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Gold and Silver

Western gold investors watching the Fed while Chinese demand dominates the market – Natixis’ Dahdah – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – May 4, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The gold market has been holding significant gains since the start of the year, but the momentum behind the bullish drive has dried up as investors once again focus on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy.

The gold market has been consolidating around $2,350 an ounce for the last three weeks as the Federal Reserve signals a reluctance to start a new easing cycle with inflation stubbornly elevated. However, one bank analyst said that U.S. monetary policy is becoming a secondary factor as Asian markets evolve from price-taking to price-setting.

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Aboriginal corporation Djaara enters into ‘historic’ gold mining agreement with Canada’s Agnico Eagle – by Tyrone Dalton (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – May 13, 2024)

https://www.abc.net.au/

Canadian company Agnico Eagle Mines has signed an agreement with traditional owner group Djaara to compensate First Nations people for gold mined at the Central Victorian-based Fosterville Gold Mine. The agreement — “bakaru wayaparrangu”, meaning “in the middle we all meet” — has been seven years in the making and is being hailed by the two organisations as a first for an active mining company in Victoria.

Mining agreement ‘compromise’

Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation chair Rebecca Phillips represents her ancestors, the Malcolm family line, and said the mining agreement was significant for all Indigenous peoples.

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Junior Canadian miner Red Pine accuses former CEO of tampering with gold assay data – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 11, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Junior mining company Red Pine Exploration Inc. has accused its former chief executive of manipulating data on hundreds of its gold assays over the past decade, and says some of its resource estimates for its Ontario gold project are no longer valid.

The Toronto-based company first raised questions about its assays on May 1, saying it found inconsistencies in some of its drilling results pertaining to its Wawa gold project, and it was looking to work with an independent firm to determine the scope of the problem. On Friday, Red Pine said the inconsistencies stemmed from the “unauthorized manipulation of certain assay results” by the company’s former CEO.

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West Africa’s gold mines are more organized than you might think – by James Courtright (Institute of Current World Affairs – January 3, 2024)

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KHARAKHENA, Senegal — I stepped out of a car in this large village near the Malian border into a very different world than the small placid town of Saraya we had left behind 20 miles ago. Around us—myself, photographer Guy Peterson and our guide Omar Diané—generators rumbled, shaking the small bamboo-panel shacks they sat beside. A group of children approached curiously, all wearing tee-shirts emblazoned with the face of Mali’s junta leader Assimi Goita.

A motorcycle careened around the corner, honking to announce its presence and scattering the children. In the distance, I could make out a fetid pond full of trash. No sign of the state authorities was anywhere to be seen. On a distant hillside, little tarpaulin shelters were barely visible, covering small holes and hundreds of men tunneling into the hillside looking for gold.

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As gold hovers near record highs, some experts warn against going all in – by Ben Cousins (MSN.com – May 6, 2024)

https://www.msn.com/

With gold hovering near record highs, some experts have warned against diverting savings into the precious metal. In early April, gold reached a new record price just shy of US$2,400 per ounce, and while the price of bullion has since slipped, it has still advanced more than 12 per cent this year.

With prices high, hype surrounding the commodity has remained resilient, and retailers like Costco (COST) are even getting in on the action. According to a report from Wells Fargo, sales of gold bars brought in US$200 million per month to the company.

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Red Pine confirms Wawa gold assays after reported ‘inconsistencies’, stock rebounds – by Staff (Mining.com – May 6, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Red Pine Exploration (TSXV: RPX) said on Monday that investigations into past assay results from its Wawa gold project in Ontario found no evidence of inconsistencies, and that the company can rely on the validity of those results.

Last week, the Toronto-based gold junior issued a press release stating that it was withdrawing all previously reported assays from the Wawa project after discovering “inconsistencies” in certain results. A detailed investigation ensued.

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Gold The True Motor Of West African History: An Overview Of The Importance Of Gold In West Africa And Its Relations With The Wider World – by Jan Bart Gewald (Rozenberg Quarterly – 2010)

https://rozenbergquarterly.com/

While the prime sources of gold remained more or less where they had always been, hidden from the outside world, along the headwaters of the Rivers Senegal and Niger (Wright 2007: 21).

Slavery and African slaves have dominated historical perspectives of Africa and its relations with the wider world. Yet, it is gold which has been the most important and enduring element that has shaped and determined West Africa and its interactions with the wider world. For at least 1,500 years gold and not slaves has been the commodity determining not only the region’s economy and history, but also West Africa’s links with the wider world.

Beginning in the late 1700s, understandable humanitarian concerns and philanthropic motives ensured that the focal point within public discussion and history, when dealing with West Africa, came to be centred on the issue of slavery. Focussing on slavery to the detriment of gold and other commodities to some extent ensured that the export of slaves from West Africa came to be halted in the course of the nineteenth century.

