Palladium’s gains were snapped last Friday as the greenback rallied. The precious metal came under pressure as a study from the University of Michigan showed an unexpected increase in consumer confidence. This reduced the metals “safe-haven” appeal.
Palladium was the only precious to be on the positive track on Monday, as the equity rally deteriorated the flight to safe haven investments. Palladium’s near term outlook remains bleak, as reports from Europe said that car registrations dropped 18 percent in February.
Colossus Minerals Inc. announced today the closing of its bought deal offering saying that a total of $24.7 million has been raised including 1.5 units of the over-allotment. Proceeds of the financing will mainly be used to advance the Serra Pelada gold and platinum group metal project in Brazil.
This week, palladium finally began to follow gold and lose some of its safe haven appeal. After holding steady and resisting gold’s sell-off, platinum and palladium have finally succumbed, dropping rapidly in this morning as poor auto industry numbers rolled in.
Premium Exploration Inc. reported today that the PGM anomalies previously reported at the Chrome Mountain PGM project were formed by the same type of processes that formed the Platreef PGM deposits in South Africa.
Colossus Minerals Inc. is an exploration and development company focused on gold and platinum group metals in Brazil. Led by a skilled management team, the company is managing and developing its Serra Pelada gold, platinum and palladium project.
Colossus Minerals Inc. announced results including 7.88 metres of 406g/t gold, 98.4g/t platinum, 115.7g/t palladium, 2.74g/t rhodium, and 1.52g/t iridium at a depth of 252 metres. The Serra Pelada project is located in Para State, Brazil. These results are not true width and the release indicates that true width is not known.
Exchange Traded Funds that deal in the precious metals have been seeing an increase in business, lately. ETF Securities said on Monday the amount of metal it holds to back its Physical Palladium exchange-traded commodity PHPD.L rose 12,628 ounces or 8 percent in the week to Feb. 6.
In the first six months of ’09, palladium’s value could range from $125 to $300 per ounce. The outlook for palladium is positive in some of its applications, however, a worsening economic climate and the possibility of a stronger US dollar could send palladium to as low as $125/oz during the next six months.
On January 5 palladium tumbled nearly 6 percent as the strong dollar knocked down all the precious metals. The metal hit a daily low of $178.50 an ounce, but was quoted at $180.00. On January 12 the metal picked up some steam, and rebounded to $191 per ounce.
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