Latest News
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Ghana bans mining on forest reserves in order to reduce environmental damage
Ghana has banned mining within forest reserves, as part of an environmental protection program aimed at protecting water bodies and halting the deforestation. Africa's leading gold producer, which is also the world's largest, is fighting a "surge" in?poorly-regulated small-scale mining, which is destroying cacao farms, degrading rivers and forests, and increasing sustainability risks for its mining industry, sparking protests. Industrial miners have reported frequent incursions of illegal operators on concessions. This has forced key operators such as Gold Fields AngloGold Ashanti Newmont and Asante Gold, to increase their investments in surveillance drones, security systems, and community engagement programmes. According to data from the government, illegal mining has spread across 13 of Ghana's sixteen regions, including important cocoa belts in Ashanti, Western, and Eastern. The authorities have overhauled the sector, licensing artisanal miners, creating community schemes and providing security to stop illegal mining and gold trading. Introduced in 2022, the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves Regulations) allows controlled mining in forests reserves. The ministry announced in a late-Wednesday statement that the repeal went into effect after a constitutional period of 21 days. It will give the second largest cocoa producer in the world stronger legal tools for protecting forests, water resources and farmland. Healthy forests protect our farms and give life to communities. "Clean rivers ensure our drinking water and future," said Acting Environment Minister Emmanuel ArmahKofi Buah. Daryl Mensah Bonsu, an environmental advocate, explained that the move represents a'major shift' in Ghanaian environmental policy. It restores protections for forest after opening up nearly 90% of reserves to mining. "The repeal will not solve all problems. We have the opportunity to address teething issues arising from logging, farming and to implement a national development program to restore and grow forests for present and future generations." Christian Akorlie is the reporter. Maxwell Akalaare Adombila is the author. Mark Potter (editing)
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Utilities win contracts at Poland's 2030 Capacity Market Auction
Grid operator PSE announced that Poland's main capacity market auction was completed on Wednesday. The closing prices ranged between 465.03 and 511.51 Zlotys ($128.74?and $141.61) for a kilowatt of power per year. PGE, Poland's largest state-controlled utility, said it had secured 1,399.218 Megawatts of capacity obligations. This included 1,097.718MW under 15-year contracts. PGE announced earlier that it would be submitting?its planned power plants powered by gas to the auction but didn't disclose the outcome of those specific projects. Energa is another major Polish utility that won contracts with a mix of one-year and 7-year terms. Enea won a total of 661 MW in one-year contracts, the company said. Tauron, a state-controlled company, estimated that the total revenue could range between 3.83 billion and 4.22 billion Zlotys in 2030-2046. Tauron announced in a separate filing that it would construct a 600-MW gas-fired plant in Jaworzno, southern Poland, after securing?capacity agreements. It said that the plant would cost between 2 and 3 million Polish zlotys for each?MW. Poland is reducing its dependence on coal and using capacity markets to encourage investment. The mechanism helps conventional power plants to produce electricity in times of low intermittent renewable generation. However, under current EU rules, payments for sources with high emissions are "set to be prohibited from 2028." Warsaw called for the creation of a new EU-supported mechanism in order to prevent a power gap that could occur from 2029.
