Tin prices surged on the London Metal Exchange (LME) last week, approaching two year highs. The metal hit US$33,130 per metric ton (MT) on April 11 before pulling back to US$32,000, a 27 percent increase year-to-date. Playing into this trend is speculative buying, with fund positioning reaching levels not seen…
Bitcoin is prone to price volatility, with wide swings to the upside and downside. The most recent upswing comes alongside growing institutional demand for the cryptocurrency as an attractive asset class. Bitcoin’s value has rallied over the last few quarters, increasing from about US$26,000 in mid-September 2023 to an all-time…
The world holds several hundred active gold mines, but not all are created equal. The world’s largest gold operation by production is Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX,NYSE:GOLD) and Newmont’s (TSX:NGT,NYSE:NEM) Nevada Gold Mines joint venture in the US. An important source of gold, the mining complex is comprised of 10 underground mines…
After a tumultuous 2023 that saw prices for lithium carbonate shed 80 percent from its January start value, Q1 2024 was much less volatile. Starting the year at US$13,377.44 per ton, lithium carbonate prices ended the three-month period in the US$14,874,31 price range, representing an 11 percent increase. Strong electric…
Belgium will investigate suspected Russian meddling in European Parliament elections after the country’s intelligence services confirmed “pro-Russian interference networks,” Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Friday. Moscow’s objective “is to help elect more pro-Russian candidates to the European Parliament” in order to weaken the EU’s support for Ukraine, De Croo…
Israel this week has begun to take several major steps to ramp up humanitarian aid to Gaza amid intense pressure from the United States, but humanitarian officials said progress was slow-going and that much more needed to be done, as warnings grew of famine in the Palestinian enclave. Israel says…
Almost all the ballistic missiles and drones Iran launched at Israel in an unprecedented attack late Saturday were intercepted and failed to meet their mark, according to Israeli and American officials, highlighting the formidable, and multi-layered missile defense deployed by the two allied partners. Most of the more than 300 Iranian…
For the past two winters, Ukraine has withstood a barrage of Russian airstrikes seeking to disable its energy infrastructure, plunge its citizens into darkness and use the freezing temperatures as a weapon of war. Ukraine survived the assault thanks to Western air defense systems and energy-saving measures taken by its…
They were abducted from school and held in the depths of the vast Sambisa forest for years. Punished for daring to seek an education, the girls endured forced marriages, religious coercion and physical violence at the hands of their captors. Over the last decade, more than 100 of the 276…
Perhaps more than any other moment in NASA’s history, the Columbia shuttle disaster reshaped the US space agency’s approach to innovation, forever altering how it balanced risk with the call to explore beyond Earth. The tragedy killed seven astronauts as the Columbia shuttle disintegrated upon its return to Earth on…