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Platinum may emerge hotter than gold, silver
2009-09-22 11:00:00
http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Platinum-may-emerge-hotter-than-gold-silver-21324-2-1.html
By Jessica Mead
With gold’s sudden surge stealing both the headlines and the market’s attention, it is very easy to forget that there are markets in other precious metals. For spread betters looking to move beyond the realms of gold to something altogether rarer and more unique, platinum currently offers a wealth of opportunities.
One of the scarcest precious metals on the planet it is estimated that new mine production is only about 210 tonnes per year. The price of platinum has suffered during the financial crisis because of the global reduction in manufacturing and investors’ lack of enthusiasm for metals.
Back in May 2008, an ounce of platinum would have set you back more than $2,200. Today it is trading at near one-year highs of $1,330, having dropped as low as $732.50 on 28 October 2008 as investors moved out of risky commodities towards perceived safe havens such as gold and US Treasuries.
And last week, the chief financial officer of Stillwater Mining, North America’s largest platinum group metals producer, told Reuters in an interview that the worst was over for platinum and that the price has now bottomed out and should rise significantly over the next two to three years as economic recovery boosts investor demand.
Although demand currently remains depressed for the precious metal, its industrial uses in the automotive industry and in electrical components mean that there is likely to be a demand-led recovery in the price of platinum as the fragile global manufacturing sector starts to exit recession.
Platinum is most commonly used by the automotive industry in catalytic converters, which help clean exhaust fumes. Admittedly, the last 12 months have seen car manufacturers suffer and in the case of General Motors even file for bankruptcy, which has had a subsequent negative impact on the price of platinum.
But in the near-term, government stimulus programmes encouraging consumers to replace their old cars will give the auto industry and its platinum suppliers a much-needed boost. Equally, mid-income developing countries such as China and India are expecting demand for private vehicles to surge as the population becomes wealthier.
Furthermore, with the future expected to be a much greener one and legislation on the way to reduce cars’ carbon emissions, the need for catalytic converters is only going to grow and platinum demand is unlikely to falter.
Also boosting the precious metal is the current weakness in the US dollar, which is making dollar-denominated assets very attractive to foreign buyers.
DOLLAR WEAKNESS
Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index, says: “The US Dollar index has recently bounced from support at 76 and as a result investors were quick to cash in their profits in platinum and other metals last Friday. Dollar weakness will need to continue if platinum prices are likely to reach more upside from these levels.”
However, he warns that prices also remain at risk from bouts of profit-taking, having risen over 80 per cent in the last 11 months and recently reached new one-year highs.
Platinum is a notoriously volatile commodity and continued doubts about the recovery in the manufacturing sector could see its price quickly slip back down.
Spread betters looking to go long on the precious metal as a play on its relative scarcity and on the economic recovery will find platinum spread bets available with all the major providers, with the futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) as the underlying contract for the spread bet.
IG Index is offering contracts on the two nearest quarters – October 2009 and January 2010 with a spread of three basis points and a minimum bet of £10. Trading is almost 24 hours – with a 45 minute break between 10.15 and 11pm GMT. This is good news if you are a part-time spread better trading only in the evenings. GFT offers much the same, also with a spread of three basis points and a margin requirement of 5 per cent.
But remember that all of these spread bets are based on futures contracts, so they will expire every quarter. Normally, your spread betting provider will roll your position into the next quarter’s contract, but the price can see some movement and volatility ahead of expiry – something to both take advantage of and be aware of at the same time.
Gold might be the commodity hitting the headlines at the moment, but other precious metals have plenty of shine, too.
Amazing! Volume is off from Friday's but still above the daily average and in line with what we saw on Weds/Thurs last week. We have seen this kind of action repeatedly on the way up over the last few weeks where the stock gets sold down intraday only to recover and form a white candle by the close. Today opened at the low and it was up from there to close at yet another new all-time high.
what do you read of today's chart? It's kinda like someone's shaking a tree to pick up some of the skiddish investors' shares.
That's for sure. Extremely rich rock there. Don't know if you saw this...
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=41184149
this is interesting..
"Ultra high grades of PGE's, platinum (over 400 g/t) and palladium (over 700 g/t) were assayed in iron-oxide rich breccias and the WMZ exhibits high overall PGE/gold."
