Gold on Track For Highest Levels in 7 Years

Financialnewsmedia.com News Commentary

PALM BEACH, Florida, June 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Gold typically performs well during flights from risk assets, and has seen upside momentum as a result of global concern over the potential economic fallout from the new coronavirus. Having recently surpassed the key $1,600 mark, gold prices are flirting with a seven-year high as investors continue to shore up their positions amid the world health crisis outbreak. It recently hit its highest settle since March 27, 2013, when gold settled at $1,606.2/oz. and the recent surge should continue despite positive momentum seen in global stock markets. In a recent article on CNBC.com James Gerrish, portfolio manager at Sydney-based Shaw and Partners, attributed the gold rally to strategic portfolio hedging rather than a direct response to the virus.  "While interest rates are low, you need to own stocks so you need to go out there and invest your money, but you also need to have a hedge, an alternative if things don't go so well, and I think that is why gold is benefiting as a consequence of that," he told CNBC's "Capital Connection".   Active stocks mentioned in today's commentary include:  Ridgestone Mining Inc. (TSX-V: RMI) (OTCQB: RIGMF), GR Silver Mining Ltd. (OTCQB: GRSLF) (TSX-V: GRSL), Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) (TSX:AEM), Gold Fields Limited (NYSE: GFI), B2Gold Corp. (NYSE: BTG) (TSX: BTO).

"It is probably not benefitting from actual Chinese demand at this point in time, so I think it is more about portfolio positioning."  Citi also recently upgraded its six-to-12 month price target for gold to $1,700/oz and upgraded its 2020 base case average gold price forecast from $1,575 to $1,640/oz.  Citi commodity strategists also projected fresh nominal highs of $2,000/oz to be breached in the next 12 to 24 months.  "The set-up in gold options markets and call skew is reminiscent of 2010/2011, when gold last traded to $1,800-1,900/oz," the note said.  "Meanwhile, gold net long positioning — when normalized for the expanded asset base — is at only half the levels of the 2011 peak."

Ridgestone Mining Inc. (TSX-V: RMI) (OTCQB: RIGMF) (FSE: 4U5) BREAKING NEWS - Ridgestone Announces Completion of Drill Program - Ridgestone Mining ("Ridgestone") is pleased to announce that further to its May 27th press release, a maiden drill program has been completed on the New Year Zone, one of many prospective targets within its wholly-owned Rebeico Gold-Copper project in Sonora, Mexico. Ridgestone's 35 sq. km Rebeico Project is located in the Sierra Madre Mineral Belt which hosts numerous significant precious and base metals deposits.

Highlights:

• Maiden drill program at the New Year Zone completed for a total of 1,674 metres of diamond drilling in 11 holes, expanded from a planned 1,500-metre, 10-hole program.
• Nine of the holes drilled were designed to test the sub-surface geometry of gold-copper mineralization identified from 2019 surface sampling of the New Year Zone, with two holes targeting its projected junction with the southern portion of the Alaska vein (see Figure 1).
• Core samples are being submitted to ALS in Hermosillo for analysis and results from the first six holes are expected in the coming weeks.

The maiden drill program commenced on March 16th. However, due to precautionary regulations implemented by the Mexican Government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not completed until early June. The program initially contemplated 1,500 metres in 10 holes but was expanded to a total of 1,674 metres in 11 holes, as visual evidence of mineralization was observed in drill core.

Samples are being submitted for analysis by ALS and results from the first six holes are expected in the coming weeks.

The New Year Zone diamond-drill core program was completed by Layne de Mexico under the guidance of Steve Weiss (Chief Technical Advisor) and Jonathan George (CEO), with onsite supervision by geologists from Ridgestone's partner YQ Gold. Drill core was transported daily from the drill sites to a secure logging and sample storage area. After logging by geologists, intervals selected for sampling were sawed in half lengthwise. The ½-core samples were placed in pre-numbered sample bags and weighed. Blanks and certified reference material samples were inserted into the sample stream for Quality Assurance / Quality Control ("QA/QC") purposes, and transported to ALS Chemex ("ALS") preparation laboratory in Hermosillo, Sonora. After preparation, sample pulps will be air-freighted by ALS to their assay laboratory in North Vancouver, British Columbia.

Mr. Steven I. Weiss, PhD, CPG is the independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.  Read this full release more news for Ridgestone Mining by visiting:  https://www.ridgestonemining.com/news-releases/2020/       

In other mining news of note:

GR Silver Mining Ltd. (OTCQB: GRSLF) (TSX-V: GRSL) recently announced drill results at its 100%-owned Plomosas Silver Project ("Plomosas Project") in Sinaloa, Mexico . These results are located in the Plomosas Mine Area, one of six priority areas with a combination of recent (2016 to 2018) and historical drill data being released by the Company.

These drill hole results show high-grade silver and gold mineralized zones outside of the previously mined polymetallic (Pb-Zn-Ag-Au) mineralization in the Plomosas Mine Area. The Au-Ag enriched veins and breccias occur in vertical and shallow-dipping fault zones on the footwall and hanging wall of the existing polymetallic mineralized zone, revealing potential extensions for a future resource estimation. The results also confirm the continuity of the polymetallic mineralized zone down dip and along strike outside the previously mined areas. The drill section discussed in this news release is a step-out section, 400 m north (Figure 1) of drill holes reported in the previous news release.

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) (TSX:AEM) recently reported a quarterly net loss of $21.6 million, or net loss of $0.09 per share, for the first quarter of 2020.  This result includes non-cash foreign currency translation losses on deferred tax liabilities of $44.2 million ($0.18 per share), mark-to-market derivative losses on financial instruments of $22.1 million ($0.09 per share), non-cash foreign currency translation losses of $3.8 million ($0.02 per share), costs relating to the temporary suspension of operations of $2.3 million ($0.01 per share) and various other adjustments of $5.2 million($0.02 per share).  Excluding these items would result in adjusted net income¹ of $56.0 million or $0.23 per share for the first quarter of 2020.  For the first quarter of 2019, the Company reported net income of $37.0 million or $0.16 per share.  -  Included in the first quarter of 2020 net loss, and not adjusted above, is a non-cash stock option expense of $6.6 million ($0.03 per share).  -  In the first quarter of 2020, cash provided by operating activities increased to $163.4 million ($204.8 million before changes in non-cash components of working capital), as compared with the first quarter of 2019 when cash provided by operating activities was $148.7 million ($170.8 million before changes in non-cash components of working capital).

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE: GFI) recently published its Integrated Annual Report 2019 (IAR) and a number of associated reports on its website.   These are the statutory Annual Financial Report 2019 (AFR), including the Governance Report, containing the audited separate and consolidated financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2019, the 2019 Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Supplement, Gold Fields' Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Content Index 2019 and Gold Fields' 2019 Climate Change Report. These audited results contain no modifications to the financial results published on 12 February 2020.  The suite of reports and full media release are available on the company's website www.goldfields.com

B2Gold Corp. (NYSE: BTG) (TSX: BTO) recently announced that its Board of Directors has declared a cash dividend for the second quarter of 2020 of $0.02 per share, payable on July 7, 2020 to shareholders of record as of June 23, 2020. All dollar figures are in United States Dollars unless otherwise indicated.

As part of the long-term strategy to maximize shareholder value, B2Gold expects to declare future quarterly dividends at the same level which will increase the Company's annual dividend from $0.04 per share to $0.08 per share. This dividend is designated as an "eligible dividend" for the purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada). Dividends paid by B2Gold to shareholders outside Canada (non-resident investors) will be subject to Canadian non-resident withholding taxes. 

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