Asia Pacific

Markets/Cryptos/Biz/Culture

January 2, 2026

Bitcoin Never Sleeps Edition

Santa def Grinch

Sydney to Wall Street, New York and Beyond

ASX futures down 31 points/0.4% to 8676
AUD -0.1% at US66.66¢
Bitcoin $88,602.45 +0.87%
Dow closed
S&P closed
Nasdaq closed
Gold -0.5% to $US4319.37 oz
Brent -0.8% at $US60.85 a b

BNB $861.70 -1.14%
XRP $1.8761 +1.93%
DOGE $0.1266 +6.96%

News

Pop Culture

Santa def Grinch

Dream Matches: Fantasy Booking

Santa vs Grinch
Bulls vs Bears
Crypto King vs Mr World Bank
Citizens vs NWO
Neo vs Agent Smith
John McAfee vs You Know Who!
TKO vs Naysayers
Jake Paul, Polymarket and BETR vs Naysayers
Pro Boxing vs Newspaper Reports
VKM vs The World
Paul Bros vs Mainstream Wokes
Mr X vs Mr Bluesky

News

Pop Culture News

Dream Matches: Fantasy Booking/Sports; Media Man Group Dream Match Series; Crack The Code!

Million Dollar Man vs IRS
Michael Wall Street vs Billionaire Ted
Mr X vs Mr BTC
Mr Green vs Mr Cash
VKM vs Easy E
Vinnie Vegas vs Mr Corbin
Mr Corp Merch vs Mr Freelance
Masked Superstar vs John McAfee
Sid Justice vs Mr Blood Diamond
Mr Bluey Chipper vs Street Fighter - King Of The Streets Mr Dotcom vs Mr Wiki
Mr Gold vs Mr Green - Money In The Bank Ladder Match Khan vs Khan - Winner Take All Match
Mr Wolff vs The Cleaner
Mr News vs Mr Vice - U.S Market Footprint Stipulation Mr Paramount vs Mr Netflix
Mr ESPN vs Mr Fox
Mr Kross vs Mr Cardona
Cesaro vs Rollins
Dirty Dom vs Mr AAA
Punks vs Egos
Kross vs H
Murdoch Title vs Title
Mr Black Coffee vs Mr Claudio's Cafe Blend
Mr Warner vs Mr Netflix: Broadway draw thus far! Re-match! Winner take all?!
TMZ vs Riddle
UFC vs PFL
The Oracle vs Cincinnati, Ohio
Mr X vs Hollyweird
Succession vs Billions
Mouse House vs Art House
NFL vs UFL
ABC vs Mainstream Aussies
Reigns vs Blanka
Cody Rhodes vs Joe
E. Honda vs NJPW
Capcom vs Warner
Cena vs ACME
Combat Sports Players vs Father Time
NXT vs TNA Wrestling (Showdown, not Invasion)!
Alpha vs Meta
TED X vs The Others
WWE's Solo vs NYC and Western Australia
UFC Predator vs MMA Predator
UFC Legal vs UFC Bad Egg Betting Disruptors
Bulls vs Bears
Logan Paul vs WWE babyfaces
Santa's Helper vs Grinch
John McAfee vs FBI + + +, Running .... Netflix Wins again!
Killer Kross vs Matt Riddle - Shoot Fight/Wrestling (MLW)! Holliday working web?! Most Marketable?!
VKM vs Numerous!
MLW vs The World
The Big Event vs US Promoters
Storm vs WWE Locker Room. Lash Legend on side!
NXT Gold Rush: Page & Green vs Hendry & Hail
Baszler vs Itoh - HOG Superclash - Nov 15
MSG, NY winning with WWE and UFC in Nov
The Vision vs WWE Lockerroom
John Cena vs Dirty Dom
Miz vs Management
Jericho vs Internet Marks
Mr Gold vs Mr Fool's Gold
Neo vs Mr Smith
PBR vs Others. No Bull?!
Aus Gvt vs Big Tech
Banks vs Cryptos
NVIDIA vs World
White House vs Wokes
Packer vs Devil D
Lucha Bros vs AAA Heels
WWE Black Scorpion/Masked Man vs Babyfaces
CM Punk vs The Hood
Starks vs Oba Femi - NXT Deadline
TNA Wrestling vs Dirtsheets
TKO vs Naysayers
John Cena vs Gunther: SNME
Chris Jericho and Mr X vs IWC
Mr Netflix vs Mr Paramount
Triple H vs (many) Washington Cena Fans!
WWE vs Lucha LIbra AAA - Friendly TKO b2b

News

Best Quotes

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." — Benjamin Franklin

"Bottoms in the investment world don't end with four-year lows; they end with 10- or 15-year lows." — Jim Rogers

Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful." — Warren Buffett

Media Man "Bullish is a mindset"

News

The dollar may defy expectations

The return of American exceptionalism will help the greenback.
The yen will start the new year with interventions, and the RBA with a rate hike. The US dollar ends 2025 with its worst performance in nearly a decade. By mid-September, fears for the fate of the US economy due to tariffs and expectations of Fed rate cuts had caused the USD index to plummet to its lowest level in 3.5 years. However, the greenback then recovered thanks to large-scale investments in artificial intelligence, GDP growth and capital inflows into the stock market. At the end of the year, divergence in monetary policy between the Fed and other central banks caused the USD index to fall. Goldman Sachs believes that the downward trend for the US dollar will continue in 2026, albeit on a smaller scale. The main drivers of the greenback's decline will be accelerating economic growth abroad and lower federal funds rates. The consensus forecast of major Wall Street banks is for EURUSD to rise to 1.2 and GBPUSD to 1.36 by the end of 2026. What could go wrong? A Supreme Court ruling that the White House tariffs are illegal would sow chaos in financial markets and force investors to buy the US dollar as a safe-haven asset. A big and beautiful tax cut bill, coupled with investments in artificial intelligence, will boost GDP and bring back the theme of American exceptionalism to the markets. As a result, the Fed will have less reason to ease monetary policy. The federal funds rate will be cut only once in 2026, if at all. If the factors of divergence in monetary policy and the narrowing gap in economic growth between the US and the eurozone do not work, investors' views on the fate of the US dollar will change radically. History may play in favour of the greenback. In 2017, Donald Trump's first year as president, the USD index weakened significantly. However, in 2018, it recovered some of its lost ground. The yen will start 2026 under the sign of intervention. The government is unhappy with the USDJPY rally, and the Bank of Japan has failed to break the bulls' back by raising the overnight rate to its highest level since 1995. Either a rapid continuation of the cycle of monetary restriction or Tokyo's intervention in the Forex market is required. The Australian dollar appears to be the favourite thanks to expectations of a key rate hike by the Reserve Bank and the Chinese economy's adaptation to US tariffs. (FxPro)

News

Silver stirs up the markets

Precious metal sell-offs shake investors

Donald Trump renews criticism of the Fed

While major global currencies, led by the US dollar, are recovering very slowly after Christmas, the precious metals market has been rocked by a real thriller. Silver and other assets in the sector have plummeted. For XAGUSD, the fall was the largest since the beginning of 2021. The trigger was an increase in CME margin requirements for related futures contracts. This forced speculators to take profits and triggered a pullback. Silver saw a record rally in 2025. The 150% increase is significantly higher than that of gold and other assets in the sector. At the same time, the white metal is still far from the inflation-adjusted price record set in 1980. To return to that level, silver would have to cost $200 per ounce today. ETF stocks have grown by 150 million ounces this year, but are still far from the highs recorded in 2021. The ratio to gold also has room to fall.

