Via Energy and Gold.com: If we could only look at one chart it would have to be the following one: US Dollar Index (Weekly)   After peaking in March the US Dollar Index has spent the last 6 months consolidating between roughly 93 on the downside and 98 on the upside. A decisive resolution of… Continue Reading

If we had to title a book describing the market environment of the past few months it would be appropriately entitled “A Market of Complacency”. Today for the first time much of that complacency was washed away as fear took its place front and center: Click to enlarge VIX (daily) E-mini S&P futures (hourly) 30-Year… Continue Reading

Today, one can’t turn on CNBC or Bloomberg without being slapped in the face with the latest episode of Japan’s Abenomics or China’s Great Leap to a Consumption Economy. No doubt, how these two Asian giants manage their economies will determine the fate for many countries in 2014 and beyond. To get a better grasp… Continue Reading

Running out of financial flexibility, Bruce McLeod’s Mercator Minerals (ML:TSX) has agreed to a merger/takeover by Intergeo which is a subsidiary of ONEXIM Group(controlled by Russian oligarch, Mikhail Prokhorov worth an estimated $13 billion).  The deal will see Mercator’s assets get a much needed injection of capital.  Intergeo’s controlling shareholder Daselina (part of ONEXIM) will provide a… Continue Reading

Albania’s largest foreign investor, Bankers Petroleum (BNK:TSX) is continuing to bet on its Albanian oilfields by announcing they intend to spend at least $313 million in capital next year up from the $247 million the company spent in 2013.  The bulk, $216 million, is to be spent on drilling 150 to 170 wells on the… Continue Reading

Lundin Group company, ShaMaran Petroleum (SNM:TSXV) announced their plans to issue $150 million in senior secured bonds which will be used to finance their future expenditures on the Atrush block in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.  Nordic investment bank, Pareto Securites has been appointed as financial advisor to the offering. The Atrush block is the… Continue Reading

With gold set for its first annual decline since the year 2000, Goldman Sachs, the outspoken pessimist of the gold markets, put out a report summarizing their expectations for third quarter earnings.  The focus of the piece was Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) gold miners and was titled “3Q earnings previews: Lower gold price… Continue Reading

Please note: The following are “Exploration” stage companies. Companies with a Resource in Colombia, including Continental Gold, Red Eagle Mining, and Eco Oro Minerals, have not been ranked in this report. The year has been a disappointing one for the BRICs, with China being the only country to bring significant GDP growth to the table. However, with… Continue Reading

Carpathian Gold (CPN:TSX) has closed its second tranche of a planned $16 million equity raise led by Cormark and Macquarie.  Surprisingly, the bought deal was fully subscribed to including the underwriter’s purchase of $3.4 million worth of stock which enabled the company to raise a total of over $19.4 million.  This is a good sign… Continue Reading

Dr. Mark O’Dea’s True Gold Mining (TGM:TSX) continues to have drilling success at its Liguidi project in Burkina Faso and is being rewarded in the markets for it, with the stock up 15% at the time of writing.  The company released more assays from its current drill campaign which returned “widespread near-surface gold mineralization and expanded… Continue Reading

B2Gold (BTO:TSX) announced its Q2/2013 results which appeared, on the face, to be weak.  However, a dig deeper illustrates that most of the downward earnings adjustments were related to one-time charges related to the closing of the acquisition of CGA Mining and the Masbate gold project in the Philippines.  Adjusted EPS came in below consensus of $0.03… Continue Reading

Pacific Rubiales (PRE:TSX) the Colombian oil producer, headed by Co-Chairman Serafino Iacono, announced its second quarter results which were somewhat mixed.  PRE saw its net earnings diminish from $224 million ($0.76 per share) in Q2/2012 to $58 million ($0.18 per share) in Q2/2013.  The reason for the reduced earnings was foreign exchange losses as well… Continue Reading

Capstone Mining (CS:TSX) announced today that it would acquire the right to earn up to 70% of the Project Providencia from Sociedad Quimica y Mineral de Chila S.A. (SQM).  The property is somewhat strategic in that it sits approximately halfway between Capstone’s Santo Domingo Project and Anglo American’s Mantos Blancos copper mine. SQM is a… Continue Reading

Platino Energy Corp (PZE:TSXV) to sell its 50% WI in the Morpho Block in the Middle Magdalena Valley Basin in Colombia to Parex Resources (PXT:TSX).  As part of the deal, Parex will give PZE a 4% NPI royalty on the block.  This makes sense for PZE because they need to allocate capital efficiently, like everyone… Continue Reading

Exeter Resource Corp (XRC:TSX) was up 50% in early trading and closed up 22% with abnormal volume on no news today.  Exeter has been advancing the very large, but costly Caspiche gold/copper porphyry in Chile which boasts 19Moz Au and 4.62Bn lbs Cu in reserves which ranks it in the top 1% of global gold… Continue Reading