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

(IDEX Online) - Kering, the French luxury group that owns Boucheron and other high jewelry maisons, reported a 4 per cent drop in revenue during 2023 to $21.1bn. Revenue during the final quarter fell by 6 per cent.The company did not provide a revenue breakdown for its jewelry and watch brands - including Pomellato, DoDo, and Qeelin. They come under the "other houses" category, which saw 1 9 per c...Read More

(IDEX Online) - De Beers today (13 February) announced the launch of its latest lab grown diamond detector, capable of screening 2,500 of the smallest melee in an hour.The AMS Micro (Automated Melee Screening) uses robotic technology to work with stones as small as 0.001-cts, a significant improvement on the 0.0032-cts capacity of its predecessor, the AMS.The new instrument automatically separates...Read More

My focus is on economics and capital markets. In theory, politics shouldn't factor much in my analysis.But in reality, politics has become a major influence on markets, and I can't afford to neglect the political dimension. I might not like it, but I can't ignore it.Sure, politics has always influenced markets to some extent. But today, it's taken on whole new dimensions.It's not the 1990s anymore...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The US says it will close the loophole that has allowed the importation of Russian diamonds that have been "substantially transformed" in another country.The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has announced that it will outlaw rough diamonds of 1.0-ct or above from 1 March, and those weighing 0.5-cts of more from 1 September.In a statement on 8 Febru...Read More

We have yet to reach a full reckoning of the consequences of the era of easy money, but it’s abundantly clear that it ruined us.The damage was incremental at first, but the perverse incentives and distortions of easy money zero interest rate policy (ZIRP), credit available without limits to those who are more equal than others accelerated the institutionalization of these toxic dynamics...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Jennifer Lopez wears a $340,000 diamond pav?(C) necklace in the video for Can't Get Enough, her latest single.The Eka Mia Luca piece is from a collection by the Italian brand Fope. "We are thrilled to announce the integration between Fope and Jennifer Lopez for the new video of her single Can't Get Enough," said Marilisa Cazzola the jeweler's chief marketing off...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A security guard opened fire after three masked suspects tried to rob a jewelry store in Fullerton, California, USA.Police say no injuries were reported, the guard was unhurt, and they don't believe anyone was struck by gunfire.The incident happened at Happy Jewelers, at around noon last Wednesday, 7 February. At least three bullet holes were seen nearby, according to the KABC...Read More

For several days, ever since the supposedly amazing GDP report from quarter four 2023, we've been blasted by the media about how great the economy is doing.It's exasperating because these claims do not fit with human experience. Last we heard from the Census Bureau, real income is down, and no one doubts it. Everyone, or at least most average people, has felt strong downgrades in living standards...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A diamond exhibiting two distinctly different colors has been described by expert gemologists at GIA as unique.The 0.63-ct tapered baguette-cut natural diamond is part Fancy Dark orangy brown and part Fancy Dark brown greenish yellow. It "demonstrates the variety possible within the natural world," say Mei Yan Lai and Sally Eaton-Magana, authors of an article entitled Rare Nat...Read More

(IDEX Online) - It is being billed as the world's first diamond cricket bat.Diamond Tech Company, based in Surat, India, has crafted a natural rough diamond into a 1.04-ct polished stone that is replica of the wooden bat used by cricketers.The diamond's "skin" - found only among natural stones - has deliberately been left intact on the handle and elsewhere, as proof that it is not a lab...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Anglo American says it is keeping an eye on the De Beers' balance sheet, but isn't actively considering a sell-off at present.The company said in its latest production report, published on 8 February, that it was "currently assessing its carrying value of De Beers" - meaning the value of its assets.It acknowledged that De Beers was loss-making in the second half of 2023 (...Read More

“As goes January, so goes the year.”So runs an ancient Wall Street wheeze.January 2024 has ended. How did January 2024 go?The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened January at 38,033.It closed January at 38,355.That is, the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a 322-point January efflorescence.If the year goes as January goes... 2024 will end in clover.Yet will it? Perhaps. Perhaps not.Sor...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The BBC is facing criticism over the way it described the impact of natural diamonds and the terminology used to describe lab growns in a TV reality show.The Natural Diamond Council (NDC) has reacted to an episode of Dragons' Den (equivalent of Shark Tank in the US) in which two friends from Antwerp won $315,000 of venture capital for their lab grown startup Kimai.The US-based...Read More

At a recent New Hampshire campaign rally, Donald Trump reiterated what he's been saying for months: that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are dangerous and he would never allow one if elected:Tonight, I am also making another promise to protect Americans from government tyranny. As your president, I will never allow the creation of a central bank digital currency...Such a currency would giv...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A hostage held by Hamas for 50 days told Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) of her ordeal at an event calling for an immediate release of the remaining 136 abductees.Danielle Aloni, 45, was kidnapped at gunpoint from her sister's home at Kibbutz Nir Oz, together with her six-year-old daughter, Emilia.She spoke to members of the IDE on Monday at a bourse event organized jointly with...Read More

Today we sink to both knees... in gobsmacked awe.We genuflect in praise. And we sing hosannas to the government of the United States.Why?That is because the United States government has attained the impossible:Constructed initially under a regime of "limited government"… it has shattered all its shackles... and become the largest government to ever occupy Earth.That is correct.Never has a na...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The government of Botswana is to go ahead with its purchase of a 24 per cent stake in HB Antwerp.That's according to documents providing details of finance minister Peggy Serame's national 2024/25 budget, presented on Monday (5 February).It will reportedly pay $65m for shares in the company.  Okavango, the the state-owned diamond company, will supply HB with rough di...Read More

(IDEX Online) - An increasing number of colored lab growns are being submitted for grading as natural diamonds, according to GSI.The New York-based lab is warning of a surge in undisclosed brown, yellow and pink stones - from melee to 1.0-cts - in recent months.Most of those detected have been Type IIa with a single nitrogen, all mounted in jewelry rather than loose."Over the past several months,...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Two +4.0-cts diamonds were identified as stolen property after they were submitted to the GIA for grading.They were among a haul of jewlery valued at $475,000 that was stolen from an empty home in Colorado, USA last June.The diamonds were sent to the GIA in August, two months after the theft, by a wholesale diamond dealer in Cherry Creek, Colorado.The gems - a 4.31 carat diamond ri...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Fancy color diamonds enjoyed "steady growth" of 2.2 per cent during 2023, according to new figures published by the Fancy Color Research Foundation (FCRF).That's significantly slower than 2022, when they surged by 3.9 per cent, but compares favorably with colorless diamonds, which lost 16.5 per cent of value during 2023.But Q4 figures suggest a slowdown. The Index Fancy Color...Read More