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1. Gold has pulled back $4 an ounce to $1,294 as of 7:00 am Pacific after Friday’s sudden jump to $1,300 on the release of a weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report…Silver, the top-performing metal last week, is off 7 cents at $15.24…Copper, Nickel and Zinc are all relatively unchanged at $2.91, $5.93 and $1.24, respectively…Crude Oil has gained 74 cents a barrel to $56.81, lifted by comments from Saudi Oil minister Khalid al-Falih that an end to OPEC-led supply cuts was unlikely before June and a report showing a fall in U.S. drilling activity…China’s auto sales slumped 14% in February from the same month a year earlier, the country’s biggest auto industry association said today…it was the 8th straight monthly drop in the world’s largest car market…however, new energy vehicle sales rose 54% year-on-year in February…the U.S. Dollar Index has slipped more than one-tenth of a point to 97.22…President Trump’s budget will be released today and will undoubtedly lead to another confrontation with Congress…the budget, according to various reports, will project that the economy continues to grow at a 3% rate or higher over the next 5 years, despite a more pessimistic consensus from outside forecasters…in addition, the budget proposes a 5% cut in domestic spending in a return to what the administration calls “fiscal sanity” while focusing federal funding on defense and the U.S.-Mexico border…however, there is no end in sight to deficits and growing debt which most of Washington doesn’t seem to care about anymore…White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow brushes off concerns about rising deficits, saying Trump’s budget “points a steady glide path” toward lower federal spending and federal borrowing as a share of the nation’s economy…he says “there’s no reason to obsess” about the budget deficit, even as it approaches $1 trillion, as long as it remains below 5% of the overall economy…

2. Two big joint venture announcements in the Gold sector to begin the new trading week…Barrick Gold (ABX, TSX; GOLD, NYSE) is dropping its hostile takeover offer for Newmont Mining (NEM, NYSE) in favour of creating a joint venture that will combine the 2 companies’ mining operations in Nevada…under the deal, Barrick will hold a 61.5% stake in the JV, while Newmont will own 38.5%…the 2 Goliaths have operated independently in Nevada for decades, but previously had been unable on agree on a way to cooperate…they now say the JV will allow them to capture an estimated $500 million in average annual pre-tax synergies in the first 5 full years of the combination…Barrick President and CEO Mark Bristow said the agreement marked the successful culmination of a deal that had been more than 20 years in the making…“We listened to our shareholders and agreed with them that this was the best way to realize the enormous potential of the Nevada Goldfields’ unequalled mineral endowment, and to maximize the returns from our operations there.  We are finally taking down the fences to operate Nevada as a single entity in order to deliver full value to both sets of shareholders, as well as to all our stakeholders in the state, by securing the long-term future of Gold mining in Nevada”…Gary Goldberg, CEO of Newmont, added that the logic of combining the 2 companies’ operations was compelling…“This agreement represents an innovative and effective way to generate long-term value from our joint assets in Nevada, and represents an important step forward in expanding value creation for our shareholders.  Through the joint venture, we will also continue to pursue the highest standards in safety, along with responsible and meaningful engagement with our employees, communities, and other stakeholders”…

3. Northwest B.C. has a major new player – Newcrest Mining (NCM, ASX), the largest Gold producer listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and one of the world’s largest Gold mining companies, has acquired a 70% joint-venture interest in Imperial Metals‘ (III, TSX) Red Chris mine for $807 million (U.S.)…Imperial’s status as a distressed seller – it has debt of $873 million (U.S.) or $1.2 billion CDN, much of it maturing this month, and has been incurring heavy losses – created an opportunity for Newcrest, which has been eyeing Red Chris for several years…it isn’t just that Red Chris has large resources of Gold (20 million ounces) and Copper (13 billion pounds) or that its 230 sq. km land package is lightly drilled, but that the resource, which has richer grades at depth, is particularly suited to Newcrest’s expertise in block caving and its experience with similar geologies…Newcrest Managing Director and CEO Sandeep Biswashe stated, “The bulk of the resource is underground, and that’s where the grade increases at depth.  So what we do with block caving is we go right down to the bottom and start mining from the bottom up.  So that is one of the key reasons we think we can unlock this ore body and make it a tier one operating mine”…Newcrest has long harboured a desire for North American exposure and has explored both acquisitions and a listing to get access to premium investors who have historically awarded Gold miners with North American domiciles or listings…

