Gold Seeker Closing Report: Gold and Silver Erase Early Losses and End About 1% Higher

	Close	Gain/Loss
Gold	$1107.40	+$10.40
Silver	$16.09	+$0.20
XAU	160.00	+2.95%
HUI	400.76	+3.05%
GDM	1200.21	+2.98%
JSE Gold	2159.55	+6.96
USD	80.69	-0.11
Euro	135.57	+0.17
Yen	112.28	+1.38
Oil	$78.17	-$1.83
10-Year	3.642%	-0.053
T-Bond	118.40625	+0.6875
Dow	10321.03	-0.51%
Nasdaq	2234.22	-0.08%
S&P	1102.94	-0.21%

Gold fell almost 1% to trade at around $1090 in Asia and London, but it then stormed back higher midday in New York and ended near its late session high of $1109.19 with a gain of 0.95%. Silver followed a similar pattern and ended near its late session high of $16.14 with a gain of 1.26%.

Euro gold climbed to about €819, platinum gained $18 to $1524, and copper fell 4 cents to about $3.20.

Gold and silver equities erased the nearly 2% losses seen at the open, climbed to see over 3% gains by early afternoon, and remained near their highs into the close.

Report	For	Reading	Expected	Previous
Initial Claims	2/20	496K	460K	474K
Durable Orders	Jan	3.0%	1.5%	1.9%
Durable Goods - Ex Trans.	Jan	-0.6%	1.0%	2.0%
FHFA Housing Price Index	Dec	-1.6%	0.4%	0.4%

Tomorrow at 8:30AM EST brings fourth quarter GDP expected at 5.7%. The Chain Deflator is expected at 0.6%. At 9:45 is Chicago PMI for February expected at 59.7, at 9:55 is Michigan Sentiment for February expected at 73.9, and at 10AM is the Existing Home Sales report for January expected at 5,500,000.

Oil fell back below $80 a barrel, treasuries rose, and the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P fell rather markedly on worries over Greece and the economy after Moody’s Investors Service said it may cut Greece’s debt rating and Initial Jobless Claims came in much higher than expected. The U.S. dollar index erased early gains and ended slightly lower.

Among the big names making news in the market today were Heinz, Safeway, Kohl’s, Coca-Cola, Blackstone, and Palm.

“The CME Delivery Report today is for the last trading day in the February contract... tomorrow. It showed that 96 gold and zero silver contracts will be delivered on that day [Friday]. For the month of February there were 5,946 gold contracts delivered in total... 594,600 troy ounces of the stuff. In silver, there were 930 contracts delivered... which is 4,650,000 ounces. This may not sound like much but, in actual fact, it's a huge number... as February is not a traditional delivery month. Several years back, 50 or 100 contracts delivered in a non-delivery month would have been a lot... so you can see how things have changed. When I report the first day notice numbers for silver in March [which is a delivery month] in my Friday commentary... it's highly likely that more silver will be posted for delivery on Monday, March 1st... than all of February combined. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph, there are still 22,545 contracts open for March. If you multiply that number by 5,000 ounces/contract, it comes to more than all the silver currently sitting on the Comex. That's why that number has to decline precipitously as time passes... because if all these contract holders stood for delivery... there would be a massive Comex default and a silver price beyond the orbit of Mars... or maybe even Jupiter.”– From Ed Steer’s Gold & Silver Daily, read the full report here.

You have to be really impressed by gold’s performance today. It had three, no, make that four, strikes against it. First, the equity markets dropped sharply. Second, bonds ran strongly higher in a flight to safety. Thirdly, the Dollar was marginally higher. Fourthly, crude oil dropped nearly $3.00 barrel while copper was hit hard. In other words, all of the usual deflation trades were back on today with investors/traders moving towards the risk aversion plays. Yet, gold refused to break down and around mid morning began climbing back into positive territory. At the same time, the mining shares also moved well of their lows helping to further confirm the strength at the Comex. As the session wore on, gold gained more upside momentum closing the pit session trade just off its best level of the day.

The price action in gold indicates that it is trading on its own merits for at least today and acting like the proverbial safe haven that it has always been historically. The fund algorithms have seriously distorted this role recently because those computer generated trades just jettison nearly everything in sight when their set of various inputs signal sells. The notion that gold is a “risky” asset that should get sold during such times when risk is being avoided contradicts history yet that is exactly what has tended to occur with the metal particularly when equities were being sold off. Remember, these computer generated trades are just that, “computer generated”. As such they are generally not selective but are rather quite indiscriminate as there is no human thinking or analysis involved. All that these infernal things are designed to do is to front run other orders coming in or jam prices higher or lower in the pursuit of ultra short term profits. That is what makes today’s move higher in gold so telling. Someone is buying in sufficient size to absorb any algorithm selling along with the usual bullion bank price capping efforts.