Speculators have used these arguments to justify the need for further purchases of XAGUSD. There is indeed serious competition between the US, Europe and Asia in the physical asset market. This is due to the risks of Washington imposing tariffs on silver imports after adding it to the list of critical minerals. However, the silver rally looks too rapid and resembles a bubble, and it is quite possible that it may have burst. After the CME raised margin requirements in February 2021, the white metal collapsed by 43% over 18 months. Other assets in the sector are following silver. Despite the post-Christmas sell-off, gold is heading for its second-best performance in a year in history. The first was in 1979. The XAUUSD pullback does not look like a burst bubble. The US economy risks slowing down in 2026, and the Fed may accelerate the cycle of monetary policy easing, especially under pressure from the White House.

Donald Trump is back to his old ways. The US president said he would gladly fire Jerome Powell as Fed chairman. He said that Powell was too slow to cut interest rates. At the same time, the US administration does not rule out filing a lawsuit against the head of the central bank for incompetence due to excessive spending on renovating the Fed's headquarters. The White House wants to make room in the FOMC for the ‘doves’. This increases the risks of a weakening US dollar. (FxPro)

News

Dec 25

Precious metals rewarded for success

The US dollar is falling as a safe-haven asset amid growing risk appetite
Gold is performing well, but other assets in the sector are looking even better GDP growth of 4.3% in the third quarter did not help the US dollar. It would seem that the strength of the economy, the rise in Treasury bond yields and the decline in the likelihood of the Fed easing monetary policy in March to less than 50% should have cooled the hot heads of the EURUSD bulls. However, greed reigns supreme in the financial markets. The S&P 500 closed at a record high, which had a negative impact on the USD index. Donald Trump was encouraged by the success of the US economy, citing tariffs as the main reason. The president said that the new Fed chairman would cut rates if the market was performing well. Investors should be rewarded for their success. Support from the White House is helping US stock indices, improving global risk appetite and reducing demand for the dollar as a safe-haven asset. In such conditions, high-yield currencies feel most at home. The British pound reached a three-month high against the greenback, and the Australian dollar reached a 14-month high. After the Reserve Bank signalled the end of the monetary policy easing cycle, the futures market began to price in expectations of a cash rate hike in 2026. By Christmas, the start date for monetary tightening had shifted to June, which created a tailwind for AUDUSD. Investors in a Bloomberg survey see the Bank of England's neutral rate at 3.25% and estimate the chances of it falling to 3% in 2026 as fifty-fifty. They are more dovish than the BoE. At their December meeting, Andrew Bailey and his colleagues opted for caution, which supported GBPUSD. Meanwhile, gold has broken through the psychologically important level of $4,500 per ounce. JP Morgan forecasts XAUUSD to rise to 5,000 by the end of 2026 and estimates the scale of bullion purchases by central banks and retail investors at 585 tonnes per quarter. According to the bank, every 100 tonnes above the base 350 tonnes leads to a 2% increase in precious metal prices. Gold has already gained more than 70% in value in 2025 and is heading for its best performance since 1979. Other assets in the precious metals sector are growing even faster. Prices for silver, platinum and palladium have more than doubled this year. Along with strong investment demand, fears about the introduction of US import duties are playing into their hands. (FxPro)

News

Biz Culture News Lead Up

48 + hours ago

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Media Man Favs

TKO $216.11 -1.33 -0.61%
Alphabet Inc Class A $313.56 +0.050 +0.016%
Netflix Inc $94.15 -0.32 -0.34%
Paramount Skydance Corp $13.50 -0.090 -0.66%
Porsche Automobile Holding SE Unsponsored Germany ADR $4.60 -0.040 +0.86%
Mercedes Benz Group ADR $17.54 +0.11 +0.63%

News

Gold

Dec 24

Gold passes $4500 for first time

Gold has surpassed $US4500 an ounce for the first time on escalating geopolitical tensions and prospects for more US rate cuts. Spot gold rose1.5 per cent to $US4504.59 an ounce at 10.38am AEDT, taking total gains for the year past 70 per cent. This year is shaping up to deliver the best return to gold investors in over 40 years.Traders are betting the Federal Reserve will follow three straight interest-rate cuts by lowering the cost of borrowing again next year, which would be a tailwind for non-yielding precious metals. Gold’s haven appeal has also been amplified in the last week by rising geopolitical tensions, particularly in Venezuela, where the US has blockaded oil tankers as it ratchets up pressure on the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Gold miners on the ASX were, however, mixed. Newmont was down 0.5 per cent, Northern Star was up 0.9 per cent and Evolution Mining up by 1.2 per cent.

News

Market Recap

January 2, 2026

Australian Dollar: $0.6670 USD (unchanged) Iron Ore: Bid $104.00 USD (public holiday) Oil Price: $57.42 USD (unchanged - public holiday) Gold Price: $2,659.37 USD (down $3.16 USD) Copper Price: $4.0305 (down 0.0875 USD) Bitcoin: $88,211.47 (up 1.07%) Dow Jones: 48,063.29 (down 303.77 points)

News

Jan 2

NYSE Closed

TKO Group Holdings Inc: $209.00 -5.17 -2.41%

News

Big Bash sell-off will 'kill Test cricket'

Cricket Australia is under growing criticism over a proposal to privatise the eight Big Bash League teams. Former Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings is amongst those to have questioned the proposal; amongst other things, he contends that Australian cricket does not the influx of money that would come from selling stakes in BBL teams. He is also concerned that privatisatiom would be detrimental to Test cricket in Australia, because the new investors would expect top players to prioritise their BBL franchise rather than the long form of the game. Test cricket is already under scrutiny after two of the matches in the current Ashes series were over in less than two days, including the flagship Boxing Day Test at the MCG; the fifth Test starts on Sunday at the SCG, with Australia leading the series 3-1. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Venus rising with Australian Open wildcard

Tennis Australia director Craig Tiley has described Venus Williams' return for the 2026 tournament as a "win for fans and tennis". The winner of seven grand slam titles has not played in the Australian Open since 2021, and she has not competed internationally since 2023; at the age of 45, Williams will be the oldest woman to compete in the Australian Open during the modern era. She has been granted a wildcard to appear in both the Australian Open and the Hobart International. However, Tennis Australia is yet to announce whether Nick Kyrgios will be given a wildcard for the Australian Open, which begins on 12 January. (RMS)

