Gold continues to shine and jumped over a critical hurdle overnight at $1,275, climbing as high as $1,293 this morning…as of 8:05 am Pacific, bullion is up $14 an ounce at $1,289…confirmation of this breakout through $1,275 will be required by tomorrow’s close…Silver is 16 cents higher at $20.14…Copper is off a penny at $3.23…Crude Oil (WTIC), 6 cents higher at $100.13, has topped the $100 level for the first time this year while the struggling U.S. Dollar Index has retreated nearly one-fifth of a point to 80.46…as we’ve been stating for a few months, the greenback is in trouble technically and a test of the 79 support – which should really help to drive Gold – should be in the cards…
Just how much Gold is China accumulating?…as we mentioned in this space yesterday, the China Gold Association just published data showing that Chinese demand for the yellow metal surged 41% to 1,176 tonnes last year, making it all but certain that China overtook India in 2013 as the world’s biggest consumer of bullion…but the “real” number appears to be significantly higher than 1,176 tonnes, which is one important reason for Gold‘s fresh strength – accumulation by China is even greater than the world has been led to believe, with the Chinese government increasing its reserves as part of its currency strategy…Lawrence Williams at Mineweb has written extensively about this for quite some time…
As the Financial Times reported this morning, China’s “apparent Gold consumption” is much higher than yesterday’s reported 1,176 tonnes….“We would not be surprised to hear the People’s Bank of China announce a new, significantly higher figure (for its official reserves) if it chooses to do so,” stated Na Liu of CNC Asset Management…“if it chooses to do so” are the key words – the Chinese have been very happy to accumulate Gold on weakness, so why are they going to say something that’s going to add fuel to the fire? (the PBOC has said that its Gold reserves have been steady at 1,054 tonnes since April 2009, and if you believe that we have some beautiful oceanfront property in Phoenix we’d like to offer you at a can’t-beat price)…
CNC Asset Management calculated that China’s consumption exceeded 1,700 tonnes in 2013, more than 500 tonnes higher than reported…China imported 1,158 tonnes of Gold via Hong Kong, more than double its 2012 total…domestically, production of bullion rose 6% to 428 tonnes…on top of that, China also imported Gold directly through Shanghai, though these numbers have not been published…adding up the reported and estimated figures, Na Liu calculated that China’s “apparent Gold consumption” exceeded 1,700 tonnes in 2013…
Even if the Chinese central bank’s Gold holdings were twice as large as officially reported, they would still account for only roughly 2% of the country’s official reserves, well below the norm in more developed economies…
Commerzbank On Gold
“While the fundamental situation has brightened, the technical picture has also improved, which could spark follow-up buying that in the short term would probably drive the Gold price even further up,” Commerzbank analysts wrote this morning…according to the bank, trading volume on the Shanghai Gold Exchange yesterday totaled 25,725 kg, the highest it has been since early May last year, “pointing to robust demand for Gold there”.
Check out the article by Mineweb’s Williams this morning, “Gold May Already Be Heading For The Next Up Cycle” (www.mineweb.com)…
Today’s Markets
Asia
It was a public holiday in Japan today, so markets there were closed…in China, however, the Shanghai Composite closed at its highest levels in over a month for a second straight session (up 18 points to 2104) on optimism that Beijing could unveil more supportive policy measures…key economic numbers from China are due out this week, including January trade figures as well as consumer price inflation (CPI) and producer price index (PPI) data…
Shanghai Composite Updated Chart
The Shanghai Composite appears to have started an important turnaround with a triple bottom pattern…watch for a potential breakout above the horizontal channel which represents resistance at 2250, 150 points below today’s close…
Europe
European shares are up significantly in late trading overseas…
North America
