For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange gained 2.30%, while the TSX Gold Index added an impressive 19.1% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, dropped 1.99% with the declining issuers swamping the advancers by a 660 to 315 margin on good volume of 191 million shares traded.

The trading on the junior board was all about those companies that happen to have some liquidity for the sellers. Shares of VMS Ventures, which has been posting stellar results from its Reed Lake Discovery project in Manitoba, lost C$0.035 to close at C$0.295 with nearly 1 million shares traded, and B2Gold, the once highly touted Colombian gold explorer, lost C$0.05 at C$0.45 on over 1.9 million shares traded.

Shares of Eurasian Minerals (EMX) added C$0.13 to close at C$0.85 after the junior announced trench results of 19.15% copper and 140 grams silver per tonne over 14 metres at the Champagne prospect in Haiti.

Sherwood Copper (SWC) had a rough session on no new developments. The Yukon copper miner lost C$0.32 to close at C$2.05.

The big board gold miners were the winners of the day, as Barrick Gold (ABX) added C$6.53 to close at C$40.20, Goldcorp (G) surged C$5.53 to close at C$34.36, Agnico Eagle (AEM) tacked on C$6.95 to close at C$57.20, Kinross Gold (K) climbed C$3.05 at C$18.30 and Yamana Gold (YRI) added C$1.34 to close at C$8.40.

It is all about cash preservation for the junior explorers as they try to ride out this credit crunch. A massive amount of juniors have essentially gone no bid, making it impossible to sell in any size. We will see what Thursday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Thursday, October 9, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange dropped 3.86%, while the TSX Gold Index sank an eye popping 9.3% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, plunged a staggering 8.49%% with the declining issuers swamping the advancers by a 865 to 185 margin on big selling volume of 199 million shares traded.

Rainy River Resources (RR) discovered a new gold zone on its Richardson Township project in northwestern Ontario. Highlights included 2.02 grams gold per tonne over 79.5 metres. Rainy River ended the day down C$0.14 at C$1.86.

Rockwell Diamonds (RDI) has received a hostile C$0.36 per share takeover offer from Pala Investments Holdings Limited. The diamond miner says the offer is “opportunistic” and recommends that shareholders sit tight. Rockwell closed at C$0.33 for a C$0.135 gain.

Shareholders digested the news that Sherwood Copper (SWC) and Capstone Mining (CS) are looking to wed in a deal that would see 1.566 Capstone shares exchanged for each Sherwood share. The end result would be a growth oriented copper miner with two producing mines. Sherwood ended the day down C$0.58 at C$4.06, while Capstone lost C$0.43 at C$2.35.

Lydian International (LYD) cut some nice intercepts from its Amulsar gold discovery in Armenia and managed to get a little love from investors. Highlights included 109 metres running 1.1 grams gold per tonne and 92 metres of 1.4 grams gold per tonne. Lydian ended the day up C$0.04 at C$0.38.

The 1,625 point low for the junior bourse that was hit in mid-2005 has now been breached and the next low is around the 1,500 point mark last encountered in mid-2004. Did we see the final flush of capitulation on Tuesday or is worse set to come? We will see what Wednesday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup Wednesday September 10, 2008

For the tale of the tape, the TSX Exchange tacked on 1.42%, while the TSX Gold Index exploded upwards by 5.1% and the TSX Venture Exchange, Canada’s largest junior exploration bourse, added 1.56% with believe it or not the advancing issuers beating out the decliners by a 445 to 388 margin on volume of 112 million shares traded.

Despite no new developments, it was a good day for Western Uranium (CVE:WUC). The company, which recently spun off its lithium assets into a new company, added C$0.10 to close at C$0.88.

Shares of ATAC Resources (CVE:ATC) continued to attract investors as the results to date at its wholly owned Rau property in the Keno Hill district of central Yukon suggest some size potential. ATAC ended the session up C$0.04 at C$0.44.

A formal review to identify strategic alternatives to unlock shareholder value helped EarthFirst Canada (TSE:EF) gain C$0.225 to C$0.475. The wind energy company’s 144 MW Dokie I project in British Columbia is slated for completion next year.