News

Australia/China

China imposes beef quotas, now all eyes on Australia’s EU trade deal

The federal government will face growing pressure to finalise a much-stalled free-trade agreement with the European Union following China's move to introduce import controls on beef. China has imposed a total import quota of 2.69 million tonnes in 2026, which will rise to 2.74 million tonnes next year; shipments that exceed the quota will be subject to a 55 per cent duty, in a move that is aimed at protecting local producers. Australia's annual beef quota has been set at 205,000 tonnes, and Trade Minister Don Farrell says the federal government expect the nation's status as a valued Free Trade Agreement partner to be respected by China. Australia exported 216,050 tonnes of beef to China in 2024. (RMS)

News

Awards

Google Finance wins Media Man 'Business News Website Of The Month'; Runner-up: Yahoo! Finance

The Australian Financial Review wins Media Man 'Newspaper Of The Year' award (2025)

Sky News Australia wins Media Man 'Australian Based News Outlet Of The Year' award

TKO Group wins Media Man 'Entertainment Promoter Of The Year' award

Netflix wins Media Man 'Streaming Service Of The Year' award

Mack Trucks wins Media Man 'Truck Brand Of The Year' award

Caterpillar wis Media Man 'Heavy Equipment Brand Of The Year' award

X and YouTube Tie for Media Man 'Platform Of The Year' award

News, Markets, Biz, Politics, Mining, Media, Marketing, Culture: Australia and World

December 2025

December 1

Markets

Australian Dollar: $0.6540 USD (up 0.0011 USD)
Iron Ore: $105.40 USD (down $1.30 USD)
Oil: $58.55 USD (down $0.55 USD)
Gold: $4,219.23 USD (up $61.79 USD)
Copper: $5.2780 USD (up $0.1155 USD)
Bitcoin: $87,321.17 -3.98%
Dow Jones: 47,716.42 (up 289.30 points)

News

ASX tipped for solid start ahead of GDP data

Futures pricing suggests that Australian equities will gain about 0.1 per cent when the market opens on Monday, following a positive lead from Wall Street. The release of GDP data for the September quarter is set to be a key focus for local investors in the coming week, as they seek guidance on the outlook for official interest rates. Inflation data released last week has heightened speculation that the next rate move may be up rather than down. The S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.37 per cent to close at 8,614.1 points on Friday, and it fell by three per cent in November. (RMS)

News

Nov 28

Gold may have doubled, but miners a gamble

Factors such as its 'safe haven' staus and record buying by central banks have seen the price of gold rise by more than 50 per cent so far in 2025. The share prices of Australian-listed gold producers have also rallied during 2025, and some have posted solid returns over the last decade. However, analysis shows that just 100 of the 172 listed gold miners in 2015 are still in business now. Meanwhile, about 40 per cent of the survivors have posted a negative return over the last 10 years. (RMS)

News

'Bloodbath': Black Friday deals pose a dilemma for small business

Australians are expected to spend nearly $7bn over the four days of the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, and up to $39bn over the month of November. Indeed, Black Friday has evolved to essentially become a one-month sales event, and there is a growing expectation among consumers that every store will offer big discounts. However, Black Friday is challenging for many small businesses, which simply cannot match the deep discounts of large retailers. This is highlighted by research from the Council of Small Business Organisations; it found that 60 per cent of small business owners do not pay themselves at least occasionally, while 25 per cent have used their personal savings to stay afloat. (RMS)

News

Australia's Most Trusted and Distrusted Brands + The Retail Landscape

Join Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine to discover Australia's most Trusted and Distrusted brands; how traditional retail brands are being impacted by Temu, Shein, and AliExpress; how the dramatic shift to low prices is affecting discount department stores like Kmart and Big W; whether Amazon has finally become the digital category killer, impacting Myer, JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman; whether Coles and Woolworths are finally showing real signs of reputational recovery; and whether the retail sector seeing a rise in distrust amid all the upheaval. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Media and Marketing

Sport keeps TV afloat as Seven pips Nine

The Seven Network has become Australia's top-rating commercial free-to-air broadcaster for a fifth consecutive year. Seven's national audience share across the 2025 rating year was 41.6 per cent, ahead of the Nine Network on 40.5 per cent. Seven's total audience share across all five free-to-air networks was 29.4 per cent, followed by Nine (28.7 per cent), the ABC (21.5 per cent), Ten (12.6 per cent) and SBS (7.7 per cent). Nine's live coverage of the NRL Grand Final was the highest-rating program for the year, with a record 4.56 million viewers; the AFL Grand Final attracted a total audience of 4.18 million. (RMS)

News

The Age misses mark on AFL deal

A spokesman for DAZN says the UK-based sports-focused streaming company "categorically refutes" a recent media report which suggested that it could seek to renegotiate Foxtel's current seven-year AFL broadcasting rights deal. The Age reported last week that unnamed sources had claimed that DAZN believes it is paying too much for the AFL rights. Foxtel was acquired by DAZN earlier in 2025, in a deal that is said to have been worth about $3.4bn. (RMS)

News

News media eyes $600m yearly boost

Google, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and Apple are estimated to have had combined revenue of $41bn in Australia during fiscal 2024. They could potentially pay local news publishers about $610m a year via the federal government's News Bargaining Incentive, which will penalise technology companies that fail to secure content deals with the nation's news publishers; based on the revenue of the 'big five', the financial penalty for not striking such deals could be around $920m a year. The NBI would apply to all digital platforms that operate "significant" social media or search services, even if they do not feature any news content. (RMS)

News

Magazine stable faces carve-up

Private equity firm Mercury Capital still hopes to sell the whole of Are Media to a single buyer. However, sources at Are have said there is speculation within the publisher that several potential suitors have expressed interest in selectively buying some magazine titles, and shunning the less profitable ones. Mining magnate Andrew Forrest is said to have been approached about buying the flagship Australian Women's Weekly via his family company, Tattarang, which already owns the RM Williams magazine. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

AI threat slashes billions from classifieds giants

Jarden analyst Tom Beadle has downplayed the risks that online classified advertising groups are facing due to the growing use of artificial intelligence platforms. He contends that AI companies are unlikely to develop a 'killer application' that will disrupt the business of Real Estate Dotcom Dot Au http://realestate.com.au owner REA Group in the near term. However, REA Group's market capitalisation has fallen by nearly $9bn since August, while CAR Group - which owns Car Sales http://carsales.com.au - has shed 16 per cent of its value. Nevertheless, there are fears that AI platforms will be increasingly used to directly search for jobs, homes or cars. (RMS)

News

Nov 28

Free entry gets museum record-breaking visitors

Analysis of the annual reports of museums in Australia shows that consumers continued to embrace the nation's cultural institutions in 2024-25. Museums Victoria had the highest patronage, with 1.93 million visitors during the financial year; however, this was 13 per cent lower than previously. Meanwhile, Western Australia Museum was the nation's second-most-visited museum, with visits to its three sites rising by 21 per cent year-on-year to 1.2 million. WA Museum chair Sheila McHale notes that visitor numbers were boosted by the state government's decision to waive entry fees during the 2024-25 summer. (RMS)