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Colombian largest drug cartel extracting gold from protected area – governor – by Staff Writer (Mining.com – May 5, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

The governor of Colombia’s central-northern department of Santander, Juvenal Díaz, denounced the presence of members of the Gulf Clan, also known as the Gaitanista Army of Colombia (EGC), in the Santurbán moor.

The EGC is a neo-paramilitary group and likely the country’s largest drug cartel, which was created after the demobilization of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Their presence in Santander is meant to control illegal gold mining operations. According to Díaz – a retired army general turned politician –, the criminals are not only taking over the area but also polluting water sources.

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China Is Buying Gold Like There’s No Tomorrow – by Daisuke Wakabayashi and Claire Fu (New York Times – May 2024)

https://www.nytimes.com/

The global price of gold has reached its highest levels as Chinese investors and consumers, wary of real estate and stocks, buy the metal at a record pace.

As gold surged this year to its highest price ever, Xena Lin joined the frenzy by making monthly purchases of gold “beans,” pebble-like morsels of the precious metal.

For Ms. Lin, a 25-year-old administrative worker in southern China, the $80 beans — small enough to rest on a fingertip and weighing about one-thirtieth of an ounce — were an affordable way to buy into the gold excitement without splurging for jewelry, gold bars or coins. She had dabbled with investing in stocks in the past, but she said buying gold, especially in this fun way, inspired her to continue investing.

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Nunavut operations contribute to ‘record’ quarter for Agnico Eagle – by Jeff Pelletier (Nunatsiaq News – May 2, 2024)

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Strong production at Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd.’s Nunavut gold mines played a role in achieving a “record” first quarter this year, the company says. Agnico released its first quarterly financial report for 2024 last week.

CEO Ammar Al-Joundi said in a news release the company is reporting a “second consecutive quarter of record operating margins and record free cash flow.” The company reported an adjusted net income of around US$377.5 million for the first quarter of this year from its mining operations around the world. That’s up from around US$282.3 million the previous quarter.

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Barrick CEO signals protracted fight against Mali government intervention in mining sector – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 2, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is signalling it could be in for a protracted slog in Mali, as the big Canadian gold miner pushes back on the military government’s demands for a greater share of the country’s mining spoils.

Barrick on Wednesday said Mali is seeking unspecified changes to the tax, financial and legal regime at its Loulo-Gounkoto mining operations. The site is on track to produce 535,000 ounces of gold this year and is the company’s biggest operation by far in Africa.

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Red Pine Exploration plunges as it retracts all assays for Wawa gold project – by Staff (Mining.com – May 1, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Red Pine Exploration (TSXV: RPX) said on Wednesday it has withdrawn all previously announced assays for the Wawa gold project in Ontario after discovering “inconsistencies” in certain results.

These include assay results announced by way of press releases and those referenced in past disclosure documents, such as the NI 43-101 report for the Wawa project dated June 2023, the company said.

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Antarctic volcano emits $6,000 worth of gold daily – by Mining.com Staff (Canadian Mining Journal – April 30, 2024)

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/

Mount Erebus spews around 80 grams of gold into the frigid air of Antarctica daily.

Mount Erebus, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, spews around 80 grams of gold into the frigid air of Antarctica daily, IFLScience reported.

The volcano, one of Antarctica’s 138 active ones, reportedly emits pockets of gas containing crystallized gold each day, valued at almost $6,000.

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Gold Futures Tumble Below $2,300 as Traders Brace for Fed’s Hawkish Pivot – by Gary Wagner (Kitco New – April 30, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

Gold futures prices plummeted on Tuesday, dipping below the crucial $2,300 per ounce level, as traders braced for a potential hawkish shift from the Federal Reserve in its upcoming policy decision.

The precious metal, often viewed as a hedge against inflation, came under intense selling pressure amid concerns that the central bank could strike a more aggressive tone on future rate hikes.

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Barrick accused of using virtual AGM format to misrepresent or ignore shareholder concerns – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – May 1, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is being accused of using the virtual format for its annual general meeting to suppress critical questions from stakeholders. After holding a hybrid AGM last year that allowed stakeholders to show up in person, the Toronto-based gold mining company, which is the world’s second biggest by market value, went to a virtual-only format this year.

Virtual AGMs have attracted the ire of some shareholder-rights groups. In an open letter to members of the S&P/TSX 60 Index in April, a group of 38 institutional investors, advisers, portfolio managers and non-profits argued that online meetings can undermine shareholder rights, by allowing companies to cherry-pick questions, or change the wording of them.

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