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

What America's leftward shift means for elections … With each new poll, it's becoming clear that the United States is shifting to the left. A majority of Americans now supports same-sex marriage. And legalization of marijuana. And normalization of relations with Cuba. Gallup reports that, in 2013, the percentage of Americans identifying themselves as liberals reached its highest leve...Read More

Obama Heads to Mexico … Amigos Meeting Strained by Keystone … Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's frustration with U.S. President Barack Obama's failure to approve the Keystone XL pipeline may make this installment of the North America summit, known as the "Three Amigos," the frostiest since the annual meetings began almost a decade ago. At the one-day meeting to...Read More

Despite stimulus, middle class still struggles … Five years ago Monday, President Barack Obama signed the signature economic proposal of his presidency, saying that the passage of the $787 billion economic stimulus package heralded the "the beginning of the end" of the Great Recession. The president told a Denver audience that he was "keeping the American Dream alive in our ti...Read More

EU Leaders Said to Delay Decision on 2030 Carbon Target … EU carbon prices rose as much as 3 percent to a 13-month high of 6.88 euros on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London today, buoyed by the commission's plan to start temporary curbs on supply as soon as next month … Most governments in the 28-nation bloc need more time to reconcile differences over a proposal by the EU...Read More

Despite stimulus, middle class still struggles … Five years ago Monday, President Barack Obama signed the signature economic proposal of his presidency, saying that the passage of the $787 billion economic stimulus package heralded the "the beginning of the end" of the Great Recession. The president told a Denver audience that he was "keeping the American Dream alive in our ti...Read More

EU Leaders Said to Delay Decision on 2030 Carbon Target … EU carbon prices rose as much as 3 percent to a 13-month high of 6.88 euros on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London today, buoyed by the commission's plan to start temporary curbs on supply as soon as next month … Most governments in the 28-nation bloc need more time to reconcile differences over a proposal by the EU...Read More

Yellen looks toward a Keynesian approach … This has been a banner week for the world economy, inspired largely by events in the United States. In Washington, the first congressional testimony from Janet Yellen in her position as new Federal Reserve Board chairwoman reassured and impressed two notoriously petulant audiences: Tea Party congressmen, who had assembled a posse of hostile witnesse...Read More

Gold price signals China credit bubble bursting as investors seek safety … Uncertainty is growing over China's ability to sustain the rapid rates of economic growth it has seen over the past decade as investors urgently stock up on the precious metal as a form of financial protection against a sharp correction in the world's second largest economy. This is the main reason why gold pr...Read More

Yellen looks toward a Keynesian approach … This has been a banner week for the world economy, inspired largely by events in the United States. In Washington, the first congressional testimony from Janet Yellen in her position as new Federal Reserve Board chairwoman reassured and impressed two notoriously petulant audiences: Tea Party congressmen, who had assembled a posse of hostile witnesse...Read More

Gold price signals China credit bubble bursting as investors seek safety … Uncertainty is growing over China's ability to sustain the rapid rates of economic growth it has seen over the past decade as investors urgently stock up on the precious metal as a form of financial protection against a sharp correction in the world's second largest economy. This is the main reason why gold pr...Read More

Please Hold Your Bernanke Applause … The plutocrats are heralding Ben S. Bernanke's eight years as Federal Reserve chairman. And with good reason. After all, Bernanke's two signature achievements – bailing out the bankrupt financial system and serving as the architect of the cheap-money policy known as quantitative easing – have done the very things the wealthy hoped they...Read More

The eurozone crisis is just getting started. The project to impose political union is bringing economic ruin, making the legitimacy of the EU project ever more vulnerable … In countries more obviously affected by the euro's financial crisis, disillusionment with the European project and its institutions is already extreme. Traditional centrist parties are finding it ever harder to hold t...Read More

Please Hold Your Bernanke Applause … The plutocrats are heralding Ben S. Bernanke's eight years as Federal Reserve chairman. And with good reason. After all, Bernanke's two signature achievements – bailing out the bankrupt financial system and serving as the architect of the cheap-money policy known as quantitative easing – have done the very things the wealthy hoped they...Read More

The eurozone crisis is just getting started. The project to impose political union is bringing economic ruin, making the legitimacy of the EU project ever more vulnerable … In countries more obviously affected by the euro's financial crisis, disillusionment with the European project and its institutions is already extreme. Traditional centrist parties are finding it ever harder to hold t...Read More

Bank of England Inflation Report: no rate hike while recovery remains 'unsustainable and unbalanced' … Bank severs link between unemployment rate and an interest rate hike, and caveats bullish growth assessment with concerns that the recovery is currently unsustainable. Interest rates are unlikely to rise before 2015, the Bank of England signalled on Wednesday, as it warned the recov...Read More

More Americans should work abroad … On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner told members of the press that though immigration is "an important issue in our country" (thanks for that, John), it will be difficult to move immigration legislation this year. According to Boehner, the chief stumbling block is that Republican lawmakers simply don't trust the Obama administration to im...Read More

Bank of England Inflation Report: no rate hike while recovery remains 'unsustainable and unbalanced' … Bank severs link between unemployment rate and an interest rate hike, and caveats bullish growth assessment with concerns that the recovery is currently unsustainable. Interest rates are unlikely to rise before 2015, the Bank of England signalled on Wednesday, as it warned the recov...Read More

More Americans should work abroad … On Thursday, House Speaker John Boehner told members of the press that though immigration is "an important issue in our country" (thanks for that, John), it will be difficult to move immigration legislation this year. According to Boehner, the chief stumbling block is that Republican lawmakers simply don't trust the Obama administration to im...Read More

Economy U.S. stocks rose, giving benchmark indexes the biggest four-day rally in more than a year, as comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen fueled bets the economy is strong enough to weather further stimulus cuts … "The market likes consistency and what we've heard this morning has been consistent with what we've heard for months," Steven Rees, head of U.S. equ...Read More

House approves increase in debt ceiling with no strings attached, bill heads to Senate … The House voted Tuesday to raise the government's borrowing limit, as GOP leaders backed down from a potential confrontation with Democrats by declining to seek any concessions in exchange for the increase. The debt-ceiling bill passed on a 221-201 vote, and now goes to the Senate for final approval....Read More