LithiumAustralia NL (ASX:LIT) reports that it has identified lithium pegmatite swarmsat the Medcalf Lithium Project. Medcalfis located in the southeast part of the Lake Johnson Project in the highlylithium-prospective Yilgarn Block in WA - some 45 kilometres south-east ofLIT's existing Mt Day Lithium Prospect area. Thelithium pegmatites of the Yilgarn Block are attracting investment from some ofth...Read More

Drilling by Archer Exploration Limited (ASX:AXE) has confirmed 'particularly encouraging' copper and gold mineralisation at its Blue Hills Copper Project in South Australia.The recently completed Rotary Air Blast (RAB) geochemical drilling program at the project comprised 226 holes for 2,661m, providing a first pass test of previously identified soil geochemical anomalies. It intersected strong an...Read More

Investing.com - Gold inched higher on Friday, with prices tallying their first weekly gain in a month amid expectations the Federal Reserve will maintain a slower pace of interest rate hikes next year.Gold futures for February delivery tacked on 80 cents, or around 0.1%, to settle at $1,257.90 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.For the week, the precious metal gained about 0...Read More

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks shot to new highs after Republican leaders said they’ll release the final version of the tax overhaul bill Friday evening. The dollar gained as investors assessed messages from the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank meetings this week.All major equity gauges spiked higher earlier in the session, after fence-sitting Senator Marco Rubio said he’d support...Read More

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities turned lower with the dollar as investors try to assess the tax overhaul package with leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives aiming to finalize compromise legislation and hold floor votes next week. The euro retreated with the European Central Bank remaining cautious about the prospects of reaching its inflation goals.The S&P 500 Index climbed at the op...Read More

(Bloomberg) -- Mark Schmehl flouts Warren Buffett, thinks valuation is overrated and says most other rules of investing are “total baloney.”The portfolio manager, who just completed Fidelity Investments’ most successful Canadian fund launch ever, eschews investing obsessions such as earnings, cash flow and price-earnings ratios and invests at the extremes of the market instead, i...Read More

* Graphic: World FX rates in 2017 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh* European shares dip* Dollar nurses losses after Fed decision* Pound slips after BoE keeps rates on hold* Euro steady after ECB keeps rates on hold* Stronger than expected German, euro zone PMIsBy Ritvik CarvalhoLONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - World shares eked out modest gains on Thursday as cautious comments on inflation from the U.S. Federal...Read More

* Graphic: World FX rates in 2017 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh* European shares dip* Dollar nurses losses after Fed decision* Pound, euro, await BoE, ECB* Stronger than expected German, euro zone PMIsBy Ritvik CarvalhoLONDON, Dec 14 (Reuters) - European shares and the euro dipped on Thursday as cautious comments on inflation from the U.S. Federal Reserve gave investors pause before a series of central...Read More

* Dollar weakens broadly after Fed forecast 2 more hikes in 2018* Fed upbeat on economy; notch up 2019, 2020 forecast* Oil at 6-week high on U.S. inventory, Iran nuke deal worriesBy Hideyuki SanoTOKYO, March 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar was on the defensive on Thursday after posting its largest loss in two months when the Federal Reserve turned out to be less hawkish than anticipated.Worries abo...Read More

Main ConclusionsBritish Columbia's NDP government recently announced a series of new policies intended to lay the foundation for "universal", government-subsidized, $10-per-day daycare across the province.This major policy intervention seems unnecessary as there does not appear to be a wide -spread lack of daycare spots in British Columbia: as of 2016, the province-wide average daycare vacancy rat...Read More

With his stock in freefall, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. chief executive Philip Pascall hopped on a hastily arranged conference call Wednesday morning to soothe investors about a surprise US$7.9 billion tax bill that Zambian authorities sent this week.Pascall rejected the US$7.9 billion figure - more than two-thirds of the company's US$9.5 billion market capitalization. Still, Vancouver-based First...Read More

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. is hoping to talk its way out of a US$7.9 billion tax assessment in Zambia. Investors aren’t so sure, with shares down 17 per cent in the two days since news of the claim emerged.The Vancouver-based miner “completely refutes” the claim and doesn’t understand the authorities’ assessment, chief executive Philip Pascall said on a conference ca...Read More

Climate change giveth, and climate change taketh away — that is, if you can attribute anything to climate change.Last December, Toronto-based Centerra Gold Inc. shut down the mill at its Mount Milligan mine in British Columbia after anemic snowmelt runoff and an unexpected extreme cold snap froze the shallow supply of water in its tailing ponds. On Friday, the company announced that same mil...Read More

Main ConclusionsThe Government of Alberta has run nearly uninterrupted deficits since 2008/09 including deficits expected to average over $9 billion annually between 2016/17 and 2018/19.Alberta's deficit today is much larger than the deficit the current government inherited (about $6 billion) when it took office in 2015/16.Blaming depressed oil prices or fiscal challenges that pre-date the recent...Read More

In early March, RT.com, the Russian based media network, asked me for comments and opinion on the subject of central bank manipulation of gold prices.The comments and opinion that I supplied to RT became the article that RT then exclusively published on its website on 18 March under the title “Central banks manipulating & suppressing gold prices - industry expert to RT“. This artic...Read More

On May 6, 2016, just three days after a wildfire engulfed Fort McMurray, Alta., and forced the evacuation of more than 80,000 people, business icon and philanthropist Peter Munk donated $1 million to the Red Cross to help displaced Alberta families.Measured against all of Munk’s charitable donations — which have totalled more than $200 million — it was a small amount. But this gi...Read More

Canadian gold mining companies have moaned for months that cryptocurrencies and blockchain companies are luring investors who would otherwise put their money into precious metals. Now, Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc., one of the world’s largest gold producers, is dabbling in its own blockchain investment, albeit in a minor way: This week, it sent 3,000 ounces of gold — worth about U...Read More

A telling story comes to mind when Ammar Al-Joundi thinks back on his time as chief financial officer at Barrick Gold Corp. and its iconic founder Peter Munk, who passed away on Wednesday at age 90.The two men were standing in the expansive lobby of the TD Canada Trust Building, chatting amiably, when Al-Joundi caught sight of an elderly gentleman some 30 feet away who slipped and fell hard on the...Read More

The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) experienced a horrible financial year in 2016-17. It suffered its largest ever annual loss of $889 million, an amount equal to 18 percent of its total premiums, and it is heading for a $1.3 billion loss in 2017-18, which would represent 23 percent of its revenue from premiums. The corporation's claim costs have risen, its investment income has s...Read More

Vancouver’s Teck Resources is buying out a minority partner in a major copper project in Chile at a cost that could reach as high as $262.5 million.The total price tag, however, will depend on copper prices — often considered a barometer for global macroeconomic growth because it is used in so many products — and which at the moment are sliding as the U.S. and China slap tariffs...Read More