News

Mining/Resources/Energy

Nov 28

Inside the battle for BHP's future

There is growing speculation that BHP's CEO Mike Henry is preparing to step down after six years in the role. However, BHP's merger talks with Anglo American last week showed that Henry is still deeply engaged in high-stakes strategic endeavours, rather than easing into retirement. Potential internal candidates to succeed Henry when he eventually steps down include Geraldine Slattery, Rag Udd, Vandita Pant and Catherine Raw. Meanwhile, some BHP directors believe that the resources group should simplify its commodities portfolio by exiting the coal sector and focusing on copper; indeed, analysis shows that both BHP and Rio Tinto have underperformed those of pure-play copper mines in recent years. (RMS)

News

Nov 28

Bitcoin stalled at a critical resistance

Market Overview

The crypto market cap corrected by 0.4% to $3.10T, pausing the cautious rebound from last Friday. Yet we can’t talk about the rebound running out of steam, as there was strong growth the day before. But we do not see any increase in optimism, as just about one in seven coins has gained in the last 24 hours, compared to a decline for most.

The sentiment index rose to 25, the threshold for exiting the territory of extreme fear, despite the latest round of weakness. The index’s dynamics are likely to attract buyers who were eager to enter the market but were waiting for a discount after the highs were set in early October.

Bitcoin has fallen below $ 91K, stabilising near the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of the decline since November 11th. The area near $90K was significant for the market about a year ago, serving as support for the correction after the growth momentum in early November. There is some risk that it will now act as resistance, reinforcing the bearish signal of a possible end to the rebound. A rise above $95K would signal a victory for the bulls and a return to a bull market, while a decline below $87K could open the way to $80K, driving the market into a depression.

News Background

Kronos Research describes the current dynamics as a classic rebound from oversold conditions. The market has cleared out excess long positions, creating room for growth, according to Presto Research.

Futures and options data point to a return of bullish sentiment. The market is ‘ready for growth’ after speculative longs were closed over the past two weeks, according to GSR.

According to CryptoQuant, in November, the Binance crypto exchange increased its stablecoin reserves to a record $51.1 billion. The growth of this indicator can be seen as a positive factor for the crypto market.

The potential exclusion of Strategy from the S&P 500 index and continued outflows from spot crypto ETFs could bring back bearish sentiment and trigger sell-offs, warns QCP Capital.

Bolivia will include cryptocurrencies and stablecoins in its national financial system to modernise it.

Cryptocurrencies will be allowed to be used as a means of payment, savings accounts, credit products and loans. The authorities’ decision is a result of the country’s challenging economic situation. (FxPro)

News

Heavy Industry News

Mack Trucks wins Media Man 'Truck Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Caterpillar wins Media Man 'Heavy Equipment Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Bingo Industries wins Media Man 'Construction Brand Of The Month' award

Elders wins Media Man 'Agribusiness Of The Month' award

Landman wins Media Man 'Streaming Series Of The Month' award (Oil/mining industry based story via Paramount Plus)

Jim's Mowing wins Media Man 'Franchise Of The Month' award

News

Pop Culture Flashback

Citizen Kane (1941)

Directed by Orson Welles | Written by Orson Welles & Herman J. Mankiewicz | Cinematography by Gregg Toland

Why it’s considered one of the greatest films ever made:

Revolutionary storytelling: Non-linear structure jumping through multiple perspectives and timelines — decades before it became common.

Iconic moments/lines:

“Rosebud…”

The campaign speech with the giant Kane poster

The slow push-in on young Charlie playing in the snow as his future is decided

“Old age… it’s the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don’t look forward to being cured of.” (Bernstein)

News

Salt of the Earth (1954

Mexican workers at a zinc mine call a general strike. It is only through the solidarity of the workers, and importantly the indomitable resolve of their wives, mothers, and daughters, that they eventually triumph.

Best Quotes

The best and biggest gold mine is in between your ears."

"You are a gold mine of potential power. You have to dig to find it and make it real."

"Your mind is like a gold mine, if you dig deep you will find something golden."

"Don't die without mining the gold in your mind."

"We're like goldfields. Until we dig deep to find what's inside us, our true potentials may be hidden forever."

"If you want to find gold, you've got to love the process of digging."

"Even if you're sitting on a gold mine, you still have to dig."

"Develop men the same way gold is mined"

"Don't go into the mine looking for dirt; instead, go in looking for the gold."

"A prospector's job is to remove dirt as quickly as possible"

"A prospector who analyses every speck of dirt won't find much gold"

"The world is sitting on a gold mine but knows it not." "Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"All that is gold does not glitter."

"Gold is forever. It is beautiful, useful, and never wears out"

"Gold is the money of kings"

"Mining is the art of exploiting mineral deposits at a profit. An unprofitable mine is fit only for the sepulcher of a dead mule."

"Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold."

"True gold fears no fire."

"The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit."

"Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"When taken for granted, gold in one's hand is sometimes considered like cheap copper – so are people."

Media Man

Roy Morgan wins Media Man 'News Services Provider Of The Month' award; Runner-ups: X, Google News, Yahoo! Finance

Markets, News, Biz, Mining, Energy, Politics: Australia and World

November 2025

Nov 28

Heavy Industry News

Mack Trucks wins Media Man 'Truck Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Caterpillar wins Media Man 'Heavy Equipment Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Bingo Industries wins Media Man 'Construction Brand Of The Month' award

Elders wins Media Man 'Agribusiness Of The Month' award

Landman wins Media Man 'Streaming Series Of The Month' award (Oil/mining industry based story via Paramount Plus)

Jim's Mowing wins Media Man 'Franchise Of The Month' award

News

Markets

Australian Dollar: $0.6529 USD (up 0.0009 USD)
Iron Ore: $106.70 USD (up $0.10 USD)
Oil: $59.10 USD (up $0.40 USD)
Gold: $4,157.44 USD (down $8.15 USD)
Copper: $5.1625 USD (down $0.0410 USD)
Bitcoin: $91,056.34 -0.12%
Dow Jones: 47,427.12 (closed for Turkey Day)

News

Labor urged to bite the bullet on energy bills

Treasurer Jim Chalmers recently indicated that the federal government has yet to decide whether to extend its electricity bill rebates beyond December 2025. The rebate was introduced in 2023 and extended by six months in the March budget. The expiry of state energy rebates contributed to the higher-than-expected 3.8 per cent headline inflation rate in the year to October. Economists have urged the government to end the rebates, contending that they have a distortionary impact on inflation and have cost the federal budget about $6.8bn to date. Challenger's chief economist Jonathan Kearns notes that rebates also risk lifting expectations of higher inflation; indeed, ANZ-Roy Morgan Inflation Expectations have risen to a two-year high. (RMS)

