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.
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
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.â€
~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.â€
~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.â€
~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!
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 parityâ€
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.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 4:33 PM on Monday, January 13th, 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. 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 starâ€.
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
businessâ€.
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.
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.
Posted by AGORACOM
at 3:34 PM on Friday, January 10th, 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. 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 parityâ€
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.
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.
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.
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 Triangleâ€; the Treaty Creek and Electrum joint venture projects with Tudor Gold/Walter Storm as well as the 100% owned past producing 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
Posted by AGORACOM
at 9:52 AM on Thursday, January 9th, 2020
Labrador Gold Corp. (TSX-V: LAB) (“LabGold†or the “Companyâ€) 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.â€
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
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 parityâ€
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/
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!”
Image of the Goldstorm Zone found along the base of this hill at Treaty Creek.
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.
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