Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Gain Over 1% and 2% More While SPDR Tops 1,000 Tonnes

	Close	Gain/Loss
Gold	$977.10	+$10.20
Silver	$14.315	+$0.315
XAU	134.02	+1.74%
HUI	323.99	+1.50%
GDM	1026.91	+1.15%
JSE Gold	2871.13	-7.47
USD	88.00	+0.41
Euro	125.54	-0.54
Yen	106.60	-1.70
Oil	$34.62	-$0.31
10-Year	2.728%	+0.066
T-Bond	128.65625	-0.6875
Dow	7555.63	+0.04%
Nasdaq	1467.97	-0.18%
S&P	788.42	-0.10%

Gold traded mostly slightly higher in Asia and London before it fell as much as $6.50 to $960.40 by about 9AM EST in early New York trade, but it then rallied back higher for the rest of the day and ended near its high of $977.77 with a gain of 1.05%. Silver rose 34 cents to $14.34 in Asia before it fell back to unchanged at $14.00 a little before 8AM EST in London, but it then rallied back higher in New York and touched $14.34 again before closing with a gain of 2.25%. Both metals have also added to their gains in after hours access trade.

Euro gold rose to a new record high above €777, platinum gained $4.50 to $1089.50, and copper rose slightly to about $1.43.

Gold and silver equities fell over 3% in the first half hour of trade, but they quickly rebounded back to about unchanged and then climbed steadily higher in afternoon action before ending the day with almost 2% gains.

Report	For	Reading	Expected	Previous
Building Permits	Jan	521K	525K	547K
Housing Starts	Jan	466K	529K	560K
Import Prices	Jan	-1.1%	-1.2%	-5.0%
Import Prices ex-oil	Jan	-0.8%	-	-1.1%
Export Prices	Jan	0.5%	-1.0%	-2.3%
Export Prices ex-ag.	Jan	0.0%	-	-1.9%
Capacity Utilization	Jan	72.0%	72.4%	73.3%
Industrial Production	Jan	-1.8%	-1.5%	-2.4%

President Obama unveiled his $275 billion housing plan “that includes cutting mortgage payments for as many as 9 million struggling homeowners and expanding the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in curbing foreclosures.”

FOMC minutes from the fed’s January 28^th meeting showed the fed thought the “

U.S.

economy was weakening further in January, and a gradual recovery wasn't likely until the second half of the year.”

“The U.S. Federal Reserve took a step toward setting a target for inflation on Wednesday as Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank would issue longer-range projections on how it expects the economy to perform.

In a speech to National Press Club, Bernanke said the central bank would publish projections that would offer a view on how the Fed expects the economy to perform beyond the central bank's normal three-year forecast horizon.”

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings Initial Jobless Claims for 2/14 expected at 615,000, PPI for January expected at 0.2%, and Core PPI expected at 0.1%. At 10AM is the Leading Economic Indicators report for January expected at 0.0% and the Philadelphia Fed survey expected at -25.0.

Oil fell slightly as more bad economic news reinforced expectations for a further fall in demand.

The U.S. dollar index found slight gains and treasuries dropped a bit while the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P waffled near unchanged and ended mixed as traders digested economic reports and the details of Obama’s housing plan.

Thirty-year bonds dropped after the minutes of the Fed’s Jan. 27-28 policy meeting showed officials will wait before buying Treasuries. The government tomorrow will announce the size of next week’s auctions of two-, five-, and seven-year notes. The likely total is $97 billion, according to Wrightson ICAP LLC.”

Among the big names making news in the market today were Playboy, Wells Fargo, Comcast, Deere, GM, MBIA, and Goodyear.

During testimony on his nomination, when Secretary of the Treasury Geithner was asked about errors made in the Great Depression, he replied:

The dollar rose into the Great Depression, acting as a break on American exports as protectionism was rising everywhere. You can be sure the present dollar rally as a place of refuge has no meaningful future.

You can be sure that Monty’s estimate of $20 trillion in total monetary and fiscal stimulation is conservative.”- Jim Sinclair, JSMineset.com

“April Gold closed up 10.7 at 978.2. This was 15.4 up from the low and 0.8 off the high.

March Silver finished up 0.28 at 14.29, 0.01 off the high and 0.24 up from the low.

The gold market shook off some early corrective action and managed to forge another new high for the move and in the process the April contract managed to reach the highest level since July 22nd. Even some weaker than expected US economic readings failed to keep gold prices down and that is a change of pace. Clearly the gold market was inspired by the comments from several US Fed members during the trading sessions but it also seemed like the latest US mortgage assistance plan was seen as partially ineffective as gold prices rallied, stocks fell back and US Treasuries declined in the wake of the latest revelations from Washington.

