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

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

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

Nearly 1 in 10 U.S. Families Don't Exchange Holiday Gifts … Forty-four-year old Michelle Morton's Christmas celebration probably doesn't look like yours — but you might wish it did. That's because, for the past few years, the Raleigh, N.C., resident and her sisters and husband have instituted a no-gift policy for the holidays. "It was stressful and expensive gettin...Read More

The Government Problem … Some believe the central political issue of our era is the size of the government. They're wrong. The central issue is whom the government is for. Consider the new spending bill Congress and the President agreed to a few weeks ago. It's not especially large by historic standards. Under the $1.1 trillion measure, government spending doesn't rise as a perce...Read More

Nearly 1 in 10 U.S. Families Don't Exchange Holiday Gifts … Forty-four-year old Michelle Morton's Christmas celebration probably doesn't look like yours — but you might wish it did. That's because, for the past few years, the Raleigh, N.C., resident and her sisters and husband have instituted a no-gift policy for the holidays. "It was stressful and expensive gettin...Read More

The Government Problem … Some believe the central political issue of our era is the size of the government. They're wrong. The central issue is whom the government is for. Consider the new spending bill Congress and the President agreed to a few weeks ago. It's not especially large by historic standards. Under the $1.1 trillion measure, government spending doesn't rise as a perce...Read More

U.S. Stocks Rise; Dow Ends Above 18000 … Strong U.S. GDP Data Fuel Stock-Market Gains The DJIA hits a milestone following strong GDP data …The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 18000 for the first time Tuesday after data showed the U.S. economy posted its strongest growth in more than a decade. The blue-chip index climbed 64.73 points, or 0.4%, to 18024.17, marking its 36th rec...Read More

OPEC will not cut output even at $20 a barrel … OPEC will not cut oil production even if the price drops to $20 a barrel and it is unfair to expect the cartel to reduce output if non-members do not, Saudi Arabia said. "Whether it goes down to $20 a barrel, $40, $50, $60, it is irrelevant," the kingdom's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said in an interview with the Middle East Economi...Read More

U.S. Stocks Rise; Dow Ends Above 18000 … Strong U.S. GDP Data Fuel Stock-Market Gains The DJIA hits a milestone following strong GDP data …The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 18000 for the first time Tuesday after data showed the U.S. economy posted its strongest growth in more than a decade. The blue-chip index climbed 64.73 points, or 0.4%, to 18024.17, marking its 36th rec...Read More

OPEC will not cut output even at $20 a barrel … OPEC will not cut oil production even if the price drops to $20 a barrel and it is unfair to expect the cartel to reduce output if non-members do not, Saudi Arabia said. "Whether it goes down to $20 a barrel, $40, $50, $60, it is irrelevant," the kingdom's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said in an interview with the Middle East Economi...Read More

Central Bankers Weren't Meant to Be Heroes … The U.S. recovery is starting to look halfway respectable. Europe's economies, meanwhile, face the risk of a third recession in seven years. There's a lesson in that contrast: Good economic policy means never having to ask your central bank to be a hero … Sadly … heroic central bankers are all too likely to remain in demand...Read More

Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses … Since the day President Obama took office, he has failed to bring to justice anyone responsible for the torture of terrorism suspects — an official government program conceived and carried out in the years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He did allow his Justice Department to investigate the C.I.A.'s destruction of videotapes of torture s...Read More

Central Bankers Weren't Meant to Be Heroes … The U.S. recovery is starting to look halfway respectable. Europe's economies, meanwhile, face the risk of a third recession in seven years. There's a lesson in that contrast: Good economic policy means never having to ask your central bank to be a hero … Sadly … heroic central bankers are all too likely to remain in demand...Read More

Prosecute Torturers and Their Bosses … Since the day President Obama took office, he has failed to bring to justice anyone responsible for the torture of terrorism suspects — an official government program conceived and carried out in the years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He did allow his Justice Department to investigate the C.I.A.'s destruction of videotapes of torture s...Read More

Investigators Said to Seek No Penalty for C.I.A.'s Computer Search … A panel investigating the Central Intelligence Agency's search of a computer network used by staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee who were looking into the C.I.A.'s use of torture will recommend against punishing anyone involved in the episode, according to current and former government officials....Read More

Colombia Is One Of Latin America's Most Promising New Tech Hubs … Ten years ago, the idea that Colombia would become a burgeoning hub for any dynamic industry beyond its notorious drug trade would have struck most observers as far-fetched. As recently as the turn of the century, conventional wisdom had it that the tropical, Andean nation was on the verge of becoming a failed state. Fast...Read More