Gold has traded between $1,172 and $1,182 so far today…as of 9:00 am Pacific, bullion is down $3 an ounce at $1,174 in quiet trading on this day before Christmas…Silver is off 2 cents at $15.77…Copper is off a penny at $2.88…Crude Oil has slipped $1.66 a barrel to $55.46 following some negative supply data from the Energy Information Administration, while the U.S. Dollar Index has eased one-tenth of a point to 89.97…
This is a slightly abbreviated version of Morning Musings on this Christmas Eve, a shortened trading session in both Canada and the United States…we’ll be posting Terry’s Christmas Message later in the day, with Morning Musings resuming next Monday (no weekend postings) when Canadian markets reopen…
We wish to take this opportunity to thank all of our readers for their continued strong support during this unprecedented period in the junior resource sector, and we wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas…may the reason for the reason resonate and shine in all of us…
We have some exciting new features we’ll be adding to BMR during the first half of next year as we’re always looking for ways to serve our readers better…
Gold At $2,000 By The End Of 2015?
Wouldn’t this be nice!…Rob McEwen, Chairman and chief owner of McEwen Mining Inc. (MUX, TSX and NYSE) told Kitco News that he expects Gold to reach $2,000 U.S. an ounce by the end of 2015, with that figure linked to less supply on the horizon…McEwen is a perennial optimist, so his price prediction might be overly bullish, but his comments regarding a tightening of supply are well grounded and echoed by others…
“We’ve seen a lot of Gold that went into the ETF’s and this hoarding that occurred form 2005 to 2011, a lot of it has come out,” McEwen said. “ETF Gold was a multiple or two of annual production at certain points during that period, and that Gold has come out of the ETF’s and gone to Asia (our emphasis).
“So, the next time Gold runs, there’s not as much Gold available,” he said. “The supply of Gold has been curtailed both through cutbacks and development projects – so there’s going to be a gap in production that could be three to five years long before it’s properly addressed.”
Updated Gold Chart
Gold began to lose near-term momentum at the beginning of last week when it couldn’t hold $1,200 and RSI(14) fell below an up trendline as shown on our 6-month daily chart this morning…
However, what we could be seeing now is merely some healthy consolidation following the $110 advance from the early November multi-year low…a strong reversal signal occurred then, so there should be plenty of buying support within $10 or $20 of current levels…it would be encouraging if the $1,180 support were to hold on a weekly basis…
Physical buying from China could be strong leading up to that country’s Lunar New Year (February 19), and we already know that has been a recent pick-up in demand from India…
Today’s Equity Markets
Asia
Asian indices rose on the last day before Christmas with the exception of China’s Shanghai Composite which gave up 59 points or 1.9% to close at 2974…
Japan’s Nikkei touched a 2-week high, jumping 129 points or 1.2% to close at 17854…
Europe
European markets were mixed in a shortened session today…in Russia, the MICEX index was flat despite ratings agency Standard & Poor’s warning late Tuesday that it could soon downgrade Russia’s rating to “junk” status…
North America
The Dow, which closed above 18000 for the first time ever yesterday, continues its impressive run…it’s up another 56 points as of 9:00 am Pacific…in Toronto, the TSX is up 13 points while the Venture is down 5 points to 672…
Venture 4-Month Daily Chart
Don’t let this morning’s weakness fool you…technically, the Venture is looking much healthier and is well-positioned to continue an uptrend that started after the 637 December 16 intra-day low…a 10% advance from current levels over the short-term would put the Index near resistance at the upper dotted downtrend line and the 50-day moving average (SMA)…from there, some consolidation would be expected followed perhaps by a breakout to higher levels…
Doubleview Capital Corp. (DBV, TSX-V) Update
As we have discovered on several occasions over the past year, Doubleview Capital’s (DBV, TSX-V) Farshad Shirvani is never one to be underestimated, and given his tenacity and faith in the Hat Project and the Sheslay district as a whole, nothing would warm our hearts more than seeing DBV pull a monster new hole that sends the stock soaring and reignites interest in what we and others still firmly believe is an emerging world class Copper-Gold porphyry district in northwest British Columbia…
Last night, DBV delivered fresh hope for Sheslay followers (and the market as a whole) just in time for Christmas…based on our records, Doubleview has just drilled the deepest hole ever in the Sheslay district…H-23–14 (we assume this was drilled within the Lisle Zone) was halted at a depth of 650 m (halted, but not necessarily completed yet as drilling at the Hat is set to resume in January)…
