More volatility in Gold today…bullion has traded between $1,175 and $1,203…as of 8:30 am Pacific, Gold is off $18 an ounce at $1,179 (support)…Silver is down 21 cents at $15.98…Copper has added 2 pennies to $3.05…Crude Oil is up slightly at $74.70 while the U.S. Dollar Index is flat at $87.52…
The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that China’s State Reserve Bureau, which maintains stocks of metals such as Copper and Iron as strategic materials, has stepped up Copper purchases to new heights this year, buying about 500,000 tons of Copper since early January…they are consistently stepping into the market, keeping a floor under prices…
Total physical Silver demand is seen down 6.7% in 2014 because of a weak first half of the year in most sectors, according to Thomson Reuters GFMS in a report issued last night on behalf of the Silver Institute…industrial demand was forecast down 1.8%, with jewelry seen down 4.4% and Silverware down 6.3%, the group said in its report…thrifting continues to affect Silver demand in electronics use, and some retailers pushed Gold jewelry this year after bullion’s price drop…additionally, a harmonization tax in Europe introduced in January has made Silver more costly for retail investors there…
All is not negative for Silver, however…of course it appears to have found very strong technical support at $15 an ounce, and a detailed report last month (“Silver Investment Demand,” produced by the CPM Group) suggested that investors may accumulate as much as 1 billion additional ounces of Silver in various investment instruments over the next decade…this is on top of the more than 860 million ounces of Silver purchased as an investment since 2006…Silver also has an increasing number of different uses…
Russia-Ukraine Tensions Continue To Build
Associated Press reports that Russia’s foreign policy chief today claimed that Ukraine’s decision to freeze budget payments to the eastern rebel-held territories could be a precursor to a military onslaught (the Russians are looking for any excuse to infringe further on Ukraine’s sovereignty)…Ukrainian officials announced earlier this month that they will freeze the $2.6 billion in state support to the areas now in rebel hands, which could further worsen the deplorable economic situation there…in an address to the parliament, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov voiced his suspicions that by doing so, Kiev is “preparing the ground for another invasion in order to solve the issue by force.”
Dozens of armored trucks, artillery and other heavy weaponry were seen moving around rebel-held areas in the past weeks, fueling fears of the resumption of the hostilities there…despite the cease-fire, civilians and combatants are dying in daily shelling…
Today’s Equity Markets
Asia
Asian markets finished slightly lower overnight as sentiment turned cautious amid concerns over the health of Japan – the world’s third-largest economy – and ahead of the release later this morning of the minutes from the latest U.S. Federal Reserve meeting…Japan’s Nikkei average slipped 55 points…the BOJ kept its massive stimulus program intact in the wake of data that showed the economy in recession and ahead of snap elections expected next month…China’s Shanghai Composite fell 5 points to finish at 2451…
Europe
European markets were mixed today…
North America
The Dow is off 29 points as of 8:30 am Pacific…the TSX has retreated 34 points points while the Venture has fallen slightly to 781…
Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX) Update
We’ve reported on several occasions in recent months on the stunning turnaround in fortunes for Richmont Mines (RIC, TSX), relating to both its financials and the discovery and development of a high-grade resource below existing workings at the company’s producing Island Gold Mine in Ontario…Richmont is also benefiting from a low Canadian dollar and weak Oil prices which have a cost-reducing effect, especially at the Island mine…
Technically, RIC surged Monday after breaking through resistance at $3 and headed straight to the $3.50 Fib. resistance…below is an updated 4-year weekly chart…as we stated a while back, this one’s a keeper and $3 is now new support (potentially, a confirmed breakout above $3.50 is very possible).
RIC is off 24 cents at $3.34 as of 8:30 am Pacific…
Columbus Gold Corp. (CGT, TSX-V) Update
As Columbus Gold (CGT, TSX-V) continues to make headway with its Montagne d’or Gold deposit in French Guiana (Preliminary Economic Assessment on track for release by the end of Q1 2015 as reported this morning, plus more drill results pending), the company is gearing up for a 60,000+ meter rotary drill program at its Eastside Gold discovery in Nevada….
