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Gold and Silver

China’s gold market surges in April, but investment demand may cool along with trade tensions – World Gold Council – by Ernest Hoffman (Kitco News – May 14, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – China’s gold market posted one of its strongest performances of all time in April, with prices, physical and investment demand all sky-high, but demand may wane as U.S.-China tensions ease, according to Ray Jia, Research Head, China at the World Gold Council (WGC).

Jia noted that global gold prices continued their rise in April, and this strength was reflected in the Chinese market. “Our model shows that a weaker dollar, elevated geopolitical/economic uncertainties and strong gold ETF inflows drove gold up,” he said. “While the LBMA Gold Price PM in USD saw its strongest April since 2011, the SHAUPM in RMB recorded its highest April return in 19 years.”

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Mining the Northwest: Orla spends to elevate Musselwhite to ‘next level’ production – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 14, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Vancouver miner invests $115 million to upgrade, expand and lengthen mine life of northwest operation

Vancouver’s Orla Mining is delivering as originally advertised when it comes to investing and rebuilding in its latest catch at the Musselwhite Mine.

The upstart mid-tier gold company is investing $115 million into the remote northwestern Ontario underground operation to plunk into mine development, procure new equipment, and launch an aggressive round of exploration drilling this year.

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A Double-Whammy Of Politics And Science Knocks Gold – by Tim Treadgold (Forbes Magazine – May 12, 2025)

https://www.forbes.com/

Politics and science have combined to wipe $225 an ounce off the price of gold in three weeks with worse to come if peace takes hold in war zones and if an experiment in man-made gold moves out of its laboratory phase.

The fall from a peak of $3433 an ounce on April 22 to around $3208/oz today was caused largely by the promise of peace in Ukraine and Gaza and an easing of tariffs in the U.S. v China trade war.

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Gold continues to hold its own as markets continue to digest improving US-Chinese trade relations – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – May 13, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The gold market may be struggling to attract bullish momentum as it remains well below last month’s all-time high of $3,500 an ounce; however, investors are still reluctant to short the precious metal as it continues to hold support at $3,200 an ounce.

In a note on Tuesday, commodity analysts at TD Securities pointed out that gold is still above its lows following President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day,” when he announced significant global tariffs on imported goods. He later removed the elevated tariffs and implemented a blanket 10% tax on all imports.

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Pan American Silver shareholders give cool reception to proposed $2.1-billion acquisition of MAG Silver – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 13, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Pan American Silver Corp. has reached a friendly arrangement to buy its Canadian competitor MAG Silver Corp. in a US$2.1-billion stock-and-cash deal that has not gone down well with shareholders. Vancouver-based MAG’s sole producing asset is its 44-per-cent share in the Juanicipio silver mine, which is located in Mexico, and majority-owned and operated by Britain-incorporated Fresnillo PLC.

Founded by financier Ross Beaty, Pan American is one of the biggest silver producers on the planet with a portfolio of 10 mines in seven countries. The Vancouver-based company expanded its footprint considerably a few years ago when it bought a suite of South American mines from Canada’s Yamana Gold Inc.

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Timely government permitting factors into McEwen Mining’s upsized gold production plans – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – May 12, 2025)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Timmins miner eager to tap into robust Grey Fox deposit sooner than later

How keen are Ottawa and Queen’s Park in working together to accelerate the approvals process that puts more mines into production? McEwen Mining will find out in the months to come. The Toronto gold company has high hopes for its Grey Fox deposit, east of Timmins, which CEO Rob McEwen called a “cornerstone asset for us for years to come,” in a May 7 news release.

The Timmins-area miner recently released the latest batch of high-grade drill hits from an ongoing exploration program at Grey Fox that bolstered management’s confidence that the high-grade deposit only stands to get bigger.

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Mercury fuels gold mining in Senegal. And it’s poisoning the people who use it – by Annika Hammerschlag (Seatle Times/Associated Press – May 12, 2025)

https://www.seattletimes.com/

KEDOUGOU, Senegal (AP) — The quickest way to separate gold from rock, Sadio Camara says, is with a drop of mercury. She empties a dime-sized packet of the silvery liquid into a plastic bucket of muddy sediment outside her home in southeastern Senegal. With bare hands and no mask, she swirls the mixture as her children look on.

“I know mercury isn’t good for your health — that’s why I don’t drink the water it comes into contact with,” she said. “I only process small amounts of gold, so there’s no danger.” But even small-scale exposure can carry serious risks. Across West Africa, mercury — a potent neurotoxin — remains the dominant method for extracting gold from ore in the region’s booming informal mining sector, much of it illegal and unregulated.

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Its Old Turkey Time for gold stock investors – by David Erfle (Kitco News – May 9, 2025)

https://www.kitco.com/

Gold’s correction from last month’s record high at $3500 continues to consolidate inside of another bullish symmetrical triangle. Gold Futures have bounced from support at $3200 following a brief 8.5% correction from the April 22 high, closely matching the nearly 9% correction seen following the Nov. 5 U.S. election results.

