Gold price higher Friday, ahead of very uncertain weekend Kitco NEWS
Month: March 2022
Gold prices have been surging, but the rally is on shaky ground MarketWatch
After leaving ‘Gold Rush,’ Oregon’s Todd Hoffman returns to Discovery in ‘Hoffman Family Gold’ OregonLive
Welcome to this week’s Market Wrap Podcast, I’m Mike Gleason.
Global markets are in turmoil as the Russian invasion of Ukraine triggers nuclear fears.
Inflation fears are also being triggered. Crippling economic sanctions imposed on Russia are constricting exports of oil and other commodities.
President Joe Biden is being urged by some prominent politicians of both parties to ban imports of Russian oil completely. That could send prices at the pump rocketing to new record highs.
Oil futures are now trading at over $110 per barrel, but that’s not the only thing surging. Grains and other agricultural commodities skyrocketed by double digits this week.
The moves in precious metals markets so far during this crisis are less dramatic. But gold and silver continue to gain technical strength as upside momentum builds.
Gold prices are up 3.7% this week to trade at $1,967 an ounce. Once gold breaks through the psychologically significant $2,000 level, the financial media will be forced to take note. And a whole new wave of retail buyers who had been disinterested or skeptical could be compelled to buy on such a significant breakout.
Turning to silver, prices are up about a $1.20 or 4.9% since last Friday’s close to come in at $25.58 per ounce.
Platinum is advancing 4.4% to trade at $1,121.
And finally, palladium is surging by just over $600 or 25.4% this week to bring the price per ounce to – wait for it — $3,001 as of this Friday morning recording. Palladium is especially susceptible to supply disruptions out of Russia. That’s because nearly 40% of global palladium production is controlled by the former Soviet Union.
Of course, broader price pressures will continue hitting the economy, punishing consumers and investors.
President Biden acknowledged the inflation problem in his State of the Union address. But he offered no credible plan to arrest rising prices. Bringing down inflation would require tighter fiscal and monetary policy. Few politicians have any interest in that.
Biden renominated Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell in part to keep loose monetary policy in place.
Powell testified before Congress this week. He suggested the central bank will move ahead with rate hikes, but the size and pace of hiking is now likely to be more modest than previously expected. Even though inflation pressures are worse than ever, the Fed doesn’t want to risk adding to instability in financial markets by hiking aggressively.
Powell also stated that the Fed continues to contemplate implementing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC.
Many members of Congress have bashed privately issued cryptocurrencies for facilitating fraud and possibly helping Russians get around sanctions. And Powell denigrated digital currencies for not being backed by anything. Yes, the person in charge of pumping fiat Federal Reserve notes into the economy by the trillions is concerned about the proliferation of unbacked currencies.
Jerome Powell: The existing digital currencies, that, again are not backed are really vehicles for speculation. They’re not used in payments. They’re not a store of value. They’re a speculation like gold. That’s what they’re used for, whereas potentially a US CBDC would have a wider view.
I do want to stress we have not decided to do it, but we do understand our obligation is to really get to the bottom and understand both the technical and the policy issues that need to be answered.
Powell either doesn’t understand the role of gold as a store of value or is deliberately trying to mislead people. Gold is sought after by long-term investors because it is the opposite of a speculation. It is a safe haven.
Sure, traders can go into the futures market and speculate on gold prices if they are so inclined. But people who buy and hold physical bullion are generally doing so for long-term wealth protection. They know that over time gold will retain its purchasing power.
You can’t say the same thing about any fiat currency or government-issued bond. Given how artificially low interest rates have been suppressed compared to inflation, there is virtually no chance that an investor will retain purchasing power by buying Treasury bills.
About the only thing going for them is that they are losing value less rapidly than Russian stocks.
Sometimes bonds and cash instruments will also seem to be less volatile than precious metals. The gold market does experience periodic downswings. And silver’s drops can be even more severe.
But that volatility can also be quite rewarding on the upside. The biggest, most dramatic moves in gold and silver prices are likely yet to come.
Conventional cash savers will miss out on them. They will instead experience a steady loss of value in real terms, as guaranteed by the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve.
Those who save in sound money – gold and silver – stand to preserve their wealth from the corrosive force of inflation.
