Santa Claus Was Good to Eureka!

Morning Miners!

It is 6:23 AM. Welcome back to the break room, grab a cup and sit a spell with the ole Colonel. It looks like Santa Claus was good to Eureka. We'll get to that in a minute, first I'd like to draw your attention to the headline quote above this article:

"The history of Eureka is in its future" - Lambert Molinelli, 1878


Lambert Molinelli was the Mining Recorder for Eureka County during its boom years and one of its more ardent promoters. I bought his famous book Eureka and its Resources some time ago but waited for this holiday to absorb its terrific detail about mining and the Eureka's world class smelting process. I thought his quote would be a great theme for the Report as we look beyond 2009; a future where strategic metals rise in importance for our county and gold production continues to be a major factor for economic growth. The Colonel also plans to share some of Molinelli's mining insights in upcoming reports.

Now what about that Christmas stocking? It was stuffed with new highs for the broader markets and a nice rally for all our favorite metals and miners. Gold notched an intraday low of $1075.2 on 12/23 only to head steadily higher to $1108.9 in early morning trading on the COMEX, molybdenum got a nice 5% pop too. Here is a summary from 12/23 until this morning:

Gold up 3.1% to $1108.9
Silver up 2.4% to $17.615
Copper up 5.6% to $3.325
Molybdenum up 5.45% to $12.25

And our local miners at today's opening price from intraday lows on 12/17:

Barrick (ABX) up 6.4% to $40.64
General Moly (GMO) up 21.6% to $2.25

That deserves a Colonel Yee-ha! Let's keep the good times rolling through this short week to year's end!

Enough hollering, let's walk the walk:

4-WD is OFF - the VIX or "fear index" remains below 25; smoother road market conditions expected to continue (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 $0.58 in early trading to $78.63 (February contract, most active); Gold is up $4.1 to $1108.9 (February contract, most active); Silver is up 0.175 to $17.615 (March contract); Copper is up $0.0325 to $3.3250 (March contract); Molybdenum is steady at $12.25.

The DOW is up 8.69 points to 10528.79; the S&P 500 is up 0.37 points to 1126.85. The miners are mixed with ABX and GMO pulling back some from their opening price:

Barrick (ABX) $39.99 down 0.89%
Newmont (NEM) $47.31 down 1.40%
General Moly (Eureka Moly, LLC) (GMO) $2.20 unchanged
Freeport McMoran (FCX) $82.60 up 0.96% (a bellwether mining stock spanning gold, copper & molybdenum)

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

Nucor (NUE) $47.85 up 1.59% - domestic steel manufacturing
ArcelorMittal (MT) $46.16 up 1.34% - global steel producer
POSCO (PKX) $131.31 up 0.30% - South Korean integrated steel producer

The Eureka Miner's Grubstake Portfolio is is up 0.20% to $1,299,129.63 (what is this?).

Cheers,

Colonel Possum

Headline Photograph by Mariana Titus