That brings me to the Dollar – it continues to gain at the expense of the Euro, the Swiss Franc, and the British Pound (read that as Europe land) as it is winning by default rather than any bullish scenario. Even at that, I keep mentioning its deteriorating price chart. The bearish divergence continues to show itself and momentum is waning but the bears just cannot seem to break it down technically. We will need to watch the 80 level on the USDX to see if the shorts can knock it below there. If so, they have a legitimate shot at taking it down to 79.75 where a large number of technical sell stop orders are waiting. With the kind of strength gold has been demonstrating by its refusal to break down, a technical sell off in the Dollar should easily allow gold to break through the barrier erected at $1,130. We will have to wait and see how things develop.

I mentioned yesterday that the bulls in the mining sector need to hold the line near the 390 level in the HUI to prevent a move down towards the 375 level. They are digging in admirably this morning but will still need to push the shares high enough to move the index back above the 405 level to generate increased nervousness among the shorts, who have got to be disappointed that they could not build on yesterday’s downside momentum. They were certainly running to cover this morning once price took out yesterday’s high. Support in the HUI lies at today’s low near 380 with stronger support at 375.

The long bond is back above the major moving averages climbing above the resistance barrier corresponding to the 20 day moving average having flipped the technical indicators back to the buy side. We will need to see how they act the next few sessions to see if they too are ranging. As you can probably tell by now, there are not a lot of these major markets that are trending right now in the short term but are rather bouncing back and forth in a range trade as players try to figure out what is next (inflation or deflation).”- Dan Norcini, More at JSMineset.com

Note: Change in Total Tonnes from yesterday’s data: The JSE subtracted 1.1 tonnes.

COMEX Gold Trust (IAU) Total Tonnes in Trust: 77.44 - No change from yesterday’s data.

Silver Trust (SLV) Total Tonnes in Trust: 9,446.40 - No change from yesterday’s data.

Anatolia’s (ANO.TO) drill results, Northern Dynasty’s (NAK) work program, Great Basin’s (GBG) fourth quarter results, Richmont’s (RIC) fourth quarter results, Newmont’s fourth quarter results and increase in gold reserves, South American Silver’s (SAC.TO) discovery, Coeur’s (CDE) fourth quarter results, Kimber’s (KBX) drilling plans, and Sabina’s (SBB.V) exploration program 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.

Assay Results From Big Hammer - Gold-Silver-Tellurium - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Evolving Gold Intersects High Grade Gold in Multiple Zones at its Carlin, Nevada Project - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Evolving Gold Corp. - Claim Made by Director - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Jet Acquires Rare Metals - Gold-Silver-Tellurium (Au-Ag-Te) - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Vena Resources Announces 2010 Development Program for Azulcocha - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Andean American Announces Updated Underground - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Northern Superior Initiates Diamond Drill and Ground Geophysical Program, Wachigabau Gold Property, Quebec - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Nautilus Confirms Recent SMS Discoveries in Papua New Guinea with Assays - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Gold Canyon Commences Drilling at Its Springpole Gold Project - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

South American Silver Corp. Discovers New High-Grade Silver-Gold-Indium Vein System at Malku Khota in Bolivia - "South American Silver Corp. (TSX:SAC - News)("SASC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the discovery of a potentially significant new high grade silver-gold-indium vein system at Malku Khota that may join the highly mineralized Wara Wara and Sucre Zones. The importance of this new discovery is that the area between these two zones was previously classified as unmineralized material due to a lack of drilling in the area and is now shown to include a well mineralized silver-gold-indium vein system." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Update on Yorbeau's 2010 Drilling Program at the Rouyn Property - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Newstrike & Queenston JV Report Kirkland Lake Results and Expand Drilling Program - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Terra Ventures Inc.: Hathor Intersects Off-Scale Radioactivity in Seven Holes at Roughrider Zone East - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Acadian Mining intersects 41.0 meters grading 1.15 g/t gold including 8 meters grading 3.93 g/t gold at Beaver Dam, Nova Scotia - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Galway reports high grade results as grades and strike lengths improve at El Volcan - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Philex Gold Inc.: Announcement - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Environmental Authorization Reinstated for First Uranium's MWS Future Tailings Storage Facility - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Conquest: Start of First Deep Hole at Alexander Property, Red Lake, Ontario - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Vior: Shares Issued to Fonds de Solidarite FTQ - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Hathor Intersects Off-Scale Radioactivity in Seven Holes at Roughrider Zone East - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

