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

BlackRock Chief: Markets Will Be ‘Fine’ … The boss of the world’s largest money manager said financial markets will be “fine” over the next year despite a sharp downturn early in 2016 … BlackRock Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Laurence Fink said in an interview … that the market is “going through a correction phase and is doing it rapidly.&#...Read More

Leonardo DiCaprio Slams Corporate Greed and Calls for the Elimination of Fossil Fuels … “We cannot afford to allow the corporate greed of the coal, oil and gas industries to determine the future of humanity.” - TIME via PeopleDominant Social Theme: The same greedy corporations that pay me millions must divest themselves of their oil and gas interests. Oh, and coal, too.Free-Marke...Read More

BlackRock Chief: Markets Will Be ‘Fine’ … The boss of the world’s largest money manager said financial markets will be “fine” over the next year despite a sharp downturn early in 2016 … BlackRock Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Laurence Fink said in an interview … that the market is “going through a correction phase and is doing it rapidly.&#...Read More

Leonardo DiCaprio Slams Corporate Greed and Calls for the Elimination of Fossil Fuels … “We cannot afford to allow the corporate greed of the coal, oil and gas industries to determine the future of humanity.” - TIME via PeopleDominant Social Theme: The same greedy corporations that pay me millions must divest themselves of their oil and gas interests. Oh, and coal, too.Free-Marke...Read More

Fears grow of repeat of 2008 financial crash as investors run for cover… As leaders gathered in Davos, FTSE 100 was gripped by panic selling and entered bear market with Dow Jones also plunging. - UK GuardianDominant Social Theme: Fears are growing as the world’s economic system trembles on the verge. What to do?Free-Market Analysis: Let us recall how long ago we were misled and what t...Read More

Cruz shifts on Edward Snowden … Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz … said National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is a “traitor” who should be “tried for treason,” shifting away from the praise he expressed for Snowden in 2013. - The HillDominant Social Theme: Off with his head.Free-Market Analysis: Politics is a truly brutal sport. Most of the time...Read More

Fears grow of repeat of 2008 financial crash as investors run for cover… As leaders gathered in Davos, FTSE 100 was gripped by panic selling and entered bear market with Dow Jones also plunging. - UK GuardianDominant Social Theme: Fears are growing as the world’s economic system trembles on the verge. What to do?Free-Market Analysis: Let us recall how long ago we were misled and what t...Read More

Cruz shifts on Edward Snowden … Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz … said National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is a “traitor” who should be “tried for treason,” shifting away from the praise he expressed for Snowden in 2013. - The HillDominant Social Theme: Off with his head.Free-Market Analysis: Politics is a truly brutal sport. Most of the time...Read More

Construction of a concrete batching plant at Skouries mine. (Image courtesy of Eldorado Gold)Greece's top administrative court ruled Wednesday that last year's government decision to revoke Canada's Eldorado Gold (TSX: ELD) (NYSE:EGO) mining licence in the country's north was baseless, Reuters reports.The Vancouver-based company had appeal appealed Greece's energy and environment ministry order...Read More

Global stocks sank to their lowest levels since 2013 on Wednesday, hit by yet another drop in oil prices and the IMF's lower growth forecast for China, which is leading equity markets to one of their worst monthly performances ever.Brent crude, the international energy benchmark, was trading this morning at $28.07 per barrel, the lowest price in 13 years.Prices for copper, often viewed as a barom...Read More

Despite recent market volatility and exposure to low oil and commodity prices, Bank of Nova Scotia has set double-digit growth targets in four Pacific Alliance countries: Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico.Dieter Jentsch, group head of international banking at Canada's third-largest bank, said the targets were based in part on the expectations of central bankers in those countries, all four of whom...Read More

Why Central Bank Independence Matters … In India, the independence of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its respected governor, Professor Raghuram Rajan, was recently perceived to be under threat when the Indian government proposed through its Ministry of Finance that its nominees should form the majority in a new, formal Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI. Domestic and international con...Read More

Oceans running out of fish as undeclared catches add a third to official figures … The global catch of fish and seafood is falling at three times the rate reported by the United Nations and urgently needs to be slowed to avoid a crash, reports Christopher Pala. The finding comes in a new study for Nature which quantifies the huge illegal industrial fish pillaging taking place around the worl...Read More

Why Central Bank Independence Matters … In India, the independence of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its respected governor, Professor Raghuram Rajan, was recently perceived to be under threat when the Indian government proposed through its Ministry of Finance that its nominees should form the majority in a new, formal Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI. Domestic and international con...Read More

Oceans running out of fish as undeclared catches add a third to official figures … The global catch of fish and seafood is falling at three times the rate reported by the United Nations and urgently needs to be slowed to avoid a crash, reports Christopher Pala. The finding comes in a new study for Nature which quantifies the huge illegal industrial fish pillaging taking place around the worl...Read More

The deposit was first discovered in the 1930s and Freeport McMoRan has been mining copper, silver and gold at Grasberg in remote Indonesia since the 1970s. In terms of reserves, Grasberg is still the richest deposit on the planet.The chief executive of Freeport McMoRan's Indonesian unit, Maroef Sjamsuddin, has resigned Tuesday, less than a month after the chairman of the U.S. mining giant steppe...Read More

Grupo Mexico SAB is charging ahead into the worst metals market in 15 years, taking advantage of the slump to ramp up growth while competitors cut back and hunker down.Mexico's biggest copper producer is leveraging its relatively low debt and strong profit margins to invest more than $4.6 billion expanding some of its mines, making it one of the favorite picks for analysts' covering the sector thi...Read More

The Citadel Is Breached: Congress Taps the Federal Reserve for Infrastructure Funding … The highway measure would be financed in part by a one-time use of Federal Reserve surplus funds and by a reduction in the 6 percent dividend that national banks receive from the Fed. . . . Banks with $10 billion or less in assets would be exempt from the cut. The Fed's surplus capital comes from the...Read More

"This is personal," Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told an estimated 300 people at the Hilton Garden Inn … It was foreign affairs that really got Rubio going claiming Obama is cutting "deals" with the enemies putting Americans in harms way, he said. "If you take an American as a hostage, Barack Obama will cut a deal with you (for release)." America must stand strong w...Read More

The Citadel Is Breached: Congress Taps the Federal Reserve for Infrastructure Funding … The highway measure would be financed in part by a one-time use of Federal Reserve surplus funds and by a reduction in the 6 percent dividend that national banks receive from the Fed. . . . Banks with $10 billion or less in assets would be exempt from the cut. The Fed's surplus capital comes from the...Read More