Check back later for today’s BMR Morning Market Musings.
1. Gold has traded between $1,247 and $1,255 so far today after retreating yesterday from key resistance at $1,260…as of 7:00 am Pacific, the yellow metal is up $2 an ounce at $1,253…Moody’s has downgraded China’s credit rating while minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s early May meeting are due to be released later this morning (11:00 am Pacific)…interest rate futures imply that traders see about an 83% chance of a rate increase next month, up from 79% on Monday…Silver is relatively unchanged at $17.04 while base metals are quiet so far today…the U.S. Dollar Index is down slightly at 97.37 after bouncing off support yesterday…
2. Oil prices are steady at $51.50 as of 7:00 am Pacific with the latest weekly reading on U.S. Crude stockpiles due within the next 30 minutes…data from industry group American Petroleum Institute yesterday showed a decline of 1.5 million barrels…meanwhile, traders are eyeing tomorrow’s OPEC meeting for confirmation that OPEC and certain non-OPEC producers will agree to extend production cuts through the 1st quarter of next year…we’ll have an updated WTI chart in today’s Morning Musings…
3. Plenty of buzz on social media surrounding Bitcoin which continues to surge on this final day of “Consensus 2017” in New York featuring 100+ speakers and 2,000+ attendees from leading industry startups, investors, financial institutions, enterprise tech leaders, and academic and policy groups who are building the foundations of the blockchain and digital currency economy…Bitcoin hit a new record high of $2,418 today…
4. Marlin Gold Mining (MLN, TSX-V) has released one of the highest grade times thickness intercepts ever drilled at the company’s wholly owned La Trinidad mine in Sinaloa, Mexico…hole 17TRD50 intersected 7.6 g/t Gold (5.1 g/t cut) over 63.35 m (26.7 meters true width), including 29.3 g/t Au (13.8 g/t cut) over 10 m (4.2 m true width)…this exploration hole now stands as the 2nd highest grade x thickness intercept at the Taunus pit of the La Trinidad mine since its original discovery in the early 1990’s…17TRD50 is surpassed only by the HS Zone discovery hole in 2008 that cut 8.5 g/t Au over 61 m…17TRD50 was an infill hole located 25 m to the north of 17TRD44 which intersected 15.5 g/t Au over 15.45 m (April 2017), and 34 m south of 16TRD22 which returned 6.9 g/t Au over 11 m (May 2016)…the upper portion of the 17TRD50 intercept was previously interpreted as waste and should therefore have a positive impact on the modeled grade and tonnage in this area of the deposit…the company plans to be mining the area around this high-grade intercept by the end of this year…
5. The Venture is off 1 point at 803 through the first 30 minutes of trading…Precipitate Gold (PRG, TSX-V) has just announced that it has restarted its diamond drill program at Ginger Ridge in the Dominican Republic, while Jaxon Minerals (JAX, TSX-V) announced shortly after the open that crews are mobilizing next week to initiate the first phase of its 2017 field program at its Hazelton Property (VMS target) near Smithers…Jaxon also announced that it has purchased and received data from a 2012 Geotech (VTEM) resistivity/conductivity and magnetics airborne survey (464 line km) flown at Hazelton in 2012 that a previous operator had commissioned but couldn’t fully pay for…the TSX has slipped 24 points while U.S. markets are on their best daily winning streak in more than 3 months with the Dow up 28 points…
6. Atlantic Gold (AGB, TSX-V) released more encouraging assay results this morning from ongoing drill programs at its Fifteen Mile Stream and Cochrane Hill Gold deposits where resource definition drilling on 25 m x 20 m centers is designed to upgrade resources to Measured and Indicated categories…highlights this morning are from holes drilled at Fifteen Mile Stream through the core of the anticline, and these are indicating considerable widths of attractive grades which is very positive in the context of open-pit extraction…total widths of significantly mineralized intervals intersected in hole FMS-17–124 aggregate to 78 m @ 1.75 g/t and in hole FMS-17–113 to 60 m @ 1.73 g/t…the 25,000 m drill program at Fifteen Mile Stream is expected to be completed in a week’s time…the company plans to use the results from the drill programs at Fifteen Mile Stream and Cochrane Hill to undertake further analysis to determine the economic viability of the 2 deposits which would include analysis of the economics of processing mineralized material at the Moose River Consolidated facility by way of a Pre-Feasibility Study…
