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

EU finance chief to announce capital market plan in 2015 … The EU's new financial services commissioner will set out his plans for a pan-European capital market by the middle of next year, aiming to reduce companies' reliance on banks and help revive the bloc's fragile economy. Jonathan Hill said on Thursday (7 November) he was seeking to create an integrated market for raising m...Read More

Fortune Investors buzz for marijuana-related businesses … Marijuana-related businesses are like most others: They need money to get off the ground, pay the bills and expand. Until recently, money from legitimate sources was tough to come by. But with more states legalizing pot, big investors are starting to open their wallets and fork over piles of cash. On Wednesday, a medical marijuana con...Read More

California County Quietly Votes For Independence From State and Federal Laws … Mendocino County, in the pristine northern lands of California, where the magnificent ancient coastal Redwood trees meet the inland California Oaks, has voted itself into the constitution writing (righting) business. … By a significant margin, they became the first county in California, and only the second c...Read More

Colombia Takes First Step To Regulate Marijuana Use … The regulation of the use of marijuana for medical purposes was approved in the first debate of a Senate committee in Colombia on Tuesday. With a vote of 13 to two, members of a committee of Colombia's Senate approved legalizing marijuana for medical and therapeutic use in a country in which this drug is the most vastly consumed by th...Read More

California County Quietly Votes For Independence From State and Federal Laws … Mendocino County, in the pristine northern lands of California, where the magnificent ancient coastal Redwood trees meet the inland California Oaks, has voted itself into the constitution writing (righting) business. … By a significant margin, they became the first county in California, and only the second c...Read More

Colombia Takes First Step To Regulate Marijuana Use … The regulation of the use of marijuana for medical purposes was approved in the first debate of a Senate committee in Colombia on Tuesday. With a vote of 13 to two, members of a committee of Colombia's Senate approved legalizing marijuana for medical and therapeutic use in a country in which this drug is the most vastly consumed by th...Read More

Surprise! There may be a way to fix Washington … U.S. President Obama hosts a luncheon for bi-partisan Congressional leaders in the Old Family Dining Room at the White House in Washington. The morning after the midterm elections, one of the best places to go for hope that the 114th Congress might actually get something done was a think tank not far from the Capitol called the Bipartisan Poli...Read More

For Gold Miners, Another Terrible Run … For years, the gold mining sector has been the worst investment sector imaginable. There was a while in 2014 when it seemed like the gold mining sector might avoid another disastrous 12-month stretch, but that seems unlikely after what has taken place in financial markets in the last few weeks. – ForbesDominant Social Theme: Gold and gold miners...Read More

Surprise! There may be a way to fix Washington … U.S. President Obama hosts a luncheon for bi-partisan Congressional leaders in the Old Family Dining Room at the White House in Washington. The morning after the midterm elections, one of the best places to go for hope that the 114th Congress might actually get something done was a think tank not far from the Capitol called the Bipartisan Poli...Read More

For Gold Miners, Another Terrible Run … For years, the gold mining sector has been the worst investment sector imaginable. There was a while in 2014 when it seemed like the gold mining sector might avoid another disastrous 12-month stretch, but that seems unlikely after what has taken place in financial markets in the last few weeks. – ForbesDominant Social Theme: Gold and gold miners...Read More

Mark Carney: No more bank bail-outs … Financial Stability Board, chaired by Bank of England Governor, unveils proposals for ending 'Too Big To Fail' banks … Mark Carney has pledged that taxpayer money should never again be used to prop up banks. The Governor of the bank of England, in his position as chairman of the international Financial Stability Board (FSB), has unveiled pr...Read More

Catalonia's Vote Was a Success. Now Negotiate … Catalonia's independence vote on Sunday was encouraging – not in creating momentum for the region that wants to break off from Spain, but in laying a foundation for political agreement on how best to decide the question. Perhaps for the first time, the national government in Madrid made the smart choice, allowing the nonbinding &q...Read More

Mark Carney: No more bank bail-outs … Financial Stability Board, chaired by Bank of England Governor, unveils proposals for ending 'Too Big To Fail' banks … Mark Carney has pledged that taxpayer money should never again be used to prop up banks. The Governor of the bank of England, in his position as chairman of the international Financial Stability Board (FSB), has unveiled pr...Read More

Catalonia's Vote Was a Success. Now Negotiate … Catalonia's independence vote on Sunday was encouraging – not in creating momentum for the region that wants to break off from Spain, but in laying a foundation for political agreement on how best to decide the question. Perhaps for the first time, the national government in Madrid made the smart choice, allowing the nonbinding &q...Read More

With Fear of Being Sidelined, Tea Party Sees the Republican Rise as New Threat … As most Republicans were taking a victory lap the morning after the elections, a group of conservatives huddled anxiously in a conference room not far from Capitol Hill and agreed that now is the time for confrontation, not compromise and conciliation. Despite Republicans' ascension to Senate control and an...Read More

The Marlboro of marijuana … The legal cannabis industry is run by minnows. As liberalisation spreads, that may not last … Colorado's pot industry expects to rack up sales of $1 billion this year. Across America the market is reckoned to be worth about 40 times that much. Most of it is still illegal, of course. But slowly, entrepreneurs are prising it out of the hands of crime gangs...Read More

With Fear of Being Sidelined, Tea Party Sees the Republican Rise as New Threat … As most Republicans were taking a victory lap the morning after the elections, a group of conservatives huddled anxiously in a conference room not far from Capitol Hill and agreed that now is the time for confrontation, not compromise and conciliation. Despite Republicans' ascension to Senate control and an...Read More

The Marlboro of marijuana … The legal cannabis industry is run by minnows. As liberalisation spreads, that may not last … Colorado's pot industry expects to rack up sales of $1 billion this year. Across America the market is reckoned to be worth about 40 times that much. Most of it is still illegal, of course. But slowly, entrepreneurs are prising it out of the hands of crime gangs...Read More

Apparently, Europe's economic malaise has got nothing to do with the euro … Believe it if you will; Europe's economic malaise has got nothing to do with the euro … Hard to believe, perhaps, but this was the suggestion put to me at the CityUK annual dinner this week by someone with a lifetime of public service now turned, as many top civil servants eventually do, to more lucrati...Read More

Here's the big news from Tuesday's election: Faced with gridlock in Washington, more and more voters are turning to states and municipalities to do the work that the nation's capital seems increasingly unable to do. – Michael Bloomberg/Bloomberg editorialDominant Social Theme: This election shows us how deeply the American people are involved in their political system. More than...Read More