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Affinity Metals $AAF.ca Reports Over-Limit Assays for Regal Project Exploration $SII.ca $TUD.ca $GTT.ca $AMK.ca $OSK.ca RKR.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:38 AM on Wednesday, January 15th, 2020

Affinity Metals Corp. (TSXV: AFF) (“Affinity”) (“the Corporation”) is pleased to release over-limit assays for samples from the fall 2019 exploration on the Regal property located in the northern end of the prolific Kootenay Arc approximately 35 km northeast of Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada.

As previously reported, the Corporation received assay results for all 22 rock samples collected from surface outcrops in September 2019 from the Black Jacket and ALLCO areas of the property. Of the 22 grab samples collected, the majority contained bonanza grade silver, zinc, and lead with many samples reaching assay over-limits. The over-limit results for zinc and lead are reported in the table below (italicized) beside the original assay values. Assay values for tin, including high grade samples 11, 14 and 20 which were over-limit in the original assay report, are also presented in the last column of the table.

Sample Number Sample Type Silver
g/t
Copper
%
Zinc
%
Lead
%
Gold
g/t
Tin
ppm
ALC19CR01 grab 0 .035 0 0 0 0.4
ALC19CR02 grab 1300 .415 18.20 >20.0 (35.69) 0.70 46.1
ALC19CR03 grab 120 .232 .034 .984 0.02 2.4
ALC19CR04 grab 131 .089 .026 .102 2.66 1.1
ALC10CR05 grab 16.7 .295 .060 .013 0.09 0.4
ALC19CR06 grab 74.9 .144 >30.00 (34.97) .059 0.28 2.6
ALC19CR07 grab 10.05 .310 .086 .029 0.04 0.5
ALC19CR08 grab 1870 .495 24.5 >20.0 (31.90) 1.85 189.5
ALC19CR09 grab 88.1 .077 >30.00 (39.98) 1.88 0.08 32
ALC19CR10 grab 1545 .178 26.7 >20.0 (28.67) 0.68 373
ALC19CR11 grab 2360 .366 16.80 >20.0 (43.67) 0.11 900
ALC19CR12 grab 3700 .624 1.645 >20.0 (71.14) 3.14 273
ALC19CR13 grab 964 .716 17.30 17.5 0.11 386
ALC19CR14 grab 3530 .350 1.945 >20.0 (59.54) 1.57 1600
ALC19CR15 grab 3670 .026 1.895 >20.0 (77.01) 0.33 205
ALC19CR16 grab 1790 .107 5.28 >20.0 (52.77) 0.37 146.5
ALC19CR17 grab 751 .069 6.45 18.05 0.45 107
ALC19CR18 grab 1065 .718 .178 .514 0.10 7.6
ALC19CR19 grab 2510 .299 5.58 >20.0 (70.63) 0.06 167
ALC19CR20 grab 4410 2.27 26.40 >20.0 (21.56) 5.68 4500
ALC19CR21 grab 47.5 .177 .048 .092 1.78 8.8
ALC19CR22 grab 87.7 .095 .011 .047 4.79 2.9

As part of the fall 2019 program, a total of 1,846.35 meters of diamond drilling was completed with 21 holes being drilled. The drilling was divided over two target areas with 10 holes allocated to testing one of the phyllite/limestone contacts in the ALLCO area and 11 preliminary confirmation holes designed to begin testing the historic 1971 resource (pre NI43-101 and therefore not compliant) reported for the Regal/Snowflake mines.

The core samples have been submitted to MSA Laboratories in Langley, BC and assay results are pending and will be reported once received.

Property History & Background

The Regal Project hosts several past producing small-scale historic mines including the Regal Silver. The property also hosts numerous promising mineral occurrences. From the historic records it appears that most, and perhaps all, of the known mineralized showings/zones have not been previously drilled using modern diamond drilling methods.

Snowflake and Regal Silver (Stannex/Woolsey) Mines

The Snowflake and Regal Silver mines were two former producing mines that operated intermittently during the period 1936-1953. The last significant work on the property took place from 1967-1970, when Stannex Minerals completed 2,450 meters of underground development work and a feasibility study but did not restart mining operations. In 1982, reported reserves were 590,703 tonnes grading 71.6 grams per tonne silver, 2.66 per cent lead, 1.26 per cent zinc, 1.1 per cent copper, 0.13 per cent tin and 0.015 per cent tungsten (Minfile No. 082N 004 – Prospectus, Gunsteel Resources Inc., April 29, 1986). It should be noted that the above resource and grades, although believed to be reliable, were prepared prior to the adoption of NI43-101 and are not compliant with current standards set out therein for calculating mineral resources or reserves.

ALLCO Silver Mine

The ALLCO Silver Mine is situated 6.35 Kilometers northwest of the above described Snowflake/Regal Mine(s). The ALLCO Silver Mine operated from 1936-1937 and produced 213 tonnes of concentrates containing 11 troy ounces of gold (1.55 g/t), 11,211 troy ounces of silver (1,637 g/t) and 173,159 lbs of lead (36.9%).

Airborne Geophysics to Guide Future Exploration

An extensive airborne geophysics survey conducted by Geotech Ltd of Aurora, Ontario, for Northaven Resources Corp. in 2011, identified four well defined high potential linear targets correlating with the same structural orientation as the Allco, Snowflake and Regal Silver mines. Northaven also reported that the mineralogy and structural orientation of the Allco, Snowflake and Regal Silver appeared to be similar to that of Huakan’s J&L gold project located to the north, and on a similar geophysical trend line. The J&L is reportedly now one of western Canada’s largest undeveloped gold deposits.

After completing the airborne survey, Northaven failed in financing their company and conducting further exploration on the property and subsequently forfeited the claims without any of the follow up work ever being completed. Affinity Metals is in the fortunate position of benefitting from this significant and promising geophysics data and associated targets.

The aforementioned Northaven airborne geophysical survey conducted at a cost of $319,458.95 in August of 2011 is described in The BC Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources Assessment Report #33054. The results of the survey are competently explained and illustrated by professionals on You Tube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX431eBY_t0

Condor Consulting, Inc. who compiled the survey data and produced the original geophysics report was recently retained by Affinity in order to provide more detailed interpretations and potential drill target locations with the aim of testing two of the four target areas in the future.

Earth Sciences Services Corp. (ESSCO) has also provided acoustical geophysics data for portions of the Regal property.

The Corporation is in the process of correlating and interpreting all of the historic and new geophysical data with the objective of further advancing exploration plans and associated drill targets.

Affinity Metals has been granted a 5 Year Multi-Year-Area-Based (MYAB) exploration permit which includes approval for 51 drill sites.

Qualified Person

The qualified person for the Regal Project for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 is Frank O’Grady, P.Eng. He has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this news release.

About Affinity Metals

Affinity Metals is focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of strategic metal deposits within North America.

The Corporation’s flagship project and present focus is the Regal.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Robert Edwards, CEO and Director of Affinity Metals Corp.

The Corporation can be contacted at: [email protected]

Information relating to the Corporation is available at: www.affinity-metals.com

Dollar Weakness Could Be the Catalyst Commodities Are Looking For SPONSOR: Affinity Metals $AAF.ca $SII.ca $TUD.ca $GTT.ca $AMK.ca $OSK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 3:57 PM on Tuesday, January 14th, 2020

Sponsor: Affinity Metals (TSX-V: AFF) 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. Recent sampling encountered bonanza grade silver, zinc, and lead with many samples reaching assay over-limits. Further assaying of over-limits has been initiated, results will be reported once received. Click Here for More Info

By: Frank E. Holmes, Chairman/CEO/CIO of U.S. Global Investors, Inc.,

 — Published: Tuesday, 14 January 2020 | 

Near the start of every year, I share our ever-popular Periodic Table of Commodity Returns, now updated to reflect the final results of 2019. To view the interactive table and download a copy of your own, click here.  

  • Having broken above $2,000 an ounce last week, palladium in now forecast by Citi analysts to hit $2,500 by the middle of this year.

