Agoracom Blog Home

Posts Tagged ‘#Drilling’

American Creek $AMK.ca Announces Its JV Partner Tudor Gold Is Fully Funded for the 2020 Exploration Season at Its Flagship Project Treaty Creek Located in the Golden Triangle $TUD.ca $SII.ca $GTT.ca $AFF.ca $SEA.ca $SA $PVG.ca $AOT.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:11 AM on Wednesday, March 25th, 2020

Cardston, Alberta–(Newsfile Corp. – March 25, 2020) – American Creek Resources (TSXV: AMK) (the “Corporation” or “American Creek”) is pleased to announce its partner Tudor Gold Corp. (TSXV: TUD) (FSE: TUC) (“Tudor Gold”) has sufficient funds to execute a significantly larger drilling and exploration program, than the 2019 program, on the Goldstorm Zone at Treaty Creek project this year. With the capital raised in December 2019, as well as the recent warrants exercises, the Tudor Gold has a good cash position to execute a fully funded and very ambitious drill program at Treaty Creek this year. Tudor Gold is currently in the final stages of finalizing all preparations needed for the upcoming 2020 drill program at Treaty Creek.

Tudor Gold’s Vice President of Project Development, Ken Konkin, P.Geo., states: “The Goldstorm system is currently open at depth and along the northeast axis of the mineralized body. The drill program is designed to extend and to explore the limits of Goldstorm system to the southeast as well as to the northeast and to depth. We anticipate drilling approximately 18,000 to 20,000 metres of HQ and NQ diameter core from 7-10 drill platforms with four diamond drill rigs. Compared to the drill program last year (14 diamond drill holes over 9,781.8 meters), the planned 2020 drill program will be much larger.”

The current known length of the northeast axis of the Goldstorm System is over 850 meters long and the southeast axis is at least 600m across. The system remains open in all directions and to depth. The best mineralization encountered to date is from the two consecutive 150m step-out holes to the Northeast: GS-19-42 yielded 0.849 g/t Au Eq over 780 m with 1.275 g/t Au Eq over 370.5m and GS-19-47 yielded 0.697 g/t Au Eq over 1,081.5m with 0.867 g/t Au Eq over 301.5m.

The best southeast extension came from GS-19-52 which yielded 0.783 g/t Au Eq over 601.5m intercept with 1.062 g/t Au Eq over 336.0m intercept. (results from the company’s NR dated March 3rd, 2020).

Tudor Gold response to COVID-19:

Tudor Gold has introduced additional precautionary steps to manage and respond to the risks associated with COVID-19 virus. This includes, for example the cancellation of all non-essential global travel and the reducing in person meetings and transitioning to teleconferencing where possible. Vancouver office staff are now working from home until government advisories change.

Tudor Gold is regularly monitoring the situation and following local and national health authority requirements and recommendations.

Walter Storm, President and CEO of Tudor Gold stated: “We are taking all appropriate measures to protect the safety, health and well-being of our people and all those who interact with our business. Tudor Gold is following guidance and directives as updated by federal, regional and provincial health authorities in respect of general and drill-site specific protocols. We are very fortunate to have a strong balance sheet amidst the volatile market created by COVID-19.”

Qualified Person

The Qualified Person for this news release for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 is the Company’s Vice President of Project Development, Ken Konkin, P.Geo. He has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this news release.

Treaty Creek JV Partnership

The Treaty Creek Project is a Joint Venture with Tudor Gold owning 3/5th and acting as operator. American Creek and Teuton Resources each have a 1/5th interest in the project. American Creek and Teuton are both fully carried until such time as a Production Notice is issued, at which time they are required to contribute their respective 20% share of development costs. Until such time, Tudor is required to fund all exploration and development costs while both American Creek and Teuton have “free rides”.

Treaty Creek Background

The Treaty Creek Project lies in the same hydrothermal system as Pretium’s Brucejack mine and Seabridge’s KSM deposits with far better logistics.

Cannot view this image? Visit: https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/53763_07331b7734267a38_001.jpg



The Sulphurets Hydrothermal System

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:
https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/682/53763_07331b7734267a38_001full.jpg

About American Creek

American Creek is a Canadian junior mineral exploration company with a strong portfolio of gold and silver properties in British Columbia. Three of those properties are located in the prolific “Golden Triangle”; the Treaty Creek and Electrum joint venture projects with Tudor Gold/Walter Storm as well as the 100% owned past producing Dunwell Mine.

More information about the Treaty Creek Project can be found here: https://americancreek.com/index.php/projects/treaty-creek/home

The Corporation also holds the Gold Hill, Austruck-Bonanza, Ample Goldmax, Silver Side, and Glitter King properties located in other prospective areas of the province.

For further information please contact Kelvin Burton at: Phone: 403 752-4040 or Email: [email protected]. Information relating to the Corporation is available on its website at www.americancreek.com

Loncor Increases Interest In Adumbi Mining To 76.29% $LN.ca $ABX.ca $TECK.ca $RSG $NGT.to $GOLD $NEM

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:26 AM on Wednesday, March 25th, 2020
  • Loncor has acquired an additional 5.04% interest in its subsidiary Adumbi Mining
  • Adumbi holds six exploitation licences in the Ngayu Greenstone Belt including the Imbo exploitation licence, where an Inferred Mineral Resource of 1.675 million ounces of gold (20.78 million tonnes grading 2.5 g/t Au

TORONTO, March 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Loncor Resources Inc. (“Loncor” or the “Company“) (TSX: “LN”; OTCQB: “LONCF”) announces that it has acquired an additional 5.04% interest in its subsidiary Adumbi Mining SARL (“Adumbi Holdco”) pursuant to a private transaction with one of the former minority shareholders of Adumbi Holdco.  This acquisition increases Loncor’s interest in Adumbi Holdco from 71.25% to 76.29%.  “Loncor continues to consolidate its dominant position in the Ngayu Goldbelt.  Over the next twelve months we intend to drill the Adumbi gold deposit and several other highly prospective areas of the Imbo license,” said Founder and CEO, Arnold Kondrat.

