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

The Race Is On to Find Organic Pesticides – Hunt for Beneficial Microbes Comes Amid Regulatory Scrutiny of Man-Made Chemical Insecticides … On his way to a conference in Orlando, Fla., Brian Vande Berg pulled his rental sedan over every 10 minutes to hike along beaches and marshes and occasionally stoop down to pack dirt into small, plastic vials. His target: microscopic, soil-dwelling...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

The Race Is On to Find Organic Pesticides – Hunt for Beneficial Microbes Comes Amid Regulatory Scrutiny of Man-Made Chemical Insecticides … On his way to a conference in Orlando, Fla., Brian Vande Berg pulled his rental sedan over every 10 minutes to hike along beaches and marshes and occasionally stoop down to pack dirt into small, plastic vials. His target: microscopic, soil-dwelling...Read More

Denmark's central bank to stop producing money … The outsourcing of banknote and coin production will result in 100 million kroner in savings, the bank said. With more and more people paying with credit cards and their smartphones, Denmark's central bank Nationalbanken says it no longer pays to print banknotes or mint coins. – Denmark, The LocalDominant Social Theme: Digital mo...Read More

McDonald's May Sell More Organic Foods to Boost Sales … In today's "Morning Must Read," Bloomberg's Brendan Greeley recaps the op-ed pieces and analyst notes providing insight behind today's headlines on "Bloomberg Surveillance." McDonald's Corp. (MCD), which yesterday posted its fourth straight quarter of falling U.S. same-store sales, may look to sel...Read More

Denmark's central bank to stop producing money … The outsourcing of banknote and coin production will result in 100 million kroner in savings, the bank said. With more and more people paying with credit cards and their smartphones, Denmark's central bank Nationalbanken says it no longer pays to print banknotes or mint coins. – Denmark, The LocalDominant Social Theme: Digital mo...Read More

McDonald's May Sell More Organic Foods to Boost Sales … In today's "Morning Must Read," Bloomberg's Brendan Greeley recaps the op-ed pieces and analyst notes providing insight behind today's headlines on "Bloomberg Surveillance." McDonald's Corp. (MCD), which yesterday posted its fourth straight quarter of falling U.S. same-store sales, may look to sel...Read More

'Plunge protection' behind market's sudden recovery … Mysterious forces were trying their best, but they couldn't keep the stock market from swooning Wednesday. They failed in the morning, despite massive purchases of stock index futures contracts. Within minutes of the market's opening, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 350 points. Later in the day – after...Read More

Should you buy organic food? Is it just a status symbol, or is it really better for us? Is it really better for the environment? What about organic produce grown thousands of miles from our kitchens, in countries like India? Is organic better than local? A lot of consumers who would like to do the right thing for their health and the environment are asking such questions. "India's Organic...Read More

'Plunge protection' behind market's sudden recovery … Mysterious forces were trying their best, but they couldn't keep the stock market from swooning Wednesday. They failed in the morning, despite massive purchases of stock index futures contracts. Within minutes of the market's opening, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 350 points. Later in the day – after...Read More

Should you buy organic food? Is it just a status symbol, or is it really better for us? Is it really better for the environment? What about organic produce grown thousands of miles from our kitchens, in countries like India? Is organic better than local? A lot of consumers who would like to do the right thing for their health and the environment are asking such questions. "India's Organic...Read More

Zombie Ideas That Keep on Losing … The worst of today's political malfeasance is being driven by failed ideologies. Zombie ideas that refuse to die have become enshrined in our collective intellectual legacy. The people behind these have been insulated from the economic costs they impose. Blame the billionaires. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: There are so many bad memes. Why do...Read More

Uruguay's roll-out of marijuana experiment faces election risk … Uruguay is struggling to roll out the commercial production and sale of marijuana and its ground-breaking experiment could be dropped or watered down if an opposition candidate wins this month's presidential election. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Cannabis legalization is too complex to work. The state has a nea...Read More

Zombie Ideas That Keep on Losing … The worst of today's political malfeasance is being driven by failed ideologies. Zombie ideas that refuse to die have become enshrined in our collective intellectual legacy. The people behind these have been insulated from the economic costs they impose. Blame the billionaires. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: There are so many bad memes. Why do...Read More

Uruguay's roll-out of marijuana experiment faces election risk … Uruguay is struggling to roll out the commercial production and sale of marijuana and its ground-breaking experiment could be dropped or watered down if an opposition candidate wins this month's presidential election. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Cannabis legalization is too complex to work. The state has a nea...Read More

Here Comes the Internet of Money … Paul Volcker, the acclaimed former chairman of the Federal Reserve, famously questioned the value of financial innovation. He said he saw the point of the automated teller machine ("more of a mechanical innovation than a financial one"), but that was about it. Financial innovation was an unproductive competition for excess profit and a cause of in...Read More

Texas Puts Marijuana Reform on Legislative Agenda for 2015— Marijuana reform in Texas has been a long time coming, but as the end of this momentous year in cannabis legalization draws to a close, it is now on the legislative road map of reform, potentially as soon as 2015. The State Legislature plans to take up decriminalization in January, on the heels of states around states around the cou...Read More

Here Comes the Internet of Money … Paul Volcker, the acclaimed former chairman of the Federal Reserve, famously questioned the value of financial innovation. He said he saw the point of the automated teller machine ("more of a mechanical innovation than a financial one"), but that was about it. Financial innovation was an unproductive competition for excess profit and a cause of in...Read More

Texas Puts Marijuana Reform on Legislative Agenda for 2015— Marijuana reform in Texas has been a long time coming, but as the end of this momentous year in cannabis legalization draws to a close, it is now on the legislative road map of reform, potentially as soon as 2015. The State Legislature plans to take up decriminalization in January, on the heels of states around states around the cou...Read More

Nanny State… The Best Regulator? That's Easy. It's the Market. … As the Goldman Sachs tapes show, regulators almost always fail. In other cases, they cheat consumers out of choices. Leave it to the market. – The Daily BeastDominant Social Theme: Regulation … what good is it?Free-Market Analysis: Remarkably, we continue to see articles about regulatory capture. The l...Read More