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

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, says he was wrong to ignore marijuana's medical potential when he wrote an opinion piece in 2009 called "Why I would Vote No on Pot." Gupta filmed a documentary that aired on CNN on Sunday, August 11, and earlier this week wrote an editorial on CNN.com in which he admitted that the research for the movie changed his mind about...Read More

Time to stop following defunct economic policies … Can economists contribute anything useful to our understanding of politics, business and finance in the real world? I raise this question having spent last weekend in Toronto at the annual conference of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, a foundation created in 2009 in response to the failure of modern economics in the global financial...Read More

Reefer Madness, and Reason … Marijuana has now been legalized or decriminalized in 17 states and the District of Columbia, with Maryland joining the list just last week. Not to harsh anyone's mellow, but it may be an appropriate time (and day) to bring back another useful verb to associate with marijuana use: stigmatize. The drive toward legitimization will be hard to stop. Most American...Read More

Time to stop following defunct economic policies … Can economists contribute anything useful to our understanding of politics, business and finance in the real world? I raise this question having spent last weekend in Toronto at the annual conference of the Institute for New Economic Thinking, a foundation created in 2009 in response to the failure of modern economics in the global financial...Read More

Reefer Madness, and Reason … Marijuana has now been legalized or decriminalized in 17 states and the District of Columbia, with Maryland joining the list just last week. Not to harsh anyone's mellow, but it may be an appropriate time (and day) to bring back another useful verb to associate with marijuana use: stigmatize. The drive toward legitimization will be hard to stop. Most American...Read More

The problems of HFT … Never mind Michael Lewis. The most interesting and provocative thing to be written of late about financial innovation in general, and high-frequency trading in particular, comes from Joe Stiglitz. The Nobel prize-winning economist delivered a wonderful and fascinating speech at the Atlanta Fed's 2014 Financial Markets Conference today; here's a shorter version o...Read More

"Free Jeff Mizanskey" Efforts Continue with Billboards and 360,000 Signatures … The billboard is on I-70 in Saline County. Efforts to release Jeff Mizanskey, the only man in Missouri serving a life-without-parole sentence for a nonviolent marijuana charge, are continuing this month with help from Show-Me Cannabis and Change.org. Show-Me Cannabis has bought billboard space on I-70 n...Read More

The problems of HFT … Never mind Michael Lewis. The most interesting and provocative thing to be written of late about financial innovation in general, and high-frequency trading in particular, comes from Joe Stiglitz. The Nobel prize-winning economist delivered a wonderful and fascinating speech at the Atlanta Fed's 2014 Financial Markets Conference today; here's a shorter version o...Read More

"Free Jeff Mizanskey" Efforts Continue with Billboards and 360,000 Signatures … The billboard is on I-70 in Saline County. Efforts to release Jeff Mizanskey, the only man in Missouri serving a life-without-parole sentence for a nonviolent marijuana charge, are continuing this month with help from Show-Me Cannabis and Change.org. Show-Me Cannabis has bought billboard space on I-70 n...Read More

US financial showdown with Russia is more dangerous than it looks, for both sides … The United States has constructed a financial neutron bomb. For the past 12 years an elite cell at the US Treasury has been sharpening the tools of economic warfare, designing ways to bring almost any country to its knees without firing a shot. The strategy relies on hegemonic control over the global banking...Read More

BRICS countries to set up their own IMF … Very soon, the IMF will cease to be the world's only organization capable of rendering international financial assistance. The BRICS countries are setting up alternative institutions, including a currency reserve pool and a development bank … The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have made significant progress...Read More

US financial showdown with Russia is more dangerous than it looks, for both sides … The United States has constructed a financial neutron bomb. For the past 12 years an elite cell at the US Treasury has been sharpening the tools of economic warfare, designing ways to bring almost any country to its knees without firing a shot. The strategy relies on hegemonic control over the global banking...Read More

BRICS countries to set up their own IMF … Very soon, the IMF will cease to be the world's only organization capable of rendering international financial assistance. The BRICS countries are setting up alternative institutions, including a currency reserve pool and a development bank … The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have made significant progress...Read More

The lost promise of progressive taxes … By midnight on April 15, roughly 140 million Americans will have filed their federal income tax returns and breathed a sigh of relief. Politicians from both parties, however, will spend most of the day criticizing our current tax system. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Tax everyone according to his ability to pay.Free-Market Analysis: This Reuter...Read More

The Astounding Conspiracy Theories of Wall Street Genius Mark Gorton … Mark Gorton is a prominent financier and a respected entrepreneur. He founded the music sharing site Limewire, and he runs Tower Research, a famed high-frequency trading firm. Gorton also believes that the "ruthless" secret cabal that assassinated JFK and planned 9/11 could be coming to kill his family. Mark Gor...Read More

The lost promise of progressive taxes … By midnight on April 15, roughly 140 million Americans will have filed their federal income tax returns and breathed a sigh of relief. Politicians from both parties, however, will spend most of the day criticizing our current tax system. – ReutersDominant Social Theme: Tax everyone according to his ability to pay.Free-Market Analysis: This Reuter...Read More

The Astounding Conspiracy Theories of Wall Street Genius Mark Gorton … Mark Gorton is a prominent financier and a respected entrepreneur. He founded the music sharing site Limewire, and he runs Tower Research, a famed high-frequency trading firm. Gorton also believes that the "ruthless" secret cabal that assassinated JFK and planned 9/11 could be coming to kill his family. Mark Gor...Read More

Why Europe needs the City's financial weapons of mass destruction … There is very little chance of a market-led recovery taking hold in Europe without a revival in securitised lending to give it legs. America's sub-prime lending boom led to the banking crisis, yet securitisation is poised to make a comeback … They were the "financial weapons of mass destruction" which...Read More

"A nonviolent revolution is not a programme of 'seizure of power' but it is a programme of transformation of relationships, ending in a peaceful transfer of power." -Mahatma Gandhi … Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. As we organize to exercise our right to free expression we must dedicate ourselves to promoting democracy and human dignity alike....Read More

Why Europe needs the City's financial weapons of mass destruction … There is very little chance of a market-led recovery taking hold in Europe without a revival in securitised lending to give it legs. America's sub-prime lending boom led to the banking crisis, yet securitisation is poised to make a comeback … They were the "financial weapons of mass destruction" which...Read More