Adumbi Holdco, which recently changed its name from KGL Somituri SARL, holds six exploitation licences in the Ngayu Greenstone Belt including the Imbo exploitation licence, where an Inferred Mineral Resource of 1.675 million ounces of gold (20.78 million tonnes grading 2.5 g/t Au,) was outlined in January 2014 by independent consultants Roscoe Postle Associates Inc on three separate deposits, Adumbi, Kitenge and Manzako.  76.29% of this gold resource is now attributable to Loncor.

About Loncor Resources Inc.
Loncor is a Canadian gold exploration company focussed on the Ngayu Greenstone Belt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (the “DRC”).  The Loncor team has over two decades of experience of operating in the DRC.  Ngayu has numerous positive indicators based on the geology, artisanal activity, encouraging drill results and an existing gold resource base.  The area is 200 kilometres southwest of the Kibali gold mine, which is operated by Barrick Gold (Congo) SARL (“Barrick”).  In 2019, Kibali produced record gold production of 814,000 ounces at “all-in sustaining costs” of US$693/oz.  Barrick has highlighted the Ngayu Greenstone Belt as an area of particular exploration interest and is moving towards earning 65% of any discovery in 1,894 km2 of Loncor ground that they are exploring.  As per the joint venture agreement signed in January 2016, Barrick manages and funds exploration on the said ground at the Ngayu project until the completion of a pre-feasibility study on any gold discovery meeting the investment criteria of Barrick.  In a recent announcement Barrick highlighted six prospective drill targets and are moving towards confirmation drilling in 2020.  Subject to the DRC’s free carried interest requirements, Barrick would earn 65% of any discovery with Loncor holding the balance of 35%.  Loncor will be required, from that point forward, to fund its pro-rata share in respect of the discovery in order to maintain its 35% interest or be diluted.

In addition to the Barrick JV, certain parcels of land within the Ngayu project surrounding and including the Makapela and Adumbi deposits have been retained by Loncor and do not form part of the joint venture with Barrick.  Barrick has certain pre-emptive rights over the Makapela deposit.  Loncor’s Makapela deposit (which is 100%-owned by Loncor) has an Indicated Mineral Resource of 614,200 ounces of gold (2.20 million tonnes grading 8.66 g/t Au) and an Inferred Mineral Resource of 549,600 ounces of gold (3.22 million tonnes grading 5.30 g/t Au).  Adumbi and two neighbouring deposits hold an Inferred Mineral Resource of 1.675 million ounces of gold (20.78 million tonnes grading 2.5 g/t Au), with 76.29% of this resource being attributable to Loncor via its 76.29% interest.   

Resolute Mining Limited (ASX/LSE: “RSG”) owns 25% of the outstanding shares of Loncor and holds a pre-emptive right to maintain its pro rata equity ownership interest in Loncor following the completion by Loncor of any proposed equity offering. 

Additional information with respect to Loncor and its projects can be found on Loncor’s website at www.loncor.com. 

Qualified Person
Peter N. Cowley, who is President of Loncor and a “qualified person” as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this press release. 

Technical Reports
Certain additional information with respect to the Company’s Ngayu project is contained in the technical report of Venmyn Rand (Pty) Ltd dated May 29, 2012 and entitled “Updated National Instrument 43-101 Independent Technical Report on the Ngayu Gold Project, Orientale Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo”.  A copy of the said report can be obtained from SEDAR at www.sedar.com and EDGAR at www.sec.gov

Sprott Gold Report – Point of No Return SPONSOR: American Creek Resources $AMK.ca $TUD.ca $SII.ca $GTT.ca $AFF.ca $SEA.ca $SA $PVG.ca $AOT.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 11:49 AM on Friday, March 20th, 2020

SPONSOR: American Creek owns a 20% Carried Interest to Production at the Treaty Creek Project in the Golden Triangle. 2019’s first hole averaged of 0.683 g/t Au over 780m in a vertical intercept. The Treaty Creek property is located in the same hydrothermal system as the Pretivm and Seabridge’s KSM deposits. Click Here For More Info

Credit Deflation and Gold

Gold and precious metals mining shares are casualties of panic selling across all financial markets. The scenario is similar to what happened in 2008 during the global financial crisis (GFC). When the general selling exhausted itself in late 2008, gold and mining shares delivered superior absolute and relative performance for the following three years. We believe that this pattern is likely to repeat following this sell-off.

While COVID-19 outbreak is grabbing the headlines, the far bigger story is the deflation of financial assets that it has triggered and the resulting loss of investment confidence. Markets that had been priced for perfection must now reckon with a likely recession, soaring fiscal deficits and the very real possibility of a sustained bear market.

In our opinion, even though the economy will recover from the downturn and the health scare will prove to be temporary, financial asset valuations are unlikely to return to pre-crash manic levels. In mid-February, the Wilshire 5000 Stock Index1 traded at approximately 145% to gross domestic product (GDP),2 its second highest level since 1950, and only slightly below the 2000 peak (see Figure 1). At this writing, the ratio has fallen to 114% (as of 3/17/2020), which is still very expensive by historical standards. Valuations are driven by investor psychology, leverage and the liquidity necessary to support leverage. All three may have been critically impaired for the near to intermediate term.