7. Scientific Metals has changed its name to U.S. Cobalt and will begin trading under that new name on the Venture beginning tomorrow…the new stock symbol will be USCO…CEO Wayne Tisdale stated, “We are excited to announce the rebranding of the company from Scientific Metals to U.S. Cobalt Inc. This change highlights the corporate focus we’ve undertaken at our flagship Iron Creek Cobalt Project in Idaho, USA. We believe strongly that the demand for homegrown and ethically sourced Cobalt will continue its meteoric rise. Many people are not aware that the current exponential growth in demand for Lithium-ion batteries directly correlates with the increased demand for Cobalt. Cobalt is an essential component of the batteries that power everything from electric vehicles to consumer electronics. Additionally, the Cobalt supply chains of brands such as Apple, Tesla, GM and Microsoft are being closely scrutinized. In excess of 50% of the world’s Cobalt comes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The DRC has a deplorable record when it comes to human rights and labour practices. The company is well positioned to provide a solution to this dilemma. There is no question that President Trump and his administration are strongly in favour of developing American solutions to issues such as this and we look forward to being part of that development.”
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Jon, seems more and more bitcoin is the new gold? Gold manipulated by banks and politicians and therefor not moving up. But what goes up can come down hard too. Bitcoin seems risky at these levels in my view. Or do you expect bitcoin will continue to move up? Any thoughts on GGM and CSR? Do you think IamGold could be interested in taking over GGM? Maybe news on GGM/DRA early next week? Have a good weekend. Regards, Arjan
Comment by Arjan — May 24, 2017 @ 7:52 am
I have been traveling much the last 2 weeks. Did NDP win the election in B.C. ?
Comment by dave — May 24, 2017 @ 9:50 am
No, thankfully they did not, Dave. Liberal minority govt. with chance for majority depending on final outcome of a riding on Vancouver Island, to be determined later today.
Comment by Jon - BMR — May 24, 2017 @ 10:22 am
Morning Musings will be an evening (post-market) edition today due to travel delays.
Comment by Jon - BMR — May 24, 2017 @ 10:24 am
thanks JON, where are you traveling too?
Comment by dave — May 24, 2017 @ 11:22 am
In an interview with Isabel Belger of Zimtu Capital, Frank Basa stated when he worked with Agnico Silver Division 30 years ago they stored cobalt in a building and at that time it was worth $52 million. Is this cobalt still there, and does CSR own this stored Cobalt? If so, CSR needs a revaluation up up! Bob Moriarity also just gave his thumbs up to CSR, but of course he was one of the PP participants.
Comment by Dan1 — May 24, 2017 @ 5:40 pm
Hoping that the Green Party joins hands with BC Liberals or the Venture Exchange will suffer.
Comment by Robert — May 24, 2017 @ 7:27 pm
There’s really no realistic alternative, Robert, as tradition has it that the party with the most seats forms govt. An NDP-Green alliance – any attempt at a power grab like that – would be extremely shaky and would have much less chance of surviving for any length of time compared to a Liberal government propped up by the Greens. A Liberal majority, rather than 1 seat shy, would have been better but this is far preferable to an NDP minority or majority. Another election within 18 months probably, perhaps even later this year. Longer term, the situation in B.C. could become a concern depending on how certain trends and dynamics play out, but I don’t see any risks to the Venture over the summer. A Liberal, free enterprise and pro-mining government, albeit temporarily weakened somewhat, continues.
Comment by Jon - BMR — May 24, 2017 @ 8:36 pm