Gold has traded between $1,197 and $1,216 so far today, getting a boost within the past 15 minutes from Ma Yellen and the Fed…as of 11:15 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $12 an ounce at $1,211..Silver has shot up 25 cents to $17.08…Copper is up slightly to $2.65…Nickel is unchanged at $4.60…Crude Oil has rallied 85 cents to $48.87 while the U.S. Dollar Index has fallen two-thirds of a point to 101.04…
No surprises from the Fed moments ago, and markets are shooting higher as a result…the Fed raised rates by one-quarter of a point, as expected, and indicated that it still expects 3 moves in 2017 with no change as to where it sees rates through the end of 2018…it added language that “measures of consumer and business sentiment have improved of late” though it noted that business investment remains “soft”…Ma Yellen starts a news conference at 11:30 am Pacific…
Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest Gold-backed exchange-traded fund, rose 0.36% to 834.99 tons yesterday from Monday following a 2nd straight positive session after outflows last week…despite recent selling, global ETF physical Gold holdings at 54.45 million ounces are still nearly 3% higher than at the start of February…holdings are also roughly 6 million ounces or 13% above where they were in early March 2016…
Today’s parliamentary elections in the Netherlands could impact the Gold price, depending on the outcome and how the Party for Freedom performs…traders will be viewing the Dutch vote as a possible indicator of the strength of populism ahead of upcoming national votes in France and Germany…
For the very first time, the U.S. government has criminally charged Russian officials for cyber offenses…the Justice Department this morning unsealed charges against 4 individuals, including a Canadian-Kazakh national, for allegedly pilfering 500 million Yahoo user accounts in 2014…the officers of the FSB, Russia’s Federal Security Service and a successor to the KGB, were identified as Dmitry Dokuchaev and his superior, Igor Sushchin…Alexsey Belan, who is on the list of most-wanted cyber criminals, and Karim Baratov, who was born in Kazakhstan but has Canadian citizenship, were also named in the indictment…
Canadian household debt as a share of income rose to a fresh record in the 4th quarter, data from Statistics Canada showed today, in a report likely to underscore concerns consumers are becoming overly indebted…the ratio of debt to disposable income rose to 167.3% from an adjusted 166.8% in the 3rd quarter…that means Canadians owed $1.67 for every dollar of disposable income…total household credit market debt, which includes consumer credit, and mortgage and non-mortgage loans, totalled nearly $2.029 trillion in the final quarter of last year…mortgage debt accounts for about two-thirds of total household debt…years of low interest rates since the global financial crisis, as well as rising home prices, have prompted Canadians to steadily increase their debt…now, by the example of the federal government under the Trudeau free-spending Liberals, they’re being encouraged to do the same…
In Today’s Morning Musings…
1. Things to look for to signal a Venture reversal from the mini-correction that started February 22…
2. Spotting an opportunity in Ecuador…
3. A 400% jump in 1 week, a healthy pullback, and now time to accumulate again…
4. Daniel’s Den – 2 technology companies with everything in their favor…
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good to see a little volume on ggi
Comment by bcguy — March 15, 2017 @ 12:48 pm
VENTURE UP 14 TODAY! NICE!
Comment by STEVEN1 — March 15, 2017 @ 5:19 pm
JON: YOU SEE THE COBALT STOCKS GETTING GOING SOON???
Comment by STEVEN1 — March 15, 2017 @ 5:19 pm
Yes I do, Steven1…certainly some of them. Watch for imminent closing of CSR PP as a catalyst for that one to take off again. Lots going on there, so it will be an out-performer.
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 15, 2017 @ 5:28 pm
Wonder if the CSR PP is oversubscribed; hence the extra time to close it?
Comment by Dan1 — March 15, 2017 @ 5:50 pm
Atlanta fed lowers 1st qtr GDP estimate to 0.8%
Comment by Sameer — March 15, 2017 @ 7:25 pm
I think we needed to get the rate hike out of the way to get the Venture going again! Gold at 1224$ tonight!
Comment by STEVEN1 — March 15, 2017 @ 7:38 pm
I also was wondering about the extended time frame regarding v.csr. It seems to be a very long closing on the pp. Hopefully it will be shortly and for positive rather than negative reasons.
Comment by goldilo — March 15, 2017 @ 8:00 pm
CSR PP was announced March 3, goldilo, just 12 days ago—-if they close now, that’s actually very quick, especially if it’s an oversubscribed situation.
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 15, 2017 @ 8:17 pm
Mr. Trent Mell reports
FIRST COBALT TO ACQUIRE RIGHTS TO HISTORIC CANADIAN COBALT MINE
First Cobalt Corp. has secured an option to acquire 100 per cent of the historic Keeley-Frontier silver-cobalt mine in Northern Ontario, the largest past producer of cobalt in the Silver Centre mining camp.
Highlights
Keeley and Frontier mines produced over 3.3 million pounds of cobalt and 19.1 million ounces of silver from approximately 300,000 tonnes of ore, for an estimated recovery of 0.5% Co and 1,800 g/t Ag
Keeley-Frontier was the largest past producer of cobalt in the Silver Centre mining camp
Highest ratio of cobalt-to-silver of all the major silver producers in both the Cobalt and Silver Centre mining camps, producing 1 pound of cobalt for every 5.8 ounces of silver
First Cobalt can earn a 100% interest, for a payment of $1.45 million
“This strategic transaction provides First Cobalt with a dominant land position in a historic mining district with outstanding infrastructure that has not seen meaningful exploration activity in modern times,” said President & CEO Trent Mell. “This is a meaningful progression in the Company’s strategy of building a leading cobalt resource company and we continue to evaluate opportunities in Canada and elsewhere.”