Figure 1. Total U.S. Corporate Equities and U.S. GDP (1950-2020)

Source: AdvisorPerspectives.com. Data as of 3/3/2020.

Gold Will Continue to Do its Job

If financial assets struggle, interest in gold is very likely to widen. Gold may have been caught up in the recent stampede for liquidity, but it has delivered good relative performance on a year-to-date basis; gold bullion is up 0.73% as of March 17, compared to -25.17% for the S&P 500 Index.3 The 12-month figures (as of 3/17/2020) are even more impressive: gold has returned 17.19% vs. -8.54% for the S&P 500.

On a peak-to-trough basis for the last few weeks, gold has declined roughly 12%. Other safe haven assets have experienced the same pressure. For example, the yield on 30-year U.S. Treasury bond rose from less than 1.0% to 1.5% in only a few days, a drawdown of more than 30%. What this shows is that quality assets will be sold by portfolio managers desperate to reduce leverage. Low-grade assets cannot be sold quickly enough to meet margin calls.

It was leverage that inflated valuations, not fundamental economic growth and strong year-over-year earnings. In fact, corporate pre-tax profits have been declining since Q3 2014. Figure 2 shows pretax profits on a quarterly basis since 2014.

Figure 2. U.S. Corporate Pre-Tax Profits Have Been Declining ($Billions)

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Economic Research. Data as of 3/16/2020. 

The illusion of earnings growth that has captivated investor psychology was achieved through share buybacks and increased leverage. Growth of earnings per share, not the same as profit growth, has been juiced by financial engineering. The same can be said for returns on financial assets. The amount and location of leverage within the economy and financial markets is opaque but may well have reached high tide for many years. A post-recession economic recovery will not necessarily, and does not have to, translate into strong returns from investing in financial assets.

Global Debt Has Increased +100% Since 2007

In popular thinking, the current U.S. administration, or the one that follows it, will pull every trick out of the bag to stimulate the economy. This belief will likely excite investors from time to time in anticipation of a rebound. Unfortunately, the financial markets are experiencing a deflationary bust that could spread to general economic activity. Public policy has all but exhausted the potential benefits of resorting to traditional monetary and fiscal solutions. The marginal benefit to economic growth from heaping on new layers of debt is capped by the law of diminishing returns, as shown by Figure 4 from Rosenberg Economics. Since 2007, global debt increased 110% vs. 46% for global GDP:

Figure 3. Global Debt vs. Global GDP ($ Trillions)

Source: Rosenberg Economics. Data as of 12/31/2019.

Central banks have few conventional tools remaining to combat credit deflation. An impotent response can be expected from new rounds of monetary stimulus, rate reductions or central bank balance sheet expansion. Global debt, public and private, measures 287% vs. global GDP ($244 trillion divided by $85 trillion). The debt burden will most assuredly grow, a post coronavirus rebound notwithstanding. The world’s debt structure is already incapable of withstanding even a minute rise in rates. More debt relative to GDP will only make matters worse. All that remains is currency destruction.

Gold has been rising for the past eighteen months side by side with a strong stock market and no inflation. Conventional wisdom said that wasn’t supposed to happen. As shown in Figure 4, gold has outperformed equities and bonds since 2000, the dawn of radical monetary experimentation by central bankers. We think gold has been sensing the endgame for Keynesian policy prescriptions, mainstream economic thinking and hyper-leveraged investment practices.

Figure 4. The Modern Era of Gold
Gold Bullion vs. Stocks, Bonds, Oil, USD (2000-2020)

For the period from 12/31/1999 to 3/16/2020, gold has provided posted an average annual return of 8.55%, compared to 5.44% for U.S. bonds, 4.44% for U.S. stocks, 0.57% for oil and -0.19% for the U.S. dollar. 

Source: Bloomberg. Period from 12/31/1999 –3/16/2020.4

Gold Miners are Poised to Perform

During the 1930s credit deflation, gold and gold mining stocks performed well in relative and absolute terms. When credit deflates, and counterparties cannot be trusted, gold is the ultimate safe asset. In the 1930s, the metal price rose, costs of producing gold declined and the miners generated strong earnings and paid handsome dividends. We believe that this is a sequence that will repeat.

At the moment, mining company valuations appear extraordinarily cheap. It is one of the few industries that will report solid year-over-year earnings gains for the remainder of this year and perhaps into the next. 

Buying low is never easy but now is the time to do it.

https://sprott.com/insights/sprott-gold-report-point-of-no-return/?

Is There a Real Shortage of Physical Gold and Silver? SPONSOR: Affinity Metals $AAF.ca $SII.ca $TUD.ca $GTT.ca $AMK.ca $OSK.ca $RKR.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 11:44 AM on Thursday, March 19th, 2020
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Affinity_Metals_Corp_Logo.png

Sponsor: Affinity Metals Corp. (TSX-V: AFF) is a Canadian mineral exploration company building a strong portfolio of mineral projects in North America. The Corporation’s flagship property is the drill ready Regal Property near Revelstoke, BC where Affinity Metals is making preparations for a spring drill program to test two large Z-TEM anomalies. Click Here for More Info

Bob Moriarty
President: 321gold

Every time the price of gold and silver go down in a big way, the manipulation/conspiracy crowd come creeping out of their rat holes to start preaching about naked short selling and a disconnect between physical metals and paper markets. As you will see, both issues tend to reveal how little these guys understand about how markets and people work in the real world. And an utter display of their basic ability to think for themselves.

A little Econ 101 first.

