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

The Senate quietly passed a $1.2 trillion funding package on Saturday morning to avert a partial government shutdown.Just days earlier, Jerome Powell and the Fed soothed jittery investors, declaring that the Fed still intends to cut rates before the end of the year.Meanwhile, you might have noticed gold and Bitcoin consolidating near their respective all-time highs.Coincidence?Probably not.While y...Read More

Beware the Ides of March," Shakespeare quotes the soothsayer's warning Julius Caesar about what turned out to be an impending assassination on March 15.The death of American liberty happened around the same time four years ago, when the orders went out from all levels of government to close all indoor and outdoor venues where people gather.It was not quite a law and it was never voted on by anyone...Read More

Can you feel it? The tension rising to the red line?It runs clear through all of Western Civ. We're ruled by governments of fiends. But now, the sun rides higher in the sky. The sap is rising in the northern forests. The earth heaves. The buds swell and blush. Something is in the air. The animals are waking from their long winter sleep.The natives are restless.The two traditional political divisio...Read More

The Federal Reserve began kinking its monetary hose two years back.This it did through fevered interest rate elevations and quantitative tightening.Yet the stock market put out its tongue, placed its thumbs in its ears and wiggled its fingers in Mr. Powell's face.It has gone streaking to record heights despite the Federal Reserve's kinks.A conundrum! Or is it?We are informed that financial condi...Read More

Sometimes, I watch videos on YouTube or X and think, "Thank heavens I listened to the right people about Russia and Ukraine."Of course, I claim no clairvoyance, and I'm not a "Washington Insider" like my colleague Jim Rickards.I'm just a well-traveled, educated spectator who tries to understand what's happening and then writes about it.And since my trouble with authority extends to the mainstream...Read More

Most of us recall the banking crisis of March to May 2023.It began with the collapse of the little-known Silvergate Bank on March 8. This was followed the next day by the collapse of the much larger Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 9. SVB had over $120 billion in uninsured deposits.Bank deposits over $250,000 each are not covered by FDIC insurance. Those depositors stood to lose all their money...Read More

In the year 2020 a fellow taking in $59,000 could purchase the average American house.The monetary and fiscal deliriums of the pandemic period were on the simmer but not yet the boil.Trillions and trillions later... they have boiled into a beautiful inflation.Here then is our question:What salary must a fellow fetch to purchase the average American house in 2024?Your choices are these:A): $67,00...Read More

Welcome to the year of the speculator.2024 has been a dream for adventurous investors who managed to catch lightning in a bottle and ride the mega-caps and semiconductors to outrageous heights.But I'm starting to see signs pointing to lower prices in the very near future...No, I'm not tracking the next big market meltdown... But I do expect the upcoming pullback to awaken more than a few hibernati...Read More

What's driving the current stock market frenzy? Is it a new bubble pure and simple? Is it driven by fundamentals? Does the Fed play an important role?Let's look at these factors and make a forecast of stock market index levels based on these and other inputs.Trends in stock prices over the past year have largely been a function of market expectations about Fed rate cuts and market euphoria over st...Read More

H.G. Wells concocted a marvelous trick ending to his classic tale The War of the Worlds (1897).Remember: the colossal Martian tripod "fighting machines" swarm all over the planet zapping cities with "heat rays"… it looks like all-is-lost… but finally the darn things just quit marching, stop zapping and stand down… the alien protoplasms at the controls (surprise ending) turn up de...Read More

In the 1990s, it was common to ridicule the government for being technologically backward.We were all gaining access to fabulous things, including the web, apps, search tools and social media. But governments at all levels were stuck in the past using IBM mainframes and large floppy disks.I recall the days of thinking government would never catch up to the glories and might of the market itself. I...Read More

A man is habitually battened upon his head with "elite" opinion.He takes daily instruction in what he must think and how he must think.If he fails to come aboard he is... varying by context... undemocratic, fascistic, racist, sexist, gay-phobic, transsexual-phobic, immigrant-phobic... and an altogether nasty fellow.He may even cast a vote for Mr. Trump.We are against these elites, so-called.We a...Read More

Surely, you don't think I'm implying or outright stating that I'd like to see mushroom clouds above German cities.Nothing could be further from the truth. Germany is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.But we need to face it: the nation-state known as Germany needs to disappear. Let's be honest. Europeans will never forgive Germany for either world war. The Jewish diaspora will ne...Read More

Most investors are highly focused on the U.S. presidential election this November, and rightly so.As of now, subject to change, that election is likely to feature a rematch of the Biden-Trump election of 2020. Their policies could not be more different.Biden is a rubber stamp for every progressive policy from open borders, climate alarmism and support for abortion to expanding the war in Ukraine.O...Read More

It's all too easy to get caught up in the moment...But it's important to remember we're currently experiencing extraordinary market conditions.Semiconductors have posted a rally for the ages. Mega-cap tech continues to shove the top-heavy averages higher into what is traditionally a weak season for stocks. Even tiny, unknown cryptocurrencies are exploding as Bitcoin tops $70K and pushes to new all...Read More

Morgan Stanley recently came out with their three themes that will impact markets for many years: longevity, AI tech diffusion and decarbonization, i.e. the transition from hydrocarbon fuels to so-called “green energy.”In a nutshell, pills that cost $1,000 a month will make us live longer, AI will increase corporate profits (which is the entire point of the economy, of course) and thos...Read More

After two years of trading in a 20% range between $1,600 and $2,000 per ounce, gold finally broke out to the upside, closing at a new all-time high of $2,126 per ounce on March 4.Better yet, if you're a gold investor, gold has held its ground around $2,100 per ounce since breaking that ceiling (gold's trading at around $2,187 today).The price is volatile, but gold broke even higher on March 5 when...Read More

"Et in Arcadia ego."Even in Arcadia, that is, "I, Death, hold sway."We do not inhabit Arcadia. Yet in our profane chunk of existence, we are reminded that Death rules.Last evening we were handed an obituarial notice.It was not the obituarial notice of an immediate family member.It was not even the obituarial notice of a cherished acquaintance.It was rather the obituary notice of a loose and distan...Read More

In 1960, Harvard sociologist Daniel Bell published a book called The End of Ideology. It argued that it was time to put aside all our ridiculous arguments of the past socialism, fascism, liberalism, anarchism, technocracy, etc. and just recognize that elites like him have it all under control.They'd already established the building blocks of the administrative state so that real experts could...Read More

I'm writing from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but I didn't have enough time to explore the city and report back to you. I'm very sorry about that!Fifteen years ago, life as a financial trainer was much different. The trips were longer, at fancier hotels and better paid. And as a single man, I had time to read.Now, it's in and out, flying economy, with no time to enjoy the place.Thinking back to my more l...Read More