2023.01.18 The United States’ reputation as a free-trading nation is under attack from forces inside the White House. The turn to protectionism under the Biden administration is a much quieter…
2022.12.08 Over the past year, relentlessly rising interest rates (because of the global fight on inflation), are putting pressure on borrowers, who are reportedly deeper in the red than ever…
2022.11.23 Ask yourself, “when is the best time to invest in nickel?” While you mull over that question here are five facts: Nickel is currently unloved. While nickel prices shot higher in…
2022.10.19 For more than a year, the US dollar has been gaining strength relative to other currencies, including the euro, yen, yuan and Canadian dollar. On Sept. 1 the US…
2022.10.14 This year has seen a correction in the gold price, commensurate with rising interest rates/ bond yields, and the spectre of more to come. The precious metal has also…
2022.10.04 Nickel deposits come in two forms: sulfide or laterite. About 60% of the world’s known nickel resources are laterites, which tend to be in the southern hemisphere. The remaining…
2022.09.28 Copper is one of the most important metals with more than 20 million tonnes consumed each year across a variety of industries, including building construction (wiring & piping,) power…
2022.09.21 The move away from fossil-fuel-powered vehicles to EVs run on batteries is happening in almost every country. Governments are spending billions on EV charging infrastructure and subsidies to incentivize…
2022.07.23 Recently, attention has turned to the shortfall of raw materials that is limiting the production of electric vehicles. Simon Moores, the influential CEO of Benchmark Minerals Intelligence, has said…
2022.06.29 Last week was a bad one for mining & metals. Amid fears of an industrial slowdown across major economies, the metals sector is on track for its biggest quarterly…
2022.06.23 Inflation is at a 40-year high, making commodities, which protect investments from rising prices and currency debasement, a good place to park your hard-earned cash. Some investors like to…
2022.06.09 Last month, we reported that Tesla, the largest electric vehicle manufacturer, was removed from the S&P 500 ESG Index, due to claims of racial discrimination and crashes linked to its…
2022.06.08 Dirt. We spit on it, kick it off our shoes, wash it from our pets. But in the end, what’s more important than soil needed to grow our food?…
2022.06.02 We all know Elon Musk just doesn’t shy away from blockbuster deals when it comes to realizing the wildest of his ambitions. No, we’re not talking about the Tesla…
2022.05.31 With inflation in the US reaching its highest in 40 years, there is no better time to go “all in” on commodities, a well-known hedge against rising prices. Those…
2022.05.20 As shareholders demand that companies place more emphasis on environmental, social and governance (ESG), the mining industry has had to overcome an often-checkered past regarding these issues. For many…
2022.04.29 In our last article, we discussed a proposed new economic model for China, Modern Monetary Theory. MMT is not only a means for China to build a manufacturing base…
2022.04.27 Modern Monetary Theory, or MMT, posits that rather than obsessing about how large a country’s debt has grown, and the ongoing annual deficits that fuel debt, focus should instead…
2022.04.24 In our last article, ‘If it can’t be grown it must be mined’ (link) we looked at how mining is essential for maintaining our modern way of life, dramatically…
2022.04.22 A recession is what results when an economy stops growing. The National Bureau of Economic Research, the group entrusted to call the beginning and end dates of a recession,…
2022.04.14 The new “commodities super-cycle” touted by many including Goldman Sachs, may be tied to the infrastructure deficits many countries need to try and reduce, along with the global threat…
2022.03.16 It is 2050. Beyond the emissions reductions registered in 2015, no further efforts were made to control emissions. We are heading for a world that will be more than…
2022.03.14 The Arab Spring refers to a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. Largely a response to corruption…
2022.03.11 Copper The global copper supply crisis is getting deeper with each passing day. Even disregarding the military crisis in Europe and the piling sanctions against Russia that have rocked…
2022.03.09 The war in Ukraine has lit a fire under commodities and none is hotter than nickel. As Russian forces continued to pummel Ukrainian cities, Tuesday, nickel trading was suspended…
2022.03.03 In a previous article we discussed how a number of electrification metals are in play following Russia’s attack on Ukraine, including nickel, cobalt and palladium. Russia is the third…
