Proposed designs for a half-ounce .9999 fine gold Sacagawea dollar to be issued in 2025 by the United States Mint, to recognize the 25th anniversary of the 2000 release into circulation of the manganese-brass clad Sacagawea dollar, were reviewed and recommended Feb. 18 by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.
The U.S. Mint is preparing to strike the coins with a W Mint mark at the West Point Mint.
Source – Coin World
Freeport McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) trades little changed Thursday as Jefferies upgrades shares to Buy from Hold with a $48 price target, raised from $40, just one month after downgrading due to risks in Indonesia, a cautious view on copper, and the company’s near-term lack of free cash flow.
If tariffs are implemented, Comex copper price premiums to the LME, which have been high already because of potential tariffs, likely will rise further, Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina says, noting Freeport (FCX) sells 1.35B lbs/year of copper at Comex prices and the current Comex premium to LME is ~$0.30/lb, and tariff-impacted imports would effectively set the Comex price since the U.S. cannot be self-sufficient in copper.
Source – Seeking Alpha
Jefferies – Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company headquartered in New York City.
Chilean state miner Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, is targeting production of 1.391 million metric tons of the red metal this year, according to an unpublished government decree approving its 2025 budget reviewed by Reuters.
In calculating its budget, Codelco forecast a copper price of $4.30 per pound and expects a cash cost of $1.98 per pound, the document showed.
Source – Reuters
The most recent trading sessions have showcased gold’s resilience and volatility. Following a sharp decline of $45 per troy ounce in spot gold and a $63 drop in April futures on Friday, February 14, the market demonstrated strong recovery momentum. After the Presidents’ Day holiday closure, Tuesday’s trading saw spot gold gain $36.97, and the April futures contract gaining $60.70, nearly reaching the record levels established on February 12.
Source – KITCO News / Opinion
Although the high gold-silver ratio might suggest that silver has been a laggard, that is far from the case. Silver has rallied 43% in the past year, and gold has been just a bit better with a 44% gain. This year, using popular exchange traded funds as a gauge, iShares Silver Trust (SLV) is up 10% and SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) is up 11%.
Source – Barron’s
Mark Brennan, CEO and Chairman commented, “While Q2 results were modestly lower than our expectations as the heap leach continues to ramp up to its fully expanded capacity, we continue to be confident in our full year expectations as the underground operations ramp-up in H2/25. Cerrado also continued to progress both the Lagoa Salgada project and the Mont Sorcier projects towards completion of feasibility studies by Q3/2025 and Q1/2026 respectively, which we believe should demonstrate substantial value being unlocked by Cerrado’s development projects.”
Source – USA Today
