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

1. Gold has traded between $1,229 and $1,237 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $7 an ounce at $1,235 while Silver has added 21 cents to $16.17…base metals are mostly slightly higher, though Nickel has surged 17 cents or 4% to $4.33…Crude Oil has reversed higher to $46.58 after some early profit taking following last week’s strong rebound while the U.S. Dollar Index has rallied one-tenth of a point to 95.15…

2. China’s GDP grew at a slightly faster-than-expected pace in Q2, according to official data published today, as surging industrial production and solid exports kept the world’s second-largest economy humming in the face of significant concerns for its financial sector…China’s economy expanded at an annual 6.9% clip in the 3 months ending in June, a rate that was modestly faster than the 6.8% pace anticipated by analysts but largely in line with the rate of growth over Q1…industrial output, which rose 7.6% from the same period last year, led the GDP gains, while an 11% surge in retail sales underscored the strength of the domestic consumer economy…the Chinese government is aiming for annual GDP growth this year to come in around 6.5%…

3.  South Africa has suspended implementation of a new mining law which includes raising the level of shares blacks should own in mining firms, pending a court ruling, according to the Chamber of Mines industry body…mining shares fell to more than 1-year lows when Mines Minister Mosebenzi Zwane released the revised mining charter last month, giving resource firms 12 months to meet a new 30% minimum for black ownership, up from 26%…the Chamber of Mines said the minister had given a written undertaking that the new code would not be implemented until a court ruled on a case against the move brought by the chamber…it said the court would likely hear the so-called interdict application in September…the charter aims to widen ownership in South Africa’s economy, which has yet to shake off the legacy of white rule more than 2 decades after the end of apartheid…

4. Venture technical strength is improving with sell pressure (CMF) declining rapidly and the Index holding support at its EMA(500) as it did both times it touched that level during the 2nd half of last year…the Venture is up 3 points at 760 through the first 30 minutes of trading…volume leaders within 10% of their 52-week highs include Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V), Cornerstone Capital (CGP, TSX-V) and Zecotek Photonics (ZMS, TSX-V)…the TSX is up 23 points while the Dow is virtually unchanged…

5. With Cobalt Power (CPO, TSX-V) having completed its first phase of drilling, the only active drill program at the moment in the northern Ontario Silver-Cobalt Camp is being carried out by Castle Silver Resources (CSR, TSX-V) at its Castle Property in Gowganda…late Friday, the company announced the closing of a previously unannounced private placement for total gross proceeds of $882,500…this brings to $2.6 million the amount in hard dollars that CSR has raised since March…it’s the only company in the district with underground access and it’s also using its proprietary Re-2OX process to produce high-purity Cobalt products for battery sector end user evaluation…CSR has added 1.5 cents to 25.5 cents on strong volume of nearly 300,000 shares through the first 30 minutes of trading…

6. Cobalt Power has reported an interesting surface discovery of extensive vein swarms and high-grade Cobalt, Silver and even impressive Gold (5 g/t) in channel sampling approximately 800 m southeast of the Smith Cobalt shaft on its Smith Property next to the past producing Deer Horn mine…sampling across a 10-cm wide calcite vein with abundant Cobalt bloom returned 12.5% Cobalt, 82.2 g/t Silver, 5 g/t Gold and 0.53% Nickel…the vein is located in Archean Keewatin volcanics…significantly, clearing of the area has resulted in the discovery of extensive vein swarms with a variety of orientations…outcrops of the Nipissing sill occur in the immediate vicinity of the zone…approximately 4,000 sq. m surrounding the zone have been cleared and work is continuing so that detailed mapping and systematic channel sampling can be carried out in order to develop a drill strategy…meanwhile, CPO has completed 1,900 m of drilling in 9 holes in another area of the property with assays pending…as BMR has repeatedly stated after 3 site visits to the birthplace of Canadian hard rock mining, there are going to be some geological surprises in this under-explored region which will include the discovery of more than just Cobalt and new Silver deposits…over 100 Silver mines were active in the early 1900’s but the focus was only on exceptionally high-grade Silver…Cobalt was ignored or thrown away, and little effort has ever been put into investigating the Gold and base metal potential of this region which features complex but prolific geology…

7. Ascendant Resources (ASND, TSX-V) had Zinc equivalent metal production of 6,944 tonnes during the 2nd quarter, 15% higher than the 1st quarter and up 4% from guidance of 6,664 tonnes, at its El Mochito mine in Honduras…the company is not making any revisions to the guidance issued in April…the addition of new equipment and continued progress in various other productivity improvement initiatives already under way are expected to support higher sustained production rates going forward…Ascendant has received conditional approval to move from the Venture to the TSX…

The most popular recent BMR articles/videos…

The Dramatic New Chase For A Nickel-Copper-Rich Massive Sulphide Deposit In The Heart Of A Famous Gold Camp

The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began

CSR Builds Momentum At Castle Mine