Like Richmont, though it’s not a producer yet, Columbus is a company that has really turned the corner and you can see that in this 2+ year weekly chart…importantly, a confirmed breakout has just occurred above Fib. resistance and a downtrend line in place since the second quarter…momentum is on CGT’s side and a strong new wave has the potential to take this well beyond the 2014 March high, particularly if Gold breaks out above $1,200 as we suspect it will…as always, perform your own due diligence…
CGT is up a penny at 52 cents through the first 2 hours of trading…
TSX Gold Index-Oil Comparative Chart
A fascinating chart from John comparing the TSX Gold Index with WTIC prices going back to 2001…a lower Oil price environment is bullish for producers – Oil is a key cost component – and the TSX Gold Index has generally performed best when WTIC prices are under $100 a barrel (in late 2008, Gold producers moved rapidly in the opposite direction of declining Oil prices)…
As you can see in the chart below, an unusually large gap opened up recently between WTIC and the Gold Index…that gap is beginning to narrow and we expect that trend will continue over the longer term as Oil remains under pressure…
The Keystone Circus & Obama’s Canadian Oil Lie
On the topic of Oil…a bill to approve the Keystone XL Oil pipeline failed in the Senate last night by just 1 vote in another setback not only for this important North American energy project but the politically imperiled Democratic senator, Mary Landrieu, who pushed the legislation…she will surely go down to defeat in the upcoming Louisiana run-off, giving the Republicans an even larger Senate majority in the new Congress…and that’s exactly what the Democrats deserve because finally allowing this Keystone vote in the Senate (after 6 years) was an incredibly cynical attempt by current majority leader Harry Reid to avoid losing another Democratic senator with the Louisiana run-off (Louisiana, of course, is a key energy state)…
Keystone will surely come up for another Senate vote in the new Republican Congress early in 2015 and it will garner the necessary 60 votes, only to be likely vetoed by President Obama…this President is not only not listening to the will of the American people, but he’s telling them half-truths (or even outright lies) about Canadian Oil…in fact, Obama has stepped onto dangerous ground because his rhetoric around Keystone is growing increasingly protectionist and anti-NAFTA in its tone (under NAFTA, it was the U.S. that pushed for guaranteed access to Canadian Oil because it needed it)…
“Understand what this project is,” Obama recently stated. “It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their Oil, send it through our land down to the Gulf where it will be sold everywhere else (our emphasis). It doesn’t have an impact on U.S. gas prices.”
First it was about “climate change”, now Obama (who obviously doesn’t think in terms of North American energy security or Oil as a national security issue) is actually promoting the foolish idea that America doesn’t need and doesn’t want Canadian Oil, and that the intent of the Keystone pipeline is to export Crude outside of North America (that concept is highly problematic)…Canadians (and Americans) should be outraged at this kind of deception from the man occupying the Oval Office, but of course this is the same President who has deceived his own people regarding ObamaCare and a host of other issues (in fact, if you Google “Obama Lies”, you will now come up with 363,000 search results vs. 84,000 for “Bush Lies” and 33,000 for “Clinton Lies”, for what that’s worth)…we will be shocked if Obama does not face growing calls for impeachment during his final 2 years in office, though impeaching this President prior to the 2016 elections would likely be poor strategy on the part of the Republicans…
A commentary last Friday in The Wall Street Journal questioned Obama’s understanding of global economics and the Oil trade…
“Someone should tell the President that Oil markets are global and adding to global supply might well reduce U.S. gas prices, other things being equal,” it said. “A tutor could add that Keystone XL will also carry U.S. light Oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale.
“So even if he thinks that bilateral trade only helps Canada, he’s still wrong about Keystone.”
