A Weekly Recap of All Things Resources to Friday, October 6th
 ‘That’s a Wrap’
By Rod Blake
As the brokers, investors, and portfolio managers reviewed last Friday’s weekly and 3rd-quarter market stats it was clear to see that – except for a few artificial intelligence and uranium & crude oil issues – the markets had mostly given back the years gains to date with just 3-months to go.
The way I see it – “It’s a whole new game”. That phrase is commonly used in sports after one side gives up most or all of its lead, usually late in the match, and the event then continues with a much shorter time frame. To me that’s where the markets are today with most portfolios flat at best going into the 4th-quarter. Traditionally, October can also be a challenging month and then the markets tend to rally going into year-end. In sum – the next few weeks may not be good for the faint of heart.
During the week – Nevada King Gold Corp. ‘NKG-V’ shares’ surged up by $0.12 or 40.00% to $0.42 after the junior explorer reported an amazing reverse circulation drill hole assay of 108.3-metres of 11.64 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) from the Vancouver, BC based company’s past producing Atlanta Gold Mine Project northwest of Las Vegas, NV.
The closing share price of Minera Alamos Inc. ‘MAI-V’ rose by $0.02 or 7.41% to $0.29 after the Toronto, ON based junior miner released a positive independent Mineral Resource Estimate for the company’s Santana gold project in Sonora, Mexico.
Barrick Gold Corp. ‘ABX-T’ & ‘GOLD-N’ announced the giant Toronto, ON based miner would invest about US$2-billion to quadruple the copper production from the company’s Lumwana mine in Zambia to 240,000 tonnes of copper per year.
This as Copper fell to a new 41/2-month low of US$3.56 a pound.
The price of New Gold Inc. ‘NGD-T & N.A’ shares’ rose by $0.10 or 7.69% to $1.40 after the struggling Toronto, ON based miner reported 3rd-quarter production figures that finally beat the street’s expectations.
Snowline Gold Corp. ‘SGD-V’ continued to release what this scribe calls exceptional near surface diamond drill hole intercepts from the Vancouver, BC based exploration company’s Rogue Project in eastern Yukon. This time hole V-23-049 returned 539.4 metres averaging 1.20 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au).
The price of Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. ‘FVI-T’ & ‘FSM-N’ stock rose by $0.15 or 4.13% to $3.78 after the Vancouver, BC based junior miner reported record 3rd-quarter gold and gold equivalent production from the company’s five mines in West Africa and Latin American.
B2Gold Corporation ‘BTO-T’ & ‘BTG-N.A’ fell to a new 31/2-year closing low of $3.82 a share.
This as Gold bullion and Silver fell to respective new 7-month lows of US$1,821 and US$20.98 a troy ounce.
And the U.S dollar Index ‘DXY’ rose to a new 10-month high of 107.03.
All of which helped to pull the TSX Venture to a new 3-year low of 528.
Uranium rose to a new 123/4-year high of US$72.75 a pound.
The TSX Composite fell to a new 11-month low of 19,021.
The Dow Jones Industrials, S&P 500 and NASDAQ fell to a new respective 3-month closing lows of 33,002, 4,229 & 13,059.
The CBOE Volatility (fear) Index ‘VIX’ rose to a new 4-month high of 19.90.
When a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) suddenly leaves a public company, shareholders tend to get nervous. When two CFOs leave within 6-months, they tend to sell their positions. Such was the case as the share price of Enerflex Ltd. ‘EFR-T’ & ‘EFXT-N’ plunged lower by $2.14 or 27.44% to close at $5.66 after the Calgary, AB based energy infrastructure company announced the second resignation of a CFO since March.
Suncor Energy ‘SU-T & N’ announced the giant Calgary, AB based integrated petroleum company was buying TotalEnergies EP Canadian operations including Total’s 31.23% interest in the Fort Hills Oilsands Project for $1.448-billion, giving Suncor 100% ownership of Fort Hills.
The influential Baker Hughes Petroleum Rig Count reported the number of active American drilling rigs fell by 4-rigs over the past week to 619, down by 143 from this time last year. In Canada – the number of active rigs dropped by 11-rigs to 180, down by 11 from a year ago.
This as Natural Gas surged up to a new 9-month high of US$3.33 per million British Thermal Units (mmBtu).
Lithium Americas Corp. ‘LAC-T & N’ announced the Vancouver, BC based company had successfully split equally into Lithium Americas Argentina ‘LAAC-T & N’ to focus on Cauchari-Olaroz and other operations in Argentina and Lithium Americas Corp. ‘LAC-T & N’ to focus on Thacker Pass and other operations in the United States.
While Lithium fell to a new 5-month low of US$22,740 a tonne.
Uranium and natural gas were the resources with the most notable gains going into the weekend while crude oil and copper had the largest drops.
For the Week – the DJI lost 0.30% to 33,408 while the S&P 500 gained 0.49% to 4,309 and the NASDAQ rose by 1.60% to 13,431. Up north – the TSX lost 1.51% to 19,246 and the TSX Venture fell 4.47% to 534. The CBOE Volatility Index or VIX fell by 0.40% to 17.45.
With currencies – the Canadian dollar lost 0.61% to US$0.7320 and the U.S. dollar ‘DXY’ fell by 0.07% to 106.11.Â
With commodities – gold bullion lost 0.87% to US$1,832, as silver fell by 2.53% to US$21.59, and copper lost 2.68% to US$3.63, while lithium fell 0.18% to US$22,786. Crude oil dropped 8.57% to US$82.96 while natural gas rose by 13.65% to US$3.33, and uranium gained 3.93% to US$72.75. With soft commodities – lumber lost 2.19% to US$491. Overall – the CRB Commodities Index was down by 2.80% at 312.
One Last Thought – It would appear that most Canadians are tired of watching their Carbon Tax contributions disappearing into thin air – as a recent Leger Poll found that 82% of taxpayers disagreed with the federal government’s plan to raise the tax every year while 55% wanted the controversial tax either reduced (18%), or abolished (37%).