The silver market generally out performed the gold market early in the trading session Wednesday. However, eventually gold firmed and seemed to give the metals markets an added lift. Surprisingly the silver market wasn't undermined by a sea of red pricing in a host of physical commodities and that would seem to reconfirm flight to quality or safe haven buying as the driving force of the bull case in silver. Even a rise in the Dollar failed to stem the strength in the silver market which managed another new high for the move and also seemed to be poised to close a gap on the charts left back in the middle of August.”- The Hightower Report, Futures Analysis and Forecasting

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: SPDR added 22.94 tonnes to a new record high holding.

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: 52.15 tonnes were added to the trust.

Orezone’s (OZN) shareholder approval of the IAMGOLD (IAG) deal, Keegan’s (KGN) drill results, Centerra’s (CG.TO) temporary mill shutdown, Newmont’s (NEM) dividend, International Minerals (IMZ.TO) second quarter results, Great Panther’s (GPR.TO) anticipated production increase, Yale’s (YLL.V) Letter of Agreement to purchase a 100% interest in the Urique project, MAG’s (MVG) assay results, Orko’s (OK.V) latest resource estimate, Silver Standard’s (SSRI) project update, and Pan American’s (PAAS) results of its 2008 year end silver reserves and resources update were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines today.

Winners & Losers tracks NYSE and AMEX listed gold and silver mining stocks that trade over $1.

Cash Minerals Closes Shares for Debt Settlement - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Orezone Shareholders Approve Arrangement With IAMGOLD - "IAMGOLD Corporation (Toronto:IMG.TO - News)(NYSE:IAG - News)(BOTSWANA: IAMGOLD) and Orezone Resources Inc. (Toronto:OZN.TO - News)(AMEX:OZN - News) ("Orezone") jointly announced today that Orezone shareholders have overwhelmingly approved the plan of arrangement transaction with IAMGOLD." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Keegan Receives Excellent New Results From 2008 Esaase Gold Property Drill Program - "Keegan Resources Inc. ("Keegan") (Toronto:KGN.TO - News)(AMEX:KGN - News)is pleased to announce the balance of the results from its 2008 infill and exploration drilling program at the Esaase property. Highlights include 26 m @ 2.51 g/t Au and 23 meters @ 3.37 g/t Au from the exploration drilling and 55 meters of 2.22 g/t Au and 99 meters of 1.04 g/t Au from down dip stepout holes in the main zone. The highlighted results in the table below were obtained from drilling down dip of the current 43-101 resource." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Newmont Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend - "The Board of Directors of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM - News) today declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share of common stock, payable March 27, 2009 to holders of record at the close of business on March 6, 2009." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

GoldSpring Announces 140 Foot Gold Interval Grading 0.242 Ounces Per Ton at its Hartford / Lucerne Deposit, Comstock District, Nevada - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Queenston Hits High-Grade in Deep Drilling at AK Property - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Anaconda Announces LOI With Crew Gold for Toll Processing Arrangement - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Avalon Ventures Ltd. Changes Its Name to Avalon Rare Metals Inc. - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Flag Resources (1985) Limited reports that after seven years of exploration it appears to have located the source of the variety of base metal sulfides - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

TEAL receives court approval for arrangement with ARM and Vale; TEAL announces information concerning closing timetable - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

New Jersey Mining Company Reports Resources On Its Niagara Copper-Silver Deposit - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Freewest Discovers New Chromite Zone on Its 100%-Owned McFaulds Property, James Bay Lowlands, Northern Ontario - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

El Nino Ventures joins the "AGORACOM 100" and launches online IR and marketing program - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Golden Hope Mines Limited: Corporate Update-Board of Directors - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Molybdenum miner Thompson Creek cuts production - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Sheltered Oak Resources Corp. ("OAK") final phase 3 drilling results and airborne magnetic survey completed - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Stratabound's Elmtree Gold Advances on Drill Results; Metallurgy Underway - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

EXMIN Signs Letter of Agreement to Sell Urique Project to Yale Resources - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Ruby Red Resources defines Kimberley Gold Trend - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Dia Bras Reports High-Grade Assays From its Cusi Project, Chihuahua, Mexico - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

SIRIOS RESOURCES INC.: Up to 0.229% U3O8 Obtained From New Zones at Surface on the UPINOR Property - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Atna Reports Reserve Increase and Updated Mine Plan for the Briggs Mine in California - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Tombstone Exploration Announces the Appointment of Simon Russell as Chief Operating officer - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Cardero Successfully Produces Bench-Scale Pig Iron From Pampa El Toro Iron Concentrate - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Creston Moly Corp. Announces a Positive Pre-Feasibility Study for Its Mexican Molybdenum Project - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

New Radioactive Zones Assays Up to 0.229% U308 on DIOS Upinor Project - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Premier acquires strategic Lennie Property at Red Lake; Rahill-Bonanza drilling underway - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Royal Standard Minerals Inc.: Progress Report to our Shareholders - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Avion Resources Corp.: Chris Bradbrook Appointed Vice President, Strategic Development - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Capstone Announces Updated Mineral Resources Estimates for the Cozamin Copper Mine, Mexico - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Thompson Creek provides update on 2009 operating plans - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Boxxer expands copper-gold potential of Boss project - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

