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- Metals Mixed as US Markets Swing Wildly
Metals Mixed as US Markets Swing Wildly
Hong Kong hit with worst day this century while investors sold gold for dollars
The Pre-Start
West African produced 50koz & averaged a US$2,832/oz sales price. Stockpiles grew by 20koz with costs not yet reported (WAF)
Gold Road has reviewed the Gruyere underground scoping study, which outlines capex of $588m (100%), and has given it confidence to provide an exploration target of 1-1.5Moz @ 1.2-1.47g/t (50%) (GOR) Defense strategy 101?
Ivanhoe produced 133kt of Cu at KK, while securing 20MW of additional imported hydro power & with a further 30MW expected imminently, allowing start-up of its direct-to-blister smelter next month (IVN.TSE) Up 8%
Genesis group reserves grew 12% to 54Mt @ 2.1g/t for 3.7Moz, with a maiden 370koz reserve at Westralia. Reserves based on a A$2,800/oz price (GMD)
Boss shared EnCore Energy’s Alta Mesa production update, with 50klb realised over most of March, and the plant operating at its best since restart (BOE)
Deep Yellow has again deferred FID for Tumas, but has re-optimised the project, with 19% IRR at US$82.50/lb U3O8 (DYL) you’ll be scrolling 20 pages before finding the discount rate for the NPV!
Horizon Minerals hired GR Engineering for refurbishment & repurposing studies of the Black Swan plant for gold production (HRZ)
Auric picked up 5 tenements in the Higginsville area (AWJ)
Hillgrove produced 2.9kt of copper over the March Q, up 12% on Dec (HGO)
Stellar hit a new tin zone below its resource at Queen Hill, intercepting 11m @ 1.07% Sn from 327m (SRZ)
Arrow shared metallurgical work from Niagara bauxite, averaging recoveries of 81% from low temp digestion, and 91% at high temp disgestion (AMD)
IGO’s CFO Kathleen Bozanic will retire as the company’s CFO in Dec 2025 (IGO)
Tim Goyder’s Minerals 260 stake is now 6.1% following its capital raise (MI6)
High Grade It
Aussie shares are set to rebound in line with Wall St amid speculation of a pause in the implementation of tariffs, later denied by the White House (AFR)
Yesterday marked the ASX’s largest loss since 2020, closing down over 4% (AFR)
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index experienced its worst fall this century, dropping 13%, while China’s CSI 300 fell 7% (CNBC)
Trump on Monday said he would ratchet up levies on China within hours unless Beijing scrapped the retaliatory tariff it announced on US goods last week (FT)
The EU announced a €12bn investment package for critical infrastructure, raw materials supply chains and energy projects across Central Asia (MNN)
MinRes debt anxiety grows as lithium miners walloped by tariff fears, with its bonds trading at widening discounts (AFR)
China’s central bank added gold to its reserves for a fifth straight month in March, deepening its bet on the precious metal (Bloomberg)
Copper, nickel & gold prices dropped while shares of some of the world’s largest miners fell to multi-year lows following trade announcements (Bloomberg)
Rare earth stocks defied the market carnage as China’s move to restrict exports threatened key industries like defence and renewables (Australian)
Codelco says physical demand for the metal has remained strong amid all the upheaval in financial markets triggered by the trade war (Bloomberg)
Freeport’s CEO said she was concerned about the health of the global economy and the possibility of recession and inflation, hurting margins (Reuters)
Barrick is proposing to change its name to Barrick Mining Corp. — dropping “gold” from the title (Bloomberg)
The world's top energy trader, Vitol, made a net profit of ~US$8bn in 2024, a steep drop from record highs of 2022 & 2023 but still exceeding rivals (Reuters)
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Wheelin’ n Dealin’
Word on the Decline
With so much market volatility, deal-makers might as well take an early holiday. It gets increasingly tough to bridge any bid-ask spread in M&A when markets are turbulent, and good luck raising equity if that’s required to get the deal done!
Does anyone remember the deal hiatus that happened during COVID? Back then, due diligence was compromised by site visit restrictions, and things certainly aren’t that dire.
Deals require market stability, and temporarily, that’s gone. So we’ve got nothing to spread rumours about right now. Sorry…
Do you have some Word on the Decline? Reply to this email or shoot a message to [email protected] directly. We will always take your privacy seriously.
In the Weeds
Tariffs — and What’s Really Driving Them (Ray Dalio)
The full audio recording from Rio Tinto’s AGM, including speech from Palliser Capital’s James Smith (Quatr)
Dryblower: “In gold we trust” - the new US motto (MNN)
U.S. and EU Seek to Counter Russian Nuclear Dominance (OP)
How Europe deals with Trump tariffs will be the market’s next test (AFR)
Forget tariffs, Australian aluminium faces a different problem (MNN)
The Trump Dump in shares - what does it mean for Australia and investors? (Livewire)
China's AI Revolution Reshapes Coal Industry Profitability (SCP) At a 20Mtpa underground mine
Rinehart down $280m (and counting) in Trump market rout (AFR’s Rear Window)
Today’s Top Tweet
Tim Ratliff actually broke the fourth wall and spoke to investors all over the world in this scene
— litquidity (@litcapital)
4:43 AM • Apr 7, 2025
Devil’s in the Detail
As Zijin enters exclusivity with Xanadu, it begs the question whether they were explicitly thinking of the Kharmagtai copper project when making this statement in their recent results call?
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