2022.02.23 Weeks of failed diplomacy over a potential invasion of Ukraine resulted in Russia’s decision, over the weekend, to recognize the independence of two Russia-backed breakaway separatist areas in Eastern…
2022.02.12 Commodities are considered one of the best places to park investment capital during inflationary periods. The reason is simple. As demand for goods and services rise, so do their…
2022.02.05 We have come to terms that a global transition to clean energy is the way forward in our fight against climate change. But such “green transition” would not come…
2022.01.25 Renforth Resources’ (CSE:RFR, OTCQB:RFHRF, FSE:9RR) Surimeau project in Quebec hosts several target areas for industrial metals (nickel, copper, zinc, cobalt) located south of the Cadillac Break, a major regional…
2022.01.24 As the world transitions from fossil-fueled “ICEs” to battery-powered electric vehicles, the internal combustion engine is unlikely to be resigned to the scrap heap, just yet. Gasoline vehicles and…
2022.01.12 By giving investors exposure to palladium and nickel, primarily, but also copper, cobalt and platinum, we at AOTH think Palladium One (TSXV:PDM, OTC:NKORF, FSE:7N11) ranks as one of the…
2022.01.07 The United States and its allies, such as Canada, the UK, the European Union, Australia, Japan and South Korea, face a dilemma when it comes to the global electrification…
2021.12.07 What does it mean to go hungry? The United Nations says hunger is when populations experience severe food insecurity, meaning they go for days without eating due to lack…
2021.11.17 Range anxiety and sticker shock are the two biggest hurdles to electric vehicles reaching price parity and eventually overtaking sales of traditional “ICE” vehicles fueled by gasoline or, increasingly…
2021.11.13 A story to follow over the next decade is how the clean energy transition would dictate the global markets. According to the latest Reuters analysis, automakers worldwide are planning…
2021.11.12 A lot of our recent focus has been on the copper market, and rightly so. Copper has become one of the main commodities leading the global energy transition. While…
2021.11.05 The US Federal Reserve has done what market participants widely expected it would do, on Wednesday approving plans to begin scaling back its bond-buying program this month, and end…
2021.11.04 Regarding all of the mined commodities, copper stands out as more bullish than the others, owing to tight supply conditions matched against explosive future demand. Copper’s widespread use in…
2021.11.03 Regarding all of the mined commodities, copper stands out as more bullish than the others, owing to tight supply conditions matched against explosive future demand. Copper’s widespread use in…
2021.10.09 Commodities are considered one of the best places to park investment capital during periods of rising inflation. The reason is simple. As inflation rises, commodity prices rise and miners…
2021.10.05 The news from Renforth Resources (CSE:RFR, OTCQB:RFHRF, FSE:9RR) keeps getting better, with the Central Canada-focused company releasing a fresh set of assays from its Surimeau battery metals play in…
2021.09.15 “Nature abhors a vacuum” is a familiar maxim in science. It means that empty spaces are un-natural as they go against the laws of physics. The saying could equally…
2021.08.26 Nickel, traditionally used to make stainless steel, is now taking center stage in the global push towards electrification. The metal is often used as cathode material in the lithium-ion…
2021.08.23 Commodities are considered one of the best places to park investment capital during periods of rising inflation. The reason is simple. As demand for goods and services rise, so…
2021.08.09 Where should a smart investor park their savings in this current market, where stocks are expensive and continued low interest rates make income-yielding investments a joke? In a word:…
2021.08.06 If rising food prices are ruining your appetite, you’re not alone. Costs of a number of grocery staples have been rising all year, including some that haven’t gone up…
2021.07.30 Palladium One continues to outline a high-grade nickel system at its Tyko Ni-Cu-PGE project in Ontario, where a second-phase drill program started in April and a recently announced expansion…
2021.07.27 While there is little we can do to prevent climate change — the Earth is going to continue to warm until it isn’t — we can do our part…
2021.07.24 Exciting drill results have become a norm for Renforth Resources Inc. (CSE: RFR) (OTCQB: RFHRF) (FSE: 9RR) as it continues to explore the areas surrounding the mineral-rich Cadillac Break…
