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

Greek expulsion from the euro would demolish EMU's contagion firewall … Should EMU leaders choose to cut off liquidity support for the Greek banking system they might find that their contagion defences are a fiction. – UK TelegraphDominant Social Theme: Greece is now irrelevant to the financial health of the euro and the EU. EU defenses, as painfully placed as the Maginot Line, wil...Read More

Our Predictions … Gold and Silver Markets – 2015 Astrological Trends … Gold and Silver markets are relatively stable, owing to which both these metals are seen as good investments. Ganesha takes the advent of 2015 as an opportunity to look at the 2015 Horoscope and planets to predict the way ahead for these markets … Gold and Silver markets are relatively stable, owing to w...Read More

There Is a Constitutional Crisis, but Not the One Many People Think … It's the Bush-Obama record of surveillance and lack of accountability—and not executive action on immigration—that ought to concern citizens. – The AtlanticDominant Social Theme: Lawlessness is the problem, not specific laws or regulations.Free-Market Analysis: The idea of this Atlantic article is tha...Read More

Our Predictions … Gold and Silver Markets – 2015 Astrological Trends … Gold and Silver markets are relatively stable, owing to which both these metals are seen as good investments. Ganesha takes the advent of 2015 as an opportunity to look at the 2015 Horoscope and planets to predict the way ahead for these markets … Gold and Silver markets are relatively stable, owing to w...Read More

There Is a Constitutional Crisis, but Not the One Many People Think … It's the Bush-Obama record of surveillance and lack of accountability—and not executive action on immigration—that ought to concern citizens. – The AtlanticDominant Social Theme: Lawlessness is the problem, not specific laws or regulations.Free-Market Analysis: The idea of this Atlantic article is tha...Read More

Op-Ed America needs to study the enemy within … U.S. politicians are unwilling to compromise, and restraints on voting rights are eroding democracy … The only real threat to American democracy comes from Americans themselves. – LA TimesDominant Social Theme: Libertarians may precipitate a US fascist dictatorship.Free-Market Analysis: This article presents the idea that people are...Read More

Will the Real Angela Merkel Please Stand Up? … If anything is certain about the new year, it is that much of the world's stability and economic health will depend on what is done, or not done, in Europe. And what happens in Europe will depend, in large part, on German Chancellor Angela Merkel. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: What's going on with Angela Merkel? She changes her...Read More

Op-Ed America needs to study the enemy within … U.S. politicians are unwilling to compromise, and restraints on voting rights are eroding democracy … The only real threat to American democracy comes from Americans themselves. – LA TimesDominant Social Theme: Libertarians may precipitate a US fascist dictatorship.Free-Market Analysis: This article presents the idea that people are...Read More

Will the Real Angela Merkel Please Stand Up? … If anything is certain about the new year, it is that much of the world's stability and economic health will depend on what is done, or not done, in Europe. And what happens in Europe will depend, in large part, on German Chancellor Angela Merkel. – BloombergDominant Social Theme: What's going on with Angela Merkel? She changes her...Read More

The Year of Piketty … Last month the Financial Times chose Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the TwentyFirst Century," a study of the underlying dynamics of inequality, as its Business Book of the Year. The honor rather understates the book's impact. Forget "business book." "Capital" was the nonfiction publishing sensation of the year, and maybe of the decade...Read More

New Aerial Photos Suggest Big Organic Farmers May Be Lying to Us … Consumers of organic eggs and milk like knowing that the cows and chickens on organic farms are treated decently. Many people count on the fact that these animals are required to get a certain amount of time in the great outdoors. They're not supposed to be kept indoors round the clock in classic factory farm fashion. Unf...Read More

The Year of Piketty … Last month the Financial Times chose Thomas Piketty's "Capital in the TwentyFirst Century," a study of the underlying dynamics of inequality, as its Business Book of the Year. The honor rather understates the book's impact. Forget "business book." "Capital" was the nonfiction publishing sensation of the year, and maybe of the decade...Read More

New Aerial Photos Suggest Big Organic Farmers May Be Lying to Us … Consumers of organic eggs and milk like knowing that the cows and chickens on organic farms are treated decently. Many people count on the fact that these animals are required to get a certain amount of time in the great outdoors. They're not supposed to be kept indoors round the clock in classic factory farm fashion. Unf...Read More

Fed at Odds With BIS on Supervisory Approach … Federal Reserve officials have been clear they would like to use regulatory policy as a first line of defense when dealing with excess risk-taking in financial markets, with interest rates to be employed only in extreme cases when other tools have been exhausted – WSJDominant Social Theme: Either raise rates or regulate borrowing – b...Read More

Deflation Isn't What's Holding Europe Back … As the European Central Bank gets ready for quantitative easing, overriding German arguments that buying government debt creates moral hazard in debt-laden countries, it is reacting to the threat of deflation. Yet slow-growing prices aren't at the heart of what ails the euro area, and QE won't fix the deeper problems that are. &nda...Read More

Fed at Odds With BIS on Supervisory Approach … Federal Reserve officials have been clear they would like to use regulatory policy as a first line of defense when dealing with excess risk-taking in financial markets, with interest rates to be employed only in extreme cases when other tools have been exhausted – WSJDominant Social Theme: Either raise rates or regulate borrowing – b...Read More

Deflation Isn't What's Holding Europe Back … As the European Central Bank gets ready for quantitative easing, overriding German arguments that buying government debt creates moral hazard in debt-laden countries, it is reacting to the threat of deflation. Yet slow-growing prices aren't at the heart of what ails the euro area, and QE won't fix the deeper problems that are. &nda...Read More

Obama Urges Congress To Renew Push For "CISPA-style" Internet Laws After Sony Hack … This week, Obama announced a renewed push for tighter internet regulations in congress, citing the need for additional cyber-security in light of the recent hack on Sony. The White House has been taking this opportunity to initiate strategies that had already been planned for years. … During...Read More

Uncle Sam stoked to hash out marijuana in 2015 … It's high time for Uncle Sam to hash out America's marijuana situation. Now that four states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational cannabis better regulation is warranted for commerce and safety reasons alone. Without the federal government tweaking laws to consent to the will of the states, the fledgling industry wi...Read More

Obama Urges Congress To Renew Push For "CISPA-style" Internet Laws After Sony Hack … This week, Obama announced a renewed push for tighter internet regulations in congress, citing the need for additional cyber-security in light of the recent hack on Sony. The White House has been taking this opportunity to initiate strategies that had already been planned for years. … During...Read More