Visual analysis is always very tricky, even with the best geologists and Doubleview is blessed with an outstanding team, but our thinking is that the DBV crew must have had good reason to continue to drill to this depth…it’s interesting to note that late last year, in December 2013, DBV reported that it had drilled 5 holes for a total of 1,276 m and collected 386 core samples for the lab…in this instance, they drilled 650 m and took 263 core samples…so they drilled half as much (but all on 1 hole) and took two-thirds of the samples they did on 1,276 m when they produced 2 discovery holes…needless to say, this latest drilling gives reason for optimism…
This is a speculative business and there are never any guarantees, but we’ll gladly take H-23-14 in our Christmas stocking over a bunch of lottery tickets…core samples are in the lab and results, we’re guessing, could arrive in time for the 20th anniversary of the Vancouver Resource Show January 18-19…
Garibaldi Resources Corp. (GGI, TSX-V) Update
Given core descriptions and photos, it’s reasonable to assume that Garibaldi Resources (GGI, TSX-V) is on track expanding the high-grade Silver Eagle discovery in central Sonora State…a progress update is expected soon…
Garibaldi has impressively bucked the overall market trend in 2014, thanks to an aggressive approach that has produced the discovery of a new mineral camp in Rodadero North which is surrounded in all directions by operating mines…the key for GGI in 2015 will be to push the drilling success at Silver Eagle east, north and south to other promising targets over this 50 sq. km property…the Tarichi target, in particular, could be a game-changer given the mineralogical package there that has been observed at surface – high-grade Gold, Silver and base metals, and important pathfinder elements…
Meanwhile, investors should not forget 2 other potential near-term catalysts for GGI – the La Patilla Property in Sinaloa State where drilling earlier this year hit high-grade Gold including a 30-m near-surface intercept grading 3.1 g/t Au (LP-14), and of course the Grizzly in northwest B.C. which covers more than half of the Sheslay mineralized corridor…
It may have been a stroke of genius that President and CEO Steve Regoci the other day armed the treasury with a $1.25 million financing at 21 cents specifically to advance the Grizzly, and some of the company’s other high priority B.C. projects…as reported Monday, Garibaldi is currently finalizing a comprehensive NI-43-101 technical report on the Grizzly based on work performed this year, and that document will be the most up-to-date 43-101 on any property in the district, and on the district itself…in addition, it appears that Doubleview may have another “hit” on its hands at the Hat Property…
Technically, the GGI chart is once again looking explosive with the possibility of a near-term breakout above a downsloping flag…the 50-day SMA has flattened out and is now reversing to the upside after being in decline since mid-September…
GGI is up half a penny at 20.5 cents as of 9:00 am Pacific…
Focus Graphite Inc. (FMS, TSX-V) Update
On December 16 we wrote that December bottom-fishers may wish to keep an eye on Focus Graphite (FMS, TSX-V) in the event of any additional weakness before this tax-loss selling period ends…FMS has shown strong support in the mid-30‘s since October, and in mid-December RSI(14) was in the low range and near support on John’s 1-year weekly chart…
Focus, which recently completed and filed an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) for its Lac Knife Graphite Project in northeastern Quebec, has made powerful moves during the last half of December in each of the past 4 years…it’s also worth noting that Focus has the attention of Dundee whose analysts this week wrote, “Focus is the most advanced Canadian graphite developer” with a “place among top tier assets when it comes to grade, flake distribution, recovery and purity.”
John’s updated 1-year weekly FMS chart shows a breakout above a downtrend line in place for the past few months…
FMS is unchanged at 45 cents as of 9:00 am Pacific…
Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI. Jon also holds a position in DBV.
By this time the lab is empty and probably DBV receive the result of hole 23 very soon in January ! And why not in the news that the hole 23 resume because halted in high mineralization !!!! Only speculation !
Comment by Guy Delisle — December 24, 2014 @ 9:31 am
Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous
New Year to everyone. Here’s to a good close to
2014 trading and a wonderful 2015.
Comment by ChartTrader — December 24, 2014 @ 9:35 am
pinetree capital has been dumping stocks because they can’t pay their obligations!
Read more at 321Gold website
Comment by marc — December 24, 2014 @ 10:53 am
DBV.v and PGX.v get a shoutout here…fyi
A Junior Miner’s Howe Street Christmas
POSTED ON DECEMBER 24, 2014 BY ROB MCLEOD
CATEGORY IDM MINING, STORIES,
Rob McLeod and family
As we reach the climax of the holiday season, the Christmas cheer on Howe Street is a mere shadow of bull markets in years past. The mining industry and our weary investors have been delivered yet another lump of coal in our collective stockings. Not even some nice high value met coal or anthracite, but the dirtiest high ash, high sulphur mercury laden thermal coal not worth more than $40 per tonne, complete with an accessory pack of hippy protestors. Thanks Santa. All us miners want for Christmas is another resource market, same thing we asked for last year. And the year before.