The Dow has surged 98 points as of 8:05 am Pacific…Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, speaking before the House Financial Services Committee today, said these are “unusual times” and promised a steady and consistent course forward on monetary policy, with less money-printing but continued low rates…in her first public remarks since taking over for Ben Bernanke, Yellen sounded optimistic about the economy, including projections about unemployment and inflation…“The economic recovery gained greater traction in the second half of last year”…Yellen will appear before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday…
The TSX is up 68 points as of 8:05 am Pacific…Finance Minister Jim Flaherty will table the federal budget after the market close…the Venture has added 8 points to 975…
TSX Gold Index Updated Chart
The TSX Gold Index is looking VERY bullish and has managed to hold above its 200-day moving average since mid-January with that SMA (like the Venture’s) on the edge of reversing to the upside for the first time since falling into decline in late 2011…
Key resistance is around 210…this long-term chart is powerful evidence that Gold and Gold stocks did indeed bottom last year and that a new uptrend is now underway…
Romios Gold Resources Inc. (RG, TSX-V)
Keep an eye on Romios Gold Resources Inc. (RG, TSX-V) which last Friday announced that it has more than doubled its land position in the Sheslay Valley by adding claims contiguous to Garibaldi Resources Corp.’s (GGI, TSX-V) Grizzly Property and southeast of Doubleview Capital Corp.’s (DBV, TSX-V) Hat Property discovery…
Romios, as you can see on the map below from its web site, has attached itself to the 66 sq. km area recently staked by Garibaldi, covering what’s believed to be the southeast strike extension of known mineral occurrences over a wide corridor at the Grizzly coincident with magnetic anomalies for at least 15 km…this is part of an important parallel trend running below the trend that extends from Prosper’s Star, North Star and East Star targets southeast for at least 9 km to the DBV discovery…
Romios‘ total holdings now comprise 6,239 hectares, making it the third largest landholder among juniors behind Garibaldi (26,000 hectares) and Prosper Gold Corp. (PGX, TSX-V) with 6,800 hectares…RG is preparing to initiate exploration on its newly-acquired Sheslay Valley claims…
Doubleview is gearing up to resume drilling at its Hat Property where it recently announced a significant discovery, and Part 2 in our series on DBV will be posted later in the week…
Sheslay Valley Updated Area Map
Romios 3-Year Weekly Chart
What’s significant about this 3-year RG chart is how Romios is on the verge of a breakout about a downtrend line in place since late 2012…this is a pattern we’ve seen in numerous Venture stocks in recent months…typically, once the breakout has occurred, a new overall uptrend has commenced…buy pressure has increased significantly in RG recently, and RSI(14) is showing strong up momentum…RG closed yesterday at 6 cents…
Silvercrest Mines Inc. (SVL, TSX-V) Chart
Evidence of a confirmed reversal in Gold and Silver stocks is very clear in this 2.5-year weekly Silvercrest Mines (SVL, TSX-V) chart…while SVL is susceptible to a imminent minor pullback after a strong move from the $2 level over just 8 trading sessions, the bottom line is that there has been a clear change in the overall trend…
Note: John and Jon both hold share positions in GGI. Jon also holds share positions in GGI, PGX and DBV.
Starcore looks like it’s getting ready to bust out of a cup with handle pattern
Comment by Justin — February 11, 2014 @ 8:41 am
Regarding RG, i am not ready to buy until i find
out why there’s 23/4 million shares offered for
sale at 0.07.. It may be a ploy & it may not
be. R !
Comment by Bert — February 11, 2014 @ 12:12 pm
Bert,i am with you!! and holding off…there is 165,000 ask at .065 at todays close The 2.75 million at 07…. Do you have market depth?? Thanks.
Comment by Greg J. — February 11, 2014 @ 2:23 pm
Funny, Greg, that actually makes me more bullish.
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 11, 2014 @ 2:45 pm
Greg – Yes i do have level II, but brokerages names are not included.
Jon – You have aroused my curiosity, how can you be more bullish, if
there’s 23/4 million shares for sale at 0.07 ? That equates to
a Tsunami or in English, Harbor Wave. R !
Comment by Bert — February 11, 2014 @ 3:40 pm
Jon , my mistake,the 165k was a sell order at the close.The large sell at .07, Bert refers to..does that concern you?? Thanks.
Comment by Greg J. — February 11, 2014 @ 4:31 pm
Ok lol, long day!! Ask,sell, same thing.
Comment by Greg J. — February 11, 2014 @ 4:38 pm
Anyone catch the ventures volume today? 131.7 million shares. Beauty!!
