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Gold retreated and tested new support near $1,350 overnight before recovering and pushing higher…as of 6:45 am Pacific, bullion is up $5 an ounce at $1,371…Silver is off its lows, now basically unchanged for the day at $23.13…Copper is flat at $3.30…Crude Oil is down $1.80 a barrel to $105.26 while the U.S. Dollar Index is off half a point to 80.77…

With less than 2 weeks left in August, total sales of U.S. Mint American Eagle Gold bullion coins for investors stood at just 3,000 ounces as of yesterday…that’s a far cry from 39,000 ounces for the entire month of August 2012 and the monthly average of almost 100,000 ounces for the first 7 months of this year, according to data on the U.S. Mint web site…projected sales for this month will be one of the lowest tallies for August since the U.S. Mint launched the American Eagle coins program for investors in 1986…unlike previous years when sales were limited by a lack of Gold coin blanks, the U.S. Mint has not experienced any supply issues this time around…demand for Gold in Asia has reportedly been strong so far this quarter, and one of the factors behind bullion’s jump to a 2-month high…it’ll be important for that demand to continue to be robust at these higher levels to sustain this move…Barclays’ analysts say Gold is in a balancing act…“While short positioning remains elevated, therefore leaving scope for further short covering activity, a change in market perception toward Fed tapering or weaker-than-expected data could trigger the re-establishment of short positioning, possibly exacerbating the downside for Gold,” they stated…

In India, Gold has advanced to a level not seen since mid-December of last year due to a tumbling rupee which has a new record low against the U.S. dollar…the Indian rupee has overtaken the Australian dollar and the Japanese yen to become Asia’s worst-performing currency this year amid fears over the Indian government’s management of the economy…The Financial Times reported this morning that New Delhi’s seeming inability to protect its currency has raised concerns about a potential pull-out among foreign investors, who own roughly half of freely traded Indian shares but are yet to withdraw large quantities of capital…“Market confidence has fallen sharply in the past week following policy measures aimed at reducing pressure on the currency, such as restrictive capital controls, and increases to the import duty on Gold, which have had the perverse effect of signalling desperation rather than fostering stability,” The Financial Times reported this morning…the head of global markets research at Australia’s ANZ bank, Richard Yatsenga, has a different take on the situation…he told CNBC that India’s troubles represent a “great microcosm” for what is happening in many emerging markets right now…“India is a microcosm in the sense that nothing domestic occurred to trigger this latest move,” he said. “India’s current account deficit and budget deficit have been very wide for at least 2 years.  It’s only when U.S. bond yields really started going up and the free money tap turned off that it started to be manifested in the currency.”

Gold-Silver Ratio

John has an interesting chart this morning regarding the Gold-Silver ratio (GSR) which has been narrowing recently with Silver out-performing bullion (the ratio reflects how many ounces of Silver it take to buy an ounce of Gold)…historically, a declining GSR ratio has proven to be bullish for precious metals (shows positive money flow) as it was between late 2008 and 2011 when it fell from a high of 96.23 to a low of 29.08…this year, the GSR hit a high of 72.77 and yesterday closed at 59.99…this 15-year monthly chart shows near-term support at the rising 200-day moving average (SMA) of 58 which also coincides with the Fib. 38.2% retracement level…there is also a long-term support band between 45 and 50 which clearly could be tested…RSI(14), currently at 53%, is showing downward momentum with support between 40% and 50%…bottom line – expect some more weakness in the GSR over the short-term (the 50-day SMA is also in decline) which suggests that the current uptrend in both Silver and Gold should continue as this quarter progresses…we’ll show a short-term chart tomorrow…

The Sheslay-Grizzly Copper-Gold Play – Updated Map

A picture tells a thousand words, so we thought our readers would appreciate this exclusive, updated map of Prosper Gold’s (PGX.H, TSX-V) Sheslay Cu-Au Porphyry Project (6,800 hectares) and Garibaldi Resources’ (GGI, TSX-V) 100%-owned adjoining Grizzly Property (17,500 hectares)…BMR prepared this map based on publicly available information from both companies including other maps and technical reports…the property boundaries and mineralized zones/target areas are approximate but believed to be very reliable…we’ll make adjustments as necessary and as developments unfold, but this is the initial version and should be helpful…the goal of the map is to put the “Big Picture” into perspective…

We firmly believe the Sheslay and the Grizzly will become one of the hottest Cu-Au exploration plays in the country beginning imminently as soon as Pete Bernier’s Prosper Gold receives final Exchange approval for his company’s qualifying transaction with Firesteel Resources (FTR, TSX-V)…given Bernier’s credibility and the geological expertise of his team, led by award-winning geologist Dirk Tempelman-Kluit who discovered the multi-million ounce Blackwater deposit that was bought out by New Gold Inc. (NGD, TSX), combined with the advanced exploration status of the Sheslay and the incredible targets that exist (5 known mineralized zones with drilling starting at the Star porphyry body – mineralization is open in all directions everywhere at Sheslay), this project should rapidly develop into a market “darling”…Bernier is aiming for one thing, and that’s a major new deposit in this part of northwest British Columbia, and of course the property is on trend with some huge deposits and mines to the south…no less than 85% of Firesteel’s 23 holes drilled at the Star target bottomed in strong Cu-Au mineralization and the average length of those holes was only 174 metres…quite simply, this project is incredible and that’s why Bernier scooped it up, and with perfect market timing…