GLOBEX Acquires Leipsigate Gold District, Nova Scotia - More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Great Panther Anticipates 20% Increase in Silver Production in 2009 - "GREAT PANTHER RESOURCES LIMITED (Toronto:GPR.TO - News) (the "Company") forecasts a further 20% increase in silver production in 2009 above the record 1.214 million ounces produced in 2008 from its two 100% owned silver mines in Mexico. The estimated total metal production for 2009 includes 1.45 million oz of silver, 6,000 oz of gold, 750 tonnes of lead and 840 tonnes of zinc, or 2.07 million oz silver equivalent (Ag Eq Oz), up from 1.81 million Ag Eq Oz in 2008." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Yale to Purchase 100% Interest in Urique Project - "Yale Resources Ltd. (CDNX:YLL.V - News) (Frankfurt:YAB.F - News) is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter of Agreement to purchase a 100% interest in the Urique project -- a total of sixteen concessions covering 29,100 hectares -- from its partner, EXMIN Resources Inc. Yale has agreed to pay US$250,000 and issue 1 million shares issued to EXMIN in two tranches." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Centerra Gold Inc.: Kumtor Mine to Replace SAG Mill Girth Gear - "Centerra Gold Inc. (TSX:CG - News) reported today that it intends to shut down the Kumtor SAG mill for 8 to 10 days, commencing February 24, 2009, to replace the SAG mill girth gear with an on-site spare unit. On February 16, 2009, monitoring of the Kumtor SAG mill drive train indicated an increase in vibration. A subsequent inspection determined that a tooth of the gear had been damaged. After a 12-hour shut down for minor repairs, the gear was tested and the mill restarted. It continues to operate at full capacity; however, it will have to be replaced. Mobilization of support engineers have been undertaken to complete the work." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

MAG Silver Reports Gold Intercept on Juanicipio Vein - "MAG Silver Corp. (Toronto:MAG.TO - News)(AMEX:MVG - News) ("MAG") reports on behalf of Minera Juanicipio SA, a 56/44 joint venture between Fresnillo plc and MAG, assay results from preliminary exploration drilling along the Juanicipio Vein located almost 1,000 metres south of the Valdecanas Vein. The two holes reported here were started in late 2008 and completed in January, 2009. Both holes successfully intercepted the Juanicipio Vein." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

International Minerals Reports Net Income of US$4.8 Million (US$0.05 Per Share) for the Second Quarter Ended December 31, 2008 - "International Minerals Corporation (TSX: IMZ - News) (SWX: IMZ - News) ("IMZ" or “the Company”) reported $4.8 million in consolidated net income for the fiscal second quarter ending December 31, 2008. All amounts in this news release are reported in U.S. dollars." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Orko Silver Increases and Upgrades La Preciosa Resource Estimate - "Orko Silver Corp. (TSX VENTURE:OK - News) is pleased to release the latest resource estimate for our La Preciosa silver deposit located in Durango, Mexico. This independent resource estimate has been completed by Mine Development Associates (MDA) of Reno, Nevada. MDA has stated that the La Preciosa deposit now comprises 47% Indicated Resources and 53% Inferred Resources. The current resource estimate is based on all of Orko's drilling, including the 2008 drilling of an additional 205 holes (79,021m)." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Silver Standard Updates Pirquitas Project - "Silver Standard Resources Inc. (Toronto:SSO.TO - News)(NasdaqGM:SSRI - News) is pleased to report that its wholly-owned Pirquitas Mine in Jujuy, Argentina, is on schedule to commence concentrate production in the current quarter. Initial production will focus on the processing of over 400,000 tonnes of run-of-mine grade jig tails from historic operations and then transition to material from the open pit. To date, approximately five million tonnes of material has been moved from the Pirquitas open pit and stockpiling of ore has commenced." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Pan American Silver Replaces Proven and Probable Silver Reserves Mined During 2008 - "In 2008, Pan American carried out extensive exploration programs, both on its properties as well as on selected greenfield exploration projects in Peru and Mexico. In total, the Company drilled nearly 100,000 meters, resulting in the discovery and definition of 26.9 million ounces of new silver reserves, which more than replaced the 22.2 million ounces of silver consumed by mining operations in 2008. However lower base metal price assumptions coupled with higher cut off grades downgraded 8.8 million ounces from reserves to resources, and as a result, at December 31, 2008 the Company had 223.7 million ounces of silver in proven and probable reserves, down a modest 1.8% from a year ago." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Orezone investors overwhelmingly back Iamgold deal - "Orezone (OZN.TO) shareholders overwhelmingly approved an all-stock takeover by fellow Canadian gold miner Iamgold (IMG.TO), which will give Iamgold control of the Essakane gold project in Burkina Faso.

At a meeting in Toronto on Wednesday, shareholders voted 99 percent in favor of the deal, which valued Orezone at about $139 million when it was announced in December, but has nearly doubled to about $275 million, based on the surge in Iamgold shares since then." More
- February 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

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