Commodity markets go down because of an excess of motivated sellers. Anyone who actually knows how commodity markets work understands that for every contract there is one buyer and one seller. That’s why it is impossible for there to be anyone doing “naked short selling.” You can sell first or you can buy first but you will do both eventually. If somehow someone managed to dump trillions of dollars worth of commodity contracts “naked” on the market, at some point they would have to buy those contracts back.

A lot of people like to believe that commodity prices go down because there are more sellers than buyers but since every contract requires an equal and opposite party on the other side, if ten contracts are sold, someone has to buy ten contracts. There is never any other alternative. One buyer, one seller. Both margined or having the ability to fulfill the contract either as a supplier or a consumer.

So if the prices of gold and silver have plummeted, and they have, why are people reporting shortages of the physical metals? And let me remind my readers, there were people predicting this crash with great accuracy.

I’ll give you a hint; none of the manipulation/conspiracy crowd got it right. They never do call anything correctly but are always forgiven because they tell people what they want to hear, just like TV preachers and successful politicians.

To understand why there is an apparent shortage of physical metals, you have to try thinking for yourself if only this once.

Pretend you want to go into the business of buying and selling silver bars. You have rented a shop, hired an assistant, set up an accounting program. On the 6th of March a customer walked in, your first. He wanted to sell this nice shiny 100-ounce silver bar. You looked at either Kitco or the futures market to see what you should pay, there being zero difference between the physical and paper market at the time.

For the 6th of March the spot silver price varied between a low of $17.08 and a high of $17.55. Since as a businessman you have to make money you pay him $1700 for the bar. He’s thrilled; you’re thrilled with your first purchase.

Time passes and since you are new to the game you don’t do any business. After all it takes time to build a customer base. But the bell rings and another potential customer walks in. Lucky for you, he wants to buy a 100-ounce silver bar, shiny if possible, and you just happen to have one in stock.

The two of you go to Kitco or look at the spot price of silver on the futures market and it shows $12.27. What do you do? Do you sell it for $12.27 and a small premium or do you tell him you are out of stock? At this point, the price of physical and paper is the same.

Or alternatively do you point out that the “Experts” are saying customers are willing to pay a 50% premium. So you tell him that the price is $1800 for the bar. If you quote him $1800, just how likely do you think it is that he will bite?

If you charge him $12.27 an ounce, you go out of business. If he is willing to pay a 50% premium, give him my contact details because I have all the silver in the world at a 50% premium.

The price of silver went down because the sellers were more interested in dumping than buyers were in scarping it up. There is no shortage of silver and there is no disconnect between the price of physical and paper. If you really believe dealers are short of silver, take in a 100-ounce bar and see just how much the physical price varies from the paper price.

I can tell you. It’s zero. If you own gold or silver you paid for it with paper and if you sell gold or silver you are going to be paid based on the paper price.

Supply and demand really does work. If the price of silver bars stays low, all the people who rushed to buy at the top will be just thrilled to sell at the bottom. They always do.

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/moriarty/moriarty031920.html

Gold is Setting Records Dating Back Over 5,000 Years — Against Silver SPONSOR: Affinity Metals $AAF.ca $SII.ca $TUD.ca $GTT.ca $AMK.ca $OSK.ca $RKR.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 4:00 PM on Tuesday, March 17th, 2020
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Affinity_Metals_Corp_Logo.png

Sponsor: Affinity Metals Corp. (TSX-V: AFF) is a Canadian mineral exploration company building a strong portfolio of mineral projects in North America. The Corporation’s flagship property is the drill ready Regal Property near Revelstoke, BC where Affinity Metals is making preparations for a spring drill program to test two large Z-TEM anomalies. Click Here for More Info

Gold hasn’t been such a terrific hedge of late against the turmoil from the coronavirus pandemic that has upended financial markets.

Over the last month, gold futures GC00, 3.014% have retreated by 5%. While that’s a long way better than the 28% decline in the S&P 500 SPX, 5.485% , it trails the performance of other assets that are perceived as safe, such as government bonds. The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF IEF, -2.167% , for instance, is up 7% over the last four weeks.

But where gold is looking lustrous is relative to silver SI00, -0.593% .

According to Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at BDSwiss, the ratio of gold to silver is the highest it’s been for 5,120 years.

Yes there’s data back into Pharaoh Menes’ time in ancient Egypt, when the ratio was a more modest 2.5, and it was 6 in King Hammurabi’s day in Babylon.

On Monday the ratio reached nearly 124. On Tuesday morning, the ratio slipped to 119.

Gittler said the best correlation he has found is with the 10-year U.S. breakeven inflation rate — but the gold-to-silver ratio goes up when inflation expectations are down.

“Lower expected inflation would mean a) central banks cut their policy rates, and lower interest rates tend to boost the gold price, and b) lower expected inflation probably stems from lower expected economic activity, which might imply less industrial demand for silver – although I must admit I couldn’t find a clear link between industrial activity and the price of silver,” he writes.

Aakash Doshi, an analyst at Citi, also pointed to that connection with expected inflation.

