The AOCE and WB have moderate overall forecasts for the metals in 2025 inline with IMF forecasts for a decline in economic growth and inflation, although we see the probability of a stagflationary scenario as still reasonably high.Read More

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

Monsanto earnings fall 34% after a year of global protests … Company that has come under fire for its genetically modified seeds said its earnings fell 34% in its first fiscal quarter … Monsanto its earnings fell 34% in its first fiscal quarter, as South American farmers cut back on planting corn, reducing demand for the company's biotech-enhanced seeds. – GuardianDominant So...Read More

America's Going to Lose the Oil Price War … The financial debacle that has befallen Russia as the price of Brent crude dropped 50 percent in the last four months has overshadowed the one that potentially awaits the U.S. shale industry in 2015. It's time to heed it, because Saudi Arabia and other major Middle Eastern oil producers are unlikely to blink and cut output, and the price is...Read More

Monsanto earnings fall 34% after a year of global protests … Company that has come under fire for its genetically modified seeds said its earnings fell 34% in its first fiscal quarter … Monsanto its earnings fell 34% in its first fiscal quarter, as South American farmers cut back on planting corn, reducing demand for the company's biotech-enhanced seeds. – GuardianDominant So...Read More

Teaching Economics After the Crash … At universities from Glasgow to Kolkata, economics students are fighting their tutors over how to teach the subject in the wake of the crash. The Guardian's senior economics commentator, Aditya Chakrabortty, reports from the frontline of this most unusual and important academic war. – 9/11 Forum/UK from BBC Radio 4Dominant Social Theme: Economic...Read More

Why we can now be sure that interest rates won't go up this year … The Government clearly would like to keep interest rates low as possible for as long as possible, even though many of its supporters are net savers who are losing out … Interest rates are not going to be hiked in 2015. That is a forecast, rather than a certainty, of course, but virtually every piece of recent data s...Read More

Teaching Economics After the Crash … At universities from Glasgow to Kolkata, economics students are fighting their tutors over how to teach the subject in the wake of the crash. The Guardian's senior economics commentator, Aditya Chakrabortty, reports from the frontline of this most unusual and important academic war. – 9/11 Forum/UK from BBC Radio 4Dominant Social Theme: Economic...Read More

Why we can now be sure that interest rates won't go up this year … The Government clearly would like to keep interest rates low as possible for as long as possible, even though many of its supporters are net savers who are losing out … Interest rates are not going to be hiked in 2015. That is a forecast, rather than a certainty, of course, but virtually every piece of recent data s...Read More

Why the Fed Won't Tank the Stock Market … Investors in the U.S. seem fixated on a gloomy outlook for 2015, in which the Federal Reserve's efforts to remove economic stimulus cause stock and bond prices to fall. They're missing an important detail: If the Fed raises short-term interest rates above those in other major economies, U.S. markets may actually benefit. – Bloomberg...Read More

GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH) Falls as Cannabis Drug Fails Key Cancer Pain Study … GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH), a British biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing therapeutics derived from marijuana, released news today pertaining to its first Phase III trial for cancer pain drug Sativex. The product was used as an adjunctive treatment to optimized chronic opioid therapy during experiment...Read More

Why the Fed Won't Tank the Stock Market … Investors in the U.S. seem fixated on a gloomy outlook for 2015, in which the Federal Reserve's efforts to remove economic stimulus cause stock and bond prices to fall. They're missing an important detail: If the Fed raises short-term interest rates above those in other major economies, U.S. markets may actually benefit. – Bloomberg...Read More

GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH) Falls as Cannabis Drug Fails Key Cancer Pain Study … GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH), a British biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing therapeutics derived from marijuana, released news today pertaining to its first Phase III trial for cancer pain drug Sativex. The product was used as an adjunctive treatment to optimized chronic opioid therapy during experiment...Read More

Sukari gold mine, located 700 km from Cairo. (Image courtesy of Centamin)Shares in gold producer Centamin (LON:CEY) (TSX:CEE) dropped Thursday, diving as much as 4.7% in early trading in London, as the Egypt-focused miner said it expected to produce 420,000 ounces of gold at its at its flagship Sukari mine this year, missing some analyst expectations.Production at the mine, however, climbed 40%...Read More

Germany's Angela Merkel needs a dressing down, not the red carpet treatment… Angela Merkel, who visits Britain this week, is a huge success in Germany, but in Europe she is a destructive failure who is damaging her own country as much as others … – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Angela Merkel is a leader who can deliver.Free-Market Analysis: This article is a good example...Read More

The Atlantic Suburbs and the New American Poverty … More people with low incomes now live outside of cities, and some areas are ill-equipped to deal with the influx of the poor … Between 2000 and 2011, Atlanta's suburban poor population grew by 159 percent. But the suburbs of Atlanta no longer hold just the promise of good schools, clean streets, and whitewashed homes with manicure...Read More

Germany's Angela Merkel needs a dressing down, not the red carpet treatment… Angela Merkel, who visits Britain this week, is a huge success in Germany, but in Europe she is a destructive failure who is damaging her own country as much as others … – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Angela Merkel is a leader who can deliver.Free-Market Analysis: This article is a good example...Read More

The Atlantic Suburbs and the New American Poverty … More people with low incomes now live outside of cities, and some areas are ill-equipped to deal with the influx of the poor … Between 2000 and 2011, Atlanta's suburban poor population grew by 159 percent. But the suburbs of Atlanta no longer hold just the promise of good schools, clean streets, and whitewashed homes with manicure...Read More

A grand Tory-Labour coalition might be good for British business … A Conservative-Labour government is unlikely. But, were it to happen, the worst excesses of the two main parties might cancel each other out … – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: What we need mostly is wise leaders, not party politics.Free-Market Analysis: The technocracy meme constantly reemerges. In this case w...Read More

When is insider trading against the law? It's a trick question: There is no actual law against insider trading. This became painfully clear last month when a federal appeals court tossed out the criminal convictions of two Wall Street hedge-fund managers who had been found guilty of the offense about two years ago. The court not only exonerated the traders, but also called into question the en...Read More

A grand Tory-Labour coalition might be good for British business … A Conservative-Labour government is unlikely. But, were it to happen, the worst excesses of the two main parties might cancel each other out … – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: What we need mostly is wise leaders, not party politics.Free-Market Analysis: The technocracy meme constantly reemerges. In this case w...Read More

When is insider trading against the law? It's a trick question: There is no actual law against insider trading. This became painfully clear last month when a federal appeals court tossed out the criminal convictions of two Wall Street hedge-fund managers who had been found guilty of the offense about two years ago. The court not only exonerated the traders, but also called into question the en...Read More