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Gold and Silver

Preparing for the worst? Polish central bank becomes biggest buyer of gold – by Indrabati Lahiri (Euro News – Ausgust 23, 2024)

https://www.euronews.com/

The president of the National Bank of Poland, Adam Glapinski, recently revealed that the central bank would continue to buy gold, and is aiming for the precious metal to make up 20% of the bank’s reserves.

The National Bank of Poland (NBP), also known as the Narodowy Bank Polski, became the joint biggest gold buyer amongst central banks in the second quarter of 2024, tying with India, according to the World Gold Council. This was after the NBP bought approximately 19 tonnes of the precious metal.

The president of the National Bank of Poland, Adam Glapinski, also said earlier this year that the central bank was planning to ensure that gold made up 20% of its reserves. At present, gold accounts for about 14.7% of the NBP’s reserves.

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Gold price back above $2,500 as Fed hints at September rate cuts – by Staff (Mining.com – August 23, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Gold rebounded above $2,500 an ounce on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signalled that time has come for interest rate cuts starting this September.

Spot gold gained 0.9% at $2,508.16 per ounce by 12:30 p.m. ET Friday, having fallen below the $2,500 level the day before. US gold futures were up 1.0% at $2,542.70 an ounce in New York. In a much-anticipated speech, Powell affirmed expectations that officials will begin lowering borrowing costs next month and made clear his intention to prevent further cooling in the US labor market.

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Silver set to soar on Samsung’s solid-state battery breakthrough – analysts – by Jordan Finneseth (Kitco News – August 19, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold has had a breakout year as the yellow metal surged to new heights above $2,500 while its grey counterpart, silver, has struggled to keep pace, but that could soon change, according to one analyst, as silver demand is expected to increase thanks to one new technological development from Samsung.

According to retired investment professional Kevin Bambrough, Samsung has developed a new solid-state (SS) battery. The inclusion of silver as a key component, combined with the increasing demand for electric vehicles, means that demand for the grey metal will soon increase.

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A multibillion-dollar sale raises uncomfortable question for Canada: Is our mining industry in decline? – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – August 19, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

South African mining giant’s purchase of Osisko highlights how some of the country’s richest mines are now managed by companies with headquarters in Switzerland, Brazil, Australia and beyond

Canada’s mining industry let out a collective groan after the $2.15-billion sale earlier this week of Toronto-based Osisko Mining Inc., which owns one of the largest, highest-grade undeveloped gold deposits in the world.

Chief executive John Burzynski couldn’t complain about the outcome; everyone who invested made money, he said. But his original goal, when he started looking for a bonanza in Canada about two decades ago, was to build a new Canadian mining giant.

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Victoria Gold CEO regrets silence during crisis, suspects cyanide spill caused by fluid buildup – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 16, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Victoria Gold Corp. chief executive officer John McConnell says he regrets staying silent while the company was in crisis, and suspects June’s catastrophic cyanide spill at its Yukon mine was caused by an uncontrolled buildup of fluid.

Four million tonnes of cyanide-laced rocks collapsed at the outdoor heap-leaching facility on June 24 and half of that spilled into the local environment beyond the company’s containment zone. The scale of the environmental damage is unknown, but the local First Nation fears the spill could devastate salmon fisheries, hunting grounds and groundwater. Dozens of dead fish were recently found in a creek near the mine and groundwater in the vicinity of the mine will have to be monitored for toxic cyanide for years to come.

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Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow hints at retirement in 2026 – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – August 13, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. chief executive officer Mark Bristow is raising the possibility that he may retire in 2026. Mr. Bristow took over as CEO in 2019 after Toronto-based Barrick acquired Randgold Resources Ltd., the Africa-focused mining company he founded and ran for about two decades.

Hard-nosed, detail-oriented and outspoken, the South African is one of the most driven executives in the mining industry. At Barrick, he has stickhandled multiple difficult situations, including patching up multiyear mining contract spats with the governments of Tanzania and Papua New Guinea.

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Gold Fields to buy Canadian miner Osisko in $1.57 billion cash deal – by Felix Njini and Nelson Banya (Reuters – August 12, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Gold Fields Ltd has agreed to acquire Osisko Mining for C$2.16 billion ($1.57 billion), it said on Monday, barely two years after an attempt to buy another Canadian miner was scuppered by a rival offer.

The Johannesburg-based gold producer will pay C$4.90 per share, a 55% premium to Osisko’s Aug. 9 trading price, it said in a statement. The deal will help the South African producer expand its presence in the Americas region, where it already has mines in Chile and Peru.