News

ASX up as tech stocks rally, WiseTech gains

The Australian sharemarket posted a modest gain on Thursday, with lower trading volumes ahead of Wall Street's closure for Thanksgiving Day; the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1 per cent to close at 8,617.3 points. WiseTech Global was up 6.9 per cent at $69.72, Bellevue Gold rose 3.2 per cent to $1.29 and Reece advanced four per cent to $12.73. However, DroneShield was down 7.8 per cent at $2 and Santos fell 1.8 per cent to end the session at $6.44. (RMS)

News

What bubble? AI investors double down

Australian technology investors have used a slump on the US Nasdaq earlier in the month to boost their exposure to the artificial intelligence sector. Those investors included Munro Partners, which has topped up its exposure to Nvidia, Alphabet and Taiwan Semiconductor, while Loftus Peak's holdings of US tech stocks include Amazon, Microsoft, Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor. For his part, Joseph Ziller from Ziller Funds Management says he avoids AI stocks that are not creating value today from their huge capital expenditure. (RMS)

News

Snowy Hydro signs renewable power deals

Snowy Hydro will announce today that it has signed a 15-year deal to purchase power from a wind farm in South Australia that is being developed by Aula Energy, and which Rystad Energy says could cost between $810 million and $945 million. In addition to the deal with Aula Energy, Snowy Hydro will also announce that it has entered into a 15-year contract with French-backed TagEnergy to access 105 megawatts of capacity at the Golden Plains storage battery, which will be located alongside a large wind farm site near Geelong in Victoria. (RMS)

News

Tech giants target roadblocks to AI spending

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures shows that investment in machinery and equipment by IT firms in the September quarter came in at $2.8 billion, which was double the previous record of $1.4 billion set in the previous quarter. The figure includes investment in routers, cooling towers and servers used to construct data centres, and technology companies such as Microsoft and TikTok, along with data centre operators such as NextDC and AirTrunk, have got together to form Data Centres Australia. It will lobby for reforms to energy, water and planning approval and copyright laws, so as to encourage investment in AI-linked investment. (RMS)

News

Atlassians resist Allan's crusade

Atlassian is expanding its operations in Victoria, where Premier Jacinta Allan wants to legislate the right to work from home two days a week for private and public sector employees. Although he is an advocate of hybrid work arrangements and once stated that his employees can work from anywhere, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes is against the idea of work-from-home mandates, believing that flexible work arrangements should be up to business to decide. As to the future of the Australian tech sector, Cannon-Brooke is very optimistic, even though the federal government seems set to fail in its target for the nation to employ 1.2 million tech workers by the end of the decade. (RMS)

News

Online out to pasture as Tabcorp bets big on pub and club punters

Tabcorp CEO Gillon McLachlan announced a major shakeup of its retail wagering operations earlier in the yea with McLachlan ditching a strategy by his predecessor that was heavily focused on internet betting growth. McLachlan instead plans to focus on punters in clubs and pubs, where it has an advantage over rivals such as Sportsbet and Ladbrokes. Its new strategy will see it pay pubs and clubs hundreds of thousands of dollars to help entice punters to gamble in their venues, while it will allocate $50 million to pay for bonus bets and other inducements for gamblers in pubs and clubs. (RMS)

News

High Court challengers of teen social media ban want Musk, Google to fund case

A group called the Digital Freedom Project is challenging the federal government's under-16 social media ban in the High Court, with the plaintiffs in the challenge being teenage children of members of the group. The group's president is NSW Libertarian Party MP John Ruddick, who is encouraging the big tech companies to fund its challenge, while he says it should be the responsibility of parents to be aware of what their children are doing online and to educate them about the harms of social media. Minister for Communications Anika Wells told parliament on Wednesday the government was committed to the ban, and that it will not be intimidated by legal challenges. (RMS)

News

Cricket's shot at $1.2bn Big Bash prize

Cricket Australia is aiming to partially privatise the Big Bash League, although it will need the consent of the various state cricket bodies. There are currently eight teams in the BBL, with Cricket Australia hoping to expand it to 10 teams; it has placed a value of $1.2 billion on a 10-team BBL, meaning that it stands to make a $600 million windfall if its plans go ahead. Most potential bidders are likely to come from India, with Cricket Australia not optimistic that local buyers would be able to meet its asking price. (RMS)

News

Critical minerals rise from waste ashes

Latrobe Magnesium recently received a letter of interest from the US Export-Import Bank, which offered to provide up to $US122m ($187m) to help build a magnesium plant in Victoria. Latrobe CEO David Paterson says China accounts for about 90 per cent of the global supply of magnesium, which is vital to the manufacture of electric vehicles and military aircraft. Latrobe's technology can convert the fly ash produced by coal-fired power stations into magnesium oxide. It has built a demonstration plant near the site of the defunct Hazelwood power station, and the funding from the US export credit agency will be used to build a commercial plant. (RMS)

News

Mineral explorers bounce on 81pc funding surge

Data from advisory firm BDO shows that the 739 pre-revenue minerals exploration companies on the ASX raised more than $3.49bn in total during the September quarter. This is 81 per cent higher than the June quarter, and Sherif Andrawes from BDO expects this growth to continue. Meanwhile, total exploration expenditure by pre-revenue companies rose by 16 per cent to a two-year high of $843.6m in the September quarter, while the average cash balance of mineral explorers increased by 20 per cent to $11m. Andrawes anticipates strong IPO activity among pre-revenue explorers in the December quarter. (RMS)

News

Palmer's Covid drug donation behind tax dispute

Clive Palmer is in a dispute with the Australian Taxation Office over a purchase he made of a shipment of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is seeking a tax deduction of almost $13m for his purchase, which was made at a time when US President Don­ald Trump was promoting hydroxychloroquine as a way of combatting COVID-19, with Palmer claiming his deduction as a donation for defending Australia, although the drug was never distributed. (RMS)

News

'How far is it going to escalate?' Fear Santos gas plan in Beetaloo basin could be start of NT fracking rush

Gas and oil company Santos has announced plans to drill 12 fracking wells at Tanumbirini Station, which is a large cattle station in the Northern Territory's Beetaloo basin. Environment Centre NT executive director Dr Kirsty Howey is worried that if Santos's plans lead to to full-scale production, that over 6,000 wells could be drilled through "our precious aquifers, polluting our groundwater with toxic chemicals", with ninety percent of the NT's water supply coming from groundwater. Howey says Santos should be a "good corporate citizen" and refer its proposal to be assessed under federal environment laws.