“Even as the excessive collapse in inflation breakevens may be viewed as a headwind for gold upside, the yellow metal should outperform silver in a deflation and growth shock scenario,” he said.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-is-setting-records-dating-back-over-5000-years-against-silver-2020-03-17?mod=mw_latestnews

Why You Should Buy Gold Now! SPONSOR: Labrador Gold $LAB.ca $RIO.ca $WHM.ca $SIC.ca $NXS.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 12:54 PM on Thursday, March 12th, 2020

SPONSOR: Labrador Gold – Two successful gold explorers lead the way in the Labrador gold rush targeting the under-explored gold potential of the province. Exploration has already outlined district scale gold on two projects, including a 40km strike length of the Florence Lake greenstone belt, one of two greenstone belts covered by the Hopedale Project. Recently acquired 14km of the potential extension of the new discovery by New Found Gold’s Queensway project to the south. Click Here for More Info

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is LAB-square-logo-2.png
  • Gold is known as the safe-haven asset, and whenever we see a meltdown in the equity markets or prospects of loose monetary policy, its price begins to explode to the upside.
  • Currently, the gold price has a strong negative correlation with the equity markets meaning when the equity markets fall; investors pour money into gold and vice versa.  
Gold and SPX chart shows negative correlation

The fact is that the current sell-off in the global equity markets is only a start because there is a lot more to come. After all, the economic weakness isn’t fully baked into economic data, let alone in earnings. Thus, there is no better time to buy gold.

Why?

First, the equity markets are in major turmoil as a 1000 point move for the Dow Jones index has become the norm. Secondly, the Coronavirus has pushed the Federal Reserve into a corner, and it’s being forced to keep its monetary policy on the dovish side. The Fed cut the interest rate by 50 basis points only a couple of weeks ago, and yet the market expects further cuts.

Gold which is up nearly 10% year-to-date is likely to score serious gain in the coming weeks. The reason is that we have a situation where monetary policy itself isn’t enough to calm the markets; however, governments are trying to provide support on the fiscal front as well. For instance, Donald Trump has pitched the idea of no payroll tax for this year to soften the blow of Coronavirus. So far, we have not seen a green flag which is why investors are still nervous. Donald Trump may achieve some of his goals, but it won’t be enough, the economic damage is too considerable, and the Coronavirus is still nowhere close to coming under control.

Going back to the monetary policy action and why there is serious potential for the gold price to increase; at present, traders and Wall Street are expecting further interest rate cuts from the Fed during their meeting next week. An interest rate cut of 50 basis points is the minimum that investors expect, and according to bigger banks like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, we can expect 75 basis points and a full percentage point.

Regarding the price action, an interest rate cut isn’t priced in at all, if it had been, the price would have been trading much higher. Currently, it’s trading near $1,661.

The Play

If the Fed cuts the interest rate by 50 basis points, this could push the gold price above 1700 again. Anything more than 50 basis points, especially a whole percentage point, could pump the price to 1750 or higher.

The Flow

If we look at the total gold ETF holding data, it supports our thesis that the gold price is likely to increase because the total holding in ETFs is sitting at a record level, and the inflow continues to rise. It appears that investors are discounting this current price weakness and using this opportunity to buy more.

The chart shows all gold ETFs holding at a record high level

 The Bottom Line

 The current retracement in the gold price is an enormous opportunity for traders to get back in the game or add to their position, similar to the institutions. If for some reason, the Fed doesn’t cut the interest rates during the meeting, it will create more panic in the equity markets, which would be a positive sign for the gold price.

SOURCE: https://www.forbes.com/sites/naeemaslam/2020/03/11/why-you-should-buy-gold-now/#7d3d34446828

Silver Has Almost Never Been This Cheap – But Should You Buy? SPONSOR: Affinity Metals $AAF.ca $SII.ca $TUD.ca $GTT.ca $AMK.ca $OSK.ca $RKR.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 11:35 AM on Thursday, March 12th, 2020
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Affinity_Metals_Corp_Logo.png

Sponsor: Affinity Metals Corp. (TSX-V: AFF) is a Canadian mineral exploration company building a strong portfolio of mineral projects in North America. The Corporation’s flagship property is the drill ready Regal Property near Revelstoke, BC where Affinity Metals is making preparations for a spring drill program to test two large Z-TEM anomalies. Click Here for More Info

  • With silver one hundred times cheaper than gold, the silver-gold-price ratio is close to an all-time high. The obvious trade is to sell gold and buy silver, says Dominic Frisby. But is that a wise move?
Silver’s value has plummeted since it stopped officially being money

A friend sent me a screenshot from his phone earlier in the week. It showed the gold price at $1,666/oz and silver at $16.66/oz. In other words an ounce of gold is 100 times the price of an ounce of silver. Or, to use the correct terminology, the gold-silver ratio has gone above 100 – which is almost unheard of.

According to my data, the gold-silver ratio has only ever gone above 100 once before. It didn’t happen in the financial crisis of 2008, the dotcom crash of 2000, or the Long Term Capital Management Fund Crisis of 1998. It happened in 1991. Silver was $3.50/oz at the time and gold was, of course, $350. (Actually, it was closer to $370 and the ratio touched 105).

Apart from 1991 the ratio has never been as high as it was on Monday. Not once in history. It’s one of the extraordinary extremes that the coronavirus panic has caused.

The obvious trade here is to sell gold and buy silver. But on the basis of ratios alone, you should also be selling gold and buying oil, base metals, stocks, just about anything. To be clear, now is not the time to be selling gold, particularly with all the fiscal stimulus that’s coming.

A gold-silver ratio of 15 is but a distant memory

The gold-silver ratio is an odd one. Really, it should be somewhere around 15. Silver is only 15 times as abundant as gold – there is about 15 times more silver in the earth’s crust as there is gold.

And, historically, the relative price of the two ranged between around 15 and 20. Until 1875 the USA was a bi-metallic standard – both silver and gold were money, in other words – and the exchange rate between the two metals was 15, more or less.

However, in the 20th century, as we all know, countries abandoned their ties to gold and silver and so money and metal went their separate ways. That ratio of 15 has become an ever-more distant memory.

It did hit 15 briefly in 1981 as the Hunt Brothers tried to corner the silver market. But this was an extraordinary situation. It wasn’t typical. The typical broader trend is that silver is losing its value relative to gold.

