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

(IDEX Online) - A diamond merchant reported his own 16-year-old son to police in Surat, India, for allegedly stealing polished gems worth over $62,000. According to a report filed to police, the boy stole six packets of polished diamonds, with a total weight of 269 carats. He then sold them for a tiny fraction of their real value, just $300, so he could buy an iPhone. The father, who runs a diamo...Read More

As stocks continue to explode off their October lows, powerful rallies are rippling through the markets, triggering some much-needed FOMO amongst the unwashed masses.If you're one of the unfortunate souls who loaded up on bearish bets into this face-ripper, you'll need to perform some evasive maneuvers to limit your losses as the melt-up rally accelerates into the holiday shopping season.Fortunate...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Tiffany is launching a limited-edition collection of diamond-accented silver Pokemon characters, priced from $1,290 to $29,000.It's a collaboration with contemporary artist Daniel Arsham, who reimagines everyday objects as archaeological discoveries from an imagined future.The collection features six characters from the Japanese media franchise of video games, animated series...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Lucara says it has revised down its revenue guidance from the Karowe mine, in Botswana, for this year by around a fifth, following the abrupt termination of its sales agreement with HB Antwerp.The Canadian miner is forecasting sales of $160m to $190m, down from $200m to $230m, due to the timing of forthcoming sales of specials over 10.8 carats, which account for around 65 per cent...Read More

Today we're considering the real environmentthat determines economic conditions.It has nothing to do with short-term data, Fed policy, conventional economic models or other factors most economic commentary focuses on.Instead, it has to do with the "trilemma," identified in the 1960s by economist Robert Mundell.Mundell identified three critical policy variables that nations face: the central bank p...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Sotheby's Geneva brought in an above-estimate $46.5m from its Magnificent Jewels auction, but withdrew one of its star attractions - a 94-carat Paraiba tourmaline - shortly before the event.Biggest highlight of the 158-lot auction was the Love Stone (pictured), a 103.62-carat fancy intense yellow VS2 cushion modified brilliant-cut diamond that sold for $2.48m.But the Blue Lago...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province (MPD) says it will cut costs, suspend the underground expansion of its Gahcho Kue mine in Northwest Territories, Canada, as it announced a Q3 net loss of CAN$13.4m (US$9.7m).The company blamed a downturn during the quarter, with major diamond producers significantly cutting their sales and Indian manufacturers adopting a voluntary two-month ban on rough purchases...Read More

This article is not a lesson on banking (I don't want to put you to sleep!).But it's important to understand some basic banking rules in order to realize why the current banking crisis, which began in March, isn't over.Let's start with what's called mark-to-market accounting. It's critical when it comes to determining asset prices and stock prices in particular.The concept of mark-to-market accoun...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A white glove sale of Viennese imperial and royal jewelry that was rediscovered earlier this year in a German bank safe sold for a total of $10.7m at Sotheby's Geneva.All 207 lots were sold, achieving more than three times the overall pre-sale low estimate.Sotheby's described the collection as extraordinary, "spanning two centuries of European history charting the fates,...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The week-long Kimberley Process plenary in Zimbabwe ended in conflict and chaos yesterday (Saturday 11 November), primarily over Russia's use of diamond revenue to fund its war in Ukraine. KP Civil Society Coalition (KPCSC) the observer group of mostly African diamond-producing countries, walked out of talks that dragged on until 2am, saying it had lost confidence in the discu...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Details of the G7 nations' long-awaited sanctions on Russian diamonds and how they will be implemented could be decided as soon as Monday (13 November) according to Josep Borrell, the EU's chief diplomat.He told the Financial Times: "In order for [EU] member states to be unanimous for the ban on diamond trade, some were requesting that the G7 were giving, let's say,...Read More

105 years ago today at the 11th month, 11th day and 11th hour the guns went quiet on the Western Front...And the white doves of peace took wing.Today we turn from the hurly-burly of the present. We turn from the world of manna, from the election, from the Bitcoin exchanges and the rest.Instead we reflect upon that morning of Nov. 11, 1918, so many years distant a neglected chapter of history...Read More

Back in 2017 when I composed this graphic of overlapping crises, the word polycrisis was not yet in common use. Polycrisis has various definitions, for example: “the simultaneous occurrence of several catastrophic events.” But this doesn’t explain the truly dangerous dynamic in polycrisis, which is the nonlinear, mutually reinforcing potential of disparate crises to generate...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Lucapa says it has recovered a 235-carat diamond at Lulo, Angola, just a week after announcing a 208-carat stone from the same mine.Both diamonds are Type IIa and are the 39th and 40th +100-ct recoveries since the alluvial mine began commercial operation in January 2015.Several weeks ago Lucapa recovered another +100-ct gem from Lulo, this time weighing 123 carats."Lulo continues t...Read More

My friend and erstwhile colleague Greg Guenthner wrote a peach of a piece for Tuesday's Morning Reckoning.In it, The Gunner wrote:Despite the three months of choppy descent we experienced after the averages topped out in late July, last month's drop shouldn't have set off any alarm bells.Not only are pullbacks and downside moves perfectly normal events, there are also seasonal trends the market ha...Read More

The Cato Institute is a libertarian "free market" outfit.It houses itself in Washington, D.C. somewhat ironically.And according to Cato... the novel mRNA vaccines represent the peak and pinnacle of market capitalism:It was the flow of people, ideas, capital, goods and services that made it possible to discover and produce a vaccine in record time...Global capital markets... played a role by prov...Read More

Imagine a fellow...This is a wastrel sunk impossibly in debt credit card debt.Spiraling interest payments begin to swamp him.He must take on an additional credit card in order to satisfy interest payments on the original.Yet he must soon take on another credit card... to service the interest on the card he previously took on... which he took on to service the interest on the first.That is, he mu...Read More

The dollar has been extremely strong over the past two years. This persistent dollar strength has been a mystery to many. After all, the dollar's problems are well known.The ratio of government debt to GDP for the United States is at a record high approaching 130% (a prudent level is considered 30%, and anything over 90% is a headwind to any economic growth at all).The U.S. is running multitrillio...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Belgian traceability firm iTraceiT is to incorporate super-accurate digital reports, produced by the Cutwise Group, into its diamond passports.   It says that adding Cutwise's DiLog ID to its own blockchain technology provides an extra layer of security.   The DiLog ID creates a "a photoreal rendered image of the polished Diamond" to produce unprecedentedly accu...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Gemstone miner Fura Gems has agreed a pioneering deal to provide Bangkok-based China Stone with a guaranteed supply of premium rough rubies from its Montepuez mine, in Mozambique. It will allocate 0.25-ct to 0.75-ct gems for the next three years, allowing China Stone to improve production planning for watch and jewelry manufacturers.Dev Shetty, Fura's CEO, says the deal i...Read More