RE:
Colossus Minerals Drills 4.15 Metres @ 8.04 g/t Gold, 154.5 g/t Platinum and 245.8 g/t Palladium in Serra Pelada Western Mineral
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 09/03/09 -- Colossus Minerals Inc. ("Colossus") (TSX: CSI) is pleased to announce that the Company has successfully confirmed a new mineralized horizon called the Western Mineralised Zone ("WMZ") during its Phase II drilling program on the Serra Pelada Project, the Colossus-COOMIGASP joint venture located in Para State, Brazil.
HIGHLIGHTS- SPC-012 intersected
4.15 metres at 8.04 g/t gold, 154.5 g/t platinum and 245.8 g/t palladium,
including
2.0 metres at 14.05 g/t gold, 304.6 g/t platinum and 488.5 g/t palladium- Ultra high-grades of platinum and palladium are hosted mainly by iron
oxide-rich breccias with associated siliceous and haematitic-argillic
alteration- The Phase II drilling results indicate a shallowly dipping and plunging
mineralised zone (the Western Mineralised Zone) outside the Central
Mineralised Zone, along at least 50m strike length, open to the northeast,
southwest and laterally
DETAILS
Drill-holes SPC-011 and SPC-012 (Colossus Phase II drill program) were pre-collared by reverse circulation to depths of 112 to 118m. Diamond "tails" below the pre-collars were then drilled for a total of 198m of HQ-core. Drilling was focused 120 to 150m to the west of Central Mineralised Zone, to the west of and under the historical Serra Pelada open pit. The prime target, the newly recognised Western Mineralized Zone ('WMZ'), is localised around the shallowly dipping siltstone-sandstone contact on the shallowly dipping lower limb of the northwest-facing, southwest-plunging, reclined synclinorium that plunges gently southwest from the historical open pit. The WMZ is characterised by strong siliceous- and haematitic-argillic alteration and iron oxide-rich breccias. Other targets in SPC-011 and SPC-012 included mineralisation in the siltstones and also in the sandstones below the siltstones. See Sections 450NE and 400NE and others plus a plan view of Serra Pelada drill traces at www.colossusminerals.com.
SPC-012, on Section 450NE, intersected the WMZ over 5.15m from 133.9m down-hole, corresponding to about 5m true thickness of the zone. Ultra high grades of PGE's, platinum (over 400 g/t) and palladium (over 700 g/t) were assayed in iron-oxide rich breccias and the WMZ exhibits high overall PGE/gold. Non-recovery of 1 metre of core is reflected in the assay interval (4.15m) being shorter than the WMZ down-hole interval. Low grade gold mineralisation was also intersected over 1m intervals in the overlying siltstones & underlying sandstones. Assay results for the WMZ in SPC-012 are summarised in the following table:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From To Assay
(metres, (metres, Interval Gold Platinum Palladium
down-hole) down-hole) (metres)(i) g/t g/t g/t
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
133.90 139.05 4.15 8.04 154.5 245.8
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
incl.134.8 139.05 3.25 9.43 197.3 313.9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
incl.136.55 139.05 2.00 14.05 304.6 488.5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------(i)Total assayed interval (greater than 0.5 g/t gold +PGE's) - excludes
intervals of no core recovery; true widths to be established.
SPC-011 was collared near Section 400NE, 40 metres SSW of SPC-012 and was also targeting the WMZ down plunge there from, plus overlying siltstone and underlying sandstone-hosted mineralisation. A 3.0 metre assay interval, between 151.65 and 156.35 metres down-hole, yielded 2.89 g/t gold, 0.15 g/t platinum and 0.51 g/t palladium including assays up to 10 g/t gold and 2.5 g/t PGE's in siliceous and haematitic-argillic alteration in the WMZ. As in the case of SPC-012, poor core recoveries (loss of iron oxide -rich alteration) have probably resulted in underestimation of precious metal grades in the WMZ in SPC-011.
SPC-011 also intersected 1.6m of 4.32 g/t gold in altered sandstones, from 197.55m and below the historical Serra Pelada pit. This intersection, together with historical drilling data, may indicate largely untested mineralised zones in footwall sandstones.
