-- Posted 18 December, 2009 | | Source: SilverSeek.com

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The Metals:

Gold chopped around near unchanged in Asia and London before it fell to see $9.30 loss at as low as $1097.10 by late morning in New York, but it then shot back higher in the last couple of hours of trade and ended near its late session high of $1116.75 with a gain of 0.36%.  Silver traded mostly slight higher in Asia and London before it fell to see a 13 cent loss of $17.07, but it also rallied back higher in late trade and ended with a gain of 0.29%.

Euro gold rose to about €776, platinum lost $6.50 to $1419.50, and copper gained slightly to about $3.12.

Gold and silver equities climbed nearly 2% at the open before they fell to see slight losses by late morning, but they then advanced to new session highs by early afternoon and ended with about 2% gains.

The Economy:

There were no major economic reports today.  All of this week’s other economic reports:

The Markets:

Charts Courtesy of http://finance.yahoo.com/

Oil rose after reports that Iran seized an Iraqi oil filed, but a stronger U.S. dollar index certainly seemed to limit any serious gains.

Treasuries fell as the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P traded mostly modestly higher on decent earnings reports.

Among the big names making news in the market Friday were CarMax, Carnival, GM, Oracle, Marsh & McLennan, and Bank of America.

The Commentary:

“Surprisingly... very surprisingly, actually... volume wasn't overly large yesterday. Considering the amount of the price drop in gold... and the fact that it took out its 50-day moving average with some authority... volume should have been enormous. Both Ted and I are somewhat taken aback by this. This situation applies to silver as well, because we've been below its 50-day moving average for a week now, and there hasn't been all that much liquidation... and open interest is still way up there, which is something I've pointed out a couple of times this week already. Needless to say, gold o.i. hasn't dropped that much either. We'll see what Thursday's final open interest numbers look like when they put them up at the CME website later this morning... if they report them all, that is. There may be some spill-over into Friday's o.i. numbers, which won't be available until around noon on Monday.

While I'm on the subject of open interest, here's what the CME reported for Wednesday's activity. Both gold and silver were up a bit in price on Wednesday, but there was still a decline in open interest in both metals. Gold o.i. fell a smallish 1,913 contracts on volume of only 167,639 contracts. Total o.i. in gold is sitting at 502,455 contracts. In silver, o.i. declined 414 contracts on very small volume of only 25,390 contracts... and, as I've said three times this week, silver o.i. is still a sky-high 121,373 contracts. I wouldn't read a lot into Wednesday's number, because in the grand scheme of things, small changes like this [even though their good changes] don't mean much when the overall open interest in both metals is where they are right now.”– From Ed Steer’s Gold & Silver Daily, read the full report here.

“For those interested in gold, keep $100/$1000 in mind. I believe these figures are the risk/reward for gold going forward. The downside worst case scenario is $1,000 and best upside potential is $2,000.

I became bullish on gold back in March of 2003 with gold not too far away from $300. I’ve maintained an aggressive position in it albeit on a few occasions calling for a serious correction. I believe while we’re in one of those corrections, gold remains in its greatest secular bull market ever.

I truly believe I’ve managed to stay on the right side for 9+ years because of two key reasons:

• I concluded a long time ago that the vast majority of people in and around the financial services community (including the media) will always be slanted against (and in many cases hate) gold because they make their livelihoods thanks to financial assets. Since gold goes against financial assets, gold itself is not their cup of tea.

• Despite my enthusiasm for gold, I’m not a gold bug. I don’t sleep with it under my mattress. I don’t hold candlelight vigils around it. I don’t believe the world is ending tomorrow, next week, etc. (It can’t end until the NY Jets are in the Super Bowl again and about to score the winning touchdown). To me, it’s just another asset class that just happens to have numerous bullish fundamentals that are supported by long-term technical chart patterns.

When you realize how slanted the vast majority of people are against gold doing well and how there’s also a small but boisterous group who love it more than life itself, the better you will be when trying to figure out where gold is heading. These factors will help you grasp how biases advice on gold really is from both sides of the playing field.

Let’s cut to the chase on why I remain very bullish long-term.

