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

On Friday, ratings agency Moody's finally downgraded America's credit rating from AAA to AA+.Yawn.A ratings downgrade is a classic lagging indicator. By the time it happens, the market already knows.And, no, the downgrade had nothing to do with Trump's tariffs. The other big ratings agencies downgraded U.S. credit long ago; S&P in 2011, and Fitch in 2023.Moody's appears to have delayed the ine...Read More

The great Ben Franklin once said, "Money makes money. And the money that money makes, makes more money."This is the essence of a dividend reinvestment program (DRIP). When you own a stock that pays high dividends and reinvest them into more shares of that company, you're compounding.Eventually the additional shares earned through dividend repurchase surpass the original stake. In essence, the divi...Read More

Industry stakeholders should view resource development in a global context because shifting geopolitical dynamics will increasingly determine mining, The Northern Miner Group President Anthony Vaccaro says. "We need to look at our industry through the lens of what's going on in the world through geopolitics," Vaccaro told the CentralMinEX conference last week in Newfoundland."Then we're going to b...Read More

Imagine owning a car that paid for itself.A car that, when you don't need it, is out earning money as a taxi.This is the vision that Elon Musk has been pursuing, and promising to Tesla owners, since at least 2019.Now, Tesla is scheduled to launch its first fleet of "robotaxis" in Austin next month. That’s only weeks away.The performance of Tesla shares may depend on a successful launch of ro...Read More

Our friend and colleague Jim Rickards was on Steve Bannon's War Room show Tuesday, and it may be the most important interview Jim has done this year.In this fascinating discussion, Jim starts with the history of the original petrodollar system. And he knows the subject well, having helped create it.The premise of the 1974 petrodollar agreement was that Saudi Arabia would only sell oil in dollars,...Read More

It may seem odd to hate a stock index. After all, it's just a model of company shares used by fund managers to build ETFs and mutual funds.But once you learn the truth about the Russell 2000 small cap index, you just might hate it too.Today we're going to explore why the Russell 2000 makes a bad foundation for any investment vehicle.Misleading Stats (at Best)Historically, small cap stocks tend to...Read More

Imagine a place with no income tax. Zero taxes on capital gains or dividends, either.Picture not paying any property taxes, and only having to worry about a 5% VAT (value added tax) on most purchases.This is the appeal of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Due to the factors listed above, the UAE is becoming a hot destination for entrepreneurs and wealthy individuals from all over the world.The count...Read More

Well, that sure was fast. It's been six weeks since President Trump's so-called "Liberation Day," when he announced draconian levels of tariffs at a global-scale. And now, we have a thinly disguised retreat and kowtow to China's Emperor Xi.Despite hoopla, tough talk and bluster, Team Trump walked into a policy minefield. Tariffs on China highlighted how many of America's problems are rooted in tox...Read More

On Thursday May 8th, President Trump told Americans, "you better go out and buy stocks now. This country is going to be like a rocket ship."This morning, right on cue, stocks raced higher in reaction to the new trade deal between the U.S. and China.The Nasdaq jumped 3.5% in trading early Monday, while the S&P 500 moved higher by 2.6%. These moves pushed American indexes back above the level th...Read More

The battle between the Trump administration and the federal courts on the topic of deportation is intensifying.The outlines are clear. Biden and his corrupt cronies left the U.S. southern border wide open for four years. Estimates vary but it's likely 8 million illegal aliens crossed the border. But the actual number could be 10 million or higher. Of course, some just came for a better opportunity...Read More

In the 1987 film Wall Street, Michael Douglas famously played Gordon Gekko, a cutthroat corporate raider.But compared to the Dutch pioneers who founded the world's first publicly-traded company, Gordon Gekko was a softie. Those Dutch guys were literally cutting throats in pursuit of profit.The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was founded in Amsterdam in 1602. Over the century the VOC would dominate...Read More

When I write collapse, I'm not referring just to a financial meltdown. I'm referring to a broad-based social collapse that could call into question the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which some historians refer to as the Peasant Dynasty.In order to understand the vulnerability of China, it helps to consider the counter-narrative that the China is a rising great power. We've heard for d...Read More

In today's culture, where virtue-signaling billionaires love to proclaim they'll "give it all away," we must pause and ask: To what end? What purpose does inherited wealth serve? Is it merely a lucky windfall for lazy descendants? Or is it something far more sacred?I argue today that inheritance is not just permissible it is necessary. It's how families grow stronger, freer, and more capable wit...Read More

Spanish conquistadors came to the Americas in search of gold and silver. And they found plenty.But while they were mining, they occasionally found a strange silvery metal unlike any other. They called it "platina", meaning "little silver".At the time, they believed this "platina" was young gold that would take a few more thousand years to mature and turn yellow. This platina was difficult to work...Read More

President Abraham Lincoln is considered to be the moral savior of the United States for ending slavery. To pay for the war, he made enormous changes in the basic relationship between the federal government and money. These changes greatly diminished individual property rights and increased the power of Washington over the private economy.The paper money created by Abraham Lincoln to finance the Ci...Read More

In recent news, oil giant Chevron announced that this year and into 2026, it will lay off between 15% and 20% of its workforce, including geological, engineering and other related scientific and technical personnel. The company states that it must cut costs and simplify operations.Meanwhile, Chevron also announced that it will scale back its share buyback program, although the dividend is supposed...Read More

My 15-year old son recently told me he doesn't want to go to college. Instead, he plans to be an electrician.My pride as a father swelled. He gets it.Don't get me wrong, he could do very well in an undergrad program. He's far smarter than his old man.But he and his friends understand that America's college system is dying. For most people today it's a bad investment.Students are graduating with $1...Read More

News this week that Elon Musk will soon be departing his "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) is a grim reminder of what happens when you challenge big spending DC. Unfortunately, the lesson once again is that when you challenge the empire, the empire eventually strikes back.President Trump rode into office with the help of Elon Musk's ambitious plan to cut two trillion dollars in spending...Read More

Tech stocks have staged an impressive comeback since their recent mini-crash.Is the dip over? Back to normal, with the Mag 7 once again taking center stage?Not so fast.American tech stocks face a number of challenges which could stop a new bull market in its tracks.The risk we're going to discuss today is the possibility of another surge in Chinese AI technology.You may recall that earlier this ye...Read More

Using AI can be magical. It has helped me understand obscure investment concepts which aren't covered well anywhere else.It has shown my son exactly how to do a geometry problem, so I don't have to relearn something forgotten 30 years ago.AI has helped me understand legal contracts which previously would have required paying a lawyer hundreds of dollars per hour.Magical.At other times, it becomes...Read More