A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, July 1st
‘That’s a Wrap’
By Rod Blake
The trading week began with the North American brokers, traders, investors, and portfolio managers anticipating a quiet week ahead of the July 1st Canada Day and July 4th U.S. Independence Day long weekends as the markets also wound down a stressful second quarter.
Britain, the United States, Japan and Canada tightened their economic sanctions against Russia by jointly announcing they will ban any imports of newly mined or refined Russian gold. It is estimated that last year Russia exported some $15.45-billion in gold.
And nickel prices firmed after the United Kingdom imposed sanctions on Russia’s Norilsk Nickel largest shareholder  – Vladimir Potanin.
The share price of SRR Mining Inc. ‘SSRM-TSX’ plunged by $4.91 or 20.25% to C$19.34 after the Canadian based company reported a minor cyanide leak at it Copler Gold Mine in Turkey.
The market usually loves a good rumour and Copper Mountain Mining ‘CMMC-TSX’ provided one as it shares’ surged up by $0.15 or 7.65% to $2.11 after Australian media speculated that the Canadian based miner was contemplating selling its key Eva Copper Project in Queensland.
OPEC members met and agreed to an increase in its monthly production by about 200,000 bbls/day starting in August to 648,000 bbls/day.
This comes when Cushing, Oklahoma crude oil stocks are reported down almost 50% from this time last year to a 6-year low of 21.26-million barrels.
Whitecap Resources Inc. ‘WCP-TSX’ announced the purchase of XTO Energy Canada and its 32,000 boe/d of Duvernay and Montney oil production in Northwest Alberta in an all-cash deal of some $1.9-billion.
Oh Canada – Canadians took Friday off to commemorate the 155th-aniversary of the world’s fourth longest running continuous democracy.
The key Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs fell by 3 rigs to 750, an increase of 275 over the year. Across the line – the number of active Canadian rigs rose by 12 to 166 for an increase of 30 in the past year.
For the Week – The DJI lost 1.28% to 31,097 as the S&P 500 fell by 2.22% to 3,825 and the NASDAQ dropped by 4.14% to 11,128. On the Canadian side – the TSX fell by 1.05% to 18,861 and the TSX Venture lost 4.64% to 617.
Gold bullion was down by 1.64% to US$1,802, as silver fell by 1.67% to US$19.67 and copper lost 3.74% to US$3.60. Elsewhere – crude oil fell by 0.75% to US$108.43 while natural gas lost 7.88% to US$5.73. The Canadian dollar rose by 0.39% to US$0.7762. Overall – the CRB Commodities Index was lower by 2.81% to 311.
And Finally – The Canadian Taxpayers Federation recently reported that all levels of government currently collect about $22-billion-per-year in fuel taxes. Contrast this to the Federal government’s vow to make 100% Canada’s new vehicles to be all-electric by 2035. One has to wonder what will replace this lucrative gasoline tax post 2035?