Chile, the world’s No. 1 copper producer, will boost its output of the red metal to 5.54 million metric tons in 2034, representing a 5.6% increase from 2023, state-run copper commission Cochilco said on Wednesday.
Source – Reuters
The spread between the cash LME copper contract and benchmark three-month futures spiked to a premium for the first time in 19 months on Friday.
It rocketed to $249 a metric ton, the highest since November 2021, compared to a discount, or contango, of $119 two days ago.
Copper prices on COMEX have surged as investors seek to price in potential tariffs, with the premium of COMEX over LME at $1,050 a ton on Friday, down from a record peak of $1,153 a day earlier.
Source – Mining.com
Discovery Silver is making a significant move into the gold sector with its acquisition of the Porcupine mine in Ontario, Canada, from Newmont. The deal, discussed by CEO Tony Makuch in an interview at the 2025 BMO Global Metals Mining and Critical Minerals Conference, marks a shift for the company, which has been primarily known as a silver developer in Mexico.
“The other part of value creation here is you take assets that are not Tier 1 assets at this point in time, and you convert them to Tier 1 assets,” he explained.
Source – KITCO News
Spot gold rose 0.5% to $2,663.79 per ounce, as of 9:55 a.m. ET (1455 GMT) and hit its highest since Dec. 13. U.S. gold futures gained 0.5% to $2,679.70.
Weaker private payrolls “is contributing to gold’s move, because ultimately, weaker employment numbers imply that the economy has been weaker than many had expected,” said Bart Melek, head of commodity strategies at TD Securities.
“The bigger factor will be U.S. nonfarm payrolls on Friday, the market is expecting a change of 163 (thousand); anything significantly above that will be negative for gold,” Melek said.
Source – Reuters
Analysts in a quarterly Reuters poll have forecast an average annual gold price above $3,000 for the first time, with global trade friction and a swing away from the U.S. dollar powering demand.
The poll of 29 analysts and traders returned a median forecast of $3,065 per troy ounce of gold for this year, up from $2,756 predicted in a poll three months ago. The estimated price for 2026 rose to $3,000 from $2,700.
The poll forecast an average 2025 silver price of $33.10 per ounce, unchanged from the previous survey. It has averaged $32 so far this year.
Analysts lifted their 2026 silver price forecast to $34.58 from $33.45, expecting a structural market deficit and the global clean energy transition to provide support.
Source – Reuters
Silver has initially fallen significantly in the early hours of Tuesday, as the market reacted to the ceasefire, taking out some of the “risk trade.” However, we are holding the range again. Ultimately, there are a lot of “moving pieces” to pay attention to.
Source – FX EMPIRE
London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper slumped to a 17-month low of $8,105 per metric ton on April 7 after China responded to U.S. tariffs in kind.
Citi, which now expects copper to hit $8,000 per ton over the next three months, warns that commodity markets are still not pricing the full potential impact on demand.
Copper as a macro play cannot but reflect the broader market concerns about the negative impact of an escalating trade war between the United States and China on the world economy.
But at a micro level, the specific threat of U.S. tariffs on the metal is pulling normal trade patterns out of shape and causing both LME and Shanghai exchange inventories to fall.
Source – Reuters
