A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, January 10th, 2025

‘That’s a Wrap’

By Rod Blake

As the brokers, investors, traders and portfolio managers settled in for the first full week of 2025, there was a collective ‘fingers crossed’ mentality that the much-needed New Year’s rally for the very over extended North American equity markets was still to come. Meanwhile, off by themselves, a much smaller group that followed junior issues, were in awe that for the first time in recent memory, the lowly TSX Venture Exchange had broken through overhead resistance and was beginning the year at a new 1½-year high of 623.

The way I see it – I’ve said many a time that investing is much like fishing in that one has to have their lines in the water when the big school of fish come through. Now could be the time that junior investors should have their lines in the water and baiting them with their favorites as it looks like a big school of junior issues is about to swim by. No one knows how big this school is or far to the upside it could, but the first quarter tends to be kind to the Venture.  A breakthrough to the next near-term resistance level of about 640 looks to be within reach and would set the hook for a longer run at the 1,000 level of three years ago. The big money is made when a sector breaks out, not after an extended run. While the masses are focused on the big caps hopefully extending their run, a shrewd few are betting that perhaps the Venture is indicating it’s primed for a big run of its own.

Copper closed at a new 2-month high of US$4.28 a pound (lb).

Yet the price of Kodiak Copper Corporation ‘KDK-V’ shares’ fell to close at a new 4½-year low of $0.34.

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. ‘IVN-T’ stock lost $0.61 or 3.48% to $16.92 after the African copper miner disappointed the street with the company’s 2025 production guidance.

Arizona Sonoran Copper Co. Inc. ‘ASCU-T’ shares’ gained $0.21 or 14.69% to $1.64 on word that Canadian mining giant Hudbay Minerals Inc. ‘HBM-T & N’ was investing $19.91-million via private placement to acquire a 9.99% interest in ASCU and its prized Cactus Copper Project in Arizona.

Taseko Mines Ltd. ‘TKO-T’ & ‘TGB-N.A’ stock fell by $0.23 or 7.06% to $3.03 after the Vancouver, BC based miner failed to impress investors with 4th-quarter production from the company’s flagship Gibraltar Copper/Molybdenum Mine in central British Columbia.

Meanwhile – the price of zinc sank to a new 3½-month closing low of US$1.29 a pound.

Sherritt International Corporation ‘S-T’ stock fell to close at a new 5-year low of $0.155.

And Canada Nickel Company Inc. ‘CNC-V’ shares’ closed at a new 4½-year low of $0.86.

Iron Ore fell to a new 3½-month closing low of US$97.84 a tonne (t).

Crude oil rose to a new 3-month closing high of US$76.67 a barrel (bbl).

While – natural gas rose to close at a new 2-year high of US$3.99 per million British thermal units (MMBtu).

Petroleum related issues caught a bid with –

Veren Incorporated ‘VRN-T & N’ shares’ reached a new 2½-year closing high of $7.90.

Trican Well Service Ltd. ‘TCW-T’ shares’ rose to close at a new 8-year high of $5.37.

This as the closely followed Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs fell by 5-rigs during the week to 584, down by 35-rigs from this time last year. Across the line – the number of Canadian active rigs swelled by 122-rigs during the week to 216, up by 3-rigs from one year ago.  

Lithium dropped to close at a new 2-month low of US$10,196 a tonne (t).

Gold and silver stocks received some positive investor interest when –

Kinross Gold Corp. ‘K-T’ &’ KGC-N’ shares’ rose to close at a new 13-year high of $15.35.

Vizsla Silver Corp. ‘VZLA-T’ stock rose by $0.23 or 13.45% to $1.94 after the Vancouver, BC based mineral developer reported an estimated 43% increase in measured and indicated mineral resources at the company’s flagship Panuco Silver-Gold Project in Sinaloa, Mexico.

K92 Mining Inc. ‘KNT-T’ shares’ rose by $1.38 or 15.96% to $10.03 after the Vancouver, BC based gold miner reported record 4th-quarter production of 53,402 gold equivalent (AuEq) ounces (oz) from the company’s prized Kainantu Gold Mine in Papua New Guinea.

New Gold Inc. ‘NGD-T N.A’ stock fell by $0.15 or 3.71% to $3.89 after the Toronto. ON miner’s Rainy River Gold-Silver Mine in Ontario once again underperformed with its 4th-quarter production.

Pipeline issues drew investor interest with Enbridge Inc. ‘ENB-T & N’ stock rising to close at a new 10-year high of $63.30.

Natural gas and copper lead commodities higher over the week while uranium was the only drag.

The US Dollar Index ‘DXY-N’ closed at a new 2-year high of 109.64.

After a very choppy week – all of the North American markets retreated into the weekend.

For the Week – the DJI lost 1.86% to 41,938, with the S&P 500 off 1.94% to 5,827, and the NASDAQ down 2.34% to 19,162. Up north – the TSX lost 1.22% to 24,768 and the TSX Venture fell 2.41% to 608. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX gained 21.64% to 19.62

With currencies – the Canadian dollar rose 0.14% to US$0.6931, while the U.S. dollar Index ‘DXY’ gained 0.66% to 109.64.   

With commodities – gold bullion rose 2.05% to US$2,692, as silver gained 2.67% to US$30.40, while copper rose 5.45% to US$4.26, and lithium gained 1.02% to US$10,283. Crude oil gained 3.55% to US$76.67, and natural gas rose 20.18% to US$3.99, while uranium fell 1.88% to US$73.20. With soft commodities – lumber rose 2.22% to US$553.

Overall – the CRB Commodities Index rose 0.56% to 362.