(Kitco News) – Gold prices are continuing their upward trend on Friday, and with the decisive break above $2,400 per ounce shortly after 10 am EDT, analysts and traders are wondering how high the yellow metal can run in the current environment.
Adam Button, head of currency strategy at Forexlive.com, said that this recent move is a continuation of the broader rally, and it’s being driven by the same source.
(Bloomberg) — Democratic Republic of Congo called for an international embargo of metal exports from neighboring Rwanda, whose government it accuses of using rebel groups to steal its natural resources.
All mining products from Rwanda should be considered “blood minerals,” because their sale allegedly supports conflict in eastern Congo, Mines Minister Antoinette N’Samba Kalambayi said in a May 8 statement released on Tuesday. “All stakeholders, including end consumers of mining products,” should commit to a responsible supply chain, and “an embargo be decreed against Rwanda,” she said.
China is working hard to maintain its control of the rare earths markets that are critical to net-zero. We’re barely in the game
At the time, the opening of a small rare earths mine in the Northwest Territories in 2021 was heralded as an important step in breaking China’s monopoly over this strategic commodity. Rare earths are used in everything from electric vehicles and cell phones to wind turbines and jet engines.
China currently extracts more than 60 per cent of rare earth elements and processes as much as 90 per cent of global supply. The case of Vital Metals and the Nechalacho mine show just how far it’s willing to go to maintain a stranglehold on the rare earths market. What was once a hopeful story is now a cautionary tale.
Over $200 billion will be given as compensation to workers and local communities affected by coal phase-out programs globally, new research has found. This estimate excludes India and China, as the two largest coal users currently do not have phase-out plans.
According to a recent paper in Nature Communications, if China and India decide to phase out coal as fast as needed to reach the Paris climate targets and pay similar compensation, it would cost upwards of $2 trillion.
(Bloomberg) — The diamond industry has already been feeling the heat. Prices have slumped, Russian sanctions are threatening trade and the emergence of lab-grown gems is eating into some key traditional markets. Now, the sector’s most dominant name is being cast adrift.
Anglo American Plc on Tuesday said it will spin off or sell its De Beers business, ending an almost century-long relationship with the industry’s most famous name. The move, part of a wide12)r restructuring to fend off a $43 billion approach from BHP Group, is a seismic shock for the diamond world.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Junior gold company Red Pine Exploration Inc. RPX-X is vowing to work to regain the trust of investors after accusing its former chief executive officer of tampering with its gold assay data over the course of a decade.
Toronto-based Red Pine first raised questions about its assay figures on May 1, saying it found inconsistencies in some of its drilling results at its Wawa gold project in Ontario. The company’s stock immediately lost 60 per cent of its value.
(Bloomberg) — China’s CMOC Group Ltd. is being accused by a top US official of using “predatory” tactics to depress prices of a key battery metal by flooding the market with cobalt from Democratic Republic of Congo mines.
“What we’re seeing now, I feel, is a variation of predatory pricing,” Jose Fernandez, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, said Monday at a conference in New York sponsored by the Cobalt Institute industry group.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The Canadian head of BHP Group Ltd. says the world’s biggest mining company will remain disciplined as it chases an acquisition of struggling competitor Anglo American PLC, as concerns arise about the complexity and timelines around its US$43-billion takeover offer.
Speaking at a mining conference in Miami, BHP chief executive Mike Henry said that his company’s twice-rejected proposal remains “quite compelling,” and he signalled the Australian miner won’t overpay in its efforts to win over Anglo’s board. “We have a very, very hard-won reputation for discipline when it comes to capital allocation and we do not take that lightly,” he said.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Red Pine Exploration (TSXV: RPX, US-OTC: RDEXF) says its ex-CEO did more reputational damage than harm to the company’s Wawa gold project in northern Ontario when he allegedly altered hundreds of drill core assays used in a resource estimate.
Quentin Yarie, the CEO from July 2015 before stepping down on Feb. 21 this year in an unrelated move, according to the company, oversaw a data collection process where he was the sole recipient of emailed assay results from Activation Labs. Red Pine alleges Yarie changed 532 assays out of 98,000 before forwarding them to staff for use in project modelling its 2019 resource update and marketing.
Australia’s Lucapa Diamond (ASX: LOM) has put its 70% stake in the Mothae mine in Lesotho up for sale to focus on its core assets and is discussing options for the 30% held by the country’s government.
The diamond miner’s board said it was “considering all options for the divestment” and finalizing a data room for interested parties. “On review, it is clear the company should streamline the portfolio to focus on our core assets in Africa and Australia,” chairman Stuart Brown said in the statement.
Tim Gitzel in Washington ahead of a ban on Russian uranium coming into force
Tim Gitzel has been spending a lot of time in the United States lately. The chief executive of Saskatoon-based Cameco was recently in Washington, D.C., where he met with lawmakers to talk about a number of issues.
Among the topics of discussion for Gitzel and his delegation was a recently passed piece of legislation banning Russian uranium imports. The bill has passed both houses of Congress and is waiting to be signed into law by President Joe Biden.
The question remains whether the prime minister and the cabinet are serious about defence and meeting their spending targets
Bill Blair, the federal defence minister, made a rare admission of Liberal fallibility in Washington on Monday when he said he regrets using the word “explore” when talking about renewing Canada’s submarine fleet. ttawa’s recent defence policy update said the government will “explore options for renewing and expanding the submarine fleet,” a form of words that was criticized for lacking urgency.
“It’s certainly not my intention to be wishy-washy. What I’ve tried to articulate very, very clearly and strongly in the document is, we know we have to replace our submarine fleet, and we’re going to do that,” Blair said.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
The Canadian government is making a full-court press to prepare for a potential second Donald Trump presidency, aiming to avoid a repeat of 2016 when his victory caught Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet by surprise.
Much of the Team Canada push is public facing. Led by Ambassador Kirsten Hillman and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, it has entailed cabinet ministers, provincial premiers and Canadian business leaders fanning out across the U.S. to build relationships with American counterparts.
https://www.northernminer.com/
Anglo American (LON: AAL), the takeover target of mining giant BHP (ASX: BHP), has ceded to pressure from investors announcing plans to sell some of its legacy assets in an attempt to protect itself from current and future bids.
The sweeping break up plan, disclosed on Tuesday, will see Anglo American sell its diamond business De Beers, its South Africa-based Anglo American Platinum — Amplats — (JSE: AMS) and its steelmaking coal assets.
Making proper use of our abundant natural resources is key to turning the economy around
It’s increasingly recognized in policy and political circles that one of the biggest challenges facing the country is economic stagnation and declining living standards. This has led policy scholars to try to understand the causes and sources of Canada’s economic malaise.
New research by Macdonald-Laurier Institute fellow Heather Exner-Pirot points to challenges in Canada’s natural resource sector as a “smoking gun.” Her basic insight is that a combination of economic forces and policy-induced harms have undermined what her colleagues Philip Cross and Jack Mintz have characterized as the country’s “golden goose” and that this has significant explanatory power for the overall decline in business investment, productivity, and economic activity.