Our friends in the brokerage industry are asking for simpler compliance and regulation, maybe scaling back the accredited investors rule. Over the past couple of years, the pro’s and their clients have held on to these illiquid shell companies. 2014 delivered a few wins, with a mini-bubble in weed deals paying some commission and corporate finance fees. The die-hard mining brokers and their clients need some wins in 2015…please Santa, bring us some more discoveries!! The Grinch has even expanded his territory, giving our oil and gas friends in Calgary a taste of junior miner-style misery; they’ll have to make do with their 2014 model F350 pickups for another year, I suppose.
No Christmas miracle this year, but the second half of 2014 delivered a bunch of reasons to be optimistic for this humble exploration geologist and amateur speculator. In British Columbia, the best new porphyry discovery since deep drilling at Red Chris by Imperial metals in 2008 was announced by Aurico at the new Kemess East porphyry a few weeks ago. The initial drilling delivered thick intervals of high-grade gold and copper, which at first glance look better than their Kemess North underground proposed development project. In my geological circles, this new discovery is creating quite the buzz.
My friends with the major copper miners are getting increasingly focussed on BC and the northern Cordillera in a flight to safer political jurisdictions, in spite of the disastrous tailings spill at Mount Polley during the summer. Antofagasta, Freeport, Anglo American, Teck, First Quantum and others all have programs often with increased greenfields budgets, primarily in BC, but throughout the north. Aurico’s discovery will certainly have the attention of major players. Rumour has it that BHP, gone for many years from Canadian exploration is apparently taking another look at the northwest.
The BC government’s decision to proceed with the Site C hydroelectric project is huge news for the mining industry, promising low cost power to current and future mines that would be uneconomic in other jurisdictions due to lower metal grades.
Many juniors have also had some decent success during 2014. Seabridge continues to add millions of tonnes of copper-gold-moly resources at KSM, recently receiving the often elusive federal permits for their mega-project. Porphyry finder Bob Dickinson’s Amarc Resources also has a nice discovery in what looks like a huge system. Further drilling should find some better grades. Prosper Gold and Doubleview Capital’s copper-gold projects in northwest BC are looking encouraging as well.
For 2015, I’m watching the strong, generative geological teams such as: Kiska Metals, Kaizen Discovery and Tower Resources as well as Millrock Resources in Alaska to capitalize on the major miner’s renewed interest.
On the precious metals side, northwest BC will continue to be where it’s at for the elusive high-grade deposits. I have long maintained that Pretium’s Valley of the Kings will be one of the richest mines in the world (hopefully they won’t overbuild it) and it is the best potential takeover target. During my summer field program with IDM Mining based out of Stewart, there were quite a few teams from majors that just happened to be coming through town, probably also kicking tires on KSM. Ascot’s Premier project, celebrating its 100th year since discovery and first shipments of ore, delivered some tremendously high-grade intercepts during 2014, and their share price has held in quite remarkably during this fall’s meltdown. At our Red Mountain project, IDM has delivered some high-grade discoveries, and entered the Provincial permitting process to develop a high-grade underground mine just outside of Stewart. As the richest area for gold in Western Canada, look for the Stewart area to keep delivering the goods in 2015 for exploration and development.
2015 should also see the commencement of production for the first significant sized, privately owned metal mine in recent memory in BC. My friends at JDS Silver are waiting on their final bulk sample permits to start construction and shortly thereafter processing ore from the Silvertip project in northwest BC. This should be a highly profitable operation, avoiding the drama, compliance and roller coaster markets that the pubco’s have to deal with, and managed by the best engineers in the industry.
As for me, I am looking forward to a better 2015 in the industry, particularly in the second half of the year. This terrible market, the worst in my 20 year career, will pass. As the excitement builds for Santa’s arrival for my eight year old daughter, and feigned excitement with a wink from my eleven year old son, the real gifts in my life, I am truly blessed and grateful to continue to work in an exciting and dynamic industry, knowing that I am only just a drill hole away from my next Discovery!
To Tommy and the crew at CEO.ca, his readers and our shareholders, on behalf of our team at IDM Mining, I wish you Merry Christmas, Happy Chanuka, Happy Festivus and may 2015 bring Peace and Prosperity.
Comment by zippy — December 28, 2014 @ 7:30 am
Zippy,
Thanks for such a piece!
Merry Christmas to all, and a blessed 2015 to ALL.
Comment by bgr — December 28, 2014 @ 11:12 am