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Kyrgyzstan begins mining gold at Kumtor deposit after nationalisation
Kyrgyzstan began underground gold mining in Kumtor on Wednesday. The government estimated that the deposit could contain up to 147 metric tonnes of gold. Sadyr Japarov is a nationalist and populist president of Kyrgyzstan. He nationalised the mine, which was owned by Canada's Centerra Gold, in 2021 after years of legal disputes. Since then, the mine has brought in more than $3.4 billion to the government. Japarov’s press service stated in a statement that approximately 1,600 metres had been dug of tunnels so far in Kumtor. The state's balance sheet now includes 147 tons worth of geological gold reserves. Gold has been trading at record levels above $3,000 per troy ounce. According to the government, Kyrgyzstan plans to process the Kumtor Tailings Pond, which contains over 100 tons of gold. Kumtor, located in eastern Kyrgyzstan, about 50 km from the Chinese border was developed by Centerra Gold. The company began mining in Kumtor in 1997. Kyrgyzstan reduced production at the Kumtor deposits to 12.6 tonnes last year from 13.6 tonnes in 2023.
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Report highlights tensions within the Mali military regarding Wagner mercenaries
A new report found that Russian private mercenary activities in Mali caused resentment among the West African nation’s army and military leadership, led to security lapses and did not yield any mining concessions. The Wagner group started operating in Mali in the wake of two military coups that took place in 2020 and 21. These coups ejected French forces and United Nations troops who had been fighting Islamist insurgents since a decade. Africa Corps, the Kremlin's paramilitary organization, announced that it would remain in place after Wagner announced its departure. According to Telegram chats by Russian mercenaries that we have seen, 70-80% the Africa Corps are former Wagner mercenaries. Human Rights Watch, a New York-based rights group, has repeatedly accused Wagner of atrocities committed against civilians while fighting alongside Mali’s army. The Sentry, an investigative research organization, published a report on Wednesday based on interviews conducted with Mali's officials in the finance, mines, intelligence, and military ministries. The report found that Wagner also caused problems for the government and military it was hired to assist. According to interviews with Malian soldiers it was revealed that Wagner fighters "often operated outside of the chain-of-command", using army gear and even carrying out operations without prior permission or notice. The report stated that these missions often resulted in the loss of vehicles, equipment or personnel. The report said that sometimes they left Malian soldiers without the equipment needed to fight insurgents when attacks occurred. According to the report Malian soldiers are resentful of Russian mercenaries, who get "preferential treatments", including medical evacuations which would otherwise be limited due to fuel shortages. Requests for comment from the Russian Defence Ministry or Wagner were not immediately responded to. DESTABILISATION ATTTEMPT Mali has arrested over 30 soldiers and officers in the last month. They were accused of attempting to destabilize the military government. Investigators from Sentry told us that the arrests were made after a meeting of two generals and a few colonels, where they discussed grievances. One was that it appeared that "Russians", who had commanded the military bases in which the suspects operated, still held command. The Sentry's investigators stated that any destabilisation attempts would be at least partially related to the way in which Wagner and Africa Corps treated Malian troops. Officials in the United States believe that Defence Minister Sadio Camara secured the agreement to allow Wagner to operate in Mali. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned him in 2023 for this. The Sentry reported that President Assimi goita had blocked Wagner's ability to obtain mining licenses and concessions in Mali as payment. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned him for this action in 2023. It found instead that "no viable business was established; relations with military... only deteriorated over time; and Wagner’s fearsome reputation had been undermined by a number of military setbacks". Reporting by Portia Crowe; Editing by Mark Heinrich
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The dollar's strength and China's concerns has caused copper to lose its four-session winning streak.
The copper price fell on Wednesday after four consecutive sessions of gains. A stronger dollar, increasing inventories, and concerns about the demand from China, which is the world's largest metals consumer, all contributed to this decline. The benchmark contract for three months on the London Metal Exchange dropped 0.7% in open-outcry official trading to $9,772 per metric ton, after hitting a two-week high of $9,862 Tuesday. LME copper is up 11% in this year. It has recovered from a low of $8.105, which was more than 16 months old, at the beginning of April. Ewa Mnthey, a commodities analyst at ING, said that "Chinese Demand is Slowing Down". Other factors affecting the economy include tariffs and a weakened property sector. The data from China were mixed. Industrial profits in China declined for the third consecutive month in July, against a backdrop that was weak demand and continued factory gate deflation. Profits in the manufacturing sector grew by 6.8%. Alastair Munro is a senior base metals analyst at Marex. He believes that the improvement in metals could be due to a campaign waged by the Chinese government over the last two months, which aims to reduce excess production capacity, including metals. Munro stated that metals are doing well, given the weak macro-economic climate and the dollar's rally. The metals market was also affected by the stronger dollar following Donald Trump's decision to dismiss Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. This move rekindled investor concerns about the independence of the central bank. The dollar price of metals increases when purchased with other currencies. The LME and U.S. COMEX also reported a rise in the number of warehouses. This impacted sentiment. LME copper inventories COMEX stocks, which have risen by 72% to 156,100 tonnes since late June, added another 1,100 metric tons. COMEX stock So far, this year, the number of shipments has nearly tripled. Other metals include LME aluminium, which fell 0.8% to $2.616 per ton in official trading, zinc, which dropped 1% to 2,785, and nickel, which lost 1.1% at $15,120. Lead, however, rose 0.2% to 1,992.50, and tin, with a 0.8% increase, was the highest. Click here to see the latest news in metals.