There are three key reasons why gold has done far better than most people thought possible (remember, my long-standing $1,200 price target was recently reached):

• Central Banks, who not too long ago only went one way on gold: sell, have become net buyers of gold. I can’t count the number of times just the threat of Central Bank sales or the actual occurrence would tank gold. It’s no coincidence that the first lessening of sales through the Washington Agreement and then actual net buying has been one of the key bullish factors.
• No industry in the whole world did more to cut off its nose to spite its face than the mining industry when it aggressively sold forward its production. Hedging  was such en vogue that Barrick Gold (American Barrick back then) became the darling of producers even though by selling most if not all your future production forward was essentially saying you didn’t believe (or want) a much higher gold price.
• Uncle Sam is no longer the world’s favorite uncle and hence his paper is no longer greatly favored. Since it still makes up about 68% of the world’s reserve currency, many key holders of this bulging supply of paper have sought out alternatives.”- Peter Grandich, Grandich Letter

“Dear CIGAs,

In remarks yesterday I mentioned that we would be watching to see at what point gold would shrug off its deleveraging carry trade pressure and begin trading as a safe haven asset of its own. It appears that we might have reached that point based on what I am seeing in today’s price action.

The Dollar is higher, particularly against the Euro (pressure is still coming from the Greece story) but gold was able to ignore that and attract buying on its own merits. That is particularly impressive given the sizeable down day yesterday for the yellow metal. One day does not a trend make however so we will need to see how the market reacts to all of this come next week.

The buyers showed up around the $1100 level and put up enough pressure to force some of the weaker shorts to cover. It could well be that the physical market sees value down here and if so, the shorts are going to have their work cut out for them.

Bonds, the safe haven asset of choice yesterday, were lower today as the schizophrenic trading continues.

About the Dollar, it is still working higher on good volume so one could argue from a technical perspective that it has a ways to run to the upside yet but because this time of the year is so tricky on account of book squaring and year-end positioning, I am hesitant to be too dogmatic about its prospects. Money gets slung around in the pits this time of year in large quantities with seemingly no meaning at times. That can generate some pretty good volume but the number has to be taken with some skepticism merely because it is related to closing out of positions on both sides.

Fundamentally, there is no reason to buy the Dollar unless you really believe that the Fed is going to raise interest rates (something which I personally do not) because you are faced with the hard reality of an ever increasing supply of the same versus reduced demand (I noticed yesterday that the New York Fed custodial accounts is worrisomely closing in on the $THREE TRILLION mark). That bodes for lower prices for the greenback as economic law tends to be axiomatic about that sort of thing. Technically it looks much better on the weekly chart with both the 10 week and 20 week moving averages turning upwards and price above both. I will have to see a weekly close above the downtrending 40 week moving average near the 79.50 level before I would become friendly towards it for the short term. Long term it is going lower, much lower.

Interesting enough, there were several commodity markets that were higher today even with the Dollar moving higher besides gold. Silver and copper were both up. Crude oil was up and even the soybean market moved higher. Cattle too were up so the carry trade unwind slowed down quite a bit in today’s session. Next week is going to be even more unpredictable as the pits thin out considerably.

I still have my eye on the lumber market and nothing I see in that tells me that anyone is expecting homebuilding to go GA-GA anytime soon. After shooting higher on index fund buying and managed money plays for what seemed like a “cheap” commodity, it has given up a large portion of those gains. Until lumber prices begin a bullish trend, the economy cannot be said to be improving. It may have bottomed out but that is a long way from saying it is going to enter a period of strong growth. It seems to me like that market is telling us that we are going to head sideways for some time. One thing is for sure – based on this market (lumber), there is not going to be any “V” shaped recovery. Looks to me more like the letter “L”, where the thing collapsed and then moved along a bottom for some time. We’ll see.

The gold shares have stabilized near the 420 level on the HUI and some of the daily technical indicators are at their respective oversold thresholds which will tend to reinforce any move higher that can punch through overhead resistance. Chart-wise that means the HUI needs to climb back above the 455 level to generate a buy signal.

I want to again reiterate what I wrote yesterday – Be careful about reading too much into market action at this time of the year. For many traders, 2009 is now a thing of the past as they head to the exits to take some time off before the New Year comes around. Frankly the thought of what awaits us in 2010 is very disturbing. What shoe will drop next is the fear that haunts me. How long can the little boy with the finger in the dike hold back the flood of consequences? I wish we had political leaders who were true statesmen, willing to sacrifice their own personal gain for the long term economic health and prosperity of our nation, but alas, those few that exist can only sound the alarm at this point and hope that enough of their fellow citizens will rally to their cause to demand the right policies for the sake of their children and grandchildren’s future.

