(IDEX Online) - Diamond miners are being allowed to resume operations in Lesotho, even though the country's coronavirus lockdown has been extended. The tiny kingdom, landlocked by South Africa, is home to Gem Diamonds' Letseng mine (pictured), Lucapa's Mothae mine,  and Namakwa Diamonds' Kao mine, but Firestone's Liqhobong mine is expected to remain closed f...Read More

(IDEX Online) - De Beers will slash diamond production by 20 per cent this year, blaming coronavirus and the resulting Indian lockdown, mine closures in South Africa and US slump in demand.It has revised down its 2020 forecast from between 32m and 34m carats to 25m and 27m carats,In an operational update parent company Anglo American says: "At De Beers, lockdown measures have significantly impacte...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Indian diamond producers are being urged to adopt a voluntary month-long ban on the import of rough diamonds from 15 May.Trade bodies make the plea in an open letter and say it will help the industry survive the coronavirus crisis and send a clear message to banks that it is not prepared to face further debt.An estimated $7bn of rough and polished diamonds have been stuck in India,...Read More

Shares of gold miners and funds dealing in the precious metal have rallied in recent weeks as the coronavirus crisis rocked global markets and investors raced to buy safe-haven assets.Read full newsRead More

"@TheSolariReport The opposite has happened. The fed has taken over.Right now the CB's are performing a leveraged buyout of USA ---- and once the next leg down begins in stocks --- they will do the Japanese thing and buy stocks directly. https://t.co/wqydnwloWx"Read full newsRead More

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Can you believe what’s happening? While Central Banks print trillions of new dollars, oil prices recently turned negative. It could be a Goldilocks environment for strong, well-capitalised miners like Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX).Even a modest rise in gold prices can have a tremendous impact on its bottom line — and oil is one of Barrick’s biggest expenses.Its profits could potentially...Read More

One of the few assets to have performed robustly during the coronavirus crisis is gold. The yellow metal has soared by 14% since the start of 2020 to be trading at over US$1,729 per ounce. There are signs that as the coronavirus fallout mounts, gold will rally higher. Some analysts are projecting that the precious metal could reach US$3,000 an ounce, as government stimulus weighs on fiat currencie...Read More

The Solwezi licences are located roughly 15 km from First Quantum Minerals' Kansanshi copper mine (pictured). Image: First Quantum Minerals. Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO) has entered into an earn-in and joint venture agreement with Vancouver-based junior Midnight Sun Mining (TSXV: MMA), under which the Anglo-Australian miner can earn up to a 75% interest in the latter's Solwezi licenses.The Solwezi licen...Read More

The coronavirus market crash has not been as bad for some TSX stocks as it was on the broader markets. This top TSX stock has surged from close to $33 levels to its all-time high of $56, and that’s a staggering 70% surge in just about five weeks.Notably, the TSX Composite Index managed to gain just 5% in the same period. The top Canadian giant that outperformed broader markets by such a wide...Read More

Plant site at Juanicipio. Image from MAG Silver. MAG Silver (TSX: MAG) announced on Monday it has arranged a non-brokered private placement with mining investor Eric Sprott, offering approximately 4.53 million common shares of the company at a price of C$13.25 ($9) per share for gross proceeds of C$60 million ($42m).Shares of MAG skyrocketed more than 17% during Monday's morning session to a six-...Read More

On February 17, an American P8-A Poseidon flew out of Okinawa on a routine mission to patrol international waters roughly 380 miles west of Guam.On that patrol, the aircraft encountered a Chinese destroyer, the Hohhot. And as it did, it was struck by a military-grade laser that temporarily blinded the pilot. It was an aggressive, reckless, and dangerous assault...But hardly the first of its kind....Read More

"Are you putting money into oil right now?"That was the question that came through my friend group text yesterday. "Ain't nobody driving or flying yet," I replied. But what I should have said was: What time frame are we talking about?If you want to trade oil intraday or for a one-day bounce after that historic sell-off it just had - be my guest. That's not really what I do. And of course, you c...Read More

Porgera gold mine. (Image courtesy of Barrick Gold.) Zijin Mining, China's no.1 gold producer and second largest copper miner, has revised down its gold production guidance for 2020 after Papua New Guinea (PNG) refused to extend the mining lease for the Porgera mine it operates with Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) (NYSE: GOLD). Zijin had forecast gold productionfor the year of 44 tonnes, rising to 42-47...Read More

(Image courtesy of the Minerals Council of Australia). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has given interim authorization to the Minerals Council of Australia, the Australian Aluminium Council and state resources bodies to jointly source safety equipment and spare parts for the operation of machinery and mining equipment.According to the Minerals Council, the decision implies that...Read More

Electric car. (Image by stux, Pixabay). Nano One Materials (TSX-V: NNO) announced that its high-performance lithium-ion battery cathode materials, which are produced at a low cost using proprietary technology, tested positively in solid-state batteries for electric vehicles.The largest single challenge for those working on solid-state batteries is being able to design a stable and commercially vi...Read More

There's an old saying with stocks and the stock market and that saying is that "A rising tide lifts all boats." What it means is that even though the stock you own doesn't hit it big, as long as it's in the same sector as the big name stocks and as they rise in value, the smaller unknown stocks tend to rise along also. Now this a just a theory but when the marijjuanna boom was on, anything that ha...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday April 27 that are worth another look.The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in a shortage of ferrous scrap in many key supply locations, provoking a 21% rise in international scrap prices in just 12 days from April 3 to April 15. But despite this, domestic prices in many areas were settled lower in April's monthly negotiations.The Itali...Read More

First Quantum has cut its 2020 copper production guidance by 75,000 tonnes to 755,000-805,000 tonnes as a result of a reduction in production expectations at Cobre Panama due to the Covid-19 pandemic.This guidance range is dependent upon the Toronto, Canada-listed company receiving approval from Ministry of Health of the Republic of Panama (MINSA) to commence the restart of operations before or by...Read More

Bob Moriarty ArchivesApr 27, 2020Every crisis needs a good name to be memorable. The events of September 11th, 2001 were a natural to be 911. But what do we call our current crisis to really reflect reality and be memorable at the same moment?It began as the Corona Virus. But should that be Corona Virus with a space or better put as Coronavirus? There seemed to be no consensus so the media and pub...Read More