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

Rebooting the agreement tops the agenda at the meeting of the leaders of the three countries scheduled to take place in Mexico this February. "There's a joint willingness among all three countries to relaunch the idea of North America, not just in terms of manufacturing, but in innovation and design," says Sergio Alcocer, under-secretary for North America in Mexico's foreign mini...Read More

Speed Screening for Troops proves that TSA protocol is just Security Theater … The Transportation Security Administration has recently expanded what it calls "expedited security screening", more commonly known as TSA Pre-Check, to military service members at more than 100 airports across the United States. These so-called expedited screenings will allow military personnel to keep t...Read More

Greed must have limits or we risk ending up like the Russians, trusting no one … Mutual trust in a society is easy to destroy but very difficult to build … Russia underwent the Revolution, with its overturning of society's ranks and distinctions and the destruction of fortunes, civil war and subsequent state terrorism, and more recently, the breakdown of the Soviet Union. – U...Read More

Wall Street watchdog puts spotlight on firms hiring risky brokers …Wall Street brokerages that hire stockbrokers who have a track record of misconduct should expect to show examiners how they will curb future wrongdoing, the industry's watchdog said on Thursday in an overview of issues it will review in 2014. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said it will review the pro...Read More

Greed must have limits or we risk ending up like the Russians, trusting no one … Mutual trust in a society is easy to destroy but very difficult to build … Russia underwent the Revolution, with its overturning of society's ranks and distinctions and the destruction of fortunes, civil war and subsequent state terrorism, and more recently, the breakdown of the Soviet Union. – U...Read More

Wall Street watchdog puts spotlight on firms hiring risky brokers …Wall Street brokerages that hire stockbrokers who have a track record of misconduct should expect to show examiners how they will curb future wrongdoing, the industry's watchdog said on Thursday in an overview of issues it will review in 2014. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said it will review the pro...Read More

Political insurgency, Europe's Tea Parties – Insurgent parties are likely to do better in 2014 than at any time since the second world war … Since 2010 or so, the Tea Party, a Republican insurgency, has turned American politics upside down. – The EconomistDominant Social Theme: These are parties to be watched and contained.Free-Market Analysis: Ten years ago, when we wrote ab...Read More

IMF paper warns of 'savings tax' and mass write-offs as West's debt hits 200-year high … Debt burdens in developed nations have become extreme by any historical measure and will require a wave of haircuts, warns IMF paper. The paper said policy elites in the West are still clinging to the illusion that rich countries can chip away at their debts with a blend of austerity cuts and...Read More

Political insurgency, Europe's Tea Parties – Insurgent parties are likely to do better in 2014 than at any time since the second world war … Since 2010 or so, the Tea Party, a Republican insurgency, has turned American politics upside down. – The EconomistDominant Social Theme: These are parties to be watched and contained.Free-Market Analysis: Ten years ago, when we wrote ab...Read More

IMF paper warns of 'savings tax' and mass write-offs as West's debt hits 200-year high … Debt burdens in developed nations have become extreme by any historical measure and will require a wave of haircuts, warns IMF paper. The paper said policy elites in the West are still clinging to the illusion that rich countries can chip away at their debts with a blend of austerity cuts and...Read More

The economy is growing. The free market isn't. That's worrying … It's not just the year that's changed. The New Year economic outlook seems very different, too. We've gone from gloom in 2013 to boom in 2014. No longer are pundits writing pieces predicting our imminent economic demise. Instead it is all about rising house prices, stronger sales and growth. An extraordinary...Read More

Edward Snowden, the insufferable whistleblower … Time has not deflated Edward Snowden's messianic sense of self-importance. Nor has living in an actual police state given the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower any greater appreciation of the actual freedoms that Americans enjoy. Insufferable is the first adjective evoked by Snowden's recent interview with Barton Gellman in...Read More

The economy is growing. The free market isn't. That's worrying … It's not just the year that's changed. The New Year economic outlook seems very different, too. We've gone from gloom in 2013 to boom in 2014. No longer are pundits writing pieces predicting our imminent economic demise. Instead it is all about rising house prices, stronger sales and growth. An extraordinary...Read More

Edward Snowden, the insufferable whistleblower … Time has not deflated Edward Snowden's messianic sense of self-importance. Nor has living in an actual police state given the National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower any greater appreciation of the actual freedoms that Americans enjoy. Insufferable is the first adjective evoked by Snowden's recent interview with Barton Gellman in...Read More

Revolting voters … Democracy is under threat, warns Philip Coggan. Time to reform it … A huge year for democracy lies ahead: in 2014 voters will go to the polls in some of the biggest countries of the developing world, including India, Indonesia and Brazil, as well as in the United States (for mid-terms) and across the 28 countries of the European Union (to elect the European Parliamen...Read More

Global warming scientists forced to admit defeat… because of too much ice: Stranded Antarctic ship's crew will be rescued by helicopter … Chris Turney, a climate scientist and leader of the expedition, was going to document 'environmental changes' at the pole … In an interview he said he expected melting ice to play a part in expedition … MV Akademik Schokalskiy...Read More

Revolting voters … Democracy is under threat, warns Philip Coggan. Time to reform it … A huge year for democracy lies ahead: in 2014 voters will go to the polls in some of the biggest countries of the developing world, including India, Indonesia and Brazil, as well as in the United States (for mid-terms) and across the 28 countries of the European Union (to elect the European Parliamen...Read More

Global warming scientists forced to admit defeat… because of too much ice: Stranded Antarctic ship's crew will be rescued by helicopter … Chris Turney, a climate scientist and leader of the expedition, was going to document 'environmental changes' at the pole … In an interview he said he expected melting ice to play a part in expedition … MV Akademik Schokalskiy...Read More

Gold price collapse is the worst for 30 years … The precious metal has been one of the worst-performing assets in 2013, bringing an end to a decade-long rally. Gold has fallen almost 28pc over the last 12 months … Gold will finish the year as one of the worst-performing asset classes, bringing to an end a decade-long rally in the precious metal. Gold has suffered its sharpest fall in 3...Read More

The Audacity of Optimism. In the year or more that I have written this column, I have often emphasized the way in which things may be going at least a bit right. That contrasts with the frequently repeated mantra that we are going dangerously off the rails. Of course, like anyone, I may be right or wrong or somewhere in between. What's been perplexing about responses to this column, however, i...Read More