Gold smuggling into India has spiked ahead of key festivals, government and industry officials told Reuters, in response to record-high prices and a supply crunch. Smuggling of gold into the world’s second biggest buyer of the precious metal had fallen after the government slashed import taxes on it to 6% from 15% last year. However, […]

Namibia’s central bank governor Johannes! Gawaxab called on Wednesday for an extension to a royalty discount granted to Namdeb to help the diamond miner through a protracted global market downturn, marked by falling demand and a supply glut. The rising popularity of lab-grown diamonds and a shift away from the precious stone among younger consumers […]

ANZ on Thursday forecast gold would reach $4,400 per ounce by the end of 2025, driven by mounting geopolitical, economic, and financial uncertainties alongside expectations of Federal Reserve monetary easing. ANZ anticipates gold will peak near $4,600 per ounce by June 2026, followed by a gradual decline in the second half of 2026 as the […]

Shares of rare earths miners rose in morning trade on Thursday after China tightened export controls on metals crucial to the weapons and electronics industries, aiming to limit shipments to overseas defense firms and semiconductor users. The announcement follows U.S. lawmakers’ call for broader bans on the export of chipmaking equipment to China and expands on […]

The rally in European stocks paused on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 dragged down by banking shares, while investors weighed up the risk of a market correction. Wall Street hit fresh record highs in the previous session, as investors bet on gains in technology stocks, despite a U.S. government shutdown leaving traders without some key economic […]

Gold prices held above $4,000 an ounce on Thursday as investors assessed the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal, while broader geopolitical and economic uncertainty alongside expectations for U.S. rate cuts sustained bullish sentiment towards the metal. Silver hit the $50 psychological level for the first time, bolstered by gold’s record-breaking rally, growing investor demand and a supply […]

BENGALURU/BEIJING, October 9 – China on Thursday expanded it export controls over rare earths and related technology in a move to further tighten its grip and dominance on the critical minerals key to the energy transition. Five more medium to heavy rare earth elements – holmium, erbium, thulium, europium and ytterbium – and related material will be […]

Introduction Hedging is a risk management strategy to offset the risk of loss in an existing investment by taking an opposite position in a related asset or derivative, like an option or futures contract. Hedging strategies are essential tools for managing the inherent price volatility in commodity markets. They act as a form of insurance, […]

Introduction The scale of operation significantly impacts unit mining costs, primarily through the principle of economies of scale. In essence, as the size of a mining operation increases, the cost to produce each unit (e.g., a tonne of ore or an ounce of a mineral) tends to decrease. However, this relationship is not limitless and […]

This article was originally written by (Ram Chandar et al., 2022). Concrete is one of the most basic and critical components for any type of construction and plays an important role in building the nation’s infrastructure. Concrete is a composite material which is composed of coarse and fine aggregates embedded in a matrix and bound […]