Gold and Oother PM's Start With a Bang then Fizzle Out-March 10, 2010

Gold prices started off slightly higher today on improving investor risk appetite. Gold for April delivery was rising to $1,122.40 at the Comex. Prices traded has high as $1,128.30 and as low as $1,120.50. The U.S dollar index was adding 0.03% to $80.62. Gold's spot price was rising 80 cents according to Kitco's gold index. Many investors were still waiting for a resolution on Greek sovereign debt, but a strengthening euro was helping gold prices. President Obama met with Greece’s Prime Minister Papandreou; however, Obama showed little support for Greece and gave no indications of financial aid.


The European Commission is working on a proposal for a monetary fund to assist struggling European countries, but Greece and Portugal have yet to officially ask for help. Hampering gold's morning rise was the news that China's imports rose by 44.7% last month, crimping its trade surplus. If China raises rates to put the brakes on its economy, many analysts believe that would impact gold prices negatively. Consumer demand for gold in China grew 7% from 2008 to 2009, totaling 462 tons. Initial buying interest has boosted gold somewhat as a result of the European Union debt news and currency fluctuations.

However, gold futures finished lower. According to MarketWatch, traders took a cautious approach ahead of more economic reports from China. Most precious metals sold off early in the session and failed recover during this session. No single reason was attributed to the move lower in precious metals, although a recovery in the dollar index did convince many to sell.

Gold futures are at lows not seen since February 25. Also, gold futures closed just below their simple 50-day moving average. April gold closed 1.3% lower by $14.10 to $1108.20, May silver closed 1.8% lower losing .028 to finish at $17.31 and May copper shed 4.35 cents to $3.368. Actively Traded Lagging Global & Sector ETF Plays: Silver- SLV -1.75%, Gold miners- GDX -1.50%, Gold- GLD -1.25%, Base metals- DBB -0.75% (COMDX).

Gold Mining Report-March 10, 2010

International Tower Hill Mines and Minatura Gold have new mining news today. We also report on Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining Corporation, Kinross Gold Corporation and GoldCorp stocks.  International Tower Hill Mines announced the results of the updated independently prepared resource estimate for the Livengood gold project, located in Alaska. The results of these estimates are anticipated to have a positive impact on the strip ratio and mining economics. The Money Knob deposit is still open in several directions and depths. They estimated yields by using different gold cut-off grades. Using a 0.5 g/t gold cut-off grade, the new estimate yielded an Indicated Resource of 9.3M ounces of gold and an Inferred Resource of 3M ounces of gold. Using a 0.7 g/t gold cut-off, which THM envisions as a possible milling cut-off grade, the Indicated Resource is 5.8M ounces of gold and the Inferred Resource is 1.8M ounces of gold. When they used a 0.3 g/t gold cut-off grade, the average grade for the heap leach as described in the THM’s November 30, 2009 heap leach PEA study, the Indicated Resource is 13.5M ounces of gold, and the Inferred Resource is 5M ounces of gold.

Minatura Gold announced that it has completed drilling of the first of a 50-hole drilling program in certain gold mining concessions located in Colombia’s Department of Antioquia on 1,775 acres, including the Zaragosa Project located on Coco Hondo and Angostura properties. Minatura believes that these areas contain an estimated 50 million cubic meters of material. The first hole of the anticipated 50-hole drilling program was drilled and completed on February 26, 2010. To complete the drilling program, Minatura will be using two churn drills, SonicSampDrill drilling units with crawlers, and is under contract with SonicSampDrill to provide four additional drill masters to operate the units. These areas in the Zaragoza Project were previously dredged by the Plato Gold Dredging Company over 50 years ago. Plato recovered an estimated 700,000 ounces of gold at that time. It is believed that the inefficient dredges used by Plato led to a substantial amount of unrecovered gold deposits. Minatura intends to install and operate a bulk sampling plant to test the tailings above the water table. The Company expects the new plant to be operational by the end of the second calendar quarter in 2010.

Mining stocks were mixed. Barrick Gold opened at $39.48 but ended the day down 0.79 to close at 38.75. Currently, Barrick is down 0.08 in the after-market session. Barrick Gold Corporation primarily engages in the exploration, development, production, and sale of gold worldwide.

Newmont Mining Corporation opened at $51.12 and was rose eagerly to $51.58, but by the end of the session Newmont lost its gains and closed at 50.27. Although right now it is up 0.01 in after-hours trading. Newmont together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and production of gold and copper properties. Its assets or operations are located in the United States, Australia, Peru, Indonesia, Ghana, Canada, New Zealand, and Mexico. By end of 2009, Newmont had proven and probable gold reserves of approximately 91.8 M ounces and a total land position of approximately 33,400 square miles.

Another large-cap miner, Kinross Gold Corporation opened at $18.57 and peaked at $18.76 around 10:00am, then continued to slide, losing 0.50 and closing at 18.07. Kinross through its subsidiaries engages in the gold mining and mining related activities such as the exploration for and acquisition of gold-bearing properties, the extraction and processing of gold-containing ores, and reclamation of gold mining properties. Its gold production and exploration activities are carried out principally in the United States, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, and the Russian Federation. In Q4 2008, its proven and probable mineral reserves were 45.6 M ounces of gold.