Commodities as a whole had a mostly positive 2019, returning 16.53 percent as measured by the S&P GSCI. This far surpasses commodities’ five-year average return of about negative 11.52 percent, between 2014 and 2018.

Precious metals were responsible for much of the growth. For the third straight year, and for the fourth time in six years, palladium was the top-performing commodity. The metal, used widely in the production of catalytic converters, increased an incredible 54.21 percent to end 2019 at $1,912 an ounce, a slightly higher price than gold’s all-time high set in September 2011.

As was the case in past years, palladium benefited from mounting global demand to curb emissions from gasoline-burning engines. It’s also among the world’s scarcest precious metals, mined primarily in Russia and South Africa, which means supply will potentially remain in deficit for years to come.

Having broken above $2,000 an ounce last week, palladium in now forecast by Citi analysts to hit $2,500 by the middle of this year.

Gold Price Up in Four out of Every Five Years

Gold, meanwhile, had its best year since 2010, climbing as much as 18.31 percent. The yellow metal’s role as an exceptional store of value shined brightly in the second half of the year when the pool of negative-yielding debt around the world began to skyrocket, eventually topping out at around $17 trillion in August. On the news last week that Iran launched a counterstrike against U.S.-occupied military bases in Iraq, the safe haven briefly broke above $1,600 an ounce for the first time since April 2013.    

In the past two decades, gold has helped investors limit market volatility and portfolio losses. Between 2000 and 2019, the precious metal’s average annual price was down in only four years. Put another way, gold was up on average in four out of every five years—a remarkable track record.

Safe haven-seeking investors around the world piled into gold-backed ETFs in 2019, making it the best year on record for gold holdings. Assets under management (AUM) in gold bullion ETFs expanded 37 percent from the previous year, adding $19.2 billion, or 400 tonnes, according to the World Gold Council (WGC). During the fourth quarter, total holdings hit a jaw-dropping 2,900 tonnes, the equivalent of 102 million ounces, which is the most on record.

As of the end of last week, gold looked slightly overbought on a relative strength basis, meaning a correction wouldn’t be such a bad thing and in fact expected.

Has the Greenback Peaked?

Short of escalating tensions in the Middle East or a pullback in stocks, the catalyst for higher gold prices—and, indeed, commodity prices in general—may very well be a substantial weakening of the U.S. dollar. On Tuesday, the U.S. Dollar Index experienced a “death cross,” a bearish signal that takes places when an asset’s 50-day moving average crosses below its 200-day moving average. We haven’t seen this from the greenback since May 2017.

Other firms and analysts have recently made the case that the dollar is ready to decline in 2020, which would give gold and other hard assets the room to gain momentum. Below are just three such forecasts from the past couple of weeks:

“Our view is that the dollar is ready to decline in 2020 and will be encouraged to do so as negative interest rates abroad turn less negative while the Fed holds pat (or cuts)… In the event of an unlikely recession in 2020, U.S. fiscal and monetary policy will turn sharply expansionary, the dollar will decline further, and gold will do well.”

                ~Murenbeeld & Co., January 3

“We expect that U.S. dollar weakness will likely characterize global financial markets throughout 2020… A weaker dollar is always good news for commodity prices. We are particularly bullish gold at this point. Gold is a direct play on a weaker dollar and could also benefit from any major flare-up in geopolitical tensions.”

                ~Alpine Macro, January 6

“Starting 2020, the key setup from a macro perspective is the confirmed top in the U.S. Dollar Index as well as the U.S. Trade-Weighted Broad Dollar Index… The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) has broken below the 97 support to trigger the bearish implication of the June-December topping pattern (head-and-shoulders top) and the U.S. Trade-Weighted Broad Dollar Index has broken below the early-November 2019 low as well as the 200-day moving average to confirm a similar topping pattern to the DXY.”

                ~CLSA, January 7

Bitcoin as a Safe Haven Asset

Gold isn’t the only asset that responded positively to geopolitical uncertainty involving Iran. The price of bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, surged on the news that President Donald Trump had ordered a strike on Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, before commenting that the U.S. was targeting as many as 52 sites in Iran.

From January 2, the day before the strike, to January 8, when Trump announced that Iran appeared to be “standing down,” bitcoin traded up as much as 21 percent to its highest level in six weeks. In addition, there were reports that local bitcoin sellers in Iran were charging three times the market rate in response to the threat of war with the U.S.

Google searches for “bitcoin” were also up. Cointelegraph reports that the search term “bitcoin Iran” exploded more than 4,450 percent in the seven days through January 8.

All of this tells me that bitcoin continues to mature as an asset, and that investors and savers increasingly trust it as a store of value in times of uncertainty.

Looking for the inside scoop on mining companies? Click here to read U.S. Global Investors portfolio manager Ralph Aldis’ interview with MoneyShow and get his favorite mining picks for 2020!

Source: http://news.goldseek.com/USFunds/1579015085.php

12-Year Breakout in Mining Stocks Relative to Gold – 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 7:40 PM on Monday, January 13th, 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.

Excerpts from Crescat Capitals November Newsletter:

Precious Metals

Precious metals are poised to benefit from what we consider to be the best macro set up we’ve seen in our careers. The stars are all aligning. We believe strongly that this time monetary policy will come at a cost. Look in the chart below at how the new wave of global money printing just initiated by the Fed in response to the Treasury market funding crisis is highly likely to pull depressed gold prices up with it.

The imbalance between historically depressed commodity prices relative to record overvalued US stocks remains at the core of our macro views. On the long side, we believe strongly commodities offer tremendous upside potential on many fronts. Precious metals remain our favorite. We view gold as the ultimate haven asset to likely outperform in an environment of either a downturn in the business cycle, rising global currency wars, implosion of fiat currencies backed by record indebted government, or even a full-blown inflationary set up. These scenarios are all possible. Our base case is that governments and central banks will keep their pedals to the metal to attempt to fend off credit implosion or to mop up after one has already occurred until inflation becomes a persistent problem.

The gold and silver mining industry is precisely where we see one of the greatest ways to express this investment thesis. These stocks have been in a severe bear market from 2011 to 2015 and have been formed a strong base over the last four years. They are offer and incredibly attractive deep-value opportunity and appear to be just starting to break out this year. We have done a deep dive in this sector and met with over 40 different management teams this year. Combining that work with our proprietary equity models, we are finding some of the greatest free-cash-flow growth and value opportunities in the market today unrivaled by any other industry. We have also found undervalued high-quality exploration assets that will make excellent buyout candidates.

We recently point out this 12-year breakout in mining stocks relative to gold now looks as solid as a rock. In our view, this is just the beginning of a major bull market for this entire industry. We encourage investors to consider our new Crescat Precious Metals SMA strategy which is performing extremely well this year.

Zero Discounting for Inflation Risk Today

With historic Federal debt relative to GDP and large deficits into the future as far as the eye can see, if the global financial markets cannot absorb the increase in Treasury debt, the Fed will be forced to monetize it even more. The problem is that the Fed’s panic money printing at this point in the economic cycle may hasten the unwinding of the imbalances it is so desperate to maintain because it has perversely fed the last-gasp melt up of speculation in already record over-valued and extended equity and corporate credit markets. It is reminiscent of when the Fed injected emergency cash into the repo market at the peak of the tech bubble at the end of 1999 to fend off a potential Y2K computer glitch that led to that market and business cycle top.
After 40 years of declining inflation expectations in the US, there is a major disconnect today between portfolio positioning, valuation, and economic reality. Too much of the investment world is long the “risk parity” trade to one degree or another, long stocks paired with leveraged long bonds, a strategy that has back-tested great over the last 40 years, but one that would be a disaster in a secular rising inflation environment.

With historic Federal debt relative to GDP and large deficits into the future as far as the eye can see, rising long-term inflation, and the hidden tax thereon, is the default, bi-partisan plan for the US government’s future funding regardless of who is in the White House and Congress after the 2020 elections. The market could start discounting this sooner rather than later.
The Fed’s excessive money printing may only reinforce the unraveling of financial asset imbalances today as it leads to rising inflation expectations and thereby a sell-off in today’s highly over-valued long duration assets including Treasury bonds and US equities, particularly insanely overvalued growth stocks. We believe we are in the vicinity of a major US stock market and business cycle peak.

