Strengths
· The best performing precious metal for the week was palladium, 0.41 percent. Centerra Gold is set to buy Aurico Metals for $1.80 per cash share for a 38-percent purchase price premium on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Centerra currently holds more than $350 million in cash and has now secured a $125 million acquisition facility, according to Bloomberg.
· Gold prices rose after Saudi Arabia said a recent attempted missile strike at Riyadh’s airport could be an act of war by Iran. Additionally, Turkish investors are continuing to buy gold with demand expected to reach the highest since 2013.
· According to Google Trends, global searches for “buy bitcoin” have overtaken “buy gold” demonstrating a surge in popularity of the cryptocurrency. However, the BullionVault Gold Investor Index edged slightly higher to 54.6, demonstrating the number of buyers is higher than sellers.
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· The worst performing precious metal for the week was platinum, down 0.82 percent. Due to platinum’s primary use in internal combustion engines, the metal could be among the biggest losers from electrical vehicle growth, reports Mining Review. The World Gold Council said it’s a tough quarter for gold as prices weakened in September and October. Global gold demand fell 9 percent in the third quarter as investor buying slowed and regulations in India tightened, reports Eddie van der Walt.
· Torex Gold reported a peaceful strike at their ELG Mine as workers demand a change in labor union. The company also announced an unexpected loss for the third quarter at $0.18 per share rather than the estimated loss of $0.01 per share.
· Eldorado Gold moved its Skouries projects into care and maintenance state as legal action begins on three lawsuits. The company seeks protection against the Ministry’s failure to issue routine installation permits, writes Allison Saunders of Bloomberg.
· Kirkland Lake Gold announced a 120 meter down-plunge of the swan zone where the company identified high grade drill results of 52.1 g/t gold over 7.15 meters.
· Lumina Gold Corporation reported positive findings from its gold-copper project in El Oro Province of southern Ecuador where gold doubled from 4.0 to 8.8 million ounces at a grade of 0.65 grams per ton.
· AlGold Resources Limited carried out additional drilling on its Tijrit property in Mauritania which extended the width of the mineralization and added significant gold. The results demonstrate a high-grade finding of 6.14 g/t gold over 4 meters. Orca Gold received ministerial approval for its acquisition of the Kinross Cote d’Ivoire property portfolio.
· Gold consumption in the world’s second biggest importer, India, is on track to hit a seven-year low after tax and regulatory changes dampened demand, according to the World Gold Council. Indian gold imports were also down 31 percent last month from the previous year. Factors hampering demand include increased purity standard, revised anti-money laundering act and an uneven monsoon season hurting income.
· Demand for gold jewelry in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is likely to fall after rising briefing, as the countries are set to impose a valued added tax in January, reports Claudia Carpenter. In Saudi Arabia, demand slumped 9 percent due to weak oil prices and rising cost of gold jewelry.
· Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan does not see the proposed Republican tax plan as a major factor in expanding the economy, writes Scott Lanman. Greenspan does however support reducing corporate tax rates to 20 percent, which would bring the United States “back to neutral as far as our relative competitiveness around the world is concerned.”
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