Mali’s military government is seeking at least 300 billion CFA ($512 million) in outstanding taxes and dividends from Barrick Gold, according to a Reuters report.
Authorities in Mali briefly detained four Malian staff members working for Barrick last month.On Sept. 30, Barrick stated it had agreed with the government to resolve existing claims and disputes.
Raises questions about New Found Gold deposit near Gander
Vancouver-based New Found Gold Corp. has been the toast of Canada’s exploration sector for reportedly striking bonanza-grade intercepts, but a short-seller report is trying to poke holes in the company’s story.
The report, released earlier this month by Iceberg Research, raises questions about the deposit’s “lack of continuity,” saying the best drill holes may be too narrow and spread too far away from one another to be economically mined.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/
Exploration efforts steady among resource sector
While the price of gold has been climbing steadily, now selling for more than $2,600 USD per ounce, one mining CEO says financing is still hard to come by.
The future of the N.W.T.’s mining industry remains far from certain. Current exploration projects are focused on gold and lithium. Both had company representatives in Yellowknife this week for presentations and to strengthen community relationships.
(Kitco News) – Even as the market signals overbought conditions and Asian demand dries up, the increasing chances of a direct military confrontation between Iran and Israel is driving safe-haven inflows into gold, according to Daniel Ghali, commodity analyst at TD Securities.
“Selling activity in Gold has been a bit limited, but the top traders still liquidated nearly 5t of notional Gold over the last week,” Ghali said in a research note. “This contrasts with Western investor sentiment. Our read of macro fund positioning remains at its highest levels since the Brexit referendum in July 2016; re-levering from risk parity and vol-target funds is supporting a reaccumulation from CTAs and prices continue to rally without challenge.”
(Kitco News) – After hitting record highs for the last six days, the gold market is taking a breather as it experiences some technical selling pressure heading into the weekend.
Solid buying momentum briefly pushed gold above $2,700 an ounce on Thursday. However, some analysts express growing concerns that the precious metal’s rally may be a bit overdone. December gold futures last traded at $2,669 an ounce, down nearly 1% on the day; however, prices are up nearly 1% from last Friday.
In 2017 Germany brought home nearly $31 billion of gold bars that had been stored in New York and Paris after World War II. The Financial Times gives a good account of how Germany amassed, lost and then got its gold back.
Perhaps no other country (except maybe Zimbabwe) understands the value of bullion as a store of value than Germany. Hyperinflation during the Weimar Republic of the 1920s had citizens piling near-worthless Deutsche marks into wheelbarrows just to buy bare necessities.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Four senior employees of Barrick Gold Corp. have reportedly been arrested in Mali in the latest sign of rising tensions between the Toronto-based mining company and the authoritarian military regime that runs the West African country.
The four Malian employees of Barrick were arrested for alleged financial crimes, according to a report by Reuters, but no details have emerged.
Gold Fields’ (NYSE: GFI; JSE: GFI) C$2.2 billion ($1.6bn) Osisko Mining buy, set to close before year-end, will help balance the South African company’s aging assets in Ghana and Peru, CEO Mike Fraser says.
The deal, which comes two years after Gold Fields’ failed bid for Yamana Gold in 2022, adds a project that is expected to boast low costs and that Fraser says fits well with its Salares Norte mine in Chile, which marked first production earlier this year.
(Kitco News) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering limiting citizens’ right to own precious metals as part of a series of sweeping changes to help fight financial crime.
According to a report from Ynetnews.com, The Prime Minister has asked officials within his government to begin exploring measures to limit the circulation of black market currency to curb illegal activity in Israel.
(Kitco News) – Gold prices are posting good gains in midday U.S. trading Tuesday and hit another record high of $2,675.70, basis December Comex futures. Silver prices are sharply up and hit a nine-week high. Safe-haven bids are boosting the two precious metals markets.
Technical charts are also bullish for gold and silver, which is inviting speculators to the long sides. December gold was last up $20.40 at $2,673.00 and December silver was up $1.20 at $32.295. The precious metals received some more bullish news today as China’s central bank lowered a key rate, the reserve requirement ratio for banks, by 0.5% in bid to support China’s stock and property markets.
(Kitco News) – Gold has been on an absolute tear in 2024, hitting record high after record high and surpassing a price of $2,600 per ounce for the first time in history after the Fed shocked markets with a 50 bps rate cut. But as many precious metals investors can attest, gold stocks have been left behind.
“As we write, gold has surged past the $2,500 mark for the first time in history, an event that would seem to herald a golden age for gold stocks,” wrote analysts at Goehring & Rozencwajg. “Yet paradoxically, these stocks have seldom been cheaper. What underlies this dissonance, and what might it portend for the future?”
KAMITUGA, Congo (AP) — Slumped on the ground over a mound of dirt, Divine Wisoba pulled weeds from her daughter’s grave. The 1-month-old died from mpox in eastern Congo in August, but Wisoba, 21, was too traumatized to attend the funeral.
In her first visit to the cemetery, she wept into her shirt for the child she lost and worried about the rest of her family. “When she was born, it was as if God had answered our prayers — we wanted a girl,” Wisoba said of little Maombi Katengey. “But our biggest joy was transformed into devastation.”
(Bloomberg) — With gold prices at a record high, mining companies are back hunting for deals while trying to reassure investors that they’ve learned from past mistakes of overspending.
There has been a flurry of activity in recent months, with Gold Fields Ltd.’s $1.6 billion purchase of Osisko Mining Inc. and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd.’s $2.5 billion acquisition of Centamin Plc. That has sparked speculation over what could be next, with signs that more companies are working to ink deals.
(Kitco News) – During periods of easy money, risk assets like stocks tend to outperform as investors chase gains, but during times of economic strife, commodities become the safe haven for many investors. According to one analyst, now is the time to prepare for a commodity supercycle.
“The last [two] times we saw these valuations for commodities was 1971 and 2000,” tweeted MN Consultancy founder Michaël van de Poppe. “Commodities & #Crypto are extremely undervalued and it’s likely that commodities go into a 10-year long bull market.”
(Kitco News) – Gold is set to benefit from several tailwinds in Q4, including this week’s expected Fed rate cut, continued central bank purchases, and a rebound in Chinese demand, while silver prices will gain on standout Indian demand and a weaker USD, according to precious metals analysts at Heraeus.
In their latest precious metals report, Heraeus noted that the kickoff of the Fed’s rate-cutting cycle on Wednesday should be good for gold, even if it’s only a 25 bps cut.