Many of us who believe in honest money and thus are advocates of gold are contemptuously dismissed and sneered at by the elites as “gold bugs”. Contrary to the image that they have spun into existence, I do not want to see the Dollar collapse and head into decline. No nation can ever be great and prosperous with a weak currency. Find an example in history in which that has been the case and I will cede the point. The truth is however that we are faced with certain realities, the least of which is a ruling crowd who seems determined to follow the same policies and practices that have led to the inevitable decline of any nation or kingdom which has implement them. To ignore these facts or pretend as if they do not exist is not the fruit of wisdom. Wisdom goes hand in hand with prudence and the prudent man seeks out a refuge during a time of crisis. For many of us, that place of refuge is the “barbarous relic” from a bygone age – gold. When we get leaders who implement policies that are sound then we can leave our place of refuge. Until then, we wait and watch.”- Dan Norcini, More at JSMineset.com

GATA Posts:

Grandich sees $100 risk in gold against $1,000 reward

Miners may finally gain if gold price stabilizes high

The Statistics:

Activity from: 12/16/2009

Global Gold ETF Holdings

[WGC Sponsored ETF’s]

 Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The LSE subtracted 0.10 tonnes.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU) Total Tonnes in Trust: 81.77 - No change from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV) Total Tonnes in Trust: 9,514.35 - No change from yesterday’s data.

The Miners:

Almaden’s (AAU) closed financing, Anatolia’s (ANO.TO) named chief operating officer, Royal Gold’s (RGLD) plan of arrangement with International Royalty (ROY), Apollo’s (AGT) assay results, Great Panther’s (GPR.TO) name change, and Silvermex’s (SMR.V) assay results were among the big stories in the gold and silver mining industry making headlines Friday.

WINNERS

LOSERS

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

All of today's gold and silver stock news:

Royal Gold bids for Int'l Royalty, tops Franco bid - "U.S. mining royalty company Royal Gold (RGLD.O) has launched a white-knight C$749 million ($707 million) bid for Canada's International Royalty (IRC.TO), hoping to top a C$640 million offer by Franco Nevada (FNV.TO)." More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Ditem Explorations: Second and Final Closing for a Total of $820,000 - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Great Panther Resources Limited: Shareholders Approve Name Change to Great Panther Silver - "GREAT PANTHER RESOURCES LIMITED (TSX:GPR - News) (the "Company") is pleased to advise that shareholders overwhelmingly approved changing the Company's name from Great Panther Resources Limited to Great Panther Silver Limited at yesterday's Extraordinary General Meeting." More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Amendment to Schedule 13D: Altius Enters Into Lock-Up Agreement With Royal Gold in Connection With Royal Gold's Acquisition of IRC - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Sino Minerals Corp. Announces Purchase of Units of Silvore Fox Minerals Corp. - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Lions Gate Metals Inc. and Ausnico Limited Announce Business Combination - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Marathon Closes First Tranche of Non-Brokered Private Placement Flow-Through Financing - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Aurion Provides Corporate Update - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

G4G Resources Concludes Agreement to Acquire Geothermal Property in Salta Province, Argentina - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Gowest Completes $6,572,688 Private Placement - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Almaden Closes $2.6 Million Financing - "The non-brokered private placement was completed by the issuance of 3.06 million units ("Units") at $0.85 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share and a half non-transferable common share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will allow the holder to purchase one common share for a period of 24 months at a price of $1.40 per common share. A finder's fee of $150,450 in cash and 236,000 Finder's Warrant is payable. The Finder's Warrant entitles the finder to purchase the same number of Units at $0.85 per Unit, for a period of 24 months." More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Ecometals Announces Granting of Pedra Branca Gold License in Amapa, Brazil - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Yankee Hat Minerals Ltd.: Results of Annual General Meeting - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Azimut closes a $2,876,125 private financing - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Zinccorp Resources Inc. Samples 145 g/t Silver, 29.2% Zinc and 20.4% Lead in New Discovery 1.5 km from Nearest Known Zone - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Hana Mining Announces $4,000,000 Non-Brokered Private Placement - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Andina Trenching at Ojo de Agua East Encounters Widespread Mineralization, Including 25 Metres at 1.35 g/t Gold - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Golden Peaks Completes La Fortuna Title Transfer - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Conquest Resources Limited - Gold mineralization intersected in all six holes from drilling at Red Lake - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

GWR Focuses 100% on Copper-Gold - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

