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

Markets are playing it cool Wednesday morning, holding positive territory ahead of the Fed's 2:00 p.m. rate hike decision. Broadly, investors expect the Fed to hike rates by 25 basis points - markets are pricing in about a 67% probability of a hike as of Wednesday morning - but hope that a revised dot plot could hint at Jay Powell and company hitting the brakes on additional hikes for 2019. The...Read More

Contagion The urge to merge is spreading. Two weeks ago, news broke that Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) would spend $74 billion for Celgene (CELG) . Then we heard that Eli Lilly (LLY) would acquire Loxo Oncology (LOXO) for cash. Almost immediately, the talk swirled around BMY as a potential takeover target itself. It's not just the pharmaceutical space, friends. The break of dawn brought to our mids...Read More

Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) , one of the world's largest copper miners, fell by 13.1% on Thursday to close at $10.70 after the company reported disappointing fourth-quarter results. The company reported net income of $140 million, or 11 cents a share, after reporting net income of $1.04 billion, or 70 cents a share, a year ago. Copper production fell 17% to 841 million pounds. Aver...Read More

Shares of gold and copper producer Newport Mining Corp. (NEM) slipped 0.5% Thursday to $35.22 despite the company reporting fourth-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts' expectations thanks to steady gold and copper production and lower operational costs. The company reported adjusted earnings of $214 million, or 40 cents a share, for its fourth quarter, compared to $206 million, or 38 cen...Read More

Gold is glittering this winter - and everyone's favorite precious metal could have even further to run in the sessions ahead. After a run of underperformance, gold prices have managed to find bottom and move higher in the last six months, the ever-popular SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD) is up about 9% since the end of August. But there's mounting evidence that gold could have even further to rally...Read More

The merger mania sweeping the gold mining sector isn't a flash in the pan - it's likely just begun. Unless these companies want to shrink, they must continue to gobble each other up. "There is going to be a new wave of M&A as a way to grow reserves especially because organic growth is so hard to come by," said Matthew Miller, a Denver-based equity research analyst at financial research firm CFR...Read More

SASKATOON — Shares of Nutrien Ltd., the company created by the merger of Agrium Inc. and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc., started trading on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges today.The company traded under the ticker symbol NTR.The merger saw shareholders receive 0.40 Nutrien shares for each common share of PotashCorp they owned and 2.23 Nutrien shares for each Agrium share they own...Read More

MONTREAL — Canadian initial public offerings rebounded last year from their worst performance in nearly two decades in 2016 as $5.1 billion in proceeds were generated with the prospect for a strong 2018, says Pricewaterhouse Coopers.There were 38 issues from Canadian companies or companies listing on Canadian exchanges in 2017.That included 13 in the fourth quarter, which raised a total of $...Read More

SummaryA 2017 CCPA report found that the average compensation for the 100 highest-paid CEOs in Canada was $9.5 million, which was 193 times higher than the average industrial wage in Canada ($49,510).Extending the analysis to include all CEOs in the survey reduced average compensation by 78.4% to $2.1 million; the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay fell to 42 to 1.Quite telling, the average CEO compensati...Read More

Back in October 2016, Centerra Gold CEO Scott Perry told investors that purchasing the Mount Milligan gold and copper mine would give the company an asset in “one of the lowest risk jurisdictions” in the world — British Columbia.At the time, his company’s other flagship asset, a gold mine in the Kyrgyz Republic, was mired in disputes with the local government about pol...Read More

SummaryAs Canada's most successful metropolitan areas continue to grow, they face pressures to grow outward-through the construction of new communities at the urban fringe-and upward-by accommodating more residents in existing urban areas, leading to higher populations densities. This bulletin compares population densities across 30 cities located in high-income countries.To ensure comparability b...Read More

The early part of the year is typically when there is movement on the Street, and 2018 is no exception.Vancouver-based PI Financial has hired two new staffers for its mining research group. The firm has retained the services of Chris Thompson as head of its mining research group and Justin Stevens as a mining research associate. They both joined from Raymond James where they covered precious metal...Read More

SummarySince coming into office, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has repeatedly claimed to have reduced taxes for middle class Canadian families-a claim based solely on the federal government's reduction to the second lowest personal income tax rate from 22 to 20.5 percent. However, a recent study found that when all the Trudeau government's major changes to the personal income tax syst...Read More

Move over Bitcoin. In 2018, so far, it’s gold that’s catching investors’ attention.Gold hit a four-month high on Friday, trading at US$1,338.39 per ounce on the back of strong production outlooks from companies, higher price predictions from bank analysts and merger activity.“It’s going to get more competitive,” Clive T. Johnson, chief executive of B2Gold C...Read More

One of the biggest diamonds in history has been discovered in the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa.Gem Diamonds Ltd. found the 910-carat stone, about the size of two golf balls, at its Letseng mine in the country. It’s a D colour Type IIa diamond, which means it has very few or no nitrogen atoms and is one of the most expensive stones. The diamond is the fifth-biggest ever f...Read More

SummaryThe unemployment rate has long been the single measure most used by the media, policymakers, and politicians to gauge overall labour market performance.However, the unemployment rate can decrease for two reasons that imply very different performance: 1) people are finding work, which is positive; or 2) potential workers are dropping out of the labour force and not looking for work anymore,...Read More

Stung by some lousy investments that led to billions of dollars in losses a few years ago, the world’s major gold producers have cut way back on mining deals — even as metal prices posted their biggest rally since 2010.The value of the industry’s transactions, from acquisitions to venture-capital financing, tumbled by more than a third in 2017 to US$8.95 billion, the lowest...Read More

While the provision of health care involves the use of a considerable number of inputs, including medical equipment and pharmaceuticals, health-care services still draw largely on the expertise of health-care professionals. Physicians, in particular, play a prominent role. In this regard, while Canada has one of the most expensive universal health-care systems among developed countries, the number...Read More

TORONTO — The Chilean government has ordered Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) to permanently close all surface facilities at its troubled Pascua-Lama project high in the Andes.The government had suspended the massive project that straddles the Chile-Argentina border in 2013 over concerns of environmental damage and water contamination during development.Barrick was fined the maximum US$16 millio...Read More

Mike Mozak's union was in the middle of labour negotiations with Teck Resources Ltd. last spring when the company announced a proposed $1.2-billion deal to sell its hydroelectric dam that powers the lead and zinc smelter where his members worked."It was a shock to all of us," said Mozak, president of United Steelworkers Local 9705, who questions how the sale could affect the smelter's future. Nest...Read More