A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, March 7th, 2025

‘That’s a Wrap’

By Rod Blake

The first few days of March once again saw the great migration of some 27-thousand prospectors, miners, investors, brokers, financiers and portfolio managers converge on Toronto, Ontario for the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention. This world’s largest gathering of mineral exploration and mining enthusiasts has roots that go all the way back to 1932 with prospectors seeking funding for their field season in Canada’s north.

The way I see it – I always enjoyed my time at the PDAC and some of the mining holding I still hold today I researched after seeing them at the show. This year’s convention is in one of those unique times where some minerals such as gold bullion, silver and copper are at or near all-time highs while recent high flyers such as lithium and uranium are at or near multi-year lows. Also thrown into the mix this year is the sudden uncertainty of American tariffs on commodity pricing and demand. Certainly, no shortage of topics for discussion on the convention floor and in the many hospitality suites….

I’m sure that Snowline Gold Corp. ‘SGD-V’ had a lot of attention at its booth as the Vancouver, BC junior mineral developer released infill drill hole V-24-119 from the Valley Deposit of the company’s Rogue Project in Yukon that returned 617.6 metres (m) of 1.68 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) from bedrock surface. Snowline’s stock rose by $1.00 or 15.70% to close at an all-time high of $7.37 on the news.

The tariff leery North American equity markets began the trading week hard to the downside – pushing the fragile TSX Venture Exchange down to a new 2-month closing low of 594.

Copper producers Hudbay Minerals Inc. ‘HBM-T & N’ stock fell to close at a new 5½-month low of $10.00 and Capstone Copper Corp. ‘CS-T’ shares closed at a new 1-year closing low of $7.78.

This as the price of copper rose to close at a new 10-month high of US$4.78 a pound (lb).

Nickel rose to a new 4-month closing high of US$7.46 a lb.

Uranium issues continued their slide with –

Uranium heavyweight Cameco Corporation ‘CCO-T’ & ‘CCJ-N’ shares’ closing at a new 5½-month low of $59.65 and –

NexGen Energy Ltd. ‘NXE-T & N’ stock falling to a new 5½-month closing low of $6.94 and –

Denison Mines Corp. ‘DML-T’ & ‘DNN-N.A’ shares’ closing at a new 6-month low of $2.00.

Crude oil fell to close at a new 6-month low of US$66.21 a barrel (bbl).

All of which encouraged investors to drive Cenovus Energy Inc. ‘CVE-T & N’ share price down to a new 3-year closing low of $17.71.

Trican Well Services Ltd. ‘TCW-T’ stock fell to a new 4-month closing low of $4.43.

Going the other way – the price of natural gas rose to close at a new 3-year high of US$4.47 per 1-million British thermal units (mmBtu).

This as the key Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs fell by 1-rig over the week to 592, down by 30-rigs from this time last year. Up north – the number of Canadian active rigs dropped by 14-rigs during the week to 234, up by 9-rigs from one year ago.

Lumber closed at a new 2½-year high of US$660 per 1,000 board feet (mbf).

But – Canfor Corporation ‘CFP-T’ stock dropped to close at a new 5½-month low of $14.41 and –

Doman Building Materials Group Ltd. ‘DBM-T’ shares’ fell to a new 6-month closing low of $6.91.

Investors continued to shed lithium equities –

Forcing the price of Standard Lithium Ltd. ‘SLI-V’ & ‘SLI-N.A’ stock to drop to a new 5½-month closing low of $1.70 and –

Lithium giant Albemarle Corporation ‘ALB-N’ shares’ to close at a new 5-year low of US$69.95.

Sunnova Energy International ‘NOVA-N’ shares’ plunged lower by $1.0685 or 64.247% to close at an all-time low of just US$0.5935 after the American solar energy company issued a warning of its ability to continue due to financial constraints.

Doubleview Gold Corp. ‘DBG-V’ shares’ rose to a new 3½-year closing high of $0.71 after the Vancouver, BC based explorer announced a collaboration with the State of Qatar to develop the company’s Polymetallic HAT Porphyry Deposit in northwestern British Columbia.

Orla Mining Inc. ‘OLA-T’ & ‘ORLA-N’ stock rose to close at a new all-time high of $10.80 after the Vancouver, BC based miner acquired Newmont Corporation’s ‘NEM-N’ Musselwhite Gold Mine in Northwestern Ontario for a cash and gold-price consideration of some US$840-million.

Natural gas and silver had the greatest upward pulled with commodities over the week, while crude oil and uranium were the greatest drag.

The S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ Exchange fell to respective new 4-month closing lows of 5,739 and 18,069.

The U.S. Dollar Index or ‘DXY’ fell to close at a new 4-month low of 103.78.

The CBOE Volatility Index ‘VIX’ Index rose to a new 2½-month closing high of 24.87.

After a mostly negative week of trading – all of the North American equity markets staged a late Friday rally going into the weekend.

For the Week – the DJI lost 2.37% to 42,802, while the S&P 500 fell 3.11% to 5,770, and the NASDAQ lost 3.45% to 18,196. In Canada – the TSX lost 2.50% to 24,759 and the TSX Venture fell 0.16% to 614.

The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX gained 19.05% to 23.37.

With currencies – the Canadian dollar gained 0.65% to US$0.6958, while the U.S. Dollar Index ‘DXY’ lost 3.52% to 103.78. 

With commodities – gold bullion gained 1.89% to US$2,910, as silver rose 4.37% to US$32.50, while copper gained 3.31% to US$4.68, and lithium rose 0.50% to US$10,359. Crude oil lost 4.20% to US$67.07, while natural gas rose 14.36% to US$4.38, and uranium fell 1.37% to US$64.65. With soft commodities – lumber gained 1.26% to US$643.

Overall – the CRB Commodities Index fell 1.62% to 365.