flat at $2.56…Nickel is up 2 pennies at $4.13…Crude Oil is 49 cents higher at $51.85 ahead of tomorrow’s OPEC meetings while the U.S. Dollar Index is off slightly at 96.94…

Gold prices will witness a move higher amid increasing market doubts around the Federal Reserve’s resolve to pursue intensive monetary tightening into 2018, according to analysts at TD Securities…

“The yellow metal may well trend toward a technically determined high of $1,270–1,275,” TD Securities said in its Weekly Commodities report. “As the market starts to increasingly question the Fed’s determination to pursue a robust monetary policy tightening into 2018, Gold should benefit.”  TD believes the Trump administration will have difficulty pushing through its fiscal agenda – exactly what the left-leaning mainstream media is hoping as it continues to lead the Trump Resistance.  The TD report added, “It is very likely that the hundreds and hundreds of vacant positions waiting for officials in the bureaucracy will go wanting for quite some time, making the passage of regulations and writing of bills quite difficult.  No clear fiscal agenda means the U.S. output gap does not close quickly, inflation does not rise sharply, leaving the Fed without an impetus to tighten quickly or aggressively.”

Meanwhile, Fed minutes released today showed that Federal Reserve officials expected at their policy meeting earlier this month that it would “soon be appropriate” to raise short-term interest rates again, a signal the central bank will move at its gathering June 13–14…significantly, the Fed also seems to have struck a consensus on a proposal to start gradually shrinking its $4.5 trillion in holdings of Treasury and mortgage securities later in the year…under the approach discussed, they would allow increasing amounts of those securities to mature over time, without reinvesting the proceeds…

Once the Fed starts to wind down its balance sheet, the idea that it will “double tighten” seems very unlikely – in other words, after 1 or 2 more rate hikes, the Fed will start focusing on its balance sheet and leave rates alone for a while…if the economy unexpectedly turns negative, they’ll also have the ability to adjust rates a little lower…this has to be interpreted as negative for the greenback and bullish for Gold…

Moody’s Downgrades China

Moody’s Investors Service downgraded China’s credit rating today to A1 from Aa3…the catalyst for the downgrade was a combination of factors including expectations that potential growth would fall to 5% by the end of the decade…it was Moody’s first downgrade for the country since 1989…not surprisingly, China’s finance ministry didn’t agree with the move…in a statement on its website, the ministry said the downgrade was based on an “inappropriate method” and that Moody’s was overestimating the difficulties China’s economy faced, while underestimating the government’s efforts to tackle structural reforms and overcapacity…

Oil Update

Ahead of tomorrow’s big OPEC meeting, Crude Oil is trying to gain traction above $50 again which shows how Saudi Arabia still has the ability to move markets…keep in mind, the Saudis have every incentive to help push Oil prices higher given their war-strapped budget and the upcoming IPO of their state-owned Oil company, Aramco…the initial offering of 5% of the company is being timed for some point in 2018 and has been billed as the biggest ever with valuations reaching over $2 trillion…the IPO’s value will be largely determined by the price of Oil…Saudi Arabia said earlier this year that it wants to see Oil prices back near $60 a barrel in 2017…

WTIC 15-Month Daily Chart

We cautioned a few weeks ago that the drop in Oil below key support at $48 may have been a “head fake”, a short-lived false breakdown…that’s indeed what it appears to have been as Crude quickly regained its technical composure and reclaimed the $50 level where the 50 and 200-day moving averages (SMA’s) now intersect…

Based on this chart, which has been exceptionally reliable, we have to continue to believe that WTI will eventually work its way into the low-to-mid-$70’s later this year or by early 2018, which would suit the Saudis (and many others) just fine…

U.S. Dollar Index:  Look Out Below! 