The current gold bull run began from a low at $1614 in November 2022. Thus far, there have been five corrections of note, ranging from 6.7% to 12.7%, while the gold price has more than doubled in just 18-months.

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Pakistan: Global Backing For Reko Diq – OpEd – by Dr. Sahibzada Muhammad Usman (Eurasia Review – May 9, 2025)

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The signing of the long awaited $6.4 billion Reko Diq mining agreement is now expected to take place next month. This is regarded as one of the most important projects of Pakistan. Final multi-lateral financing arrangements are nearing completion, with arrangements now in place for financing via the UK and US Export Import (EXIM) Banks, the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), all of whom have commitments as part of the agreement between all the major international stakeholders.

One of the largest undeveloped copper and gold deposits in the world is Reko Diq, which lies in Pakistan’s mineral rich Balochistan province. Once operational, it should have an annual output of over 200,000 tons of copper and 250,000 ounces of gold for 40 years.

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Barrick CEO Bristow signals some regret on missing out on Kirkland Lake acquisition – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 8, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Mining Corp. chief executive Mark Bristow is signalling some regret that he didn’t buy Canadian gold miner Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd., a multibillion-dollar transaction that would have given the company a much bigger footprint in its home market and a lower risk profile.

Toronto-based Barrick’s shares have underperformed some of the company’s peers over the past few years, in part because of its exposure to risky jurisdictions outside of Canada. Its Malian operations, which accounted for about 15 per cent of its production, were shut down in January, amid a dispute with the West African country over dividing the economic spoils. Mali also jailed four Barrick executives and has an outstanding arrest warrant on Mr. Bristow.

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Agnico Eagle calls for Canadian Arctic strategy amid US threats – by Divya Rajagopal (Reuters – May 2, 2025)

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/

Agnico Eagle Mines, Canada’s biggest gold miner, wants the new government to develop a formal Arctic strategy in response to US President Donald Trump’s threats to make Canada its 51st state, the company’s Chairman Sean Boyd said.

Earlier this year, Agnico overtook Barrick Mining’s market capitalization to become the world’s second-largest gold miner, just below Newmont Corp, the largest extractor of bullion by production and market capitalization.

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OPINION: Gold is rising. Canada has gold. Why aren’t we doubling down on this? – by Heather Exner-Pirot (Globe and Mail – May 6, 2025)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Heather Exner-Pirot is the director of energy, natural resources and environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

The Trump administration has thrown the global financial system into chaos with its tariff threats. Few sectors have been spared, save one: gold. The precious metal has emerged as a preferred safe haven for investors. Gold has been regularly hitting record prices, including new highs last month of US$3,500 an ounce.

Canada, as the world’s fourth largest producer of gold, has benefited from this trend. For several months now, the commodity has surpassed passenger vehicles as the country’s second largest export. In December, Canada’s monthly mineral product exports hit the $10-billion mark for the first time ever, with gold accounting for more than half.

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13 Workers Found Killed at Gold Mine in Peru – by Mitra Taj (New York Times – May 5, 2025)

https://www.nytimes.com/

The men were killed in a region that has seen growing conflict over access to ore in recent years. The mine has also been a hotbed of illegal gold mining.

The bodies of 13 gold miners were found in an underground shaft at a site operated by Peru’s largest gold-mining company, President Dina Boluarte said on Monday, in a region that has seen growing conflict over access to ore in recent years.

As the price of gold has climbed to record highs, small-scale mining has expanded in Peru, while the mining concessions of the Peruvian company, La Poderosa, in Pataz Province in the northern part of the country, have become a hotbed of illegal gold mining and the site of deadly clashes.

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Agnico Eagle podcast spotlights Nunavut’s people, environment and mining – by Henry Lazenby(Northern Miner – May 2025)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX, NYSE: AEM), generating about one-fifth of Nunavut’s gross domestic product, launched The Arctic Edge podcast series on Thursday. This series aims to show listeners the realities about the Territory and Canada’s North, Agnico chair Sean Boyd tells The Northern Miner.

Hosted by journalist Hannah Thibedeau, the series includes interviews with Inuit leaders, politicians, business executives and military figures. The first two episodes are available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, with an Inuktitut edition due later.

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[Yellowknife, Northwest Territories] Deep in an Abandoned Gold Mine, a Toxic Legacy Lurks – by Vipal Monga (MSN.com – May 4, 2025)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/

YELLOWKNIFE, Northwest Territories—This small subarctic city has a big problem. There are 237,000 metric tons of arsenic trioxide locked in the subterranean caverns of Giant Mine on the edge of Yellowknife, an unwanted byproduct from what was once one of the largest gold mines in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Consider that it only takes 140 milligrams of arsenic trioxide to kill a person; there’s enough of the poison here to kill 1.7 trillion people.

The local indigenous people refer to the arsenic as a sleeping monster. Company and government officials hoped the arsenic would remain frozen underground forever. But mining operations and climate change caused the permafrost to melt, raising fears in the city of 20,000 people that toxic material could mix with the runoff and slither into the nearby waters of Great Slave Lake, the world’s 10th-largest freshwater body.

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