“This we hope will be reality in a three to five year period,” PolyMet’s Warren Hudelson told MPR News in 2004.
Now, 20 years later, the controversial mine in northeast Minnesota still hasn’t opened. It hasn’t even begun construction, because three key permits it needs to advance — approvals state and federal agencies granted more than five years ago — have since been revoked or suspended.
Source – MPRnews
Silver gained as much as 1.2%, rising for a third day. A guage of the dollar hit the lowest in about three months, as the euro strengthened amid Germany’s plan to boost spending and loosen borrowing restrictions.
The “tidal wave” of silver risks pushing freely available silver in the London spot market below a critical threshold needed for the market to function, Daniel Ghali, a senior commodity strategist at TD Securities, recently wrote in a note.
Spot silver rose 0.9% to $32.262 an ounce as of 11:41 a.m. in London. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%. Gold and palladium were little changed, while platinum advanced.
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
As the threat of a trade war grows, Canadian investors are seeking protection in gold and in shares of companies producing goods with few substitutes, such as uranium, while looking to take advantage of a weaker loonie and expected volatility.
“Tariffs are going to hurt all parties quite a bit but if you’re going to spare some industries, you probably spare industries that you don’t have a substitute for and are currently reliant on,” said Ben Jang, a portfolio manager at Nicola Wealth, noting U.S. dependence on Canadian oil, critical minerals and uranium.
Major producers of uranium include TSX-listed Cameco Corp (CCO.TO)shares of which Nicola Wealth owns. Cameco has pulled back from an all-time high in December but has still managed to advance roughly 46% since early September.
Source – Reuters
Spot gold, which dipped 0.5% to $2,904.51 an ounce as of 1211 GMT, has gained over 10% year-to-date. It hit a record high of $2,956.15 on February 24.
U.S. gold futures also dropped 0.5% to $2,912.10.
“Gold seems to be experiencing profit-taking as investors closely watch tariff developments with prices trading toward $2,900 ahead of the non-farm payrolls report,” Lukman Otunuga, senior research analyst at FXTM, said.
Platinum prices were flat at $964.68 per ounce.
Spot silver dipped 0.7% to $32.39 an ounce and palladium shed 0.5% to $937.74.
Source – Reuters
In a complaint filed in Boone Circuit Court on March 27, the same day the legislation was delivered to the secretary of state’s office, an online bullion exchange and three Northern Kentucky residents said they and others are owed refunds on taxes improperly collected for their precious metals in the past eight months, naming Gov. Andy Beshear and several state offices as defendants.
The state representative, a frequent foil to Beshear who told colleagues in the House he sponsored the bill to ensure Kentuckians do not “pay taxes that were never lawful in the first place.”
HB 2 ensures the sale, use, storage or other consumption of “bullion currency” — gold, silver, platinum and other precious metals — cannot be taxed, overriding a line-item veto by Beshear that was included in a separate bill passed in 2024.
HB 2, which was filed in January and approved on party-line votes in the House and Senate, allows anyone who paid taxes on gold and silver after that Aug. 1 deadline to seek a refund in court.
Source – Courier Journal
SPDR Gold Shares
It’s been having a good run: from the early June 2024 low of $212 to the present $264 amounts to a 19.7% return from then to now.
ASA Gold and Precious Metals
The South African-founded miner is now domiciled in Bermuda and has a market cap of $477 million. The price-earnings ratio is 7.61 and the stock trades at 1.12 times its book value. ASA in November 2024 paid a .16% dividend.
Franco Nevada
Headquartered in Toronto, the company has a market cap of $27 billion. This year’s earnings are down by 13.15%. Franco Nevada has no debt, long-term or otherwise.
Kinross Gold
This Canadian miner has a market cap of $14.51 billion. Earnings this year are up by 71%. The price-earnings ratio is 19.74. The debt-to-equity ratio is .26. Kinross Gold pays a dividend of 1.02%.
Discovery Silver
This is an OTC stock (also trades on The Toronto Stock Exchange) with an average daily volume of 237,000 shares. Market cap is $433 million. According to the company website, Discovery has “high quality gold producing assets in Canada” and “the world’s largest undeveloped silver deposit in Mexico.”
Source – Forbes