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Euro stocks calm down after French stock selloff; Dollar recovers despite Fed independence concerns
The U.S. Dollar recovered on Wednesday, despite investors' concerns about attacks on the independence of the Federal Reserve. European shares also edged up after a sharp decline the previous day, and now the focus is on earnings from AI leader Nvidia. Concerns about the independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve grew after a lawyer representing Fed Governor Lisa Cook announced that she would sue President Donald Trump for his decision to dismiss her on Monday. The dollar recovered from its previous session's drop and was 0.3% higher against a basket currency at 1210 GMT. Justin Onuekwusi is chief investment officer of St. James's Place. He said that Cook was dovish in general, even though he believes inflation can be unanchored with a central bank less independent. Onuekwusi said that the markets seemed complacent regarding the risks associated with policymaking. The yield on the two-year U.S. Treasury, which is usually in line with expectations of interest rates, has fallen to its lowest level since May, at 3.645%. The yield on the 30-year bonds, which took the brunt Tuesday's selling, increased 2 basis points to reach 4.93%. These moves have widened yield curves measured by the difference between the two-year and 30-year yields to 128 basis points, which is the widest it has been since early 2022. Trump has repeatedly criticized Fed Chair Jerome Powell, and policymakers, for not cutting rates. Market watchers took Powell's remarks at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium of the Fed last week to mean that interest rates could be coming down. Investors have increased their bets that the Fed will cut rates next month. Traders are pricing in an 84 percent chance of Fed action in September, and expect more than 100 basis points of easing in June 2026. Ben Bennett, APAC Investment Strategist at Legal and General Investment Management said: "I think investors will be more focused on the September rate movement and how that affects the payroll print." The STOXX 600 Index in Europe was trading 0.2% up after a nearly 1.0% drop on Tuesday when Francois Bayrou, the French Prime Minister's gamble to gain support for his unpopular plan to reduce debt backfired. Bayrou's decision to call for a vote of confidence on 8 September has increased the risk that eurozone's second largest economy may soon see another government collapse. After a dramatic selloff on Tuesday and Monday, French bonds have calmed down and stocks are rising. Gilles Moec, chief economist at AXA, said: "The key question is whether we can have a budget before the end of this year." He said that for the moment, the markets are pricing in the same outcome as last year when the French government finally pushed through its budget. However, the market's reaction could change if another snap election is called. Sterling and the euro both fell against a stronger dollar. The euro dropped to $1.1574 - its lowest level since August 6. NVIDIA U.S. Stock futures are trading at around 0.1% higher. Earnings from Nvidia, due later this Wednesday, will be the focus of attention. This will determine how U.S. equity markets, which are heavily tech-focused, and have hit near record highs will trade. Investors continued to place bets on global demand for AI Infrastructure, and the company was at the forefront of the market recovery since April's lows. In July, the company crossed the $4 trillion mark to become the most valuable company in the world. Options traders have priced in a swing of $260 billion in Nvidia’s market value following the company’s earnings report. The firm’s business in China, which will be closely monitored after a profit-sharing agreement with the Trump Administration, will also be carefully watched. The fate of Nvidia’s China business depends on the outcome of tariff negotiations and trade restrictions between the two world’s largest economies. Japan's government bond yields on long-term bonds rose to new all-time records in Asia following a disappointing result from the Bank of Japan’s regular debt-purchase operations. Spot gold fell 0.5% in commodities after hitting a two-week peak the previous session. Oil prices rose, as investors considered the impact of new U.S. duties on India, which is the third largest crude consumer in the world. Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate Crude futures both rose by around 20 cents to $67.43 and 63.347, respectively.
