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Gold and Silver

Wawa gold explorer plucks new president from Wesdome’s ranks – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – April 26, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Michael Michaud brings a geologist’s eye to advance Red Pine Exploration’s Wawa Gold Project

In its search for a new leader, Wawa gold hunter Red Pine Exploration snagged someone with familiarity of the Michipicoten greenstone belt.

Michael Michaud will bring fresh eyes to Red Pine’s Wawa Gold Project when he relinquishes his title as Wesdome Gold Mine’s senior vice-president of exploration on July 11 and takes the helm as president-CEO of the Toronto junior miner on July 19. Red Pine made the announcement in an April 22 news release. He replaces Quentin Yarie who stepped down in late February. Yarie has been with the company since 2009 but will stay on in an advisory role through the transition.

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Equinox Gold buys out Orion for almost US$1B as it readies Greenstone for first gold Colin McClelland (Northern Miner – April 24, 2024)

https://www.northernminer.com/

Equinox Gold (TSX: EQX; NYSE-AM: EQX) is buying partner Orion Mine Finance’s 40% stake in their new Greenstone gold mine in Ontario for US$995 million in cash and shares as it prepares to pour first gold.

The purchase includes US$745 million in cash and 42 million shares valued at US$250 million. It was announced late on Tuesday after Australia’s Gold Road Resources (ASX: GOR) said it was no longer considering buying a stake in Greenstone from Orion. Equinox said it would fund the purchase through a new US$500-million loan and a US$260-million bought-deal equity financing.

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Gold’s Record-Setting Rally May Have Its Roots in Chinese Frenzy – by Mark Burton, Sybilla Gross and Yvonne Yue Li (Bloomberg News – April 23, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Gold’s record-setting rally this year has puzzled market watchers as bullion has roared higher despite headwinds that should have held it back. With prices sagging this week, the explanation may lie in China.

After weeks of debate about whether a mystery buyer was stoking the rally, several prominent figures in the global gold market are coming to the conclusion that the major new driving force is a legion of fleet-footed retail investors on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

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Nickel resources grow at Timmins exploration site – by Ian Ross (Northern Ontario Business – April 19, 2024)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Aston Minerals endowed with both gold and nickel deposits at its Edleston Project

A promising new nickel sulphide project in the Timmins area is growing in size and tonnage. Aston Minerals has released a new mineral estimate of its two deposits at its Edleston Project, showing a 44 per cent bump in the indicated nickel and cobalt resource over last year’s calculation.

The Australian company is carrying out technical work to determine if its leading Bardwell deposit can be economically mined. Edleston, situated 60 kilometres south of Timmins, is similar to Canada Nickel’s Crawford Project, north of the city, in that it’s a huge tonnage but low-grade ore property.

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Gold prices keep smashing records giving miners hope they can escape the doldrums – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – April 19, 2024)

https://financialpost.com/

Stocks of the world’s largest miners have yet to catch the wave from bullion’s rise

The price of gold is smashing records on a near daily basis, yet that somehow hasn’t translated into higher profits for gold miners — at least not yet. Analysts and portfolio managers who cover gold miners say that after years of underperforming the price of bullion, the sector is finally turning a corner.

They have some evidence to support their optimism. The VanEck Gold Miners ETF, made up of the world’s largest gold miners, rose 10.5 per cent in the past month to US$33.17, roughly in line with the increase in the price of the precious metal to US$2,388 per ounce.

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Here’s how police cracked the case of what they say is the largest gold heist in Canadian history – by Omar Mosleh, Peter Edwards and Andy Takagi (Toronto Star – April 18, 2024)

https://www.thestar.com/

On Wednesday, Peel police and the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau provided details of the “carefully planned” heist at Pearson, which they believe was an inside job.

The five-tonne truck raised no alarm as it pulled into an Air Canada cargo hold exactly one year ago. It wasn’t long before police say it had made off with what they describe as the largest gold theft in Canadian history.

The gold — weighing more than 400 kilograms and valued at more than $20 million — was stolen the same night it had arrived at Pearson International Airport from Switzerland. Police traced it on a winding route through city streets and rural roads before it was eventually connected to an international arms trafficking ring.

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[B.C. Mining] ‘To us, that border doesn’t exist’ – by Nathan Venderklippe (Globe and Mail – April 19, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Alaska Indigenous groups want a say in B.C. mining projects they fear could hurt their livelihoods. A border stands in the way – but they hope a Canadian court ruling strengthens the case for ignoring it

Eulachon grease meets the tongue with a marine burn, a bracing tang extracted by fermenting great numbers of the smelt-like fish, then simmering and breaking them apart. The process liberates the fish’s oil, which historically formed a kind of currency among the Indigenous nations of the Pacific Northwest, who traded it as a valuable source of fat.

