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

Families face 'unprecendented' squeeze on living standards … The rise in the cost of living and the squeeze on household budgets is much worse than the official measures suggest. Due to the 25pc rise in the cost of goods and services, families are facing a "squeeze" on their standard of living. The cost of essential goods and services has rocketed by 25pc in the past five y...Read More

Tour de France 2013: It was impossible to win Tour without taking drugs, claims Lance Armstrong … Five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault reacted angrily to Armstrong's comments and his claims that there was a doping culture in cycling. "We've got to stop thinking that all cycle racers are thugs and druggies," he told BFM TV. "It depresses me to hear all this. I think th...Read More

Risk of 1937 relapse as Fed gives up fight against deflation … The US Federal Reserve has jumped the gun. It has mishandled its exit strategy from quantitative easing, triggering a global bond rout that it did not anticipate, and is struggling to control. That the Fed should tighten even as it cut its own growth and inflation forecasts for this year is a bizarre state of affairs … It h...Read More

Viva la Siesta Should Southern Europe Really Be More German? In the wake of the euro crisis, Southern Europeans have increasingly traded their traditions of leisure for more work and more consumption – often at Germany's prodding. As backlash sets in, this logic must be questioned. Europe is groaning under German hegemony, but that isn't something we in Germany like to hear. From the...Read More

When the Guardian and the Washington Post revealed details about the National Security Agency collecting phone data from telecommunications companies and U.S. government programs pulling in emails and photographs from internet businesses, suddenly "George Orwell" was leading the news. The British essayist predicted it all, commentators asserted, and the United States now seems straight o...Read More

Emerging, maturing, protesting markets … At the beginning of this year, Eurasia Group, the political risk firm I lead, released its top 10 risks of 2013. We forgot to put Pepsi-guzzling whistleblowers on the list, but we did give our top slot to increasing turmoil in "emerging markets." In a global economy that has become more reliant on countries whose economies are vulnerable to...Read More

Families face 'unprecendented' squeeze on living standards … The rise in the cost of living and the squeeze on household budgets is much worse than the official measures suggest. Due to the 25pc rise in the cost of goods and services, families are facing a "squeeze" on their standard of living. The cost of essential goods and services has rocketed by 25pc in the past five y...Read More

Tour de France 2013: It was impossible to win Tour without taking drugs, claims Lance Armstrong … Five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault reacted angrily to Armstrong's comments and his claims that there was a doping culture in cycling. "We've got to stop thinking that all cycle racers are thugs and druggies," he told BFM TV. "It depresses me to hear all this. I think th...Read More

Shale gas in northern England could meet Britain's gas needs for 40 years Northern England could provide enough shale gas to meet the UK's needs for more than four decades, an official report has revealed … The government said a British Geological Survey report estimates that there could be 1,300 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas trapped in the rocks under Lancashire, Yorkshire and su...Read More

Can the state be trusted to do anything right? … Revelations of unacceptable snooping and the draconian treatment of whistleblowers are making a mockery of the government's quest for 'openness and transparency.' This week, Peter Francis, a former Special Branch covert agent, told Channel 4's 'Dispatches' that his job had been to infiltrate the grieving family and '...Read More

Rubio addresses tea party criticism on senate floor … Sen. Marco Rubio took to the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday afternoon, to address concerns that have arisen from some grassroots conservatives over his support of immigration reform. "I have received numerous emails and calls from conservatives and tea party activists," he said at the beginning of his remarks. "To hear...Read More

Why U.S. is being humiliated by the hunt for Snowden … The increasingly slapstick global steeplechase in pursuit of Edward Snowden, the former American contractor who leaked topsecret details of surveillance programs, looks like a cross between "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities." Nobody, except perhaps Snowden himself, is coming out of this well....Read More

Shale gas in northern England could meet Britain's gas needs for 40 years Northern England could provide enough shale gas to meet the UK's needs for more than four decades, an official report has revealed … The government said a British Geological Survey report estimates that there could be 1,300 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas trapped in the rocks under Lancashire, Yorkshire and su...Read More

Can the state be trusted to do anything right? … Revelations of unacceptable snooping and the draconian treatment of whistleblowers are making a mockery of the government's quest for 'openness and transparency.' This week, Peter Francis, a former Special Branch covert agent, told Channel 4's 'Dispatches' that his job had been to infiltrate the grieving family and '...Read More

Rubio addresses tea party criticism on senate floor … Sen. Marco Rubio took to the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday afternoon, to address concerns that have arisen from some grassroots conservatives over his support of immigration reform. "I have received numerous emails and calls from conservatives and tea party activists," he said at the beginning of his remarks. "To hear...Read More

Why U.S. is being humiliated by the hunt for Snowden … The increasingly slapstick global steeplechase in pursuit of Edward Snowden, the former American contractor who leaked topsecret details of surveillance programs, looks like a cross between "The Hunt for Red October" and "The Bonfire of the Vanities." Nobody, except perhaps Snowden himself, is coming out of this well....Read More

Two Fed Presidents Emphasize Stimulus to Persist After QE Taper … Two Fed Presidents Emphasize Stimulus to Persist After QE Taper Two Federal Reserve (TREFTOTL) presidents who differ over the need for more stimulus emphasized that monetary policy remains accommodative, less than a week after a timeline to reduce bond purchase jolted financial markets. "What we're talking about here...Read More

Fed fights back against 'feral hogs' … A top US central banker on Monday warned the "feral hogs" of financial markets against trying to force the Federal Reserve to shelve plans to slow its bond buying, as yields on US Treasuries climbed to their highest level since August 2011. Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve, said in an interview with the Financial...Read More

Analysis: Brazil riots raise questions over sporting mega-events … Brazilian anger against the cost of staging the World Cup could undermine the argument that host countries benefit from sporting mega-events as they become too big for most countries to handle. UEFA's idea of splitting the Euro 2020 championship into minitournaments hosted in 13 different countries could be one of the alt...Read More

Kevin Rudd ousts Australia Prime Minister Julia Gillard … Kevin Rudd is more popular with voters than Ms Gillard … He won 57 votes in a leadership ballot of Labor MPs and senators called by Ms Gillard, who received 45 votes. The change comes ahead of a general election due in September, which polls suggest Labor is set to lose. After the vote, Ms Gillard confirmed she would stand by a...Read More