A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, January 31st, 2025

‘That’s a Wrap’

By Rod Blake

As the brokers, investors, portfolio managers and traders settled in for the last trading week of January, the one scenario that seemed common to all was that the momentum of the North American equity markets was clearly going from the lower left to upper right, with the five indexes all up by some 3 – 5% so far this month.

The way I see it – They say, “The Trend is your Friend” and one should stay with that trend until it is broken. Those following the trends of the big cap markets have enjoyed yearly gains of over 20% for the past two years and if they stay so positioned, are hoping for similar gains again this year. So far – they are off to a good start. Those who chose to invest in the junior resource markets have not fared so well as the barometer of the junior market, the TSX Venture Exchange is only up a very modest 9% in the past two years. But somehow, this cycle feels different, as the Venture is coming off a very positive 4th-quarter of 2024, and has now gained 4% in January, and at 621, is only a few points short of breaking through overhead resistance going back some two years. A breakout here for the Venture and perhaps those long-suffering junior resource investors will be able to enjoy some of the recent yearly gains made by their big cap cousins.

Word of a new cheaper and more energy efficient artificial intelligence (AI) platform coming out of China shook the North American equity and resource markets on Monday morning.

Cameco Corporation ‘CCO-T & ‘CCJ-N’ shares’ fell by $12.08 or 15.04% to $68.26 after the Saskatoon, SK based uranium giant cautioned the company was launching a review of how the recent production curtailment in the JV Inkai Joint Venture in the Republic of Kazakhstan would affect Cameco’s 2025 forward guidance.

This as the price of uranium fell to a new 1¼-year low of US$68.70 a pound (lb).

Lundin Mining Corp. ‘LUN-T’ shares’ fell by $0.32 or 2.66% to a new 4½-month closing low of $11.70.

This as the price of zinc fell to a new 4½-month closing low of US$1.25 a pound (lb).

B2Gold Corp. ‘BTO-T’ & ‘BTG-N.A’ stock dropped to close at a new 1-year low of $3.33.

Energy producer TransAlta Corp. ‘TA-T’ & ‘TAC-N’ shares’ plunged lower by $3.98 or 20.37% to close at a new 2-month low of$15.37.

Going against the grain – the shareholders’ of Discovery Gold Corp. ‘DSV-T’ were pleased to see their investment rise by $0.26 or 26.53% to close at a new 8-month high of $1.24 after the Toronto, ON based explorer announced the company had purchased Newmont Corporation’s ‘NEM-N’ Porcupine Operations mining complex near Timmins, Ontario in a cash and equity deal valued at some US$425-million.

Vizsla Silver Corp. ‘VZLA-V’ shares’ rose by $0.09 or 4.59% to $2.05 after the Vancouver, BC based mineral developer reported an upbeat 2024 year-end summary and 2025 outlook for the company’s flagship Panuco Silver-Gold Property in Sinaloa, Mexico.

This as the price of silver reached a new 1½-month closing high of US$31.68 a troy ounce (t oz).

MAG Silver Corp. ‘MAG-T & N.A’ stock gained $0.92 or 4.36% to close at a new 1½-month high of $22.02 after the Vancouver, BC based miner also released upbeat 2024 production figures and 2025 guidance from the company’s 44% interest in the Juanicipio Mine in Mexico.

Gold bullion rose to close at a new all-time high of US$2,797 a t oz.

Which no doubt encouraged investors to bid the price of Kinross Gold Corp. ‘K-T’ & ‘KGC-N’ to a new 13-year closing high of $16.61.

And Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. ‘AEM-T & N’ stock closed at a new all-time high of $126.73.

Snowline Gold Corp. ‘SGD-V’ shares’ rose by $0.28 or 5.26% to close at a new 3-month high of $5.60  after the Vancouver, BC based mineral developer released more encouraging drill hole assays from the company’s Rogue Project in Yukon, that included Hole V-24-105 returning 1.12 grams of gold per tonne (g/t) over 466.6-metres (m).

Natural gas dropped to a new 2-month closing low US$3.07 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).

The key Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs rose by 6-rigs over the week to 582, down by 37-rigs from this time last year. Up north – the number of Canadian active rigs rose by 13-rigs during the week to 258, up by 26-rigs from one year ago.  

After four attempts over several months – the TSX Venture Exchange finally broke through overhead resistance to close at a new 1½-year high of 628, on encouraging trading volume of 41.745-million shares.

And the TSX Composite Index reached a new all-time closing high of 25,808.

The Canadian Loonie fell to close at a new 9-year low of US$0.6873.

Lumber and silver had the best gains for commodities over the week while natural gas and uranium fell the most.

After a mixed week – all of the North American equity markets turned turtle of Friday and fell ahead of the Trump initiated tariffs weekend.

For the Week – the DJI gained 0.27% to 45,545, with the S&P 500 off 0.98% to 6,041, and the NASDAQ down1.64% to 19,627. Across the line – the TSX gained 0.26% to 25,533 and the TSX Venture rose 0.48% to 624. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX rose 10.64% to 16.43.

With currencies – the Canadian dollar lost 1.35% to US$0.6879, while the U.S. dollar Index ‘DXY’ gained 0.99% to 108.53. 

With commodities – gold bullion rose 0.90% to US$2,797, and silver gained 2.25% to US$31.29, while copper fell 0.47% to US$4.26, and lithium lost 1.16% to US$10,629. Crude oil lost 1.14% to US$73.77, as natural gas fell 23.44% to US$3.07, and uranium fell 3.13% to US$71.20. With soft commodities – lumber rose 4.04% to US$592.

Overall – the CRB Commodities Index fell 0.80% to 370.