Good afternoon
quiet markets today...currencies, bonds and metals not doing much, while equities across the board maintained their positive bias.
Nickel raced ahead late on Friday, and is managing to hold on to these gains today. 14.000 US$t remains a stromng resistance level
Lots of renwed bullishness on coablt around, as Cleanteq, Cobalt 27 completed large capital raisings very successfully, and car manufacturers are chasing longterm supply deals. Sherritt, the Canadian producer, reports about various approaches for streaming deals...and as we heard from Panoramic at the conference 2 weeks ago, the same is happening there. Sherritt commented not to be in a hurry to complete a deal, as the market would move the companiesd way....the same sort of comments we heard from Peter Harold. Without having spoken to them, I would not be surprised to see PAN do some more work on potentially getting a larger slice of cobalt byproduct revenue, which could extend the wait for a re-development of their Savannah Mine - making it a bit boring to be a holder, but for very right reasons! You can only sell your concentrate once...and this becoming more valuable by the week. All three, contained metals are looking very sexy in the medium- as well as long term: nickel, copper + cobalt! You can bet your bottom $, that Nero will not impose any tariffs on those three metals!
Newcrest - Cadia, the companies flagship and most important asset by a long shot, has been suspended again! The Northern tailings dam cracked - no enviromental damage, as the tailings flowed into the adjacent, Southern tailings dam. Still - this is a major incidence! Cadia had been closed for 6 month or so last year, following a 4.3 earthquake, and some damage to the underground mine. A week or so ago, their had been two 2.7 earthquakes just 2 km from the mine. Whether the tremor impacted on the stability of the tailings dam, or not, is unclear at this point. I have to say, that a mining operation, which moves 25 millt of ore p.a. at depth, could well be the reason for these tremors????? I really am no expert - but would this surprise you?`One thing is for sure - I am very happy not to hold any Newcrest, and I think there is very little reason to do so!
St Barbara - Simberi, their smaller mine in the Solomons, has been suspende because of labor unrest. I hardly value the mine at all - and I would think, that the strike might be over in a few days. More a negative headline, than anything else - but as you know, I believe the stock to be pretty fully valued - even in light of the fantastic job the managment has done with the Gwalia Mine.
Strike Energy - the vertical drill hole has been completed to a depth of 2160m - all going to plan! Drilling of the horizontal well starts in a few days, to be completed in April, as planned. No majore news - but drilling down to a depth like this does carry a few risks, and it´s good, that the first leg has been done successfully and on time. I believe, that the second leg of the well is a bit more complicated - and the real test is obviously only coming in Mai/June, when the well will be fracked.
Prairie Mining - according to an interview in Polish newspaper parkiet with the CEO of coking coal producer JSW, JSW will meet Prairie again within 10 days to discuss Debiensko, as well as Jan Karski...Happy talking!
Have a nice evening
WS