A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, January 24th, 2025

‘That’s a Wrap’

By Rod Blake

Monday, January 20th had Canadian market participants going it alone as the American Exchanges were closed for their Martin Luther King Day. When the Americans came back to the markets on Tuesday – most were encouraged in that the big cap market bull market seemed to be back on track with the major North American exchanges once again only a few percentage points below their previous all-time highs set just a month ago.

The way I see it – While the mass media’s attention is once again focused on the major North American exchanges – it should also be noted that the junior TSX Venture Exchange seems poised to take a fifth run at the 1½-year high of 622 first established last summer. The first quarter of the year tends to be kind to resources and this year – in spite of the U.S. dollar ‘DXY’ at near 2-year highs – many commodities such as gold, silver, copper, lumber, lithium, nickel, crude oil and natural gas are at or near multi-month highs as well. If these key commodities and their related equities can do well against a strong U.S. dollar – they could trend towards new highs should the U.S. greenback fall back to its norm.

I took in the annual Vancouver Resource Investment Conference and ran into many former colleagues and friends. The conference seemed well attended and the mood on the floor was very upbeat. Perhaps this was a precursor of a good year ahead for resource issues and investors.

I missed this last Friday but it’s worth reporting now – The shareholders of Amarc Resources Ltd. ‘AHR-V’ were ecstatic to see their investment surge up by $0.455 or 171.70% to a 14-year closing high of $0.72 after the Vancouver, BC based explorer reported the discovery of a new copper-gold-silver (Cu-Au-Ag) AuRORA porphyry deposit found with the initial drill holes at the company’s JOY Property in north-central British Columbia’s Toodoggone-Kemess region.

Cassiar Gold Corp. ‘GLDC-V’ shares’ rose by $0.02 or 11.11% to $0.20 after the Calgary, AB based explorer reported its drill hole 24NC-008 from the company’s Newcoast Prospect at the Cassiar Gold Project in northern British Columbia returned an impressive 141.4 metres (m) of 0.89 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au).

This as gold bullion rose to close at a new 2½-month high of US$2,772 a troy ounce (t oz).

Which no doubt helped IAMGOLD Corp. ‘IMG-T’ & ‘IAG-N’ to rise to a new 7¹/₃ -year closing high of $8.68  and –

Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. ‘AEM-T & N’ to close at a new all-time high of $128.97.

Going the other way – the closing price of B2Gold Corp. ‘BTO-T’ & ‘BTG-N.A’ fell to an 11-month low of $3.35.

Utility issues also continued to attract investor attention with –

TC Energy Corp. ‘TRP-T & N’ reaching a new 2-month closing high of $69.18 and –

TransAlta Corporation ‘TA-T’ & ‘TAC-N’ closing at a new 13-year high of $20.89.

NFI Group Inc. ‘NFI-T’ announced the Winnipeg, MB based bus and coach manufacturer had been awarded a 5-year contract to supply 80 45-foot D45 CRT fuel efficient diesel commuter coaches to Ontario’s Metrolinx to be put into service in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas.

Meanwhile – Electric vehicle (EV) frontrunner Tesla Inc. ‘TSLA-Q’ announced the price of its Canadian sedans will increase in February by $4,000 – $9,000 per unit depending on the model.

The Alberta government rescinded its 2022 moratorium on new coal exploration and development on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains in an effort to “reduce regulatory confusion” around coal mining in that province.

Uranium stocks caught a bid on word of increased electrical demand with –

Cameco Corporation ‘CCO-T & ‘CCJ-N’ stock rising to close at a new 1-month high of $81.72.

NexGen Energy Ltd. ‘NXE-T & N’ stock closing at a new 1-month high of $10.76.

Paladin Energy Ltd. ‘PDN-T’ shares’ reaching a new 2-month closing high of $8.40.

Birchcliff Energy Ltd. ‘BIR-T’ stock rose by $0.26 or 4.47% to $6.08 after the Calgary, AB based petroleum producer decided to reduce its quarterly dividend by 70% to $0.12 and to put the saved revenue to work in improving the company’s balance sheet.

The influential Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs fell by 4-rigs over the week to 576, down by 45-rigs from this time last year. Across the line – the number of Canadian active rigs rose by 16-rigs during the week to 245, up by 15-rigs from one year ago.  

Petroleum service companies continued to draw investor attention with the share price of Baker Hughes Co. ‘BKR-N’ closing at a new 8-year high of US$47.04.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. ‘FCX-N’ shares fell by $0.59 or $1.51 to US$38.50 after the giant copper producer failed to impress the street with the company’s 2025 financial and production guidance.

The S&P 500 Index rose to close at a new all-time high of 6,119.

Zinc fell to close at a new 4-month low of US$1.285 a pound (lb).

Gold bullion and natural gas were the best performing commodities over the week while crude oil and lumber lagged the most.

At the end of a mixed week – all of the North American equity markets were up going into the weekend.

For the Week – the DJI gained 2.15% to 44,424, with the S&P 500 up 1.73% to 6,101, and the NASDAQ ahead 1.65% to 19,954. In Canada – the TSX gained 1.60% to 25,468 and the TSX Venture rose 0.81% to 621. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell 7.01% to 14.85.

With currencies – the Canadian dollar rose 0.97% to US$0.6973, while the U.S. dollar Index ‘DXY’ lost 1.94% to 107.47. 

With commodities – gold bullion rose 2.59% to US$2,772, and silver gained 0.89% to US$30.60, while copper fell 0.93% to US$4.28, and lithium gained 1.45% to US$10,754. Crude oil lost 4.35% to US$74.62, while natural gas gained 2.30% to US$4.01, and uranium fell 0.41% to US$73.50. With soft commodities – lumber lost 4.21% to US$569.

Overall – the CRB Commodities Index fell 0.53% to 373.