To help you do this, Money Metals is running another great special this month. If you order $200 or more in precious metals, we’ll give you a free Goldback!
The American-made Goldback is the world’s first spendable, interchangeable, small denomination, physical gold bullion.
Each individual Goldback contains actual gold embedded in a beautiful bill-sized form. It’s true sound money!
Like gold and silver coins, bars, and rounds, holding a portion of your cash in Goldbacks can offer you a measure of safety and security against inflation and dollar destruction.
Holding Goldbacks is not the most efficient way to get gold price exposure – or to accumulate large amounts of bullion. (It costs a bit more to split an ounce of gold into a thousand separate units!)
Instead, the Goldback represents a tangible, hold-in-your-hand means of engaging in small transactions with others, making payments that, in-and-of themselves, represent real value.
Money Metals now offers a complete selection of these stunningly beautiful, privately issued bullion units in the full range of denominations made.
The math is simple: 1,000 Goldbacks – no matter what combination of Goldback sizes you are using or what state of issue – contain exactly one ounce of .9999 gold!
You can always buy more, but you’ll get one Goldback for free during the month of March for any order from Money Metals of $200 or more!
Well, that will do it for this week. Be sure to check back next Friday for our next Weekly Market Wrap Podcast. Until then this has been Mike Gleason with Money Metals Exchange, thanks for listening and have a great weekend everybody.
Source: The Critical Investor 03/03/2022
At very high zinc and copper prices, and with a pretty impressive (60.4m @ 2.25% CuEq) drill result at the Sesmarias target, part of the Alvalade project in Portugal, it was easier for Avrupa Minerals to raise almost a third of their market cap, being CA$1.25M. The Critical Investor does a quick update.
After announcing a strong and potentially game changing drill result (60.4m @ 2.25% CuEq) at Sesmarias on January 25, 2022, followed by a CA$1M private placement on February 8, 2022, Avrupa Minerals Ltd. (AVU:TSX.V; AVPMF:OTC; 8AM:FSE) managed to increase this amount, and raised CA$1.25M on March 2, 2022. As JV partner MATSA (now part of Sandfire Resources) funds exploration at the Sesmarias massive sulfide target, part of their flagship Alvalade project in Portugal, Avrupa will use the proceeds to work on their own, recently acquired Finnish gold- and copper/zinc-focused properties.
Avrupa Minerals raised an oversubscribed total of CA$1,250,000 from the issuance of the 16,666,667 units to fund the acquisition of four projects in Finland, for exploration expenditures on these properties, and for working capital. Each unit is comprised of one common share at CA$0.075, and a full warrant. The warrant is valid for three years expiring February 28, 2025 and is exercisable at $0.125. Finder’s fees of 7.5% in cash and 7.5% in finder’s warrants were paid to eligible parties. All securities are subject to a four-month hold expiring on June 29, 2021.
CEO Paul Kuhn was happy to finally see a full treasury after a long time, and commented, “We are pleased with the continued strong support from our shareholders and from our new investors. With the funding, we expect to advance our new projects in Finland through the exploration licensing process, with the goal of selecting the best areas in each of the reservations for license application. We also expect to acquire and compile existing historic data, and continue with new project exploration work and starting the drill targeting process. We are also excited about the continuation of fully partner-funded drilling and exploration at Sesmarias and the rest of the Alvalade Project, and await guidance from our partner as to how the program will proceed. In addition, Avrupa continues to review further precious and base metal opportunities around Europe.”
It was good to see that MATSA wants to continue the JV at the Alvalade project, right after finally hitting the first long intercept at Sesmarias, but Avrupa is still waiting on guidance from the new MATSA owner Sandfire Resources.
I’m also curious what the Finnish properties could have in store, as it is a prolific area with lots of successful exploration by other companies ongoing. Additional advantage in my view is the increased control Avrupa will have about exploration spending, by paying for this themselves, which will change into full control during Stage 2 of the earn-in, and of course will then be working towards full ownership.
During the private placement, the company also announced a shares-for-debt settlement. The amount accounted for is CA$285k, and is intended to be settled with two insiders of the company, who have deferred salary and fee payments for the past several years, and also funded CA$56k with loans to the company. The proposal involves the issuance of 3.8M shares @ CA$0.075, with no warrants. The remaining amount of debt after this settlement will be settled in cash at a later date.
