Mike Mozak's union was in the middle of labour negotiations with Teck Resources Ltd. last spring when the company announced a proposed $1.2-billion deal to sell its hydroelectric dam that powers the lead and zinc smelter where his members worked."It was a shock to all of us," said Mozak, president of United Steelworkers Local 9705, who questions how the sale could affect the smelter's future. Nest...Read More
Recently, Russian television network RT extensively quoted me in a series of articles about the US Government's gold reserves. The RT articles, published on the RT.com website, were based on a series of questions RT put to me about various aspects of the official US gold reserves. These gold reserves are held by the US Treasury, mostly in the custody of the US Mint. The US Mint is a branch of th...Read More
LONDON — The field of prospective bidders for ScotiaMocatta, the metals trading arm of Canada’s Bank of Nova Scotia, has narrowed to two, three banking and industry sources said on Wednesday.The two – Goldman Sachs Group and Citi – are undertaking due diligence checks, the sources said.The sources said Japanese trading house Sumitomo and Australian bank ANZ (Australia and N...Read More
The Human Freedom Index (HFI) presents a broad measure of human freedom, understood as the absence of coercive constraint. This third annual index uses 79 distinct indicators of personal and economic freedom in the following areas:Rule of LawSecurity and SafetyMovementReligionAssociation, Assembly, and Civil SocietyExpression and InformationIdentity and RelationshipsSize of GovernmentLegal System...Read More
Conventional wisdom suggests 'buy low, sell high' is the best strategy. But as gold prices surge to new peaks daily, and some companies hang back from acquisitions, Leagold Mining Corp.'s chief executive Neil Woodyer believes he's found a loophole to this age-old adage: In about a one-year timespan, he has built a Latin America-focused intermediate by snapping up assets that larger companies cast...Read More
Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd. and parent Rio Tinto Group’s ambition to build one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines, called Oyu Tolgoi, in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, has hit a number of stumbling blocks in recent weeks.Last week, Jean-Sebastien Jacques, the chief executive of Rio Tinto, flew to Mongolia’s capital city to meet with prime minister Ukhnaagiin Khurelsuk...Read More
There are serious financial risks associated with running deficits during times of positive economic growth. One of the principal risks is that the budget cannot be balanced regardless of economic conditions because a permanent imbalance between how much the government spends and the amount it raises from taxes and other revenues develops. The Trudeau government took office in late 2015 and immedi...Read More
The Fraser Institute is the top think-tank in Canada for the tenth straight year and ranks in the top 25 among all think-tanks worldwide, according to the 2017 Global Go To Think Tank Index published by the University of Pennsylvania and released recently in Washington, D.C.The annual index ranks the Fraser Institute first among 100 think-tanks in Canada and 21st out of more than 7,800 think-tanks...Read More
SummaryIn 2016/17, Ontario's net debt reached $302 billion, or approximately $21, 500 per Ontarian. The province's debt-to-GDP level stands at 38 percent, just below its all-time historic high.Ontario's net debt has increased dramatically since 2003/04, with the province running budget deficits in 11 of the past 14 years. These annual deficits have ranged from $991 million to $19.3 billion and hav...Read More
Nutrien Ltd., the newly formed company from the merger of The Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan and Agrium Inc., is well on course to achieve savings of half a billion dollar in synergies annually, according to its chief executive officer Chuck Magro.“When we look at it, the $500 million in annual synergies — we’re very confident about that number,” Magro told investors on...Read More
This blog post is a guest post on BullionStar's Blog by the renowned blogger JP Koning who will be writing about monetary economics, central banking and gold. BullionStar does not endorse or oppose the opinions presented but encourage a healthy debate. Would it make sense to rebuild an international gold standard like the one we had in the late 1800s? Larry White says the idea has merit, Davi...Read More
The presence of counterfeit medicines in international commerce was initially identified as a problem in 1985 at the World Health Organization Conference of Experts on Rational Drug Use. Prior to this event, the dangers and challenges of pharmaceutical counterfeiting were primarily limited to developing countries. The global picture, however, has starkly changed. Pharmaceutical counterfeiting now...Read More
OTTAWA — The federal government is designating a single agency to oversee what is expected to be a more stringent and far-reaching review process, amid concerns Canada is burdening the industry with new and untested layers of regulations.Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told reporters Thursday that the new law would create a “predictable, timely and evidence-based” review p...Read More
As market turmoil hits both equities and cryptocurrencies, the heightened volatility in these assets underscores gold's unique role as a safe haven, store of value and portfolio diversifier.Stock Market SelloffsWith major US stock indices falling again sharply on Thursday (DJIA - 4.02%, NASDAQ - 4.08%, S&P -3.41%), last Monday's equity market selloff and spike in volatility looks set to be a m...Read More
Acacia Mining produces gold and copper, both of which are surging in price, so why did the company ditch its dividend and post a $700 million loss?“We were thrown … a lot of curveballs,” chief executive Peter Geleta said on an investor earnings call on Monday. “In fact, I don’t think many people would have faced what we faced last year in their whole careers.”H...Read More
SummaryIn many respects, British Columbia can currently boast of having the soundest fiscal position of any Canadian province. While other provinces, including Ontario and Alberta, have struggled in recent years with comparatively large budget deficits and significant debt accumulation, BC recorded a $2.7 billion operating surplus last year (2016/17)-its fourth consecutive operating surplus and th...Read More
Alberta faces significant fiscal and economic challenges. The government has run nearly uninterrupted deficits since 2008/09 and has seen an approximately $57 billion decline in its net financial assets between 2008/09 and 2017/18. The government has stated that it will continue to run significant budget deficits for many years before finally achieving balance in 2023/24. This unambitious target f...Read More
Gold prices are rising after a prolonged period of sluggish performance, but not all gold producers will be able to use 2018 to grow — as three earnings announcements released this week by senior Canadian gold companies demonstrated.Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer, cut its 2018 production outlook to 4.5 million to 5 million ounces whereas Goldcorp Inc., at nearly half...Read More
Barrick Gold Corp., the bullion producer that once towered over rivals, continues to shrink.The Toronto-based miner is predicting its eighth straight decline in annual production as it takes less gold out of the ground at its main mines. The company expects to produce 300,000 fewer ounces in 2018 than it had previously forecast. It now projects total production will be 4.5 million to 5 million oun...Read More
The Report Card on Ontario's Secondary Schools 2018 collects a variety of relevant, objective indicators of school performance into one, easily accessible public document so that anyone can analyze and compare the performance of individual schools. By doing so, the Report Card assists parents when they choose a school for their children and encourages and assists all those seeking to improve their...Read More