BullMarketRun.ca

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

1. Gold has started 2017 in a trading range between $1,145 and $1,159…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is up $3 an ounce at $1,154 despite more strength in the U.S. Dollar Index which has added half a point to 103.36 (resistance at 104)….Chinese Gold demand has been subdued recently but prices normally get a lift in the run-up to the Chinese New Year festival which will be celebrated this year at the end of January…Platinum ($939) and Palladium ($711) are both up strongly today, more than $30 an ounce each…

2. On the data front, the final read on December IHS Markit manufacturing PMI for the U.S. came in at 54.3, hitting a 21-month high while November construction spending rose more than expected as it reached better than a 10-year high… 

3. China’s Shanghai Composite, coming off its worst year since 2011, jumped 33 points or about 1% overnight to kick off 2017 after a private manufacturing survey exceeded expectations and showed a significant pick-up in factory activity in December…

4. The Venture is now challenging a key resistance band between 770 and 784…the Index is up 6 points at 769 as of 7:00 am Pacific, helped by rising Oil prices (18-month high) and strength in the broader equity markets…the Dow has climbed 126 points while the TSX has surged 150 points to 15,437…

5. A major property deal (LOI) announced this morning by LiCo Energy Metals (LIC, TSX-V)…the company has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent with Durus Copper of Santiago, Chile, whereby LiCo can earn up to a 60% interest in the Purickuta Lithium Project located within Chile’s Salar de Atacama, the world’s largest and purest active source of Lithium…the LOI, when followed by a definitive option agreement, will require LiCo to make certain cash payments totaling $8.4 million (U.S.), issuing 5 million shares and making certain work and development commitments during the term of the option agreement…LIC is up a penny at 14.5 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

6. MGX Minerals (XMG, CSE) reported this morning that it has successfully extracted Lithium from heavy Oil waste water…results are part of the ongoing optimization for completion and deployment of a pilot plant in support of its 487,000 hectare Alberta Lithium Project…the company owns a patent pending process (United States Provisional Patent #62/419,011) for the extraction of Lithium and other valuable minerals from Oil brine…this technology is the first of its kind, reducing production time of Lithium from brine by 99% compared with conventional Lithium brine production times that use solar evaporation…process time is reduced from approximately 18 months to 1 day using MGX’s process…XMG gapped up to 60 cents to a new 52-week high and is holding on to those gains through the first 30 minutes of trading…

7. Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V), one of the top-performing junior resource stocks in Q4 with a 93% advance, has commenced detailed 3D modeling of the first magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE-Au-Co massive sulphide system (E&L deposit) in the heart of northwest B.C.’s Golden Triangle, 10 miles southwest of Eskay Creek and 20 miles west of Pretium’s Brucejack high-grade Gold mine which is slated for commercial production during the 2nd half of this year…in addition, GGI has outlined a 10-km-long mineralized corridor at its 100%-owned Red Lion Cu-Au Project contiguous to Kiska Metals‘ (KSK, TSX-V) Kliyul Project, now falling into the hands of AuRico Metals (AMI, TSX) after a takeover announcement last week… meanwhile, GGI has near-term drilling lined up at its Tora Tora Property (Au-Ag-Cu-PGE) north of the producing Copper Mountain mine near Princeton and contiguous to a 75 sq. km package held by a private company indirectly controlled by Robert Friedland…GGI is up a penny at 14.5 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…