News

LNG levy proposal scared producers

The federal government is reviewing Australia's east coast gas market, with it being understood that it was considering a levy on east coast LNG exporters at one stage. However, while that idea appears to have been shelved and the government looks set to have settled on a gas reservation-style scheme, the fact that the government was even considering a levy has sparked concern among the gas industry about the extent to which the government is prepared to intervene in the sector. (RMS)

News

Smelters become a test case for bailouts

Glencore and Nyrstar are among the companies that have received financial assistance from federal and state governments to keep their ageing Australian smelters operating. China's dominance of the critical minerals sector has underlined the importance of continuing to produce metals such as copper and zinc in Australia. Nyrstar's lead smelter at Port Pirie and its zinc smelter in Hobart can potentially be upgraded to produce critical minerals such as antimony, bismuth, tellurium, germanium and indium; these metals are crucial to Australia's economic and security equation, particularly in the wake of the recent critical minerals agreement with the US. (RMS)

News

Crisafulli denies favouritism amid mine deals

Harmony Gold's Eva Copper Mine has received an undislosed financial incentive from the Queensland government's Northwest ­Energy Fund. However, two coal projects in the state have received no financial assistance from the government. Premier David Crisafulli has rejected suggestions that the government is favouring critical minerals over coal, arguing that it is providing the coal industry with certainty with regard to regulation and taxation; the government has previously been criticised for retaining its Labor predecessor's controversial coal royalty regime. Crisafulli adds that the Eva Copper Mine will help ensure that Glencore's Mount Isa smelter remains viable. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

ASX rally tempers on CPI shock; miners rise

The Australian sharemarket posted a sold gain on Wednesday, despite a pullback in response to data showing that inflation rose to a higher-than-expected 3.8 per cent in the year to October. The S&P/ASX 200 added 0.8 per cent to close at 8,606.5 points, having risen by about 1.2 per cent before the monthly CPI data was released. BHP was up two per cent at $41.80, Pilbara Minerals rose 7.2 per cent to $4.04 and Ramsay Health Care advanced 3.8 per cent to $37.32. However, Temple & Webster shed 32.3 per cent to end the session at $13.83. (RMS)

News

Fortescue, former execs settle with each side to pay costs

The terms of a settlement between Fortescue and three former executives will remain confidential, after all parties to the legal dispute agreed to take no further action. Michael Masterman, Bart Kolodziejczyk and Bjorn Winther-Jensen had been accused of using Fortescue's proprietary information when they left to establish a rival 'green' iron company called Element Zero in 2022. Fortescue commenced legal action in April 2024, and attracted criticism for hiring private detectives to undertake surveillance on the three former employees and their families. Element Zero's green iron plant in Perth will be formally opened by Premier Roger Cook today. (RMS)

News

The rare earths race is on

China has spent unlimited money to develop the world's best technology to produce heavy rare earths, while the French have developed rival technology that is not as good and is far more expensive. Meanwhile, Sinosteel's $100m pilot plant in Western Australia to process ore from Northern Minerals' Browns Range rare earth project is likely to remain idle, as Northern Minerals intends to build a new plant at Browns Range with financial support from the US Export-Import Bank. Haoma Mining's Bamboo Creek heavy rare earths deposit is also a threat to China's dominance of the sector; its Elazac process is now being used to extract gold and platinum from the Bamboo Creek material, and it could become a rival to the Chinese and French technology for extracting heavy rare earths such as terbium. (RMS)

Nov 26

News

Haoma Mining: Chairman's Presentation to shareholders

Haoma Mining NL Announcements

Haoma Mining held its Annual General Meeting at Tonic House in Melbourne on 26 November. Chairman Gary Morgan updated shareholders on Haoma's major activities in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, including the use of the Elazac process to produce gold bullion at the Bamboo Creek Pilot Plant, as well as its Pilbara Heavy Rare Earth discovery. Shareholders were also updated on progress at the Pirra Lithium exploration joint venture between Haoma and SQM Australia, as well as activities at Haoma's Top Camp Roadhouse and Caravan Park at Ravenswood in Queensland. (Roy Morgan Summary)

Lead Up

Nov 25

Big super's $110m stake in 'blood oil'

Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations chair Kateryna Argyrou says Australia's superannuation funds should divest their stakes in companies such as India's Reliance Industries. Argyrou's comments follow the revelation that Reliance has profited from refining sanctioned Russian crude oil and exporting the resulting fuels into markets such as Australia. The nation's four largest super funds have invested nearly $110 million in Reliance; they include AustralianSuper and the Australian Retirement Trust. (RMS)

Nov 25

Markets

Australian Dollar: $0.6462 USD (up 0.0009 USD)
Iron Ore: $105.00 USD (up $0.75 USD)
Oil: $58.84 USD (up $0.78 USD)
Gold: $4,123.68 USD (up $58.41 USD)
Copper: $4.9890 USD (down $0.0070 USD)
Dow Jones: 46,478.79 (up 233.38 points)
Bitcoin: $88,103.67 +1.47%

News

Force miners to sell local: smelter owner

Nyrstar Australia's CEO Matt Howell says the federal government should consider implementing a domestic minerals reservation scheme. It would work in much the same way as the proposed domestic gas reservation scheme, and require mining companies to sell a portion of their mineral ore to Australian refinery operators. The future of facilities such as Nyrstar's Port Pirie lead smelter and its Hobart zinc smelter have been under scrutiny, prompting federal and state government assistance. However, Howell's proposal has been dismissed by Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable, who has cautioned against government intervention in the minerals market. (RMS)

News

'Our gas, our prices': Ed Husic breaks ranks with Labor to demand an end to 'profiteering' by exporters

Former Labor industry minister Ed Husic has backed a motion by independent MP Nicolette Boele regarding east coast gas prices. The motion calls on the federal government to "only allow uncontracted gas to be exported after it has been offered to the domestic market at a reasonable price", with Boele saying Australia does not have a gas supply problem, but rather a gas export problem. Calling for stronger action against what he labels 'profiteering' gas exporters, Husic contends that "our gas, our prices: that should be the bedrock of our thinking. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

ASX to rally in 2026 on mining bounce: UBS

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 has retreated from the record high of 9,904 points in recent weeks, having closed at 8,525.1 yesterday. However, Richard Schellbach from UBS is upbeat about the outlook for the local bourse, forecasting that the ASX 200 will top 8,900 points again by the end of 2026. Schellbach says there are expectations that earning growth will exceed 10 per cent in 2026; he adds that although this will be driven by the resources sector, there will be earnings growth across the broader sharemarket. (RMS/AFR)

News

BHP drops second tilt at rival Anglo

BHP has advised that it has held preliminary discussions with Anglo American's board regarding a potential merger, but says it is no longer considering a bid for its London-based rival. BHP abandoned a previous takeover bid for Anglo American in 2024, and the company says it is still of the view that a merger would have "strong strategic merits" and create significant value for all stakeholders. BHP has indicated that it will instead focus on its organic growth strategy. Meanwhile, the latest aborted bid for Anglo has prompted speculation that Rio Tinto could pursue growth via acquisitions. (RMS)

News

Rinehart puts blowtorch on Rio Tinto, BHP over net zero spending

Hancock Prospecting's executive chair Gina Rinehart has criticised major resources groups for spending billions of dollars on reducing carbon emissions. Rinehart singled out BHP and Rio Tinto in her speech to mark National Mining Day; BHP is expected to spend up to $500m on reducing emissions over the next five years, while Rio Tinto has committed to halving its emissions by 2030 at a cost of $US5bn over 10 years. Rinehart contended that the dividends of BHP and Rio Tinto shareholders are being "sacrificed on the green altar". The speech was written by Rinehart but delivered by Hancock Iron Ore's CEO Gerhard Veldsman via a video message. (RMS)