One day we will get back to 15, say the most diehard silver bugs. This was something I was convinced of in the ardent silver-fanatic days of my investment youth. I’m not so convinced today.

In fact, you could go one stage further. The gold-silver ratio should be lower than 15. Silver gets used, gold does not – all the gold that has ever been mined, pretty much, still exists somewhere. But silver, with its numerous industrial applications, gets consumed. The ratio between the two should be closer to ten. And yet here we are with that ratio ten times higher – and silver ten times too cheap.

The sad fact for silver bugs is that since silver no longer has any official monetary use, its relative value has plummeted. Some blame shenanigans on futures exchanges for the low price of silver – I blame the evolution of money.

Is the world going to go back to some sort of metallic standard as a result of coronavirus? I doubt it. Money is getting more and more digital; metal is too physical. But I can see one scenario where it might.

Get ready for epic debasement

The authorities’ reaction to the crisis will be to debase currency: slashing rates (we got a dose of that from the Bank of England just this morning), bailouts, money printing (which will be given some new name that is even more obfuscatory than quantitative easing), infrastructure spending (I gather the chancellor is to announce plenty of that in his Budget later today).

Gold bugs have long been waiting for that loss-of-faith moment when faith in fiat money will be lost. Might all the monetary manipulation that is already in place be the long-awaited trigger? The ensuing loss of faith sees us going back to metal.

It’s a possibility, I suppose, but I think I’m too long in the tooth to see that really happening.

I own some silver. I love silver. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to be holding in this time of crisis. If it wasn’t so “precious” it would have been dragged down a lot more – like energy and base metals. It’s certainly cheap. But so are a lot of other things at the moment.

The gold-silver ratio hit a low at 30 in 2011 when silver touched $50. It has been in an uptrend ever since. Plenty of us – me included – have tried to call the top in the ratio and it has kept grinding higher.

The likelihood is that it will pull back a little from the extremes, perhaps even as far as the 80s. But the reality of our modern fiat age is that, as far as the gold-silver ratio is concerned, it will take a fairly extreme change in circumstances for us even to get back to 50. 50 is the new 15.

Sell gold and buy silver as a trade, by all means, but make sure you reverse the trade – or at least start moving up the stops if we ever get back to the 80s, 70s or 60s.

SOURCE: https://moneyweek.com/investments/commodities/silver-and-other-precious-metals/600966/silver-has-almost-never-been-this

Tudor Gold Talks up Goldstorm Project SPONSOR: American Creek Resources $AMK.ca $TUD.ca $SII.ca $GTT.ca $AFF.ca $SEA.ca $SA $PVG.ca $AOT.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 10:55 AM on Thursday, March 12th, 2020

SPONSOR: American Creek owns a 20% Carried Interest to Production at the Treaty Creek Project in the Golden Triangle. 2019’s first hole averaged of 0.683 g/t Au over 780m in a vertical intercept. The Treaty Creek property is located in the same hydrothermal system as the Pretivm and Seabridge’s KSM deposits. Click Here For More Info

  • Tudor Gold said it had discovered a significant new copper-silver horizon within the Goldstorm system.
  • The newly discovered copper-rich CS 600 Horizon is a very important feature of the Goldstorm System.
  • Presence of copper and silver mineralization gives this discovery a true polymetallic nature yet it remains a gold-dominant project.

Tudor Gold Corp. [TUD-TSXV, TUC-Frankfurt] has released the results of gold-equivalent calculations for all drilling completed at the company’s Treaty Creek project, which is located in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle region.

These calculations are posted on the company’s website and include credit for previously analyzed values for copper and silver. Geological analysis and reinterpretation of all the drill holes to date exposed a new copper horizon (CS 600 horizon) as well as significant silver and copper mineralization through the Goldstorm system, the company said in a press release, which was issued just after the close of trading on March 3, 2020.

On Wednesday, Tudor shares eased 4.0% or $0.02 to 48 cents on volume of 309,585. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of 26 cents and $1.08.

Tudor Gold holds a 60% stake in the Treaty Creek joint venture and is the project operator. The other partners are American Creek Resources Ltd. [AMK-TSXV] and Teuton Resources Corp. [TUO-TSXV, TUC-Frankfurt], each of which hold a 20% stake in the project. American Creek and Teuton are both fully carried to a production notice. At that point, each of the two is required to contribute their respective 20% share of development costs.

Until that happens, Tudor is required to fund all exploration and development costs. The property is also subject to 3% net smelter return royalties.

The 17,913-hectare Treaty Creek Project borders Seabridge Gold Inc.’s [SEA-TSX, SA-NYSE] KSM property to the southwest and borders Pretium Resources Inc.’s [PVG-TSX] Brucejack property to the southeast. The past-producing Eskay Creek mine lies 12 kilometres to the west.

Exploration of the Treaty Creek area over the past 30 years by various junior companies has resulted in the discovery of a number of surface mineral showings, some with very high gold and silver values.

There have been over 150 diamond drill holes completed on the property from 1987 to date, in eight different mineral zones. However, it is only recently that drilling revealed the potential for a large-scale porphyry-style gold deposit at the Copper Belle and Goldstorm zones, which are located on trend and just five kilometres northeast of the KSM deposits.

In a press release on December 16, 2019, Tudor Gold said it had discovered a significant new copper-silver horizon within the Goldstorm system.

The newly discovered copper-rich CS 600 Horizon is a very important feature of the Goldstorm System, the company has said. It said presence of copper and silver mineralization gives this discovery a true polymetallic nature yet it remains a gold-dominant project.

