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

Canada's Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX), the world' largest producer of the precious metal, has decided to shrink its chairman salary by almost US$10 million, or 76% its current pay, in response to relentless criticism from investors over the firm's compensation packages.John Thornton, 62, will receive $3.4 million for his work in 2015, including compensations and pension, a significant reduction fr...Read More

Chile's Codelco, the world's No.1 copper producer, posted Thursday (in Spanish) a net loss of $ 1.4 billion for 2015 related to asset impairments and a sharp fall of prices for the red metal.The company, which produces nearly 11% of the total global copper supply, booked $2.4 billion in write-downs, and said the results were its worst bottom-line figures since it began issuing earnings reports in...Read More

Pascua-Lama has been shut since 2013. (Image courtesy of Barrick Gold)Canada's Barrick Gold (TSX, NYSE:ABX) will have to face a U.S. class-action lawsuit that accuses the world's largest gold producer of distorting facts related to its now halted $8.5 billion Pascua-Lama project, straddling the border of Chile and Argentina.U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in Manhattan ruled Wednesday that sha...Read More

Commodities giant Mitsubishi Corp became Thursday the second Japanese trading house this week to report huge write-downs and a likely first annual loss ever, echoing Mitsui & Co's warning on the effect of weak commodity prices.Japan's biggest trader said it expected to book an impairment charge of $3.8 billion (430 billion yen) mainly on its metals and energy businesses, which will lead to a net l...Read More

Tony Blair has warned against “flabby liberalism” and says there needs to be a tougher centre ground approach to issues such as tackling extremism and responding to the refugee crisis ... He argues that education against extremism and intolerance will come to be seen as an international obligation – in the way that environmental policy, such as tackling pollution, is addressed...Read More

Tony Blair has warned against “flabby liberalism” and says there needs to be a tougher centre ground approach to issues such as tackling extremism and responding to the refugee crisis ... He argues that education against extremism and intolerance will come to be seen as an international obligation – in the way that environmental policy, such as tackling pollution, is addressed...Read More

On Wednesday investors curbed their enthusiasm for commodities, sending everything from copper and gold to oil and iron ore sharply lower.But despite nervousness returning to metals and mining markets this week, 2016 is still looking decidedly better for the sector. Year to date gold is holding onto 15% gains, silver and platinum are up 10% while bellwether copper's trading nearly 15% higher than...Read More

Donald Trump claims that America keeps "losing" at trade with China.While the number he cites is exaggerated, it's also not far off. Today's animation shows the last 30 years of history of trade between the USA and China.The U.S. trade deficit with China reached record proportions in 2015.With a difference of $365.7 billion between imports and exports, it is not only the largest trade deficit with...Read More

Japanese trading firm Mitsui & Co warned Wednesday is set to post its first annual loss since being established in 1947 after a sustained rout in energy and metal prices forced it to book $2.3 billion (260 billion yen) in write-downs on projects from South America to Australia.The Tokyo-based firm, Japan's second biggest trading house, expects a net loss of 70 billion yen ($623 million) in the fis...Read More

Nixon Aide Reportedly Admitted Drug War Was Meant To Target Black People ... pulls back the curtain on the true motivation of the United States' war on drugs. -Huffington PostThe Huffington Post article, excerpted above, blames the Nixon administration for the "war on drugs" and is based on a cover story in Harper's magazine by Dan Baum.Baum’s long article eventually makes the case for...Read More

Nixon Aide Reportedly Admitted Drug War Was Meant To Target Black People ... pulls back the curtain on the true motivation of the United States' war on drugs. -Huffington PostThe Huffington Post article, excerpted above, blames the Nixon administration for the "war on drugs" and is based on a cover story in Harper's magazine by Dan Baum.Baum’s long article eventually makes the case for...Read More

Driven by low commodity prices, large mining companies will shift away from diversification strategies to concentrate on increasing competitiveness in specific sectors, predicts research firm BMI.The process is already underway at the top diversified firms including at number one miner BHP Billiton which back in 2014 embarked on what it called "portfolio simplification" to focus on iron ore, copp...Read More

Recent stock charts are making it tempting to declare a five-year-long bear market for mining finally over.Since mid-January, mining stocks have rallied, key commodity prices appear to be making their way up from a bottom, a number of financing and acquisition deals have been struck and, for the first time in years, the mood at the recent Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conve...Read More

Juneau, AK; Ottawa, ON; Washington, D.C., March 22 - In the midst of deliberations over the British Columbia Mining Code, an international coalition today released, "Post-Mount Polley: Tailings Dam Safety in British Columbia", a new analysis revealing that four major BC mine projects in the Alaska/British Columbia transboundary region fail to implement the recommendations of the Mount Polley exp...Read More

The world economy is complex, but today's series of maps will allow you to simplify your understanding of the relative wealth of people around the globe.Global Finance Magazine recently collated data from the World Bank on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita for 204 countries.Each country was placed in one of four groups:Low income: $1,045 or lessLower-middle income: $1,046 to $4,125Upper-middl...Read More

In New York trade on Monday copper for delivery in May consolidated recent gains to reach a 20-week high after customs data from top consumer China showed a huge jump in imports of the red metal.Copper changed hands for $2.3020 per pound or around $5,075 a tonne in lunchtime trade on Tuesday, up o.8% from Friday's close. If the most active futures contract closes above $2.30 it would be the...Read More

New York Times ... With 'Smog Jog' Through Beijing, Zuckerberg Stirs Debate on Air Pollution ... Some noted he should have worn a face mask ... Others simply took umbrage with where the photo was staged, at the heart of Tiananmen Square."The floor you stepped has been covered by blood from students ..." wrote a user named Cao Yuzhou. - New York TimesMark Zuckerberg’s China trip turned surpri...Read More

New York Times ... With 'Smog Jog' Through Beijing, Zuckerberg Stirs Debate on Air Pollution ... Some noted he should have worn a face mask ... Others simply took umbrage with where the photo was staged, at the heart of Tiananmen Square."The floor you stepped has been covered by blood from students ..." wrote a user named Cao Yuzhou. - New York TimesMark Zuckerberg’s China trip turned surpri...Read More

According to a study of private capital in the resources sector from industry tracker Preqin, half of investors in the mining and metals sector will deploy more capital this year despite two-thirds of institutional investors displaying less appetite for the sector compared to a year ago.The pullback comes after fundraising for natural resources investment reached record levels in 2015, with 74 fu...Read More

Canadian junior Strongbow Exploration Inc announced on Friday the acquisition of the South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall.The Cornish mine which is under administration hasn't operated in nearly two decades. Vancouver-based Strongbow (CVE:SBW) paid in the order of US$2m for 100% of the mining permission area which includes 26 former producing mines.A new NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate will be...Read More