Kitco NEWS Roundtable

Last week Barrick Gold (TSX: ABX) announced that it was restarting the Reko Diq project in Pakistan.Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and mining audiences manager Michael McCrae discussed the impact on the senior miner. Podcast was sponsored by Golden Minerals (TSX and NYSE American: AUMN).

Investors want pre-production juniors to merge to attract different and bigger investors into their stories, said Kitco Roundtable podcast special guest George Salamis, president and CEO of Integra Resources. Having recently participated in the BMO Metals and Mining conference, Salamis said a common theme was that traditional investors are tired of being the only check writers to pre-development companies. “They are saying that by consolidating to create a bigger company, perhaps you attract a bigger investor who can write checks alongside your existing investors. There is a bit of fatigue out there,” said Salamis.

The Roundtable looks at why nickel stopped trading on the London Metal Exchange and why development of Simandou--one of the largest untapped iron ore deposits in the world -- was put on hold. Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded the podcast on Friday.

During one of the most serious geopolitical events in decades, gold performed, said Triple Flag Precious Metal's CEO and founder, Shaun Usmar. On Friday Usmar recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris.Triple Flag (TSX:TFPM,) is a gold-focused streaming and royalty company. The panel talked about gold's rise after Russia invaded Ukraine. When the news broke a week ago Wednesday, spot gold crested $1,940 an ounce hitting a 20-month high while Bitcoin lost about 7%."All that rhetoric around Bitcoin and crypto being a new store of digital gold...in a moment like this gold really does have that safe-haven status," said Usmar.

Spot gold hit a 20-month high, cresting $1,940 an ounce on Wednesday, when news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine broke. On Firday Mining Audiences and Data Intelligence Manager Michael McCrae discussed the week's events with Kitco correspondent Paul Harris. In contrast to gold, Bitcoin dropped, losing about 7% for the day and trading under $35,000.

While nickel demand is growing due to energy transition, miners are hesitant to jump in due to an incomplete supply chain, said Lyle Trytten, development manager at Giga Metals and president of Trytten Consulting. On Friday Trytten recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris. Electric vehicle adoption is quickening, and nickel is a key component to make some types of lithium-ion batteries. While nickel traded at a decade-high this year, Trytten said the metal price works to economically build a mine, but there is a missing processing component. "[Miners] haven't jumped in because there isn't a high degree of trust that all the pieces will be there. It's equally about the processing. There no capacity in Canada to actually treat and process the raw materials, so the whole midstream processing sector needs to grow."

Safe-haven demand is pushing gold prices to a three-month high but will rising geopolitical tensions create a sustainable bid in the precious metal. On Monday editor Neils Christensen recorded a podcast with Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures. The guest was John Reade, chief market strategist of the World Gold Council. The three talked about the health of the global marketplace.

Yukon prospector Shawn Ryan said smaller mines are possible in Newfoundland due to the good infrastructure. On Friday Ryan recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris.Ryan is behind some of the most successful discoveries in the Yukon, such as the Coffee project, which was eventually picked up by Goldcorp for over C$520 million. Ryan is currently chief technical advisor for White Gold, as well as technical advisor at GroundTruth Exploration, a 200-person strong exploration firm in the Yukon. "I'm used to working in the Yukon where we're remote, but here remote is 10 miles off the road and 10 miles from a high-powered transmission line," said Ryan. So it's kind of a dream for me, and as a prospector I don't have to find 2 to 3 million ounces to put a mine into production [in Newfoundland]. We're starting to see is these maritime guys put 600,000, 700,000 ounce into production."

While gold and silver are trapped in a range, one market analyst said investors should look at other commodities with a lot more potential in 2022. Monday, in the latest Kitco News commodity podcast with Neils Christensen, editor of Kitco News, and Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures, Paul Robinson, managing director of CRU, presented his top five commodity picks for the year. Robinson said that his U.K.-based research firm sees fertilizer as the top-performing commodity this year. This comes after prices rallied more than 50% last year. He added that rising food prices are driving crop demand, which is driving the need for fertilizers. He noted that in this space, Canadian potash companies should do well in this environment.

While there may be an easing off of copper prices in the short term due to big copper mines coming online, economist Patricia Mohr said demand from energy transition is going to overwhelm in the medium- to long-term and drive prices higher. On Friday Mohr recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris. Mohr was formerly with Scotiabank. Teck’s QB2 project is expected to begin by late 2022. Ivanhoe’s Kamoa-Kakula operation started in 2021 and is ramping up. Kamoa-Kakula is expected to hit peak annual copper production of more than 800,000 tonnes this decade. Despite the new supply, electric vehicles and renewable energy plants require a lot of copper, and existing copper mines are ageing. "[After] 2025 you're going to see a global drop in supply, which will be very frightening because global demand with EV sales is moving ever higher. [Demand] is going to be extremely strong," said Mohr.EDITOR'S NOTE: Modifed QB2 and Kamoa-Kakula to make start dates more precise.

