As #Gold rises to all-time highs above $2,400/oz., all eyes are on #China

China's protracted property crisis, volatile stock markets and a weakening yuan are all reasons driving money to gold, says Bloomberg:

Although China is the world's largest gold producer, it still needs to import a lot—and the quantities are only getting larger.

In the last two years, overseas purchases totaled over 2,800 tons — more than all the Gold ETF's around the world, or about a third of the stockpiles held by the US Federal Reserve— and the total amount could be even higher.

And the pace of shipments keeps accelerating. Over the first two months of the year, imports surged 53% higher than in 2023. 

And it's not only privates that are buying.

#Copper: Higher, Harder, Longer

It's getting harder & more expensive to get #Copper out of the ground

Great report from Bloomberg on the difficulties facing the #Mining industry in meeting the growing need for more Copper.

After more than a century of commercial production at Chile's Chuquicamata reduced the amount of ore that can profitably be extracted from surface, two decades ago state-run Codelco began drawing up plans to build a modern underground mine at the site to tap the riches deep below. The company originally envisioned a $2 billion investment. By the time its board signed off on the project in 2014, the budget had risen to $4.2 billion. At the time of the 2019 ribbon-cutting, it had climbed to $5.5 billion. The latest estimate, including related infrastructure, is $7 billion, making it the biggest outlay Codelco's history.

Those obstacles can drain miners' enthusiasm for new projects. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. estimates the industry needs to spend