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

Here’s Why the TSA Is So Terrible ... Dozens of people were stranded overnight when the long security lines caused people to miss their flights. Nor is this an anomaly. The problem is occurring all around the country at busy airports. - Bloomberg ViewWe've been writing about how Homeland Security is extorting passengers on behalf of the TSA PreCheck program.You can see our articles on t...Read More

First Came the Drudge Link. Then the Death Threats. Ann Ravel was a relatively unknown government official, until her words got featured on the Drudge Report. Soon, the trolls were screaming at her to drop dead. – Center for Public IntegrityIn this article, Ms. Ravel, a Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission (FEC), complains about the lack of civility that she experienced when she s...Read More

The price of copper in New York was drifting lower on Tuesday with July futures exchanging hands for $2.0870 a pound in late afternoon trade.Last week large scale investors in copper futures like hedge funds made a 138% about turn from bullish positioning, returning to a net short position on the Comex market indicating expectations of lower prices further out.After a brutal couple of weeks of...Read More

NEW technology to improve the purification process of minerals will allow a major Australian miner to significantly reduce shipping costs.South Australian company OZ Minerals has designed a refining process that allows it to increase the quality of its copper concentrate and exponentially reduce export costs.OZ Minerals' hydromet technology improves the leaching process and purifies copper concent...Read More

One of the world's mining powerhouses - Chile - says the country has now adopted a proactive stance to reduce foreign investment barriers in its mining sector as it joins a plethora of mining jurisdictions worldwide battling to mitigate the resources downturn.Addressing the first day of the two day Paydirt 2016 Latin America Downunder conference in Perth today, Chile's Vice Minister of Mining, HE...Read More

Five questions about extremely long airport security lines Scott Mayerowitz ... Already faced with lines that snake through terminals out to the curb, fliers are bracing for long waits at security in the busy months of July and August. Some major airports are currently seeing wait times exceeding 90 minutes at peak hours. Here’s a look at the problem and what travelers should expect. -US...Read More

It’s impossible, in this day and age, to pick up a stranger’s password-protected mobile phone and send a text. It’s easy to steal anyone’s gun and fire away ... So President Barack Obama wants the government to assist in the development of smart-gun technology, which has the potential to reduce the number of preventable deaths. – BloombergObama's is trying to contro...Read More

Billionaire Soros Cuts U.S. Stocks by 37%, Buys Gold ... George Soros cut his firm's investments in U.S. stocks by more than a third in the first quarter and bought a $264 million stake in the world's biggest bullion producer Barrick Gold Corp. -BloombergThe billionaires are buying gold.George Soros has just invested in a gold producer, Barrick gold.Soros is not alone. His former chief strategis...Read More

Five questions about extremely long airport security lines Scott Mayerowitz ... Already faced with lines that snake through terminals out to the curb, fliers are bracing for long waits at security in the busy months of July and August. Some major airports are currently seeing wait times exceeding 90 minutes at peak hours. Here’s a look at the problem and what travelers should expect. -US...Read More

It’s impossible, in this day and age, to pick up a stranger’s password-protected mobile phone and send a text. It’s easy to steal anyone’s gun and fire away ... So President Barack Obama wants the government to assist in the development of smart-gun technology, which has the potential to reduce the number of preventable deaths. – BloombergObama's is trying to contro...Read More

Billionaire Soros Cuts U.S. Stocks by 37%, Buys Gold ... George Soros cut his firm's investments in U.S. stocks by more than a third in the first quarter and bought a $264 million stake in the world's biggest bullion producer Barrick Gold Corp. -BloombergThe billionaires are buying gold.George Soros has just invested in a gold producer, Barrick gold.Soros is not alone. His former chief strategis...Read More

The rise of alternative payment methods like Bitcoin, contactless credit cards and Apple Pay has reduced our everyday reliance on cold, hard cash.With that in mind, we took a look at some of the weird and wonderful things that have been used as alternatives to money around the world, some of which are still in use today.The rise of alternative payment methods like Bitcoin, contactless credit cards...Read More

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has recently released their 48th annual British Columbia Mining Report.We all know commodity prices have been on a downward trend for the past five years. We also know several mines in the province have been put on care and maintenance and many early stage projects have seen their funding dry up.Let's take a look at some of the stats in PwC's B.C. mining report:Gro...Read More

Canada's Eldorado Gold (TSX:ELD) (NYSE:EGO), until now the largest foreign gold producer in China, is selling its stakes on two mines and development project to an affiliate of China's Yintai Resources (SHSZ:000975) for US$600 million in cash.The transaction, expected to close in the third to fourth quarter 2016, includes Eldorado's interest in the White Mountain and Tanjianshan mines, as well...Read More

Shares in Polish mining giant KGHM (WSE:KGH), Europe's second-largest copper producer, soared Monday after earnings at overseas units helped it beat analysts estimates for the first-quarter profit.The stock jumped as much as 4.7%, and was trading 4.41% percent higher at 65.8 zloty at 2:33 p.m., reversing this year's decline to a 3.5% gain.As copper prices trade near the lowest level in more than t...Read More

This is one weak nominee: Hillary Clinton's problem isn't Bernie Sanders. It's Hillary Clinton ... -SalonLike machine-gun fire, rat-tat-tat, three major mainstream publications in a row have recently posted stories featuring a "weak" Hillary Clinton.This further strengthens our hypothesis that the Hillary may not ever make it to the presidential race.We first wrote about this late last week in an...Read More

Merkel warns of return to nationalism unless EU protects borders ... German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday urged European leaders to protect EU borders or risk a “return to nationalism” as the continent battles its worst migration crisis since World War II. - YahooMerkel and other Eurocrats are worried about a degeneration of Europe. The idea is that until Europe pulled toge...Read More

U.S. military upping anti-ISIS activity in Libya ... The Pentagon is slightly expanding its efforts to counter ISIS activity in Libya, sending in small teams of troops to try to establish relationships with groups that may be able to form a new nationwide government, according to a U.S. defense official familiar with the operation. -CNNThe US is sending troops into Libya.Libya is seen as a dys...Read More

China asks Britain for advice on creating financial super-regulator ... China has asked Britain for advice on plans to create a financial super-regulator, as it looks to improve financial oversight following last year’s stock market crash, sources with knowledge of the talks told Reuters. -ReutersDevelopments reported in the mainstream media show once again how intertwined China is with We...Read More

This is one weak nominee: Hillary Clinton's problem isn't Bernie Sanders. It's Hillary Clinton ... -SalonLike machine-gun fire, rat-tat-tat, three major mainstream publications in a row have recently posted stories featuring a "weak" Hillary Clinton.This further strengthens our hypothesis that the Hillary may not ever make it to the presidential race.We first wrote about this late last week in an...Read More