Visit the BMR comments section throughout the day for updates and helpful information!
1. Gold has traded between $1,292 and $1,305 so far today…as of 7:00 am Pacific, bullion is off $14 an ounce at $1,295 for no obvious reason other than strength in the greenback today…Silver has slipped 29 cents to $15.12…Copper has retreated 4 pennies to $2.92…Nickel is 12 cents lower at $5.82 while Zinc is unchanged at $1.30…do today’s young people, many of whom have been brainwashed by climate change ideology which is part of a socialist agenda (i.e., the Green New Deal), appreciate the importance of mining to their everyday lives?…a typical cell phone is composed of 75 different elements, which is almost three quarters of the periodic table…computers contain over 66 minerals such as Silver, Aluminum, Copper and Gold – all of which, of course, are mined…the average American car contains 50 pounds of Copper alone…the list goes on…Crude Oil has hit a fresh 4-month high, up 31 cents to $58.57 while the U.S. Dollar Index has strengthened nearly one-third of a point to 96.76…Bloomberg News reports that China and the U.S. are trying to push back a meeting between the countries’ 2 leaders from late March to April at the earliest…this comes after President Trump said he was in no rush to form an agreement (more negotiating tactics)…Bloomberg’s report comes after China’s industrial output expanded at its slowest rate in 17 years…Trump has some leverage…investors expected the 2 leaders to meet at Mar-a-Lago later this month as both sides claimed progress was being made on trade negotiations…great article in this morning’s Financial Post by Gwyn Morgan that explains how foreign-backed anti-Oil activists have infiltrated Canada’s government – how Canadians could accept this “collusion” is mind-boggling…“Canadians watching Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election might be tempted to find comfort in their certainty that such foreign interference could never happen here. Except it already has. And while the Russian government at least denies interfering in American political affairs, the perpetrators who meddled in Canadian elections have publicly trumpeted their success in devising and executing their plan aimed at helping elect who they wanted” (“Talk about ‘collusion’: How foreign-backed anti-Oil activists infiltrated Canada’s government”)…
2. One of Australia’s largest high-grade Nickel producers, Western Areas (WSA, ASX), has reported a significant increase in inbound off-take inquiries for Nickel sulphide concentrate post current contract periods…according to the company’s managing director, Dan Lougher, this new trend is primarily linked to the accelerating electric vehicle battery sector…addressing the 2nd day of the Paydirt 2019 Battery Minerals Conference in Perth, Lougher said some of the new inquiry was driven in part by Tsingshan, the company’s 2nd largest off-take partner and China’s largest stainless steel producer…“Players looking to lock in new long-term contracts will be doing so at a time technological changes in the battery space are favouring the new NCM 811 classification (Nickel, Cobalt, Manganese) which research indicates will be the fastest growing battery combination by 2025,” Lougher said. “These battery cells offer better energy density, allowing fewer and/or lower weight batteries in cars – but they will require even more Nickel”…
3. SilverCrest Metals (SIL, TSX-V), an increasingly attractive potential takeover target, was halted pre-market followed by news of an updated resource estimate for its Las Chispas Property in Sonora, Mexico…infill drilling at Las Chispas has delineated an initial Indicated resource estimate of 1.0 million tonnes grading 7 g/t Au and 710.6 g/t Ag, or 1,234 g/t Ag equivalent, containing 39.8 million ounces of AgEq…Inferred Resources are estimated at 3.6 million tonnes grading 3.3 g/t Au and 332.5 g/t Ag, or 581 g/t AgEq, containing 68.1 million ounces of AgEq…of the 30 known veins in the district, 10 veins were included in the updated resource estimate…CEO Eric Fier commented, “Less than 3 years ago we first started drilling the Las Chispas Property and we are now announcing our 3rd resource estimate, including our first Indicated resource estimate. We are particularly excited about the high-grade resources delineated at the Babicanora (including HW), Babicanora FW and Babicanora Norte Veins. These three adjacent veins cumulatively host Indicated resources of 1.0 million tonnes grading 1,234 gpt AgEq (39.8 million ounces of AgEq). These high-grade resources are near-surface and conceptually can be developed using the same underground infrastructure, which may be a key driver of the economics for the project. This 3rd mineral resource estimate will be used to finalize the ongoing PEA planned for release in Q2, 2019. The company will continue exploration with 7 core drills focused on infill drilling to upgrade additional Inferred resources into the Indicated category and 5 core drills testing up to 5 new vein prospects in H1, 2019“…
