A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, February 14th, 2025

‘That’s a Wrap’

By Rod Blake

When the market enthusiasts reviewed last week’s statistics – one item stood out amongst all of the rest. The usually lagging TSX Venture Exchange was the best performing North American market to date in 2025. The Venture at last Friday’s close of 639 is up some 6.93% this year. Well ahead of the Dow 30’s 4.13% gain, the TSX Composite’s 2.89% gain, the S&P 500’s 2.45% gain and the NASDAQ’s 1.10% gain.

The way I see it – It is not very often that the TSX venture outperforms its larger cousins. And when it does it is usually in the first few months of the New Year as tax loss sellers get back into the junior market and the price of gold bullion is usually buoyant. The real test of the Venture’s newfound investor enthusiasm will come as we approach April, when investors rebalance and the traditional 1st-quarter rally in gold comes to an end. Perhaps this year gold will hold onto most of its gains and the Venture will continue to lead. If this happens, we could be setting up for an exciting time for the Venture that we haven’t seen in many years. Stay tuned…

With that – gold bullion rose to close at a new all-time high of US$2,928 a troy ounce (t oz).

Which no doubt helped the closing price of Equinox Gold Corp. ‘EQX-T & N.A’ to close at a new 3-year new high of $9.98.

Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. ‘WPM-T & N’ stock rose to a new all-time closing high of $98.24.

Barrick Gold Corp. ‘ABX-T’ & ‘GOLD-N’ shares’ gained $1.55 or 6.35% to a new 3-month closing high of $25.97 after the gold mining giant pleased the street with its year end 2024 results and better yet – an optimistic 2025 guidance.

Going the other way – the stock price of gold market leader Kinross Gold Corp. ‘K-T’ & ‘KGC-N’ fell by $1.18 or 6.79% to $16.21 after the Toronto, ON based miner disappointed with its 4th-quarter and year-end 2024 figures and 2025 guidance.

Calibre Mining Corp. ‘CXB-T’ issued more encouraging drill hole results from the Vancouver, BC based miner’s Valentine Gold Mine in Newfoundland & Labrador – including Hole FZ-24-062 returning 3.08 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) over 48.2-metres (m) estimated true width (etw).

Silver issues also caught a bid with the share price of Pan American Silver Corp. ‘PAAS-T & N’ closing at a new 3-year high of $36.03.

Hecla Mining Company ‘HL-N’ shares’ rose to close at a new 3-month high of US$6.29 after the American miner announced the company had achieved near all-time high silver reserves of 240-million ounces.

This as the price of silver hit a new 3-month closing high of US$32.40 a troy ounce (t oz).

Copper rose to a new 1¾-year closing high of US$4.77 a pound (lb).

Iron ore reached a new 4-month closing high of US$107.26 a tonne (t).

Canadian Nickel Company Inc. ‘CNC-V’ stock fell to close at a new 5-year low of $0.79.

Birchcliff Energy Ltd. ‘BIR-T’ stock rose by $0.19 or 3.33% to $5.90 after the Calgary, AB based petroleum producer issued upbeat 4th-quarter and full year 2024 operating results and reserves.

Natural gas closed at a new 1-month high of US$3.73 per million British thermal units (MMBtu).

This as the influential Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs rose by 2-rigs over the week to 588, down by 33-rigs from this time last year. Up north – the number of Canadian active rigs fell by 4-rigs during the week to 245, up by 11-rigs from one year ago.

Uranium fell to a new 17-month low of US$67.35 a pound (lb).

Leaving the market to sell the share price of uranium giant Cameco Corporation ‘CCO-T’ & ‘CCJ-N’ down to a new 4½-month closing low of $66.88.

Albemarle Corporation ‘ALB-N’ shares’ fell to a new 6-month closing low of US$75.14 after the giant American lithium producer filed to impress investors with the company’s 4th-quarter and full year 2024 results.

Lithium Royalty Corp. ‘LIRC-T’ stock dropped to a close at a new all-time low of $4.76.

Lumber rose to a new 3-month closing high of US$610 per 1,000 board feet (mbf).

Doman Building Materials Group Ltd. ‘DBM-T’ shares’ fell to close at a new 4½-month low of $7.64.

The TSX Venture Exchange rose to close at a new 2½-year high of 648.

The Canadian Loonie reached a new 2-month closing high of US$0.7058 while the US Dollar Index ‘DXY’ fell to a new 2-month closing low of 106.77.

Enjoy that cheap cup of morning brew – as the price of Coffee rose to close at a new all-time high of $4.34 a pound (lb) – nearly double its price in the past 3-months.

The CRB Commodities Index closed at a new 16½-year high of 379.

Natural gas and lumber pushed commodities higher over the week, while uranium and lithium were off the most.

Following a mixed week of trading – all of the American Indexes were in the black going into the weekend.

For the Week – the DJI gained 0.55% to 44,546 with the S&P 500 up 1.48% to 6,115, and the NASDAQ higher by 2.58% to 20,027. Across the line – the TSX gained 0.16% to 25,483 and the TSX Venture also rose 0.16% to 640. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX dropped 1.78% to 14.78.

With currencies – the Canadian dollar gained 0.84% to US$0.7058, while the U.S. dollar Index ‘DXY’ fell 1.20% to 106.77. 

With commodities – gold bullion rose 0.73% to US$2,884, as silver gained 0.97% to US$32.16, and copper climbed 1.07% to US$4.63, while lithium lost 0.75% to US$10,505. Crude oil lost 0.55% to US$70.65, while natural gas gained 12.69% to US$3.73, and uranium fell 3.50% to US$67.50. With soft commodities – lumber gained 3.04% to US$610.

Overall – the CRB Commodities Index rose 2.16% to 379.