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Gold has traded between $1,178 and $1,192 so far today…as of 8:30 am Pacific, bullion is down $8 an ounce at $1,180…Silver is off 17 cents at $16.23…Copper is down a penny at $2.89…Crude Oil is off 40 cents at $58.99 while the U.S. Dollar Index had added nearly one-fifth of a point to 95.02…

After 12 straight years of gains, global Silver production is expected to fall in 2015 as lower prices take a toll…Silver mine production rose 5% in 2014 to reach 877.5 million ounces, the 12th successive gain and a new record, according to the World Silver Survey published last week by industry lobby group The Silver Institute and metals consultancy Thomson Reuters GFMS…but this year will see Silver output decline amid a dearth of new mines and as aging operations see their production fall, the report said…

“We’re just not seeing the investment in new mine capacity that would be needed to sustain continued record peak production,” said Andrew Leyland, an analyst with GFMS who worked on the report…

Oil Update

A bearish prediction by OPEC, or just another attempt by this organization to drive down prices and put the squeeze on North American producers?…Oil prices will remain below the psychologically important $100 per barrel mark until at least 2025, according to a draft report by OPEC seen by The Wall Street Journal…in its most optimistic scenario, OPEC predicts in this report that Oil will sell for only around $76 per barrel in 10 years’ time…

More Stimulus From China

China over the weekend cut its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 5.10% from 5.35%, in order to spur economic activity and boost growth, along with the equivalent deposit rate to 2.25%…it was the 3rd rate cut in less than 6 months, indicating that Beijing is becoming more aggressive in supporting the economy as its momentum slows and deflation risks rise…last week it was reported that China’s exports slumped 6.4% from a year earlier, disappointing expectations for a gain of 2.4%, while imports sank 16.2%, worse than forecasts for a decline of 12%…

Nuclear Accord With Iran? Don’t Bet On It

Yet another example of President Obama’s foreign policy blunders, and rising tensions in the Middle East which ultimately may have an impact on Gold…Saudi Arabia’s monarch pulled out of a summit to be hosted by Obama on Thursday, in a blow to the White House’s efforts to build Arab support for a nuclear accord with Iran…King Salman’s decision appeared to ripple across the Persian Gulf…the only 2 monarchs from the 6 countries confirmed to attend the summit at the White House and the Presidential retreat at Camp David are the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait…King Salman’s decision is another sign that Arab states have lost confidence in the Obama administration and will continue to act on their own to thwart Tehran, as Saudi Arabia has done in leading a military coalition against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen…

Today’s Equity Markets

Asia

The sharp advance (3%) overnight in the Shanghai Composite is another example of how China shares have been buffeted in recent months by the central bank’s easing moves, which include 3 interest rate cuts and 2 cuts to banks’ reserve requirement ratios, as well as headlines on Beijing’s attitude toward the market and its reform plans…it also quite apparent that Chinese authorities are using the stock market as a wealth-creation stimulus measure, and that strategy is fraught with danger…

Europe

European markets were down modestly today…the Bank of England announced its latest monetary policy decision today, choosing not to increase rates from their record low of 0.5%…

North America 

The Dow is down 32 points as of 8:30 am Pacific…the TSX is off 7 points while the Venture has added a point to 692…

International Montoro Resources (IMT, TSX-V) Update

We continue to keep a close eye on drilling progress by International Montoro Resources (IMT, TSX-V) at its Pecors target near Elliot Lake, west of Sudbury, where there is growing potential for an early stage Nickel discovery in an area known for Uranium and Rare Earth deposits…theories based on geophysical and geochemical evidence that a Ni-Cu-PGE system exists under the Huronian sediments are gaining credence, based on drilling to date, and this morning IMT reported that PDH-2 continues in favorable gabbro rock at a depth below 1,200 meters…the fact that they’re still in gabbro at 1,200 meters, working their way to 1,300 meters, is encouraging…this second hole was collared about 650 m northwest of the first hole which hit disseminated sulphides with evidence that a remobilization process has occurred in this magmatic system…assay results and data from a downhole probe of these first 2 holes will help immensely in understanding this very interesting large magnetic/gravity anomaly, and what’s driving it – potentially a buried massive sulphide deposit…

IMT is unchanged at 7 cents as of 8:30 am Pacific…

Venture 1-Year Daily Chart

This 1-year Venture daily chart is reason for encouragement…last week, the Index found support at its rising 100-day moving average (SMA) at 685..meanwhile, RSI(14) is following a gradual overall uptrend since December and is currently approaching the apex of a symmetrical triangle…we’ll be watching this closely for evidence of a potential breakout…sell pressure has been dominant since late last month but the Index has managed to hold key support…

Cordoba Minerals Corp. (CDB, TSX-V)

Cordoba Minerals (CDB, TSX-V) is looking more interesting after Friday’s news that it has entered into a partnership with High Power Exploration Inc. (HPX) a private exploration company controlled by Robert Friedland…HPX has agreed to make a strategic investment in Cordoba and will have the option to enter into a joint venture with CDB to earn up to a 65% interest in the San Matias Cu-Au Project in Columbia by financing the project and completing a feasibility study…

This 2-year weekly chart shows how extreme oversold conditions emerged in CDB during the last quarter of 2014 and into the early part of this year…a gradual recovery picked up momentum with Friday’s news and now the stock is trying to overcome resistance around 20 cents at a downtrend line going back to the middle of last year…

CDB is up 4 cents at 22 cents as of 8:30 am Pacific…

C02 Solutions Inc. (CST, TSX-V)

Below is a 3-year weekly chart on CO2 Solutions Inc. (CST, TSX-V) which is drawing considerable investor interest with its patented technology addressing carbon emissions…

This chart is an excellent example of what can happen with a stock when it breaks above a downtrend line…CST briefly fell below Fib. support at 8 cents in January but quickly re-established that support when it pushed above the downtrend line in February…this month it broke out of a trading channel, after releasing full pilot testing results April 29…the company describes its technology as a new economic benchmark for low-cost carbon capture…

CST climbed as high as 30 cents in trading this morning which is a Fib. resistance level it needs to overcome in order to push higher…

Mezzi Holdings Inc. (MZI, TSX-V) Chart Update

Some technical developments in Mezzi Holdings (MZI, TSX-V) that John is monitoring closely…an unconfirmed breakout has occurred above a downsloping flag while RSI(14) is moving higher from a bullish “W”…

MZI is up a penny at 20.5 cents through the first 2 hours of trading…

Silver Short-Term Chart

Silver found strong support in the mid-$15.50’s, as expected, and the current RSI(14) trend remains favorable…

You can see in the chart below how Silver gained momentum in late November after it pushed above a downtrend line…we’re now at another important point as Silver has pushed up against a downtrend line that formed after the late January high of $18.50…once the metal overcomes this resistance (the overall pattern suggests it will, the only question is when), then it should be ready to challenge the first Fib. level you see which is just below $18…

Silver Long-Term Chart

An explosive push higher – is this actually a scenario that could unfold in Silver over the next couple of years?…quite possibly, given the look of this 34-year monthly chart, though at the moment it’s hard to understand all the factors that could come into play to generate the kind of “Wave 5” move that appears to be in the works here…

It seems quite possible that the bottom of “Wave 4” came late last year when Silver briefly plunged to just above $14 an ounce…RSI(14) has managed to hold support which goes back to 2001…

Sell pressure continues to remain strong, however, as shown by the CMF – amazingly, at levels not seen in nearly 25 years since the low of $3.51…this intense sell pressure at the moment, which could continue for a while yet, should therefore be viewed in a larger context as a bullish contrarian indicator…

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