RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company, owner of the Lulo mine in Angola and Mothae in Lesotho, has restructured its debt, allowing it more freedom to focus on navigating the weak diamond market. "The refinancing arrangements will give Lucapa and Mothae more flexibility to navigate the pandemic-affected diamond and investor markets, and the support to continue driving the company's strategy on it...Read More

RAPAPORT... Alrosa has predicted a return to pre-pandemic rough sales levels in October, observing a promising combination of midstream shortages and growing retail demand. Executives made the forecast Friday following the release of the miner's second-quarter results, which showed a heavy slump in profit and revenue as the coronavirus froze the diamond market."There's real demand for rough b...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Alrosa's Q2 profit slumped by 98 per cent, to just $3.6m, as the COVID-19 pandemic saw demand for diamonds all but evaporate.The release of its results came days after the Russian state-owned miner, and the world's biggest producer of diamonds by volume, reported a 79 per cent drop in sales (rough and polished for July were just $35.8m).Despite the disappointing performan...Read More

(IDEX Online) - Jaeger-LeCoultre has released two new high-jewelry watches featuring its iconic Calibre 101 - still the world's smallest mechanical movement after more than 90 years. Snowdrop and Bangle are both made of pink gold set with around 20 carats of IF to VVS stones, and both feature the Calibre 101, which measures 14 mm x 4.8 mm, with a thickness of 3.4 mm and weighs barely one...Read More

(IDEX Online) - India's exports of cut and polished diamond fell 39 per cent in July to $918.4m, as the COVID-19 pandemic blighted the industry.And the figure for April to July plunged 46.5 per cent, compared with the same period last year, down to $2.7bn, according to the country's Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council.Overall gross exports of gems and jewelry in July were down 38...Read More

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The U.S. government on Friday released a draft environmental report on the potential effects of three open-pit gold mines in salmon habitat in central Idaho proposed by a Canadian company. The U.S. Forest Service will take comments for 60 days on the documents involving British Columbia-based Midas Gold's plan that includes restoration work in the already heavily mined area. Mi...Read More

Gold miners remained one of the biggest coronavirus beneficiaries.Read full newsRead More

The outstanding success of gold stocks during the pandemic continues this week, as Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX)(NYSE:GOLD) soars +10%. The rocketing share price can be attributed to investment guru Warren Buffett and his famous holding company Berkshire Hathaway. But is Barrick stock a good buy for the general investor? And what might this latest development signal for low-risk portfolio holders? L...Read More

News on Friday was that legendary investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s investment portfolio has, for the first time, opened a new position in a gold stock. The news has raised media speculation that the Oracle of Omaha might have changed his value investment philosophy. The man historically discouraged investing in the precious metal. Has Mr. Buffett changed his stance on gol...Read More

The legendary investor Warren Buffett once again surprised the global investing community with his trades recently. Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A)(NYSE:BRKB) was pretty active during the second quarter of 2020, which saw one of the best recoveries after an epic crash in March.Warren Buffett in Q2Institutional investors disclose their stock holdings through 13F filings after 45 days of...Read More

Warren Buffett has never been the biggest fan of gold. Having stressed its “lack of utility” in many public statements, he has mostly avoided investing in it. Buffett generally prefers investing in more productive assets and considers gold to be a “bet on fear.”Recently, however, the Oracle of Omaha seems to have changed course. In the second quarter, he made a major bet on...Read More

What does Big Tech have in common with diapers?(drumroll, please...)They're all over your ass and they're completely full of shit.(rimshot)Apologies for that terrible old joke. It used to start with "politicians", but in the case of the antitrust investigations into America's biggest tech companies, it fits together all too well.Earlier this month we witnessed the CEOs of Google, Facebook, Amazon,...Read More

Publisher's Note: After fighting in the trenches of the gold bear market for the past few years, finding success where success was scant, I have the good fortune of a deep network in the gold space. That means I can reach out to people most others can't to get an inside look at what's going on in the world of gold, just like I did with billionaire John Paulson and his recent Big Long on gold. Th...Read More

A lot of people were surprised that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought shares of gold miner Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX)(NYSE:GOLD) in the second quarter.Generally, Buffett isn’t a believer in gold as an investment, because the asset doesn’t produce anything. He notes that people buy gold hoping that someone will pay more for it later.In 2011, there was a bubble in gold. It was...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Monday August 17 that are worth another look.The board of directors of Brazil-based miner Vale has approved a project to expand capacity in the miner's Serra Sul iron ore site, in the country's northern Caraj??s region, by 20 million...Read More

The three-month zinc price on the London Metal Exchange settled firmly above nearby support levels at the close of trading on Monday August 17 after an afternoon of strong buying, while the largest tin inflow of the year prompted the metal's outright price tumble. Zinc's underlying price on the LME closed at $2,442 per tonne on Monday afternoon, climbing from an intraday low of $2,364 per tonne, w...Read More

The aluminium premium at main Japanese ports (MJP) in the fourth quarter of 2020 was unlikely to rise from its level in the third quarter even though the gradual recovery of demand in the country has improved market sentiment in recent weeks, sources have told Fastmarkets.Last week was part of the summer break for the majority of end-users in Japan, but participants said that the MJP market has be...Read More

Jack ChanPosted Aug 17, 2020Gold sector as represented by $HUI is on a long-term BUY signal.Long-term signals can last for months and are more suitable for investors.Short-term is on SELL signal. Short-term signals can last for days and weeks and are more suitable for traders.Our ratio is on SELL signal. The divergence as noted may have marked another top.$HUI broke resistance.Next major resistanc...Read More

Spot gold was up around US$1,990 an ounce earlier but was at $1,981/oz at the time of writing.Meanwhile, word of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway investment in Barrick Gold sent the gold major up 11.32% yesterday to within C$1 of a one-year high.Other gold equities gained in Toronto, including Equinox Gold (TSX: EQX), Victoria Gold (TSX: VGXC) and Wesdome Gold Mines (TSX: WDO), which all rose m...Read More

The project is now ready for development, pending finance. Earlier this month, Orion was granted the water use licence.Read More