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

Can Yellen Float Above Politics? … There's a growing consensus that central banks need to develop a new tool – so-called macroprudential policy. This involves politics too. The basic idea is that financial regulation is connected to monetary policy … Financial rules affect the economy in the aggregate. With that in mind, they could and should be tweaked during the course of t...Read More

Italy to push for 'United States of Europe' when it holds the EU presidency … Italy will use its presidency of the European Union to push for a "United States of Europe," the prime minister has said . Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, has said that Italy will push for a "United States of Europe" during its six-month EU presidency, in a move likely to raise...Read More

Can Yellen Float Above Politics? … There's a growing consensus that central banks need to develop a new tool – so-called macroprudential policy. This involves politics too. The basic idea is that financial regulation is connected to monetary policy … Financial rules affect the economy in the aggregate. With that in mind, they could and should be tweaked during the course of t...Read More

Italy to push for 'United States of Europe' when it holds the EU presidency … Italy will use its presidency of the European Union to push for a "United States of Europe," the prime minister has said . Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, has said that Italy will push for a "United States of Europe" during its six-month EU presidency, in a move likely to raise...Read More

Today's South is boldly moving backward …We used to call it the "New South." That was the era after Reconstruction and before the Civil Rights laws — when the states of the old Confederacy seemed most determined to preserve a social and economic order that encouraged low-wage industrialization as they fought to maintain Jim Crow. What was then distinctive about the South...Read More

Why pot is the new pizza … Dope to your door … EVAN COX used to deliver pizza. But 18 months ago, as he was running out of money at college in Seattle, he had a new business idea. The state of Washington was in the process of legalising the sale of marijuana, but he guessed it would take time for pot shops to open. So he set up Winterlife, a marijuana-delivery service. Delivering dope...Read More

Today's South is boldly moving backward …We used to call it the "New South." That was the era after Reconstruction and before the Civil Rights laws — when the states of the old Confederacy seemed most determined to preserve a social and economic order that encouraged low-wage industrialization as they fought to maintain Jim Crow. What was then distinctive about the South...Read More

Why pot is the new pizza … Dope to your door … EVAN COX used to deliver pizza. But 18 months ago, as he was running out of money at college in Seattle, he had a new business idea. The state of Washington was in the process of legalising the sale of marijuana, but he guessed it would take time for pot shops to open. So he set up Winterlife, a marijuana-delivery service. Delivering dope...Read More

Fed policymakers cut growth forecast … The Federal Reserve sharply reduced its forecast for U.S. economic growth Wednesday but also predicted that the unemployment rate by year's end will be lower than it previously estimated. This year's growth forecast is now just above 2% — in line with the pace so far in the five-year-old recovery. Yet the falling jobless rate, combined wit...Read More

Why The World's Dumbest Idea Is (Finally) Dying … Bad ideas don't die just because they are bad. They hang around until a consensus forms around another idea that is better. This is what's happening now with a stupid idea has dominated American business for the last four decades: that the purpose of a firm is to maximize shareholder value. The massive problems that this notion ha...Read More

Fed policymakers cut growth forecast … The Federal Reserve sharply reduced its forecast for U.S. economic growth Wednesday but also predicted that the unemployment rate by year's end will be lower than it previously estimated. This year's growth forecast is now just above 2% — in line with the pace so far in the five-year-old recovery. Yet the falling jobless rate, combined wit...Read More

Why The World's Dumbest Idea Is (Finally) Dying … Bad ideas don't die just because they are bad. They hang around until a consensus forms around another idea that is better. This is what's happening now with a stupid idea has dominated American business for the last four decades: that the purpose of a firm is to maximize shareholder value. The massive problems that this notion ha...Read More

"Cluster Of Central Banks" Have Secretly Invested $29 Trillion In The Market … Another conspiracy "theory" becomes conspiracy "fact" as The FT reports "a cluster of central banking investors has become major players on world equity markets." The report, to be published this week by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), confirm...Read More

In an ongoing effort to bridge the gap between the GOP and minority voters, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) deviated from traditional party lines during a speech at the Iowa State Republican Party Convention Saturday, criticizing racist drug policies in the United States and calling for the restoration of voting rights for ex-convicts. – Huffington PostDominant Social Theme: Lock 'em up and throw...Read More

"Cluster Of Central Banks" Have Secretly Invested $29 Trillion In The Market … Another conspiracy "theory" becomes conspiracy "fact" as The FT reports "a cluster of central banking investors has become major players on world equity markets." The report, to be published this week by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), confirm...Read More

In an ongoing effort to bridge the gap between the GOP and minority voters, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) deviated from traditional party lines during a speech at the Iowa State Republican Party Convention Saturday, criticizing racist drug policies in the United States and calling for the restoration of voting rights for ex-convicts. – Huffington PostDominant Social Theme: Lock 'em up and throw...Read More

Investing: The Message of a $549,000 Watch … I have been hearing a lot about the spending habits of the 0.01 percent lately. Perhaps, a little bit too much. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a class-warfare rant or a treatise on living the simpler, less materialistic life. Rather, it is a suggestion to some folks that perhaps they might want to make some of their conspicuous consum...Read More

Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army … If the United States is a police state, then the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is its national police force, with all the brutality, ineptitude and corruption such a role implies. In fact, although the DHS' governmental bureaucracy may at times appear to be inept and bungling, it is ruthlessly efficient when...Read More

Investing: The Message of a $549,000 Watch … I have been hearing a lot about the spending habits of the 0.01 percent lately. Perhaps, a little bit too much. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a class-warfare rant or a treatise on living the simpler, less materialistic life. Rather, it is a suggestion to some folks that perhaps they might want to make some of their conspicuous consum...Read More

Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army … If the United States is a police state, then the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is its national police force, with all the brutality, ineptitude and corruption such a role implies. In fact, although the DHS' governmental bureaucracy may at times appear to be inept and bungling, it is ruthlessly efficient when...Read More