With inflation running hot around the world, gold prices should be well over $2,000, according to Nitesh Shah, director of commodity research at WisdomTree. Monday, in the latest Kitco News commodity podcast with Neils Christensen, editor of Kitco News, and Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures, Shah noted that consumer inflation is currently at 7%, its highest level in 40 years, at the same time European inflation has risen to 5%.

Silver favors investors with larger prices swings relative to gold, said James Anderson, CEO of Guanajuato Silver. On Friday Anderson recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris.Guanajuato Silver (GSilver) is reactivating past producing silver and gold mines near the city of Guanajuato, Mexico. The company currently has two mines are El Cubo, which is currently producing, and El Pinquico, which is advancing to restart."A lot of the investors I've spoken to often say that they make more money [investing] in silver rather than gold, because it has much greater volatility, greater beta. So when silver moves, you can really go to the moon," said Anderson. "But obviously if you come in at the right point."

The gold market still has a path back to $2,000 an ounce even as the Federal Reserve looks to tighten its monetary policy this year, according to one market strategist. In Kitco News's inaugural gold market podcast, George Milling-Stanley, chief market strategist at State Streat Global Advisors, said that although the Federal Reserve is looking at raising interest rates with the potential for three or four rate hikes this year, high inflation pressure means that real yields will remain in negative territory.

The shortage of battery metals is driving up the costs of electric vehicles to the point where car ownership may transition to various types of rental models, said Matt Fernley, editor of Battery Materials Review and Head of Research for Westbeck Capital’s Volta Energy Transition fund.On Friday Fernley recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Editor Neils Christensen and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris.Demand for electric vehicles is up sharply due to a big worldwide regulatory push and swiftly changing consumer sentiment. However, battery metals costs are rising quickly due to supply disruptions and just not enough mines online to meet the rising demand. This week nickel hit a 10-year high. "I think there is a risk that EV prices will have to stay outside the mass market," said Fernley "And that then raises the question: how do you sell EVs if they're double the price of internal combustion engines."Perhaps the auto companies will have to look at different ownership structures. So one structure that's been very successful in China is battery as a service where the OEM effectively sells the car, but they don't sell the battery, and the user—the owner of the car—rents the battery of the company," said Fernley, who points out this arrangement has advantages for battery recycling. Other means of getting EVs to consumers are fleet sales and contracting "...whereby the end consumer, like you and me, doesn't actually own the car. LINKS MENTIONED DURING THE PODCASTGreat Bear acquistion disclosuresHow High Could Lithium Go by Matt FernleyEDITOR'S NOTE: we are changing the podcast format. Neils Christensen will be starting his own macro-focused podcast. Paul Harris and Michael McCrae will concentrate on mining. Both podcasts will be published in this feed in the coming weeks.DISCLOSURE NOTE: Podcast guest Matt Fernley mentioned Atlantic Lithium during the podcast. He holds stock in the company.

Red hot nickel may be coming back to earth, according to Reuters. On Saturday Michael McCrae recorded a solo Kitco Roundtable looking at the past week's metal and mining news. On Friday nickel prices jumped to their highest since 2011 on as a supply deficit ate into stockpiles and electric vehicles gain wider acceptance. Benchmark nickel on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was $22,400 a tonne.However, supply should be ramping up. Early last year Norilsk Nickel, the largest miner of the metal, said that two of its mines flooded, which crimped production. The miner said the issues is fixed and production is set to rise. The Russian miner is set to produce 205,000 to 215,000 tonnes of nickel this year compared with 190,000 to 200,000 tonnes last year.

Copper prices are heading up due to increased demand from energy transition and declining grades at existing mines, said Nolan Peterson, CEO of World Copper. On Friday Peterson recorded Kitco Roundtable with Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae. World Copper is a copper-focused exploration company operating within Chile. "The average head grade of copper mines worldwide has dropped from about 1.6% to below 1% now," said Peterson. "That's been a steady decline over the last 30 years. [It] doesn't seem like a lot when you think about it, but you're basically moving twice as much material now."

