Gold, driven by record purchases and surging prices, has overtaken the euro as the second most important reserve asset behind the dollar, says the European Central Bank (ECB).
According to ECB’s annual currency assessment published Wednesday, bullion made up about 20% of the global official reserves at the end of 2024, surpassing the euro’s 16%. The US dollar, meanwhile, maintained its large lead at 46% but continued to see steady declines.
The head of Endeavour Mining says the gold producer, which operates mainly in West Africa, will continue to return significant capital to its shareholders while growing its portfolio of low-cost, high-yield mining assets in the region.
“We’re a big player in the world’s largest producer of gold,” Ian Cockerill, the U.K.-based company’s CEO, told BNN Bloomberg in a Wednesday interview. “In the last eight years, we’ve delivered five projects on time and on budget, much quicker than anywhere else, so in terms of a place to work and operate, it’s great.
(Kitco News) – The gold market may be caught in a holding pattern through the summer, but its ability to maintain critical support at elevated levels suggests that it’s only a matter of time before it retests April’s all-time highs, according to one market strategist.
In a recent interview with Kitco News, Chantelle Schieven, Managing Director at Capitalight Research, said it could be difficult for gold to reach new highs as the U.S. economy and labor market remain fairly resilient. She also noted that inflation pressures, while elevated, remain relatively contained—for now.
(Kitco News) – Gold prices are posting good gains and hit a four-week high in early U.S. trading Thursday. Silver prices are sharply up and hit a 13-year high. Risk appetite in the general marketplace is still shaky, which continues to produce safe-haven buying of gold and silver.
The charts have turned more bullish for both metals, which is also inviting the technical traders to the long sides. August gold was last up $18.50 at $3,418.10. July silver prices were last up $1.437 at $36.08. Asian and European stocks were mixed overnight. U.S. stock indexes are pointed to slightly higher openings today in New York.
Vancouver, British Columbia – Artemis Gold Inc. (“Artemis Gold” or the “Company”) announces that Blackwater Mine, Canada’s newest gold and silver mine, was officially opened in a ceremony at the mine site today.
B.C. Premier David Eby, along with Jagrup Brar, Minister of Mining and Critical Minerals, Acting Chief June Baptiste of the Lhoosk’uz Dené Nation, and Chief Charlie Williams (represented) of Ulkatcho First Nation, attended the event. Other attendees included representatives of Indigenous and municipal governments, industry associations, business partners, contractors and other stakeholders.
https://www.northernminer.com/
When Barrick Gold took over Randgold in 2019, its marketing dropped Gold from the name to reflect wider interests like copper and appeal to new investors. But it didn’t bother to change its registered moniker. Gradually, the Gold crept back in. Now, the Gold has been guillotined, like a statement Barrick Mining (TSX: ABX; NYSE: B) means business this time.
“Most of the gold companies sort of have grasped at the opportunity to talk about copper,” CEO Mark Bristow said in an interview with The Northern Miner in May. “But we actually pointedly said, ‘if you really want to be a big player in the gold business, it makes a whole lot of sense to focus on these big assets.’”
Gold prices are on the rise once again as a cocktail of weak U.S. data and intensifying trade tensions revives investor appetite for safe-haven assets. The metal, often seen as a barometer of market anxiety, responded positively to the disappointing ISM manufacturing PMI data released on Monday.
The reading came in at 48.5—below the forecast of 49.3 and slightly lower than April’s 48.7—underscoring the fragility of the U.S. industrial sector. The sub-50 reading marks continued contraction in manufacturing activity and raises concerns that economic momentum in the U.S. is decelerating more rapidly than anticipated.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Barrick Mining Corp. ABX-T is asking Mali to resume talks to end a bitter dispute that threatens to wrest away control of its massive gold mining operations in the country. The Canadian miner was forced to shut down its Loulo-Gounkoto complex in January amid an escalating fracas with Mali over dividing the economic benefits.
On June 2, a Mali court is expected to rule on whether to grant the government the authority to take over the mine after hearing submissions last week from Barrick. “Barrick believes there is no basis – either in law or in practice – for the day-to-day operations at Loulo-Gounkoto to be handed over to a court-appointed interim administrator,” the company said in a release on Monday.
(Kitco News) – The current correction in precious metals prices is the result of lowered near-term geopolitical instability, but gold and silver will both post further gains in the second half of 2025, according to Francisco Blanch, head of global commodity and derivatives research at Bank of America Securities.
“We’ve been calling for $3,500 gold for the first half of this year,” Blanch said in an interview with CNBC. “We got there, and we feel the market’s going through a correction right now that could last a few months. We’re still bullish longer term. We think longer term, maybe into the second half or into 2026, we’ll breach $4,000 per ounce, but we’re going through a correction because some of the extreme uncertainty that we’ve witnessed in recent months seems to be fading.”
The stock has clobbered rivals, and is one of the few gold companies to outperform the metal itself over the same period
When billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson’s firm made a big bet on gold after the 2008 financial crisis, his fund picked several small- and mid-size gold miners. One of those is now vying to be the world’s most valuable bullion stock.
Toronto-based Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. had a roughly US$7.9 billion market capitalization when Paulson & Co. took a stake in the company. It’s now worth about US$59 billion in New York, with its market cap more than doubling since the beginning of 2024 alone. The gains mean the stock is virtually tied with Denver-headquartered Newmont Corp. as the world’s most valuable gold-focused producer.
A profile image of a man with dark, spiky hair.
In Australia’s resources sector, Tim Goyder has been the man with the Midas touch in recent years. At one point in 2023, his stock holdings in one-time market darlings Liontown Resources and Chalice Mining saw him become a paper billionaire with an estimated net worth of $1.09 billion.
But as fast as the Perth-based mining investor joined the Australian Financial Review’s annual Rich List, such is the swings and roundabouts of commodity price cycles, he slipped off. That is not to say Mr Goyder has lost his golden touch, but his personal fortune reflects the downturn in critical minerals such as lithium and nickel. “Two years ago, everyone was saying lithium was the thing to be in, which I still believe,” he said.
Late last Friday, Moody’s Investment Service joined all the other credit rating agencies in downgrading U.S. debt from Aaa to Aa1, limiting some super-safe money funds from investing in America. The move also signals the formerly risk-free U.S. debt market is no longer risk-free, and that gold is now the lone safe-haven of choice.
Following a healthy 11% correction from an extreme overbought all-time high at $3500, Gold Futures reacted in kind this week, moving above initial resistance at $3300. Geopolitical concerns, a growing sovereign debt crisis, and evidence of stagflation setting in during an ongoing trade war have been the principal drivers for gold becoming the safe-haven of choice.
South Africa‘s Sibanye Stillwater said Friday that efforts were under way to rescue 289 mine workers trapped underground at one of its shafts at the Kloof gold mine near Johannesburg. The workers were safe and gathered at an assembly point in the underground gold mine, one of the company’s deepest located around 60 km (37 miles) west of Johannesburg, it said.
It did not provide details on the incident, though a Sibanye spokesperson confirmed it had occurred in the mine’s Kloof 7 shaft, adding that all the miners were accounted for and the company was providing them with food.
A major Chinese gold producer is scouting for acquisition opportunities around the world, although the recent price volatility driven by global trade turmoil means it’s not rushing to secure deals.
“There are so many projects on the market that owners are willing to sell,” Lydia Yang, chief executive officer of Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining Co., said in an online interview Thursday from Beijing. She noted there seemed to be more takeover opportunities this year than previously.
(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.”