Comment by Tony T — February 11, 2014 @ 5:27 pm
Tony
Sharing information can be very helpful. Take today for example,
Tony brought forward the volume for the Venture, which i had not
noticed (shame Bert). After looking at the 6 month chart, i can
state that we haven’t seen such volume for 6 months anyway. I also
noticed that we were up 15/16 days in a row in December/January
& up for the last 3 days. Solid proof that the Venture is slowly
but surely creeping back. Good night ! R !
Comment by Bert — February 11, 2014 @ 6:34 pm
BMR – Any insights on some of your old school picks like SFF, AGE, ASW?
Comment by Andrew M — February 11, 2014 @ 7:16 pm
Andrew, AGE is looking good as we’ve stated on a few occasions the last couple of months, solid company (strong management) and well positioned to take advantage of the bullish new Venture trend. SFF – great example of how to screw up a golden opportunity but many investors made a lot of money on the way up from pennies to 80 cents a share. Again, it always comes down to management – SFF couldn’t seize the opportunity after filling the coffers in early 2011 with a large financing after that big hole at Miraflores (the new group took over after that money was raised). Hopefully the bank doesn’t end up owning SFF. Their assets in Colombia hold great potential – can management pull it off? ASW – it was looking more interesting when they put together the Kenville deal but that ended up falling apart recently. We’ve never really focused on ASW much but they do hold some good ground in southeastern B.C. including flake graphite prospects. Doubts about management though.
BTW, spoke to Tom with Romios tonight. I suspect there are some games going on with that offer at 7 cents. There might be a connection between that 7 cent offer and the 9+ million shares that were crossed in the RG market on one day in early December. Romios has over $1 million in its treasury, will not be doing a rollback, and has a really sweet land position in NW B.C. with much of the ground between Eskay Creek and Galore Creek. They’re also now the third largest landholder among juniors in the Sheslay Valley, an area Tom is obviously very bullish on – even more so now that the Northwest Transmission Line is in the vicinity. Their claims feature some mag highs similar to those seen at the Grizzly, the Hat and elsewhere.
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 11, 2014 @ 7:41 pm
JON/BERT: Did you guys notice the 980 close on the Venture today!
Comment by STEVEN1 — February 11, 2014 @ 8:10 pm
Yes, of course, we have an updated chart for tomorrow. Breakout could be CONFIRMED tomorrow, which also could coincide with a potential confirmed breakout in Gold. Could be a very important day.
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 11, 2014 @ 8:16 pm
JUST GOT THIS! GREAT INFO DECLARING GOLD BULL MARKET BEGINS OFFICIALLY TODAY! http://wallstreetwindow.com/node/9492
Comment by STEVEN1 — February 11, 2014 @ 8:30 pm
Jon if i may, i would like to chastise you just a little this
morning, forgive me please ! Greg & I, showed concern regarding
all the RG shares for sale at 0.07 & your response was that you
were more bullish than ever, yet your concern came through, when
you placed a call to Tom. It appears that Tom didn’t have an
answer, or didn’t want to say, leaving you with the impression
that there may be games going on. Well, if someone is willing
to play games with a stock, with millions of shares, i consider
it a red flag & not worthy of further consideration. Don’t
forget that a previous post will show that the BMR group are
willing to accept criticism & i consider this constructive. Apart
from the few times that i criticize, i appreciate everything you
write. R !
Comment by Bert — February 12, 2014 @ 4:33 am
Hi guys,
take a look at V.CJC, they came out with great drill results yesterday and more results pending.
Canada Strategic Metals Once Again Intersects a Wide Gold-Bearing Zone with 3.78 g/t Gold Over 27.95 Metres, Including 7.21 g/t Au Over 7.00 Metres at the Sakami Gold Project
Read more at
stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2014/02/11/canada-strategic-metals-once-again-intersects-a-wide-gold-bearing-zone-with-3#vTby4zt1kzeplDMq.99
Comment by Maryam — February 12, 2014 @ 5:16 am
Jon, what do you think of V.CJC?
Thanks guys for a great site.
