Michael Cuggino of the Permanent Portfolio makes the case that gold is still relatively cheap, despite its 35% increase this year.Read full newsRead More

The Olympiada mine in eastern Siberia is one of the world's largest. (Image courtesy of Polyus Gold). Despite some disruptions caused by the covid-19 pandemic, Russia is expected to surpass China as the world's top gold producer by 2029, achieving average annual growth of 3.7% y-o-y between 2020 and 2029. This forecast was presented in a report by Fitch Solutions Country Risk & Industry Research...Read More

Remains of the Incahuasi mine on the Hombre Muerto salt flat. (Image by Jorgiponn, Wikimedia Commons). An MLA in Argentina's Catamarca province presented a proposal before the legislature asking for mining royalties to be raised to 51% from the current 2%.Hugo ??vila, who belongs to the Citizen Union's Front led by former left-wing president Cristina Fern??ndez de Kirchner, criticized the 2% in r...Read More

Acid mine drainage from coal mines in Ohio. (Reference image by Jack Pearce, Wikimedia Commons). Researchers at Penn State University developed a two-stage treatment process for acid mine drainage that enabled them to recover higher concentrations of rare earth elements using smaller amounts of chemicals than previously possible.In a paper published in the Chemical Engineering Journal, the scient...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday August 7 that are worth another look....Read More

Barrick Gold is due to release its second quarter results today.The gold price has softened but remains above the US$2,000 per ounce mark, reached for the first time last week.It was about $2,208/oz on the spot market at the time of writing.China's iron ore imports in July surged to a record, up 24% from a year earlier, Reuters reported, driven by shipments from miners and resilient demand as the...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday August 7 that are worth another look....Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday August 7 that are worth another look....Read More

Pini Althaus, who is CEO of USA Rare Earth LLC., tells us that USA Rare Earth LLC. Pre-IPO, with facilities based in the USA, plans to be the first Mine-to-Magnet operation outside of China. The Round Top deposit has lithium and 16 of the 17 rare earths (REE's), with a high concentration of heavy rare earths like Dysprosium and Terbium. Pini plans to make USA Rare Earths the second largest lithium...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday August 7 that are worth another look....Read More

Pretium Resources reported Q2/20 financial results that included a 47% increase in YoY revenue driven by higher gold prices and strong production at its Brucejack Mine in British Columbia. Pretium's Brucejack MinePretium Resources Inc. (PVG:TSX; PVG:NYSE) in a news release announced second quarter and first-half 2020 operating and financial results for the period ended June 30, 2020.The company's...Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday August 7 that are worth another look....Read More

Here are five Fastmarkets stories you might have missed on Friday August 7 that are worth another look....Read More

RAPAPORT... Polished-diamond imports into Hong slumped in the second quarter as the Covid-19 pandemic damaged local demand. Shipments into the municipality fell 45% year on year to $2.24 billion, the weakest for any quarter since 2009 - outstripping the first quarter's low of $2.33 billion.Diamond imports into Hong Kong reflect the local retail market, as well as that of China, for which the...Read More

RAPAPORT... Revenue from the retail division of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway fell 16% to $3.37 billion in the second quarter, the company reported Saturday.The division, which includes jewelry chains Borsheims, Helzberg Diamonds and Ben Bridge Jeweler, was hit by shutdowns affecting many of the company's retail outlets. Pretax earnings for the entire retail unit dropped 39% to $148 million....Read More

RAPAPORT... Sarine Technologies ended the first half of 2020 in the black as deep cost cuts offset the effects of Covid-19.The supplier of diamond-polishing equipment made a profit of $1.2 million for the period, compared with a loss of $2.8 million a year earlier, it reported Thursday. The company brought its expenses down by around 20% year on year in response to the unprecedented situation...Read More

RAPAPORT... Mountain Province reported a loss in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic closed markets and hit demand.The miner posted a net loss of CAD 26.8 million ($21.8 million) for the three months ending June 30, compared with a profit of CAD 10.3 million ($7.7 million) during the same period last year, the company said Wednesday. "Our [second-quarter] financial and operational figur...Read More

RAPAPORT... The estate-jewelry sector has fared well during the Covid-19 crisis as customers have continued to show interest in designer goods, dealer Rick Shatz told the Jewelry Connoisseur Podcast.Higher-end clients - on whom the pandemic has taken a lower toll - have still bought signed pieces, perhaps seeing security in these purchases, Shatz said in an interview with Rapaport Editor in C...Read More

(IDEX Online) - The Sewel?? ? diamond, the second largest rough gem ever found, is in Singapore on a "worldwide tour" before owners Louis Vuitton decide what to do with it. The 1,758-carat stone, the size of a tennis ball, was discovered in the Karowe mine in Botswana in April 2019, and is the biggest diamond since the 3,106-carat Cullinan was discovered in South Africa in 1905. The French luxury...Read More

(IDEX Online) -  An extremely rare gold Rolex Daytona sold for $1.5m, a record high price for a watch in any online auction.It fetched almost twice the high estimate of $800,000 in a week-long auction by Sotheby's, in London. It also set a record for highest price ever paid for a wristwatch in the UK.Only 10 examples of the Daytona JPS (John Player Special) Ref. 6264 in 18k yellow gold a...Read More