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

EU Has Meddled Too Much, Admits Boss Juncker ... More The European Union meddles too much in people’s lives, according to its most senior official. In a significant admission, Jean-Claude Juncker said a lot of the laws made in Brussels should have been left to national governments. As a result the EU has lost popularity with ordinary people because they feel it over-regulates, the Euro...Read More

Proposed world children’s court would punish abuses, slavery ... An international court should be set up to punish those responsible for child labor and other forms of abuse against children, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the United Nations on Monday. - Thomson Reuters FoundationGlobalism proceeds apace. Last week Western leaders took aim at financial privacy and suggested...Read More

EU Has Meddled Too Much, Admits Boss Juncker ... More The European Union meddles too much in people’s lives, according to its most senior official. In a significant admission, Jean-Claude Juncker said a lot of the laws made in Brussels should have been left to national governments. As a result the EU has lost popularity with ordinary people because they feel it over-regulates, the Euro...Read More

Proposed world children’s court would punish abuses, slavery ... An international court should be set up to punish those responsible for child labor and other forms of abuse against children, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the United Nations on Monday. - Thomson Reuters FoundationGlobalism proceeds apace. Last week Western leaders took aim at financial privacy and suggested...Read More

A delay in the rollout of Rio Tinto's (LON, ASX:RIO) much-anticipated autonomous railway system has forced the miner to cut its iron ore production guidance for 2017 by as much as 20 million tonnes.Delivering its first quarter results Tuesday, the world's No. 2 iron ore producer said that despite the holdup it remains on track to meet output target for this year, which is expected to hit a record...Read More

For bull, no death throes ... On Feb. 11, the day that the S&P 500 hit its correction low point, the financial press was filled with commentary from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen backing away from the possibility of four rate hikes in 2016 . The stock market has recovered nicely from the paroxysm of selling that occurred earlier this year, and in 10 days this will become the second l...Read More

For bull, no death throes ... On Feb. 11, the day that the S&P 500 hit its correction low point, the financial press was filled with commentary from Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen backing away from the possibility of four rate hikes in 2016 . The stock market has recovered nicely from the paroxysm of selling that occurred earlier this year, and in 10 days this will become the second l...Read More

Chile's Codelco, the world's No.1 copper producer, said Monday that its El Teniente mine will remain closed until at least Thursday, following torrential rains that hit the central part of the country over the weekend, causing major damages and leaving an estimated 4 million people without drinking water.Codelco warned that for each day the mine remains inactive, it loses about 1,500 tonnes of cop...Read More

Output from Conga was supposed to replace production from the nearby Yanacocha mine (pictured), which is running out of gold. (Image from archives)Newmont Mining Corp's (NYSE:NEM), the world's 2nd largest gold miner, is walking away from its $5 billion Conga copper and gold project in Peru after year of relentless community opposition.In its annual filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Comm...Read More

Britain and its European allies have announced new rules designed to be a "hammer blow" against tax evasion in direct response to the Panama Papers leak that exposed how the world's richest and most powerful people hide their wealth from tax authorities. -GuardianNever in the history of humankind has it been impossible to create an anonymous legal entity.But now it will be. And this doesn't seem t...Read More

Mexican Finance Minister Luis Videgaray called ... proposal to force the country to pay for a wall along the U.S. border, or face economic consequences if it doesn't, a kind of diplomatic harassment that's doomed to fail ... Diplomats are mobilizing to assist immigrants in gaining U.S. citizenship, hosting free workshops on naturalization. About 12 million Mexicans live in the U.S. and almost ha...Read More

Britain and its European allies have announced new rules designed to be a "hammer blow" against tax evasion in direct response to the Panama Papers leak that exposed how the world's richest and most powerful people hide their wealth from tax authorities. -GuardianNever in the history of humankind has it been impossible to create an anonymous legal entity.But now it will be. And this doesn't seem t...Read More

Mexican Finance Minister Luis Videgaray called ... proposal to force the country to pay for a wall along the U.S. border, or face economic consequences if it doesn't, a kind of diplomatic harassment that's doomed to fail ... Diplomats are mobilizing to assist immigrants in gaining U.S. citizenship, hosting free workshops on naturalization. About 12 million Mexicans live in the U.S. and almost ha...Read More

Operations at two of the world's largest copper mines have been suspended following a weekend deluge in central Chile.Bloomberg reported on Sunday that Codelco's El Teniente underground mine put a halt to mining activities after the Cachapoal River broke its banks."Service restoration work to resume production is estimated to take at least three days, equivalent to 5,000 metric tons of copper prod...Read More

Ever since Apple launched its 18-karat gold case watch, speculation about the technology giant and its interest in acquiring large amounts of the precious metal has mounted.Apple recovered last year over 61 million pounds of steel, aluminum, glass, and other materials, including 2,204 pounds of gold.The latest rumour indicates that the California-based company just raked $40 million worth of gold...Read More

The brilliant blue stone lapis lazuli, prized for millennia, is almost uniquely found in Afghanistan, a key part of the extensive mineral wealth that is seen as the best hope for funding development of one of the world's poorest nations.Instead, the stone has become a source of income for the Taliban, smugglers and local warlords, emblematic of the central government's struggle to gain control o...Read More

John Kerry makes ‘gut-wrenching’ tour of Hiroshima peace park ... First US secretary of state to visit atomic bomb memorial says site is 'harsh reminder of threat of nuclear weapons.' - CNNOver the years, as we have helped debunk elite propaganda, from elaborate NASA hoaxes to vaccine cover-ups, it has occurred to us more and more strongly that something is wrong with at least parts of...Read More

John Kerry makes ‘gut-wrenching’ tour of Hiroshima peace park ... First US secretary of state to visit atomic bomb memorial says site is 'harsh reminder of threat of nuclear weapons.' - CNNOver the years, as we have helped debunk elite propaganda, from elaborate NASA hoaxes to vaccine cover-ups, it has occurred to us more and more strongly that something is wrong with at least parts of...Read More

Shares in Teck Resources (TSX: TCK.B) (NYSE:TCK), Canada's largest diversified miner, were trading moderately lower Thursday after the company confirmed a spill of metal-contaminated water at its Trail smelting and refining plant in British Columbia.The stock was down 0.37% $8.52 in New York at 9:39 am, but it has had an amazing 2016 so far - it has climbed almost 120% since January.In February t...Read More

Panama Papers reveal London as center of 'spider's web' ... As-well as shining a spotlight on the secret financial arrangements of the rich and powerful, the so-called Panama Papers have laid bare London's role as a vital organ of the world's tax-haven network. - JapanTimesThe Panama Papers leak has "revealed" London at the center of a "spider's web," according to this article, above. It is furt...Read More