NEWS &VIEWSForecasts, Commentary & Analysis on the Economy and Precious MetalsCelebrating our 47h year in the gold businessJUNE 2020By Michael Kosares, USAGOLD"To propose a return of inflation is to be inflammatory," writes Lightman Investment Management's Rob Burnett in an opinion piece for the Financial Times. "Investors are committed to a deflationary thesis and such is their fervor tha...Read More

Dear Friend of GATA and Gold:A European friend well known to us who prefers not to fall under even more surveillance in his own country sends the observations below, for which your secretary/treasurer will take the responsibility of sharing with you.His main point -- that huge volatility will be injected into the gold market to facilitate government intervention elsewhere in the world financial...Read More

By: Ira EpsteinGold has strong support around $1653.50+ / 18 week moving average. Momentum rolled over. Read More

Double EffectSecondary ConsequencesEven if We Get a Vaccine...Bottom LineShould you wear a mask in public? This seemingly simple question immediately generates emotional, political, and social anxiety.It is just one of many provocative questions COVID-19 is forcing upon us. They should be simple, data-driven policy issues but many are not.Today's letter is in a different format from the usual T...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 5 that are worth another look.Vehicle production increased in Latin America during May, when compared with the all-time lows reported in April, but continued to represent a sharp year-on-year decrease while most plants remained closed or are just starting to reopen following Covid-related halts.The first deal for aluminium cif...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday June 5 that are worth another look.Vehicle production increased in Latin America during May, when compared with the all-time lows reported in April, but continued to represent a sharp year-on-year decrease while most plants remained closed or are just starting to reopen following Covid-related halts.The first deal for aluminium cif...Read More

RAPAPORT... Rough-diamond sales will drop by 30% to 40% this year as Covid-19 restrictions have shut down the global supply chain, Moody's Investors Service projected.The market won't recover until the second half when social-distancing rules become looser, the ratings agency said last week. As a result, global rough revenues will decline to between $7 billion and $8 billion for 2020 amid low...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa believes rough-diamond demand could rebound by July or August, as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic eases in some regions."Today, we see diamond-jewelry sales bouncing back in China and other Asian markets, which is expected to drive diamond demand up as soon as July to August," Alrosa chief financial officer Alexey Philippovskiy said last week. However, the Russian miner...Read More

RAPAPORT... Lending to India's gem and jewelry industry fell 18% during the past two fiscal years as the 2018 Nirav Modi banking scandal continued to fuel caution among banks, according to credit agency CARE Ratings.Outstanding credit to the sector declined 1% to INR 721 billion ($9.54 billion) during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, from INR 727 billion ($9.63 billion) on March 30, 201...Read More

RAPAPORT... Under challenging circumstances, the Natural Diamond Council (NDC) unveiled its new look, name and purpose on June 1, marking a complete transformation from its former identity as the Diamond Producers Association (DPA). Rapaport Senior Analyst Avi Krawitz spoke with the NDC's CEO, David Kellie, about the relaunch in the second episode of the Rapaport Group's "The Recovery" webina...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The five biggest diamond producers have excess inventories valued at an estimated $3.5bn.And that figure could rise to $4.5bn - four months' worth of annual rough-diamond production - according to Gemdax,  the Antwerp-based diamond consultants and analysts.It is based on stocks held by De Beers and Alrosa - each producing around a quarter of the world's diamonds - to...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa blamed a Q1 plunge in profits of 87 per cent on revaluation of its foreign currency debt, and, to a lesser extent, COVID-19. The Russian state-owned miner reported a good start to the year and said prices were recovering, until the coronavirus pandemic in mid-February. Net profit for the first three months of 2020 were RUB 3.1bn ($45m), down from RUB 11.7bn ($170m) in Q4 201...Read More

(IDEX Online) - A $25,000 fund has been launched to help independent jewelers who have been victims of looting in the USA. The appeal is being jointly run by the trade associations Jewelers of America and Diamond Council of America. The Jewelers' Relief Fund has so far raised $13,350, boosted by a $10,000 donation from the De Beers Group jeweler Forevermark US. Jewlelry stores in Minneapolis...Read More

Polished month-to-month diamond prices for May showed a marked increase of 0.6 per cent, the most significant rise since December 2018. For almost two years there has been a general pattern of decrease rather than increase, with prices plunging in March, down 1.7 per cent. Prices recovered in April (down just 0.3 per cent) and now, according to figures for May, they are actually increasing.IDEX On...Read More

Hedge funds finally threw in the towel.Read full newsRead More

Pure Gold's mine in Red Lake is on track for its first pour this year.Read full newsRead More

Like much of the world, Argentina remains locked down, its citizens more or less homebound due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the torpor, Yamana Gold, a Canada-based mining company, has forged a new partnership around a gold mining project in the Patagonian province of Chubut. The move has led activists to accuse Yamana of [...]Read full newsRead More

TMAC is the third underperforming Canadian gold junior to be acquired in the past few months.Read full newsRead More

Gold and gold miner stocks have been notably strong this year amid the pandemic. Gold miner stocks are up almost 25%, while the TSX Index has lost more than 8% so far this year. The yellow metal prices have been rallying for the last few months, which has prominently driven these stocks higher.Top TSX stock: Kirkland Lake GoldKirkland Lake Gold (TSX:KL)(NYSE:KL), an $11 billion senior gold produce...Read More

Dixie Lake drilling in Ontario's Red Lake District - Image courtesy of Great Bear Resources. Drilling along the LP fault at Great Bear Resources' wholly-owned Dixie gold project in Red Lake Ontario continues to return long intervals of high-grade gold mineralization.The most recent release includes the results of hole BR-133, which intersected 25.2 metres of 15.5 g/t gold, and includes a higher...Read More