There is more trouble ahead for the U.S. dollar, perhaps not immediately but certainly over the summer during Q3, which supports the case for higher Oil and Gold prices and a breakout in the Venture above key resistance around 850…

This long-term chart speaks volumes…the huge breakout in late 2014 in the greenback led to the final leg of the commodity downturn and an all-time low in the Venture by January 2016…

Note the weakening trend in the RSI(14) after the 2015 peak including the RSI-price divergence late last year when the Dollar Index appeared to top out at 103.82…

There’s now a President in the White House who wants to see a lower U.S. dollar, which helps Americans win on trade, and he’s getting his wish…

At a minimum, what we’re anticipating is a retreat to about 88 to 90 in the Dollar Index which would work out to about a 50% retracement of the gains since the 2011 low of 72.70…for this to occur, we’d expect to see a breakdown below 50% support in the RSI(14) on this long-term monthly chart…

The 200-day SMA, not shown here, is highly likely to start declining by August, if not sooner, and that will be a key technical trigger for an eventual drop in the Index to at least the 90 level…

In tonight’s Market Musings….

1. Jaxon jumps again…

2. CSR’s reach has just expanded…

3. White Gold’s torrid exploration and market pace…

4. Long-term Garibaldi chart is an eye-opener…

5. Daniel’s Den – the Coeur Mining–Rockraven relationship…

Did you know that for as little as just over $2 a day, you can be a BMR subscriber and tap into the best analysis and picks for the junior resource sector that you’ll find anywhere?  Last year’s BMR Top 50 List returned a whopping 118% and we are delivering market-trouncing returns again in 2017.  BMR was the first to call the new bull market in the Venture in early 2016, and our coverage of the commodities space gives you valuable daily insights into price movements and critical trends.  BMR is daily information that puts you ahead of the crowd!

We also give first-time subscribers an industry-leading 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee.  If you don’t believe BMR has helped you make money for your first 6-month subscription period, we’ll refund your subscription fee in full – no questions asked!

Did you know that for as little as just over $2 a day, you can be a BMR subscriber and tap into the best analysis and picks for the junior resource sector that you’ll find anywhere?  Last year’s BMR Top 50 List returned a whopping 118% and we are delivering market-trouncing returns again in 2017.  BMR was the first to call the new bull market in the Venture in early 2016, and our coverage of the commodities space gives you valuable daily insights into price movements and critical trends.  BMR is daily information that puts you ahead of the crowd!

We also give first-time subscribers an industry-leading 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee.  If you don’t believe BMR has helped you make money for your first 6-month subscription period, we’ll refund your subscription fee in full – no questions asked!

To read the rest of tonight’s Market Musings, sign up NOW or login as a current subscriber with your username and password.

Check back later for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.

1. Gold has traded between $1,247 and $1,255 so far today after retreating yesterday from key resistance at $1,260…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $2 an ounce at $1,253…Moody’s has downgraded China’s credit rating while minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s early May meeting are due to be released later this morning (11:00 am Pacific)…interest rate futures imply that traders see about an 83% chance of a rate increase next month, up from 79% on Monday…Silver is relatively unchanged at $17.04 while base metals are quiet so far today…the U.S. Dollar Index is down slightly at 97.37 after bouncing off support yesterday…

2. Oil prices are steady at $51.50 as of 7:00 am Pacific with the latest weekly reading on U.S. Crude stockpiles due within the next 30 minutes…data from industry group American Petroleum Institute yesterday showed a decline of 1.5 million barrels…meanwhile, traders are eyeing tomorrow’s OPEC meeting for confirmation that OPEC and certain non-OPEC producers will agree to extend production cuts through the 1st quarter of next year…we’ll have an updated WTI chart in today’s Morning Musings…

3. Plenty of buzz on social media surrounding Bitcoin which continues to surge on this final day of “Consensus 2017” in New York featuring 100+ speakers and 2,000+ attendees from leading industry startups, investors, financial institutions, enterprise tech leaders, and academic and policy groups who are building the foundations of the blockchain and digital currency economy…Bitcoin hit a new record high of $2,418 today…

4.  Marlin Gold Mining (MLN, TSX-V) has released one of the highest grade times thickness intercepts ever drilled at the company’s wholly owned La Trinidad mine in Sinaloa, Mexico…hole 17TRD50 intersected 7.6 g/t Gold (5.1 g/t cut) over 63.35 m (26.7 meters true width), including 29.3 g/t Au (13.8 g/t cut) over 10 m (4.2 m true width)…this exploration hole now stands as the 2nd highest grade x thickness intercept at the Taunus pit of the La Trinidad mine since its original discovery in the early 1990’s…17TRD50 is surpassed only by the HS Zone discovery hole in 2008 that cut 8.5 g/t Au over 61 m…17TRD50 was an infill hole located 25 m to the north of 17TRD44 which intersected 15.5 g/t Au over 15.45 m (April 2017), and 34 m south of 16TRD22 which returned 6.9 g/t Au over 11 m (May 2016)…the upper portion of the 17TRD50 intercept was previously interpreted as waste and should therefore have a positive impact on the modeled grade and tonnage in this area of the deposit…the company plans to be mining the area around this high-grade intercept by the end of this year…