2021.07.20 Heads of state gathered on Dec. 12, 2015, for the 21st conference of the parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). When the Paris agreement,…
2021.07.01 Palladium One Mining (TSXV:PDM, OTC:NKORF, FSE:7N11) is exploring for platinum group elements (PGEs) in north-central Finland, and for nickel, copper and PGEs on the shores of Lake Superior, in…
2021.06.28 As countries continue to vaccinate their populations, and infections drop due to earlier lockdowns, travel restrictions and social distancing, economies are slowly re-opening, stoking demand for cars, electronics, clothing,…
2021.06.25 The new “green economy” rejects dirty sources of energy and transportation, namely coal, oil, and natural gas. Instead, it relies on carbon-friendly modes of transport and energy production, including…
2021.06.21 Palladium One continues to outline a high-grade nickel system at its Tyko Ni-Cu-PGE project in Ontario, where a second-phase drill program started in April. Notable for its high nickel tenor,…
June 18, 2021 The lithium-ion battery has evolved over the years, incorporating new chemistries for different applications and increased performance. There are now six types of Li-ion chemistries, all of…
June 15, 2021 China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), first proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, is a “belt” of overland corridors and a “road” of shipping lanes. The…
2021.06.11 What’s the point of making supposedly “green” battery components when the refining process is so dirty? The mining industry may have achieved progress in recent years regarding environmental, social…
2021.06.08 There are two kinds of nickel deposits in the world, sulfides and laterites, but only nickel sulfides can be easily (and inexpensively) processed to create battery-grade nickel used in…
2021.06.04 China says it has found a way to make “green” nickel chemical for EV batteries from nickel laterite deposits in Indonesia that could help to alleviate the coming supply…
2021.06.02 China says it has found a way to make “green” nickel chemical for EV batteries from nickel laterite deposits in Indonesia that could help to alleviate the coming supply…
2021.05.31 A number of happenings in the copper market conspired to elevate the spot price beyond $4.60 a pound on Thursday, confirming Ahead of the Herd’s suspicions that a new…
2021.05.27 Joe Biden’s position on mining has always been murky. Publicly the veteran Senator turned US President says all the right things to show mine workers he is on their…
2021.05.23 Alongside management and location, country risk is one of the most important factors to consider in deciding whether to invest in a mining property. Resource nationalism is the tendency…
2021.05.21 If you needed upwards of 50 million tonnes of copper over the next five years, and had very little production of your own, what would you do? I’m thinking…
2021.05.07 In China’s Inner Mongolian city of Baotou, dozens of pipes churn out a torrent of thick black chemical waste that flows into an artificial lake filled with toxic sludge….
2021.05.05 The demand for “green” metals is pinned on bets that more aggressive climate pledges will accelerate the proliferation of solar panels, wind turbines and electric cars. Beyond electrification and…
2021.05.02 Tin is traditionally used as a solder and for tin plating of other metals, but it has also become a key metal in new applications such as autonomous and…
2021.04.27 The United States is back in the fold of countries pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and that is helping to drive demand for an assemblage of metals that…
2021.04.11 In late January mining analysts Mike Kozak and Matthew O’Keefe of Cantor Fitzgerald wrote in a research note: “The adage of ‘if it can’t be grown it must be…
2021.03.12 Mainstream media and the large mining companies are finally catching on to what we at AOTH have been saying for the past two years: the copper market is heading…
21.02.27 Industrial metals are on an absolute tear with no signs of slowing down. Investors are betting on the global economy to inevitably recover from the pandemic, buoyed by massive…
2021.02.19 Nickel is an interesting metal to watch, considering the challenges that nickel mining companies face in ramping up production to meet skyrocketing demand for high-purity nickel required in electric…
2021.02.10 The challenges most countries are facing right now are daunting. Not only do they need to have a plan for recovering from covid-19, the supply chains that have been…
2020.12.23 The next time you crack open a can of beer, you might want to think about tin. The silvery metal with a faint yellow hue goes into 25% of…