4. Imperial is up by more than $1 a share on the news in early trading, meaning the stock has tripled in value since December when we were recommending accumulation…President Brian Kynock stated, “This transaction presents a compelling opportunity for all stakeholders as it allows Imperial to significantly strengthen its balance sheet while forging a strategic partnership with a leading global mining company.  We believe that this joint venture partnership will enable Imperial to unlock significant value at Red Chris by leveraging Newcrest’s unique technical expertise in block caving operations.  With a stronger financial position and highly actionable path to exploiting the underground mining potential of Red Chris, Imperial will be in a much stronger position to create value and opportunities for its shareholders, stakeholders and the Tahltan Nation.  Imperial’s portfolio of assets will include a 100% interest in the Mount Polley mine, a 100% interest in the Huckleberry mine and a 30% interest in the Red Chris mine together with a high potential suite of both advanced and early stage exploration projects including an approximately 50% interest in the Ruddock Creek Lead/Zinc Property and a 100% interest in the Giant Copper Property”…

5. This must drive the Loony Left, anti-Oil “climate change” extremists crazy: The U.S. is now the world’s largest Oil producer and is playing the role of disruptor in the global energy market…production has grown to a record 12.1 million barrels a day, eclipsing both Russia and Saudi Arabia in the past year…exports have exceeded 3 million barrels a day, overtaking many OPEC nations…the implications are significant for both the U.S. and the Oil market, which has seen huge price swings in just the past 6 months alone….“Within the next 2 or 3 years, the U.S. will be a net exporter.  By the end of the year, the U.S. will be producing 13 million barrels a day.  This growth is a seismic event for the U.S. economy at this scale.  U.S. Oil production is 2.5 times what it was in 2008,” said Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of IHS Market…U.S. shale has posed a dilemma for OPEC as it has grown in spurts over the past decade, creating supply imbalances by pumping more when prices rise and cutting back as they drop…“It’s really become such a huge story in terms of U.S. production, but also because of our policy,” stated Helima Croft, global head of commodities strategy at RBC…“The U.S. is a swing producer but it’s also through policy that we’ve taken 1.6 million barrels off the market.  We’ve been really lucky we’ve had the U.S. producers.  That’s where the U.S. currently plays a role in helping out the market.  Trump talks to the Saudis.  Trump sanctions Venezuela.  He’s really active in the market.  Have we had a U.S. President be this consequential in the Oil market, in terms of intervention?”…

6. The Dow has retreated 63 points through the first 30 minutes of trading…the drop in the Dow is due entirely to a more than 10% slide in Boeing’s (BA, NYSE) share price after one of its top-selling airplanes (737 MAX 8 jet) crashed for the 2nd time in 6 months, killing everyone on board…Boeing has by far the biggest influence on the Dow…the bull market in U.S. stocks turned 10 years old over the weekend…this extended bull run has rewarded the faithful with a return of more than 400%, including dividends…even investors who bought S&P 500 index funds at the 2007 peak and subsequently lost more than half their money now have more than double what they started with – as long as they resisted the urge to sell each time skeptics said the bull was ready to collapse…in Toronto, the TSX is up 87 points…Lightspeed POS (LPSD, TSX) finished its initial public offering up $4.90 at $18.90 on Friday, an IPO price that was higher than the $13 to $15 range the company had expected when it announced its plans to go public last month…strong investor demand prompted the company to boost its IPO price and raise the deal size from $200 million to $240 million…prior to going public, Lightspeed was part of an elite club of tech “unicorns,” or private companies valued at $1 billion or more…the successful IPO is clearly a win for the technology industry in Canada and bodes well for other IPOs in 2019…the Venture is up 3 points at 621 as of 7:00 am Pacific…Crystal Lake Mining (CLM, TSX-V) has added 2.5 cents to 28 cents in early trading following news late Thursday of a discovery, including high-grade Copper, in first-ever drilling at its Burgundy Ridge Property in the Eskay region…more news is pending from CLM as the company continues to review a vast array of historical data, including high-grade Gold intercepts such as 11 m @ 55 g/t, from the 430 sq. km Newmont Lake Project in addition to work carried out late last year…

7. Great Bear Resources (GBR, TSX-V) is under pressure in early trading after the company reported less than stellar results from reconnaissance drilling to the west of the Dixie Hinge zone (DHZ) at its Dixie Project in the Red Lake district…high-grade Gold was intersected in only 1 of 5 holes completed, though all 5 holes cut Gold mineralization…2 exploratory drill fences were completed 150 m and 400 m west of the current DHZ drilling, along the D2 fold axis that is interpreted to be a significant Gold control, using the recently added 2nd drill rig…highlights included 31.4 g/t Gold over 0.70 m within a 2.70 m interval of 8.70 g/t at only 64 m vertical depth…multiple Gold-bearing veins were intersected in 2 of the 5 drill holes….the newly discovered Gold veins may comprise significant strike length extensions to the DHZ vein system or may be new Gold zones – further drilling is required…the 2nd drill rig continues to drill test new targets across the Dixie Property…

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