The past year was a difficult one overall for the metals, with the main standouts to the upside being a geopolitical risk-driven gain in gold, a China-driven rise in iron ore and a surge in uranium on broadening global support for nuclear power (Figure 1). A jump in global interest rates to near two-decade highs saw recession fears persist all year, and while one still did not actually eru...Read More

This year the post-global health crisis boom was brought to an end by a surge in inflation to forty-year highs, a major rise in global interest rates in an attempt to curb the rising prices and surging geopolitical risk after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While precious metals held up reasonably well as markets turned to them as a risk hedge, by Q2/22 the higher interest rates put an end t...Read More

Chile is the world leader in copper production, at 28.5% of the total in 2020, and this looks set to continue, with the country having the largest global reserves, at 23.0% of total. It is also the global leader for molybdenum, which is often found along with copper, and is a major lithium player, holding 51.1% of global reserves. Read More

Newfoundland has become a gold exploration hotspot over the past few years, with the sector seeing some of its strongest activity ever. While the province remains a small contributor to Canadian gold production, it has a substantial mineral industry well supported by the government, focused on iron ore, copper and nickel, and the surge in exploration suggests that gold output from the...Read More

Nevada is the core of the U.S. gold output, accounting for by far the majority, at 75.4% on average for the past year. The state looks set to remain a dominant player in U.S. gold, as it accounts for 49% of total U.S. reserves, with Alaska slightly ahead with 51% of reserves, but just 8.6% of current production. The U.S. accounts for 6.1% of global gold output, making Nevada one of the largest gol...Read More

The Golden Triangle in northwestern British Columbia has historically been a major site of Canadian gold production, beginning as early as the mid 1800s. There was a wave of production in the 1990s which cooled as the gold price declined, but larger scale production resumed in 2017, and the area has seen surging exploration interest over the past year, given that the region has some of the largest...Read More

In this report we outline the Quebec gold mining industry, including its major producers, and a survey of many of the junior miners focused on the province. Quebec accounts for 34% of Canadian gold production (second to Ontario, with 44%) and remains a major focus for both producers and junior miners.Read More

Red Lake has been one of the most prolific gold mining districts in Canada and the world, with exploration having started in the 1920s, and production, which began in the 1930s, continuing to the present day. The district is known for the high grade of its gold, its infrastructure, and strong institutional support, given the long history of mining in the area.Read More

Tomorrow is the day that Americans have been waiting for with anticipation (and yes, many with dread).What does a Trump or Harris win mean for the country? The differences couldn't be more stark.What to Expect From a Trump VictoryTrump supports lower taxes, less regulation, higher tariffs on imported goods, a secure border, deportation of illegal immigrants (starting with criminals and terrorists)...Read More

A reader recently asked me which presidential candidate would be more bullish for gold.That one's easy. Kamala Harris.A President Harris administration would preserve and strengthen the status quo. To start with, we'd see a continued bonanza of bad regulation, spending and taxes. Add in poor capital allocation and misaligned incentives, and we have a recipe for stagflation and reckless monetary po...Read More

A majority of American voters distrust the pillars upon which democracy rests the vote itself.They perceive cracks within the marble. Some perceive fissures. Reports Rasmussen:Most voters think this year's election could be impacted by cheating...A new telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and the Heartland Institute finds that 62% of likely voters are concerned that cheating will aff...Read More

Charlie Munger, Berkshire Hathaway’s late Vice Chairman and Warren Buffett’s longtime bosom buddy, achieved legendary status in investing circles. But Munger's genius doesn't rest in poring over spreadsheets or stock-picking scanners. Instead, he's famous for using "mental models" guiding principles and ways of thinking that he's curated from a broad spectrum of disciplines.Munger's...Read More

If you search Google for the latest election news, you might get the impression the race is tied, or even that Kamala Harris is in the lead.USA Today's coverage, for example, cites a (worthless) national poll which shows Harris in the lead by 1%. They portray various battleground states as "in a dead heat"… "deadlocked"… and "neck-and-neck".Notorious misinformation outlet MSNBC just pu...Read More

It's hard to believe, but the presidential election is just one week away. It'll all come down to the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.It's a tight race, although it appears to be breaking for Trump.The Democratic strategy is essentially to call Trump Hitler and a would-be dictator who would jail his political opponents (sound famil...Read More

Short sellers took a beating last week following Tesla's post-earnings romp that shot the stock higher by more than 25%.TSLA posted its best trading day in over a decade when management announced it topped Q3 profit estimates and improved automotive gross margins. Just two days later, the shorts banked losses of $4.2 billion closing out bets against the stock during its historic rally, according t...Read More

