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

Reviving an underused technique on the TSXRights issues are the best way of raising funds in a way that does not disadvantage existing shareholders+ The practice is the established norm in the London and Australian markets+ With the paucity of funds from traditional flippers that Bay St cultivates for privateplacements, the rights issue may be about to return to its p...Read More

IMF warns of emerging market risk to U.S. stock markets ... Major emerging markets, led by China, are increasingly likely to spread fear to financial markets, leading to poor stock performance in the U.S. and other developed countries, the International Monetary Fund said. -MarketWatchThe IMF is back at work spreading fear. That's not what we are supposed to think of course. We're supposed to b...Read More

IMF warns of emerging market risk to U.S. stock markets ... Major emerging markets, led by China, are increasingly likely to spread fear to financial markets, leading to poor stock performance in the U.S. and other developed countries, the International Monetary Fund said. -MarketWatchThe IMF is back at work spreading fear. That's not what we are supposed to think of course. We're supposed to b...Read More

The latest edition of the closely followed GFMS Annual Copper Survey forecasts primary production to continue to grow over next three years, albeit at a slower pace than in the recent past, as miners deliver on investments made during the boom years.World mine production was up 3.5% or 652,000 tonnes in 2015 to just over 19 million tonnes, compared with a 2.1% increase in 2014, but down substant...Read More

Shares in copper and gold giant Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) showed little reaction on Tuesday to news that the company is removing the top management of its oil and gas business and reintegrating the operation into the larger group.The Phoenix-based company announced in October that it's trimming its board and reviewing the oil and gas division which could include an outright sale, but today's...Read More

Aerial view of Codelco's Andina (left) and Anglo American's Los Bronces (right-front) copper mines in Chile. (Image from archives)Embattled miner Anglo American (LON:AAL) has reiterated it won't sell its stake in the Los Bronces and Collahuasi copper mines to Codelco or any other rivals, despite its plans to raise between $3bn and $4bn this year by offloading assets."We don't need to sell them. A...Read More

A Warning for Gold Bugs: This Rally Won't Last ... Gold prices surged 16.5% in the first quarter ... Gold investors should enjoy the party while they can. -Wall Street JournalThis small article is incorrect in some big ways.It's negative about gold despite the surge (or perhaps because of it) and predicts gold is headed back down against the dollar.It also claims that "gold doesn't have any intrin...Read More

A Warning for Gold Bugs: This Rally Won't Last ... Gold prices surged 16.5% in the first quarter ... Gold investors should enjoy the party while they can. -Wall Street JournalThis small article is incorrect in some big ways.It's negative about gold despite the surge (or perhaps because of it) and predicts gold is headed back down against the dollar.It also claims that "gold doesn't have any intrin...Read More

A map of British Columbia's "Golden Triangle" - IDM Mining PhotoThis is a story about past, present and future in a mineral-rich corner of the North American continent. High-grade gold mines like Snip and Eskay Creek helped give northwestern British Columbia its Golden Triangle moniker. If those two operations are symbolic of the region's rich past, Red Chris holds a strong claim on the present.Th...Read More

In the final part of our probe into the curious case of Khan Resources, and the reallocation of its uranium mine to Russian control, we review events leading to the seizure of the company's Mongolian assets and its chairman's unusual death in an Ulaanbaatar hotel.In April 2015, a 59-year-old Canadian named James Doak travelled to Ulaanbaatar to negotiate with Mongolia's government.His company, Kha...Read More

"By virtue of exchange, one man's prosperity is beneficial to all others." – Fre??de??ric Bastiat.It remains one of the most powerful metaphors in economics. In 1850 Fre??de??ric Bastiat gave the world the story of the broken window. The son of a shopkeeper accidentally breaks a pane of glass in the shop. A crowd gathers at the scene.Pretty soon, the onlookers jump to the conclusion that it'...Read More

NASA’s Bolden: Mars mission is ‘closer than ever’ ... In the movie, “The Martian,” Matt Damon was a fictional astronaut stranded on Mars. In reality, the head of NASA says astronauts could set foot on the Red Planet within the next twenty years. “We think we’re on the right trajectory to get humans to Mars in the 2030’s,” NASA Administrator Cha...Read More

"By virtue of exchange, one man's prosperity is beneficial to all others." – Fre??de??ric Bastiat.It remains one of the most powerful metaphors in economics. In 1850 Fre??de??ric Bastiat gave the world the story of the broken window. The son of a shopkeeper accidentally breaks a pane of glass in the shop. A crowd gathers at the scene.Pretty soon, the onlookers jump to the conclusion that it'...Read More

NASA’s Bolden: Mars mission is ‘closer than ever’ ... In the movie, “The Martian,” Matt Damon was a fictional astronaut stranded on Mars. In reality, the head of NASA says astronauts could set foot on the Red Planet within the next twenty years. “We think we’re on the right trajectory to get humans to Mars in the 2030’s,” NASA Administrator Cha...Read More

By Gwen PrestonIt's been a bad few years for copper.Prices have been falling for five years. By last year the situation had deteriorated enough to prompt a slew mine cutbacks, totaling several hundred thousand tonnes.For several years now copper miners have been doing their all to make money despite the weak copper price. It's a process that starts with efficiency, with high-grading, with all the...Read More

In the second installment of the curious case of Khan Resources, we explore Khan's turbulent history in Mongolia and document a deal with Russia's leadership to swap Khan's uranium mines for hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and debt forgiveness.Even before Mongolia awarded itself the right to Khan's uranium deposits, the writing was on the wall.Speculation was rife that Russia was yearning f...Read More

Introduction: Anthony Wile is an active investor, business strategist and consultant, financial markets commentator, publisher and author. Having lived and worked in several leading financial centers around the world, he has established an international network of asset managers, banks, family offices and financial analysts, as well as institutional investors and securities firms.Now at The Wile...Read More

Introduction: Anthony Wile is an active investor, business strategist and consultant, financial markets commentator, publisher and author. Having lived and worked in several leading financial centers around the world, he has established an international network of asset managers, banks, family offices and financial analysts, as well as institutional investors and securities firms.Now at The Wile...Read More

Against expectations and in some instances seemingly in defiance of fundamentals, commodities managed to climb a wall of worry during the first quarter of 2016.While nervousness returned to the sector with a vengeance this week, many metals and minerals have clung to year-to-date gains.It's down sharply from an insane 19% jump in a single day to above $60 a tonne, but iron ore remains th...Read More

This week saw the S&P 500 rally to its highest levels of the year, but the most revealing signals about the state of the current global economy -- and where stock markets are headed -- can be found elsewhere: in the dollar and copper. Shown below is the five-year chart of the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP) , an exchange-traded fund that tracks the value of the dollar against a ba...Read More