Unlike most metals, a large proportion of gold's 'consumption' is to hold it as a physical investment. What is it that makes gold a good physical investment, and with gold at its current highs, are there alternative metals, or even any other elements, that could provide an alternate investment opportunity? If so, what are the implications for the mining industry… Read this post →
London's mining scene gathered in force at the Mining Journal's Gold Day. However, we left with concerns about the extent to which gold prices are being supported by investors, and about increasing political risk for gold miners, which is reducing some miners' leverage to the booming gold price. Investor-supported gold Just how much the current high gold price has been… Read this post →
The final stop on our tour of the SE Asian Tinbelt, which started in Malaysia and Thailand, is the current source of nearly one-third of the world's mined tin - Indonesia. Stopping briefly in Jakarta to attend the spectacle of an Indonesian wedding and narrowly missing out on a visit from Indonesia’s most famous former resident, Barack Obama (he was… Read this post →
Considering it has provided most of the world's tin, the South East Asian Tinbelt is probably not as well known and understood as it should be. This visit highlighted the fundamental long-term supply challenges the industry faces and the implications this has for the LME's least-followed metal. Our bullish travel account provides a background on the tin mining industry, a… Read this post →