This week Kitco Roundtable panelists Michael McCrae, Paul Harris and Neils Christensen picked their top news story of the year, as well as emerging trends in 2022. McCrae is Mining Audiences Manager, Harris is a Kitco correspondent and Christensen is a Kitco editor.McCrae chose the large automakers investing electric vehicles as mining's top headline, due to a firm commitment to battery metals. Christensen said meme stocks and emerging silver were most impactful to him. Looking at top gold deals, Harris argued that Newcrest buying Pretium had the biggest implication for the precious metal space.

The build out of hydroelectric power in the northwestern B.C. is fundamentally changing mining and exploration in the region, said Walter Coles Jr., CEO and president of Skeena Resources (TSX:SKE).On Friday Coles recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Editor Neils Christensen and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris. Skeena is an exploration company focused on northwestern B.C., the Golden Triangle. The region has seen big developments, recently Newcrest's $2.8 billion Pretium purchase in November.Coles said that mine costs and environmental pressures are seeing rapid changes with miners being able to hook up to hydropower grids and give up on diesel."Tt's a massive paradigm shift on the cost side to be able to plug into cheap, clean hydro power, as opposed to using fossil fuels," said Coles.

While big deals in the gold space are getting done, the battery metal space is seeing more aggressive mergers and acquisitions, noted panelist Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae. On Friday McCrae recorded Kitco Roundtable with Kitco correspondent Paul Harris.For much of 2021 Wyloo Metals and BHP Billiton were in a bidding war for Noront Resources, which is advancing its Eagle’s Nest nickel, copper, platinum and palladium deposit located in Ontario. In October Sibanye-Stillwater beat several bidders and paid $1.0 billion for both the Santa Rita nickel mine and the Serrote copper mine in Brazil.The gold space has seen less competition. The year's biggest deal, Agnico Eagle-Kirkland Lake Gold, lacked a premium or other suitors. The overhang of expensive deals from the last decade weighs on gold miners. McCrae also said battery metal producers are paying more since they clearly see a lack of supply in EV space.

While carbon credits have been around about 30 years, demand is finally surging, said Brett Heath, chairman of newly-formed Carbon Neutral Royalty. On Friday Heath recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and editor Neils Christensen. Heath is also CEO of Metalla Royalty & Streaming. Demand for carbon credits is estimated to increase by 15x by 2030 and by 100X by 2050, according to data compiled by Carbon Neutral Royalty. "Carbon credits have been around since the late nineties, so they're not a new invention, but it's the first time we've ever seen this global mass adoption," said Heath.

Technology giants dwarf mining giants, but that can also benefit investors, said Yamana Gold's executive chairman, Peter Marrone. On Friday Marrone recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Editor Neils Christensen and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris. The largest gold miner, Newmont, has a market capitalization of $44 billion, compared to Apple's $2.57 trillion valuation. Fractionally, Newmont is 1.7% the size of Apple. Tech companies have also been attracting more investors. The Nasdaq Composite is up 22% year to date. The VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF is down by nearly the same amount over the same period. Give the gold sector time, said Marrone. "Vacuums have to get filled. The broader investment community has to say: 'Where do I go to put my money?' And if the broader market is trading at 13, 14, 15 times cashflow and precious metals companies are trading at four to five times cashflow, I think it'll find a home. That's where the money will go," said Marrone. When favor returns to precious metal companies, any cash turned on the sector will have out sized impact due to the gold sector's relatively small size, said Marrone. "In some respects, I believe what's holding the sector back .... is relevance. Is it relevant to the broader investment community when everything else is doing well? But when everything else is so big by comparison, that's also the positive."

There has been a succession of mergers and acquistions in the gold space, said mining audiences manager Michael McCrae. On Friday McCrae recorded a podcast with editor Neils Christensen and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris. This past week it was announced that Evolution Mining would buy Glencore's Ernest Henry Mining copper-gold mine in Queensland, Australia, for A$1 billion ($730 million).Earlier this month top ten Australian miner Newcrest picked up Pretium for $2.8 billion. In October there was the Agnico Eagle-Kirkland Lake tie up. If the merger is approved, Agnico Eagle will be a number three gold miner.

Precious metals look good due to the central banks finding themselves stuck "between a rock and hard place," said Gwen Preston, who runs the Resource Maven. On Friday Preston recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris. Preston was commenting on Bank of England, which decided not to raise rates on Thursday. The bank had made hawkish statements in the face of wage and inflation pressures. "I think people are starting to realize that they're really stuck. We still need this liquidity in the global economy to try to keep things going otherwise the gears are just going to grind to a halt," said Preston. "It just underlines what I was saying: that they're stuck between a rock and hard place."