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Silver reaches new highs; gold falls after Fed split vote on rate cuts
Gold edged lower on Thursday, as traders ?weighed the U.S. Federal Reserve's divided vote on a quarter-percentage-point ?interest ?rate cut, while silver climbed to yet another record high. As of 1111 GMT, spot gold dropped 0.3% to $4217.09 an ounce. U.S. Gold Futures for February Delivery gained 0.5% per ounce to $4,244.70. It's simply an over-positioning in gold due to the expectation of a rate cut which didn't?happen. Therefore, you're experiencing some selling pressure," said Ross Norman, independent analyst, adding that gold fundamentals were unaltered. In a rare split vote on Wednesday, the Fed cut rates by a quarter percentage point. However, officials signaled a pause in further easing while they assess?the future direction of the economy and inflation which "remains elevated." Gold is a non-yielding asset that benefits from lower interest rates. After the two-day conference, most policymakers projected that there would only be one rate reduction in 2026. Fed Chair Jerome Powell did not give any indication as to when a second rate cut could occur. Donald Trump, the U.S. president, said that on Wednesday the Fed could have cut rates even more. Trump will announce the new Fed Chair early next year. White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett is considered a frontrunner. Investors will be watching for the November non-farm payrolls data and unemployment rate on December 16 to get more clues about what the Fed is going to do next. Spot silver increased 1% to $62.39 an ounce after hitting a new record high of $62.99 earlier in the session. This brings its year-to date gain to 116%. Silver's fundamentals are still incredibly positive. The critical minerals list is a huge tailwind, and there's a possibility we could see some stockbuilding. This would increase the market's tightness. Norman concluded. Palladium dropped 1%, while platinum rose 0.4%, to $1.662.15. (Reporting from Bengaluru by Pablo Sinha; editing by Kate Mayberry.)
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Cenovus Energy predicts increased production in 2026
Cenovus Energy, a Canadian company, forecast a higher crude oil production in 2026 due to the completion of major oil sands project. The company anticipates an upstream production of between 945,000 and 985,00 barrels of oil-equivalent per day (boepd), exceeding its forecast of 805,000 to 845,00 boepd for 2025. The producer said that it would spend C$850,000,000 on the newly acquired Christina Lake North assets acquired from MEG Energy. The Calgary-based company had previously?stated that its capital expenditure will fall to C$4 billion in the next year as major expansion projects are completed, excluding assets of its high-profile C$6 billion takeover MEG Energy. The Canadian oil and gas producer anticipates that total expenditures will be between C$5.0 billion and C$5.3billion in 2026. The projects will also boost production. By 2028, the output is expected to reach about?950,000 Bpd. After delays caused by a regulatory investigation, the deal will bring one of Canada's few remaining oil sands companies into Cenovus.
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Copper prices rise with Fed rate cuts, but there are concerns about the outflow of US stocks
Copper prices rose Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates. Meanwhile, continued outflows from U.S. stocks of copper'supported concerns about a tighter supply elsewhere in the world. By 1044 GMT, the benchmark three-month Copper on London Metal Exchange had risen 0.8% to $11,646 a metric ton. The metal used in construction and power is up by 33% this year, after reaching a record high of $11,771 Monday, due to disruptions in mine supply and the outflow of copper?to the U.S. David Wilson, a BNP Paribas analyst, said: "The only thing that has caused copper to rally is the perception of the market that tariffs will be announced on U.S. imports sometime next year and implemented in early 2027." This keeps the CME-LME Arbitrage open and attracts the metals to CME stocks This year, copper prices have soared. BNP Paribas estimates there are also over 500,000 tonnes of copper off the exchange stock in the U.S. The visible global exchange stock is up by over 40% on a year-over-year basis. Wilson stated, "This 'idea' that there is no copper is misleading. But this draw of units of copper into the U.S. creates a perception of tightness in the ex-U.S. tightness." He added that the demand for copper in China, which is the world's largest metal consumer, will decline by a single-digit percentage point year-over-year during fourth quarter. Fed rate cuts of 25 basis points on Wednesday were expected and 'pretty well priced in. The yuan hit a 14-month high versus the dollar following the Fed decision. This made dollar-priced materials more appealing to Chinese buyers. Other LME metals saw aluminium rise 0.3% to $2.874.50 per ton, zinc gain 0.7% to $3,000, lead add 0.2% to $1.982.50 and tin climb 0.9% to $42,280. Nickel fell 0.6%, to $14,565. (Reporting and editing by Leroy Leo; Polina Devitt)
