More News on US Gold & Western Lithium

Morning Miners!

It is 6:37 AM, grab a cup and get ready for a little snow coming our way. The markets woke up grumpy this morning snapping the broader market rally of the past several days. Apparently that old bugaboo Reality crept in and put a damper on our new year surge of optimism. Aluminum giant Alcoa (A) announced disappointing results after the market close, China did a pinch of monetary tightening and the U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in November as surging oil prices helped imports to out gain exports.

What do we do now, pardner? The ole Colonel picked up a little US Gold (UXG) on the pullback and I feel better already. In fact, yesterday's Dahlman Rose report on US Gold's prospects in Eureka County (Eureka Good News: US Gold, General Moly & POSCO) got me so fired up, I added them to the Eureka Miner's Grubstake for 2010 . A little sour news isn't going to slow us down!


For those of you that have been tracking Western Lithium's (WLC) progress in Humboldt County, there is some encouraging news on the wire this morning. Western Lithium will hold a conference call today to discuss their positive scoping study results. Here's the information if you've got a little time this afternoon:

Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Time: 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. Pacific Time)
Webcast: www.westernlithium.com
Dial in: 1-416-340-8018 or toll-free 1-866-223-7781
Replay: 1-416-695-5800 or toll-free 1-800-408-3053
Replay Passcode: 3211655

Their deposits of lithium carbonate in King's Valley could prove very beneficial to Northern Nevada as future electric and electric hybrid vehicles become a greater part of America's transportation story. In their words today:

"Western Lithium’s Kings Valley property has one of the largest known lithium deposits in the world, based on a historical resource estimate done by Chevron Resources of 11 million tonnes of LCE(2). The NI 43-101 compliant PAEE results for Stage I considers only 8% of the historical near-surface lithium deposit. Successful development of Stage I will allow the company to consider further expansion of production to meet anticipated growth of the lithium-ion battery industry. In December 2009, drilling was completed on the Stage II lithium historical resources and results are expected later in 2010. The company believes that its Nevada property has the potential to become a major USA-based global supplier of high quality lithium carbonate that can economically compete with other global producers of LCE." (WLC press release, 1/12/2010)

If you're just catching up with this exciting story here are some background articles on how emerging battery technologies may become very important to our County and State:

The Next Big Thing in Northern Nevada (The Eureka Miner's Market Report, 9/28/2009)

A Big Step into the Future for Eureka County (The Eureka Miner's Market Report, 10/23/2009)

A Silver Lining for the Silver State? (The Eureka Miner's Market Report, 11/16/2009)

What's in a Battery for Eureka County? (The Eureka Miner's Market Report, 11/23/2009)

Something for the kids and grand kids buckaroos!

Enough talk, 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 our fuel gauge with oil above $80

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 down $1.08 in early trading to $81.44 (February contract, most active); Gold is up $0.1 to $1151.1 (February contract, most active); Silver is down $0.125 to $18.570 (March contract); Copper is down $0.0525 to $3.3885 (March contract); Molybdenum is steady at $14.25.

The DOW is down 30.68 points to 10633.31; the S&P 500 is down 6.56 points to 1140.22. The miners are grumpy too:

Barrick (ABX) $41.16 down 1.15%
Newmont (NEM) $49.26 down 1.83%
US Gold (UXG) $2.66 down 0.38%
General Moly (Eureka Moly, LLC) (GMO) $2.82 down 4.42%
Thompson Creek (TC) $14.02 down 0.43%
Freeport McMoran (FCX) $85.50 down 2.94% (a bellwether mining stock spanning gold, copper & molybdenum)

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

ArcelorMittal (MT) $46.86 down 2.34% - global steel producer
POSCO (PKX) $136.86 down 2.31% - South Korean integrated steel producer

The Eureka Miner's Grubstake Portfolio is is down 2.10% to $1,372,426.25 (what is this?).

Cheers,

Colonel Possum

Headline Photograph by Mariana Titus