A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, December 13th
‘That’s a Wrap’
By Rod Blake
The first week of December was another “let it ride” time for those happy investors holding index funds for the major North American equity markets. These bourses continue to produce one new all-time high after another and leaving portfolio managers salivating in hopes that everything holds for a few more agonizing weeks so that they can lock in record yearly gains for their clients and of course – collect the accompanying bonuses.
The way I see it – I’ll leave the performance of major American indexes to the cheerleading media and analysts. That story will end when it ends. Rather, I’d like to focus on the performance of the junior resource market as represented by the TSX Venture Exchange. Canada’s junior exchange has come through the first week of December with a year-to-date gain of some 10%. Granted not the 20 – 30% gains of the big three U.S. markets, but still quite historically respectable. To put this year’s gain into better perspective one has to compare it to 2023 that was flat and to the loss of some 41% in 2022. In fact, since peaking at about 1,200 in March of 2021 – the Venture has had two down years, then one base building year, and then the current up year. Technically, this could be forming a technically positive saucer pattern. Relatively, while still below the 622 high established in October, the Venture is doing quite well and could take this level out in short order to set up a very traditionally positive 1st-quarter of 2025. I’ll let the mass media money chase the high-flying U.S. equity indexes. Sometimes the lower hanging fruit is the sweetest.
Ballard Power Systems Inc. ‘BLDP-T’ shares’ rose by $0.12 or 5.24% to close at $2.41 after the alternative energy company announced a multi-year supply agreement with Stadler US to supply fuel cell engines to power trains for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). This is Ballard’s second railroad supply agreement in a week.
Lundin Mining Corp. ‘LUN-T’ turned its focus more on South America after the Vancouver, BC based company announced the sale of its Neves-Corvo operation in Portugal and its Zinkgruvan mine in Sweden to Boliden AB in a cash and contingencies deal valued at some $1.52-billion.
Jaguar Mining Inc. ‘JAG-T’ stock dropped by $0.98 or 26.85% to $2.67 after the Toronto, ON based miner reported a suspension of mining operations at the company’s Turmalina Gold Mine in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil due to a slump in a pit wall.
And the stock price of Imperial Metals Corp. ‘III-T’ fell by $0.11 or 5.21% to close at $2.00 After the Vancouver, BC based miner was finally charged with federal Fisheries Act violations resulting from the tailings dam collapse of the company’s Mount Polley Copper/Gold Mine in central British Columbia some 10-years ago.
Aura Minerals Inc. ‘ORA-T’ shares’ rose to close at a new 13-year high of $18.57 after the Road Town, British Virgin Islands based miner reported the company’s drill hole FPQD-0010 at its Pé Quenta Project in Brazil returned 0.96grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) over 132.00 metres (m).
Other gold/copper companies caught some investor attention as –
Equinox Gold Corp. ‘EQX-T & N.A’ shares’ closed at a new 21/2-year high of $9.07.
While Hudbay Minerals Inc. ‘HBM-T & N’ stock rose to a new 9-month closing high of $13.62.
And Kinross Gold Corp. ‘K-T’ & ‘KGC-N’ shares’ closed at a new 13-year high of $14.95.
Meanwhile, the shareholders of O3 Mining Inc. ‘OIII-V’ got a nice Christmas gift as their investment soared up by $0.59 or 55.66% to close at a new 2-year high of $1.65 on word that giant gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. ‘AEM-T & N’ was buying their positions for $1.67 a share
Parkland Corporation ‘PKI-T’ announced the company’s Burnaby Refinery became the first refinery in Canada to produce low carbon aviation fuel, produced from non-food grade canola and tallow. The first 101-thousand litres of this low carbon fuel has been purchased by Air Canada ‘AC-T’.
Baytex Energy Corp. ‘BTE-T’ stock fell to close at a new 3-year low of $3.56.
This as the key Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs was unchanged in the past week to 589, down by 34-rigs from this time last year. Up north – the number of Canadian active rigs fell by 3-rigs to 191, up by 6-rigs from one year ago. Â
Rho Motion reported that global electric vehicle (EV) sales rose in November to a record 1.8-million units.
Canadian Nickel Co. Inc. ‘CNC-V’ stock fell to close at a new 41/3-year low of $0.90.
The NASDAQ Exchange reached a new all-time closing high of 20,035.
The Canadian Loonie dropped to close at a new 41/2-yrar low of US$0.7024.
Crude oil and natural gas made the greatest commodities gains on the week, while lumber and silver lost the most.
The CRB Commodities Index rose to close at a new 131/2-year high of 352.
On Friday the 13th – except for a small gain on the NASDAQ Exchange – The other North American markets were negative going into the weekend.
For the Week – the DJI lost 1.83% to 43,828, with the S&P 500 off 0.64% to 6,051, while the NASDAQ rose 0.34% to 19,927. Across the line – the TSX lost 1.63% to 25,274 and the TSX Venture fell 0.33% to 608. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX gained 8.31% to 13.81.
With currencies – the Canadian dollar fell 0.57% to US$0.7024, while the U.S. dollar ‘DXY’ gained 0.92% to 106.95. Â
With commodities – gold bullion gained 0.61% to US$2,648, while silver lost 1.32% to US$30.56, and copper gained 0.24% to US$4.15, as lithium fell 0.62% to US$10,494. Crude oil gained 5.84% to US$71.10, and natural gas rose 5.48% to US$3.27, while uranium lost 0.26% to US$77.60. With soft commodities – lumber lost 4.92% to US$541.
Overall – the CRB Commodities Index gained 2.62% to 352.