5. The Venture is off 1 point at 803 through the first 30 minutes of trading…Precipitate Gold (PRG, TSX-V) has just announced that it has restarted its diamond drill program at Ginger Ridge in the Dominican Republic, while Jaxon Minerals (JAX, TSX-V) announced shortly after the open that crews are mobilizing next week to initiate the first phase of its 2017 field program at its Hazelton Property (VMS target) near Smithers…Jaxon also announced that it has purchased and received data from a 2012 Geotech (VTEM) resistivity/conductivity and magnetics airborne survey (464 line km) flown at Hazelton in 2012 that a previous operator had commissioned but couldn’t fully pay for…the TSX has slipped 24 points while U.S. markets are on their best daily winning streak in more than 3 months with the Dow up 28 points…

6. Atlantic Gold (AGB, TSX-V) released more encouraging assay results this morning from ongoing drill programs at its Fifteen Mile Stream and Cochrane Hill Gold deposits where resource definition drilling on 25 m x 20 m centers is designed to upgrade resources to Measured and Indicated categories…highlights this morning are from holes drilled at Fifteen Mile Stream through the core of the anticline, and these are indicating considerable widths of attractive grades which is very positive in the context of open-pit extraction…total widths of significantly mineralized intervals intersected in hole FMS-17–124 aggregate to 78 m @ 1.75 g/t and in hole FMS-17–113 to 60 m @ 1.73 g/t…the 25,000 m drill program at Fifteen Mile Stream is expected to be completed in a week’s time…the company plans to use the results from the drill programs at Fifteen Mile Stream and Cochrane Hill to undertake further analysis to determine the economic viability of the 2 deposits which would include analysis of the economics of processing mineralized material at the Moose River Consolidated facility by way of a Pre-Feasibility Study…

7. Scientific Metals has changed its name to U.S. Cobalt and will begin trading under that new name on the Venture beginning tomorrow…the new stock symbol will be USCO…CEO Wayne Tisdale stated, “We are excited to announce the rebranding of the company from Scientific Metals to U.S. Cobalt Inc. This change highlights the corporate focus we’ve undertaken at our flagship Iron Creek Cobalt Project in Idaho, USA. We believe strongly that the demand for homegrown and ethically sourced Cobalt will continue its meteoric rise.  Many people are not aware that the current exponential growth in demand for Lithium-ion batteries directly correlates with the increased demand for Cobalt. Cobalt is an essential component of the batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to consumer electronics.  Additionally, the Cobalt supply chains of brands such as Apple, Tesla, GM and Microsoft are being closely scrutinized. In excess of 50% of the world’s Cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC has a deplorable record when it comes to human rights and labour practices. The company is well positioned to provide a solution to this dilemma. There is no question that President Trump and his administration are strongly in favour of developing American solutions to issues such as this and we look forward to being part of that development.”

The most popular recent BMR articles…

Venture Update – The Surprise That’s Just Around The Corner!

Their Last Deal Was Just Shy of a 100-Bagger!

The Best Kept Secret In Canadian Co

Check our comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information, and visit us as well for potential additional posts today. BMR Morning Market Musings returns tomorrow.

1. Gold, coming off its best weekly performance since April, has traded between $1,258 and $1,264 so far today as it continues to battle key resistance around $1,260…yesterday, Gold’s 50-day moving average (SMA) crossed above its 200-day SMA, potentially signaling further immediate/near-term gains…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up slightly at $1,262 following a massacre in Manchester last night, a terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert at Europe’s largest indoor arena…22 people, including children, were killed and many more were injured…ISIS has claimed responsibility…President Trump, who has highlighted the evil of Islamist terrorism on his first overseas trip, delivered a passionate speech this morning during which he called on “all civilized nations” to unite against terrorism and “obliterate this evil ideology”…Silver has gained 12 cents to $17.26 while the U.S. Dollar Index is relatively unchanged, trading around temporary strong support at 97…the euro set a 6-month high against the dollar today as the latest economic data from the bloc made for encouraging reading, especially in Germany…