The President should be grateful that in Canada the United States has a secure and stable energy partner, unless of course he screws that up…in fact, Canadian Oil exports to the United States have never been higher – last month, they hit the 3-million barrel a day mark for the first time ever…
The U.S. still consumes way more Oil than it can produce, and remains a net importer…despite a surge in domestic production that now has the U.S. extracting almost 9 million barrels of Oil per day, the country consumes more than 18 million barrels per day…that’s according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which projects that the country will continue to be a net importer for the foreseeable future…Canadian Oil is increasingly dominant among those imports, now overtaking the total amount the U.S. brings in from all OPEC countries combined…
Below is a chart from the U.S. Energy Administration showing the steady growth of American imports of Canadian Oil since 1993…
Below is a link to a well-balanced article last night from Canadian Press reporter Alexander Panetta regarding the President’s remarks about Keystone and Canadian Oil…
WTIC 6-Month Daily Chart
Several factors – fundamental and technical – have contributed to Crude Oil’s price slide in recent months, but there’s nothing like lower prices to stimulate fresh demand – much to the chagrin of those pushing alternatives to Oil…
A key support band exists in the low $70’s…technically, the breach below the downsloping channel early last month helped fuel a stampede of selling…Oil needs time to stabilize and build a base…RSI(14) is holding around support but Oil is still vulnerable to some downside action…at some point a rally will ensue but there’s now plenty of strong resistance in the $80’s…
Long-Term WTIC Chart
A couple of important “takeaways” regarding this 19-year weekly WTIC chart…
First, at no point over the last 19 years has the RSI(14) been so low (19%)…the previous low occurred in late 2008 with WTIC finally hitting bottom in early 2009 at $33.05…
Second, this chart demonstrates how important the support is around $70 a barrel…technically, one potential scenario for Crude is a rally out of oversold conditions followed by a new low – unthinkable to many right now – around $50 a barrel…we’re not predicting $50 but a case can be made technically (and even fundamentally) for a collapse to that level (it would likely be brief, that price would not be sustainable)…
Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. (PNE, TSX-V) Update
Despite the drop in Oil prices, buy pressure has remained steady in Pine Cliff Energy (PNE, TSX-V) which has been trading within an upsloping channel for more than 2 years…support, of course, is at the bottom of that channel and resistance is near the top…a move back up toward the top of that channel appears to be in the works with the strong potential of a confirmed breakout above $1.74 Fib. resistance…
PNE is up 3 cents at $1.81 as of 8:30 am Pacific…
Note: Jon holds a share position in CGT.
Cannabix Technologies’
Dr. Attariwala Quoted in
TIME Magazine Article
For immediate release. Vancouver, British Columbia, November 19, 2014:Cannabix Technologies Inc.(CSE: BLO, OTC PINK: BLOZF) (the “Company”) is pleased to report that Dr. Raj Attariwala was recently quoted in a TIME Magazine story titled “ Driving While High” by TIME journalist Eliza Gray. Dr. Attariwala is Cannabix Technologies’ Chief Engineer and co-founder of the Cannabix Marijuana Breathalyzer. The author of the story, Eliza Gray, has contributed a series of marijuana related articles for TIME Magazine. Click here or on the logo below for story.
The TIME story, Driving While High, examines and provides thorough insight into the increasing problem of driving while under the influence of marijuana. The article states: “It is no surprise that solving the problem is a priority for public officials, since there is evidence to suggest that driving high is a real danger.”
Furthermore, the article quotes and makes mention of Dr. Attariwala and Cannabix President Kal Mahli: “A retired Canadian police officer (Mahli) and a physician (Attariwala) have teamed up to create a new Breathalyzer that will detect marijuana use in the past two hours, a decent measure of impairment since pot’s effects are usually felt for about two to three hours after use. Co-developer Dr. Raj Attariwala says the technology will get more precise as legalization spurs research.”
For the TIME article please visit cannabixtechnologies website and/or the TIME article online..
Comment by John BMR — November 19, 2014 @ 10:26 am
Your geo political comment that Russia is looking for any excuse to interfere in the sovereignty of the Ukraine does not stand up to any real analysis of the situation. What actually occurred there was that a twice democratically elected government was thrown out of office by a bunch of fascist thugs who were openly supported by Victoria Nuland and NATO with $10 billion to pay for this act. This can be easily borne out when you examine the fact that when the previous administration offered to hold immediate elections, as per the protestors demands, this was followed by the sniper attacks on both protestors and police to which there is circumstantial phone evidence linking Victoria Nuland to this attack. The reason she didn’t want open elections is because she knew her puppets would lose just like they did 10 years previously in the so called “orange revolution”.
During the Dutch investigation into the attack on the Malaysian airline there is increasing evidence that this plane was shot down by a Ukrainian fighter jet and not by a ground missile as originally and eroniously reported by the western press. This includes pieces of the fuselage clearly showing bullet holes consistent with a jet fighter attack.
Your geo political analysis lacks balance and you constantly fail to see the constant western interference in all the major conflicts across the globe. One of these ISIS was clearly created and funded by the west and Israel. There are plenty of pictures showing John Mc Cain openly talking to their leader. This is all to do with their clear objective of overthrowing the Assad regime through any means possible. The attack on Russia is probably linked to them preventing war in syria 20 months ago by brokering the peace deal.
