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

Gold is the big exception with managed money futures investors slashing bearish bets on the gold price by 44%After a nice run at the beginning of the new trading year, on Monday on the Comex market in New York, gold futures with February delivery retreated as worries about the global economy and geopolitics overwhelmed financial and commodity markets.In afternoon trade gold was exchanging hands fo...Read More

The world's northernmost mines are all located in just three countries; on Norway's Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean you'll find four of them. All are underground coal mines, operating in the rugged, frigid terrain between continental Norway and the North Pole.Further south, in Russia, you'll find Alrosa's diamond mines. Nizhne-Lenskoye, in the Sakha Republic, is the fifth northernmost min...Read More

Image courtesy of Codelco.Copper prices hit Monday a six-year low after more equity losses in Shanghai increased concerns over the Chinese economy, the world's largest consumer of the red metal.The effects on most miners were as dramatic as quick. Diversified miner BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP), the world's largest mining company, reached the lowest in a decade, closing almost 5% down in Sydney to $15.55...Read More

Sometimes a market in turmoil offers opportunity. Independent investment adviser Jayant Bhandari regularly sifts through bourses to find opportunities that maximize his reward for the least amount of risk. Bhandari currently sees two paths to value: companies that were either oversold in heavy tax-loss selling late in 2015 or in the "free upside" offered in arbitrage situations. In this interview...Read More

An acceleration in US wage growth is reinforcing the Federal Reserve's view that inflation is poised to rebound and could lead the central bank to raise rates more this year than many investors expect. Investors had been doubting the Fed's resolve to raise interest rates, betting on fewer increases this year. But signs of strength in the US economy is changing that view. – Irish Inde...Read More

Obama's Legacy … Has the President met the expectations set in 2004? As President Barack Obama begins his final year in office, he is left with two objectives: solidify and promote his past successes as cornerstones of his legacy and at the same time make progress on a few remaining initiatives, even though the Republican-controlled Congress has little interest in working with him on any...Read More

An acceleration in US wage growth is reinforcing the Federal Reserve's view that inflation is poised to rebound and could lead the central bank to raise rates more this year than many investors expect. Investors had been doubting the Fed's resolve to raise interest rates, betting on fewer increases this year. But signs of strength in the US economy is changing that view. – Irish Inde...Read More

Obama's Legacy … Has the President met the expectations set in 2004? As President Barack Obama begins his final year in office, he is left with two objectives: solidify and promote his past successes as cornerstones of his legacy and at the same time make progress on a few remaining initiatives, even though the Republican-controlled Congress has little interest in working with him on any...Read More

Miners ending their shift at the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company Mine #4 near Richlands, Virginia in 1974. Wearing a red hard hat meant you were new on the job.While the official US payroll numbers released on Friday showing an increase of 292,000 jobs in December came in way above expectations, the mining industry suffered its 12th consecutive month of employment decline.According to the Bureau...Read More

Image: Everett Collection | Shuttersock.comLow commodity prices will continue to be one of the main drivers of political risk for investors this year in major producing countries across Africa and Latin America, a new report suggests.According to the 2016 Political Risk Outlook, released Friday by Verisk Maplecroft, there will be little respite for investors from the political instability, civil u...Read More

Lundin Mining is developing a new nickel deposit that could extend the life of its Eagle nickel and copper mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that ramped up to full production in 2015 and is expected to see output gradually decline from this year on, according to an official with the Canadian company."We're aggressively drilling Eagle East, a new deposit, and that's looking quite promising," the o...Read More

Former money-market trader Paul Thompson was at his well kept brick-and-tile Dalkeith home, a couple of blocks from Perth's Swan River, last Thursday when Australian Federal Police officers came to arrest him. The October 22 arrest was not a complete surprise, nor was it entirely unexpected. Thompson didn't know an arrest warrant had been issued and he wasn't told police were on their...Read More

Former money-market trader Paul Thompson was at his well kept brick-and-tile Dalkeith home, a couple of blocks from Perth's Swan River, last Thursday when Australian Federal Police officers came to arrest him. The October 22 arrest was not a complete surprise, nor was it entirely unexpected. Thompson didn't know an arrest warrant had been issued and he wasn't told police were on their...Read More

The world's number five diversified mining company, Anglo American announced a "radical portfolio restructuring" a month ago. The company with roots going back more than a hundred years to South Africa's gold and diamond fields said it would cut around 85,000 employees, almost two-thirds of its workforce.London-listed Anglo also said it's reducing the number of mines it operates from 55 to the "l...Read More

Fears of a Chinese currency devaluation stalks the copper marketIt's been a brutal new year for copper with March futures in New York losing as much as 4.7% to dip below $2.00 a pound on Thursday before recovering slightly in early afternoon trade. That was the lowest since March 2009 and the fall comes on the back of a 26% decline in 2015. The metal traded below the $2-level only for a brief seve...Read More

Sukari gold mine, located 700 km from Cairo. (Image courtesy of Centamin)Toronto and London-listed gold miner Centamin (TSX:CEE) (LON:CEY) said Thursday it expects 2016 production from its main Sukari gold mine in Egypt to increase by 7% to 470,000 ounces, as it continues to ramp-up production in expanded areas of the mine.The company, which also aims to reduce all-in-sustaining costs at the opera...Read More

Sukari gold mine, located 700 km from Cairo. (Image courtesy of Centamin)Toronto and London-listed gold miner Centamin (TSX:CEE) (LON:CEY) said Thursday it expects 2016 production from its main Sukari gold mine in Egypt to increase by 7% to 470,000 ounces, as it continues to ramp-up production in expanded areas of the mine.The company, which also aims to reduce all-in-sustaining costs at the opera...Read More

Investors should focus on China's economy, not stocks … there are some important reasons not to panic: China's stock market reveals very little about the health of the country's economy – it's dominated by small savers who put more faith in speculative investing newsletters than economic fundamentals. – CNNDominant Social Theme: Don't look at the problem. Thin...Read More

Saudi Arabia is our natural ally against Isil. Just like David Cameron, Riyadh is committed both to destroying Islamic State and to toppling Assad. It would be foolish to alienate them now … – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: The House of Saud and the House of Bush, perfect together?Free-Market Analysis: This article by a man who is the Telegraph's chief military correspondent, a...Read More

Investors should focus on China's economy, not stocks … there are some important reasons not to panic: China's stock market reveals very little about the health of the country's economy – it's dominated by small savers who put more faith in speculative investing newsletters than economic fundamentals. – CNNDominant Social Theme: Don't look at the problem. Thin...Read More