“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key permits it needs to advance — approvals state and federal agencies granted more than five years ago — have since been revoked or suspended.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
Gold futures fall, though they remain in a relatively tight range. Futures are down 0.4% at $3,329.10 a troy ounce, having fallen as low as $3,404.40/oz earlier in the session, though they sit up 0.6% on week.
Source – The Wall Street Journal
China urged the United States on Thursday to halt an investigation into potential new tariffs on copper imports to rebuild U.S. production of the critical metal, vowing to retaliate if Chinese entities got caught up in the levies.
“We urge the U.S. side to withdraw its investigation as soon as possible,” He said.
“If the U.S. insists on imposing tariffs and other restrictive measures, China will resolutely take the required steps to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” He said, without giving any further details.
Source – Reuters
Gold futures reversed early losses to reach new all-time highs Tuesday, gaining for a third straight session on weaker U.S. bond yields and persistent trade and monetary policy uncertainty as investors continue to anxiously await President Trump’s August 1 tariff deadline.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell near two-week low, making non-yielding bullion more attractive.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he plans to meet his Chinese counterpart next week, suggesting a possible extension of an August 12 tariff deadline, but European Union diplomats hinted that the E.U. is looking at broader counter-measures against the U.S. as prospects for a trade agreement dwindle.
“Trade uncertainty is prompting some safe haven demand,” Kitco Metals senior analyst Jim Wyckoff wrote. “The U.S. has got several trade deals in the works and there’s rumors that the E.U. and the U.S. might not be able to come to an agreement or certainly are not anywhere close yet.”
Source – Seeking Alpha
Investors are increasingly seeking safe-haven in hard assets like gold, silver, copper and platinum, historically viewed as stores of value in times of financial uncertainty, Saxo Bank’s Ole Hansen says in a note.
Source – Wall Street Journal
Futures (in finance) – Are contracts to buy or sell a specific underlying asset at a future date.
“While traditionally inflation and real yields have been the main drivers of gold prices, recently central bank buying has emerged as the primary catalyst behind the current gold price increase,” according to a recent research note by Bank of America’s Global Commodity Research’s Franciso Blanch and Irina Shaorshadze.
George Milling-Stanley, chief gold strategist at State Street Global Advisors, also believes central-bank buying will keep gold humming this year, but he also sees two additional drivers.
Source – Fox Business
A Chilean startup backed by BHP Group has delivered its first copper cathodes from a demonstration plant at a mine site in northern Chile as the industry looks to squeeze out more metal from lower quality ore.
Ceibo and firms such as Jetti Resources LLC and Rio Tinto Group’s Nuton venture are looking to roll out catalysts for liberating copper from low-grade ore that miners previously saw as too expensive and difficult to process.
Source – Mining.com
Copper cathode – is high quality copper that is produced through the process of electrolysis.
Electrolysis – is an electric current that passes through a substance to have a chemical change.