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Oracle AI reality test knocks stock prices, Fed cuts dollar
The world stock market stalled Thursday after cloud computing giant Oracle warned about AI profitability. Bonds remained firm, and the dollar suffered losses following the U.S. Federal Reserve's third interest rate cut. Oracle's failure to meet analysts' profit and sales estimates, and its flagging of a $15 billion AI expenditure caused jitters in many Asian and European heavyweight markets. SoftBank, a partner of Oracle in the U.S. Stargate project and a major shareholder in the U.S. company, also fell over 7.5%. Europe also saw a muted opening, with a drop of 2.5% for Germany's SAP leaving the region's technology indices in the red for a third day running. However, the prospect of lower interest rates globally meant that there were gains elsewhere. ORACLE AT CENTRE OF AI SPENDING DELIBERATION Hargreaves Lansdown's Matt Britzman, an analyst, said that Oracle was at the epicenter of the AI spending debate because it lacks Google, Amazon, and Microsoft's mammoth financial resources. Britzman explained that the markets quickly looked past a massive earnings beat driven by an asset sale and focused instead on 'rising capex' and?weak cash flows. This sparked a broader concern about AI investments not turning into profits as quickly as firms hoped. The Fed's decision to lower its benchmark funds rate by 25 basis points, as was expected, to 3.5% to3.75%, in a split decision of 9-3, had traders concentrating on the global rate outlook. Fed Chair Jerome Powell was balanced in his press conference. He said that he did not "believe a rate increase is anyone's baseline case", and new language on "the amount?and timing of" further rate adjustments suggested a possible pause. The euro briefly broke through the chart resistance, and was able to move above $1.17. Alexandre Drabowicz, CIO of Indosuez Wealth Management, said that the bar for a further rate cut by the U.S. in the next few months is now quite high. It will likely be determined based on the state of the job market. He said, "We expect another cut to occur in the first half." Forecasting the second half of the year is "too hard", but with Donald Trump's new Fed chair expected to be in place by May, "it will definitely lean towards more cuts." Drabowicz said, "This is still a situation where we maintain a cautious outlook on the U.S. Dollar." Bonds received a boost after the Fed announced that it would begin buying short-term Treasuries on Friday in order to help support liquidity. Benchmark U.S. two-year yields dropped by 3.52%, while benchmark 10-year yields declined by?about 4 basis point to 4.12%. The benchmark 10-year German yields were down by one basis point to 2.85% after reaching 2.894% Wednesday, the highest level since March. The money markets were volatile in the last few weeks. This led to an increase in short-term interest rates due to the tightening of liquidity. Jack Chambers, Senior Rates Strategist at ANZ, said: "The Fed doesn't want to see this type of thing continue as it inhibits monetary policy transmission." DOLLAR SLIDES The yen remained firm in anticipation of the Bank of Japan's meeting next week, where an increase is expected. In Asia, the yen reversed its recent decline and rose to $155 in trade on Thursday. The euro reached a two-month peak of $1.1707 after Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank, said that another upgrade to European growth projections is possible. Analysts at ING wrote in a report that the next important indicator will be November's non-farm payrolls released on 16 December. They asked whether a low number could keep the market price of two more rate cuts?in 2020 intact. The EUR/USD may not be able to reach 1.1800, but it could still have a run up to that level. The oil prices have also fallen after they rose on Wednesday, following the seizure by the United States of a tanker carrying a banned oil off the coast of Venezuela. This heightened tensions between Caracas and the United States, raising concerns about possible supply disruptions. Brent and U.S. Crude Futures both fell by about 1.2% to $62.15 a barrel and $58.44, respectively. Gold and Bitcoin also moved lower, down to $4,216 per ounce and $90.358, respectively.