The gold miners have not done themselves any favors with hiking dividends instead of acquiring more assets, said mining legend and entrepreneur Ian Telfer. On Friday Telfer recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris. Telfer has had a storied mining career and was foundational in the creation of Goldcorp and Wheaton Precious Metals. Telfer explained why he didn't favor buybacks or dividends by the gold miners. "The majority of the share buyers are not looking for dividends. They're looking for an increase in the price of gold. I think [the gold miners] should be using that cash to grow their assets and find more reserves and get larger," said Telfer. "The average share buyer I don't think cares about dividends in a gold stock."Panelists on the Roundtable contrasted the weak mergers and acquisition activity in the gold space with Sibanye-Stillwater's buying spree in the battery metals space. This past week Sibanye-Stillwater was top bidder for Santa Rita nickel mine and the Serrote copper mine in Brazil paying $1.0 billion. In September Sibanye announced that it would be spending $490 million to partner with ioneer on its Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-boron project located in Nevada, USA. Earlier in the year Sibanye acquired Eramet’s Sandouville nickel processing facilities in France for $76.82 million, and Sibanye invested $35.46 million in Keliber, a lithium project in Finland.Neal Froneman is CEO of Sibanye-Stillwater. "I love his aggression. One of my comments on our industry is that not enough people are doing mergers and acquisitions to grow their companies. Size matters, especially if want to attract larger investors," said Telfer"My observation of the mining industry--and especially the gold mining industry--is that companies are most successful run by one entrepreneur with one set of eyes and one vision," said Telfer, noting Robert Friedland and Lucas Lundin as examples.Big boards can slow a company's growth "... and the energy tends to go out of it.""Neals doesn't have that problem. He's had such success. His board lets him go where he wants to go and it's working perfectly for him."

Innovation is relentless in the electric vehicle space, particularly around material substitution due to worries about reliability of supply, but original equipment manufacturers need time to adjust to new processes, said Dr. Soroush Nazarpour, founder and CEO of NanoXplore (TSE:GRA). On Friday Nazarpour recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen.NanoXplore is a graphene company, a manufacturer and supplier of graphene powder for use in industrial markets with applications in transportation, packaging, pipe, film, electronics. The company is up 186% to $7.88 a share in the past year. This week Tesla said it is changing the battery cell chemistry that it uses in its standard range vehicles, opting for lithium-iron-phosphate that will cut material cost. Substitution is a concern for battery metal producers, but Nazarpour explains that it takes time for OEMs to adjust. "It's a long process. Normally it takes two to three years for OEMs to be able to change a material," he said, explaining that new materials have to be validated and the supply chain needs to be tested.Nazarpour illustrates with his own company, which he said has sizable market share. "It's a good thing and a bad thing because if we can not supply, there's no second player in the market that can bring confidence to an OEM."

Never mind the current rush into electric vehicles, coming regulations are going to drastically increase EV adoption and mineral demand, said Matt Watson, founder of Precious Metals Commodity Management.On Friday Watson recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris.In the seven months up to July, global sales of electric vehicles were up 150% to just over 3 million units, compared to the same period in 2020, with about 1.3 million sold in China, according to the consultancy Rho Motion and reported by Reuters. And in Norway sales of EVs have been so successful, trends point to 100% market share by spring at the expense of internal combustion engine sales.Consequently battery metals have been on a tear. Lithium is up 159% for the year based on Benchmark Lithium Price Tracker.Watson estimates that EV penetration currently sits between 4% to 5%."I think the message is: you haven't seen anything yet. By 2030 to hit the zero emission mandates that have been put into place by different governments, 25% penetration is needed," said Watson."And then jumping ahead to 2035, then the numbers get really silly. Then you need 62% of the global feet transitioned to EVs.""In terms of total aggregate mineral demand [to build these EVs], it's just outlandish."

A second bad jobs report along with spiking energy prices is hinting at stagflation, said Junior Miner Junky editor David Erfle. On Friday Erfle recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen.The job's report for September was dismal with only 194,000 jobs added last month. The forecast was for a much higher number, ranging from 450,000 to 500,000 new jobs. The preceding August jobs report was also a disappointment.While the jobs report could point to a soft economy, some commodity prices are spiking, notably oil. Reuters reported that Brent crude hit $83.47 a barrel on Wednesday, the highest price for oil since October 2018. A soft economy and inflation are markers of stagflation, which harkens back to the oil shocks of the '70s. "Get out your bell bottoms and your disco records, because that word 'stagflation' is coming back," said Erfle.

