It’s fair to say Tintina Resources (TAU-V) and its Black Butte copper project in Montana makes the grade. The Johnny Lee deposit at Black Butte hosts 11.6 million tonnes at 3.6% copper, including a lower zone above 6% copper. “These are amazingly high grades, it’s very rare to see these in mineable quantities in nature,”… Continue Reading

I had the chance to visit once again with Rick Rule, Chairman of Sprott US Holdings. It was a great conversation, focusing on the state of metals and mining, a $20 billion opportunity now available due to market chaos, and ‘multiples of potential return’ in mining equities, should historical measures reassert themselves. “I’ve seen this… Continue Reading

Michael Berry of Disruptive Discoveries Journal is out with a good slide deck on macro and metals themes that he presented earlier this month for the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association. Mining investors know the story well – excess supply and insufficient demand have hit commodity prices hard, as well as the energy-reliant Canadian economy. Meanwhile, debt… Continue Reading

Students often study one subject at university, but end up shifting gears and graduating in a different field. It’s how Copper North president and CEO Harlan Meade accidentally discovered mineral exploration while studying chemistry. In Meade’s case, the twist of fate involved a summer job accident that left the young man with a fractured wrist,… Continue Reading

We are nearing the end of the Yukon site visits, but still have two more interesting projects to discuss. To catch up on last week’s site visits see here: ATC, AXR, WG, KAM, RK. The Yukon Media Tour has been all about mining, but the real focus has been on the de-risked development stage projects… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: One of the most successful investors in history, Carl Icahn, has taken a roughly 8.5% stake in copper/gold mining giant Freeport-McMoran (FCX). Shares of FCX have been battered in recent months, dropping nearly 70% since early May: Icahn is most well known for his timely investments in fallen angels. Most notably… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: After a promising start to the year copper has been in a steady downtrend since May and the red metal has just touched the rising 200-month simple moving average for the first time since late-2008:   While it is true that copper prices quickly reversed higher the last time this moving average… Continue Reading

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a big, lush, mineral-rich country in the heart of Sub Saharan Africa, currently produces roughly 6% of the world’s copper (approx 1 million tonnes per annum). Mining engineer and CFA Tom Meyer, an equity research analyst with CIBC World Markets, is concerned DRC supply could be in jeopardy, compounding… Continue Reading

Daily Commodity Chart Wrap 3/9/2015 via Energy and Gold.com: Copper Marginal Cost Percentiles The 90th percentile cost of producing copper is currently roughly $2.25/lb, it’s interesting that this level also coincides with the 200-month moving average (the same moving average where copper found support at the 2008-2009 lows). A powerful chart of gold net producer… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com Morgan Stanley is out with some interesting research this morning highlighting the strong positive correlation between copper and oil prices: Aside from the fact that both commodities are greatly affected by global economic growth there is another important factor as to why the oil price can end up having a large… Continue Reading

Via Energy and Gold.com: Copper futures dropped as low as $2.42 yesterday evening before rebounding roughly 5%: One of the world’s largest copper producers, Freeport McMoran (FCX), has been hit especially hard (-11%) this morning after copper’s overnight tumble: A slide from a recent FCX investor presentation is particularly telling: Just 2 months they were… Continue Reading

The massive decline in the price of crude oil turns out to be a significant net positive for multinational miners. Not only are the lower oil costs are a huge positive on the costs side, but the resulting currency moves (big drops in AUD/USD and CAD/USD) also turn out to benefit miners whose revenue comes… Continue Reading

From Stock Trader’s Almanac: “Copper has a tendency to make a major seasonal bottom in December and then a tendency to post major seasonal peaks in April or May.” This is one of the strongest seasonal patterns in any market and it’s all the more interesting this year given that copper made a low of… Continue Reading

From Reuters: “Copper prices dipped on Tuesday, as disappointing property sector data from China raised concerns about the outlook for demand from the world’s top metals consumer.” Copper has been oscillating near the $3 mark for well over a month now and speculators (both large & small) have continued to pile on bearish bets: This… Continue Reading

Copper has long been one of the trickiest markets to trade; it has regularly caught the crowd positioned exactly the wrong way and posted vicious moves in the opposite direction. However, in recent weeks the red metal has been unusually placid as it has oscillated near major support at ~$3.00/lb: Click to enlarge Copper Weekly… Continue Reading