2. Oil prices are up slightly this morning despite the announcement of a White House plan, in its just-released budget, to sell off half of the nation’s 688 million barrel Oil stockpile from 2018 to 2027 in order to raise $16.5 billion and reduce the deficit…the budget is only a proposal ($3.6 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade in a dramatic rethinking of the role of government in the American economy) and the final version will likely look quite different after the House and Senate start playing with it…WTI is up 11 cents to $51.24 as of 7:00 am Pacific…OPEC, led by Saudi Arabia, and other participating producers will meet Thursday and are expected to extend the period of their pledge to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day from just the first half of this year to all of 2017 and the 1st quarter of 2018…

3. The price of Bitcoin has soared to a new record high today of $2,249 (U.S.)…yesterday marked the 7th anniversary of Bitcoin Pizza Day, widely considered to be the first transaction using the cryptocurrency…if you bought $100 worth of Bitcoin on May 22, 2010, you’d be sitting on around $72.9 million today (seriously)…a number of factors are responsible for Bitcoin’s rise, from increased trading in Japan (recently passed legislation allowed retailers in Japan to begin accepting Bitcoin as a legal currency) to debates over the future the Bitcoin’s underlying technology…

4.  A revised mining code that the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government will present to parliament imminently is the same draft proposal introduced to legislators in 2015 and opposed by industry, Mines Minister Martin Kabwelulu has confirmed…a proposed revision of the 2002 mining code was approved by the government in March 2015 and introduced to parliament, but never debated…planned changes include increasing profit takes to 35% from 30%, raising the government’s free share of new mining projects to 10% from 5%, and hiking royalties on Copper and Cobalt by 75% to 3.5% from 2%…the Chamber of Mines at the Federation des Entreprises du Congo, the country’s biggest industry group, opposed the revisions when they were submitted to parliament in 2015. “It would spell disaster for both the Copper and Gold-mining sectors,” the FEC said at the time in a position paper on the new code…the mining and Oil sectors account for about 95% of export revenues for the DRC…Congo’s Copper production jumped more than 20% in the 1st quarter of this year as commodity prices recovered…the Chamber of Mines expects annual production to hit about 1.5 million tonnes in 2018, up from around 1 million in 2016…

5. The Venture has posted back-to-back strong weekly advances as it begins to gain traction again above 800…the Index is up another 3 points at 810 through the first 30 minutes of trading as Canadian markets return to action following yesterday’s holiday…there are no spectacular movers on the Venture so far this morning…the TSX has climbed 58 points while U.S. markets are mixed in early trading…

6. IDM Mining (IDM, TSX-V) released robust assay results this morning from its first 6 underground core holes for the 2017 season at the Red Mountain Gold Project, 15 km east of Stewart…to date, 23 underground drill holes have been completed with current drilling focusing on areas up to 300 m north of NI-43-101 resources, proximal to historic high-grade intercepts…highlights of the first batch of holes released this morning include 25 m @ 6.1 g/t Au and 37.7 g/t Ag (infill); 5 m @ 8.8 g/t Au and 53 g/t Ag (AV Zone step-out); 6.2 m @ 12.9 g/t Au and 48.8 g/t Ag (AV Zone step-out), and 1.8 m @ 19.2 g/t Au and 35.6 g/t Ag (AV Zone step-out)…all intervals are true width…

7. Cobalt Power Group (CPO, TSX-V) has commenced a Phase 1 drill program at its Smith Cobalt Property near Cobalt, Ontario…the 1,800-m campaign has 4 main objectives: 1) Expanding the company’s knowledge of the geological setting of known veins that extend from the Deer Horn mine onto the Smith Property; 2) Extending the strike length of those veins from the historic Smith underground workings toward the southeast; 3) Confirming the values from muck pile sampling; 4) Making initial determinations of grade and thickness of the Cobalt and Silver-bearing veins…BMR site visit coverage of the district is scheduled for next week with a strong focus on Cobalt Power plus Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V)…

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The Best Kept Secret In Canadian Co