4. The Dow is flat through the first 30 minutes of trading…Boeing (BA, NYSE), which has by far the biggest influence of any stock on the Dow, is down about $70 a share or 16% from its all-time high of $446 March 1…Boeing’s entire fleet of 737 Max jets was grounded yesterday when Canada and the United States joined dozens of other countries and closed the skies to the aircraft following 2 tragic crashes in less than 5 months…the financial impact of the groundings remains unclear for carriers including Air Canada and WestJet, but the decision will affect dozens of daily flights carrying thousands of people across Canada…the cost to Boeing (and some insurance companies) will be substantial…in Toronto, the TSX is off 31 points while the Venture has given up 1 point to 623…48North Cannabis (NRTH, TSX-V) is down for the 3rd straight session this morning following the announcement of a $25 million bought deal private placement at $1.36 per unit…strong technical support from the rising 20-day SMA at $1.14 into the $1.20’s where immediate accumulation makes sense…Hexo’s (HEXO, TSX) $263 million deal for Newstrike Brands (HIP, TSX-V) came together over dinner with The Tragically Hip and marked the first time Royal Bank of Canada advised on a cannabis transaction…Bloomberg reports that the Canadian rock band owns more than 5% of Newstrike and has been a key adviser to the Toronto-based pot firm, according to CEO Sebastien St. Louis…RBC Capital Markets acted as the financial adviser to Newstrike, the first time the bank has advised on a cannabis deal…RBC Capital Markets head Doug McGregor said in December that it would begin advising on cannabis stock sales and takeovers…iMetal Resources (IMR, TSX-V) has just announced the closing of a small but strategic private placement 30% above the current stock price…$250,000 @ 15 cents per unit in addition to $500,000 raised through the exercise of warrants puts IMR in an excellent position to further ramp up drilling at its Gowganda West Gold Project where the first few holes have intersected visually impressive mineralization…
5. White Gold (WGO, TSX-V) has unveiled a fully financed 2019 exploration program on its massive 439,000 hectare land package representing over 40% of the prolific White Gold district in the Yukon…this year’s program, budgeted at approximately $13 million, has been designed to follow up on the company’s new high-grade Vertigo discovery on its JP Ross Property, expand the Golden Saddle and Arc resources with diamond drilling on the GS West discovery and other nearby targets, increase the recently acquired 230,000 ounce VG resource (4.4 million tonnes Inferred grading 1.65 g/t Gold at a cut-off of 0.5 g/t) on its QV property, as well as to identify and test high priority regional targets…backed by partners Agnico Eagle (AEM, TSX, NYSE) and Kinross (K, TSX; KGC, NYSE), 2019 exploration is planned to commence in the coming weeks…Shawn Ryan, Chief Technical Advisor stated, “2019 will be one of the most exciting seasons for White Gold and has the potential to be a transformative year for us. Our systematic regional exploration approach is working exceptionally well and resulted in 4 new discoveries last year (the Vertigo, GS West, Ryan’s Surprise and Betty Ford). This year’s program will also feature diamond drilling on the Vertigo discovery to expand this new unique style of high-grade Gold mineralization. Concurrently, the regional program on the JP Ross Property will follow up on multiple other highly anomalous Gold targets near the Henderson Creek drainage system where placer Gold mining has been taking place since the turn of the century, and will continue to utilize detailed soil sampling, GT probe and RAB drilling to hone in on high-probability targets, which we anticipate will lead to more new discoveries. The Golden Saddle deposit will be moved along with more diamond drilling on the GS West and Ryan’s Surprise discoveries. The recently acquired VG deposit will undergo drilling to expand the known resources and we will be applying our proprietary regional exploration program to advance some of our other priority targets. All and all this should be our best season yet”…