Keeley-Frontier Overview
The neighbouring towns of Silver Centre and Cobalt, Ontario were historically the most prolific cobalt jurisdictions in Canada. It is estimated that these two mining camps produced 50 million pounds of cobalt and 600 million ounces of silver over a 60-year period.
From 1908 to 1965, Keeley-Frontier produced over 3.3 million pounds of cobalt at a recovered grade of 0.5% and 19.1 million ounces of silver at a recovered grade of over 1,800 g/t. The property consists of 5 mining leases, 13 patented mineral claims and 7 unpatented mineral claims. Both surface and mining rights are attached to lands subject to easements for the purpose of establishing transmission lines and some surface rights withheld by the Ministry of Mines and Northern Development.
The mines have extensive underground workings, including 10 shafts and several winzes extending to a depth from surface of 465 metres (source: “Technical Report on Keeley Frontier Project, South Lorrain Township, Larder Lake M.D. Ontario for Canadian Silver Hunter Inc.” by G.A. Harron P.Eng., G.A. Harron & Associates Inc, December 31, 2010).
Keeley and Frontier were developed and operated as separate mines and were integrated in 1961. The Keeley Mine produced intermittently from 1908 to 1965 with most of the production occurring between 1921 and 1931. Total reported production was 12,154,353 oz Ag and 1,617,784 lbs Co. The Frontier Mine operated from 1921 to 1965 and produced 7,023,110 oz Ag and 1,692,772 lbs Co. The data is historical in nature and First Cobalt has not independently verified the results; consequently, these results should not be relied upon.
First Cobalt selected this asset as a primary exploration target as it had the best cobalt-to-silver ratio of all the major historic mines in the camp. The Keeley-Frontier mine is immediately adjacent to First Cobalt’s South Lorrain land package, consisting of 136 claim units in 17 blocks covering 1,950 hectares (19.5 square kilometres). Together with Keeley-Frontier’s patented mining claims, First Cobalt now controls 2,100 hectares (21 square kilometers) of contiguous land in this historic mining camp.
Options Terms
Further to the Company’s news release of February 2, 2017, First Cobalt has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding share capital of Cobalt Projects International Corp. (“Cobalt Projects”), a privately-held Ontario-based mineral exploration company. Cobalt Projects holds the rights to earn up to a 100% interest from Canadian Silver Hunter Inc. in the Keeley-Frontier mine, located within the historic Silver Centre camp, and bordering on the Company’s existing South Lorrain cobalt claim blocks. As consideration for the acquisition, the Company will issue 4.45 million shares to existing shareholders of Cobalt Projects, which shall vest in 6 equal tranches over a 4 to 18-month period.
First Cobalt may earn up to a 100% interest in Keeley-Frontier as follows:
50% interest upon payment of $850,000 (of which $350,000 has been paid) and incurring expenditures of $1,750,000 on the property over a period of three years.
51% interest upon payment of $200,000 within 60 days of having exercised the first option and producing a technical report in compliance with NI 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects by the fourth anniversary.
100% interest upon payment of $750,000 and incurring additional expenditures of $1,250,000 by the fifth anniversary.
Upon earning a 100% interest, Canadian Silver Hunter shall be granted a 2% net smelter return royalty, subject to First Cobalt having the right to purchase 1% for $1 million over the ensuing 10 years. The Company may elect to accelerate the earn-in. Completion of the acquisition of Cobalt Projects remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Geology
Geologically, the property is located within the Cobalt Embayment in the Southern Province of the Canadian Shield where Huronian Supergroup sedimentary rocks lay unconformably overly Archean basement rocks. Both the Huronian sediments and Archean rocks have been intruded by Proterozoic-aged Nipissing diabase occurring as both sills and dykes.
The majority of the mineralization is related to and occurs within 250 metres of the intrusion contact between the Nipissing Diabase and surrounding rocks. Silver-cobalt mineralization occurs in steeply-dipping carbonate veins controlled by complex fault networks. Most silver-cobalt was extracted from veins above the diabase sill, however limited exploration below the sill did locate high grade silver as well as cobalt veins.
Recent Activity
In 2012, a 6-hole 2,058-metre diamond drill program, power-stripping and channel sampling was completed by Canadian Silver Hunter. Results from this exploration program and compilation of historical data suggest that there is significant potential to discover new high grade cobalt and silver mineralization.
The Company has begun a systematic compilation and 3D model of all existing data of the Silver Centre mining camp, focusing on the western side of the camp held by First Cobalt. Based on this data the Company expects to conduct field work in the upcoming summer field season. First Cobalt recently completed a $6 million financing. The Company continues to assess other targets both in this mining camp and elsewhere.
Qualified Person
Stephen Wallace PGeo, is the qualified person for this release as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has reviewed and verified the technical information contained herein. Mr. Wallace is independent of First Cobalt.
About First Cobalt
First Cobalt is focused on building a diversified global portfolio of assets that are highly leveraged to the cobalt market. Approximately 50% of global cobalt production is used in the manufacture of lithium-ion and other batteries.
The Company is currently advancing its Silver Centre, Ontario property, a 2,100-hectare property in a historic mining camp located 25 kilometers south of Cobalt, Ontario. The property includes the former producing Keely-Frontier mine, a high-grade mine that produced over 3.3 million pounds of cobalt and 19.1 million ounces of silver from 301,000 tonnes of ore.
We seek Safe Harbor.
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 16, 2017 @ 5:05 am