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

Report: IRS Sent Database Containing Confidential Taxpayer Information to FBI … The Internal Revenue Service may have been caught violating federal tax law: In October 2010, the agency sent a database on 501(c)(4) social-welfare groups containing confidential taxpayer information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to documents obtained by a House panel. The information was tra...Read More

World stock markets up near record high; low yields help Reuters … Global equity markets edged higher on Monday, boosting a gauge of world stock performance to near an all-time high, as low interest rates bolstered sentiment even as U.S. Treasury yields rose. Wall Street's Dow industrials and benchmark S&P 500 closed at all-time peaks, with the latter rising to its seventh record cl...Read More

'Do I have to go on my knees?': grovelling apology from IMF head for incorrect warnings on UK economy … Head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, accepts her organisation's low growth forecasts for the UK economy were wrong … Christine Lagarde has asked whether she needs to grovel on her knees before George Osborne over the IMF's incorrect warnings on...Read More

Why Should We Support the Idea of an Unconditional Basic Income? An answer to a growing question of the 21st century … What would you do? So what exactly would you do, if you were guaranteed $1,000 per month for the rest of your life? And yes, that's around what the amount would most likely be here in the United States, at least at first. So think about that amount for a moment, and don&...Read More

'Do I have to go on my knees?': grovelling apology from IMF head for incorrect warnings on UK economy … Head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, accepts her organisation's low growth forecasts for the UK economy were wrong … Christine Lagarde has asked whether she needs to grovel on her knees before George Osborne over the IMF's incorrect warnings on...Read More

Why Should We Support the Idea of an Unconditional Basic Income? An answer to a growing question of the 21st century … What would you do? So what exactly would you do, if you were guaranteed $1,000 per month for the rest of your life? And yes, that's around what the amount would most likely be here in the United States, at least at first. So think about that amount for a moment, and don&...Read More

Record rise for stocks before employment report … U.S. stocks closed at record highs on Thursday, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 advancing further into uncharted territory, after the European Central Bank moved to combat disinflation and investors looked to Friday's employment report. "With the service sector quite strong, I think the jobs will surprise," said Peter Car...Read More

'Don't ask for privacy, Take it back': Anti-NSA #ResetTheNet campaign kicks off … Internet activists and rights groups have launched a massive online campaign against mass government surveillance, urging users and websites to use encryption. The campaign's inspiration – NSA whistleblower Snowden – has called to join ResetTheNet. … A year to the day since the...Read More

Record rise for stocks before employment report … U.S. stocks closed at record highs on Thursday, with both the Dow and the S&P 500 advancing further into uncharted territory, after the European Central Bank moved to combat disinflation and investors looked to Friday's employment report. "With the service sector quite strong, I think the jobs will surprise," said Peter Car...Read More

'Don't ask for privacy, Take it back': Anti-NSA #ResetTheNet campaign kicks off … Internet activists and rights groups have launched a massive online campaign against mass government surveillance, urging users and websites to use encryption. The campaign's inspiration – NSA whistleblower Snowden – has called to join ResetTheNet. … A year to the day since the...Read More

Kiss Gold Bull Market Goodbye … In the beginning of this year, we looked at some of the trading errors commonly made by gold investors during this cycle. At the time, gold had fallen 38 percent from its 2011 peak. Yesterday, spot gold traded at less than $1,242 before closing slightly higher. Gold is hitting new multiyear lows relative to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. J.C. Parets...Read More

Ex-Bankers Upgrade the Good Life to Get a Violin-Shaped Pool … What's ambitious about Jay Dweck's bathroom isn't the television by his whirlpool tub or the screen that will face his toilet and bidet. It isn't the wide nook in his shower for a third TV and one more across from the sink, or his plan to have each turn on automatically when he's nearby. It's that Dweck, a...Read More

Kiss Gold Bull Market Goodbye … In the beginning of this year, we looked at some of the trading errors commonly made by gold investors during this cycle. At the time, gold had fallen 38 percent from its 2011 peak. Yesterday, spot gold traded at less than $1,242 before closing slightly higher. Gold is hitting new multiyear lows relative to the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. J.C. Parets...Read More

Ex-Bankers Upgrade the Good Life to Get a Violin-Shaped Pool … What's ambitious about Jay Dweck's bathroom isn't the television by his whirlpool tub or the screen that will face his toilet and bidet. It isn't the wide nook in his shower for a third TV and one more across from the sink, or his plan to have each turn on automatically when he's nearby. It's that Dweck, a...Read More

Senate must rein in the NSA … The House of Representatives seemed poised last month to rein in the government's ability to spy on its citizens by prohibiting the bulk collection of Americans' telephone records. On the eve of the vote, however, the Obama administration and House leadership intervened. In secret negotiations, they took a carving knife to the bill, removing key privacy...Read More

Federal Reserve Officials Are Trying to Disarm the $2.58 Trillion Bomb They Built … It will be six years in October 2014 that Federal Reserve officials started building the monetary bomb. Now that the bomb has reached $2.58 trillion, some reporters and broadcasters have found a problem. Fed officials are now talking about plans to dismantle the bomb with no troublesome side effects. Some of...Read More

Senate must rein in the NSA … The House of Representatives seemed poised last month to rein in the government's ability to spy on its citizens by prohibiting the bulk collection of Americans' telephone records. On the eve of the vote, however, the Obama administration and House leadership intervened. In secret negotiations, they took a carving knife to the bill, removing key privacy...Read More

Federal Reserve Officials Are Trying to Disarm the $2.58 Trillion Bomb They Built … It will be six years in October 2014 that Federal Reserve officials started building the monetary bomb. Now that the bomb has reached $2.58 trillion, some reporters and broadcasters have found a problem. Fed officials are now talking about plans to dismantle the bomb with no troublesome side effects. Some of...Read More

Global watchdogs rattled by lack of fear in the markets … A storm alert … from Simon Derrick at the Bank of New York Mellon. He cites three warnings from leading central bankers, all alarmed by the remarkable disregard for risk in the equity, credit, and currency markets. The Bank of England's Deputy Governor Charles Bean says the lack of volatility is "eerily reminiscent"...Read More

Risen Ready to Take Fight to Jail After Supreme Court Refusal … 'I don't know what they're going to do,' the Pulitzer Prize winner says. New York Times reporter James Risen isn't sure if federal prosecutors will still seek his testimony. – New York TimesDominant Social Theme: This reporter is sticking up for truth, justice and the American way.Free-Market Analysis:...Read More