Best regards
Comment by Maryam — February 12, 2014 @ 5:20 am
Bert, traders play games with a lot of stocks, especially on the Venture. You just learn to recognize it and trade/invest accordingly. It doesn’t scare me when I see a big block put up, in fact in this specific case it’s going to look really good if someone steps in and picks it up (as may be planned). Tom had no idea when I spoke with him last night as to who that offer on RG was from (it showed again this morning shortly after 6 am Pacific). What I pointed out in my comment last night was that it might be connected to the big block that was crossed in early December. There are some funds (not Pinetree) that hold positions in RG, but Tom himself holds the largest individual position of about 10 million shares – and that offer of course wasn’t from him. So, not quite sure what your “criticism” is pertaining to. As far as I’m concerned, personally, RG is a good value at its current price and I plan on picking some up in the near future, whether I see a block of 2.7 million for sale or not. It makes sense to me that RG should be trading quite a bit higher approaching the summer especially, given their overall land position in northwest British Columbia and the fact they’re now the third largest landholder among juniors in the Sheslay Valley. They have about $1.2 million in cash, so no need to do an immediate financing. If you’re nervous over the block issue for sale, that’s exactly in part what the offer might be intended to do – scare retail investors for accumulation purposes.
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 12, 2014 @ 6:20 am
I criticized because it is my aim to learn
from you & your previous response was just
the opposite of what i always believed &
my aim was to did not fear all the selling.
Anyway, i prepared myself by showing my
appreciatiation for your musings. I will
sign off by stating, all’s well that ends
well. R !
Comment by Bert — February 12, 2014 @ 6:34 am
No problem, Bert, always appreciate and enjoy your input. Looks like the Venture is finally ready to break out today. Will depend on the close.
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 12, 2014 @ 6:37 am
Greg
Bid Ask
Price Total Size # of Orders Price Total Size # of Orders
$0.06 39 3 $0.065 165 5
$0.055 68 4 $0.07 2783 6 —Note
$0.05 115 4 $0.08 25 2
$0.045 141 7 $0.09 3 1
$0.04 184 11 $0.105 25 1
$0.035 123 6 $0.19 5 1
$0.03 22 2 $0.20 10 1
$0.025 15 1 $0.40 100 1
$0.02 150 2 $0.88 200 1
$0.015 100 1 $5.50 285 1
Comment by Bert — February 12, 2014 @ 6:38 am
Jon, can you please answear my questions?
Comment by Maryam — February 12, 2014 @ 6:39 am
Maryam, you’re referring to CJC…interesting results but I’m not familiar with that particular project…a lot of trading yesterday but the stock closed unchanged on the day…we’ll look at it more as soon as we get a chance…
Comment by Jon - BMR — February 12, 2014 @ 6:44 am
Correction to post 19– 4th line should read “my aim
was to find out why you did not fear all the possible
selling….
Comment by Bert — February 12, 2014 @ 6:49 am
Jon, that would be very kind of you. It was oversold yesterday, maybe people taking home some profit. It was’nt long time ago V.CJC was below 6c before the first NR with great drill results. There are more drill results pending, and with Gold bull market I think this one will take off soon.
Thanks guys for a great site. Keep up the good work :o)
Brgds
Comment by Maryam — February 12, 2014 @ 6:50 am
Gold up again this morning, not much, but up just
the same. Close up today & we will trade above
$1,300.. by Friday.. By the way, for those who
may not be aware, Monday is family day in Toronto,
so we look forward to a long weekend. Come on
friends post something. Today, i will accept any
negative posts directed my way, even if you call
me a crazy Newfoundlander.. Let’s try to make it
50 for the way.
Comment by Bert — February 12, 2014 @ 6:58 am
Jon
Maybe my criticism wasn’t in order this a.m.,
but to make up & let you know that i am a
follower, be advised that i just bought a few
(10K) of RG at 0.06. If i lose on this one, my
criticism will be earth shattering, (joking). R !
Comment by Bert — February 12, 2014 @ 7:12 am
Gold at $1,293.00, will it test $1,300.00 today ?
Every positive move on the Venture &/or in Gold makes
us more optimistic & willing to take chances in what
has been a dreadful market. Not only do good things
come to an end but bad things also come to an end.
This world is full of ups & downs, we experience it
every day. Being a Canadian i felt down when the U.S.
women’s hocken team scored first this a.m. but i was
elighted when i noticed the Canadians won 3-2.. A
controversial goal but i will leave that to the
officials. My mind set now is to beat the market. R !
Comment by Bert — February 12, 2014 @ 7:49 am