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

Merkel Speech: Chancellor Urges Reforms to Preserve Euro … In the first parliamentary speech of her third term, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Europe needs to take more action to make its single currency crisis-proof and urged states to undertake binding economic reforms. – Der SpiegelDominant Social Theme: This terrible economic crisis provides us with an opportunity to d...Read More

Fed Finds Elixir for Tapering QE as Markets Embrace Rate Outlook … For six months, the Federal Reserve has struggled to engineer a pullback of its bond-buying program without unhinging financial markets. Yesterday, the Fed did it. After the Fed and Chairman Ben S. Bernanke expressed enough confidence in the jobs outlook to taper the pace of asset buying and extended the timeline for zero int...Read More

Merkel Speech: Chancellor Urges Reforms to Preserve Euro … In the first parliamentary speech of her third term, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that Europe needs to take more action to make its single currency crisis-proof and urged states to undertake binding economic reforms. – Der SpiegelDominant Social Theme: This terrible economic crisis provides us with an opportunity to d...Read More

Farewell QE, you have been a magnificent success … As the US Federal Reserve starts to drain dollar liquidity from the global system at long last, let us celebrate success. Quantitative easing has worked marvellously well. Monetary policy has been vindicated. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Hurray for central banking. It works!Free-Market Analysis: The promotional propaganda is we...Read More

The first world war… Look back with angst … Thanks to its military, economic and soft power, America is still indispensable, particularly in dealing with threats like climate change and terror, which cross borders. But unless America behaves as a leader and the guarantor of the world order, it will be inviting regional powers to test their strength by bullying neighbouring countries. T...Read More

Farewell QE, you have been a magnificent success … As the US Federal Reserve starts to drain dollar liquidity from the global system at long last, let us celebrate success. Quantitative easing has worked marvellously well. Monetary policy has been vindicated. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Hurray for central banking. It works!Free-Market Analysis: The promotional propaganda is we...Read More

The first world war… Look back with angst … Thanks to its military, economic and soft power, America is still indispensable, particularly in dealing with threats like climate change and terror, which cross borders. But unless America behaves as a leader and the guarantor of the world order, it will be inviting regional powers to test their strength by bullying neighbouring countries. T...Read More

Should the U.S. force citizens to save? Americans aren't saving enough to retire. This gap poses a problem for everyone, not just people who will face near-poverty when they can't work anymore. Does that merit forcing people to save more? Retirement in America is supposed to be financed by three sources: Social Security, employer pensions, and additional saving … Another, potentially...Read More

What's wrong with Science. And Nature. And Cell. A Nobel prize-winner attacks elite journals … BLUNT criticism is an essential part of science, for it is how bad ideas are winnowed from good ones. So when Randy Schekman, one of the 2013 crop of Nobel prize-winners (for physiology or medicine, in his case), decided to criticise the way scientific journals are run, he did not hold back. Dr...Read More

Should the U.S. force citizens to save? Americans aren't saving enough to retire. This gap poses a problem for everyone, not just people who will face near-poverty when they can't work anymore. Does that merit forcing people to save more? Retirement in America is supposed to be financed by three sources: Social Security, employer pensions, and additional saving … Another, potentially...Read More

What's wrong with Science. And Nature. And Cell. A Nobel prize-winner attacks elite journals … BLUNT criticism is an essential part of science, for it is how bad ideas are winnowed from good ones. So when Randy Schekman, one of the 2013 crop of Nobel prize-winners (for physiology or medicine, in his case), decided to criticise the way scientific journals are run, he did not hold back. Dr...Read More

US Federal Reserve: The Bernanke years … It was a drizzly day in Washington when Ben Bernanke went to his confirmation hearing in November 2005, but all seemed bright for the US economy. Growth was on track to hit 3 per cent. House prices had another five months left to rise. The assembled senators felt indulgent towards the modest academic – variously described by the media as bearded...Read More

Is NATO's Trojan Horse Riding Toward the 'Ukraine Spring'? … Ukrainian citizens have rallied in the bitter cold at Independence Square in Kiev to demand a better economic future and to protest President Viktor Yanukovych's failure to sign an economic agreement with the EU. But while the draft of the EU "Association Agreement" is being sold as an economic boon for Uk...Read More

US Federal Reserve: The Bernanke years … It was a drizzly day in Washington when Ben Bernanke went to his confirmation hearing in November 2005, but all seemed bright for the US economy. Growth was on track to hit 3 per cent. House prices had another five months left to rise. The assembled senators felt indulgent towards the modest academic – variously described by the media as bearded...Read More

Is NATO's Trojan Horse Riding Toward the 'Ukraine Spring'? … Ukrainian citizens have rallied in the bitter cold at Independence Square in Kiev to demand a better economic future and to protest President Viktor Yanukovych's failure to sign an economic agreement with the EU. But while the draft of the EU "Association Agreement" is being sold as an economic boon for Uk...Read More

The budget deal and Washington's new politics of compromise … The muted market reaction to this week's budget deal in Washington may initially seem like a disappointment. After all, uncertainty over government spending, debt and taxes has consistently emerged in business sentiment surveys as the biggest single factor holding back corporate investment and damaging financial confidence...Read More

Release the Senate Torture Report … A dozen years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the American public still doesn't know the full extent of the laws that were broken and the human rights abuses that were committed. Moving forward as a country demands taking responsibility for past actions and providing redress to victims. And that process can only take place after a full public acco...Read More

The budget deal and Washington's new politics of compromise … The muted market reaction to this week's budget deal in Washington may initially seem like a disappointment. After all, uncertainty over government spending, debt and taxes has consistently emerged in business sentiment surveys as the biggest single factor holding back corporate investment and damaging financial confidence...Read More

Release the Senate Torture Report … A dozen years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the American public still doesn't know the full extent of the laws that were broken and the human rights abuses that were committed. Moving forward as a country demands taking responsibility for past actions and providing redress to victims. And that process can only take place after a full public acco...Read More

Uruguay becomes first nation to legalise marijuana trade … The Uruguayan government hopes legalising the sale of marijuana will tackle drug cartels … Uruguay's cannabis bill reflects liberal past … Uruguay has become the first country in the world to make it legal to grow, sell and consume marijuana. After nearly 12 hours of debate, senators gave the government-sponsored bill...Read More