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

Forget Gold, Buy Silver ETFs Instead ... Gold bullion exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Shares ETF (NYSEARCA:GLD) is up over 27% so far this year (as of August 1, 2016). Investors should note that not only gold, most precious metals are on a tear this year on a subdued greenback, as these metals are linked to the U.S. dollar. -Seeking AlphaThis article, excerpted above, makes the case for buying si...Read More

Trump's Border Wall Idea Dismissed by Mexico's Foreign Minister ... Nation 'not even considering' candidate's proposal: minister Ruiz calls for passage of TPP trade deal to build on Nafta ... Mexico's foreign minister, Claudia Ruiz Massieu, dismissed Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump's calls for the nation to pay for a border wall, calling instead for greater integration betwee...Read More

In New York trade on Thursday copper for delivery in September continued to drift lower after signs that cost deflation in the world's top producer Chile is only accelerating.Copper futures were lasting trading at $2.17 per pound, a three week low. Amid a broad-based rally in industrial and precious metals, iron ore and coal, copper's performance has been disappointing with the metal tradin...Read More

Odin Mining and Exploration Ltd. [ODN-TSXV] and Ecuador Gold and Copper Corp. [EGX-TSXV] have entered into a definitive arrangement agreement, dated August 2, 2016, whereby Odin will acquire all of the outstanding securities of EGX.Vancouver based, Odin Mining has the Cangrejos gold project in El Oro province, southern Ecuador, 30 km southeast of the port city of Machala which Odin Mining identifi...Read More

Social Media Blitz Has Russians Asking: What's a Central Bank? ... Bank of Russia expanding its reach by turning to social media Inflation expectations remain high despite slower price growth ... Here's what Governor Elvira Nabiullina's latest quest to uproot high inflation expectations is up against: most Russians don't know what a central bank is, and the price growth many of them actually f...Read More

Gloucester ammo store's sign criticized for its 'ugly timing' ... The sign outside the Gloucester Supply Center has generated criticism of and support for the shop owner ... When George Allen Jr. mounted a 15-square-foot sign that reads "WE SELL AMMO" outside of his shop here, just days after a mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub, he posted the bright yellow marquee not only to let customers k...Read More

The list of Republicans who support Hillary Clinton is growing - quickly ... Richard Armitage, Henry Paulson, Brent Scowcroft. Three big-name former George W. Bush administration officials in the past few weeks have announced that they are supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 - all because Donald Trump is simply a bridge too far for them. -Boston GlobeTrump may be a "bridge too far," but why are R...Read More

Social Media Blitz Has Russians Asking: What's a Central Bank? ... Bank of Russia expanding its reach by turning to social media Inflation expectations remain high despite slower price growth ... Here's what Governor Elvira Nabiullina's latest quest to uproot high inflation expectations is up against: most Russians don't know what a central bank is, and the price growth many of them actually f...Read More

Gloucester ammo store's sign criticized for its 'ugly timing' ... The sign outside the Gloucester Supply Center has generated criticism of and support for the shop owner ... When George Allen Jr. mounted a 15-square-foot sign that reads "WE SELL AMMO" outside of his shop here, just days after a mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub, he posted the bright yellow marquee not only to let customers k...Read More

The list of Republicans who support Hillary Clinton is growing - quickly ... Richard Armitage, Henry Paulson, Brent Scowcroft. Three big-name former George W. Bush administration officials in the past few weeks have announced that they are supporting Hillary Clinton in 2016 - all because Donald Trump is simply a bridge too far for them. -Boston GlobeTrump may be a "bridge too far," but why are R...Read More

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) is facing more uncertainty about its operations in Indonesia after reports the Asian country's new resources chief dismissed the idea of an early extension of the copper and gold giant's licence.Luhut Panjaitan, the newly appointed Maritime Affairs minister and one of president Joko Widodo's closest aides, is quoted by Reuters as saying "Freeport shouldn't push us"...Read More

The world's number two miner by revenue Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) reported its weakest first-half earnings in some 12 years on the back of falls in the value of its two main commodities, iron ore and copper prices fell.Underlying earnings for the six months to June fell 47% to $1.56 billion from $2.92 billion compared to a year earlier and the Anglo-Australian giant also cut its interim dividend by 58%...Read More

Trump reportedly asked adviser why US can’t use nuclear weapons ... MSNBC host Joe Scarborough told a stunned panel Wednesday morning that when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump met with an unnamed national security expert earlier this year, he repeatedly asked why the U.S. couldn’t use its nuclear weapons stockpile. -AOL Trump has asked a good question about nuclear wea...Read More

Abenomics’ return to fiscal stimulus shows failure to reach economic goals ... Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s return to the fiscal-stimulus lever he first pulled three years ago shows how far he remains from hitting ambitious targets for reviving Japan’s economy. The cabinet on Tuesday approved a spending-and-lending package totalling ?28 trillion ($363 billion), including ?4....Read More

North Korean Missile Lands Close to Japan ... North Korea fired a ballistic missile early Wednesday that landed unusually close to Japan, drawing a strong protest from Tokyo a day after it warned of Pyongyang's advancing missile threat. ... Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the latest missile had fallen into Tokyo's territorial waters and called it an "unforgivable act of aggression that...Read More

Trump reportedly asked adviser why US can’t use nuclear weapons ... MSNBC host Joe Scarborough told a stunned panel Wednesday morning that when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump met with an unnamed national security expert earlier this year, he repeatedly asked why the U.S. couldn’t use its nuclear weapons stockpile. -AOL Trump has asked a good question about nuclear wea...Read More

Abenomics’ return to fiscal stimulus shows failure to reach economic goals ... Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s return to the fiscal-stimulus lever he first pulled three years ago shows how far he remains from hitting ambitious targets for reviving Japan’s economy. The cabinet on Tuesday approved a spending-and-lending package totalling ?28 trillion ($363 billion), including ?4....Read More

North Korean Missile Lands Close to Japan ... North Korea fired a ballistic missile early Wednesday that landed unusually close to Japan, drawing a strong protest from Tokyo a day after it warned of Pyongyang's advancing missile threat. ... Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the latest missile had fallen into Tokyo's territorial waters and called it an "unforgivable act of aggression that...Read More

Turquoise Hill Resources (TSE,NYSE:TRQ) on Tuesday released its operational overview and financial results for its Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia that came in above expectations despite showing production declines for both metals.The Vancouver-based company said Oyu Tolgoi's second quarter concentrator throughput was in line with the first quarter at roughly 105,000 tonnes per day, but...Read More

Production of bauxite, the major source of aluminum, is accelerating steadily according to the latest reports. Strong project pipelines in Australia and India are the main growth catalyst, with 5 of Australia's bauxite mines currently providing over a quarter of global supply.Rio Tinto posted a 3.9% output increase from its bauxite operations in Australia for Q1 of this year. The mining corporatio...Read More