News

Lithium prices slide on Chinese mine restart

The price of lithium fell sharply on Friday, in response to media reports that China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology could potentially resume production at its Jianxiawo mine in early December. Data from S&P Global Platts shows that the price of spodumene - the type of lithium that is mined in Australia - fell by 8.3 per cent to $US1,135 a tonne; the price of lithium carbonate in turn fell by nine per cent to 91,020 yuan on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange. The downturn prompted a fall in the share prices of Australian lithium producers on Monday. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Santos hit by delay on Narrabri gas ruling

Santos has received another setback in its long-running bid to proceed with the Narrabri gas project in NSW. A two-day hearing on the Gomeroi people's appeal against a Native Title Tribunal ruling on the project had been scheduled to begin in the Federal Court this week; however, Justice Natalie Charlesworth recused herself from the case because an associate had worked for Santos on secondment on two separate occasions. Another judge is not available to hear the case, so the traditional owners' appeal has been pushed back to March 2026. (RMS)

News

Nov 24

UK launches critical minerals strategy to reduce dependency on China

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced a critical minerals and rare earths strategy, with the strategy aimed at reducing the UK's dependency on China. It includes a Stg50 million fund to boost production at tungsten and lithium mines in Cornwall. Europe's largest deposits of lithium are in Cornwall, while the EU has previously singled out the county's tungsten mine for potential financial support. The strategy follows a six-week standoff between China and the EU over the supply of chips used in the car sector, while it seeks to ensure no more than 60% of any one critical mineral comes from a single partner country by 2035; the British government also wants to produce at least 50,000 tonnes of lithium in the UK by the same year. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Pop Culture

Gold Movie

Gold is a 2016 American epic crime drama film directed by Stephen Gaghan and written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Édgar Ramírez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Craig T. Nelson, Stacy Keach and Bruce Greenwood. The film is loosely based on the true story of the 1997 Bre-X mining scandal, when a massive gold deposit was supposedly discovered in the jungles of Indonesia; however, for legal reasons and to enhance the appeal of the film, character names and story details were changed.

Trailer

Gold (YouTube Movies and TV)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=yc0S96OZhi0

Gold is the epic tale of one man's pursuit of the American dream, to discover gold. Starring Oscar® winner Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar, Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Kenny Wells, a modern day prospector desperate for a lucky break, he teams up with a similarly eager geologist and sets off on an amazing journey to find gold in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia. Getting the gold was hard, but keeping it would be even harder, sparking an adventure through the most powerful boardrooms of Wall Street. The film is inspired by a true story.

News

Citizen Kane (1941)

Directed by Orson Welles | Written by Orson Welles & Herman J. Mankiewicz | Cinematography by Gregg TolandWhy it’s considered one of the greatest films ever made:

Revolutionary storytelling: Non-linear structure jumping through multiple perspectives and timelines — decades before it became common.

Iconic moments/lines:

“Rosebud…”

The campaign speech with the giant Kane poster

The slow push-in on young Charlie playing in the snow as his future is decided

“Old age… it’s the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don’t look forward to being cured of.” (Bernstein)

News

Salt of the Earth (1954

Mexican workers at a zinc mine call a general strike. It is only through the solidarity of the workers, and importantly the indomitable resolve of their wives, mothers, and daughters, that they eventually triumph.

Best Quotes

The best and biggest gold mine is in between your ears."

"You are a gold mine of potential power. You have to dig to find it and make it real."

"Your mind is like a gold mine, if you dig deep you will find something golden."

"Don't die without mining the gold in your mind."

"We're like goldfields. Until we dig deep to find what's inside us, our true potentials may be hidden forever."

"If you want to find gold, you've got to love the process of digging."

"Even if you're sitting on a gold mine, you still have to dig."

"Develop men the same way gold is mined"

"Don't go into the mine looking for dirt; instead, go in looking for the gold."

"A prospector's job is to remove dirt as quickly as possible"

"A prospector who analyses every speck of dirt won't find much gold"

"The world is sitting on a gold mine but knows it not." "Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"All that is gold does not glitter."

"Gold is forever. It is beautiful, useful, and never wears out"

"Gold is the money of kings"

"Mining is the art of exploiting mineral deposits at a profit. An unprofitable mine is fit only for the sepulcher of a dead mule."

"Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold."

"True gold fears no fire."

"The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit."

"Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"When taken for granted, gold in one's hand is sometimes considered like cheap copper – so are people."

Media Man

Roy Morgan wins Media Man 'News Services Provider Of The Month' award; Runner-ups: X, Google News, Yahoo! Finance

Mining/Energy/Rare Earths/Biz/Culture/Politics: Australia, U.S and World

Mad Monday Edition

News

November 2025

Markets

Nov 17

Australian Dollar: $0.6529 USD (up 0.0001 USD)
Iron Ore: $102.50 USD (down 0.35 USD)
Oil: $60.09 USD (up $1.34 USD)
Gold: $4,080.78 USD (down $82.66 USD)
Copper: $5.0500 USD (up $0.0015 USD)
Bitcoin: $94,324.41USD (down 1.62%)
Dow: 47,147.48 (down 309.74 points)

Bitcoin: (Near Live) $95,096.48 -0.79%

News

Heavy Industry Awards

Mack Trucks wins Media Man 'Truck Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Caterpillar wins Media Man 'Heavy Equipment Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Bingo Industries wins Media Man 'Construction Brand Of The Month' award

Elders wins Media Man 'Agribusiness Of The Month' award

Landman wins Media Man 'Streaming Series Of The Month' award (Oil/mining industry based story via Paramount Plus)

News

Wyloo bets on nickel future as part of critical minerals boom

Wyloo's financial accounts show that it booked a $377.6m profit in 2024-25, after a massive impairment charge on its nickel assets resulted in a $352.8m loss for the previous financial year. The private company of Andrew and Nicola Forrest is continuing to explore for nickel near its mothballed mines in Western Australia, while it is also considering the construction of a nickel concentrator near Kambalda. Wyloo's CEO Luca Giacovazzi stated in its latest annual report that its future growth is likely to be on mining and selling nickel, while this focus is expected to be expanded to include rare earths. (RMS)

Nov 15

Make coal great again or China gets your data: Hanson

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson will release details of the party's energy policy during the last parliamentary sitting week for 2025. However, Hanson contends that amongst other things Australia must withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and extend the operating lives of the nation's existing fleet of coal-fired power stations. Hansen has emphasised the importance of coal-fired power generation to data centres in Australia, warning that they will not be able to compete with China. Hanson adds that it "frightens the hell out of me" that China will dominate global data storage due to its lower electricity prices, which will be at least partly due to coal imported from Australia. (RMS)

