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

"There are no solutions," intones economist Thomas Sowell "there are only trade-offs."Preserving Earth is a trade-off to shame all trade-offs...For the cost of preserving Earth may consign its American inhabitants to a poorhouse.The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, so-called:Last April, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a new rule for stricter vehicle emissions standa...Read More

(IDEX Online) - LVMH is the world's most valuable luxury company, based on market capitalization and revenue.That's according to Insider Monkey, the investing website that has just published its top 25, based on a snapshot of their figures from 15 February.  The French conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy), owns 75 maisons, including eight watch and jewelry brands (am...Read More

Are stocks presently:A) Severely undervalued...B) Somewhat undervalued...C) Fairly valued...D) Somewhat overvalued... or...E) Severely overvalued?Please select your answer.Yet the devil is in us today. Let us then befuddle, confound and dizzy you with another selection:F) Stocks are obscenely overvalued.What is the answer? You will have it shortly.Let us first look in on the center of our mystery...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Online searches for engagement rings have spiked ahead of Leap Day today  - when women traditionally switch roles to pop the question.It's already a busy month for diamond sales because of Valentine's Day, but 29 February increases demand every four years, says eBay UK.The e-commerce giant says there's been a 220 per cent increase in searches for engagement ring...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Lab grown prices have yet to bottom, and could fall by a further 80 per cent, says one industry expert.The gap with natural diamonds has been widening since labs growns first became mainstream in 2018.In some cases like-for-like lab growns are now just 10 per cent the price of a natural.But Cormac Kinney, CEO of the commodities trading firm Diamond Standard, believes there's s...Read More

Political news in the U.S. and wars abroad have pushed most economic news out of the headlines. Yet the economic news is more important than ever and will have a huge impact on stock and bond markets in the months ahead.Here's a summary of recent critical developments:On the economy as a whole, headline numbers continue to look good. The Q42023 GDP was 3.3% (annualized). That put full-year 2023 GD...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Two people have been arrested after packages of jewelry were allegedly intercepted from delivery companies in Sacramento, California, USA.One of the, named as Lakisha Pettus, is accused of posing as a jewelry company employee to trick deliverers into handing over three packages, valued at $86,000.The other, Kyle Gutierrez, is accused of taking delivery of three packages,...Read More

I often write about different crises, but usually one at a time. Whether it's a market crash, recession, bank failures, etc. I take them on an individual basis.But what about a cascade of crises? What about a situation in which one crisis comes after another for a prolonged period? Each crisis might be manageable, but the sheer volume of crises and their cumulative effect might push society to the...Read More

(IDEX Online)  - Diamond Foundry, the Silicon Valley startup, says test production of lab growns at its new factory in Trujillo, Spain, will begin this autumn.It estimates output at more than 2m carats a year with 168 plasma reactors using its own patented CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method.The majority of the diamonds it produces will be for the automotive sector or 5G communication netw...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A smart earring developed at University of Washington, USA, monitors earlobe temperature.It senses skin temperature more accurately than a smartphone and could be developed to monitor signs of stress, eating, exercise and ovulation.The thermal earring prototype is about the size and weight of a small paperclip. It incorporates circuitry, a Bluetooth chip, a battery, two temperature...Read More

Today is President's Day.In token of this high and exalted day, we reflect upon the United States presidency.Historians heap vast praise upon presidents of energy and of action.In brief, upon presidents who expand their own powers... and the powers of the United States government.Over whom do historians slobber and swoon a Millard Fillmore or an Abraham Lincoln?A Grover Cleveland or a Theodore R...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Lightbox has been testing out lower prices for its lab grown diamonds.It says its Standard quality stones have been discounted from $800 a carat to $600 and its Finest range of higher quality lab growns have been reduced from $1,500 a carat to $1,000.But the De Beers-owned company says it will retain the linear pricing policy - a fixed cost per carat - which it has promoted since i...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Swiss Supreme Court Sounds off on Customized Watches in Rolex CaseSwitzerland's highest court has made a landmark ruling on the legality of a third party selling customized Rolex watches.It distinguishes between watch personalization for a client, which is acceptable, and the general marketing of modified Rolex watches, which is not.The Swiss Federal Supreme Court considered t...Read More

"It's not enough to be against globalism or the WEF, we have to also be for something better." Tom Luongo, Gold, Goats 'n Guns podcastMr. Luongo makes an important point. I want you to think about this: There is a reason that the WEF-Globalist cabal is losing the battle to control and dominate the rest of us. They are trying to power straight into the opposing currents of reality.Above all, they...Read More

Four years after the pandemic, it's still hard to predict where any particular public intellectual stands on lockdowns, mandates and the entire calamity of the response to COVID. Very few have apologized. Most have moved on as if nothing has happened. Some have dug into their own apostasy even more deeply.One reason seems to be that much of the professional intellectual class is currently dependen...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Anglo American has written down the value of De Beers by $1.6bn - or 17 per cent - as reduced demand continues to drive down diamond prices.It now values the miner at $7.6bn. Anglo American took control of De Beers after buying the Oppenheimer family's 40 per cent stake in 2011 for $5.1bn. It holds as 85 per cent stake. The government of Botswana owns the remainder."Our update...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Masked raiders fled a jewelry store in California, USA, after the owner fired shots.One hit the ground and another struck the window at Geneva Jewelry, Riverside, on Saturday (17 February).A female customer who was caught up in the smash and grab managed to run past the raiders to safety at the back of the store.The two suspects entered the store at around 11am and started using ha...Read More

(IDEX Online) -  Mountain Province Diamonds has increased its production guide for this year, from 4.0m cts - 4.4m cts to 4.2m cts - 4.7m cts.The Toronto-based miner says it now expects an increase in recovered grade at the Gahcho Kue mine it operates as a joint venture with De Beers in Northwest Territories.It also expects improvements in plant throughput and overall process utilization (OPU...Read More

(IDEX Online) - De Beers suffered a drop in revenue of almost 36 per cent in 2023, down from $6.6bn to $4.3bn.It blamed a rise in polished diamond inventories, increases in inflation and interest rates, macro-economic challenges an the rising supply of lab growns.The UK-based miner expects industry conditions to remain challenging in the short term. But the long-term outlook is favorable, it says...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Elton John's yellow gold leopard print Rolex Daytona sold for $176,400 at Christie's New York, smashing its pre-sale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000.The watch, set with diamonds and orange sapphires, was the highlight of a collection that included 13 Cartiers, five Chopards, four Hublots, two Audemars Piguets and two Franck Mullers. The Rolex Daytona set a new world auctio...Read More