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

"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

Las Bambas mine, located at 4,000 metres in the south of the South American country, is set to deliver 400,000 tonnes of copper per year during the first five years of production, placing it within the top three copper mines globally. (Image from archives)China-backed miner MMG Ltd has made a first shipment of 10,000 tonnes of copper concentrate from its Peru-based Las Bambas mine, one of the worl...Read More

The Tambopata National Reserve, in the Peruvian Amazon Basin,was created in 1990 to protect the forests adjacent to the rivers Heath and Tambopata. It is home to two unique ecosystems and very rich in terms of biodiversity. (Image Wikimedia Commons)Recently released satellite images show that devastation from illegal gold mining activities in Peru is now reaching the Tambopata National Reserve, a...Read More

Hundreds of Greek gold miners and technical staff are preparing to stage "powerful demonstrations" directed against the left-wing Syriza government, unions told Al Jazeera. Their employer, Canada's Eldorado Gold Corporation, announced last week that it will lay them off and utilize a key mine in northern Greece after years of government obstruction."We're not going to take this lying down," the m...Read More

Why This Market Meltdown Isn't a Repeat of 2008 … The end isn't nigh … The U.S. economy and financial system are in a very different place. Notably, debt ratios within the U.S. aren't nearly as high outside the government. – Wall Street JournalDominant Social Theme: 2008 is ancient history. Let's focus on what's good about the present.Free-Market Analysis: The...Read More

Bowie's death marks the Twilight of the Rock Gods …With David Bowie's final curtain-call, we are witnessing the end of an era, as the original stars of the explosive rock culture that convulsed the world in the second half of the 20th century are slowly extinguished. We are entering the Twilight of the Rock Gods. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Where will we turn for great...Read More

Why This Market Meltdown Isn't a Repeat of 2008 … The end isn't nigh … The U.S. economy and financial system are in a very different place. Notably, debt ratios within the U.S. aren't nearly as high outside the government. – Wall Street JournalDominant Social Theme: 2008 is ancient history. Let's focus on what's good about the present.Free-Market Analysis: The...Read More

Bowie's death marks the Twilight of the Rock Gods …With David Bowie's final curtain-call, we are witnessing the end of an era, as the original stars of the explosive rock culture that convulsed the world in the second half of the 20th century are slowly extinguished. We are entering the Twilight of the Rock Gods. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Where will we turn for great...Read More

Glencore's Middelburg South Africa chrome smelter. Image: GlencoreA feeble attempt at a rally yesterday evaporated on Friday with the copper price hitting a fresh six-and-half year low of $1.9365 a pound ($4,270 a tonne) after falling nearly 2% in New York. Following a 26% decline in 2015, copper is already down 9% this year and worth less than half its peak as commodity investors choose to ignore...Read More

BHP's Fayetteville Shale, Arkansas, USA. (Image courtesy of BHP Billiton)Mining giant BHP Billiton (ASX, NYSE:BHP), (LON:BLT) logged Friday its largest-ever write-down, a roughly US$7.2 billion pretax charge on its extensive US shale assets, as a persistent downturn in commodities continues to hurt the mining and energy sectors.The fresh disappointment from the company's $20 billion foray into the...Read More

Gold King Mine discharge. (Image from archives)The state of New Mexico plans to sue the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over last year's toxic Colorado mining spill that sent 3 million gallons of waste into the Animas and San Juan rivers.In a notice of intent to sue filed by the state Thursday, officials claim the EPA is to blame for the the consequences of the blowout at the abandoned...Read More

Yellen May Let the Economy Run Hot … Fed officials could forgo another rate increase in March, a possibility reflected in futures markets where the probability of no change at that time is around 58 percent. A pause would fuel expectations of a much slower series of rate hikes than the four that policymakers projected for 2016. Short- and long-term interest rates would drop, resulting in che...Read More

President Obama's amazingly emotional speech on gun control … President Obama delivered a deeply personal and emotional appeal to the country to help curb gun violence on Tuesday at the White House. For Obama, who is often criticized for his overly clinical approach to heated issues, his tone – sad and mad in relatively equal measure – was remarkable. Toward the end of his re...Read More

Yellen May Let the Economy Run Hot … Fed officials could forgo another rate increase in March, a possibility reflected in futures markets where the probability of no change at that time is around 58 percent. A pause would fuel expectations of a much slower series of rate hikes than the four that policymakers projected for 2016. Short- and long-term interest rates would drop, resulting in che...Read More

President Obama's amazingly emotional speech on gun control … President Obama delivered a deeply personal and emotional appeal to the country to help curb gun violence on Tuesday at the White House. For Obama, who is often criticized for his overly clinical approach to heated issues, his tone – sad and mad in relatively equal measure – was remarkable. Toward the end of his re...Read More

The area where Pebble mine would be built, 320 km southwest of Anchorage, within the Bristol Bay watershed. (Image courtesy of Northern Dynasty Minerals)A government probe into the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) rejection of massive copper-gold mine project in Alaska, has found 25 months of missing emails from the account of an employee who is believed to have played a major role in de...Read More

Construction of a concrete batching plant at Skouries mine. (Image courtesy of Eldorado Gold)Greece's left-wing government is asking Canadian Eldorado Gold (TSX:ELD) (NYSE:EGO) to resume halted mining operations and preserve jobs currently in the line as a condition for the two parties to continue talks on the country's biggest foreign investment.Environment and Energy Minister, Panos Skourletis,...Read More

Chief executive Sam Walsh expects 2016 to be "an even tougher year" than the last. (Image: Screenshot from IBM's video)Rio Tinto (LON, ASX:RIO), the world's second largest miner, has put a freeze on salaries for all employees, in a fresh attempt to weather tough market conditions marked by a continuing slump in commodities prices.Chief executive Sam Walsh told employees that expenses for travel an...Read More

The US dollar has been on a tear.And for miners in certain jurisdictions, this has helped operators immensely, especially when coupled with lower fuel prices, which typically accounts for 15-20% of overhead.With traditional inputs being purchased with the weakening local currency, and gold being sold for the appreciating dollar, some operators in Australia have been able to improve their bottom li...Read More

US Treasury to track cash buyers of prime real estate … The US Treasury has launched a test programme to track all-cash buyers of high-end real estate in New York and Miami, amid fears that the US property market has become a favoured destination for foreigners looking to launder ill-gotten assets. – Financial TimesDominant Social Theme: To stay on top of criminality demands savvy dete...Read More