Some advanced computers require super-cooling, and that's where helium plays its role, said Desert Mountain Energy's CEO Robert Rohlfing. On Friday Rohlfing recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen.Mining companies have been investing in lithium, copper and nickel projects to meet growing need for lithium-ion battery materials. Some oil and gas companies are pivoting to helium extraction. There is a growing need for helium, which cools computationally intensive hardware needed for machine learning, which is finding its way into transportation and smart-driving systems. Rohlfing's company is up 61% year to date.

With travel curtailed due to the pandemic, consumers are shifting spending to material luxury items, which favors diamonds, said Paul Zimnisky, industry analyst. Early last monthy Zimnisky recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen."If you look at Signet Jewelers--the largest jewelry company in the U.S.--they've raised sales guidance three times this year. I've never seen anything like this before," said Zimnisky.[EDITORS'S NOTE: Interview appears to have not run due to technical issues. We are reprising the episode with some edits.]

There is still a lot ground left to explore and find big new discoveries, said the CEO of Blackwolf Copper and Gold (CVE:BWCG), Rob McLeod. On Friday McLeod recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen.There is a concern that precious metal supply may be constrained in the future without any big new gold projects. McLeod said there are still vast areas that are under-explored. Glaciers are receding, uncovering prospective ground. Technology is also helping find potential new targets. "Are there still world-class discoveries can be made? Absolutely!," said McLeod. "Maybe you can look back in a hundred years and say... we're at peak discovery for new world-class deposits, but I think...there's still going to be a lot more that will be discovered."

The gold sector suffers from a lack of quality projects, said Banyan Gold's CEO Tara Christie. On Friday Christie recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen.Year-to-date the VanEck Junior Gold Miners ETF is off 30% to $17.57. Harris said too many gold companies make the sector harder for investors to navigate. Barrick Gold CEO Mark Bristow wants to see more sector consolidation, according to Reuters. Still, gold prices have been good, and producers are cashed up for acquisitions."I think the bigger problem is lack of quality projects. We need new projects, not just regurgitating old projects," said Christie. "The ones that have marginal projects--why would majors want to buy them if the price of gold goes down?"Banyan Gold is a junior focused on the Yukon. Its 9,230 ha Aurex-McQuesten Property lies in close proximity to both Victoria Gold's Eagle Project and Alexco Resource's Keno Hill Silver District.

Significant milestones for Equinox Gold (TSX:EQX) is production coming online in Brazil and Ontario, said president Greg Smith. On Friday Smith recorded Kitco Roundtable with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen.Equinox Gold is forecasting about 600,000 ounces this year with plans to grow to one million ounces annually. Smith said key milestones will be a mine at Santa Luz with the first pour scheduled for the first quarter of 2022. Santa Luz is situated in Brazil. Equinox is also advancing its Greenstone project in Ontario. A mine at Greenstone would have anaverage annual production of more than 240,000 ounces attributable to Equinox.

The gold miners and juniors are trading at significant lows despite the yellow metal pushing through $1,800 this week, noted Greg Johnson, CEO of Metallic Minerals and chair of the Metallic Group. On Friday Johnson recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and Kitco correspondent Paul Harris. Gold and gold equities were near an all-time high a year ago, noted Johnson. Since then prices have slid with the VanEck Vectors Junior Gold Miners down 28%. "The juniors tend to correct more. They also go up more during the upper legs of the cycle," said Johnson. "We're coming out of a summer...a lot of people checked out. I'm optimistic that we may see better markets in September. The [past] 12 months is quite a healthy correction, and it's presented a real investment opportunity. The podcast also referenced the Financial Review's coverage of Kuniko.

Gold has risen smartly after it dropped sharply at the start of the week. On Friday Stephen Soock at Stifel recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen. Panelists discussed the flash crash, the Fed's pull on the gold market and earnings from Barrick Gold.

Processing rare earth ore has a huge hurdle for most projects, said the CEO and president of Geomega Resource, Kiril Mugerman. On Friday Mugerman recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen.Geomega is investing in recycling processes to recover rare earth waste. Mugerman was asked why it is so difficult to build a rare earth mine. "Separating [rare earth] is very hard. There is uranium and thorium included, so you need to get rid of those. You're dealing with fairly low grades. If you want to produce something you have to produce huge amounts of waste [with] very large tailings facilities," said Mugerman.