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Plans announced to mine old silver tailings at Gowganda – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – August 8, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Company is confident that high-grade silver can be found in the tailings that were not completely processed more than a century ago

There is a plan to revive a silver mining operation near Gowganda, north of Sudbury. Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc. announced Aug. 6 that it is seeking permits from the Ontario Ministry of Mines to proceed with the recovery of silver tailings from the historic Castle silver mine.

The plan is to reprocess the old tailings from the site to recover silver that got past the older technology from years gone by.

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Agnico Eagle eyes 2030 mine startup for Larder Lake-area deposit – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 7, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gold company spending US$300 million on exploration ramps at Upper Beaver, Detour Lake

Agnico Eagle is spending a combined US$300 million on two exciting gold projects in northeastern Ontario to lengthen its life in the Abitibi gold belt.

Heading into the next decade, the Toronto gold company has plans to build two underground mines by expanding its Detour Lake mine, northeast of Cochrane, and develop its Upper Beaver Project, north of Larder Lake. To Agnico, both Detour and Upper Beaver are considered low-cost, long-life projects with solid returns and blue sky potential.

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Canada hits surprise trade surplus on energy, gold exports – by Laura Dhillon Kane (Bloomberg News – August 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Canada unexpectedly recorded a $638 million trade surplus in June as an expanded crude oil pipeline and surging global demand for gold drove exports higher.

Economists in a Bloomberg survey had expected the country to record a trade deficit for the fourth month in a row, with a median estimate of $2.04 billion. Statistics Canada noted in Tuesday’s release the size of the surplus was “close to the typical bounds of monthly revisions,” having revised the previous month’s trade balance upward by about $320 million.

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Gold’s safe-haven appeal at its highest since 1971 as economic storm brews – by Jordan Finneseth (Kitco News – August 6, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Gold has a long and storied history as a reliable store of wealth during times of economic strife, and according to an analysis of the yellow metal’s largest price runs over the past 50 years, “The market now finds itself in a longer-lasting gold run than any since the U.S. fully abandoned the gold standard in August 1971.”

“Gold possesses several critical qualities that have solidified its reputation as a wise hedge against instability,” said Brad Chastain, director of education at U.S. Money Reserve. “Gold’s conductivity, corrosion resistance, and malleability give it intrinsic value, particularly in electronics.

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Soaring Prices Have Australian Gold Bugs Expecting M&A Splurge – by Sybilla Gross (Bloomberg News – Ausgust 6, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Australia’s gold industry — buoyed by the precious metal’s record—setting run this year — is anticipating a wave of deal-making, with smaller miners being targeted as exploration lags.

The potential for a flurry of mergers and acquisitions in the world’s biggest gold producer after China and Russia has been one of the major talking points at the three-day Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum in the dusty Western Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie.

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‘We’re not out of the woods yet’: Victoria Gold CEO speaks publicly for 1st time since heap leach failure (CBC News North – July 30, 2024)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Company has no intention of leaving the site, says John McConnell

The president and CEO of Victoria Gold says there’s still a lot of work to do before the heap leach failure at the company’s Eagle mine site near Mayo, Yukon, is contained — but the company has no intention of leaving the site.

Speaking publicly Tuesday — the first time he has done so since the heap leach pad went down on June 24 — John McConnell said he believes there is no longer the potential for major environmental impacts from the failure, which is believed to have released up to 300,000 cubic metres of toxic sodium cyanide solution.

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Gold’s run to record high may crimp demand – by Clyde Russell (Reuters – August 5, 2024)

https://www.reuters.com/

LAUNCESTON, Australia, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Gold has been the standout commodity performer so far this year, gaining 18.5% and posting a record high. But the precious metal may become a victim of its own success, with consumer buying at risk from the surge in prices.

Spot gold ended at $2,443.29 an ounce on Aug. 2, and it has largely held onto the gains made this year, which saw a sustained rally to an all-time high of $2,483.60 on July 17.

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Kinross prepared to take the Red Lake plunge – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – August 6, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gold company to carve out exploration decline to drill for high-grade gold at depth

Kinross Gold is laying the groundwork for an underground mine with its Great Bear project at Red Lake. Construction of an exploration decline is in the works for next year to move the drill rigs underground and chase high-grade gold at depth, according to its 2024 second quarter results released July 31.

Down the road, Kinross wants to start production at Great Bear in 2029. Prep work for the decline begins in the second half of this year once all the permitting, engineering and procurement is done. Breaking ground on the advanced exploration decline — known as the AEX program — starts in mid-2025.

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