“We are very encouraged to see that the silver copper mineralization has made an important impact to the gold equivalent results from our recent drilling as well as the historical drilling,’’ said Ken Konkin, vice-president of project development at Tudor Gold.

“The next step is to plan the drill hole program for the 2020 exploration season,” he said. The company’s goal is to design a diamond drill program that will fast-track the exploration program for 2020 with the objective to begin mineral resource estimate work as soon as possible.

Bay Street billionaire Eric Sprott recently increased his stake the company to 14.1% by investing in a non-brokered private placement of 4.2 million shares that raised $2.93 million. The shares are priced at 70 cents each.

About American Creek

American Creek holds a strong portfolio of gold and silver properties in British Columbia. The portfolio includes three gold/silver properties in the heart of the Golden Triangle; the Treaty Creek and Electrum joint ventures with Walter Storm/Tudor, as well as the recently acquired 100% owned past producing Dunwell Mine. Other properties held throughout BC include the Gold Hill, Austruck-Bonanza, Ample Goldmax, Silver Side, and Glitter King.

For further information please contact Kelvin Burton at: Phone: 403 752-4040 or Email: [email protected]. Information relating to the Company is available on its website at www.americancreek.com

SOURCE:  Resource World

Bob Moriarty Discusses Loncor Resources: The Fed, the Coronavirus and Investing SPONSOR Loncor Resources $LN.ca t $ABX.ca $TECK.ca $RSG $NGT.to $GOLD $NEM

Posted by AGORACOM at 3:02 PM on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020

Sponsor: Loncor, a Canadian gold explorer controlling over 2,400,000 high grade ounces outside of a Barrick JV. The Ngayu JV property is 200km southwest of the Kibali gold mine, operated by Barrick, which produced 800,000 ounces of gold in 2018. Barrick manages and funds exploration at the Ngayu project until the completion of a pre-feasibility study on any gold discovery meeting their Tier One investment criteria. Newmont $NGT $NEM owns 7.8%, Resolute $RSG owns 27% Click Here for More Info

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Loncor-Small-Square.png

Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable speaks to Bob Moriarty of 321gold about his thoughts on the current financial markets and investment opportunity

  Excerpt: Maurice Jackson:……Staying in the Southern Hemisphere, let’s visit the Congo, where you just introduced Loncor Resources (TSX:LN). Sir, who is Loncor Resources, and what is the opportunity they present to the market?

Bob Moriarty: Here’s what’s absolutely amazing, I’m glad you brought that up. Loncor Resources approached me, I had never even heard a whisper of the name, I had no clue as to who they were. I went looking into it, they have an incredibly massive land position, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the DRC.

Barrick Gold has several gold mines there, in the Greenstone Belt, and across the border in Tanzania. Barrick Gold has some of their other really giant mines. Loncor has, in their wholly owned properties, resources of about 2.4 million ounces. They’ve got joint venture with Barrack, on a big piece of their property, like 3000 square kilometers, which is a really big project. Barrick is funding it to feasibility, they’re paying everything. Barrick runs the project, and Barrick spends the money. There are no particular limits on what Barrick can spend, they can spend anything they want to. They’ve got a drill program that’s literally starting right now.

If you look at any stock, you want to figure out what the basement is, what is the lowest price the stock can go to? If you ignored the JV with Barrick, which would be a foolish thing to do, but if you ignored it, you’re buying ounces of gold, in the ground, for $19 an ounce, U.S. So, I don’t think there’s any downside to it. Approximately 70% of shares are in the top three or four shareholders. I think Loncor Resources is a great stock, because if you like gold, and I think after all of the things that I’ve said over the last 15 years, anybody who doesn’t like gold right now is economically illiterate.

Maurice Jackson: You know, you said that lightly, $19 an ounce.

Bob Moriarty: Yeah, yeah. How can you go wrong? At the stage they’re operating, they should be getting $50 or $60 bucks an ounce.

Now, one of the things that we haven’t gotten into, and we need to get into is, one, the T-bond, and, two, what I see happening to gold and gold shares. The T-bond Daily Sentiment Index (DSI), on Friday, hit 98. That is the highest rating I’ve seen, on the Daily Sentiment Indicator for any commodity, ever. Therefore, the T-bond’s going to crash, it’s probably going to take gold with it. Gold had a DSI of 96 a couple of weeks ago.

Everybody hates it. They act like, “Oh my God, you say that gold’s going down. My God, I hate you!” The corrections are perfectly normal, and we’re going to have a correction in gold, and we’re going to have a correction in palladium, and we’re going to have a correction in rhodium. We’re going to go into the biggest financial crash in world history, and most asset classes are going to get sold off. That’s not a bad thing, that creates opportunity, but you’ve got to be flexible, and hopefully liquid.

Now, I am not saying, “Go out and sell everything you’ve got.” Every time I say we’re going to have a correction, “Oh my God, you told me to sell everything.” Well, that’s not what I said, not at all. I said we’re going to have a correction. At the end of the correction, gold and silver and platinum are going to be a lot more valuable. We’re going to do exactly what we did in 2008. A lot of stocks were down 70% or 80%. Most of the big ones, the ones that I like, Lion One Metals, Novo Resources, Irving Resources, Barksdale Capital, these stocks are down 30 or 40% since the first of the year, when I said, “Beware of the stock market.”

I’m not saying something’s going to change on Monday with gold shares, gold shares have been going down for two months.

Maurice Jackson: You referenced Jake Bernstein’s work on the Daily Sentiment Index. What are the parameters that you referenced regarding buy and sell indicators?

