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This is an early version of Morning Musings due to travel commitments today…as of 4 am Pacific, Gold is up $5 an ounce at $1,793…it got as high as $1,800 overnight…Silver is up a nickel at $40.93…Copper has strengthened, gaining 16 cents a pound to $4.13 due in part to the threat of a strike at the world’s third largest copper mine in Indonesia…Crude Oil is off 54 cents at 86.73 while the U.S. Dollar Index has jumped nearly half a point to 74.08…European and Asian equity markets continued to claw back some of this month’s losses as better than expected U.S. consumer spending data boosted technology and automotive stocks, and eased concerns that the global economy may slip back into recession…a report by Citigroup argues that China’s move to broaden banks’ reserve-requirement base may be the last leg of monetary tightening in that country…

India is the world’s largest consumer of Gold and the chairman of that country’s biggest jewelery maker, Rajesh Mehta of Rajesh Exports, believes demand for the yellow metal may surge 25% during the festival season which is now underway and lasts through October…”In spite of the high prices, we have seen quite good demand,” Mehta stated in a report this morning from Bloomberg…”When people are buying jewelry, their motive is investment”…purchases of Gold jewelry, coins, bars and medallions may climb to 250 metric tons in the quarter ending November 30, compared with an estimated 200 tons in the same period a year earlier, according to Mehta…”Demand will go up because of the festival season and also people feel that prices may go higher,” he stated…the festival season in India is followed by the traditional wedding season which also helps drive Gold demand…Indian consumption rose to a record 963.1 tons last year, driving imports to the highest level ever at 958 tons, according to the World Gold Council (WGC)..purchases surged 60% to 267 tons in the three months ended June 30, from a year earlier while investment demand jumped 78% to 108.5 tons, the second-highest quarter on record, WGC stated…India’s monsoon season has so far been good and that’s important as the rain-dependent agriculture sector makes up about 15% of the Indian economy…a bumper harvest boosts rural incomes, lifting sales from cars to televisions to Gold…the nation’s 235 million farmers rely on the annual June-to-September monsoon to plant crops from wheat to rice…rains were “normal” between June 1 and August 28 according the country’s weather forecasting service…

The International Monetary Fund has slashed its growth forecasts for the U.S. and says the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank must be ready to ease policy…the IMF sharply revised down its forecast for U.S. growth in 2011 to 1.6% from a 2.5% forecast made just two months ago…it also lowered the outlook for 2012 to 2% from 2.7%…the IMF will issue a World Economic Outlook September 20…

Quebec Premier Jean Charest is on a trade mission to China until Friday, and yesterday a Chinese company (Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Co.) announced it will invest an additional $400 million in its project to extract nickel in Nunavik in northern Quebec…the addition of $400 million in the project brings the total investment of Chinese mining to $800 million in the northern tip of Quebec…the mine is expected to begin production by the middle of next year and employ nearly 300 people…Jilin Jien Nickel Industry acquired Canadian Royalties Inc. in 2010 and has since signed an agreement with the three Inuit communities in the region for the payment of mining royalties…Charest calls the agreements with local Aboriginal communities a model for future mining investments in the area…

The CDNX gained 18 points yesterday and closed near its high of the day at 1769.86…volume remains low…that should change, however, as many traders and investors return to their desks immediately after Labour Day…Part 2 of Jon’s interview with Currie Rose Resources‘ consulting geologist Mike Griffiths has been posted this morning…today’s discussion focuses on the company’s Mabale Hills properties where a total of 20 holes have just been completed at Sisu River and Dhahabu…visuals are encouraging and assays are pending…the start of drilling at Sekenke, approximately 200 kilometres to the southeast, has us particularly excited as that project has never been drilled yet by Currie Rose and surrounds and runs in between two former high grade Gold mines…the chance of one or more deposits in the vicinity of those past producers has to be considered very good as Griffiths suggested in Part 1 of the interview yesterday…

We’re looking for potential breakouts at the beginning of September not just in Currie Rose, but also in Adventure Gold (AGE, TSX-V) and Visible Gold Mines (VGD, TSX-V) for fundamental as well as technical reasons…AGE climbed 4 pennies yesterday to close at 50 cents…we’re expecting results soon from Phase 2 drilling at the company’s Pascalis-Colombiere Gold Property near Val d’Or…we’re confident those results will be strong given the very encouraging Phase 1 numbers and knowing the history of the property which includes the past producing and very profitable L.C. Beliveau Mine…we’ll be going into a lot more detail on Pascalis-Colombiere over the next few weeks, especially during our upcoming visit to northwest Quebec…from a technical standpoint, the stock is in a bullish downsloping flag pattern as John outlines below…this is definitely an ideal set-up for a potential breakout – all that’s required is some positive news and we believe that will come…

Visible Gold Mines (VGD, TSX-V) is also commanding our attention given its 49% jump in July and a solid performance this month in the face of some major overall market weakness that sent the Venture to a low of 1676 August 8…VGD has $6 million in working capital and is drilling aggressively in northwest Quebec with one of the best geological teams in the area…if there’s any company that’s capable of producing a major discovery, it’s certainly VGD with Robert Sansfacon as senior geologist…Visible Gold Mines has become the most visible exploration company in the immediate vicinity of Richmont Mines‘ (RIC, TSX) growing Wasamac deposit, with assays pending on numerous holes from Wasa Creek where drilling continues, and a 7,500-metre Phase 1 drill program commences shortly at the Joutel Project as VGD and Agnico-Eagle (AEM, TSX) try to reactivate that former mining camp…all things considered, the probabilities in our view favor a breakout in VGD by next week…