$Gold Monthly 

The gold price chart in $U.S. at stockcharts.com has a fairly reliable indication of price highs and lows in the form if a price flag that pops up when prices change direction.  The weekly chart has already seen its price flag come up, and what should follow is a price flag for the low on the monthly chart.

I was anticipating a forward skew in the futures market, if not signs of backwardation which didn't materialize.  We're not 'there' yet, but you would be looking for instances of extreme low volatility on the $GVZ to presage changes of trends.

What has dominated the $U.S. gold price is the derivatives market, namely the use of a volatility smile in the 2008 correction and the use of a massive volatility skew starting in 2010, and ending in December 2015.  A sign that the structure of derivatives in bullion futures has changed entirely is the huge volume in the last month.

The TNX/PRII gives another context for the fundamentals and which way the gold price is headed.

http://schrts.co/c4K2hm

 'Trade' in GBRIF

In what is perhaps the first sign of life for quite some time was the trade in GBRIF last Wednesday, before the close of the year.  This had the effect of changing the value of the shares held in my account.  If this trade was like the trade of grey market OTC options on golden band shares on the 22nd. December, it would mean 2000 options in GBN shares were traded on the OTC grey market worth 1000 shares each.

I had presumed that the fiscal year end is by default the end of calendar 2016, and that the settlement of the going private transaction, the true effective date of the amalgamation announced in 2010, where the deemed continuance of the amalgamation closes, would have to be Dec. 23., the last taxable day.

However long this holdover will take is anybody's guess at this point.  Perhaps there will be another change in control, or some requirement to provide legal notice going forward. 

http://bit.ly/2iPHrfL

via Mcarthy Tetrault - Going Private Transactions In Canada

A primer on going private transactions in Canada is clear enough, but does not explain how a going private transaction and an amalgamation squeeze out work together.  But as you can see, going private transactions are pretty common.  

The shareholder not intending to be a beneficial shareholder was hoisted by their own petard, crushed under the daunting share price declines and pro-forma insolvency.

So the going private transaction was undertaken in a series of steps, where the majority of the minority held sway each step of the way. 

http://www.mccarthy.ca/pubs/goingprivateincanada.pdf

via FinancialPost.com - Hodson

According to Hodson, I may as well just shoot myself.

http://business.financialpost.com/investing/outlook-2017/five-predictions-that-might-actually-help-you-make-money-or-lose-less-of-it-in-2017

-F6