New Island Comments on Pine Cove Operations - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Pediment Gold Corp.: Initial Resource Estimates at La Colorada Contain 605,000 Gold Ounces in Measured + Indicated Category Plus an Additional 582,000 Ounces... - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Victoria Announces Grant of Stock Options - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Yorbeau Closes Second Tranche of Private Placement - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

EMC Metals announces completion of acquisition of The Technology Store, Inc. - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Freewest Obtains Interim Order for Plan of Arrangement With Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Anatolia names Stevenson Chief Operating Officer - "Anatolia Minerals Development Limited ("Anatolia" or the "Company") (TSX:ANO - News) is pleased to announce the promotion of Mr. Howard H. J. Stevenson to Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. In addition to his current corporate development role, Stevenson will now oversee all exploration, operations and mine development activities. Stevenson has more than 20 years of international experience in operating and corporate development roles at Gold Fields Ltd. and Meridian Gold, prior to joining Anatolia Minerals." More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Odyssey Announces Non-Brokered Private Placement and Drilling Campaign for FCI and Auclair Projects - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Nyah Resources Decides Not to Proceed With Russo Forest Transaction - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Cash Minerals and Nyah Resources Terminate Agreement for Purchase and Sale of the Agnew Lake Properties - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Savant Completes its Initial Drill Program on the Vinata Property, Mexico - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Superior Strikes $10,000,000 Earn in Agreement on Mangalisa Property - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

JNR/Altius Discover Rare Earth Metals and Uranium-Thorium Mineralization at Topsails - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Caribou Copper Resources Limited Announces Results From Fall Drilling Program - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Anaconda Announces $2.5 Million Debenture Offering - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Golden Minerals Announces Additional El Quevar Drill Results and Initial Drill Results for Panuco Project - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Cardero Receiving Final USD 88 Million For Pampa De Pongo Iron Ore Deposit, Peru - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Canadian Zinc Corporation: Vatukoula Gold Mine Quarterly Operations Update - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Gold Resource Corporation Closes $16 Million Private Placement With Hochschild Mining to Accelerate Underground Development - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Positive Results From Soil Sampling Program at Yukon Properties - More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Silvermex Reports Underground Sampling Assays. Highlights Include: 2m of 41.0 g/t Gold, 123.0 g/t Silver and 6.4% Base Metals - "Silvermex Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:SMR - News) (the "Company" or "Silvermex") is pleased to announce the previously unreported results of a detailed underground channel sampling program of the historic Plomosas-La Cruz Mine completed by the previous owner in 2008. This information was derived as Silvermex continues to examine and analyze vast amounts of data compiled from past exploration programs at the Rosario project." More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

International Royalty Corporation enters into arrangement agreement with Royal Gold, Inc. - "International Royalty Corporation (TSX: IRC, NYSE-A:ROY) ("IRC") today announced that it has entered into an arrangement agreement with Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ: RGLD; TSX:RGL) ("Royal Gold") pursuant to which Royal Gold has agreed to acquire, directly or indirectly, by way of a court-approved plan of arrangement (the "Arrangement"), all of the issued and outstanding common shares of IRC." More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Royal Gold and International Royalty Corporation Announce Plan of Arrangement - "ROYAL GOLD, INC. (NASDAQ:RGLD - News) (TSX:RGL - News) and INTERNATIONAL ROYALTY CORPORATION (“IRC”) (TSX:IRC - News) (NYSE-A:ROY) today announced that they have entered into an agreement to undertake a Plan of Arrangement (“Arrangement”) whereby Royal Gold, through its wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary, and with the unanimous support of IRC’s management and board of directors, will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of IRC." More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

Apollo Gold Announces Additional Assay Results for its Grey Fox Drilling Program and Commences Drilling at Pike River - "Apollo Gold Corporation ("Apollo" or “we’) (TSX: APG - News) (NYSE Amex: AGT) is pleased to provide an update on the 2009 drilling program in progress on its Grey Fox property. This year’s drilling at Grey Fox follows up the drilling program of 16 holes completed and released by Apollo in 2008. The 2009 drilling program commenced in August of 2009 and to date 53 holes have been completed. Assay results were released on the first 17 holes (GF09-17 through GF09-34) in previous press releases. Apollo is pleased to provide assay information on another six drill holes (GF09-35 through GF09-40) which are shown on Table One. The location and description of the drill holes are shown on Figure One and Table One." More
- December 18, 2009 | Item | E-mail

- Chris Mullen, Gold Seeker Report

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