1. Gold has traded between $1,219 and $1,225 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $2 an ounce at $1,221…Gold doesn’t seem to be in agreement with the huffing and puffing of CNN, the New York Times and other Trump-hating liberal mainstream media that the President’s firing of FBI Director Comey threatens a constitutional crisis…nonetheless, Gold is starting to firm up after testing strong support at $1,215…Silver, which plunged to extreme oversold conditions earlier this week, is up 6 cents at $16.23…base metals are generally moving in a positive direction today, led by Copper ($2.50), Nickel ($4.20) and Zinc ($1.19)…
2. Global Silver mine production in 2016 recorded its first decline since 2002, largely the result of lower by-product output from the Lead/Zinc and Gold sectors, according to the latest study by the Silver Institute…the Institute said that Silver scrap supply to the market posted its lowest level since 1996; total Silver supply decreased by 32.6 million ounces in 2016…these findings, and other key components of the Silver market, are discussed in the World Silver Survey 2017 released today by the Silver Institute and produced by the GFMS Team at Thomson Reuters (GFMS). “Global Silver mine production declined by 0.6% in 2016 to a total of 885.8 Moz. A large proportion of the drop was attributable to the Lead/Zinc and Gold sectors, where production dipped by a combined 15.9 Moz,” the Institute said…
3. OPEC data released today showed the cartel reduced production further in April, even as top Oil exporter Saudi Arabia raised output by almost 50,000 barrels a day…overall, OPEC production decreased slightly in April to an average of 31.73 million barrels a day…meanwhile, data released by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) yesterday showed a much better than expected drop in U.S. Crude stockpiles in the week ended May 5…the EIA figures also revealed a surprise decrease in gasoline and distillate inventories, which helped mitigate worries that U.S. commuters weren’t soaking up enough gasoline to offset supply…gasoline demand rose to the highest level since late March to more than 9.2 million bpd, but still down 2.4% from the same period last year, according to the data…market participants are still watching the ramp-up in production from multiple producers, including the U.S. and Canada, which some fear may offset OPEC’s cuts…U.S. Crude production climbed for the 12th straight week for the 7 days ended May 5 and reached its highest level since mid-2015 at 9.3 million barrels a day, according to Commerzbank analysts…WTI is up 48 cents at $47.81 as of 7:00 am Pacific…
4. Multiple major banks are viewing the recent pullback in Oil and commodities in general as a tremendous buying opportunity based on the belief that the global economy is accelerating, and more evidence of the growth surge will be apparent during the 2nd half of the year (this view is consistent with how the Venture has been trading and its bullish long-term technical outlook). “For the first time since the Great Recession, we have a situation where all major economies are pulling in the same direction,” said Bart Melek, head of commodities strategy at TD Securities, referring to the period between 2007 and 2009…
5. Superb Venture support in the 780’s continues, and that bodes well for what could turn out to be a strong 2nd half of the month…the Index is up another 3 points at 786 through the first 30 minutes of trading…Quantum Numbers (QNC, TSX-V) is this morning’s volume leader, up 2 pennies at 17 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific on more than 3 million shares…John’s chart 3 weeks ago on QNC showed a good probability of a breakout above Fib. resistance at 17 cents…former Venture-listed NexGen Energy (NXE, TSX) announced this morning that its shares will begin trading on the NYSE under the NXE symbol May 17 in addition to its listing on the TSX…the TSX is off marginally in early trading, though the Gold Index has climbed 5 points to 210, while U.S. markets are in broad retreat after the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ both posted all-time closing highs yesterday…the Dow is off 124 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…
6. TomaGold (LOT, TSX-V) has made a nice moving in early trading, up 2 pennies at 10 cents as JV partner IamGold (IMG, TSX) reported results from the first 11 drill holes, totalling just over 5,100 m, from a total of 24 diamond drill holes completed this past winter at Monster Lake, 50 km southwest of Chibougamau in northern Quebec…results featured high-grade intercepts from 3 separate holes including 3.1 m grading 121.7 g/t Au in ML17–194 (includes 1.1 m @ 317 g/t Au)…IamGold says that once the remaining assay results are received, they will be assessed and may lead to an estimation of an initial mineral resource by year-end…further drilling will be required to evaluate the potential of the new mineralized areas, the timing of which will be dependent on ground conditions to allow the access of drilling equipment…
7. Ongoing drilling at Pure Gold’s (PGM, TSX-V) Russet South target at its 100%-owned Madsen Project at Red Lake continues to intersect Gold in multiple zones across a broad area spanning 650 m x 650 m, with all zones open for expansion…drill hole PG17–364 returned 27.1 g/t Au over 5.8 m along the lower contact of a key ultramafic unit, building continuity with a zone identified earlier as Alpha…the sparsely tested upper contact of the same unit returned 80.7 g/t Au over 1 m in hole PG17–391 and 11.3 g/t Au over 1 m approximately 200 m to the north. “The association of very high Gold grades along the contacts of folded ultramafic units is directly analogous to the setting of the High Grade Zone at Goldcorp’s Red Lake Mine as well as the 8 Zone at Madsen, which occurs 1,600 m down dip from Russet South,” said Darin Labrenz, President and CEO of Pure Gold. “To date, the Russet South Target has delivered an exceptional hit ratio, with 37 out of 101 holes drilled to date by Pure Gold showing visible Gold and reporting intercepts in excess of 5 g/t Gold.”
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