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

China Is Very, Very, Very, Very Big … Larry Summers and Lant Pritchett have written a paper predicting a Chinese growth slowdown. In 2013, Barry Eichengreen, Donghyun Park, and Kwanho Shin wrote a paper with much the same message, which accurately predicted the recent Chinese slowdown from about 10 percent annual growth to about7.5 percent. In fact, the most basic model of economic growth, t...Read More

Gold Sharply Lower in Aftermath of Hawkish FOMC, Rallying Greenback; Silver Sinks to 4-Year Low … Gold prices ended the U.S. day session sharply lower and hit a three-week low Thursday. Precious metals have been hit hard by a stronger U.S. dollar and a surprisingly hawkish Federal Reserve. Silver prices slumped to a four-year low Thursday. December Comex gold was last down $25.50 at $1,199.4...Read More

The Fed's $4 Trillion Bet … The U.S. Federal Reserve announced … that it will halt the bond-buying program known as quantitative easing — one of the biggest experiments in economic policy ever attempted. The policy was a gamble, and it's too soon to be sure of the results. Nonetheless, the Fed was right to take the risk. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: Another bol...Read More

Enough! Mexico Is Ready to Explode … Mexico has been profoundly shaken by atrocities and high-level corruption in Guerrero. The earthquake's epicenter is Iguala, the state's third largest city. Fifty thousand marchers thronged Mexico City's main avenues last Wednesday, and demonstrations took place all over the country. More than 80 delegates to the Inter-University Assembly have...Read More

The Fed's $4 Trillion Bet … The U.S. Federal Reserve announced … that it will halt the bond-buying program known as quantitative easing — one of the biggest experiments in economic policy ever attempted. The policy was a gamble, and it's too soon to be sure of the results. Nonetheless, the Fed was right to take the risk. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: Another bol...Read More

Enough! Mexico Is Ready to Explode … Mexico has been profoundly shaken by atrocities and high-level corruption in Guerrero. The earthquake's epicenter is Iguala, the state's third largest city. Fifty thousand marchers thronged Mexico City's main avenues last Wednesday, and demonstrations took place all over the country. More than 80 delegates to the Inter-University Assembly have...Read More

Facebook third-quarter revenue rises 59 percent, shares down slightly … Facebook Inc's mobile ads powered the social network past Wall Street revenue targets in the third quarter, even as the company revealed deep losses in its recently acquired WhatsApp business. Shares of Facebook, which are roughly up 47 percent this year, were down less than one percent at $80.20 in extended trading...Read More

The NRA Comes Out in Support of Warrior Cops … The current issue of the National Rifle Association's American Warrior magazine just hit, and in it, the gun lobby comes out squarely in favor of warrior cops. An article titled, "If You Were a Cop, What Would You Drive?" opens with a photo of an armored personnel carrier-style vehicle juxtaposed with a Volkswagen van. Rick Stewart...Read More

Facebook third-quarter revenue rises 59 percent, shares down slightly … Facebook Inc's mobile ads powered the social network past Wall Street revenue targets in the third quarter, even as the company revealed deep losses in its recently acquired WhatsApp business. Shares of Facebook, which are roughly up 47 percent this year, were down less than one percent at $80.20 in extended trading...Read More

The NRA Comes Out in Support of Warrior Cops … The current issue of the National Rifle Association's American Warrior magazine just hit, and in it, the gun lobby comes out squarely in favor of warrior cops. An article titled, "If You Were a Cop, What Would You Drive?" opens with a photo of an armored personnel carrier-style vehicle juxtaposed with a Volkswagen van. Rick Stewart...Read More

The Fed has its critics, of course, and its unique constitutional dispensation is challenged from time to time, but its political independence is mostly seen as a good thing. Yet the idea of replicating that idea, and creating other permanent, semi-independent policy-making agencies, almost never comes up. There's a reason for that. It's hard to imagine that an independent fiscal agency, f...Read More

U.S.D.A. to Start Program to Support Local and Organic Farming … The organic food business in the United States reached $35 billion last year. The United States Department of Agriculture … will spend $52 million to support local and regional food systems like farmers' markets and food hubs and to spur research on organic farming. The local food movement has been one of the fastest...Read More

The Fed has its critics, of course, and its unique constitutional dispensation is challenged from time to time, but its political independence is mostly seen as a good thing. Yet the idea of replicating that idea, and creating other permanent, semi-independent policy-making agencies, almost never comes up. There's a reason for that. It's hard to imagine that an independent fiscal agency, f...Read More

U.S.D.A. to Start Program to Support Local and Organic Farming … The organic food business in the United States reached $35 billion last year. The United States Department of Agriculture … will spend $52 million to support local and regional food systems like farmers' markets and food hubs and to spur research on organic farming. The local food movement has been one of the fastest...Read More

Europe's economic and political future will be determined in the next few days … Europe is at a make or break moment. Two very different events on Sunday, occurring at opposite ends of Europe, will largely determine the entire continent's direction for years ahead: the parliamentary election in Ukraine and the bank "stress tests" and Asset Quality Review conducted by the Eu...Read More

The marijuana industry could be bigger than the NFL by 2020 … A report out from Greenwave Advisors, a "comprehensive research and financial analysis for the emerging legalized marijuana industry," projects that legal cannabis could be an industry with revenues of $35 billion by 2020 if marijuana is legalized at the federal level. They note that this is a floor representing revenues...Read More

Europe's economic and political future will be determined in the next few days … Europe is at a make or break moment. Two very different events on Sunday, occurring at opposite ends of Europe, will largely determine the entire continent's direction for years ahead: the parliamentary election in Ukraine and the bank "stress tests" and Asset Quality Review conducted by the Eu...Read More

The marijuana industry could be bigger than the NFL by 2020 … A report out from Greenwave Advisors, a "comprehensive research and financial analysis for the emerging legalized marijuana industry," projects that legal cannabis could be an industry with revenues of $35 billion by 2020 if marijuana is legalized at the federal level. They note that this is a floor representing revenues...Read More

Company generates nearly $1 billion in cash flow?EUR? Production at Christina Lake averaged more than 68,000 barrels per day (bbls/d) net in the third quarter, an increase of 30% when compared with the same period a year earlier.?EUR? Foster Creek production averaged almost 57,000 bbls/d net in the quarter, 15% higher than the same quarter in 2013.?EUR? Cenovus achieved first production from its F...Read More

The Rise of Bitcoin Is It Real Money If It Doesn't Come From the Mint? … Bitcoins introduced a lot of people to the idea of computerized money. Now the digital currency, which set off a minor frenzy when it broke into public consciousness in 2013, is trying to grow up and turn into something useful. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: Bitcoin could be money, maybe … Anyway, it&...Read More