Year of the Rooster! Chinese markets will remain closed for most of the week as Lunar New Year celebrations kick off for much of Asia. Asian markets will reopen on Friday.

"This is not about religion." The rapid-fire barrage of Executive Orders coming out of the Trump White House is unprecedented. I have been following US politics since the Kennedy election campaign in 1959, and can say with absolute certainty, I have never seen anything like this! Unlike 99% of politicians worldwide, Trump is actually attempting to fulfill every promise he made during his campaign, albeit, with little concern about potential consequences, as witnessed dramatically over the weekend. Today’s market activity in the US may reflect a new nervousness, instead of confidence, in the stability of those markets, and the USD?? Adding to (today’s) pressure on markets, data on Friday showed U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected in Q4, with GDP rising at a (disappointing) 1.9% annual rate.

Kitco News, Jim Wyckoff, Jan30, “The world marketplace is still a bit nervous regarding actions the new U.S. president has taken or may take. This uncertainty and any related world stock market weakness is at least a mildly bullish element for the safe-haven GOLD market.”

Seeking Alpha, Andrew Hecht, Jan30, “Fear and uncertainty is still a major theme in markets across all asset classes. We have witnessed dramatic political changes in the world over recent months that will reshape the economics of the world. Currency volatility has increased, the dollar broke out to the upside rising to the highest level since 2002 only to come back down and fall below the technical breakout level. Elections in Europe could change the face of the continent and threaten the very future of the European Union in 2017. There are many uncertainties on the horizon that could create a feeding frenzy for GOLD. Moreover, it is starting to look like inflation will rear its ugly head and nothing can ignite the yellow metal like an inflationary spike.

Given the back-drop of some of these current comments, GOLD miners should be quite enthusiastic about future earnings potential, and the need to accelerate exploration. Tahoe announced a continueing aggressive drilling plan on the Gap144 property, which sits on the same structure as Explor’s TPW. The last I heard, they are moving eastward, within a couple of hundred meters of TPW’s western border. The incentive for Teck to enhance the known value of the Timmins Porcupine West GOLD deposit is exemplified with each turn of a Tahoe drill. Given the infrastructure of the Tahoe operations, within a stone’s throw of the TPW, they are the only logical buyer of the TPW. Further, until the day that Teck has spent $8million (they’ve spent $3million), the TPW remains 100% an asset of EXS/EXSFF. Teck would be insane NOT to spend $5million on drilling to earn their initial 55% outright, given the present deposit modelling suggests 30million plus ounces of GOLD. Their process might be slow, but meticulous, and thorough. Initial indications were a $2-$4million drill campaign. I’ve heard nothing to suggest otherwise, although the video teleconference with Dupont is still pending.

Have you ever played a slot machine, hit the button a bunch of times, lost your money, and your patience, uttered something awful and moved to another machine? Then, looked back to see the next guy hit the jackpot on the slot machine you just gave up on? Murray Pezim drilled 79 holes before he found Hemlo! Dupont has drilled 5 holes at Kidd. Its rumoured the recent geophysics north of the Kidd Mine detected something very interesting at the 600-700meter level. The drill is currently at the 440meter level. Given minimal problems, we should achieve that depth in a matter of days. Thus far, we have been drilling through a thick layer of ultra mafics. I’m optomistic we will encounter exhalite at any moment, and then, hopefully, the elusive VMS. You’ve got to respect Dupont’s tenacity & determination. Those are the qualities that found the TPW.

The geologist evaluating the drill results from the Chester Deposit is meticoulously preparing his report for Dupont. I am very hopeful that some of the additional results will be as good as those reported in the last announcement, given the recent rise in Copper prices. The Company is still awaiting the trace elements report, covering Gallium, Indium, & Cobalt.