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

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

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

The Shocking Real Reason for FATCA, and What Comes Next … If you've never heard of the obscure and seemingly boring Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), I don't blame you. Few people have, and even fewer fully grasp what it really means or the terrible things that it's a harbinger for … Now that FATCA has become a fait accompli, the foundation has been laid for GATCA...Read More

Despite election results, reason still rules Europe … When can a vote of 25 percent be described as a "stunning victory" or even a "political earthquake"? According to the European establishment, it's when these votes go to a rabble of odd-ball extremists, ranging from overt racists and even disciples of Adolf Hitler to unreconstructed Stalinists and comically naï...Read More

The Shocking Real Reason for FATCA, and What Comes Next … If you've never heard of the obscure and seemingly boring Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), I don't blame you. Few people have, and even fewer fully grasp what it really means or the terrible things that it's a harbinger for … Now that FATCA has become a fait accompli, the foundation has been laid for GATCA...Read More

Despite election results, reason still rules Europe … When can a vote of 25 percent be described as a "stunning victory" or even a "political earthquake"? According to the European establishment, it's when these votes go to a rabble of odd-ball extremists, ranging from overt racists and even disciples of Adolf Hitler to unreconstructed Stalinists and comically naï...Read More

There are many hoops a project must clear to become a mine. It takes on average 10 years for a project to turn into a mine. Very few projects make it. Here are the steps from prospect to closure from Mining Intelligence.Prospect: No significant exploration has been done on the project.Exploration: Desk analysis was done with geologists in the field undertaking mapping, geophysical and or geochemic...Read More

Is it the Bilderberg conference – or conspiracy? The world's most powerful people begin their annual meeting on Thursday. So what have they got to hide? … Conspiracy theorists may chuckle when they learn a debate entitled "Does Privacy Exist?" is to feature at this year's Bilderberg conference, the notoriously secretive gathering of the world's most powerful banke...Read More

Secrecy's out, so here's what Swiss banks can still offer … If Swiss banks were to cast off their usual discretion and make a marketing pitch these days, it might start off something like this: Dear Potential Client, While we would be delighted to open an account and manage your money for you, once you've complied with our anti-money laundering provisions, please be advised that...Read More

Is it the Bilderberg conference – or conspiracy? The world's most powerful people begin their annual meeting on Thursday. So what have they got to hide? … Conspiracy theorists may chuckle when they learn a debate entitled "Does Privacy Exist?" is to feature at this year's Bilderberg conference, the notoriously secretive gathering of the world's most powerful banke...Read More

Secrecy's out, so here's what Swiss banks can still offer … If Swiss banks were to cast off their usual discretion and make a marketing pitch these days, it might start off something like this: Dear Potential Client, While we would be delighted to open an account and manage your money for you, once you've complied with our anti-money laundering provisions, please be advised that...Read More

Capitalism is worth fighting for – it is a force for good … Capitalism must have a social purpose and be used to the long-term benefit of companies and their employees … The workplace is a crucial arena for individual progress, where the meritocracy that sustains every democracy is most often played out … Capitalism is certainly far from perfect, but most of us believe that...Read More

Nobody Wants To Host The 2022 Olympics … The next Olympics to be awarded, a little more than a year from now, will be the 2022 Winter Games. Rather than going to the strongest bid, the games may end up going to the last city standing—a long list of potential hosts have given up on their Olympic dreams because the whole thing is one huge, useless waste of money. – DeadspinDominant...Read More

Capitalism is worth fighting for – it is a force for good … Capitalism must have a social purpose and be used to the long-term benefit of companies and their employees … The workplace is a crucial arena for individual progress, where the meritocracy that sustains every democracy is most often played out … Capitalism is certainly far from perfect, but most of us believe that...Read More

Nobody Wants To Host The 2022 Olympics … The next Olympics to be awarded, a little more than a year from now, will be the 2022 Winter Games. Rather than going to the strongest bid, the games may end up going to the last city standing—a long list of potential hosts have given up on their Olympic dreams because the whole thing is one huge, useless waste of money. – DeadspinDominant...Read More

The next generation of copper mines will not only have less copper but sharply declining grades, according to a study by Mining Intelligence.Unless worldwide copper consumption changes, copper prices need to rise to meet future demand:Number of copper projects in the pipeline equal total operating mines worldwide. Not all projects will become mines.Total resource of pre-production copper projects...Read More

Three Ms for economics re-education … Many economics students are unhappy with what they are being taught. A network of 62 groups from around the world has drawn up a petition calling for more "pluralism" in instruction. The malcontents find the dominant neoclassical model too narrow and want to know why so few experts predicted the 2008 financial crisis. They also want less abstra...Read More

U.S. Training Elite Antiterror Troops in Four African Nations … United States Special Operations troops are forming elite counterterrorism units in four countries in North and West Africa that American officials say are pivotal in the widening war against Al Qaeda's affiliates and associates on the continent, even as they acknowledge the difficulties of working with weak allies. The secr...Read More

Three Ms for economics re-education … Many economics students are unhappy with what they are being taught. A network of 62 groups from around the world has drawn up a petition calling for more "pluralism" in instruction. The malcontents find the dominant neoclassical model too narrow and want to know why so few experts predicted the 2008 financial crisis. They also want less abstra...Read More