Source:”Running Hot”

Courtesy of Crescat Capital: https://www.crescat.net/running-hot/

Thanks to

Kevin C. Smith, CFA
Chief Investment Officer

Tavi Costa
Portfolio Manager

Labrador Gold $LAB.ca Gold Market Update $RIO.ca $WHM.ca $SIC.ca $NXS.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 4:33 PM on Monday, January 13th, 2020
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is LAB-square-logo-2.png

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. Click Here for More Info

It has been a week of surprises since the last updates were posted. First, I had not expected Iran to retaliate following the murder of its top General by a US drone, but it did, despite the risks, as it was politically necessary to assuage the extreme anger of its population who demanded revenge. The next surprise was that Israel and the US did not use this retaliation as an excuse to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, which is what they really want to do. As we know, the long-term goal of Israel and the US is to subjugate Iran, and they will not stop until they attain this goal, and so it goes on. It appears that there was a bit of theater involved in Iran’s retaliation, as it clandestinely signaled its intentions which allowed US forces to get out of harm’s way. Perhaps US forces did not then launch a blitzkrieg out of consideration for this courtesy.

Regardless of the muddled and unpredictable fundamental situation, which included the accidental downing of a passenger plane by Iranian defensive missile batteries, the charts allowed us to make a reasonably accurate prediction regarding what was likely to happen to the gold price. The call for a near-term top in the PM sector made on the site on Monday looked incorrect the following evening when gold suddenly surged about $35 on news of the retaliatory Iranian missile strike, but when it later became apparent that there were, strangely, no US troop casualties and no further action against Iran, gold and silver reversed dramatically and dropped quite hard as the tension then looked set to ease, at least over the short-term. Technically what happened is that gold pushed quite deep into heavy overhead resistance, becoming very overbought at a time when COTs were showing extreme readings, and was thus vulnerable to a sudden reversal. The action around this time illustrates an important point, which is that when gold rises due to sudden geopolitical developments, the gains tend not to stick – what really matters and is the big driver for gold at this time is the insane monetary expansion that is going on, which is being undertaken in a desperate attempt to postpone the systemic implosion that is baked in for as long as possible. As we have already observed in these updates in recent weeks, gold is already in a raging bullmarket against a wide variety of currencies, and it won’t be all that long before it’s in a raging bullmarket against the dollar too, as the Fed sets the stage for hyperinflation.

There are two big and compelling reasons for the US government to tank the dollar. One is that it makes US exporters more competitive, and the other is that it can use the mechanism of inflation to wipe clean its colossal debts, by paying them off in devalued coin, printing vast amounts of money to pay them off, in the process legally swindling the foolish creditors out of their dues. This is precisely what the Weimar Republic in Germany did in 1923 to eliminate the unfair reparations imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, which were unfair also because Germany didn’t start the 1st World War – it was tricked into it by the allies, because the British Empire was scared of Germany’s rising industrial and military might and wanted to destroy it, 100 plus years of propaganda lies about Germany being responsible for the 1st World War notwithstanding.

We’ll look at the dollar a little later. First we will review gold’s charts, starting with the 10-year chart.

On the 10-year chart we see that gold is now a bullmarket, even against the dollar, and is currently challenging the heavy resistance arising from the 2011 – 2013 top area. The second attack on this resistance in the space of few months got further because of the Iran crisis, and if this cools any more short-term, it will probably lead to gold settling into a trading range before it mounts a more successful attack on this resistance. A point to note here is that while the resistance up to the 2011 highs in the $1800 area looks like a major obstacle, it’s not such a big deal as many think, given the rate at which the dollar is now being debased.


This week it’s worth also taking a quick look at a 3-year chart for added perspective. This chart shows us that since the bullmarket started in mid-Summer, we have seen 3 sharp runups punctuated by 2 bull Flags. While the 2nd of these Flags targets the $1800 area, we have to factor in that gold now has much more overhanging supply to contend with than on the 1st runup, and this, coupled with quite extreme COT readings, inclines to the view that this will need to be worked off. Hence the interpretation that it will probably need to consolidate for a while before it makes significant further progress, although it obviously won’t if the US starts a serious bombing campaign against Iran. The Fed’s increasingly manic money printing will eventually drive it higher, of course


On the 6-month chart we can see the interesting price action around the Iran crisis over the past week or so. A bearish “shooting star” appeared on the chart last Monday, which we took as a sign that gold was forming a short-term top, but then overnight on the 7th to the 8th it surged briefly above $1610 when Iran lobbed missiles at US bases in Iraq, which had many concluding, not unnaturally that this would trigger a major Israel – US bombing campaign. When it became apparent that there were no casualties from the Iranian attack and no US counter strike, tensions quickly cooled and gold lost ground fast the next day, putting in a big high-volume reversal candle, approximating to another “shooting star”. Normally such action is followed by a retreat at least for a while, and some stocks, like silver stock Coeur Mining (CDE), that we ditched a while ago, got clobbered. This is why gold is expected to settle down into a trading range for a while before mounting another attack on the resistance.


Another factor suggesting that gold will consolidate / react back for a while is the latest COT, which shows still very high Commercial short and Large Spec long positions…

Click on chart to popup a larger, clearer version.


What about Precious Metals stocks? The latest 10-year chart for GDX shows that we still have most everything to look forward to, for despite the rally from the middle of last year, it still hasn’t broken out of the giant complex Head-and-Shoulders bottom that has been formed since way back early in 2013. A breakout above the nearby resistance should lead to a rapid ascent to the next resistance level at the underside of a large top pattern, and thereafter it will have to work its way through continuing resistance up to its highs. The strength of the volume indicators in the recent past are a sign that it “means business”.


Now we turn our attention to the dollar, which is looking increasingly frail as we can see on the latest 6-year chart for the dollar index. It is rolling over beneath resistance and appears to be breaking down from the 16-month gentle uptrend shown. This is of course the main reason that gold, shown at the top of this chart, has been breaking higher again. If it fails to hold up here it could be targeting the lower boundary of the bullhorn pattern, which would involve a heavy drop from the current level that would “light a fire” under the Precious Metals, and many other commodities, notably copper.


A chart that really gives the game away and calls time on the dollar is the 6-year chart for dollar proxy UUP. As we can see, unlike the dollar index itself, this has risen up to the upper boundary of its giant bullhorn pattern and appears to be on the point of breaking down. Its Accumulation line has been very weak. This chart suggests that the dollar could be in for a very rough ride before long, which is hardly surprising considering the lengths to which the Federal Reserve is going to destroy it. While other countries and trading blocs, most notably the EU, are making a valiant attempt to destroy their own currencies, they will be hard put to keep up with the Fed.


And now, for the benefit of anyone who still doubts that gold is in a bullmarket, I have pleasure in presenting the following 6-year chart for gold against the Japanese Yen…


Still think gold might be in bearmarket? – no – didn’t think you would.

It’s always good to end on a positive note, and we’ll do so by looking at a stock with a supremely bullish setup, which we happened to buy right before it broke out about a week ago, and it may well have been our buying that triggered the breakout…


Although you can never be 100% sure of anything with these smaller issues, I am sure that you will agree with me that this chart is not suggestive of a sector that is going anywhere but up.

Conclusion: although last week’s reversal candle and the current rather extreme COT structure mean that gold may react back more near-term, the overall picture is strongly bullish, which is hardly surprising as the fiat money system is fast approaching its nemesis, with the line of least resistance leading to hyperinflation. Our general approach therefore is not to sell PM sector investments, except on a case by case basis where they become critically overbought, but instead buy or add to positions on dips.

https://www.clivemaund.com/gmu.php?art_id=68&date=2020-01-12

12-Year Breakout in Mining Stocks Relative to Gold – SPONSOR: Labrador Gold $LAB.ca – $RIO.ca $WHM.ca $SIC.ca $NXS.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 3:34 PM on Friday, January 10th, 2020
This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is LAB-square-logo-2.png

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. Click Here for More Info

Excerpts from Crescat Capitals November Newsletter:

Precious Metals

Precious metals are poised to benefit from what we consider to be the best macro set up we’ve seen in our careers. The stars are all aligning. We believe strongly that this time monetary policy will come at a cost. Look in the chart below at how the new wave of global money printing just initiated by the Fed in response to the Treasury market funding crisis is highly likely to pull depressed gold prices up with it.