Again your analysis is flawed in this area. Either stick to the shares or do more research before you draw your conclusions.
Comment by patrick — November 19, 2014 @ 10:45 am
GGI – Wonder if the PP is filled yet? You would think with the targets GGI has outlined on Rodadero, institutions would be throwing money at them, especially when majors are requesting access to their property. Would have also thought the results of the continued drilling at Silver Eagle area would be released by now.
Comment by Dan — November 19, 2014 @ 3:10 pm
The gang at BMR have consistently been all over Obama. On the plus side it saves me having to watch fox news.
Comment by Mike — November 19, 2014 @ 4:06 pm
GGI has maybe been overhyped to get this PP. If they were confident of great followup results in Silver Eagle why wouldn’t they wait for the lab results before going to the market. I would have thought they would have had enough time
Comment by PaulH — November 19, 2014 @ 6:28 pm
From my network I hear that a very well-known major investor in the precious metals sector is taking a significant portion of the GGI financing, and others are following his lead. Not sure if they’re enticed by the Mexico projects or the Grizzly claims in BC. More then likely they liked the fact that GGI has two solid flagship projects.
Comment by Pete — November 19, 2014 @ 10:38 pm
BMR crew, that seems like new information from previous poster – “From my network I hear that a very well-known major investor in the precious metals sector is taking a significant portion of the GGI financing.” Any comments? Have you heard anything?
Comment by Bucky — November 20, 2014 @ 5:57 am
Wouldn’t surprise me, Bucky…I think some logical assumptions can be made given the facts as we know them…a company doesn’t announce a financing out of the blue, especially one that’s very careful about dilution…the evidence on Rodadero has been growing considerably given the drill results to date, the extensive sampling over a wide area, the hyperspectral, the visuals of the core in this second phase, the overall geology of the area…in a situation like this, especially around a time that could mark an important low in the sector, it certainly wouldn’t be unusual for a major investor, or a few of them, to step up to the plate and say, look, we really like what you’re doing, we want to see this accelerate, and here’s the opportunity to do it…strategically, that makes a lot of sense especially at current levels because this has the potential to really start to run on more hits…keep in mind, as well, that there’s a track record in Mexico to back this up and Gibson and Megaw have other major discoveries under their belts…I believe that’s a fair way of putting it…plus of course there’s a lot more going in with GGI…
Comment by Jon - BMR — November 20, 2014 @ 8:05 am
I remember a poster on here back in the spring who was sort of obnoxious and he said he contacted Regoci regarding drilling the Grizzly during the summer and he stated that GGI has no plans to drill the Grizzly this summer and of course no one believed him and sort of gave him a bad time…looks like he was correct, funny how things turn out sometimes, we are all focused on the Grizzly and personally that is why I bought this stock, it wasn’t for the Mexico properties, and now it’s the Mexico properties that could give me my first 10 bagger or more… makes me wonder if Mexico turns out to be a home run, what will happen with the Grizzly…. will that be the Grand Slam?? or will it even matter?
Comment by Greg — November 20, 2014 @ 8:27 am
First, Greg, I’m not sure that poster (who you say was sort of “abnoxious”) was giving accurate information in terms of repeating what Regoci stated, because I know that was not his position…anyway, there is much to come regarding the Grizzly, I’m sure, but at the moment GGI has a drilling discovery it’s accelerating at Rodadero that commands immediate additional attention…I don’t care whether it’s Rodadero, La Patilla, Iris, the Grizzly, the Red Lion, MSM, etc., but there is a fabulous chance of a home run with at least one of these properties…that’s all it takes for a stock to explode…in the current market, high-grade (especially near-surface) is of particular interest in this sector…
Comment by Jon - BMR — November 20, 2014 @ 8:47 am
First, Greg, I’m not sure that poster (who you say was sort of abnoxious) was giving accurate information in terms of repeating what Regoci stated, because I know that was not his position…anyway, there is much to come regarding the Grizzly, I’m sure, but at the moment GGI has a drilling discovery it’s accelerating at Rodadero that commands immediate additional attention…I don’t care whether it’s Rodadero, La Patilla, Iris, the Grizzly, the Red Lion, MSM, etc., but there is a fabulous chance of a home run with at least one of these properties…that’s all it takes for a stock to explode…in the current market, high-grade (especially near-surface) is of particular interest…
Comment by BMR — November 20, 2014 @ 8:51 am