Sherwood Copper (CVE:SWC) tagged 4.7% copper and 1.2 grams gold per tonne over 8.5 metres in Area 118 of its Minto copper-gold mine in the Yukon. Sherwood ended the session up C$0.03 at C$4.60.

On the downside, shares of Antares Minerals (CVE:ANM) dropped C$0.29 to close at C$2.26 on over 2.6 million shares traded. The junior has been pulling some nice intercepts from its Haquira copper-molybdenum-gold project in Peru.

While Thursday marked a quiet news day, the strength of the broader markets suggest that perhaps the worse of the resource sell-off is now behind us as we head into the later part of August. We will see what Friday trading has in store.

Source: Resource Stock Roundup: Friday, August 22nd, 2008

Once again, I’m drawn to palladium.

We first took a look at palladium back in May, when the metal was at $425 per ounce. It rallied as high as $475. And the two stocks I highlighted in my article scored big gains in the days that followed.

Today, palladium is tracing out a horizontal rectangle pattern, similar to what we’ve seen in gold and silver. If it breaks out of this pattern, then palladium could run as high as $525 per ounce.

Here’s the chart…

The biggest gains, however, will once again come in the shares of North American Palladium (PAL) and Stillwater Mining (SWC) – North America’s two largest palladium-mining companies.

Mining stocks are a proxy for the underlying metal. So just as gold stocks rise when gold goes up, and silver stocks rally when silver rallies, palladium stocks climb when palladium moves higher.

But the percentage gains in the stocks are usually much larger than the gains in the metals. Mining companies are sitting on large reserves of gold, silver, or palladium. So a small increase in the price of the metals creates a large windfall for the companies, and an even bigger windfall for investors.

Gold and silver started a renewed up-leg last week. Palladium looks ready to follow in their footsteps. If it does, then shares of PAL and SWC might make for a good speculative trade.

Source: These Two Precious-Metal Stocks Are Ready to Bolt Higher

Take a look at this chart…

———- Advertisement ———-
Canada’s Untapped Oil Sands Province

About 99% of the money that’s been made in Canadian oil sands, so far, has come from just one Province: Alberta.

But what almost no one realizes is that there’s a region of Canada that geologists believe holds even richer oil deposits than Alberta.

Even better, a tiny penny stock has been chosen to lead the way.

Click here for the full story.
———————————-

Palladium made an enormous run higher when it broke out above $400 an ounce back in February. As you can see, though, the chart went parabolic, gaining almost 50% in just one month. Moves like that never end well… Sure enough, the ensuing correction wiped out almost all of the gains and left investors feeling like they’d just stepped off the Giant Drop ride at a Six Flags amusement park.

Now, however, as most investors are grabbing their airsickness bags and swearing never to ride that roller coaster again, we can take a fresh look at the chart and explore the opportunity it presents…

The blue support and resistance lines are converging to form a consolidating-triangle pattern. When a chart breaks out of this pattern, the move is often quite large and usually equals the height of the triangle itself.

In the case of palladium, we’re looking at the potential for a $125 per ounce move. So we could see the metal challenge its recent highs up around $580 per ounce… or we could see it collapse down to last September’s low at $325.

Of course, we can’t know for sure which way the price of the metal is going to break, but I’m betting on the upside.

Palladium’s breakout over $400 back in February establishes solid support at that level. Odds are, if the price breaks down from the consolidating-triangle pattern, then buyers will step up, at least temporarily, at $400. So traders can take a position at current prices and keep a stop just under $400 per ounce.

The best way to play this trade is through shares of North America’s only two palladium mining companies, Stillwater Mining (SWC) and North American Palladium (PAL).

Neither of these companies is a good investment on its own merits. Management stinks. Their fundamentals are shaky. And they both seem to be plagued by bouts of periodic bad news that keeps a lid on their share prices.

But in the short term, the stocks correlate well with the price of palladium. So if the metal is ready to make a run higher, then perhaps these stocks are ready to run higher, too.

Best regards and good trading,

Jeff Clark