The imbalance between historically depressed commodity prices relative to record overvalued US stocks remains at the core of our macro views. On the long side, we believe strongly commodities offer tremendous upside potential on many fronts. Precious metals remain our favorite. We view gold as the ultimate haven asset to likely outperform in an environment of either a downturn in the business cycle, rising global currency wars, implosion of fiat currencies backed by record indebted government, or even a full-blown inflationary set up. These scenarios are all possible. Our base case is that governments and central banks will keep their pedals to the metal to attempt to fend off credit implosion or to mop up after one has already occurred until inflation becomes a persistent problem.

The gold and silver mining industry is precisely where we see one of the greatest ways to express this investment thesis. These stocks have been in a severe bear market from 2011 to 2015 and have been formed a strong base over the last four years. They are offer and incredibly attractive deep-value opportunity and appear to be just starting to break out this year. We have done a deep dive in this sector and met with over 40 different management teams this year. Combining that work with our proprietary equity models, we are finding some of the greatest free-cash-flow growth and value opportunities in the market today unrivaled by any other industry. We have also found undervalued high-quality exploration assets that will make excellent buyout candidates.

We recently point out this 12-year breakout in mining stocks relative to gold now looks as solid as a rock. In our view, this is just the beginning of a major bull market for this entire industry. We encourage investors to consider our new Crescat Precious Metals SMA strategy which is performing extremely well this year.

Zero Discounting for Inflation Risk Today

With historic Federal debt relative to GDP and large deficits into the future as far as the eye can see, if the global financial markets cannot absorb the increase in Treasury debt, the Fed will be forced to monetize it even more. The problem is that the Fed’s panic money printing at this point in the economic cycle may hasten the unwinding of the imbalances it is so desperate to maintain because it has perversely fed the last-gasp melt up of speculation in already record over-valued and extended equity and corporate credit markets. It is reminiscent of when the Fed injected emergency cash into the repo market at the peak of the tech bubble at the end of 1999 to fend off a potential Y2K computer glitch that led to that market and business cycle top.
After 40 years of declining inflation expectations in the US, there is a major disconnect today between portfolio positioning, valuation, and economic reality. Too much of the investment world is long the “risk parity” trade to one degree or another, long stocks paired with leveraged long bonds, a strategy that has back-tested great over the last 40 years, but one that would be a disaster in a secular rising inflation environment.

With historic Federal debt relative to GDP and large deficits into the future as far as the eye can see, rising long-term inflation, and the hidden tax thereon, is the default, bi-partisan plan for the US government’s future funding regardless of who is in the White House and Congress after the 2020 elections. The market could start discounting this sooner rather than later.
The Fed’s excessive money printing may only reinforce the unraveling of financial asset imbalances today as it leads to rising inflation expectations and thereby a sell-off in today’s highly over-valued long duration assets including Treasury bonds and US equities, particularly insanely overvalued growth stocks. We believe we are in the vicinity of a major US stock market and business cycle peak.

Source:”Running Hot”

Courtesy of Crescat Capital: https://www.crescat.net/running-hot/

Thanks to

Kevin C. Smith, CFA
Chief Investment Officer

Tavi Costa
Portfolio Manager

Gold’s Outlook for 2020 – 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 2:20 PM on Friday, January 10th, 2020

This article is an overview of the economic conditions that will drive the gold price in 2020 and beyond. The turn of the credit cycle, the effect on government deficits and how they are to be financed are addressed.

In the absence of foreign demand for new US Treasuries and of a rise in the savings rate the US budget deficit can only be financed by monetary inflation. This is bound to lead to higher bond yields as the dollar’s falling purchasing power accelerates due to the sheer quantity of new dollars entering circulation. The relationship between rising bond yields and the gold price is also discussed.

It may turn out that the recent extraordinary events on Comex, with the expansion of open interest failing to suppress the gold price, are an early recognition in some quarters of the US Government’s debt trap.

The strains leading to a crisis for fiat currencies are emerging into plain sight.

Introduction

In 2019, priced in dollars gold rose 18.3% and silver by 15.1%. Or rather, and this is the more relevant way of putting it, priced in gold the dollar fell 15.5% and in silver 13%. This is because the story of 2019, as it will be in 2020, was of the re-emergence of fiat currency debasement. Particularly in the last quarter, the Fed began aggressively injecting new money into a surprisingly illiquid banking system through repurchase agreements, whereby banks’ reserves at the Fed are credited with cash loaned in return for T-bills and coupon-bearing Treasuries as collateral. Furthermore, the ECB restarted quantitative easing in November, and the Bank of Japan stands ready to ease policy further “if the momentum towards its 2% inflation target comes under threat” (Kuroda – 26 December).

The Bank of Japan is still buying bonds, but at a pace which is expected to fall beneath redemptions of its existing holdings. Therefore, we enter 2020 with money supply being expanded by two, possibly all three of the major western central banks. Besides liquidity problems, the central bankers’ nightmare is the threat that the global economy will slide into recession, though no one will confess it openly because it would be an admission of policy failure. And policy makers are also terrified that if bankers get wind of a declining economy, they will withdraw loan facilities from businesses and make things much worse.

Of the latter concern central banks have good cause. A combination of the turn of the credit cycle towards its regular crisis phase and Trump’s tariff war has already hit international trade badly, with exporting economies such as Germany already in recession and important trade indicators, such as the Baltic dry index collapsing. No doubt, President Trump’s most recent announcement that a trade deal with China is ready for signing is driven by an understanding in some quarters of the White House that over trade policy, Trump is turning out to be the turkey who voted for Christmas. But we have heard this story several times before: a forthcoming agreement announced only to be scrapped or suspended at the last moment.

The subject which will begin to dominate monetary policy in 2020 is who will fund escalating government deficits. At the moment it is on few investors’ radar, but it is bound to dawn on markets that a growing budget deficit in America will be financed almost entirely by monetary inflation, a funding policy equally adopted in other jurisdictions. Furthermore, Christine Lagarde, the new ECB president, has stated her desire for the ECB’s quantitative easing to be extended from government financing to financing environmental projects as well.

2020 is shaping up to be the year that all pretence of respect for money’s role as a store of value is abandoned in favour of using it as a means of government funding without raising taxes. 2020 will then be the year when currencies begin to be visibly trashed in the hands of their long-suffering users.

Gold in the context of distorted markets

At the core of current market distortions is a combination of interest rate suppression and banking regulation. It is unnecessary to belabour the point about interest rates, because minimal and even negative rates have demonstrably failed to stimulate anything other than asset prices into bubble territory. But there is a woeful lack of appreciation about the general direction of monetary policy and where it is headed.

The stated intention is the opposite of reality, which is not to rescue the economy: while important, from a bureaucrat’s point of view that is not the greatest priority. It is to ensure that governments are never short of funds. Inflationary financing guarantees the government will always be able to spend, and government-licenced banks exist to ensure the government always has access to credit.

Unbeknown to the public, the government licences the banks to conduct their business in a way which for an unlicensed organisation is legally fraudulent. The banks create credit or through their participation in QE they facilitate the creation of base money out of thin air which is added to their reserves. It transfers wealth from unsuspecting members of the public to the government, crony capitalists, financial speculators and consumers living beyond their means. The government conspires with its macroeconomists to supress the evidence of rising prices by manipulating the inflation statistics. So successful has this scheme of deception been, that by fuelling GDP, monetary debasement is presented as economic growth, with very few in financial mainstream understanding the deceit.

The government monopoly of issuing money, and through their regulators controlling the expansion of credit, was bound to lead to progressively greater abuse of monetary trust. And now, in this last credit cycle, the consumer who is also the producer has had his income and savings so depleted by continuing monetary debasement that he can no longer generate the taxes to balance his government’s books later in the credit cycle.

