Is China Coming to Lovelock?

Morning Miners!

It is 6:45 AM, grab a cup and let's put the last bells on this short sleigh ride to Christmas. Speaking of short; Happy Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year! Actually you need to wait for 9:47 PM (PST) tonight to feel Old Man Winter's first breath and it looks like a pretty good snow storm will follow.

There is some interesting news rumbling in Northern Nevada. U.S. mining company Firstgold (FGD.TO) is seeking to complete a partnership deal with a Chinese mining company for their heap leaching operation at the Relief Canyon Mine just outside Lovelock, Nevada. The complete story appeared on Mineweb this weekend:

Obama asked to block Chinese investment in U.S. gold mine on security grounds (Mineweb/Reuters, 12/19/2009)

Here is the website for Firstgold:

Relief Canyon Mine - Firstgold

There are apparently national security concerns that could cause President Barack Obama to block the transaction since Firstgold's mine is close to Fallon Naval Air Station and other military installations (roughly 50 miles northeast of Fallon). The controlling agency is part of the Treasury Department called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS.

CFIUS is recommending that the request for China's Northwest Nonferrous International Investment Company to buy 51 percent of the company be rejected. If Obama rejects the deal, it would be only the second time a U.S. president has intervened to block an investment on national security grounds. We won't have to wait long for an answer, once the President receives the CFIUS recommendation, he has 15 days to announce his decision. Stay tuned buckaroos, this may be a sign of things to come.

Enough talk, let's walk the walk:

4-WD is OFF - the VIX or "fear index" remains below 25; smoother road market conditions expected (what's this?)

Yellow light is ON for possible adverse regulation/legislation: Cortez Hills & mercury emissions

Otherwise, all lights are green on the Eureka Outlook Dashboard (upper right, what's this?)

Oil is up $0.64 in early trading to $74.06 (February contract, most active); Gold is down $2.7 to $1105.2 (February contract, most active); Silver is down $0.160 to $17.160 (March contract); Copper is up $0.0060 to $3.1415 (March contract); Molybdenum is steady at $11.62.

The DOW is up 115.86 points to 10444.75; the S&P 500 is up 13.08 points to 1115.55. The miners are mixed:

Barrick (ABX) $39.04 down 1.21%
Newmont (NEM) $47.14 2.32%
General Moly (Eureka Moly, LLC) (GMO) $1.95 down 2.01%
Freeport McMoran (FCX) $77.25 up 0.93% (a bellwether mining stock spanning gold, copper & molybdenum)

The Steels are mixed, (a "tell" for General Moly):

Nucor (NUE) $43.90 up 0.16% - domestic steel manufacturing
ArcelorMittal (MT) $44.27 up 2.71% - global steel producer
POSCO (PKX) $125.0 down 0.01% - South Korean integrated steel producer

The Eureka Miner's Grubstake Portfolio is is up 0.24% to $1,247,738.08 (what is this?).

Cheers,

Colonel Possum