International PBX Ventures Ltd.: Copaquire Drill Program Update - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Oriental Minerals Becomes Woulfe Mining Corp., Rebirth of the Company - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

First Gold Begins a 7,500-Metre Drilling Program on its Lac Pivert/Rose Lithium and Rare Metals Property - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Severstal Increases Stake in Crew Gold Corporation and to Make Cash Offer to Shareholders - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Victoria Gold Corp. Reports Another Exceptional Gold Intersection from the Santa Fe Project - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Galahad Metals Inc.: Drilling to Start on Montrose Gold - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Christopher James Gold Corp. Signs Agreement on Hayes Canyon Epithermal Gold-Silver Project in Nevada - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Diamond drilling at Golden Ridge intersects multiple high grade veins from Alturas mine - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Abbastar Commences Drilling on Talbot Lake Gold Project, Ontario - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Canadian Arrow Commences Phase II Nickel, PGM Exploration Drill Program - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Argentex drill results reveal silver-rich grades at Pinguino - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Brazilian Gold Reports Drill Assays From The Doze de Outubro Property In The Tapajos Mineral Province of Northern Brazil - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Everton and Linear: Updated Assays Show High Grade, Near Surface Silver Values at Spanish Pit, 764 g/t and the Newly Discovered Pon Hill, 410 g/t at La Lechosa - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Highland Finalizes Airborne Survey on Humboldt Bay Property in the Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Belt - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

First Lithium Options Nevada Lithium Target - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Orvana Announces the Appointment of Roland Horst as Chief Executive Officer - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Crosshair Intersects 0.21% Vanadium Over 72 Metres - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Midland Exploration and North American Palladium Identify Several New Gold and Copper Targets on the Laflamme Property - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Amseco Exploration Ltd.: Start of Ground Exploration in the Urban-Barry Gold Camp, Quebec - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Nortec Minerals Engages Torrey Hills Capital as Investor Relations Consultants - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Alto Channel Samples 3.36 g/t Gold Across 5.0 Metres at Miner Lake, Beardmore-Geraldton Gold Belt, Ontario, Provides Beardmore Update - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Bridgeport Ventures Inc. to Commence Drilling on its Rosario, Tamara, Soesmi and Simonetta Properties March 1, 2010 - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Armistice Resources Retains Wertheim + Company For Investor and Corporate Relations - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Lundin Mining Releases 2009 Fourth Quarter Results - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Tiomin Signs Sale Agreement for Kenya Assets - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Marathon PGM Corporation - Geordie Lake Drilling Showing Strong Grades - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Iberian Minerals to Present at BMO Capital Markets 2010 Global Metals & Mining - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Sunridge Gold Expands Mineralization at the Debarwa Deposit, Asmara Project, Eritrea - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Malbex Provides Fiscal 2010 Q1 Update - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Crocodile Gold Intersects 5.15 g/t Au Over 22m at Cosmo-Doubles Strike Length and Indicates Potential at Depth-Resource Potentially Larger - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

VVC Exploration Options Cumeral Gold Property - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Anglo Swiss Resources Inc. Completes Nelson Mining Camp Property Acquisitions - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Radisson Mining Grants Incentive Options - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

DPM Signs Definitive Agreement with Weatherly International for the Acquisition of Namibian Smelter Assets - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Spanish Mountain Announces Closing of Financing - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Louvem Mines Reports Its Fourth Quarter and Year End Results for 2009 - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Purepoint Uranium Group Inc: United Uranium Discontinues Red Willow Claim - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Capstone Mining Presentation at the BMO Capital Markets Global Metals & Mining Conference - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Sunergy Commences Due Diligence on a New 57 sq. km. Full Prospecting Licensed Mining Concession, Located 25 Miles NE of Nyinahin Along the Offin River, in Ghana - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Orosur Mining Inc.: Commencement of Pantanillo Drill Program; Award of Arenal Deeps Feasibility Study; Appointment of General Manager for San Gregorio - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

AuEx Ventures, Inc.: Santa Cruz, Argentina-Initial Drill Results and Exploration Update - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Formation Metals Begins Construction of Idaho Cobalt Project - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