The problem is not new. America has not had a budget surplus since 2001. The last credit cycle in the run up to the Lehman crisis did not deliver a budget surplus, nor has the current cycle. Instead, following the Lehman crisis we saw a marked acceleration of monetary inflation, and Figure 2 shows how dollar fiat money has expanded above its long-term trend since then.

In recent years, the Fed’s attempt to return to monetary normality by reducing its balance sheet has failed miserably. After a brief pause, the fiat money quantity has begun to grow at a pace not seen since the immediate aftermath of the Lehman crisis itself and is back in record territory. Figure 1 is updated to 1 November, since when FMQ will have increased even more.

In order to communicate effectively the background for the relationship between gold and fiat currencies in 2020 it is necessary to put the situation as plainly as possible. We enter the new decade with the highest levels of monetary ignorance imaginable. It is a systemic issue of not realising the emperor has no clothes. Consequently, markets have probably become more distorted than we have ever seen in the recorded history of money and credit, as widespread negative interest rates and negative-yielding bonds attest. In our attempt to divine the future, it leaves us with two problems: assessing when the tension between wishful thinking in financial markets and market reality will crash the system, and the degree of chaos that will ensue.

The timing is impossible to predict with certainty because we cannot know the future. But, if the characteristics of past credit cycles are a guide, it will be marked with a financial and systemic crisis in one or more large banks. Liquidity strains suggest that event is close, even within months and possibly weeks. If so, banks will be bailed, of that we can be certain. It will require central banks to create yet more money, additional to that required to finance escalating government budget deficits. Monetary chaos promises to be greater than anything seen heretofore, and it will engulf all western welfare-dependent economies and those that trade with them.

We have established that between keeping governments financed, bailing out banks and perhaps investing in renewable green energy, the issuance of new money in 2020 will in all probability be unprecedented, greater than anything seen so far. It will lead to a feature of the crisis, which may have already started, and that is an increase in borrowing costs forced by markets onto central banks and their governments. The yield on 10-year US Treasuries is already on the rise, as shown in Figure 3.


Assuming no significant increase in the rate of savings and despite all attempts to suppress the evidence, the acceleration in the rate of monetary inflation will eventually lead to runaway increases in the general level of prices measured in dollars. As Milton Friedman put it, inflation [of prices] is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.

Through QE, central banks believe they can contain the cost of government funding by setting rates. What they do not seem to realise is that while to a borrower interest is a cost to set against income, to a lender it reflects time-preference, which is the difference between current possession, in this case of cash dollars, and possession at a future date. Unless and until the Fed realises and addresses the time preference problem, the dollar will lose purchasing power. Not only will it be sold in the foreign exchanges, but depositors will move to minimise their balances and creditors their ownership of debt.

If, as it appears in Figure 3, dollar bond yields are beginning a rising trend, the inexorable pull of time preference is already beginning to apply and further rises in bond yields will imperil government financing. The Congressional Budget Office assumes the average interest rate on debt held by the public will be 2.5% for the next three years, and that net interest in fiscal 2020 will be $390bn, being about 38% of the projected deficit of $1,008bn. Combining the additional consequences for government finances of a recession with higher bond yields than the CBO expects will be disastrous.

Clearly, in these circumstances the Fed will do everything in its power to stop markets setting the cost of government borrowing. But we have been here before. The similarities between the situation for the dollar today and the deterioration of British government finances in the early to mid-1970s are remarkable. They resulted in multiple funding crises and an eventual bail-out from the IMF. Except today there can be no IMF bail-out for the US and the dollar, because the bailor gets its currency from the bailee.

Nearly fifty years ago, in the UK gold rose from under £15 per ounce in 1970 to £80 in December 1974. The peak of the credit cycle was at the end of 1971, when the 10-year gilt yield to maturity was 7%. By December 1974, the stock market had crashed, a banking crisis had followed, price inflation was well into double figures and the 10-year gilt yield to maturity had risen to over 16%.

History rhymes, as they say. But for historians the parallels between the outlook for the dollar and US Treasury funding costs at the beginning of 2020, and what transpired for the British economy following the Barbour boom of 1970-71 are too close to ignore. It is the same background for the relationship between gold and fiat currencies for 2020 and the few years that follow.

Gold and rising interest rates

Received investment wisdom is that rising interest rates are bad for the gold price, because gold has no yield. Yet experience repeatedly contradicts it. Anyone who remembers investing in UK gilts at a 7% yield in December 1971 only to see prices collapse to a yield of over 16%, while gold rose from under £15 to £80 to the ounce over the three years following should attest otherwise.

Part of the error is to believe that gold has no yield. This is only true of gold held as cash and for non-monetary usage. As money, it is loaned and borrowed, just like any other form of money. Monetary gold has its own time preference, as do government currencies. In the absence of state intervention, time preferences for gold and government currencies are set by their respective users, bearing in mind the characteristics special to each. It is not a subject for simple arbitrage, selling gold and buying government money to gain the interest differential, because the spread reflects important differences which cannot be ignored. It is like shorting Swiss francs and buying dollars in the belief there is no currency risk.

The principal variable between the time preferences of gold and a government currency is the difference between an established form of money derived from the collective preferences of its users, for which there is no issuer risk, and state-issued currency which becomes an instrument of funding by means of its debasement.

The time preference of gold will obviously vary depending on lending risk, which is in addition to an originary rate, but it is considerably more stable than the time preference of a fiat currency. Gold’s interest rate stability is illustrated in Figure 4, which covers the period of the gold standard from the Bank Charter Act of 1844 to before the First World War, during which time the gold standard was properly implemented. With the exception of uncontrolled bank credit, sterling operated as a gold substitute.


Admittedly, due to problems created by the cycle of bank credit, these year-end values conceal some significant fluctuations, such as at the time of the Overend Gurney collapse in 1866 when borrowing rates spiked to 10%. The depression following the Barings crisis of 1890 stalled credit demand which is evident from the chart. However, wholesale borrowing rates, which were effectively the cost of borrowing in gold, were otherwise remarkably stable, varying between 2-3½%. Some of this variation can be ascribed to changing perceptions of general borrower risk and some to changes in industrial investment demand, related to the cycle of bank credit.

Compare this with dollar interest rates since 1971, when the dollar had suspended the remaining fig-leaf of gold backing, which is shown in Figure 5 for the decade following.


In February 1972 the Fed Funds rate was 3.29%, rising eventually to over 19% in January 1981. At the same time gold rose from $46 to a high of $843 at the morning fix on 21 January 1980. Taking gold’s originary interest rate as approximately 2% it required a 17% interest rate penalty to dissuade people from hoarding gold and to hold onto dollars instead.

In 1971, US Government debt stood at 35% of GDP and in 1981 it stood at 31%. The US Government ran a budget surplus over the decade sufficient to absorb the rising interest cost on its T-bill obligations and any new Treasury funding. America enters 2020 with a debt to GDP ratio of over 100%. Higher interest rates are therefore not a policy option and the US Government, and the dollar, are ensnared in a debt trap from which the dollar is unlikely to recover.

The seeds of the dollar’s destruction were sown over fifty years ago, when the London gold pool was formed, whereby central banks committed to help the US maintain the price at $35, being forced to do so because the US could no longer supress the gold price on its own. And with good reason: Figure 6 shows how the last fifty years have eroded the purchasing power of the four major currencies since the gold pool failed.

 

Over the last fifty years, the yen has lost over 92%, the dollar 97.6%, the euro (and its earlier components 98.2% and sterling the most at 98.7%. And now we are about to embark on the greatest increase of global monetary inflation ever seen.

The market for physical gold

In recent years, demand for physical gold has been strong. Chinese and Indian private sector buyers have to date respectively accumulated an estimated 17,000 tonnes (based on deliveries from Shanghai Gold Exchange vaults) and about 24,000 tonnes (according to WGC Director Somasundaram PR quoted in India’s Financial Express last May).

It is generally thought that higher prices for gold will deter future demand from these sources, with the vast bulk of it being categorised as simply jewellery. But this is a western view based on a belief in objective values for government currencies and subjective prices for gold. It ignores the fact that for Asians, it is gold that has the objective value. In Asia gold jewellery is acquired as a store of value to avoid the depreciation of government currency, hoarded as a central component of a family’s long-term wealth accumulation.