Although conditions have improved, the mining sector remains undervalued and struggles to attract capital from generalist investors.However, Chris Donaldson, CEO of Outback Goldfields, said that he is optimistic that attention will return to the mining sector. He added that investors won't be able to ignore the industry when gold prices push back above $2,000 an ounce."We're just waiting for this action to occur, and I think it's coming here real soon. In the back half of this year, we'll finally see some movement," he said.Donaldson's bullish outlook on gold comes after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell breathed new life into the precious metal after he said the U.S. economy has not reached "substantial further progress" to warrant a slowdown of its bond purchasing program.Gold prices pushed to a six-week high following Powell's comments before seeing some technical selling pressure into the weekend.Before becoming the CEO of Outback GoldFields, Donaldson was the director of corporate development with Western Copper and Gold, which is developing its Casino copper and gold project in Canada's Yukon Territory.Donaldson said that the most significant difference between the Yukon and Australia is the climate. He noted that the weather in the Yukon provides unique challenges for junior explorers."In the Yukon, you busted your butt for three or four months trying to get all your drilling and then you wait six, nine months for results. So, there are these big gaps," he said. "Whereas in Australia, I'm happy to have year-round drilling. We have easy access to the property. We don't have to fly in and out; our guys, go home for lunch."As for attracting capital in the mining sector, Donaldson said that whether it's in the Yukon or Australia, many of the criteria are the same. Quoting the mantra of Outback's chairman Craig Perry, Donaldson said that it comes down to "the size of the prize and what is the cost of the test."Donaldson said that he was attracted to Outback because of its location in Australia's historic Victorian Goldfields. The project is located near Kirkland Lake Gold's Fosterville Mine."Eighty million ounces that have been produced there, and geologists believe that with new techniques, there's probably another 80 million yet to be discovered," he said. "I'm a big believer in the Yukon too, so don't get me wrong, but, uh, we're in a more established area, and I think the chance for discovery is higher."

Elevated demand for battery materials due to energy transition makes this period a super cycle, said Battery Materials Review Editor Matt Fernley. On Friday Fernley recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen.Battery materials like copper, nickel and lithium have had big price run ups in 2021. "We are in a super cycle. I define a super cycle where you see a structural demand event tied to a situation where you have tight supply, and this is the very definition of a super cycle," said Fernley.

While governments have been announcing ambitious green-energy initiatives, the private sector has been matching with its own spending, said Ion Energy CEO Ali Haji. On Friday Haji recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen. Ion Energy (CVE:ION) is advancing a lithium project in Mongolia. Haji noted that the Biden administration has plans for energy transitioning spending in the billions. Haji also pointed to GM's June announcement that it was increasing spending on electric and autonomous research. "We've also seen the private [sector investments], such as GM spending $35 billion. That's a significant number, and they're planning to spend that before 2025. So you're talking about four years' worth of R&D--not production, not development, not retrofitting factories--but purely R&D."

With the concentration of nickel in countries such as New Caledonia and Philippines, the nickel supply faces jurisdictional risk, said FPX Nickel's CEO Martin Turenne.On Friday Turenne recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and editor Neils Christensen. FPX Nickel (TSX-V:FPX) is a Vancouver-based junior nickel mining company developing the large-scale Decar Nickel District in central British Columbia.The French protectorate of New Caledonia has been facing political strife as an independence vote looms later this year. Early this century the region's nickel reserves were estimated at 11% of the world's total. The Philippines are also a significant nickel producer but have had a bumpy track record with managing its mining regulations, making the country hard to invest in. Turenne said Indonesia is the Saudi Arabia of nickel due to the amount of supply coming online in that country, but much of the power for the mines in those countries will be from dirty sources, such as coal and diesel. Nickel has become a key metal for electric vehicles and demand is forecast to climb significantly higher. "You have a lot of geopolitical risks that's baked into a nickel supply. Some of the major nickel producers in the world like Canada and Australia...are relatively stable...and tend to benefit when there's geopolitical disruptions," said Turenne.

When assessing his junior picks, John Feneck said jurisdictional risk is becoming more important. On the Friday Feneck recorded Kitco Roundtable with Michael McCrae, mining audiences manager at Kitco. Feneck is president of Feneck Consulting, which helps small and mid-cap resource companies raise brand awareness, as well as providing advice to institutions and individual investors on commodity investments. Feneck noted the tax troubles silver miners are facing in Mexico, as well as the presidential election in Peru. Pedro Castillo looks to be holding the edge in the unresolved election. According to Reuters the 51-year-old schoolteacher has vowed to redistribute wealth and rewrite the constitution. "Jurisdiction is becoming more important, so we're trying to avoid certain areas unless it's just too compelling," said Feneck.