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UN nuclear watchdog returns to Iran but no agreement yet on inspections
Iranian state media reported that UN nuclear inspectors returned to Iran on Wednesday for the first since the country suspended its cooperation with them following Israel's attack on its nuclear sites. The ICANA news agency reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran still had not reached an accord on how to resume full cooperation with UN IAEA monitors. According to the report, he stated that inspectors would oversee the changing of fuel in Iran's Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant. Araqchi made his comments a day after Iran held a meeting with France, Britain and Germany in an attempt to revive negotiations Over its nuclear program - which Western countries say is aimed at the development of a bomb but which it claims is focused on civil projects. Iran said that it needed a new agreement of cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency following the 12-day war with Israel in June, to which the United States joined shortly after. The Iranian Parliament Passed legislation In June, the Supreme National Security Council of Iran ruled that future inspections would require approval from Tehran. According to ICANA, the Council approved the inspection visit. However, "no draft of a new modality for cooperation with the IAEA" has been finalised. He added that "the changing of fuel in Bushehr's nuclear reactor must be done under the inspection of inspectors from the international agency." IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said to Fox News on February 2 that "the first IAEA inspection team is back in Iran," and that the agency had yet to decide how it would resume its inspections. After the June attacks on the Iranian sites, Iran claimed that the sites were not safe for inspection. (Reporting and editing by Toby Chopra; Elwely Elwelly)
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Blackstone to expand Spanish data center project by $5 billion
Blackstone, a U.S. asset management company, is planning to invest an additional 4.3 billion euro ($5.03 billion), in order to expand the planned project of building data centres in Spain’s Aragon. The region is aiming to become a cloud computing hub. The documents filed with the regional authorities show that, in addition to an initial investment of nine billion euros spread over nine years that was announced in 2024 by the world's biggest alternative asset manager, a second phase will be added at the same location, depending on the demand from clients. The company stated that the second phase will take seven years to complete. Blackstone has chosen the same region as tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon, where around 20 data centres are currently being evaluated. Document stated that the first phase will begin in the second quarter 2026. The project would include eight data centres as well as an electricity substation and a photovoltaic plant. The company stated that it has signed contracts to supply renewable electricity for all of its needs. Its cooling systems won't use water, which is a resource in Spain that can be in short supply. $1 = 0.8542 Euros (Reporting and editing by Inti Lauro and Louise Heavens).
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Bloomberg News reports that Newmont is planning to reduce jobs as part of a cost-cutting drive.
Bloomberg News, citing sources familiar with the situation, reported Wednesday that Newmont plans to reduce its workforce as part of a cost-cutting initiative. According to the report, the miner has not specified the number of positions it plans to cut. However, it has set the target to reduce costs by $300 an ounce, which could result in thousands of layoffs. The report stated that Newmont wanted to "be closer in line with its low-cost peers". Newmont reported total costs of $1,593 for each ounce of gold in the quarter ending June 30. This is a metric that reflects all expenses. It's up 2% compared to a year ago. The miner announced last year that it would divest of non-core assets and reduce its workforce, as well as reduce debt, following the multi-billion-dollar acquisition of Australian firm Newcrest. Newmont will have 22,200 employees by December 31, 2024. About 20,400 of them are contractors. Newmont, according to the report, had already begun informing certain staff members about possible redundancies. Executives and division managers held calls regarding job cuts, other cost-cutting strategies, and possibly reducing long-term incentive plans. Newmont did respond immediately to a comment request. (Reporting and editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri in Bengaluru. Vallari Srivastava is based in Bengaluru.
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Aegon launches new Climate Transition Fund
Aegon, a Dutch financial services firm, launched on Wednesday its Aegon Climate Investment Grade Transition Fund. The fund is intended to help investors make the transition to low-carbon economies while also delivering a good return. Why it's Important: The launch of Aegon's new fund comes two months after Europe eased state aid rules to boost environmentally-friendly projects and cut carbon footprints. Green Climate Fund, the largest multilateral climate fund in the world, announced last month that it would invest more and accelerate the dealmaking process to help the poorest nations cope with global warming. By the Numbers: The Aegon Climate Investment Grade Fund will invest primarily in global investment grade corporate bonds. However, it can also include selected high-yield and cash bonds. The index aims to beat the Bloomberg Global Corporate Aggregate Index in rolling 36-month periods net of fees. According to data published by Morningstar in November, the total assets of climate funds will reach $572 billion on September 30, 2024. Key Quote: Rory Sandilands, fund manager at Aegon Asset management, said: "The current market climate - characterised as a high corporate bond yield, resilient corporate fundamentals and a supportive rate cycle - presents a compelling opportunity to investment grade investors." "At the very same time, there has never been a greater need for credible climate change action. He added that the fund was well-positioned with its proprietary climate research, disciplined selection of securities, and proven track-record to deliver resilient returns, while also supporting the transition to low-carbon economies. Reporting by Sudip K. Gupta, Editing by Kirsten D. Donovan
Rio Tinto splits into three units and names a new chief iron ore executive
Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto announced on Wednesday it would streamline its operations into three separate business units: Iron Ore (ore), Aluminium & Lithium (ore), and Copper. Matthew Holcz will be appointed as the head of the consolidated Iron Ore division.
The CEO Simon Trott is seeking to streamline the structure of the miner and focus its attention on its most lucrative assets.
Holcz has been named the chief executive officer of the unified Iron Ore Division, which will integrate Rio Tinto's Western Australian iron ore operations with Canada's operations and Guinea’s Simandou Project upon completion.
Jerome Pecresse will lead the Aluminium & Lithium division, which will include the recently acquired Arcadium Lithium operations, and Katie Jackson, who continues to oversee the Copper Division, will focus on Oyu Tolgoi’s ramp-up.
Rio Tinto will transfer its Borates and Iron & Titanium business to the portfolio of the chief commercial officer for strategic review. Further updates about their future will be provided at a later date.
This review follows on from a report in July that indicated Rio Tinto considered selling the titanium unit due to low prices and returns. The titanium business is part of Sinead Kaufman’s Minerals division.
Rio Tinto announced that Kaufman would be leaving the company at the end October, after nearly 30 years.
(source: Reuters)