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
A man has denied knowing gold he was trying to help someone sell came from a golden toilet stolen at Blenheim Palace.
Fred Doe admitted putting James Sheen, who has previously pleaded guilty to stealing the toilet, in touch with gold dealer Bora Guccuk but said he would “never in a million years” have dealt with him if he had known it was stolen.
Mr Jones, 39, from Oxford, Mr Doe, previously known as Frederick Sines, 36, from Windsor, and 41-year-old Mr Guccuk, from west London, have all pleaded not guilty to the charges they face.
Source – BBC
The trial is still ongoing. Wow! And the “jurors heard the toilet was most likely broken up and has never been recovered.” How will they prosecute these thieves? Will they get prosecuted? Do they have enough evidence? So many questions! I’ll keep this updated. – V.
Mali said on Wednesday it was suspending licenses for foreign artisanal gold mining companies after a series of fatal accidents in the West African country, one of Africa’s top three gold producers.
Gen. Assimi Goita, president of Mali’s transitional government, ordered “the suspension of artisanal mining permits granted to foreigners,” according to a statement issued following a Council of Ministers meeting.
“These measures are designed to further strengthen the state authorities and protect our fellow citizens. These measures give us the power to seize materials (mining equipment), which will be confiscated and placed in the domain of national heritage,” Gen. Daoud Ali Mohammedine, the minister of security and civil protection, said on ORTM.
Source – The Associated Press – Business News
Experts have confirmed that dozens of gold coins scattered across the ocean floor off the coast of Colombia belonged to the San José, an ill-fated Spanish treasure galleon that sank over 300 years ago during a battle with British warships. The findings were published on June 10 in the journal Antiquity.
The 64-gun, three-masted Spanish flagship alone carried as much as 200 tons of treasure with a modern value estimated as high as $17 billion by today’s standards.
The key pieces of evidence were dozens of rough gold coins sitting on the ocean floor. The treasure had an average diameter of 1.3 inches and each weighed around one ounce.
“Hand-struck, irregularly shaped coins—known as cobs in English and macuquinas in Spanish—served as the primary currency in the Americas for more than two centuries,” Daniela Vargas Ariza, a maritime archeologist and the study’s lead author said in a statement.
Source – Popular Science
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
Saudi Arabia’s Manara Minerals is looking for critical minerals projects in Zambia to invest in, the southern African country’s mines minister Paul Kabuswe told Reuters on Thursday.
“They (Manara) are interested, but we do not know which ones yet,” he said on the sidelines of a mining conference in Riyadh, adding that an announcement on a potential mining deal between Zambia and Saudi Arabia is likely this year.
“We no longer want those agreements where we have 10% or 15%,” he said, adding that the government is also holding talks with Barrick Gold, Ivanhoe Mines and Chinese investors on their plans for new projects.
Source – Reuters
Gold prices surged to a one-month peak on Thursday, nearing $2,700 per ounce, as softer U.S. inflation data fueled hopes of lower interest rates in 2025. Spot gold rose to $2,697.45 an ounce, while February gold futures climbed 0.4% to $2,728. Lower rates enhance gold’s appeal by reducing the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets.
Other precious metals saw mixed movement: platinum futures dipped 0.1% to $948.15 an ounce, while silver edged up 0.3% to $31.622.
Copper prices steadied after recent gains, with London futures rising 0.3% to $9,192.50 per ton.
Source – Econo Times