Therefore, there is no certainty higher prices will compromise Asian demand. Indeed, demand has not been undermined in India with the price rising from R300 to the ounce to over R100,000 today since the London gold pool failed, and that’s despite all the government disincentives and even bans from buying gold.

Additionally, since 2008 central banks have accumulated over 4,400 tonnes to increase their official reserves to 34,500 tonnes. The central banks most active in the gold market are Asian, and increasingly the East and Central Europeans.

There are two threads to this development. First there is a geopolitical element, with Russia replacing reserve dollars for gold, and China having deliberately moved to control global physical delivery markets. And second, there is evidence of concern amongst the Europeans that the dollar’s role as the reserve currency is either being compromised or no longer fit for a changed world. Furthermore, the rising power of Asia’s two hegemons continues to drive over two-thirds of the world’s population away from the dollar towards gold.

Goldmoney estimates there are roughly 180,000 tonnes of gold above ground, much of which cannot be categorised as monetary: monetary not as defined for the purposes of customs reporting, but in the wider sense to include all bars, coins and pure gold jewellery accumulated for its long-term wealth benefits through good and bad times. Annual mine production adds 3,000-3,500 tonnes, giving a stock to flow ratio of over 50 times. Put another way, the annual increase in the gold quantity is similar to the growth in the world’s population, imparting great stability as a medium of exchange.

These qualities stand in contrast to the increasingly certain acceleration of fiat currency debasement over the next few years. Anyone prepared to stand back from the financial coalface can easily see where the relationship between gold and fiat currencies is going. Most of the world’s population is moving away from the established fiat regime towards gold as a store of value, their own fiat currencies lacking sufficient credibility to act as a dollar alternative. And financial markets immersed in the fiat regime have very little physical gold in possession. Instead, where it is now perceived that there is a risk of missing out on a rise in the gold price, investors have begun accumulating in greater quantities the paper alternatives to physical gold: ETFs, futures, options, forward contracts and mining shares.

Paper markets

From the US Government’s point of view, gold as a rival to the dollar must be quashed, and the primary purpose of futures options and forwards is to expand artificial supply to keep the price from rising. In a wider context, the ability to print synthetic commodities out of thin air is a means of suppressing prices generally and we must not be distracted by claims that derivatives improve liquidity: they only improve liquidity at lower prices.

When the dollar price of gold found a major turning point on 17 December 2015, open interest on Comex stood at 393,000 contacts. The year-end figure today is nearly double that at 786,422 contracts, representing an increase of paper supply equivalent to 1,224 tonnes. But that is not all. Not only are there other regulated derivative exchanges with gold contracts, but also there are unregulated over the counter markets. According to the Bank for International Settlements from end-2015 unregulated OTC contracts (principally London forward contracts) expanded by the equivalent of 2,450 tonnes by last June, taken at contemporary prices. And we must not forget the unknown quantity of bank liabilities to customers’ unallocated accounts which probably involve an additional few thousand tonnes.

In recent months, the paper suppression regime has stepped up a gear, evidenced by Comex’s open interest rising. This is illustrated in Figure 7.


There are two notable features in the chart. First, the rising gold price has seen increasing paper supply, which we would expect from a market designed to keep a lid on prices. Secondly instead of declining with the gold price, open interest continued to rise following the price peak in early September while the gold price declined by about $100. This tells us that the price suppression scheme has run into trouble, with large buyers taking the opportunity to increase their positions at lower prices.

In the past, bullion banks have been able to put a lid on prices by creating Comex contracts out of thin air. The recent expansion of open interest has failed to achieve this objective, and it is worth noting that the quantity of gold in Comex vaults eligible for delivery and pledged is only 2% of the 2,446-tonne short position. In London, there are only 3,052 tonnes in LBMA vaults (excluding the Bank of England), which includes an unknown quantity of ETF and custodial gold. Physical liquidity for the forward market in London is therefore likely to be very small relative to forward deliveries. And of course, the bullion banks in London and elsewhare do not have the metal to cover their obligations to unallocated account holders, which is an additional consideration.

Clearly, there is not the gold available in the system to legitimise derivative paper. It now appears that paper gold markets could be drifting into systemic difficulties with bullion banks squeezed by a rising gold price, short positions and unallocated accounts.

There are mechanisms to counter these systemic risks, such as the ability to declare force majeure on Comex, and standard unallocated account contracts which permit a bullion bank to deliver cash equivalents to bullion obligations. But the triggering of any such escape from physical gold obligations could exacerbate a buying panic, driving prices even higher. It leads to the conclusion that any rescue of the bullion market system is destined to fail.

A two-step future for the gold price

It has been evident for some time that the world of fiat currencies has been drifting into ever greater difficulties of far greater magnitude than can be contained by spinning a few thousand tonnes of gold back and forth on Comex and in London. That appears to be the lesson to be drawn from the inability of a massive increase in open interest on Comex to contain a rising gold price.

It will take a substantial upward shift in the gold price to appraise western financial markets of this reality. In combination with systemic strains increasing, a gold price of over $2,000 may do the trick. Professional investors will have found themselves wrongfooted; underinvested in ETFs, gold mines and regulated derivatives, in which case their gold demand is likely to drive one or more bullion houses into considerable difficulties. We might call this the first step in a two-step monetary future.

The extent to which gold prices rise could be substantial, but assuming the immediate crisis itself passes, banks having been bailed in or out, and QE accelerated in an attempt to put a lid on government bond yields, then the gold price might be deemed to have risen too far, and due for a correction. But then there will be the prospect of an accelerating loss of purchasing power for fiat currencies as a result of the monetary inflation, and that will drive the second step as investors realise that what they are seeing is not a rising gold price but a fiat currency collapse.

The high levels of government debt today in the three major jurisdictions appear to almost guarantee this outcome. The amounts involved are so large that today’s paper gold suppression scheme is likely to be too small in comparison and cannot stop it happening. The effect on currency purchasing powers will then be beyond question. Monetary authorities will be clueless in their response, because they have all bought into a form of economics that puts what will happen beyond their understanding.

As noted above, the path to a final crisis for fiat currencies might have already started, with the failure by the establishment to suppress the gold price through the creation of an extra 100,000 Comex contracts. If not, then any success by the monetary authorities to reassert control is likely to be temporary.

Perhaps we are already beginning to see the fiat currency system beginning to unravel, in which case those that insist gold is not money will find themselves impoverished.

Source: Goldmoney Insights

https://www.goldmoney.com/research/goldmoney-insights/gold-s-outlook-for-2020

Gold-Backed ETF Holdings Hit All-Time High in 2019 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 5:48 PM on Thursday, January 9th, 2020

American Creek owns a 20% Carried Interest to Production at the Treaty Creek Project in the Golden Triangle. 2019’s first hole averaged 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.

https://www.mining.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/bank-vault-gold-900.jpg
Low-cost gold-backed ETFs in the US have seen positive flows for 18 of the past 19 months

Global gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and similar products had $19.2 billion or 400 tonnes of net inflows in 2019 after holdings rebounded in December, the World Gold Council (WGC) reports. In the fourth quarter, ETF holdings reached an all-time high of 2,900 tonnes.

Overall, gold-backed assets under management (AUM) grew by 37% in dollar terms during the year owing to positive demand and an 18.4% increase in the gold price.

From a regional perspective, North American funds led the way with inflows of 206 tonnes ($10.1 billion, 14.4% AUM). SPDR Gold Shares – the world’s biggest gold ETF—and iShares Gold Trust accounted for nearly half of last year’s inflows.

Low-cost gold-backed ETFs in the US have seen positive flows for 18 of the past 19 months and increased their collective holdings by 60%, according to the latest WGC data.

Elsewhere, holdings in European funds increased by 188 tonnes ($8.8 billion, 13.6%), while funds listed in Asia were nearly flat, recording an outflow of 0.1 tonnes ($12 million, 0.3%). The remaining regions had combined inflows of 6.3 tonnes ($311 million, 16.3%).