Drilling at Serra Pelada is continuing unabated with four drill rigs turning. The aim of the program is to continue delineation and step-out drilling in the Central Mineralised Zone, step-out drilling to test the extent of the Western Mineralised Zone, deep drilling (circa 450m) to test the potential of an Eastern Zone, and to test for additional mineralization below the historic Serra Pelada pit. Additionally, metallurgical and geotechnical drill holes have been completed thus allowing future mine development planning to continue without delay.
Complete assay data set for SPC-012 plus drill-hole location maps for SPC-012 and SPC-011 will be posted on www.colossusminerals.com.
Vic Wall, Colossus President, comments, "The recognition of the Serra Pelada Western Mineralised Zone by the Colossus team and the first Phase II drilling results there from are truly encouraging. These already indicate at least 50m strike length of the WMZ which is open to the northeast and southwest and also laterally. Our particular challenge is to clarify the extents and distribution of the ultra high grade PGE's within the WMZ. As it close to proposed development infrastructure, the WMZ and underlying sandstone-hosted mineralisation will be subject of further drilling."
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Four metre composites of SPC reverse circulation drill chips were collected at the RC drill rig, along with 1m drill advance samples. The composites were forwarded to Intertek's Parauapebas laboratory for gold assays. For any anomalous composites, assay samples were prepared by Intertek from the corresponding 4x1m samples and forwarded to Genalysis for gold, platinum and palladium assaying, as for core samples.
Sampling of SPC diamond drill-core (by Colossus personnel) and sample preparation (by Intertek Limited, Parauapebas) were carried out under strict protocols recommended in the 43-101 Technical Report on Serra Pelada. After photographing and logging, intervals of HQ core (drilling advances, averaging 1 m in length) were cut and/or split in half, yielding samples of 2 to 3 kilogram mass. Where core recoveries were low, intervals were composited to yield approximately 1 kilogram minimum sample masses. Intertek pulverised 1 or 2 kilogram splits (greater than 95% passing 106 microns) from the crushed (greater than 95% passing 1.7 mm), dried samples. A 200 gram aliquot was rotary split from each pulp by Intertek and these samples were securely shipped directly by Intertek to Genalysis Limited, Perth Laboratory. Duplicates, blanks and certified gold-PGE reference materials were inserted in the sample train by Colossus personnel prior to Intertek preparation work.
Genalysis inserted additional blanks, duplicates and high grade gold/PGE reference materials in the assay stream and replicate assays were performed routinely and on all medium to high grade materials. Fire assays for gold, platinum and palladium were on 25 gram subsamples utilising a lead-rich collector material and ICP-MS finish. Genalysis dispatched assay certificate originals directly to Resource and Exploration Mapping Ltd., an independent Company which manages Colossus' database.
The Genalysis assay results for blanks, duplicates, replicates and also all reference materials were well within generally accepted QA/QC measures. Reference materials and also selected high value samples from all batches will later be check assayed independently.
Dr. Vic Wall, President of Colossus Minerals and qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for this release and has verified the contents disclosed.
About Colossus:
Colossus is an exploration and development Company focused on mineral resource properties in Brazil. The Company is currently focusing its efforts on the high grade gold-platinum-palladium Serra Pelada project in Para State, Brazil. Between 1980 and 1986 Serra Pelada was host to the largest precious metals rush in Latin American history. Coverage by 60 Minutes of this famous mining rush can be viewed at the following link: sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=299887.
Contacts:
Colossus Minerals Inc.
Elina Chow
Public Relations Manager
(416) 643-7655
info@colossusminerals.com
www.colossusminerals.com
I've seen that there is a lot of concern on delays for PR's. I've noticed some blame it on management, and other's, including management saying that those matters are in the lab's hands. I, for one, believe in the latter reason, not simply because I favor CSI, but because I've noticed that other companies tend to deal with these similar matters, namely Premium Explorations (PEM.V).
I was told that there are only a few places in the world that do PGM and gold assays. Perth was mentioned as one of those places. If that's so, it makes sense that these results may take a while. That said, I know nothing about the process of assaying possibly several meters of not only one company, but of many more around the world.
I've been out most all week uggg.
time to catch up the dd
nice chart going here for the year..
