Category: Commodities

China’s latest sanctions against the US are the latest factors keeping the gold price at near record highs – above $2,000/ounce. The strength in gold is widely expected to continue given the ongoing uncertainty around the longer-term economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the large government stimulus packages, uncertainty in equity markets, and negative real yields in much of the developed world. Given that backdrop, some forecasters are now anticipating a rise to $3,000/ounce or more. While gold’s rise has been well publicised, the recent strength in silver prices has been largely overshadowed. Silver gained 35% in July and has continued its strength into August. Relative to historical levels, silver remains cheap compared to gold and looks due to catch up....

Investors are rushing into gold stocks as the precious metal continues to hit new highs. The gold price is now above AU$2,000/oz, for the first time ever, and it seems to have plenty more in the tank with forecasters tipping a rise to US$3,000/oz within a year. Just like the gold price, Western Australia’s Paterson Province is taking centre stage. Heavyweights Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO), Newcrest Mining (ASX: NCM), and IGO Ltd (ASX: IGO) each have a slice of prospective ground in this booming WA gold province and cash is pouring into the region. Outside of the ASX, one of the biggest gold stories out of the Paterson Province is that of London-listed Greatland Gold’s (AIM: GGP) Havieron discovery, which...

AFTER intersecting a new high grade gold lode at its Kat Gap Project, Western Australian gold exploration and development company, Classic Minerals Limited (ASX:CLZ) has shifted its focus to preparing the project for production. The Kat Gap Gold Project is part of the group’s Forrestania Gold Project (FGP), located about 50 kilometres to the south-east of FGP’s Lady Ada and Lady Magdalene, where the main thrust of exploration at the Forrestania belt has taken place to date. The recent major discovery at the 100% owned Kat Gap tenements saw Classic identify very significant high-grade gold intersections, making it the main focus of Classic’s exploration, which designated Kat Gap as its “flagship project”. The company recently completed a total of 21...

The gold rush is set to continue after prices reached eight-year highs at the start of the month, breaking through US$1800 ($2603) an ounce for the first time since 2011. The metal reached US$1810 before settling at US$1780 on July 1. ASX-listed gold miners Newcrest Mining, Kirkland Lake Gold, Northern Star Resources and Saracen Mineral Holdings all responded to the price rise with an immediate uptick in share prices. Edison Investment Research director Charles Gibson said there was no end in sight for the spikes. “Gold, with its safe haven and monetary status, has been an obvious beneficiary of the current uncertain environment and that seems unlikely to change for as long as the coronavirus remains a largely unknown quantity,”...

Gold explorers and capital markets advisers predict that the Aussie-dollar price of the precious metal will hit $3000 by Christmas. That was the clear prediction among panellists of a high-profile chatroom at a recent Mines and Money APAC virtual conference. Featuring White Rock Minerals managing director Matt Gill, Artemis Resources executive director Alistair Clayton, Hartleys executive chairman Ian Parker and PCF Capital managing director Liam Twigger, the panel discussed the remarkable sharemarket recovery, the importance of foreign investment, exploration hotspots and – of course – the likely trajectory of the gold price. Mr Parker said the Perth brokerage had seen a surge in new accounts while the COVID-19 triggered downturn appeared to have prompted investors to show a willingness for risk exposure that had typically been missing from the resources sector. “I’ve never...

Horizon Minerals’ reports positive outcomes at its Boorara gold mine, WA, with mining and ore haulage is progressing ahead of schedule and total material movement 22% above plan. Mr Jon Price, Managing Director, Horizon Boorara, said that a total movement of 232,000 BCM had been mined with approximately 42,000 tonnes of oxide and transitional ore at a fully diluted grade of 1.4g/t Au.  This is in line with the reserve model estimates. Costs of drill and blasts have been reduced by the mining of a higher than budgeted volume of free dig material which has resulted in better productivity levels. “First gold production and revenue is expected in July 2020 with production continuing on a campaign basis through to January...

S&P GLOBAL Market Intelligence latest report on lithium and cobalt paints a revealing picture for the rare earths’ market. Though the fall-out from COVID-19 has seen total sales and growth of EV’s slow in China, S&P are predicting an increase in sales in Europe due to stricter vehicle emissions standards pushing drivers toward electric vehicles. European and Chinese government policies favour of EV’s driving down battery costs. European car-makers including Volkswagen and BMW have made investments in the EV market which should bear fruit over the course of 2020 as EU transitions toward carbon neutrality. The EV sales should lead to an increase in the Lithium Carbonate price which has so far decline 9.5% this year, averaging US$8,121 p/t in...

AUSTRALIA’S resources and energy exports are expected to reach $299b in 2019–20, before easing back in subsequent years as some of the surprising price gains of recent quarters unwind. However, the possibility remains for new records to be set if prices continue to surprise on the upside. The recent Resources and Energy Quarterly, which published an extended five-year commodity outlook, indicated a bigger picture outlook showing vast potential and a host of new opportunities as development progresses over the longer term in Asia, Africa and South America. It said Australia’s prospects as a resource and energy commodity exporter continue to remain strong, with the country tipped to become the world’s biggest producer of gold. The forecast looked beyond immediate issues...

WA LITHIUM Australia has had a positive year with promising developments including the acquisition of Mt Deans East and the completion of the Ravensthorpe mine rehabilitation. The company has updated its raw material strategy for 2020 in order to establish a high-quality lithium resource base. Primary supply opportunities, including the Medcalf prospect, are being explored. Mine-waste streams (historical dumps and tailings) and discharge from currently operating mines are also being considered as sources. The Medcalf prospect has a cluster of stacked pegmatite dikes with abundant spodumene and a possible extension suggested by a lithium-in-soil geochemistry anomaly that was later discovered. The spodumene samples show positive signs with very low levels of deleterious elements. The company also announced that the Mt...

EXTENDED potential mineralisation has been identified at Cyprium Metals’ Hollandaire prospect, with follow-up drilling planned for March 2020. The results were outside the current mineralisation, promising a greater yield for the Cue copper project located north east of Perth, near the Murchison Project. The RC drilling which was completed in February has identified further mineralisation at depth on the western margins of both the east and west structures, with results being returned outside of the currently identified mineralisation. Five intersections from 156m to 283m returned positive findings. The results identified solid concentrates of up to 7.50 g/t from 161m and 1.79pc copper from 116m. Musgrave Minerals is pursuing an option for a joint venture and earn-in with Cyprium that will...

Copper on a high COPPER has hit a three-month high on the London Metal Exchange, reaching its highest price in two months after a long run of losing sessions. The metal closed 1.9pc higher due to the fears of copper smelters in China reducing output by as much as 15pc as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. Concerns over short supplies of refined metals spurred the higher prices, amid transport restrictions from China. China issued import quotas for another 4620t of high-grade copper scrap and 1440t of aluminium scrap for use in 2020. Aluminium on the LME also closed higher with a 1.8pc increase, as did nickel, zinc and tin, as shipment schedules continue to be upset and uncertainties abound....