2020.12.02 In 2018, before the trade war between the US and China put the boots to copper demand, and covid-19 mine closures/ abandoned expansion plans crimped supply, we made a…
2020.09.30 Some of the largest mines in Canada have been developed from volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposits. These deposits are extremely sought after for mining because they usually contain a…
2020.06.06 The sharp drop in equity markets owing to the coronavirus has triggered a buying opportunity for mining companies, eager to replenish their falling reserves during a time when sought-after…
2020.04.14 “Today the House of Representatives has taken an historic step toward continued prosperity in America, reform in China, and peace in the world. . . it will open new…
2020.04.06 As I write and you read, the world economy is getting pummeled, one blow after another, by demand destruction, as economies grind to a screeching halt due to unprecedented…
2020.03.17 Stock markets rebounded on Tuesday, after the White House announced further measures to help Americans and companies hurt by the coronavirus pandemic. The Trump Administration is reportedly considering sending…
2020.02.12 The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is finally doing something about cobalt mining, a sector whose reputation has been sullied by illegality, child labor, accusations of modern-day slavery, and…
2020.02.09 As the third most-consumed metal on earth, behind iron and aluminum, copper is all around us. Found naturally in the earth’s crust, copper was among the first metals used…
2020.02.01 Every fiscal quarter the World Gold Council puts out a wonderful little report on the gold market, that is made into an article by just about every mining news…
2020.01.28 One of the most prevalent current trends concerning mined commodities is the shift, driven by the effort to reduce our carbon footprint, is towards the electrification of the global…
2020.01.22 Good ol’ boots-on-the-ground prospecting by Max Resource (TSX-V:MXR) geologists has borne some sweet fruit in the form of a major discovery within its Cesar block of claims north of…
2020.01.15 Area plays, where one company makes a discovery then other companies rush in to stake all around them, are at the very foundation of junior markets. Some noteworthy area…
2020.01.04 Another year of covering commodities and select junior mining stocks is all but done and dusted. We’ve seen palladium prices more than double those of platinum, its sister metal,…
2019.12.17 The copper price was holding steady at $2.79 per pound, Monday, just four cents shy of a seven-month high ($2.83/lb) reached Friday, on news of a partial trade deal…
2019.12.07 Imagine a world without copper. Or a world in which copper is so rare, therefore so expensive, that products made with are beyond the reach of the average consumer….
2019.11.23 Canada has long enjoyed a reputation as one of the world’s leading nickel-mining nations. The base metal used in the production of stainless steel, and increasingly, in nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA)…
2019.11.13 An irrefutable truth right now is the global shift towards the electrification of the transportation system (cars, trucks, buses, trains) as governments, businesses and ordinary folk realize that reducing…
2019.11.06 As it has done with cobalt, graphite and rare earths, China appears to be locking up the nickel market. Nickel’s top producer, Indonesia, in early September decided to accelerate…
2019.10.31 The 1960s and 70s were decades of incredible social upheaval. Fed up with wars, governments out of touch with their ideals, authority figures who didn’t get them, the “flower…
2019.10.31 The 1960s and 70s were decades of incredible social upheaval. Fed up with wars, governments out of touch with their ideals, authority figures who didn’t get them, the “flower…
2019.10.22 Copper prices surged to a one-month high on Monday, on potential supply disruptions owing to violent protests in Chile over a proposed law, now suspended, that would raise the…
2019.09.25 Despite evidence of a slowing economy, shipments of raw materials are gliding across Chinese docks at a torrid pace, especially metals, which form the backbone of China’s industrial supply…
2019.09.21 The sun is up The sky is blue All I want to say to you Is that I wish your mine were mine Nickel prices are holding steady as…
2019.08.31 Indonesia is advancing a 2022 deadline for banning the export of mineral ores, including nickel, has prompted a massive surge in the price of the metal used mostly for…
2019.07.25 In the spring of 2018 Tesla came out with a bold prediction: bringing the amount of cobalt used in their Model 3 battery cells down to zero. “Cells used…