Today, those still able to find it in southeast Alaska apply it as a condiment to boiled potatoes, herring eggs or kajumps, a fish soup. “That’s real gold there,” Louie Wagner says, as he eyes a jar of the grease he keeps frozen, its contents a light tawny yellow. “Gold you can eat.”

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Northeastern Ontario glitters with record gold prices and municipal leaders see lots of pluses – by Nishat Chowdhury (CBC News Sudbury – April 15, 2024)

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

Gold prices topped $2,400 US an ounce last week

Record-high gold prices are welcome news for mining operations in northeastern Ontario as the metal continues to surge in the market. Gold prices topped $2,400 US an ounce last week, a 20 per cent increase from the same time in 2023.

Some mayors from northeastern communities say the gold rush has helped local economies. “It’s been excellent for the community,” said Mark Stickel, mayor of Matachewan, home of the Young-Davidson mine located 60 kilometres west of Kirkland.

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Gold is back — and it has a message for us – by Rana Foroohar (Financial Times – April 16, 2024)

https://www.ft.com/

The precious metal’s surge may herald a whole new world

It’s easy to mock gold bugs, but their moment may finally have come. The precious metal has been breaking out recently amid higher-than-expected inflation in the United States, and general anxiety over everything from geopolitics to the November presidential elections to where monetary policy and markets go from here.

All these things are predictable reasons for gold to surge. But there are deeper, longer-term messages in this rise that investors should pay very close attention to.

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Arrests in $20-million Toronto airport gold heist stem from cross-border gun running plot – by Adrian Humphreys (National Post – April 17, 2024)

https://nationalpost.com/

‘Project 24K’ a secret, joint investigation into the high-profile theft from Pearson airport has made arrests in the theft of gold bars and US$2 million in cash

Three Ontario men and a person from Florida have been arrested in connection to the $20-million Toronto Pearson airport gold heist after U.S. agents uncovered a cross-border gun trafficking plot linked to the heist, National Post has learned.

Police will announce details Wednesday on “Project 24K” — a secret, joint investigation into the high-profile theft of gold from Pearson airport. 24K is short for 24 carats, the measurement for nearly pure gold, which is usually the purity of high-grade gold bars, such as the ones stolen from Pearson.

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Barrick facing uncertainty in Mali, amid reports of regime seeking control of mine – by Geoffrey York (Globe and Mail – April 15, 2024)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Barrick Gold Corp. is facing mounting pressure in Mali as the country’s military regime seeks to boost its control of the multibillion-dollar mining sector at a time of growing Russian influence over its economy.

Mali’s junta, which seized power in a coup in 2021 and later forged an alliance with Russian troops, has been targeting the mining sector for more than a year with a controversial audit of the industry and a new mining code to authorize greater state control of mining companies.

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Gold price sets record for eighth session in a row – by Staff (Mining.com – April 9, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Gold extended its hot streak on Tuesday by setting yet another all-time high, fueled by strong buying momentum and widespread geopolitical risks.

Spot gold rose a further 0.7% to $2,354.88 per ounce by 10:25 a.m. EDT, after closing 0.4% higher on Monday. Earlier, it had reached $2,364.96 per ounce for an eighth straight session of record highs. US gold futures saw a larger gain of 1.2%, trading at $2,379.70 per ounce in New York.

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Vale walks away from exploration JV with Serabi Gold – by Cecilia Jamasmie (Mining.com – April 8, 2024)

https://www.mining.com/

Brazil-focused miner Serabi Gold (LON: SRB) (TSX: SBI) said on Monday that Vale (NYSE: VALE) has decided to withdraw from a copper exploration alliance formed in May 2023.

The company, which also outlined progress in exploration at its Palito Complex in the country’s north, noted that it remains optimistic as there already are “a number of other groups keen to partner” with them. No names were provided in the statement.

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Vietnam to Step Up Actions to Tame Gold Market, Combat Smuggling – by Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen (Bloomberg News – April 7, 2024)

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/

(Bloomberg) — Stabilizing the gold market has become a pressing issue for Vietnam with smugglers taking advantage of higher local prices to slip in the precious metal, leading to exchange rate distortions and weakness in the dong that’s hurting the economy.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and members of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council are among top authorities who have been urging for solutions in recent months.

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Gold price sees another 5% rally this week as geopolitical uncertainty drives the market to touch $2350 – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – April 5, 2024)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – The gold market continues its unstoppable run to record highs as it touches an all-time high of $2,350 an ounce ahead of the weekend.

Gold’s latest rally comes after the U.S. economy created 303,000 jobs in March, significantly beating expectations. At the same time, unemployment dropped to 3.8%. Despite the robust job growth, wages were relatively muted, rising 0.3%, in line with expectations.

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