Regarding ongoing exploration, Avrupa Minerals has completed 17 drill holes now at Sesmarias North, totaling 8,900 m, The company also drilled a 614m scout hole at the Caveira target, which will be reported later during Q1.
According to CEO Kuhn, the drill rig has been moved to another MATSA property in Portugal to complete required work, vis à vis their license commitments, and will drill one to two holes before presumably coming back to Sesmarias. Avrupa is waiting on guidance from MATSA and their new owners on how/when drilling will continue. As a reminder: game changing hole SES21-044 at Sesmarias was part of a fence, drilled at section 350S to the south, as can be seen here on this section:
Regarding holes SES21-041/042/43, these will also be reported later on during Q1.
Regarding the new acquisition in Finland, the company is about to close the transaction with the vendor, and has already actively worked on the data-in-hand for the Kolima reservation to fully identify lands wanted for the exploration license application. Avrupa expects to provide information on that in the coming weeks.
The company plans to do further assessment investigations in order to properly identify the potential lands for exploration licenses in the other three reservations. These applications are not due until later in the year and into 2023.
Conclusion
It is good to see Avrupa Minerals having raised decent cash on their own after a long time of being dependent on JV partner MATSA, which isn’t operating particularly quickly as it uses a cautious approach on exploration, not generating a lot of news flow. This could all change when Avrupa manages to get the new Finland properties permitted for exploration, and with fresh CA$1.25M cash in hand, it is able to set up decent exploration programs which should be able to provide additional and hopefully interesting news during the second half of this year. In the meantime, the company expects to continue drilling at Sesmarias after the present break, and since Avrupa finally hit serious mineralization in their last reported hole, things are looking much more promising in Portugal all of a sudden.
I hope you will find this article interesting and useful, and will have further interest in my upcoming articles on mining. To never miss a thing, please subscribe to my free newsletter on my website www.criticalinvestor.eu, in order to get an email notice of my new articles soon after they are published.
All presented tables are my own material, unless stated otherwise.
All pictures are company material, unless stated otherwise.
All currencies are in U.S. Dollars, unless stated otherwise.
Please note: the views, opinions, estimates, forecasts or predictions regarding Aztec Minerals’ resource potential are those of the author alone and do not represent views, opinions, estimates, forecasts, or predictions of Aztec Minerals or Aztec Minerals’ management. Aztec Minerals has not in any way endorsed the views, opinions, estimates, forecasts, or predictions provided by the author.
The Critical Investor is a newsletter and comprehensive junior mining platform, providing analysis, blog and newsfeed and all sorts of information about junior mining. The editor is an avid and critical junior mining stock investor from The Netherlands, with an MSc background in construction/project management. Number cruncher at project economics, looking for high-quality companies, mostly growth/turnaround/catalyst-driven to avoid too much dependence/influence of long-term commodity pricing/market sentiments, and often looking for long-term deep value. Getting burned in the past himself at junior mining investments by following overly positive sources that more often than not avoided to mention (hidden) risks or critical flaws, The Critical Investor learned his lesson well, and goes a few steps further ever since, providing a fresh, more in-depth, and critical vision on things, hence the name.
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The author is not a registered investment advisor, and has a long position in this stock. Avrupa Minerals is a sponsoring company. All facts are to be checked by the reader. For more information go to avrupaminerals.com and read the company’s profile and official documents on www.sedar.com, also for important risk disclosures. This article is provided for information purposes only, and is not intended to be investment advice of any kind, and all readers are encouraged to do their own due diligence, and talk to their own licensed investment advisors prior to making any investment decisions.
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5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the decision to publish an article until three business days after the publication of the article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Avrupa Minerals Ltd., a company mentioned in this article.
( Companies Mentioned: AVU:TSX.V; AVPMF:OTC; 8AM:FSE,
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You’re getting less for more every time you pull out your wallet. Inflation is chewing up the average person’s paycheck. In this episode of the Friday Gold Wrap podcast, host Mike Maharrey talks about the real pain of inflation. He also talks about Jerome Powell’s testimony before Congress, the trajectory of monetary policy, the strength […]
The post Blog first appeared on SchiffGold.
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