Meanwhile, as far as Garibaldi is concerned, they are in an extremely enviable position and it makes absolute sense to us that they’re gearing up for a major push at the Grizzly given the positive exploration results they have slowly but gradually built up since 2006, and the new dynamic at play which is Bernier and the aggressive drilling program already in place for the Sheslay…Bernier’s Prosper Gold should have a very large following given what his team did with Richfield Ventures…the Grizzly is a more “early stage” project than the Sheslay but offers major blue-sky potential as the map itself makes perfectly clear…mineralization is trending north-south…what does that mean, folks?…

There are 2 important large blocks of interest on the Grizzly – the “Western Block“, which hosts the important Mount Kaketsa Pluton believed to be a critical “heat engine” driving mineralizing fluids at both the Grizzly and the Sheslay (note the known Cu-Au occurrences), and the “Southern Block” which we’ve pointed out with a large star…interestingly, for comparative purposes, Garibaldi carried out an airborne magnetic survey in 2006 that covered the southern half of what’s now called the Sheslay as well as portions of the Grizzly (mainly to the south)…according to a technical report, “Results of the survey showed that the rock units and structures which underlie the Copper Creek Property (Sheslay) continue into the large area of low relief within the Garibaldi claims and identified several magnetic anomalies which are similar to the magnetic anomalies that are associated with the mineralized zones which comprise the Copper Creek Property (Sheslay).  The area of interest defined by the airborne magnetic survey appears to cover a north trending zone approximately 6 kilometres long and 4 kilometres in width.”

We’ll comment more on this map in the days ahead…combined, the Sheslay and the Grizzly total 240 sq. km – about 5 times the size of Colorado Resources’ (CXO, TSX-V) North ROK Property…after 2 years of searching the globe for his next project, it’s no wonder that Pete Bernier landed here in the Sheslay River Valley…given the significance of this story, and the ultimate potential of a new mine in this under-explored area, BMR is working on a September site visit…

Today’s Markets

Asian markets fell sharply overnight with Japan’s Nikkei average losing 362 points or 2.6% to close at 13396…the losses on China’s Shanghai Composite weren’t as severe as that Index fell just 13 points to 2073…European shares are down moderately in late trading overseas…the Dow, which has closed lower for 4 straight sessions for the first time this year, is down 13 points through the first 15 minutes of trading…the TSX is up 10 points while the Venture is down 4 points at 930 as of 6:45 am Pacific…the Venture’s declining 100-day SMA in the mid-930’s is providing resistance at the moment, as it has since late last year, so investor patience is required…all signs point to this hurdle being overcome very soon…

Fission Uranium (FCU, TSX-V) Updated Chart

John has been extremely accurate recently with his use of Fibonacci analysis, another reason we’re so bullish on Garibaldi which still has a long ways to go reach its potential Fib. levels…below is an updated chart for Fission…we warned of a temporarily overbought condition as FCU hit an all-time high of $1.47 last week…it closed yesterday at $1.34…this is a very fluid situation, of course, with Fission and JV partner Alpha Minerals (AMW, TSX-V) in the middle of a major drill program, and drill results can bring major volatility to a stock…the PLS discovery in Saskatchewan appears to be world-class and more great results should be forthcoming…anyway, John’s chart does provide some valuable guidance for our readers as part of their continuing due diligence…note the “gap” band between $1.22 and $1.28 – that’s certainly where FCU should find strong support, if it moves lower…previous resistance at $1.10 is also excellent support…this is a very bullish chart which bodes well for this exciting discovery play…as of 6:45 am Pacific, FCU is unchanged at $1.34…

Aldrin Resource Corp.(ALN, TSX-V)

We initially brought Aldrin Resource Corp. (ALN, TSX-V) to our readers’ attention when it was trading in the 8 to 10-cent range in May and we’ve been following it closely ever since…Aldrin, of course, is working on its 12,000-hectare Triple M Property in the Patterson Lake area (9 kilometres south to 11 km west of the Fission-Alpha Minerals discovery) and should continue to stir up interest as the year progresses, with drilling currently planned for January…this morning, the company announced the start of its summer field exploration program…the conductive trends at Triple M property parallel the mineralized Patterson Lake conductors and fault…again, John’s TA on Aldrin has proven remarkably accurate…ALN strengthened, as expected, after a breakout above the down trendline on this multi-year weekly chart…ALN hit a high of 15.5 cents yesterday…while some near-term consolidation is certainly possible based on the current RSI(14) level, look for rock-solid support at the top of both the down trendline and the cup…this is going to continue to be a very interesting play to follow for many months…as of 6:45 am Pacific, ALN is unchanged at 15 cents…

Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI.