Gold has traded between $1,254 and $1,269 so far today…as of 11:30 am Pacific, the yellow metal is down $11 an ounce at $1,257 (200-day moving average)…Silver has slipped 29 cents to $16.88…Copper is up 2 pennies at $2.59…Nickel has climbed 6 cents to $4.26…Crude Oil is 57 cents higher at $48.76 while the U.S. Dollar Index has climbed one-tenth of a point to 98.06…
Copper made an unusual move this morning, and we’ve already seen the potential for volatility in Gold this week given a range of factors including lack of liquidity as many financial markets in Asia and Europe were closed today for the May Day holiday…Tokyo markets will be closed for 3 days from Wednesday for a string of holidays known as Golden Week…meanwhile, the Fed starts a 2-day meeting tomorrow…no rate increase is expected Wednesday but Fed funds futures are pricing in about a two-thirds chance of a June rate hike…the U.S. monthly jobs report is due Friday while tensions with North Korea continue to demand attention…
July Copper futures suddenly surged to a near 1-month high this morning as prices briefly leaped by more than 2.5% around 6:31 am Pacific, hitting $2.69 a pound, the highest price since April 5…low volume due to European and Asian holidays was likely a contributing factor…in addition, thousands of workers at the world’s 2nd-largest Copper mine (Freeport–McMoRan’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia) staged a rally today ahead of a planned month-long strike to protest layoffs…
Hedge funds continued to buy Gold for the 6th consecutive week, in the period ending last Tuesday according to Friday’s fresh data, despite the market’s recent failure to break above $1,300 an ounce and diminished “risk-off” investor sentiment…Gold net length increased only 6% from the previous week, down from double-digit percentage gains seen in the previous 3 weeks…the modest expansion in bullish positioning had little impact on prices as June Comex Gold futures fell slightly during the survey period…
The U.S. Mint reports that American Eagle Gold bullion coin sales recorded their worst April performance in 5 years and the lowest sales pace in 16 months…
Oil Update
U.S. drillers added 9 Oil rigs in the week to April 28, bringing Baker Hughes‘ count to the most since April 2015, the energy services company said Friday…Crude output in the U.S. has hit its highest since August 2015, according to government data…
“The U.S. rig count indicates that there is plenty more to come,” analysts at JBC Energy said in a report, referring to the outlook for U.S. production…
Prices also came under pressure after an official survey showed over the weekend that growth in Chinese manufacturing slowed faster than expected in April, potentially weighing on the outlook for Oil demand (and other commodities)…
Iran’s Oil minister said on Saturday that OPEC and non-OPEC producers had given positive signals for an extension of output cuts, which Tehran would back…despite OPEC’s efforts, the Oil glut has been slow to shift…the International Energy Agency said in its latest monthly market report that Oil stocks in industrialized countries were about 336 million barrels above the 5-year average, a key indicator for OPEC…
CRB Index Update
The CRB Index is currently in the low end of a range it has remained within since April of 2016 – a very distinctive 1-year horizontal channel between 177 and 196…
The CRB is off slightly at 181 this morning but it’s reasonable to believe we’ll see another test of the 177 level before the CRB gains some traction again…Slow Stochastics (SS) appears to be forming a low “W”, which generally indicates a turnaround is on the horizon, while RSI(14) at 40% also appears to be close to a reversal…
A little more weakness should be expected in the CRB before the Index firms up again which seems to jive with what the Venture is telling us…
In Today’s Morning Musings….
1. The 7-cent Gold junior with a multi-million ounce resource under strong accumulation…
2. Updated Silver charts – key near-term support the metal needs to hold…
3. Three tightly-held plays that could “pop” in May..,.
4. Daniel’s Den – The GDXJ debacle and the impact on 2 Gold stocks in particular, plus a busy news week!…
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Did you know that for as little as just over $2 a day, you can be a BMR subscriber and tap into the best analysis and picks for the junior resource sector that you’ll find anywhere? Last year’s BMR Top 50 List returned a whopping 118% and we are delivering market-trouncing returns again in 2017. BMR was the first to call the new bull market in the Venture in early 2016, and our coverage of the commodities space gives you valuable daily insights into price movements and critical trends. BMR is daily information that puts you ahead of the crowd!
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DBV barely holding on to 5.5 cents, never thought we would see it this low again. I have tried emailing farshad multiple times with no response. Chad Day must be laughing, looks like he won.
Comment by Sameer — May 1, 2017 @ 1:56 pm
CSR News out…definitely the front runner in Cobalt mining and recovery in Canada.
CSR ACCELERATES COBALT STRATEGY WITH MULTI-FACETED APPROACH
Castle Silver Resources Inc. has commenced a program to create a suite of value-added, client-specific cobalt product test samples sourced from material to be extracted during coming underground sampling and drilling at its 100-per-cent-owned past-producing high-grade Castle silver-cobalt mine at Gowganda, Ont.
Battery manufacturers will be the target market for the planned test samples which will be cobalt salts (powder) with a range of purities.
Re-2OX Unlocks New Opportunities For CSR
CSR’s unique 100%-owned hydrometallurgical process, now known as Re-2OX, was developed by President and CEO Frank Basa in conjunction with the National Research Council during the Castle mine’s last production cycle, and has been optimized since then. Re-2OX is extremely adaptable as it’s designed for high recovery of multiple metals and elements from all feeds with varying chemistries. In addition, CSR is now carrying out advanced-stage testing through SGS Lakefield to evaluate the amenability of the process for efficient recycling of spent Lithium-ion batteries.
The Re-2OX process has taken on fresh importance in light of the increasing demand for cobalt and compelling opportunities in the battery and renewable energy sectors.
President and CEO Frank Basa stated, “With underground access at Castle, a unique hydrometallurgical process, and other properties in this district where we have developed deep roots, CSR is powerfully positioned in northern Ontario’s prolific Cobalt-Silver Corridor stretching from Gowganda to Cobalt and Silver Center. We are leveraging our strengths to capture exciting opportunities related to exploration, potential development and clean technology.”
Cobalt Overlooked Historically At Castle Mine
Historically, from the early 1900’s intermittently to the late 1980’s, low cobalt prices and metallurgical issues meant that only very high-grade silver was targeted at Castle which was a well-known and important district producer. However, the shallow dipping 300-metre thick Nipissing diabase intrusive that underlies a large portion of the 33 sq. km Castle Property is interpreted to be a heat source that mobilized various metals – notably, of course, silver intimately associated with cobalt, but also gold, copper, zinc and nickel.
CSR Enters Main Castle Portal, Commences Work Program
CSR’s team has opened the Castle main portal with ministry approval following the completion of an environmental audit and financial assurances. Preparations are now under way to soon launch an underground drilling and sampling program from the first level at 21 meters (70 feet) where the Company has been granted full access. The first level (there are 11 in total) extends approximately 365 meters (1,200 feet) east-west and 360 meters north-south. An extensive network of structures and tunnels, developed through a substantial financial investment by various operators in the 1900’s, remains in excellent condition and only minor rehabilitation is necessary.
Visible cobalt in veins that pinch and swell and continue intermittently for many tens of meters on the first level has been noted by CSR’s exploration team which is consistent with comments in a large amount of invaluable historical Agnico Eagle data acquired by the Company. Agnico Eagle ceased operations at Castle around 1990 due to plunging Silver prices.
Further details regarding the ongoing work program as well as upcoming drilling and sampling at Castle will be provided within approximately two weeks.
Qualified Person
The technical information in this news release was prepared under the supervision of Mr. Frank J. Basa, P. Eng., Castle’s President and CEO, who is a member of the Professional Engineers Ontario and a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101.
About Castle Silver Resources Inc.
Castle Silver Resources Inc. (formerly Takara Resources Inc.) is a TSX Venture-listed junior natural resource company focusing on the exploration and development of former silver-cobalt mines in northern Ontario including the Castle mine near Gowganda and the Beaver and Violet mines near Cobalt. Additional information on the Company’s properties is available by visiting its website at http://www.castlesilverresources.com.
Comment by bob — May 1, 2017 @ 4:09 pm
Yes, fascinating Bob…this technology unquestionably puts CSR in the lead in the Canadian Cobalt sector…plus only company with underground access in northern Ontario Cobalt camp…
Comment by Jon - BMR — May 1, 2017 @ 4:14 pm
http://www.goldstrikeresources.com/files/pdf/British-Columbia-Mining-Pre-Release-2-2017-web.pdf
Global Business report overview for B.C. and Yukon mining.
Comment by DINGO — May 1, 2017 @ 4:43 pm