6. Aurora Cannabis (ACB, TSX), aiming for its 5th straight winning session, is off slightly in early trading…yesterday, the stock soared $1.38 a share to close above the $12 level for the first time since October…billionaire Nelson Peltz has signed on as a strategic adviser to Aurora, lending his reputation and name recognition in exchange for millions of stock options…Peltz, who runs the activist investment firm Trian Fund Management LP, will work with Aurora on partnerships and global expansion…in return, he has been granted options that allow him to purchase almost 20 million Aurora shares for $10.34 each…the options vest over 4 years and expire after 7 years…the move comes as major Canadian cannabis producers scramble to sign export deals and to make international acquisitions…as Aurora expands internationally, with recent transactions in countries such as Portugal and Britain, the company hopes Peltz’s relationships will help to forge new deals – especially as global consumer-products companies grow more comfortable with cannabis…despite his reputation, 2 of Peltz’s most recent major bets have failed to deliver…2 years into its investment in Procter & Gamble, Trian is still trying to turn the consumer products giant around…the fund also took a bath on General Electric…
7. Not exactly a “pot of Gold” as governments across Canada expected…Ottawa has sent the first weed excise tax payments to the provinces without disclosing amounts, according to a Globe and Mail report this morning…the government was mum likely because the cheques were much smaller than expected…British Columbia is the only province to disclose its excise tax revenues – $1.3 million for October to December, 2018…it had expected $50 million total this fiscal year, but now will be lucky to get $3 million…other provinces have not disclosed their receipts…Manitoba did not even mention cannabis revenues in last week’s budget…for Q4, Statistics Canada says legal pot sales totalled $307 million…that means the federal government would have earned about $31 million in GST and excise taxes on cannabis for that period…at the end of 2018, black market sales still accounted for 80% of Canadian recreational cannabis purchases…streamlining the tax regime, and lowering the cost of the legal product, will be an important part of driving that share down…
Most Popular Recent BMR Posts
Video: How This Innovative Junior Is Winning The “Battery Arms Race” In Northern Ontario
“The Enemies Of Progress, The Radical Environmentalists, Are Ramping Up For A War In The Woods”
Why Are These People Smiling? – Their Stock Has Tanked 80%!
The Template For The Next 10% Stake In Garibaldi Resources
The Nickel Mountain Magma Highway
Two Big Plays Emerge in B.C., Setting The Stage For A Summer To Remember
How To Bring A Junior Resource Market To Life!
Northern Ontario Cobalt Junior Attracts Interest From Metal Trading Companies
The Most Important Venture Development Since The New Bull Market Began
IMR PP closed. Institutional investor on board. Wonder what your take is on it and what’s in store for IMR? Thanks Jon
Comment by Vladdy — March 14, 2019 @ 9:33 am
Understand IMR institutional Investor is UK based managing a fund for a certain whale. Any insight BMR?
Comment by BCCOASTAL — March 14, 2019 @ 12:47 pm
I think somebody taking part in a PP at .15 which is definitely above market price is a great sign. Somebody wants in. Very little dilution.
Comment by Danny — March 14, 2019 @ 3:58 pm
IMR warrants @ 20 cents which will be the new base for the SP.
Comment by Patrick — March 14, 2019 @ 5:29 pm
No comment on IMR Jon? I like the fact the PP has minimal dilution, enough for more VTEM and drilling if necessary. Hopefully we see some assays in the next couple weeks too. Cheers
Comment by Vladdy — March 16, 2019 @ 8:19 am
Vladdy, I commented on the IMR raise the other day – looks great and a very positive sign. Gowganda West has fabulous potential and they’re well positioned to keep drilling with the ultimate goal of raising millions for this exciting project at significantly higher prices on a confirmed discovery.
Comment by Jon - BMR — March 16, 2019 @ 8:43 am