Gold rallies as the US Fed cuts rates to the bone

Gold has rallied after last week’s sell-off that saw spot prices fall as low as $US1,513 ($2,439) per ounce from $US1,700.90 just days before.

The bounce back to $US1,529.90 comes on the back of the US Federal Reserve slashing interest rates to between 0 and 0.25 per cent on Sunday in a bid to boost the world’s largest economy as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to incite panic.

Last week, commentators waved off concerns about the price drop, saying that similar falls in the gold price occurred during the 2008 crisis as investors sold gold to gain liquidity.

Financial and investing advice company The Motley Fool noted that when panic hits markets, the number one asset investors want to hold is generally cash.

It added that while the gold price might fall further, it is forecast to jump significantly once central banks around the world introduce monetary stimulus, which devalues currency.

Small cap focus

The gold price rally comes as all three of Alto Metals’ (ASX:AME) first holes targeting primary zone shoots below the historical Lord Nelson pit near Sandstone, Western Australia, hit high-grade gold.

Results included 4m at 12 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 240m within a broader 16m at 5.5g/t, 4m at 8.2g/t from 212m within 12m at 3.9g/t from 208m, and 4m at 7g/t gold from 108m within a 12m zone grading 3g/t gold from 104m.

Results of more than 5g/t are generally considered to be high-grade.

Alto said the mineralisation style and geological setting is identical to that of the Lord Nelson deposit and remains open in all directions.

Artemis Resources (ASX:ARV), meanwhile, has kicked off a 4,00m reverse circulation drilling program to test for strike extensions at its Carlow Castle gold-copper-cobalt project in Western Australia’s West Pilbara region.

Carlow Castle currently has a resource of 8 million tonnes at 1.6g/t gold, 0.6 per cent copper and 0.08 per cent cobalt for a contained resource of 418,000 ounces of gold, 48,000 tonnes of copper and 7,000 tonnes of cobalt within the 1.2km strike length.

The drilling will test for depth extensions and allow the company to carry out down-hole electromagnetic work that will help identify potential downdip extensions and parallel lode systems within and around the current resource area.