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Check back later this morning for today’s Morning Market Musings.

1. As the Fed gets set for what’s widely expected to be another rate hike later today, Gold held new support around $1,260 this morning and suddenly took off to the upside following release of disappointing U.S. retail sales and CPI data…retail sales fell 0.3% last month, marking their biggest drop in 16 months…meanwhile, CPI declined 0.1% in May, down from April’s increase of 0.4%…consensus forecasts were calling for a CPI rise of 0.2%…last month’s annual core inflation of 1.7% is the lowest since last year, though core inflation is not the Fed’s preferred inflation measure…as of 7:00 am Pacific, Gold is up $9 an ounce at $1,275 while Silver has jumped 34 cents to $17.15 after testing strong support around $16.80…

2. Crude Oil prices are off about 30 cents, touching the $46 level this morning…OPEC’s output rose by 336,000 barrels per day in May to 32.14 million bpd, though that’s still under the cartel’s 32.5 bpd output target…American Petroleum Institute data yesterday showed U.S. Crude stocks rose by 2.8 million barrels in the week to June 9, versus expectations for a decrease of 2.7 million barrels…meanwhile, the International Energy Agency said today that it expects growth in non-OPEC supply to be higher next year than growth in overall global demand…nonetheless, many analysts do see a normalization of global Crude inventories during the 2nd half of 2017 to the 5-year average which should give prices a lift…a lower U.S. dollar would also help Oil…

3. Both Gold and the Venture have shown a pattern of bottoming immediately around each Fed rate hike since December 2015…the Venture is up 4 points at 789 as of 7:00 am Pacific…White Gold (WGO, TSX-V) just announced that it has successfully completed its previously announced acquisition of a series of properties held by Kinross Gold (K, TSX) for $10 million in cash, the issuance to Kinross of 17.5 million common shares of the company and up to $15 million in deferred payments specifically related to the advancement of the White Gold properties…WGO has also completed its private placement financing with Agnico Eagle (AEM, TSX) which maintains its pro rate ownership interest in WGO by subscribing for $8.7 million in stock at $2.01 per share…

4. PyroGenesis Canada (PYR, TSX-V), which equaled a multi-year high yesterday of 98 cents, announced this morning that it has created a new division under the name of PyroGenesis Additive, dedicated solely to PyroGenesis’s additive manufacturing business line…this is the first step to the company’s previously announced strategic spinoff…PyroGenesis is the inventor of Plasma Atomization, using this process to produce very small, uniform, fully dense and spherical metal powders that flow like water…these powders are highly sought after in the additive manufacturing industry…PYR is off a penny at 95 cents as of 7:00 am Pacific…

5. First Cobalt (FCC, TSX-V) announced this morning that it has started a surface sampling program at its Canadian flagship project, the Keeley-Frontier mine near Cobalt, Ontario, ahead of diamond drilling…sampling will improve the understanding of the controlling structures in the mineralized system and assess the extent of disseminated Cobalt mineralization outside of previously mined structures…by testing for metals away from the main vein system, First Cobalt intends to determine if a Cobalt-rich halo extends beyond the high-grade vein system that could be amenable to large scale bulk-mining methods…Trent Mell, President and CEO commented, “Many Canadian Gold mines built over the past 2 decades resulted from revisiting old high-grade mines and recasting them as lower grade but higher tonnage operations. This is our vision for the Cobalt, Ontario, camp and our exploration program will now begin to assess the Keeley-Frontier project for bulk mining potential. Surface sampling is an effective and efficient way to test the metal dispersion around the known Silver mineralized zones. We expect assay results in a few weeks. Structural mapping of these stripped outcrops is also necessary to understand the broader region’s bedrock geology and will improve our targeting for the summer drill program.”

6. Find a director, real quick!…the 1-week trading halt in Aldershot Resources (ALZ, TSX-V), instituted after the company slipped to just 2 directors, was lifted this morning after President and CEO Jeremy Caddy frantically searched around the globe for someone who would serve with him, and found a chartered accountant…this is the same company that reported “high-grade Cobalt showings” in the headline of a news release April 5, 2017, but made no mention of “high-grade Cobalt showings” in its actual news…Caddy needs to step aside in order for Aldershot to move forward effectively with its optioned Gowganda Gold Project…

7. The Globe and Mail reported this morning that Argentina’s national government and the governors of 20 provinces signed a mining deal yesterday to harmonize taxes and regulations in hopes of attracting investment…the agreement, which needs approval from Congress and the 20 provincial legislatures, sets a 3% ceiling on royalties mining companies pay to provinces…“It’s an activity that could be one of the pillars of job creation,” Argentine President Mauricio Macri said of mining at the signing ceremony…“We can develop it with perfect care of the environment”…Latin America’s 3rd-largest economy has fallen behind Chile and Peru in attracting mining investment…shortly after taking office, Macri’s centre-right government eliminated export taxes on metals and lifted a prohibition on companies sending profits overseas, 2 moves celebrated by the sector…however, 7 of the country’s 23 provinces still prohibit certain practices, such as open-pit mining and the use of cyanide…Barrick Gold (ABX, TSX) recently ran afoul of local environmental laws after multiple cyanide spills…

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