Welcome to the board IKAG. Was beginning to wonder where people were.
yeah, I was surprised that there are only two active online discussion boards for this company. I wonder if one would could conclude that this Colossus is just starting to hit the mainstream. I see we're on McEwin's Junior Gold Index as well. http://www.mcewencapital.com/
BM tls444, I also put this board up on the Hot Sauce board.
Ihub Talk
Hot Sauce #5 board.
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=41648505
ikag - if you add this board to your favorites, it will increase our boardmarks by 50%! Also if you have any thoughts on fundamentals or technicals you would like to share, please do.
Best,
tsl
looks interesting
On radar
Cheers
ikag
I also find it bullish that there is (apparently) very little retail interest in the stock. We only have two boardmarks for this board...
And hitting it on well above average volume. We have a rising price with rising volume with no overhead resistance on the chart. Let's see what kind of interest the road show generates next week. I suspect that may account for some of the volume this week...
just watching this hit 4.28
Well, it's not as big of a burden as,"I wish I would have bought any amount." This may be some of these people buying in now. I like ATH days.
Another day of strong volume and a new ATH. I am starting to get severe Buyer's Regret, as in...I regret not buying more.
about an hour left in the day. This graph is very interesting. One of the guys in stockhouse mentioned the company was up for a little publicity these next few days. Good stuff
We have better than average volume at the new all-time highs. The strength in this stock is admirable, for sure...
Yeah, this is fantastic. No PR yet for the day and traders are walking over themselves trying to get in.
More drill results? Also we are right at the all-time highs so there is no chart resistance overhead.
strong day. Wonder what the anticipation is...
May have been largely built in already. We will have to see next week but it could put the stock over $4 if anyone has to buy the shares to stay current with the index...
wow, this is pretty good news! Just how good though?
Colossus is getting added to the TSX SmallCap Index...
Colossus Minerals Inc (C:CSI)
Shares Issued 58,099,788
Last Close 9/11/2009 $3.80
Friday September 11 2009 - Miscellaneous
Standard & Poor's Canadian index operations have made index changes as a result of the quarterly S&P/TSX Composite Index review. These changes will be effective at the open on Monday, Sept. 21, 2009.
Changes to the S&P/TSX Composite Index will also affect the S&P/TSX Capped Composite Index. Stocks added to or removed from the S&P/TSX Composite Index will also be added to or removed from the appropriate global industry classification standard (GICS) sector index.
S&P/TSX SMALLCAP INDEX -- SEPTEMBER, 2009,
ANNUAL REVIEW, ADDITIONS
Issue name Symbol
Colossus Minerals Inc. CSI
Company additions to and deletions from an S&P index do not in any way reflect an opinion on the investment merits of the company.
when it comes to stock, I'm not a fan of weekends. Too much waiting around
I don't follow Novagold, sorry. Juniors are looking good here, though...
That's what I'm thinking. Even Barrick back up today like yesterday didn't even happen. I guess it went down as investors didn't seem to think it was a wise choice. That's okay, because it looks like there are more than enough people out there who think otherwise.
Have any thoughts on Novagold?
sluice - csi.to is looking good. Little pullback on light volume and now the stock looks rested and recharged...
tsl
sluice - seems like an extremely bullish piece of news. Add this to:
- John Paulson exchanging his GLD for gold bullion
- Honk Kong demanding delivery of their gold held in London
- China floating the idea that derivatives contracts are invalid
- China encouraging citizens to buy gold and silver
and so on...
I'm not going to say because I just gotta see, but I'm very curious to see what gold does today. It'll be interesting to see what a world full of shaken up investors can do to the price of gold over the next few weeks. Sinclair had an interesting post regarding Barrick's news.
I think Colossus may be at that point where it could go very very wild. I noticed the gold buzz on Bloomberg tv and some of those analysts were saying to get, and get in any way you can, whether it be through physical gold, mining stocks, etf's, or whatever. Last time I checked, gold bars and coins weren't easy to come by. Mining stocks seem to have mostly recovered as well. I'm hoping the junior sector is what people come after next as Colossus may be near the front lines.
oh.......yeah
Check this out. I'm up late and saw this pop up on the wire.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j_NKNyiEFoq1K9LXbFoGdbrf6LbQD9AJE7BO0
sluice - there was volume at the high of $4, so TA wise, we should be going back up there. This looks like normal backing and filling on light volume as we toy with new all-time highs. Traders that are back from the summer off may be trying to jam prices down while they get positioned, I see lots of stocks are off today despite ripping PM prices.
amazing to see this dropping. I may pull out of one of my other positions and put a little bit more into CSI. Got a few other companies I wouldn't mind riding through the fall. These are interesting and exciting times for this sector.
