A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, March 21st, 2025
‘That’s a Wrap’
By Rod Blake
As the markets participants shut down their terminals last Friday, March 14th, they faced the reality that with the major American Exchanges Dow 30, S&P 500, and NASDAQ down to or near correction levels – the 2½-year free ride of buying and holding U.S. equity indexes looked to be over. Meanwhile, in a far corner of the market, those throwbacks who still followed the junior resource markets where feeling almost optimistic in that while the major American indexes seemed to be correcting – the often forgotten TSX Venture Exchange, after being dragged back down to just 594 a week ago, had climbed back up to 621, and was still up some 3.85% on the year.
The way I see it – When, as a broker, I had a good day in the markets, I used to imagine Peanuts’ Snoopy doing his Happy Dance on top of his doghouse. History had taught me that those wins, especially in the junior markets, were hard to come by, so a short-term celebration was very much in order. Snoopy, in the form of the TSX Venture Exchange, and helped by a resurgence of interest in gold, silver and copper equities, is currently doing its Happy Dance because it’s been a long time coming and the junior exchange certainly deserves it. It might not be a long dance as the traditional spring and summer down months are upon us. But for now, the TSX Venture is the happy top dog of the North American equity markets – and that dog is dancing…
One of the truths of the junior mining sector is that outstanding drill results attract more funding. Case in point – Snowline Gold Corp. ‘SGD-V’ share price rose by $0.24 or 2.94% to close at a new all-time high of $8.41, after the Vancouver, BC based developer reported a $20-million ‘Bought Deal’ (funds paid up front) financing to help advance the Vancouver, BC based developer’s showcase Valley Gold Deposit in Yukon.
And Collective Mining Ltd. ‘CNL-T’ stock gained $1.12 or 9.29% over 3-days to reach a new all-time closing high of $13.18 on word that Canadian mining giant Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. ‘AEM-T & N’ had taken up a 14.99% interest in the Toronto, ON based junior explorer and its Guayables Project in Caldas, Colombia.
This as gold bullion closed at a new all-time high of US$3,046 a troy ounce (t oz).
Which no doubt encouraged investors to drive the stock price on Minera Alamos Inc. ‘MAI-V’ up to a new 5-month closing high of $0.0365 –
And sending New Gold Inc. ‘NGD-T & N.A’ shares’ to close at a new 7½-year high of $4.83 –
While the Gold Bugs favourite company – Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. ‘AEM-T & N’ reached a new all-time closing high of $151.33.
Silver rose to a new 5-month closing high of US$33.93 a troy ounce (t oz) and –
Pan American Silver Corp. ‘PAAS-T & N’ closed at a new 3¾-year high of $38.15.
Copper reached a new 10-month closing high of US$5.10 a pound (lb) and –
Taseko Mines Ltd. ‘TKO-T’ & ‘TGB-N.A’ share price rose to a new 4½-month closing high of $3.54.
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD Company Ltd. ‘BYDDY-OTC’ put the rest on the EV industry on notice by introducing its new “Super e-Platform” that will charge EVs to a 400 kilometer driving range in just…. 5-minutes.
Oil patch takeover target Veren Inc. ‘VRN-T & N’ rose to close at a new 7-month high of $9.52.
This as the closely followed Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs rose by 1-rig over the week to 593, down by 31-rigs from this time last year. Across the line – the number of Canadian active rigs fell by 19-rigs during the week to 180, up by 11-rigs from one year ago.
The U.S. Dollar Index or ‘DXY’ dropped to a new 5-month closing low of 103.22.
Being dropped from a major index can be detrimental to a company’s stock price as some funds and institutions are forced to sell those issues. Case in point – Interfor Corp. ‘IFP-T’ shares’ fell to a new 2½-year closing low of $14.70 after the Burnaby, BC based forestry company’s listing was dropped from the TSX Composite Index.
This as the price of tariff sensitive lumber rose to close at a new 2½-year high of US$675 per 1,000 board feet (mbf).
Lithium continued to find a bottom – falling to a new 5-month closing low of $US$10,237 a tonne (t).
Lithium Royalty Corporation ‘LIRC-T’ fell to a new all-time closing low of $4.18.
Late in the week U.S. President Donald Trump signed off on two bills to enhance American mineral and critical mineral production.
Copper and uranium were the commodities with the greatest gains over the week, while natural gas and silver suffered the most.
After a mostly indecisive week of trading – all of the North American equity markets held onto gains going into the weekend.
For the Week – the DJI gained 1.20% to 41,985, while the S&P 500 rose 0.51% to 5,668, and the NASDAQ improved 0.17% to 17,784. Up north – the TSX gained 1.77% to 24,968 while the TSX Venture rose 2.74% to 638.
The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell 11.44% to 19.28.
With currencies – the Canadian dollar gained 0.10% to US$0.6971, and the U.S. Dollar Index ‘DXY’ rose 0.42% to 104.13.
With commodities – gold bullion gained 1.17% to US$3,022, while silver fell 2.13% to US$33.03, as copper gained 4.53% to US$5.08, and lithium lost 1.02% to US$10,237. Crude oil gained 1.55% to US$68.26, while natural gas lost 3.18% to US$3.96, and uranium rose 2.91% to US$65.50. With soft commodities – lumber gained 2.12% to US$675.
Overall – the CRB Commodities Index rose 1.63% to 373.