Great sums ready to be unlocked and flow into mining as long as environmental social governance (ESG) issues are addressed, said the founder of Digbee, Jamie Strauss. On Friday Strauss recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with correspondent Paul Harris, Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and editor Neils Christensen.On its website, Digbee describes itself as a on-demand data, research and ESG platform for the mining industry. We offer a free database of in-development and producing mines, objective and accredited peer reviews of mining studies, and ESG disclosure for mining companies.Socially conscious investors use ESG to screen potential investments. Strauss said there are a lot of ESG and impact investing funds who are interested in mining. The resource sector is fundamental to energy transition. However, the ESG investors have not fully commited to mining."They all say to me, 'give us a means to credibly track ESG within these companies,'" said Strauss.Mining has a small market cap relative to other major industies, said Strauss, and a flood of investment could have an out-sized impact upon miners and exploration companies. "You'll get better valuation and ultimately...one of the greatest transformations of an industry."Panelists also discussed gold's drop, the Peru election and Zijin Mining's big milestone at its Cukaru Peki copper and gold mine located in Serbia.

Automaker are being forced into operational roles in the mining sector, said Rho Motion's Adam Panayi on Friday. The managing director of Rho Motion recorded a Kitco Roundtable podcast with correspondent Paul Harris, Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and editor Neils Christensen.To make electric vehicles, automakers are going to need a lot more cobalt, lithium, nickel and copper than is currently being mined. Panayi said large automakers getting into the mining business is "inevitable" since the magnitude of some of the special materials needed is nearly akin to building an "entire sector from scratch." "You are going to need continuing investment in that market for [nearly] the next two decades in order to keep pace with the growth of EVs and other battery technologies," said Panayi.

Gold's slide was stopped by a job's report that was a disappointment but not a complete breakdown, said editor Neils Christensen. On Friday Christensen recorded a podcast with correspondent Paul Harris, Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and guest Luke Alexander, CEO of Newcore Gold.Friday’s nonfarm payroll report showed that the U.S. economy added 559,000 jobs in May, slightly shy of consensus expectations of 675,000. The unemployment rate is now at 5.8%, the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. Gold saw a lot of volatility this week – first falling more than $40 and then climbing back up towards the $1,900 an ounce level after Friday's jobs report drop. "We were expecting 645,000 and we just got over half a million--still a miss. It was a disappointment, but it wasn't the complete breakdown that we saw the other month," said Christensen.Newcore Gold is developing its Enchi Gold Project in Ghana. Before assuming CEO of Newcore, Alexander worked in finance with stints at BMO Nesbitt Burns, National Bank and GMP Securities in London.

People should always have an exit in mind when they invest, said Nicole Adshead-Bell, director at Cupel Advisory. On Friday Adshead-Bell recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with correspondent Paul Harris and Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae. Adshead-Bell has a PhD in geology as well as 24 years of capital markets experience. When investing Adshead-Bell said people should have a target sell price. "My key takeaway is we're all very good at buying. We're less good at selling. [You] might have a paper [gain], but if you don't execute...and extract value from that position, you don't really have anything at the end of the day."

Once again, the gold market has regained its luster as investors moved back into the precious metal and out of volatile cryptocurrencies. With gold price ending the week above $1,850 an ounce, junior explorers should start to see price movements, according to David Erfle, founder of juniorminerjunky.com.

Lundin Gold's Fruta Del Norte is one of the largest and highest-grade gold projects currently in production, and maybe there is a second down the road from the first, said CEO Ron Hochstein. On Friday Lundin Gold's (TSX:LUG) Hochstein recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast with correspondent Paul Harris, Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae and editor Neils Christensen.Opened last year, the 340,000 ounce per year gold mine is seeing some stopes grading 30-40 grams per tonne of gold, said Hochstein. The all-in sustaining cost is $770 - $830 per ounce. Acquired in 2014, the project came with a large land package, which the company is actively exploring. Hochstein said there are two drills turning at a project called Barbasco. "Steve Leary, who was the exploration manager at Aurelian Resources when they discovered Fruta Del Norte, feels that the [project] has all the signatures of another Fruta Del Norte, and it's just seven kilometers away," said Hochstein. The panelists also discussed record copper prices. On Monday, copper hit all-time high of $10,747.50. Copper has stayed above $10,000 level throughout the week. But copper did retreat and was down 1.1% for the week. The other news of the week was Filo Mining, which reported 858m at 1.80% copper equivalent and also a new high-grade feeder zone discovery at Filo Del Sol project in San Juan province, Argentina.The good hole sent the company up 66% for the week to close at $7.57 a share on Friday.