Okay, now I'm seeing it. I guess mine wasn't showing. Nice job. It's simple. It's been a while since I've visited the website and didn't see that table of drill results there. What do you think about posting a drill highlight next to that link?
Looks like this baby wants to hang around at this price now. Saw on the stockhouse board that James Dines of the Dimes Letter stated that Colossus has the richest deposit on the planet. Looks like we're ready to roll
sluice - the iBox is the header for the message board. There should be a button in the upper left corner which either says "Show iBox" or "Hide iBox". It contains a description of the company, links, that sort of thing.
ibox or mailbox? If you meant mailbox, I think it's fine. I don't have a subscription to investorshub so I may be lacking a lot of the features
sluice - I've been working on the ibox...what else does it need?
PGM market outlook from Jeff Christian who heads the CPM Group:
http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadcast/fsn2009-0905-2.mp3
He is extremely bullish on platinum and palladium...
With four rigs running now there should be a lot of assays coming.
Well she didn't blow out of the gates as far as volume goes. It's down but I'm liking that it's having a tough time selling. Let's find a new support level!
Okay, I assumed that since they were sent to Perth, rhodium assays were included. These kind of assays are expensive but I figured that since they were already there, they would have just assayed for it anyway.
TA-wise, short-term target is $4.30. We could get an extension well beyond that if POG and drill results cooperate.
If you check the drill status report, you will see that not all of the core is assayed for other than gold/pge. The technical notes for this latest release says:
"Fire assays for gold, platinum and palladium were on 25 gram subsamples utilising a lead-rich collector material and ICP-MS finish."
So it sounds like they did not assay for Rhodium, etc.
lol, that's much easier than I thought. Thanks for showing me that. I guess I've only ever read the commentaries and press releases on Kitco.
Is it surprising they aren't picking up any rhodium? I thought it was common with PGM's.
"SPC-012 intersected 4.15 metres at 8.04 g/t gold, 154.5 g/t platinum and 245.8 g/t palladium..."
"...including 2.0 metres at 14.05 g/t gold, 304.6 g/t platinum and 488.5 g/t palladium."
Yep, I believe it stated it was a new zone in the beginning of the press release. I'm not any good at calculating possible reserve estimates. I've seen some people do it with the information given in similar press releases but I'm not sure if it all made sense to me. Like I said, these are smaller intervals, but they are such high grades. It's not too important to me but I'd be curious to know what sort of value one could estimate from the info given in such a press release.
In other matters, I heard that the reserve estimates for the company aren't expected until spring. I can only imagine where the top to this could be at this point.
Sluice - Agreed on the grades, I have to run them through the rock calculator. Also I believe this hole is from a new zone so that just added another dimension to the picture. I have to re-read the release, I was out all day and am still getting caught up...
Oh, and by the way...$4.00 is the all-time high, so that's the last resistance level on the chart.
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Business Description
"Colossus is an emerging mineral exploration and development company focused on Brazilian gold.
From the international experience of its principals, Colossus has developed useful geological models for gold and other mineralisation in the Brazilian Shield. These models are being utilised in area and project selection.
With a winning team and good connections in the financial markets, Colossus is poised to become a leader in the Brazilian and broader exploration scenes.
The Company expends great efforts in building relationships with garimpero groups, its venture partners including COOMIGASP, and local technical experts and companies; these efforts, under the guidance of Colossus’ skilled management team, have led the Company to a wealth of exploration opportunities." - Colossus Minerals web site
Investment Thesis
Share Structure
Issued and Outstanding | 58,099,788 |
Warrants | 21,464,899 |
Options | 3,575,000 |
Broker Units | 1,747,080 |
Fully Diluted | 84,886,767 |
TSX: CSI
OTC: COLUF
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