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

Creator of online money Liberty Reserve gets 20 years in prison ... Before the virtual currency Bitcoin there was Liberty Reserve — and its founder just got sentenced to 20 years in prison. Arthur Budovsky, 42, ran an online digital money business out of Costa Rica called Liberty Reserve. The U.S. government contended that the whole thing was just a massive, $6 billion money laundering opera...Read More

Panama Papers source breaks silence over ‘scale of injustices’ ... Whistleblower says leak of 11.5m Mossack Fonseca files on offshore tax havens has triggered debate but not enough action. -UK GuardianWho is this anonymous person who believes his vast Panama Papers leak hasn't triggered enough "action?"Why does he want Western governments to try harder to prosecute those who have put a...Read More

Creator of online money Liberty Reserve gets 20 years in prison ... Before the virtual currency Bitcoin there was Liberty Reserve — and its founder just got sentenced to 20 years in prison. Arthur Budovsky, 42, ran an online digital money business out of Costa Rica called Liberty Reserve. The U.S. government contended that the whole thing was just a massive, $6 billion money laundering opera...Read More

OZ Minerals (ASX:OZL) is betting big on copper with plans to begin mining ore at its Carrapateena underground mine by 2019.In a statement released on Friday, Australia's third-largest copper producer said it aims for output three years from now under a revised AUD$975 million construction plan - a far cry from the original plans back in 2014 for a project valued up to AUD $3 billion. The mine woul...Read More

Oyu Tolgoi, a copper-gold mine in the South Gobi region of Mongolia, approximately 550 km south of the capital Ulaanbaatar, holds one of the largest undeveloped high-grade copper deposits in the world. (Image courtesy of Oyu Tolgoi LLC)In a fresh sign that the downturn in the resources industry may be finally over, mining giant Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) and its Canadian affiliate Turquoise Hill (TSE:TRQ...Read More

Clinton email evidence so far doesn’t suggest intent to break law, officials say ... Prosecutors and FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server have so far found scant evidence that the leading Democratic presidential candidate intended to break classification rules, though they are still probing the case aggressively with an eye on interviewing Clinton h...Read More

Republicans can drag democracy down with them ... US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigns in South Bend, Indiana Donald Trump’s pending presidential nomination has confirmed what many have argued for years: The Republican Party is not well. - Bloomberg via Chicago TribuneMore and more, Donald Trump seems to us at least partially an extension of the Tea Party movement th...Read More

Clinton email evidence so far doesn’t suggest intent to break law, officials say ... Prosecutors and FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server have so far found scant evidence that the leading Democratic presidential candidate intended to break classification rules, though they are still probing the case aggressively with an eye on interviewing Clinton h...Read More

Republicans can drag democracy down with them ... US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump campaigns in South Bend, Indiana Donald Trump’s pending presidential nomination has confirmed what many have argued for years: The Republican Party is not well. - Bloomberg via Chicago TribuneMore and more, Donald Trump seems to us at least partially an extension of the Tea Party movement th...Read More

The price of copper in New York fell on Thursday for the fourth straight day with July futures trading on the Comex market giving up 2% to $2.1430 a pound after optimism about demand from top consumer China began to fade. After a few brutal days of trading copper is down 6.7% this week alone, wiping out year-to-date gains entirely.Growing demand from China - responsible for 46% of the global trade...Read More

Sibanye Gold (JSE:SGL) (NYSE:SBGL), the biggest producer of the precious metal in South Africa, is actively considering more platinum acquisitions, as it seeks to take advantage of its strong current position and the weakness of most competitors.In September, Sibanye acquired Anglo American Platinum's (Amplats) Rustenburg mines for 4.5 billion rand ($330 million at the time). A few weeks later,...Read More

Glenn Reynolds: Don’t let U.S. become next Rome ... Entrenched political elites will sacrifice anything to retain power, including their own country.... As you vote, remember that the more resources you put under the control of the political class, the more likely it is that things will eventually go bad. Politicians seldom look past the next election, and they're willing to sacrifice pretty...Read More

The president claims that Congress's authorizations in 2001 and 2002 for the wars against Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein can be stretched to cover his current campaign [against ISIS]. – The New York TimesThe U.S. Constitution is gone. Kaput. For years it stood as the bedrock of a republic that kept its government chained. For years the constitution limited government intervention, letting the f...Read More

The end of oil as we know it ... Oil has crashed. But a short-term drop in the price of oil is nothing compared with the end of demand for oil as we know it. The more extreme scenario is what Bernstein Research is now talking about. Energy analyst Neil Beveridge is out with a new note that explores the question of demand - with a prediction that the end of oil as we know it is coming in 2030....Read More

Glenn Reynolds: Don’t let U.S. become next Rome ... Entrenched political elites will sacrifice anything to retain power, including their own country.... As you vote, remember that the more resources you put under the control of the political class, the more likely it is that things will eventually go bad. Politicians seldom look past the next election, and they're willing to sacrifice pretty...Read More

The president claims that Congress's authorizations in 2001 and 2002 for the wars against Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein can be stretched to cover his current campaign [against ISIS]. – The New York TimesThe U.S. Constitution is gone. Kaput. For years it stood as the bedrock of a republic that kept its government chained. For years the constitution limited government intervention, letting the f...Read More

The end of oil as we know it ... Oil has crashed. But a short-term drop in the price of oil is nothing compared with the end of demand for oil as we know it. The more extreme scenario is what Bernstein Research is now talking about. Energy analyst Neil Beveridge is out with a new note that explores the question of demand - with a prediction that the end of oil as we know it is coming in 2030....Read More

Original Source: Global Risk InsightsThe town of Luanshya, situated on Zambia's copperbelt, serves as a bellwether for the country's economy. However, political developments in Zambia are causing significant uncertainties in the copper industry.With a sustained annual GDP growth rate above 6%, driven primarily by copper, the past decade has been tumultuous for Luanshya. Founded as a service town...Read More

Ted Cruz drops bid for Republican nomination, clearing path for Trump ... Ted Cruz suspended his US presidential campaign on Tuesday after a crushing defeat in Indiana's primary, leaving the way clear for Donald Trump to become the Republican nominee. - UK GuardianIt seems more likely now that Trump will be the Republican nominee for president. But there are seemingly two main questions to answe...Read More

In January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced grants totaling $1 billion in 13 states to help communities adapt to climate change, by building stronger levees, dams and drainage systems.One of those grants, $48 million for Isle de Jean Charles, is something new: the first allocation of federal tax dollars to move an entire community struggling with the impacts of climat...Read More