Bob Moriarty: The DSI measures sentiment. Most investor look at fundamentals, technicals, worry about the interest rates, worry about the Fed. That’s all bull. People buy stocks because of emotions, and they sell stocks because of emotions. If you can measure those emotions accurately, you’d make a lot of money.

When 98 out of 100 people say something is going to go up, and it doesn’t make any difference what it is, or what the fundamentals are, or what the Fed does, or what the economy does, or what interest rates do, when 98 out of 100 people say something is going to go up, the next move is down. That is the highest number I’ve ever seen. Anything above 90 says the top is near, and anything below 10 says the bottom is near. 98 is such an extreme measure, that I’m perfectly comfortable saying that, you and I are talking on Saturday, and on Monday, T-bonds are going to go down.

Maurice Jackson: Mark the words, there. Which metals have your attention, and why?

Bob Moriarty: Silver and platinum, strange enough, you sent me some information (click here). There was a fire, an explosion at a platinum processing place in South Africa, and the real story is the price of platinum is so far below the cost of production, they’ve got to shut production.

Nobody wants to admit this, everybody’s got their own pet theory, but the fact is supply and demand does work. You cannot have the price of any commodity below the cost of production for very long, or things are going to happen. People are going to shut down production whether it’s wheat, whether it’s gold, or anything else. The silver gold ratio got above 100 to 1, that’s the highest it’s ever been. I think it got up to 102, intraday, a week ago. Silver was very cheap, relative to gold, but that doesn’t mean silver couldn’t correct. I own a lot of silver, and I own a lot of platinum, and a little bit of gold.

SOURCE: https://www.streetwisereports.com/article/2020/03/10/the-fed-the-coronavirus-and-investing.html

Gold To Silver Ratio Hits 100! SPONSOR: Affinity Metals $AAF.ca $SII.ca $TUD.ca $GTT.ca $AMK.ca $OSK.ca $RKR.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 2:09 PM on Wednesday, March 11th, 2020
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Affinity_Metals_Corp_Logo.png

Sponsor: Affinity Metals Corp. (TSX-V: AFF) is a Canadian mineral exploration company building a strong portfolio of mineral projects in North America. The Corporation’s flagship property is the drill ready Regal Property near Revelstoke, BC where Affinity Metals making preparations for a spring drill program to test two large Z-TEM anomalies at its Regal Property. Click Here for More Info

Gold is testing its previous 2020 highs, but silver plunged anyway, which created a very special situation. Namely, the gold to silver ratio just jumped to the 100 level.

This may not seem like a big deal, because ultimately people buy metals, not their ratio, but it actually is a huge deal. This ratio is observed by investors and traders alike, as it tends to peak at the market extremes. Moving to the 100 level might indicate that we are at a price extreme. But what kind of extreme would that be if silver is declining while gold moved up?

Let’s take a closer look at the gold to silver ratio chart for details.

In early July 2019, the gold to silver ratio topped after breaking above the previous highs and now it’s after the verification of this breakout. Despite the sharp pullback, the ratio moved back below the 2008 high only very briefly. It stabilized above the 2008 high shortly thereafter and now it’s moving up once again.

It previously moved up relatively slowly, but it jumped to new highs last week and today.

Anything after a breakout is vulnerable to a quick correction to the previously broken levels. On the other hand, anything after a breakout that was already confirmed, is ready to move higher and the risk of another corrective decline is much lower.

The most important thing about the gold and silver ratio chart to keep in mind is that it’s after a breakout above the 2008 high and this breakout was already verified. This means that the ratio is likely to rally further. It’s not likely to decline based on being “high” relative to its historical average. That’s not how breakouts work.

The breakout above the previous highs was verified by a pullback to them and now the ratio moved even higher, just as we’ve been expecting it to.

The true, long-term resistance in the gold to silver ratio is at about 100 level. This level was not yet reached, which means that as long as the trend remains intact (and it does remain intact), the 100 level will continue to be the likely target.

We’ve been writing the above for weeks (hence we formatted it with italics), despite numerous calls for a lower gold to silver ratio from many of our colleagues. And our target of 100 was just hit today. It was only hit on an intraday basis, not in terms of the daily closing prices, but it’s still notable.

We had been expecting the gold to silver ratio to hit this extreme close or at the very bottom and the end of the medium-term decline in the precious metals sector – similarly to what happened in 2008. Obviously, that’s not what happened.

Instead, the ratio moved to 100 in the situation where gold rallied, likely based on its safe-haven status, and silver plunged based on its industrial uses.

Despite numerous similarities to 2008, the ratio didn’t rally as much as it did back then. If the decline in the PMs is just starting – and that does appear to be the case – then the very strong long-term resistance of 100 might not be able to trigger a rebound.

It might also be the case that for some time gold declines faster than silver, which would make the ratio move back down from the 100 level. The 100 level could then be re-tested at the final bottom.

Or… which seems more realistic, silver and mining stocks could slide to the level that we originally expected them to while gold ultimately bottoms higher than at $890. Perhaps even higher than $1,000. With gold at $1,100 or so, and silver at about $9, the gold to silver ratio would be a bit over 120.

If the rally in the gold to silver ratio is similar to the one that we saw in 2008, the 118 level or so could really be in the cards. This means that the combination of the above-mentioned price levels would not be out of the question.

At this time, it’s too early to say what combination of price levels will be seen at the final bottom, but we can say that the way gold reacted recently and how it relates to everything else in the world, makes gold likely to decline in the following months. Silver is likely to fall as well and its unlikely that a local top in the gold to silver ratio will prevent further declines.

Source: https://www.kitco.com/commentaries/2020-03-10/Gold-to-silver-ratio-hits-100.html