There's so much to discuss right now, from the upcoming election to geopolitical instability. But today I want to talk about gold. I call it the once and future money.The use of gold as money existed from antiquity until gold backing broke down entirely in 1971. Still, central banks and finance ministries hold over 37,000 metric tonnes of gold in reserve.Why? The answer is that gold is still a...Read More

Do you hear that lonesome whistle blow? Wooooo-wooooo! It's the last train to Palookaville pulling into the station.At this late hour, two passengers get on: Kamala Harris, mom jeans and blazer, rheumy red eyes, half-gone on Chardonnay... and an elderly gentleman with a goatee in a colorful but shabby red-white-and-blue suit, famous long ago as "Uncle Sam."There's an election on, in case you haven...Read More

In 2016, an unlikely U.S. presidential candidate focused the nation's divided attention when he promised to "drain the swamp."Alas, what Mr. Trump encountered inside the deep state moat (I-495, aka the Beltway) was even more corrupted, more sinister, more gnarled and devious than could have been imagined.Now, eight years on, and as the 45th president again sets his sights on "enemies foreign and d...Read More

It's no secret that the vast majority of the so-called elites are advocates of climate alarmism and are taken in by the Green New Scam.Whether this preference is based on ignorance of the science, ideological zeal, a willful desire to hurt American growth or simple greed because of their investments in Green New Scam infrastructure varies case by case.The typical upper-income supporter of the clim...Read More

"There's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking" Kamala Harris, 2019.“I will not ban fracking" Kamala Harris, 2024.Would she? Wouldn't she? We do not know.Yet the lady has consecrated herself to the pursuit of "net zero." That is, to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. La Harris:We set an ambitious goal to cut our greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and to reach net-zero emissi...Read More

Inflation is so universally despised that its mere mention evokes fear, uncertainty, and, most importantly, anger.Wanna piss off an entire country? Make things expensive there.Beyond its textbook definition, inflation lights up deep emotional, social, and psychological layers that explain why people hate it so much.Let's be honest. Kamala would be having a much easier time if her boss had not open...Read More

During a critical stage of the Manhattan Project in 1942, its organizers ran into a problem while attempting to build those first atomic bombs.They had figured out a way to enrich uranium using electromagnets, but it was a highly resource-intensive process.Thousands of tons of copper were needed to create electromagnetic coils, but the metal was in short supply due to its use in weapons production...Read More

What Went Wrong With Capitalism?Author Ruchir Sharma has authored a work bearing that very title.His answer is that nothing went wrong with capitalism. Instead, capitalism itself was wronged.Wronged, that is, by tinkerers and meddlers.In its childhood capitalism was seized by the boundless energy and ambition of youth.Before it rose a vast vista of endless possibility. Into this seeming infinity i...Read More

Should the U.S. national debt be considered an actual crisis? Does it have the destructive power of a hurricane, tornado, earthquake or other crisis?The short answer is yes but the full explanation requires a financial history lesson.The first point to understand is that debt can be good or bad. Deciding which depends on two criteria: What is the cost of the debt relative to the returns that can b...Read More

All eyes are on gold's record-breaking run.The gold bull is in full swing this month as the yellow metal extends to new highs... again. Gold has been on an absolute tear since breaking out above $2,500 for the first time ever back in September, jumping almost double-digits on its run above $2,700.I've recently discussed how the financial media was largely ignoring gold's impressive rally to new hi...Read More

Thanks to recency bias, we tend to think the world has always been more or less as it is today. Tectonic shifts beneath the veneer of everyday life escape us unless we make a concerted effort to peel back the veneer of normalcy.For example, consider the rise of finance as the dominant force in our socioeconomic/political status quo. Statista gives us a rough picture of the dominance:In 2023, the f...Read More

Speaking with a friend about the migrant crisis in the United States, she made an interesting observation. Many of the most prosperous Western nations in the world today are facing the same problem.They're flooded with migrants who are overwhelming the system, infuriating the citizenry, adding fiscal burdens, disrupting public order and leading to possible political instability.Interesting questio...Read More

As I look out the window of my new study, I thank the Good Lord I can live in the middle of rural Italy and still do my job.My parents are downstairs watching television, while my wife just made me a fantastic lunch. My son, Micah, is at school, and we'll pick him up shortly.It's truffle season here in Il Piemonte, and I've already sampled the goods. Since the weather has cooled, we lit up my fire...Read More