Silver Breaches $19.50 as Platinum, Palladium Fall from Favor

Thursday June 12, 2014, 4:45pm PDT
By Charlotte McLeod+ - Exclusive to Silver Investing News

Silver has had a rough few weeks, with most attention falling on the imminent closure of the London silver fix. This week, however, the white metal was able to make some gains.

Monday began auspiciously, with silver trading between $18.97 and $19.19 per ounce, nearing two-week highs, according to BullionVault. That good fortune continued on Tuesday and Wednesday, during which time the precious metal was for the most part able to hold comfortably around $19.20. An iNVEZZ.com report notes that silver was likely bolstered by “technicals” given that “no major economic reports” are expected from the US and China this week.

Today was a little more exciting. Midway through the morning, silver started climbing, quickly reaching $19.46 and then continuing on to $19.55. Kitco’s Jim Wyckoff suggests that the upward momentum could have been spurred by investors selling platinum and palladium in favor of gold and silver, though he cautioned that “[t]he silver bears still have the overall near-term technical advantage.”

Silver ultimately closed today at $19.53 per ounce.

Company news

A long-running conflict between First Majestic Silver (TSX:FR,NYSE:AG) and Hector Davila Santos and Minerales y Minas Mexicanas looks like it may be coming to an end.

The dispute began back in April 2013, when the Supreme Court of British Columbia awarded First Majestic US$93.84 million in litigation against Santos and Minerales. The two parties appealed that judgment, and British Columbia’s Court of Appeal then ordered them “to post security for the unpaid trial judgment in the amount of US$79 million … or in the alternative to post a letter of credit in that amount within 90 days of the order.”

When Santos and Minerales failed to do that, First Majestic successfully applied for an order to throw their appeal out as abandoned. Unfortunately for the company, on March 27, 2014, that dismissal was “set aside for jurisdictional reasons.” The company then brought a new application to dismiss the appeal, which the Court of Appeal did on June 5, 2014.

That may sound promising, but First Majestic has cautioned that the judgment shouldn’t be considered final “until such time as all avenues for appeal have been exhausted,” also noting that “if the results of all such appeals are in the Company’s favour it may have to take additional action in Mexico and/or Canada to try to recover the unpaid portion of the judgment.”

Junior company news

On Monday, El Tigre Silver (TSXV:ELS,OTCQX:EGRTF) provided further assay results from an “extensive” underground and surface sampling program recently completed at its El Tigre silver and gold project, located in Mexico.

Commenting on the results, Stuart Ross, president and CEO of El Tigre, said, “[t]he silver and gold occurrence to the north of our indicated and inferred resource provides us hard data that further validates our belief that our current resource area will continue to expand.” He added, “[w]e look forward to our next set of assays from the northern vein system at the El Tigre property.”

Also on Monday, Riverside Resources (TSXV:RRI) announced the completion of a drilling campaign on the Penoles project, noting that from February to May 2014 its partner, Morro Bay Resources (TSXV:MRB), drilled 23 HQ-sized core holes on the property for a total of 2,143 meters.

The result was the discovery of a new zone of mineralization and structural preparation; it is known as the Jesus Maria South Zone and is located south of the Jesus Maria mine area. John-Mark Staude, president and CEO of Riverside, commented, “[t]he expanded mineralization found at Jesus Maria combined with the Capitan Gold Zone, untested San Rafael Mine area and numerous other prospective targets provide plenty of upside as the Peñoles Project continues to move forward.”

The next day, Delta Gold (TSXV:DLT) and privately held Commonwealth Silver and Gold Mining filed an updated preliminary economic assessment technical report for the Arizona-based Commonwealth silver and gold project. It is dated April 13, 2014 and has an effective date of November 30, 2013.

Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.