The AOCE and WB have moderate overall forecasts for the metals in 2025 inline with IMF forecasts for a decline in economic growth and inflation, although we see the probability of a stagflationary scenario as still reasonably high.Read More

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

Yesterday, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang dropped a bombshell. He told the Financial Times, "China is going to win the AI race."Via FT.com:Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has warned that China will beat the US in the artificial intelligence race, thanks to lower energy costs and looser regulations.In the starkest comments yet from the head of the world's most valuable company, Huang told the FT: "Chi...Read More

Ever feel like the world's gone mad, idiocy reigns, and the wise are mocked? Every day, you say?Well then, welcome! You're living in Desiderius Erasmus's world. Only 500 years later.Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) was the original intellectual troublemaker the man who used humor, reason, and razor-sharp Latin to mock the stupidity of his age while trying to save it from itself.Born illegitimate...Read More

The Big Short is one of my favorite movies (and books).It's a powerful story of investors who bet against the housing bubble, persevered through adversity, and won big.The story focuses on Michael J. Burry, a small but successful hedge fund manager in California. In the movie, Burry is played by actor Christian Bale. There are others featured in The Big Short who bet against the housing market, bu...Read More

According to data collected by the research firm Statista, 29 percent of Americans cannot afford to take a vacation this year. A vacation is not the only thing Americans are struggling to afford. The failure of wages to keep up with price inflation is why household debt hit a record level of 18.4 trillion dollars this year, with the average household owing more than 100,000 dollars.The Federal Res...Read More

Greetings from New Orleans. I'm here for the 51st annual Investment Conference, formerly called the Gold Conference, founded half a century ago by the late Jim Blanchard. If you own gold, it's because Jim fought tooth and nail in the 1960s and 70s to change U.S. law to allow private ownership.And as you've undoubtedly noticed if you own gold - or if you go to buy some right now - the price is up-u...Read More

NBC News with the latest:AI giant Nvidia becomes the first company worth $5 trillion, powered by the AI frenzyThe value of Nvidia alone is now worth more than the GDP of every country on earth, except for the United States and China, according to World Bank data.The Economist says we are in an "astonishing boom…fueled by optimism about artificial intelligence." That optimism has driven up p/...Read More

A disturbing chart is making waves in the financial world.It's a long-term view of job openings (blue) vs the S&P 500 (black). The dotted line shows when ChatGPT launched in November of 2022.Take a look:Digesting this chart gives me heartburn.As you can see, historically job openings and the stock market have moved in parallel. When the economy was good, both metrics moved up. When it was bad,...Read More

Oil prices are falling, but oil stocks are not. That's a great setup for short sellers and a terrible one for buyers.According to data broker Statista, the breakeven price for most U.S. oil producers is between $61 and $70 per barrel. The current oil price is below that today. That means we are in the pain zone for oil producers.The last time we saw oil prices this low was 2021:Longtime natural re...Read More

Investors call copper "Dr. Copper" because this metal has a PhD in economics.In the modern world, copper is foundational.Electronics, wiring, motors, plumbing, cars, appliances. It's in everything.So most of the time, we can tell a lot about the economy by watching the price of copper.And the price just broke out to a new all-time high above $11,200 per ton.Source: Mining.comBut this isn't purely...Read More

Inquiring minds want to know: How's the "Greatest Political Experiment of Our Age" going? Herewith, an update.Historic… Momentous… Crushing…These are just some of the words missing from the mainstream media's "reporting" of Argentina's midterm election yesterday.Defining… Landslide… and Humiliating were also conspicuously absent from the shame-free establishment bullh...Read More

Bubble-like behavior?A friend is a builder in Washington, specializing in high-end houses."I've never seen anything like it. There's just so much money in Washington. We're doing 15 different projects. Every one of them is spectacular."Money is everywhere. Everything is going up. Gold, for example. CNBC:Gold could reach $10,000 by the end of the decade, says Ed Yardeni.Which is another way we coul...Read More

"A government-run grocery store? What a disaster!""I know! By the way, I made 2x on Intel after the government bought in!"These quotes summarize recent comments I've heard about government interventions in private markets.The first, of course, refers to NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's plan to open city-run grocery stores. The idea is to eliminate greed and profit from the equation, and give...Read More

Last week, I had dinner with Donald Trump, Jr., and I suspect that at least some readers may be interested. So today, I'll tell you about it.And first, yes... I mean that DJT Jr. (see photo), son of the U.S. President of similar name. And no, I don't mean that we were in the same building at the same time, although that's one way to say it. Nor do I mean that we were even in the same dining room a...Read More

We're obviously living in tumultuous times. If investors sense they're on a financial roller coaster, they're right.Recently, I scanned my market tickers and saw that everything was up. Stocks, bonds, gold, silver, the dollar, cryptos and commodities were all advancing. Of course, that didn't last. The next day cryptos crashed and stocks were down sharply. Even gold suffered its worst day in a dec...Read More

As we wait patiently for this correction in gold, silver, and miners to end, now is an excellent time to review the fundamentals of precious metal miners.This is especially important for those of you looking to start or add to positions during this pullback.Today we're going to explore the three types of mining stocks:ProducersDevelopersExplorers.We'll explain the risk/reward of each stage, which...Read More

The modern world began with a hole in the ground.Around 7,000 years ago, a few clever humans figured out how to work copper into crude, but useful tools and jewelry.Innovation really picked up 5,000 years ago with the beginning of the Bronze Age. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin, and it's far stronger than either element alone.Bronze was used to make superior weapons, armor, and tools. It was...Read More

Well, we finally got the mini-crash we've been expecting in precious metals and miners.On Tuesday gold plunged 5.7%, its biggest daily fall since 2013. Silver fell a whopping 8%, slipping back under the key $50 level.Miners fell harder, with the GDX gold miner ETF stumbling from $84 to $73 over the past week. The SILJ silver miner ETF fell from around $26 to $23 over the same period.But it's impor...Read More

Traditionally, the defining moment in a man's life arrives when he looks in his shaving glass and finds his father staring back at him; but there is a day so much more terrible we rarely speak of it – when he catches himself in a full-length mirror and sees his mother...Don Paterson, The Book of ShadowsI was living in London when I picked up Paterson's book of aphorisms. I remember laughing...Read More

"What do you expect when you sue the president?" Hearing that comment, some people may guess the comment was made by someone addressing one of President Trump's political opponents who has been targeted for federal prosecution.That quote, though, is much older. It is from an IRS agent addressing officials of a conservative organization that was being audited during Bill Clinton's presidency. This...Read More

A fascinating experiment is taking place.A startup named Nof1 gave 6 top AI models $10,000 each.They gave models access to a crypto exchange, a data feed, and let each model build its own trading and risk management strategy. The "Alpha Arena" competition started Oct 17th and the first "season" will conclude Nov 3rd.The AIs can use up to 40x leverage. With that much juice, a 2.5% move in the wrong...Read More