The AOCE and WB have moderate overall forecasts for the metals in 2025 inline with IMF forecasts for a decline in economic growth and inflation, although we see the probability of a stagflationary scenario as still reasonably high.Read More

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

Economics Economists, Show Your Assumptions … What if I told you that jumping off a cliff is entirely safe, except for gravity? Would you find my prediction insightful or useful? Strange as it may seem, this is precisely the kind of logic that underpins many of the models that economists build to help them understand the world — and even to make policy recommendations on things such as...Read More

Economics Economists, Show Your Assumptions … What if I told you that jumping off a cliff is entirely safe, except for gravity? Would you find my prediction insightful or useful? Strange as it may seem, this is precisely the kind of logic that underpins many of the models that economists build to help them understand the world — and even to make policy recommendations on things such as...Read More

Final fed climate report will present dire picture … The Obama administration is more certain than ever that global warming is changing Americans' daily lives and will worsen – conclusions that scientists will detail in a massive federal report to be released Tuesday. – APDominant Social Theme: Times are grim and getting hotter.Free-Market Analysis: The US government is repor...Read More

Inside Monsanto … The company is using its biotech muscle to genetically engineer crops — but also beef up traditional cross-breeding. Say the term "genetically modified organism," or GMO, and you're bound to get some strong opinions. But what is it? And should we be afraid? Like it or not, humans have been in the business of genetically changing organisms since we first...Read More

Final fed climate report will present dire picture … The Obama administration is more certain than ever that global warming is changing Americans' daily lives and will worsen – conclusions that scientists will detail in a massive federal report to be released Tuesday. – APDominant Social Theme: Times are grim and getting hotter.Free-Market Analysis: The US government is repor...Read More

Inside Monsanto … The company is using its biotech muscle to genetically engineer crops — but also beef up traditional cross-breeding. Say the term "genetically modified organism," or GMO, and you're bound to get some strong opinions. But what is it? And should we be afraid? Like it or not, humans have been in the business of genetically changing organisms since we first...Read More

In the meantime they had been in deep and friendly conversation with three masked men with Kalashnikovs. "We are just making sure everyone remains calm," explained a sergeant. "These guys are being provoked, they are angry." Who is provoking them? I asked. "The Ukrainian army, of course, the rest of us want none of this bloodshed," the policeman responded. – UK...Read More

How to Teach Better Teachers … U.S. schools don't have enough great teachers. There are various reasons for that, chief among them tenure protections that prevent principals from cutting loose low performers and union contracts that require the worst teachers to be paid the same as the best. But the trouble begins even before teachers arrive in the classroom: Education schools at U.S. un...Read More

In the meantime they had been in deep and friendly conversation with three masked men with Kalashnikovs. "We are just making sure everyone remains calm," explained a sergeant. "These guys are being provoked, they are angry." Who is provoking them? I asked. "The Ukrainian army, of course, the rest of us want none of this bloodshed," the policeman responded. – UK...Read More

How to Teach Better Teachers … U.S. schools don't have enough great teachers. There are various reasons for that, chief among them tenure protections that prevent principals from cutting loose low performers and union contracts that require the worst teachers to be paid the same as the best. But the trouble begins even before teachers arrive in the classroom: Education schools at U.S. un...Read More

The surprise success of Thomas Piketty … The surprise success of the French economist Thomas Piketty's income disparity blockbuster Capital in the 21st Century has forced battlelines to be drawn in the world of political economics. Piketty's unremarkable contention, after having crawled through two centuries of data, is that the inequitable distribution of wealth in Western society h...Read More

Silver looks like gold as slump defies more car-part use … Silver is being undermined by its association with gold. While makers of everything from jewellery to solar panels are buying the most silver in nine years, prices are languishing. Investors are dismissing industrial demand and instead focusing on the waning appeal of precious metals as a haven, with the Federal Reserve paring econom...Read More

The surprise success of Thomas Piketty … The surprise success of the French economist Thomas Piketty's income disparity blockbuster Capital in the 21st Century has forced battlelines to be drawn in the world of political economics. Piketty's unremarkable contention, after having crawled through two centuries of data, is that the inequitable distribution of wealth in Western society h...Read More

Silver looks like gold as slump defies more car-part use … Silver is being undermined by its association with gold. While makers of everything from jewellery to solar panels are buying the most silver in nine years, prices are languishing. Investors are dismissing industrial demand and instead focusing on the waning appeal of precious metals as a haven, with the Federal Reserve paring econom...Read More

LNG TankerThe $100 billion Prosperity Fund that the British Columbia government claims will be generated by LNG development in the province is unrealistic, according to theCanadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).The projections are based on assumptions of large export volumes and high prices in Asia, which the CCPA said are "too good to be true." The government said the fund will accumulat...Read More

The Dow Jones industrial average rose to an all-time high on Wednesday after investors assessed more corporate earnings, the latest move from the Fed and an unexpectedly weak reading on economic growth in the first quarter. Sealed Air, a food packing company, and C.H. Robinson, a freight company, were among stocks that rose after reporting earnings. On Wednesday: The Dow Jones industrial average r...Read More

House Budget Committee to Hold Hearing on Poverty … Is the federal government responsible for lifting millions of Americans out of poverty or trapping them in it? That question has become a political Rorschach test this year, the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's war on poverty. On Wednesday, Representative Paul D. Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, is holding...Read More

The Dow Jones industrial average rose to an all-time high on Wednesday after investors assessed more corporate earnings, the latest move from the Fed and an unexpectedly weak reading on economic growth in the first quarter. Sealed Air, a food packing company, and C.H. Robinson, a freight company, were among stocks that rose after reporting earnings. On Wednesday: The Dow Jones industrial average r...Read More

House Budget Committee to Hold Hearing on Poverty … Is the federal government responsible for lifting millions of Americans out of poverty or trapping them in it? That question has become a political Rorschach test this year, the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's war on poverty. On Wednesday, Representative Paul D. Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, is holding...Read More

Regulatory Costs Are World's No. 10 Economy … After years of rapid growth during the Obama administration, the cost of federal regulations is now bigger than the entire economies of all but nine countries in the world. That's according to the latest annual report on the regulatory state issued by the free-market Competitive Enterprise Institute, titled "Ten Thousand Commandments...Read More