AuEx Ventures, Inc.: Hays Canyon Agreement Signed With Christopher James Gold - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

American Manganese Hires COO for Manganese Project Development - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Cloudbreak Announces Results of 2009 Soil Sampling in White Gold District-Several Anomalous Areas Identified - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Stillwater Mining Reports 2009 Results - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Ivernia Announces Restart of Magellan Mine Processing Plant and Provides 2010 Production Guidance - More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Coeur Reports All-Time Record Annual Silver Production and Largest Silver Reserves in Company's History - "The Company reported a net loss of $31.9 million, or ($0.44) per share, for the full year 2009, compared to a net loss of $0.6 million, or ($0.01) per share in 2008. Included in the 2009 full year net loss are $82.7 million, before tax, of non-cash mark-to-market adjustments the Company is required to make each period primarily due to changes in metals prices." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Anatolia completes 2009 sulfide drilling on a high note - "Anatolia Minerals Development Limited ("Anatolia" or the "Company") (TSX:ANO - News) announces final results from the 2009 sulfide exploration program at the Çöpler Gold Project that was concluded in January of this year. A map is posted to Anatolia's website (http://www.anatoliaminerals.com/). The 2009 drilling program totaled 12,109 meters. This is the fourth and final release of results for this program, with previous announcements made November 17, December 7, 2009 and February 10, 2010." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Kimber to commence drilling at the Pericones silver project - "Kimber Resources Inc. (NYSE Amex:KBX, TSX:KBR) announces that drilling is set to commence during March 2010 on the 100 percent owned Pericones silver project in Southern Mexico. The initial core drilling program is expected to be in the range of 2,500 to 3,000 metres and will be focused on the Plaza de Gallos area of Pericones, where previous surface and underground sampling returned significant silver values." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Sabina to Spend $25 Million on Nunavut Exporation - "Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. (TSX:SBB - News) is pleased to announce the exploration program and budget for its Nunavut precious metals projects. Camps are currently being opened and provisioned with drilling scheduled to commence on or about March 15, 2010." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Pebble Limited Partnership Initiates US $73 Million Work Program for 2010 - "Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (TSX: NDM; NYSE Amex: NAK) announces that the Pebble Limited Partnership ("PLP" or the "Pebble Partnership") Board of Directors has approved program expenditures up to $72.9 million at the Pebble Project in 2010, with the goals of working towards finalizing a Prefeasibility Study (PFS) and preparing the Pebble Project for permitting in 2011." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Great Basin Provides Fourth Quarter Operational and Financial Update - "Great Basin incurred an estimated loss of CDN$0.03 per share for the fourth quarter as compared to CDN$0.05 per share for the quarter ended September 30, 2009. Year-on-year, the loss per share decreased from CDN$0.40 per share in 2008 to CDN$0.16 cents per share in 2009. The cost reduction program initiated in October 2008 resulted in decreased expenditures for exploration, pre-development and administration. The Company had working capital of $92 million on December 31, 2009 of which $89 million is cash and cash equivalents." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Richmont Mines Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2009 Results and Updates Reserve and Resource Estimates - "Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $17.1 million, down from last year's very strong $22.9 million. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $0.11 million, or $0.00 per share, compared with the $2.1 million, or $0.09 per share earned in the fourth quarter of 2008. Total precious metals revenue declined $5.7 million, or 27%, to $15.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 compared with $21.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2008." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Newmont Reports 8% Increase in Equity Gold Reserves to 91.8 Million Ounces; Details 2010 Exploration Funding and Opportunities - "Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM - News) ("Newmont" or "the Company") today reported 2009 equity gold reserves of 91.8 million ounces, an 8% increase over 2008, and equity copper reserves of 9.1 billion pounds, a 17% increase over 2008." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

Newmont Reports Record Operating Cash Flow of $2.9 Billion and Adjusted Net Income(1) of $1.4 Billion ($2.79 per Share) in 2009 - "Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM - News) ("Newmont" or "the Company") today announced record operating cash flow of $2.9 billion and adjusted net income of $1.4 billion ($2.79 per share) in 2009 on record revenues of $7.7 billion from equity gold sales of 5.3 million ounces at costs applicable to sales of $417 per ounce. Â Record revenues of $2.5 billion were generated in the fourth quarter, with $1.0 billion in operating cash flow generated on equity gold sales of 1.5 million ounces at costs applicable to sales of $413 per ounce." More
- February 25, 2010 | Item | ShareThis

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