Looking ahead, WGC analysts said that they expect investor demand to remain robust through 2020.

“The strength of gold was mainly the byproduct of a dovish shift in monetary policy. Our research indicates that a shift from a hawkish or neutral stance to a dovish one has historically led gold to outperform,” a WGC analyst said.

About American Creek

American Creek is a Canadian 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

An exploration program is ongoing on American Creek’s 100% owned Dunwell Mine property located near Stewart. More information can be found here: https://americancreek.com/index.php/projects/dunwell-mine

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

Source: https://www.mining.com/gold-backed-etf-holdings-grew-14-in-2019/

Labrador Gold $LAB.ca Provides Review of 2019 Exploration and Outlines Plans for 2020 $RIO.ca $WHM.ca $SIC.ca $NXS.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:52 AM on Thursday, January 9th, 2020
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Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX-V: LAB) (“LabGold” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide a review of its exploration activities completed during 2019. During 2020, LabGold intends to test the continuity of recently discovered mineralization at its Hopedale Project with a drilling program.

Roger Moss, President and CEO stated: “Exploration on both of our Labrador Projects during 2019 continued to successfully define areas of gold mineralization. These include the discovery of a new gold showing with assays from 1.67 to 8.26 g/t gold in grab samples at the Hopedale Project. This is located 500 metres along strike from the known Thurber Dog gold showing within a broader three kilometre stretch of anomalous gold in rock and soil. We look forward to continuing our systematic exploration, including drilling, of this mineralized system in 2020.”

 2019 Hopedale Project Highlights

  • Discovered a new gold showing north of the Thurber Dog gold occurrence, grab samples from which assayed between 1.67 and 8.26 g/t Au.
  • The Thurber Dog gold occurrence has assays in grab and channel samples from below detection up to 7.866 g/t Au, with 5 samples greater than 1 g/t Au and 16 samples assaying greater than 0.1 g/t Au.
  • The discovery extends the potential strike length of gold mineralization by approximately 500 metres along strike to the north.The new showing occurs within a larger 3km trend of anomalous gold in rock and soil associated with the contact between mafic/ultramafic volcanic rocks and felsic volcanic rocks.

 2019 Ashuanipi Project Highlights

  • Discovered a gold enriched zone near a high grade (8,973ppb) soil sample taken in 2018.
  • The zone is defined by anomalous gold in both soil (below detection up to 1,746ppb Au and including 12 samples over 100ppb Au) and grab rock samples (below detection up to 2.35 g/t Au) that cover an area of 450 metres by 450 metres.A second area of gold mineralization associated with garnet-bearing gossanous gneiss also shows potential.
  • Grab rock samples show values from below detection to 0.68 g/t Au with 10 samples showing values greater than 0.1 g/t Au over an area of 200m by 120m within a larger anomalous area of gold in soil samples.

 Note that grab samples are selected samples and are not necessarily representative of mineralization on the properties. 

Location of the new showing, Thurber Dog, Thurber North and Thurber South occurrences within the 3km long mineralized Thurber trend:

New Showing with rusty zones due to the presence of pyrite and arsenopyrite:

What to expect in 2020

Hopedale Project

Exploration at Hopedale during 2020 will focus on determining the extent of the Thurber Dog mineralized trend. Such work would aim to fill in the gaps between showings over the three-kilometre strike length with sampling and VLF-EM surveys. LabGold also intends to carry out an initial drill program targeting prospective areas along this trend, including the new showing.

Ashuanipi Project

LabGold’s priority at Ashuanipi is to reach an agreement with the Matimekush-Lac John First Nation to enable continued exploration of the property. The 2019 election of the new Chief and Council has been challenged in Federal Court in Quebec with a court date scheduled for the end of February. As such, community engagement and negotiations are on hold until the court case is settled.

Borden Lake Extension Project

During 2019, Newmont Goldcorp announced the start of commercial production at their Borden Mine. The Borden Lake Extension project is located less than five kilometres from the Borden Mine along the southeast trend of the Borden Gold zone. Note that mineralization hosted on nearby properties is not necessarily indicative of mineralization that may be hosted on the Company’s property.

Given the start of mining at Borden, follow up of past results at the Borden Lake Extension project will be undertaken in 2020. Such work will likely include additional till sampling and geochemical surveys to better define the previously outlined anomalous zones as well as a reinterpretation of VLF-EM data using the latest inversion software. Due to the glacial cover in the area, overburden drilling, guided by results of this work, would be the best means to define targets for follow up diamond drilling.

Location of the BLE property and anomalous gold zones along trend to the southeast of Newmont-Goldcorp’s Borden Gold Zone.

 All samples were shipped to the Bureau Veritas laboratory in Vancouver, BC, where they were crushed and split and a 500g sub sample pulverized to 200 mesh. Samples of 30g were analyzed for gold by fire assay with an atomic absorption finish and another 15g sample for 36 elements by ultratrace ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) following an aqua regia digestion. Over limit samples (greater than 10g/t Au) are re-assayed using fire assay with a gravimetric finish. In addition to the QA-QC conducted by the laboratory, the Company routinely submits blanks, field duplicates and certified reference standards with batches of samples to monitor the quality of the analyses.

Roger Moss, PhD., P.Geo., is the qualified person responsible for all technical information in this release.

The Company gratefully acknowledges the Newfoundland and Labrador Ministry of Natural Resources’ Junior Exploration Assistance (JEA) Program for its financial support for exploration of the Ashuanipi property.

About Labrador Gold:

Labrador Gold is a Canadian based mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and exploration of prospective gold projects in the Americas. In 2017 Labrador Gold signed a Letter of Intent under which the Company has the option to acquire 100% of the Ashuanipi property in northwest Labrador and the Hopedale property in eastern Labrador.

The Hopedale property covers much of the Florence Lake greenstone belt that stretches over 60 km. The belt is typical of greenstone belts around the world but has been underexplored by comparison. Initial work by Labrador Gold during 2017 show gold anomalies in soils and lake sediments over a 3 kilometre section of the northern portion of the Florence Lake greenstone belt in the vicinity of the known Thurber Dog gold showing where grab samples assayed up to 7.8g/t gold. In addition, anomalous gold in soil and lake sediment samples occur over approximately 40 kilometres along the southern section of the greenstone belt (see news release dated January 25, 2018 for more details).

The Ashuanipi gold project is located just 35 km from the historical iron ore mining community of Schefferville, which is linked by rail to the port of Sept Iles, Quebec in the south. The claim blocks cover large lake sediment gold anomalies that, with the exception of local prospecting, have not seen a systematic modern day exploration program. Results of the 2017 reconnaissance exploration program following up the lake sediment anomalies show gold anomalies in soils and lake sediments over a 15 kilometre long by 2 to 6 kilometre wide north-south trend and over a 14 kilometre long by 2 to 4 kilometre wide east-west trend. The anomalies appear to be broadly associated with magnetic highs and do not show any correlation with specific rock types on a regional scale (see news release dated January 18, 2018). This suggests a possible structural control on the localization of the gold anomalies. Historical work 30 km north on the Quebec side led to gold intersections of up to 2.23 grams per tonne (g/t) Au over 19.55 metres (not true width) (Source: IOS Services Geoscientifiques, 2012, Exploration and geological reconnaissance work in the Goodwood River Area, Sheffor Project, Summer Field Season 2011). Gold in both areas appears to be associated with similar rock types.

The Company has 57,039,022 common shares issued and outstanding and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LAB.

For more information please contact:
Roger Moss, President and CEO
Tel: 416-704-8291
Or visit our website at: www.labradorgold.com
Twitter: @LabGoldCorp

SPONSOR: Affinity Metals $AAF.ca – 12-Year Breakout in Mining Stocks Relative to Gold $SII.ca $TUD.ca $GTT.ca $AMK.ca $OSK.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 2:39 PM on Wednesday, January 8th, 2020

Sponsor: Affinity Metals (TSX-V: AFF) 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. Recent sampling encountered bonanza grade silver, zinc, and lead with many samples reaching assay over-limits. Further assaying of over-limits has been initiated, results will be reported once received. Click Here for More Info

Excerpts from Crescat Capitals November Newsletter:

Precious Metals

Precious metals are poised to benefit from what we consider to be the best macro set up we’ve seen in our careers. The stars are all aligning. We believe strongly that this time monetary policy will come at a cost. Look in the chart below at how the new wave of global money printing just initiated by the Fed in response to the Treasury market funding crisis is highly likely to pull depressed gold prices up with it.

