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Gold down, tariff could extend, Silver fell

Gold eased on Wednesday as risk appetite improved after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with Japan ahead of an impending tariff deadline, though a soft dollar and lower Treasury yields capped losses for greenback-priced bullion.

Spot gold was down 0.2% at $3,423.44 per ounce, as of 0136 GMT, after hitting its highest point since June 16 earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures also slipped 0.2% to $3,437.70.

Trump said the U.S. and Japan had struck a trade deal that includes a 15% tariff that will be levied on U.S. imports from the country.

“If further trade deals are signed ahead of August 1, this could further boost general risk appetite and reduce the demand for gold,” CM Trade Chief Market Analyst Tim Waterer said.

“But if the USD remains pressured this will keep a return to $3,500 a viable near-term prospect for the precious metal.”

Spot silver fell 0.3% to $39.15 per ounce, platinum dropped 0.3% to $1,437.83 and palladium slipped 0.8% to $1,264.96.

Source – Reuters

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    Ivanhoe Mines Targets Increased Copper, Zinc Production This Year

    The Canadian mining company on Wednesday set a 2025 production target of between 520,000 and 580,000 metric tons of copper at its Kamoa-Kakula operation. 

    Ivanhoe expects to produce between 180,000 and 240,000 tons of zinc at its Kipushi zinc-copper-germanium-silver mine.

    Ivanhoe said that during the last day of the year, a record 750 tons of zinc were produced over a 24-hour period, exceeding the operation’s nameplate capacity.

    Source – Market Watch

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    Over the Weekend!

    Bitcoin Lags Behind Gold

    Bitcoin has gained just over 3% year-to-date, trailing gold’s 9% jump, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The precious metal reached a record high of $2,882 an ounce after President Trump on Feb. 4 said the US could take over Gaza — a comment his aides sought to tone down. Bitcoin is currently about 10% below its peak.

    Source – Bloomberg

    Mali gold production  plunges 23%

    Mali’s industrial gold production plunged 23% to 51 metric tons last year from 66.5 tons in 2023, the West African country’s mines ministry said.

    With an estimated 6 tons produced in artisanal mines, Mali’s total gold production in 2024 is expected to reach 58.7 tons, the mines ministry said.

    Source – Reuters

    Michael Oliver says Gold’s Making All-Time Highs, SILVER To Follow

    “I think that once you punch a hole in the stock market… you’re going to have a lot of that money moving,” he predicted, suggesting that a 5-10% drop could trigger a significant shift in investor sentiment, driving capital towards safer havens like gold and silver.

    Silver didn’t move with commodities in moved with gold,” he asserted, countering arguments that silver has lost its monetary significance.

    Source – The Jerusalem Post / Opinion

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    Freeport – McMoRan Inc is developing new technology

    After 154 years of digging at Morenci, all the easily recoverable copper has been mined. Left behind are towering piles of waste rock that hold nearly 10 million tons of the metal seen as critical to global electrification. It’s a cache that could prove key to President Donald Trump’s ambition to boost US production of critical minerals.

    Freeport-McMoRan Inc., which owns Morenci, is trying to develop technology that can burrow within those gigantic waste piles and extract low-grade copper that miners previously saw as too expensive and difficult to process.

    “For a long time, we just didn’t think it was possible to recover any of this stuff,” said Robert Pollock, Morenci’s site manager, gazing up at a waste pile the size of a Manhattan office building. “But now, all this historical copper – we’re going after it.”

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    President Trump said he will impose tariffs on aluminum and copper

    “We have to bring production back to our country,” he said.

    “In the US, manufacturers will have little choice but to pass on higher costs from imports to consumers until the downstream industry (refining/smelting) has undergone suitable investment,” said Natalie Scott-Gray, senior metals analyst at StoneX.

    “If Trump imposes tariffs, it will have an adverse impact particularly on aluminum because Europe is already on path to impose a carbon tax and the UK might do it too,” said B.K. Bhatia, additional secretary general at the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries.

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    Silver expected to rise in demand

    The precious metal has gained nearly 12% in the year-to-date and is set to benefit from continued macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, alongside potential U.S. interest rate cuts, according to the industry body’s World Silver Survey 2025.

    “While ongoing uncertainties elsewhere, along with silver’s healthy supply-demand conditions, will offer support, we do see prices easing back in late 2025.”

    Supply is expected to rise by just 2% and demand to ease by only 1%, setting the stage for a 117.6 million ounce deficit.

    “We very much expect such a dynamic will emerge eventually, but we feel that a few more years of deficits are needed first to further erode above-ground silver inventories.”

    Source – Market Watch