As market turmoil hits both equities and cryptocurrencies, the heightened volatility in these assets underscores gold's unique role as a safe haven, store of value and portfolio diversifier.Stock Market SelloffsWith major US stock indices falling again sharply on Thursday (DJIA - 4.02%, NASDAQ - 4.08%, S&P -3.41%), last Monday's equity market selloff and spike in volatility looks set to be a m...Read More
Acacia Mining produces gold and copper, both of which are surging in price, so why did the company ditch its dividend and post a $700 million loss?“We were thrown … a lot of curveballs,” chief executive Peter Geleta said on an investor earnings call on Monday. “In fact, I don’t think many people would have faced what we faced last year in their whole careers.”H...Read More
SummaryIn many respects, British Columbia can currently boast of having the soundest fiscal position of any Canadian province. While other provinces, including Ontario and Alberta, have struggled in recent years with comparatively large budget deficits and significant debt accumulation, BC recorded a $2.7 billion operating surplus last year (2016/17)-its fourth consecutive operating surplus and th...Read More
Alberta faces significant fiscal and economic challenges. The government has run nearly uninterrupted deficits since 2008/09 and has seen an approximately $57 billion decline in its net financial assets between 2008/09 and 2017/18. The government has stated that it will continue to run significant budget deficits for many years before finally achieving balance in 2023/24. This unambitious target f...Read More
Gold prices are rising after a prolonged period of sluggish performance, but not all gold producers will be able to use 2018 to grow — as three earnings announcements released this week by senior Canadian gold companies demonstrated.Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer, cut its 2018 production outlook to 4.5 million to 5 million ounces whereas Goldcorp Inc., at nearly half...Read More
Barrick Gold Corp., the bullion producer that once towered over rivals, continues to shrink.The Toronto-based miner is predicting its eighth straight decline in annual production as it takes less gold out of the ground at its main mines. The company expects to produce 300,000 fewer ounces in 2018 than it had previously forecast. It now projects total production will be 4.5 million to 5 million oun...Read More
The Report Card on Ontario's Secondary Schools 2018 collects a variety of relevant, objective indicators of school performance into one, easily accessible public document so that anyone can analyze and compare the performance of individual schools. By doing so, the Report Card assists parents when they choose a school for their children and encourages and assists all those seeking to improve their...Read More
Canada, the top steel and aluminum exporter to the U.S., is hopeful of being left out of a Trump administration crackdown on foreign shipments.While the U.S. Commerce Department didn’t recommend giving its northern neighbour a pass when it outlined possible tariffs and quotas on Friday, it did acknowledge Canada’s importance to the U.S. aluminum industry. Canada accounts for...Read More
This report presents the results of the Fraser Institute's 2017 annual survey of mining and exploration companies. The survey is an attempt to assess how mineral endowments and public policy factors such as taxation and regulatory uncertainty affect exploration investment. The survey was circulated electronically to approximately 2,700 individuals between August 22nd and November 10th, 2017. Surve...Read More
A gap of about 50,000 ounces — or about 125 gold bars — is all that stands in the way of Newmont Mining Corp. from claiming the title of world’s biggest gold miner.The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based miner said Thursday its 2017 gold production was 5.27 million ounces, ending the year in a near dead-heat with industry leader Barrick Gold Corp., which produced 5.32 million...Read More
With cobalt prices soaring and fears of a potential shortage mounting, reports emerged Wednesday that Apple Inc. is in talks with a mining company to secure a direct supply of the scarce metal - a critical component of batteries.It's the type of deal that Fortune Minerals Ltd.'s chief executive Robin Goad has been trying to broker for years. Since 1996, Goad has raised tens of millions of dollars...Read More
Main ConclusionsDuring the 2015 federal election, Justin Trudeau's Liberals presented a fiscal plan to Canadians that proposed three years of deficit spending of no more than $10 billion annually with a return to a balanced budget by 2019/20. After forming government, they abandoned this fiscal plan-breaking a pledge to Canadians.Despite a growing economy, the Trudeau government has recorded annua...Read More
The British Columbia government has committed to proceed with electoral reform. The government has set a deadline of November 2018 to have a referendum on proportional representation. Part of the consultation process includes designing the referendum question. This paper reviews precedent and good practices that have been established in Canada and by several international organizations on the craf...Read More
"Community capitalism" is the term used here to describe a politico-economic system in which a First Nation uses its assets (land, location, natural resources, and money) to generate income and provide social services for its members. The Fort McKay First Nation (FMFN) furnishes an important case study of community capitalism. As a result of its remarkable success, its characteristic features stan...Read More
Shares in Lithium X Energy Corp. plunged Thursday morning, just days before the company is set to be acquired at a huge premium by a consortium of Chinese investors, suggesting market skepticism the deal will be completed. The Vancouver-based company traded as low as $1.77 per share, before recovering to close at $2.21, up four per cent on the day. The buyout deal, which would pay share...Read More
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States would impose tariffs of 25 per cent on steel imports and 10 per cent on imported aluminum next week.At a meeting with U.S. industry officials at the White House, Trump vowed to rebuild American steel and aluminum industries, saying they had been treated unfairly by other countries for decades.The move is likely to in...Read More
One Friday afternoon not so many months ago, Canadian billionaire Eric Sprott was sitting in a leather wingback chair in a dimly lit room, talking about a junior mining company that he just can’t stop investing in.The company, Garibaldi Resources Corp., is in the earliest stages of exploring for nickel in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle, an area that has been relentlessly explored a...Read More
The aluminum and steel industry, which affects businesses from beer to cars, reacted to the prospect of steep U.S. tariffs. President Donald Trump is expected to make the announcement on Thursday, and the move could have far-reaching effects. It may benefit U.S. steel producers, but also raises the possibility of retaliation from other countries and higher costs for American shoppers.AK Steel and...Read More
Speaking in front of a crowd of several hundred people in downtown Toronto’s convention centre on Sunday, noted investor Rick Rule sounded a bullish note about mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo.The central African country has been riven by horrific violence, said Rule, chief executive of Sprott U.S. Holdings Inc., but it holds vast deposits of high-grade copper, cobalt and other min...Read More
Financial Post’s mining reporter Gabriel Friedman touches base at PDAC with Wheaton Precious Metals CEO Randy Smallwood, and discusses the outlook for gold, other metals, and cryptocurrencies.Read More