#Gold Needs to Catch a Bid, but #Seasonality Isn’t On Its Side

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“You can’t have #GreenEnergy without #Mining.” There aren't enough raw materials being produced to replace millions of ICE vehicles with #EVs

“You can’t have green energy without mining,” Mark Senti, chief executive of Florida-based rare earth magnet company Advanced Magnet Lab Inc. “That’s just the reality.”

Rare earth magnets are used to make a range of consumer electronics as well as precision-guided missiles and other weapons.

Two sources familiar with White House deliberations on domestic mining told Reuters that Biden plans to allow mines that produce EV metals to be developed under existing environmental standards, rather than face a tightened process that would apply to mining for other materials, such as coal.

Biden is open to allowing more mines on federal land, the sources said, but won’t give the industry carte blanche to dig everywhere. That will likely mean approval of mines for rare earths and lithium, though certain copper projects – including a proposed Arizona copper mine from Rio Tinto Plc opposed by Native Americans - are likely to face extra scrutiny, the sources said.

#Canada’s #Gold Miners at the forefront of West #Africa’s #Mining Development

Canadian miners dig deeper in West Africa

An artisanal miner climbs out of a gold mine at the unlicensed mining site of Nsuaem Top in Ghana, November 24, 2018. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Mining firms large and small are exporting the expertise gained in their home market to Francophone West African countries where governments are keen to boost their revenue. Canada is home to gold giants like Barrick Gold, as well as minnows that are far from being household names.

"West Africa has more potential than any other region in the world. Its geology is similar to that of northern Ontario, Quebec or Western Australia – exceptionally prolific belts," says Richard Young, head of the Canadian mining group Teranga Gold Corporation, which is active in Senegal and Burkina Faso.

The region is the third-richest gold-bearing zone in the world, after Australia and Canada. The Covid-19 pandemic has helped boost the gold price, as many investors sought safe havens for their money. The price briefly broke the $2,000/oz barrier in August 2020, before returning to the high $1,800s in November.

Three countries in the region are now among the top five African gold producers, starting with Ghana, which has become the continent's largest producer with 142tn mined in 2019. This puts it ahead of South Africa (118tn), Sudan (76tn), Mali (61tn, with 15 industrial mines in operation) and Burkina Faso (51tn, 14 mines).

Who is interested?

Although, according to experts, the region is still largely underexplored,