Goldcorp opened trading at $40.52, peaked around 11:00am at $40.88 then gave back 0.99 to close at 39.45. Currently it is trading up 0.04 in the after-market session. Goldcorp Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of precious metal properties in Canada, the United States, Mexico, and central and South America.

Gold Price Report - March 8, 2010

Early this morning gold dropped a quick ~5 points to lows at $1130.00.  By 10:00 am SMH reported gold as a sector laggard as it was down 0.4%. At midday, gold dropped to new session lows as the dollar index moved into positive territory. Gold closed down at $1123.70. In summary, gold sold off as the dollar pared its early losses this morning, but it moved modestly higher off session lows and traded relatively flat for the remainder of the session, netting marked losses. April gold closed 1.0% lower at $1124.00 per ounce. Gold futures are still above their 50 moving average near the $1109.50 level.

Gold Mining Report- March 8, 2010

Three gold mining companies were in the news today.  There was the discovery of a possible new high yield gold target, a huge sale of mining company stock to Soros Fund Management, and positive initial test results on a new gold extraction and processing method that could dratically reduce the volume of material used to recover the shiny stuff.

Paramount Gold and Silver announced a second bulk mineable target has been discovered at San Miguel project in new San Francisco, Mexico area.  The new target generated some unusually high assay results. Paramount owns a 100% interest in the 466,000 acre San Miguel Project in the Palmarejo District of northwest Mexico, making it the largest claim holder in the area.


NovaGold Company announced that it is proposing to issue more than 13.6 Million (M) common shares of the company at $5.50 per common share for gross proceeds of $75M to Quantum Partners, a private investment fund managed by Soros Fund Management. This capital is in addition to the $100M financing announced by the company on March 4th of this year. The gross proceeds to be raised under the two financings total US$175 million.

Lastly, International Tower Hill Mines announced key initial metallurgical test results for mill processing of the major types of mineralization at the Money Knob deposit at the Livengood Gold Project in Alaska. The initial gravity and flotation gold recovery test results were highly encouraging for the use of a pre-concentration gold recovery system for the Money Knob mineralization. Potentially, both the operating and capital costs for a milling operation could be reduced by using this treatment for gold extraction. The initial extraction method results indicated that it could reduce by 80% the material volume used to recover gold. The company is currently engaged in further testing and optimization of both the concentration process and the extraction of gold from the concentrates. 

That is your day in gold mining.  Stay tuned for the Gold Mining Report as I hope to make it a regular feature of this blog.

24K Chuk Kam's Daily Gold Mining Report

     Today, March 5, 2010, three gold mining companies, Nova Gold, Appollo Gold, and Yamana Gold made headlines.
     Nova Gold Resources announced that landowners have approved certain amendments to the lease for subsurface and surface rights in connection with the Donlin Creek property; the existing lease covers the subsurface rights for the entire Donlin Creek mineral reserves and resources.
     Apollo Gold announces that its first drill assay results intercepted high grade gold mineralization at the Pike River Project. The assay shows high grade gold mineralization.
     Yamana Gold has not had the same good fortune lately. The company’s costs were higher than expected at the company's Jacobina mine in Brazil and El Penon in Chile during the fourth quarter, which pumped up cash costs of gold on a per ounce basis. Yamana claims it has performed below expectations as a result of damage to its Minera Florida mine in Chile due to ongoing power outages caused by recent earthquakes.

This article is intended to be a regular feature on 24K Chu Kam as time allows.

Article from TheStreet.com : Gold Prices Stall

Alix Steel

March 4, 2010

Gold prices were slipping today due to profit talking by PM investors, and a rise in the U.S. dollar index. The U.S. dollar rallied off of Euro weakness after the European Central Bank announced its decision to keep key interest rates low.

Currently gold's future is mixed, and one factor is the next employment report. A positive report could prompt the Fed to raise interest rates, which would likely impact gold prices negatively. Gold prices were also negatively influenced by Greek debt fears, new uncertainties created volatility for the Euro and gold.

Mining stocks, were also such as Barrick Gold, Newmont Mining, Kinross Gold and Goldcorp were also down. Gold ETF’s such as SPDR Gold Shares were also lower.  To read the article in its entirety go here.

 

Gold Futures Higher on Stronger Euro, Weaker Dollar

An article on Forbes.com reported that gold futures moved higher this morning as the Euro strengthened against the US dollar, and an employment report showed improvement in the U.S. jobs picture. Gold went as high as $1,144.40 per ounce early in the session, to its highest levels since Jan. 11. 2010. Greece's plans to rein in its debt gave strength to the Euro and thus weakened the US Dollar.   Furthermore, the ADP jobs report stated the U.S. private-sector employers cut 40,000 less jobs in February than in January. Gold mining companies also traded higher during this mornings advance. Barrick Gold, AngloGold Ashanti, and Newmont Mining all posted modest gains.  To read the entire article:
Gold Rallies As Dollar Dallies
Greenback falls on Greek belt-tightening, provides boost to metal prices, stocks.
By MarketNewsVideo.com
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/03/gold-barrick-anglogold-markets-equities-silver-marketnewsvideo.html?partner=email