AIM-listed Bacanora Lithium (LON: BCN) announced Thursday it has agreed to a $264.5 million acquisition by its offtake partner, Ganfeng Lithium.The deal was highlighted by correspondent Paul Harris who recorded Kitco Roundtable podcast on Friday with Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae, editor Neils Christensen and special guest Mark Fellows, co-founder of and director at Skarn Associates.This year most of the big deals in the metals space have been battery materials. McCrae noted deep sea miner, The Metals Company, going public in a $2.9bn SPAC deal announced in March. The company is focused on polymetallic nodules rich in nickel, copper and cobalt. In April Lithium miners Orocobre and Galaxy Resources merged to create the world's fifth-largest global lithium chemicals company. The companies said the merger consolidates the group's position in Argentina. The deal was valued at A$4 billion.The Bacanora deal returned focus to the battery materials space after last week's big precious metal M&A: Fortuna Silver Mines and Roxgold combining in a $884 million deal.The panelists also discussed record high copper prices, the dismal jobs report and Pandora Jewellery dropping mined diamonds.

While copper has been sizzling the metal is due to fall back to earth in the second half of the year, according to a BMO Capital Markets report. On Friday editor Neils Christensen, correspondent Paul Harris and mining audiences manager Michael McCrae discussed mining and metal events over the past week on Kitco Roundtable. Special guest was Sean Roosen, executive chair of Osisko Royalties and director at Osisko Mining. On Thursday copper poked its head above the $10,000 a tonne mark on the London Metal Exchange before falling back. The last time copper rose above $10,000 was in February 2011, when it touched a record of $10,190. Elevated copper prices in 2021 have resulted in blow out quarters for the copper miners. The world's top copper producer, Codelco, said profits soared to $1.63 billion in the first quarter of 2021. Teck said its profits were 247% higher, thanks to copper. First Quantum, which had been beating off a Chinese suitor a year ago, said revenues were up 42% and Grupo Mexico, the world's fifth-largest copper miner said on Thursday that its revenues were 40.2% higher.But watch for prices to start coming down, warns BMO Capital Markets in a study released this week. Policy normalization in China in the second half of this year will see reduce frenzied buying for copper and other commodities. Goldman Sachs is bullish on copper long term. It had a study out mid-April calling copper the "new oil" due to energy transition. Goldman pegged copper at $15,000 a tonne over the next four years. The Roundtable panel also discussed the Fed's announcement, First Cobalt and Global Sea Mineral Resources' troubled mining robot prototype.

Lithium miners Orocobre and Galaxy Resources merged this week in a A$4 billion (US$3.1 billion) deal to create the world's fifth-largest global lithium chemicals company. The deal was highlighted by Mining Audiences Manager Michael McCrae on Kitco Roundtable recorded with Kitco correspondent Paul Harris, editor Neils Christensen and special guest Stephen Twyerould, CEO of Excelsior Mining. The show was recorded on Friday.In January Pilbara Minerals finalized its purchase of Altura lithium. Deal was valued at $201 million. Last month deep sea miner DeepGreen Metals went public with a special purpose acquisition company, which valued the new entity at $2.9 billion. DeepGreen, recently renamed The Metals Company, is targeting metals in the EV space like nickel, copper, cobalt and lithium.

Copper's centrality to the new economy makes it potentially destabilizing as countries scramble for more supply, said Robert Friedland who gave opening remarks at the CRU conference this past week.On Friday editor Neils Christensen, Kitco correspondent Paul Harris and mining audiences manager Michael McCrae recorded a podcast with guest Ryan King, Vice President Corporate Development at Calibre Mining. The panelists discussed gold and inflation, as well as rising commodity prices due to energy transition and metals needed to build future infrastructure. The group noted Friedland's remarks, as well as the copper note published by Goldman Sachs.On Tuesday Friedland gave the keynote at the CRU World Copper Conference. He is advancing his massive tier-one Kamoa copper mine in the DRC set to officially open this year.Copper will be key to the energy transition as countries build more electric vehicles powered by renewable energy. Under-investment and lack of tier one mines makes copper a potentially destabilizing force as countries classify certain metals as strategic. At the conference Friedland said copper is a "national security issue." Goldman Sachs also plumped for copper this week. Analysts at Goldman declared the metal “the new oil” and predicted that the copper price would reach $6.80 per pound by 2025.Copper was up about 3% for the week, and as of Friday June copper futures were $4.17 per lb.In February copper hit a multi-year high.Calibre Mining operates the El Limon and La Libertad gold mines in Nicaragua. 2021 gold production is expected to be between 170,000 - 180,000 ounces.