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) - De Beers has introduced a new online "sealed bid" tender for some of its rough diamonds.The Offer, which went live last week, allows buyers to key in the price they're prepared to pay for a lot, unseen by other bidders.It is an additional sales channel rather than a replacement for the online auctions that have been taking place since 2008.Online auctions have accounted for th...Read More

I've covered a wide variety of potential crises over the years. These include natural disasters, pandemics, social unrest and financial collapse. That's a daunting list.One thing I haven’t done is to cover the greatest potential calamity of all nuclear war. For the reasons explained below, now is the time to consider it.Nuclear warfighting is back in the air. The subject is receiving more...Read More

(IDEX Online) - India's diamond industry is calling on the government to introduce for a range of tax and other breaks in its upcoming budget to ease the importation of rough stones.The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) wants a safe harbour rule for the sale of rough diamonds in Special Notified Zones (SNZs).It is also seeking the introduction of a Diamond Imprest License o...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Sarine says its latest software will revolutionize rough diamond planning, adding as much as 5 per cent to the value of a polished stone.The Israel-based company says it Most Valuable Planning (MVP) is is a fully-automated cloud-based service that will be offered as an optional service to its Advisor 8.0 rough planning software package, and will be charged on a per-use basis.It is...Read More

(IDEX Online) -  LVMH, parent company of Tiffany & Co, TAG Heuer and many other jewelry brands, is reportedly in talks with TikTok to crack down on sales of counterfeit goods on the Chinese video-sharing app.The "shoppable video" marketplace  TikTok Shop was launched in the US last September and aims to generate $17.5bn of e-commerce business this year, but it is becoming a popular m...Read More

The nabobs and panjandrums of the World Economic Forum (WEF) met up at Davos, Switzerland, this past week to lay plans for their latest assault on humanity.This year's theme is "Rebuilding Trust." Did you just blow your coffee through your nose?The outfit that coordinated the world-wide Covid-19 response (that perhaps birthed the very concept of Covid-19 itself), and especially pushed mRNA vaccine...Read More

One might suppose that the voices of mainstream media and elite culture in general would be more self-critical than they are.They seem to have developed an amazing shell around themselves to protect their own intellectual and psychological well-being from reality itself. It's having to grow ever thicker, which only ends in an ever-graver alienation from the public they seek to rule.Consider. The b...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Louis Vuitton is launching a jewelry collection featuring a unique Monogram Star diamond cut - replicating the fashion brand's famous pattern, as used in handbags, suitcases, leather goods and accessories.Diamonds cut as a 53-facet four-pointed star are being set in rings, earrings and pendant necklaces that will be launched next week in Singapore as part of the LV Diamonds co...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A jewelry store manager in New York admitted selling lab grown diamonds as natural, and stealing more than $137,000 in jewelry from customers.Laura Bee, aged 59, switched the $15,000 natural diamond in a friend's engagement ring for a $2,000 lab grown when she took it for repair.She pleaded guilty to grand larceny in the third degree while working at Ever Love Jewelry in...Read More

(IDEX Online) - India's exports of polished diamonds slid again during December, but rough imports soared, as expected, after the two-month voluntary ban.Foreign sales during the month fell almost 22 per cent to just $862m compared to $1.1bn in November, according to new figures from the GJEPC (Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council). Exports were $1.26bn in October and $1.67bn in Se...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Diamond production in Angola will increase by 50 per cent this year, from 9.7m carats in 2023 to 14.6m carats, says the national diamond company Endiama.And revenue will climb from $1.51bn in 2023 to $2.5bn this year, Jose Ganga Junior, chairman of Endiama's board of directors, told a press conference. He said the production plan for 2024 was "quite challenging".Angola forecas...Read More

We are informed that former president Trump if democratically reelected is a dictator in waiting.He will swallow the key to the ballot box, we are told. And with it, American liberty.Down his gullet both democracy and liberty will go.Are the man's foes correct? Are they incorrect?As most Americans, your editor was reared in the democratic religion. Thus dictatorship ranks with communism, fasci...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Diamonds Do Good, the global non-profit, has announced $365,000 of grants for diamond mining and manufacturing communities.It's supporting girls' education and entrepreneurship training in Tanzania, where it launched the Diamonds Do Good Bracelet (pictured) to raise funds.  Diamonds Do Good (DDG) is also empowering youth with HIV through in Botswana, supporting...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Russia's finance ministry says Alrosa has a "colossal safety margin" and currently needs no intervention to survive sanctions imposed by G7 nations from 1 January.The state-controlled miner has previously offloaded diamonds it couldn't sell to the Gokhran - Russia's state-run repository of precious stones and metals.Russia's deputy finance minister Alexei Moisey...Read More

An invasive species a globally invasive species is loose.It is a fierce predator, an apex predator of vast appetites. Its limitless ambitions span planet Earth, pole to pole.This fi-fo-fum presently besieges a tiny burgh high in the Alps of Switzerland.Private jet aircraft lower him in... and haul him out.Rolex watches encircle his wrists, Armani clothing adorns his back. He rolls around in ex...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Petra's Q2 revenue fell by almost 15 per cent, faced with what the company described as "continued lower diamond pricing environment."Rough sales were down from $105.7m to $90.2m. Half-year sales were down just over 9% from $207.1m in 2023 to $187.8m, the UK-based miner said in its H1 FY 2024 Operating Update published yesterday (16 January). There was no revenue from the sale...Read More

(IDEX Online) - De Beers has reportedly slashed rough diamond prices across the board by at least 10 per cent.Some larger goods have been discounted by as much as 25 per cent as the first Sight of the year opened in Gaborone, Botswana, yesterday (15 January), according to insiders. De Beers does not comment on prices.The UK-based miner is keen to push sales after its last two Sights of 2023 brough...Read More

(IDEX Online) - India will lead demand for natural diamonds in 2024, says David Kellie, CEO of Natural Diamond Council (NDC), as US buyers increasingly switch to lab growns."The Indian market remains the strongest growth market in the world because of its strong financial position and changing demographics," he told The Economic Times, in India."Indian women are now financially stronger, and they...Read More

It's an election year. Interest rates are high relative to current inflation rates and are the highest they've been since 2006.Do those two conditions have anything to do with each other? The Federal Reserve would say no but history would say yes.On the one hand, the Federal Reserve has always maintained they are above politics. According to Fed propaganda, members of the board of governors check...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Rio Tinto today (16 January) announced a 50 per cent drop in its Q4 diamond production at Diavik, Canada's largest diamond mine.It said the closure of two kimberlite pipes - one underground, the other open pit - towards the end of the year had impacted output.Rio Tinto, the world's second-largest metals and mining corporation, reported production at Diavik, its only diamo...Read More