The gold and silver mining industry endured a severe bear market from 2011 to 2015 and have formed a strong base over the last four years.

The imbalance between historically depressed commodity prices relative to record overvalued US stocks remains at the core of our macro views. On the long side, we believe strongly commodities offer tremendous upside potential on many fronts. Precious metals remain our favorite. We view gold as the ultimate haven asset to likely outperform in an environment of either a downturn in the business cycle, rising global currency wars, implosion of fiat currencies backed by record indebted government, or even a full-blown inflationary set up. These scenarios are all possible. Our base case is that governments and central banks will keep their pedals to the metal to attempt to fend off credit implosion or to mop up after one has already occurred until inflation becomes a persistent problem.

The gold and silver mining industry is precisely where we see one of the greatest ways to express this investment thesis. These stocks have been in a severe bear market from 2011 to 2015 and have been formed a strong base over the last four years. They are offer and incredibly attractive deep-value opportunity and appear to be just starting to break out this year. We have done a deep dive in this sector and met with over 40 different management teams this year. Combining that work with our proprietary equity models, we are finding some of the greatest free-cash-flow growth and value opportunities in the market today unrivaled by any other industry. We have also found undervalued high-quality exploration assets that will make excellent buyout candidates.

We recently point out this 12-year breakout in mining stocks relative to gold now looks as solid as a rock. In our view, this is just the beginning of a major bull market for this entire industry. We encourage investors to consider our new Crescat Precious Metals SMA strategy which is performing extremely well this year.

“This is just the beginning of a major bull market for this entire industry”

Zero Discounting for Inflation Risk Today

With historic Federal debt relative to GDP and large deficits into the future as far as the eye can see, if the global financial markets cannot absorb the increase in Treasury debt, the Fed will be forced to monetize it even more. The problem is that the Fed’s panic money printing at this point in the economic cycle may hasten the unwinding of the imbalances it is so desperate to maintain because it has perversely fed the last-gasp melt up of speculation in already record over-valued and extended equity and corporate credit markets. It is reminiscent of when the Fed injected emergency cash into the repo market at the peak of the tech bubble at the end of 1999 to fend off a potential Y2K computer glitch that led to that market and business cycle top.
After 40 years of declining inflation expectations in the US, there is a major disconnect today between portfolio positioning, valuation, and economic reality. Too much of the investment world is long the “risk parity” trade to one degree or another, long stocks paired with leveraged long bonds, a strategy that has back-tested great over the last 40 years, but one that would be a disaster in a secular rising inflation environment.

With historic Federal debt relative to GDP and large deficits into the future as far as the eye can see, rising long-term inflation, and the hidden tax thereon, is the default, bi-partisan plan for the US government’s future funding regardless of who is in the White House and Congress after the 2020 elections. The market could start discounting this sooner rather than later.
The Fed’s excessive money printing may only reinforce the unraveling of financial asset imbalances today as it leads to rising inflation expectations and thereby a sell-off in today’s highly over-valued long duration assets including Treasury bonds and US equities, particularly insanely overvalued growth stocks. We believe we are in the vicinity of a major US stock market and business cycle peak.

Source:”Running Hot”

Courtesy of Crescat Capital: https://www.crescat.net/running-hot/

Thanks to

Kevin C. Smith, CFA
Chief Investment Officer

Tavi Costa
Portfolio Manager

American Creek Resources $AMK.ca Recognises 2019 as a Major Turning Point; Looks Forward to Major Developments in 2020 $TUD.ca $SII.ca $GTT.ca $AFF.ca $SEA.ca $SA $PVG.ca $AOT.ca

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:35 AM on Tuesday, January 7th, 2020
  • American Creek has strengthened its position both financially and strategically
  • Treaty Creek will be advancing in a major way
  • Eric Sprott made two separate investments of $1,000,000 making Mr. Sprott the largest external investor in Treaty Creek

American Creek Resources Ltd. (TSXV: AMK) (OTC Pink: ACKRF) (“American Creek”) (“the Corporation”) is pleased to report that 2019 was a pivotal year for the company which is now positioned to take full advantage of the precious metals bull run that many experts believe we are only in the early stages of, even though gold hit a 7 year high of $1,580 this week. Looking back, on the first day of trading in 2019 AMK closed at $0.03 and on the last day of trading in 2019 AMK closed at $0.09 representing a significant annual increase. Management envisions positive developments to continue in 2020 through the geological advancements of its properties including the potential for a world class resource on the Treaty Creek JV project located in the “Golden Triangle” of Northwestern British Columbia.

Darren Blaney, CEO of American Creek stated: “This past year was a significant turning point for the company and will be the catalyst for more exciting developments in 2020. The company has strengthened its position both financially and strategically and is poised to benefit from not only a strengthening gold and silver market but also from the investment community becoming more aware of the company’s projects and potential. The Treaty Creek project will be advancing in a major way and several of our other projects including the Dunwell and Gold Hill will also be the focus of attention this year. We very much look forward to 2020 and wish all of our shareholders the very best this upcoming year!”

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Image of the Goldstorm Zone found along the base of this hill at Treaty Creek.

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Financial Position

The company raised over $3.3 million in 2019 through common and flow-through shares along with the exercise of warrants. Through these events the company was able to strengthen existing alliances and create a number of new highly strategic relationships bringing strength, credibility and future increased exposure to American Creek.

Of note, Canadian billionaire Eric Sprott made two separate investments of $1,000,000 into American Creek as well as an additional $8,400,000 investment in our JV partner Tudor Gold for the development of the Treaty Creek property. This makes Mr. Sprott the largest external investor in Treaty Creek. He recently stated that he is “very excited about the opportunity there as the project has a great shot at having 20 million ounces.”

Geological Position

TREATY CREEK

The 2019 drilling at Treaty Creek was very successful and produced some of the most significant gold intercepts in the exploration industry. The focus has been on the gold enriched Goldstorm Zone which is on trend with, and part of, the same geological system as Seabridge Gold’s neighboring KSM deposits. With approximately one billion tonnes of gold enriched rock identified (potential for a resource calculation in 2020), the Goldstorm has potential to become a world class gold deposit. The 2019 drilling was designed to define a gold deposit with the potential of being open pit mined. The upcoming 2020 drilling is designed to significantly expand the deposit as the system is open to the north, the east and at depth.

The Treaty Creek Project is a joint venture with Tudor Gold owning 3/5th and acting as project 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”.

DUNWELL MINE

A maiden drill program was initiated in 2019 on the 100% owned Dunwell Mine project located in the heart of the Golden Triangle a few kilometers outside of Stewart, BC. This past producing high grade mine (gold, silver, lead, zinc) holds tremendous potential and may have the best logistics found in the Golden Triangle. Assays from the program are currently pending.

GOLD HILL AND OTHER PROJECTS

The Gold Hill property is believed to contain the principle source lode for Canada’s fourth largest placer deposit located downstream (Wild Horse River Gold Rush) which produced over 48 tonnes gold (and is still producing). Work is planned for 2020 which will advance this highly prospective project.

American Creek also holds several other high potential projects in other prospective areas of BC such as the Austruck-Bonanza, Ample Goldmax, Silver Side, and Glitter King.

Marketing

American Creek will be going to great lengths in 2020 to increase the Corporation’s exposure and recognition. Near future events including attending many conferences including the Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (Vancouver), AME Roundup (Vancouver), Red Cloud (Toronto), Raise Capital (Toronto), and the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention (Toronto).

About American Creek

American Creek is a Canadian 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

An exploration program is ongoing on American Creek’s 100% owned Dunwell Mine property located near Stewart. More information can be found here: https://americancreek.com/index.php/projects/dunwell-mine

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