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US threatens to cut South Sudan aid due to humanitarian fees
Ammu Kanampilly NAIROBI (Dec. 11) - On Thursday, the United States threatened to reduce their foreign aid to South Sudan unless Juba lifted what they said were illegal?fees? on humanitarian shipments. In a remarkably pointed statement entitled "Time to Stop Taking ADVANTAGE of the United States," U.S. Bureau of African Affairs alleged that South Sudan's Government "imposed exorbitant charges on humanitarian shipments", and "obstructed U.N. Peacekeeping Operations". South Sudan's Minister of Humanitarian Affairs did not respond immediately to a comment request. The U.S. is the biggest humanitarian donor in South Sudan. This year, it has made rapid and 'deep' cuts to its foreign aid. Since 2011, the 12 million-strong country has been devastated by war. Foreign donors have consistently objected to efforts?by South Sudanese officials to?collect tax on humanitarian imports. The U.S. said that "these actions constitute egregious breaches of South Sudan's obligations under international law." "We urge the government in transition to stop these actions immediately. The United States would then begin a "comprehensive review" of its foreign assistance to South Sudan, with the possibility of significant cuts. Since the end of a five-year war in South Sudan in?2018, which killed approximately 400,000 people, armed conflict has continued in large parts of South Sudan. U.N. Investigators said, however,?in a September report that corruption by the?political elitists was the main driver of a humanitarian crisis where most South Sudanese are?facing crisis levels of food insecurity. Juba disputed this conclusion and attributed the country's problems with humanitarian aid to the conflict in Sudan, climate change, and disruptions of oil exports due to the war. Reporting by Ammu Kanampilly, Editing by Aaron Ross and Aiden Lewis
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Construction sector in Germany expects Infrastructure Fund to drive turnaround
The construction industry in Germany, which has been mired in crisis for many years, is about to 'a'revive, according to the main trade association of the sector. This comes as the German government pours hundreds of billions into a massive plan of infrastructure renewal. The Central Association of the German Construction Industry ZDB forecasts that the sector will see a real increase of 0.6% in turnover this year. This would reverse three years of decline and be followed by an explosive 2.5% growth in 2026. The forecast is for revenues to reach 168 billion euros ($196.61billion) in 2025. This represents a nominal increase of 3% from the year before, and 178?euros by 2026. The INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDS will boost the construction sector ZDB President Wolfgang Schubert Raab stated that "the construction industry has reached its lowest point," pointing out special funds from the 500 billion-euro package for modernising infrastructure as the main driver. After years of falling?figures the confidence in the construction industry is finally returning. The association stated that state investment would primarily drive growth in civil engineering. However, conditions are improving in residential construction. A ZDB survey of 1 500 construction companies found that 56% rated their current business as satisfactory or good. Nearly 70% of respondents expect the situation to be stable or improve in the next few months, compared to just over a half-year earlier. RESIDENTIAL SECTOR TO EXPECT GROWTH FROM 2026 ZDB projects a turnover in'residential construction' of just over 54 billion euros by 2025. This represents a real decline of 4%, after inflation, from the previous year. In 2026 however, revenue is expected to increase to?56.3bn euros, which represents a 1.6% real growth. The association anticipates that between 225,000 and 235,000 housing units will be completed by 2025. This is down from 252,000 units in 2024. Next year, the number of units should drop to between 215,000 and 222,000. The number of new building permits fell by 27% in the year 2023, and another 17% in the following year. ZDB stated that "due to long lead times we don't expect positive numbers until 2027."
Canada - Sept 10
The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not confirmed these stories and does not attest their accuracy.
THE WORLD AND MAIL
- A union of Canada's property and casualty market associations asked insurance regulators to establish a more cohesive licensing regime, after four severe weather events this summer season saw a spike in natural-disaster claims in the country.
- Swedish battery maker Northvolt AB said it is proceeding with its task in Saint-Basile-le-Grand near Montreal, including it would also shrink its operations in Europe and cut jobs amidst a slowdown in international electric-vehicle demand.
- U.S.-based financial investment company Daventry Group LP has urged Kinaxis to put itself up for sale, calling the Canadian software application business a high quality asset that many purchasers would pay a healthy premium to own.
NATIONAL POST
- The Liberal Celebration on Monday said former reserve bank governor Mark Carney will chair a task force on economic growth, as the Liberal caucus is set to fulfill in Nanaimo, British Columbia today.
- Canadian miner Solaris Resources Inc. is moving its headquarters to Quito, the capital of Ecuador, simply months after terminating a $130 million financial investment from China-based Zijin Mining Group.
(source: Reuters)