News

Former Rio boss called to Mongolian probe

A Mongolian parliamentary inquiry into cost blowouts at the Oyu Tolgoi copper mine was announced in September, with public hearings due to be held between December 8 and 12. Slated to be one of the world's top-five producers of copper by the end of the decade, the Oyu Tolgoi mine cost almost $US1.7 billion more than planned and took almost two years longer than expected to build. Former Rio Tinto CEO Jean-Sebastien Jacques is one of close to 300 witnesses called to appear before the inquiry, with Jacques having been CEO of Rio from 2016 to 2020. (Roy Morgan Summary)

Nov 14

BHP to learn class action fate for $72b Brazil dam disaster

The UK's High Court will shortly issue a ruling on whether BHP is legally for an iron ore tailings dam disaster in Brazil which killed 19 people and caused massive environmental damage in November 2015. The tailing dam was owned by the Samarco joint venture between BHP and iron ore rival Vale. Should BHP be found to be legally liable, individual claimants' eligibility for compensation and the size of any payouts will be determined in the next stage of the long-running case. BHP and Vale have already paid billions in compensation to people who were affected by the disaster. (RMS)

News

Fresh probe launched into MinRes, Ellison

It has been revealed that the Australian Taxation Office has launched a new investigation into Mineral Resources and its billionaire founder Chris Ellison. News of the investigation was revealed in a request sent by the ATO to the Federal Court in October for access to previously sealed documents that had been filed in the unfair dismissal case brought by MinRes' former procurement manager Steve Pigozzo in 2022. The new investigation will focus on how MinRes and Ellison calculated income and fringe benefit taxes, with the revelation regarding the new probe coming as MinRes prepares to hold its AGM next week, at which shareholders will be asked to approve a lucrative share options package for new chairman Malcolm Bundey. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Rio ends two-decade Serbia lithium mining dream as cost cuts bite

Rio Tinto has advised that its Jadar lithium project in Serbia has put in 'care and maintenance' mode. The company will cease undertaking environmental, heritage and geological surveys at the site in the Jadar Valley, four years after revealing plans to invest $US2.4bn ($3.7bn) on developing what it claimed would be the biggest lithium mine in Europe. There is growing competition for capital within Rio Tinto's lithium division, and its $10bn deal to acquire Arcadium Lithium earlier in 2025 added several mines that are already in production to its lithium portfolio. (RMS)

News

American activist claims IperionX more dud than minerals gem

Trading in the shares of Australian-listed IperionX were halted on Thursday, following the release of a report into the company by New York hedge fund Spruce Point Capital Management, which specialises in short-selling. With the US-based IperionX seeking to develop titanium extraction technology and having been backed by the Trump administration as part of its bid to secure domestic production of critical minerals, Spruce Point's report sought to raise doubt about IperionX's prospects. (RMS)

News

Biotech gets $20m in critical minerals push

US-based biotechnology firm Endolith has raised $US13.5m ($20.6m) via its initial round of venture funding, while it aims to raise an additional $3m in a second tranche. The start-up is developing technology that can be used to extract critical minerals such as copper from low-grade ore and waste rock that would be unprofitable to process using traditional methods. Endolith's technology uses microbes and artifical intelligence, and the company aims to commence real-world trials at a mine site within 6-12 months. (RMS)

News

Oversupply of oil could create glut of 4m barrels a day, says energy watchdog

The International Energy Agency has stated in its latest monthly report that the world is producing more oil than it needs, and that there could be a glut of 4m excess barrels a day entering the market by 2026. The IEA's warning has come in the same week that it issued its latest energy outlook report, which included a controversial scenario in which global oil demand would continue to grow until 2050. It had dropped the scenario in 2020 after it was accused of repeatedly criticised for underestimating the growth of renewable energy in its annual report, but returned the scenario to its outlook this year after calls from the White House to present a more optimistic view for the future of oil. (RMS)

News

Markets

Australian Dollar: $0.6528 USD (down $0.0012 USD) Iron Ore: $102.85 USD (up $0.20 USD) Oil: $58.75 USD (up $0.33 USD) Gold: $4,163.44 USD (down $33.38 USD) Copper: $5.0485 USD (down $0.0345 USD) Bitcoin: $98,332.56 USD (down 3.01%) Dow Jones: 47,460.49m (down 794.33 points)

Bitcoin: (Near Live) $97,618.71 =5.38%

News

The cryptocurrency market is stagnating, lagging its competitors

Market Overview
The cryptocurrency market capitalisation has changed little over the past day, fluctuating around $3.5 trillion. The cryptocurrency fear index has fallen to 15, its lowest level since 4 March. Notably, the cryptocurrency market has been left out of the recent rally in precious metals and stock indices. If this is not an attempt by whales to lock in profits from the rally since April or even from the growth of the last two years, then it is an alarming signal of deep-seated risk aversion that is about to manifest itself in larger markets.

Bitcoin continues to struggle to remain within the bull market on weekly timeframes, trying to stay above the 50-week moving average. Last week's close was on the edge and attempts to develop an offensive this week are running into sell-offs, despite the favourable external backdrop. The previous such transition occurred at the end of 2021, and so far, everything aligns with the 4-year halving cycles that many were quick to dismiss.

News Background

Over the past three months, a clear break has occurred in the correlation between Bitcoin and the stock market. The S&P 500 stock index has risen 7% during this time, while BTC has lost 15%. Judging by four years of close correlation, it can be argued that Bitcoin is currently undervalued, according to Santiment.

Jan3 founder Samson Mow attributes Bitcoin's decline to a massive sell-off by investors who bought it over the past 12 to 18 months. They are rushing to lock in profits amid rumours of an imminent bearish trend in the crypto market.

The crypto market's growth phase is nearing its end, so it is time for investors to consider locking in profits and reducing the share of crypto assets in their portfolios, according to Morgan Stanley, which cites a four-year cycle that the cryptocurrency market has consistently followed since 2009.

The bitcoin mining industry is facing a difficult period due to growing competition and declining profitability, said MARA CEO Fred Thiel. According to him, only those miners who have access to cheap energy or new business models will survive.

According to SoSoValue, spot Solana ETFs in the US have attracted more than $350 million in 11 trading sessions. The steady inflow of funds into new SOL ETFs came as a surprise to the market. The results significantly exceeded initial conservative forecasts, according to LVRG Research.

Visa has unveiled a pilot project called Visa Direct, which allows US customers to make direct cross-border payments in USDC stablecoin to recipients' wallets. The initiative is aimed at content creators and freelancers.

The crypto industry is entering a new phase of capital raising. The launch of Coinbase's ICO platform is expected to be a key event in this trend, according to Bitwise. The exchange will select and launch one verified project per month. (FxPro)

News

The dollar emerging from the data fog

• The US government shutdown is over. • Central bank policy convergence helps EURUSD. • Political scandal causes the pound to fall. • Japan's currency interventions are ineffective The House of Representatives voted 222 to 209 to resume government operations. The president immediately signed the document. The record-long shutdown is over. This fact promises that the Fed and investors will soon begin to exit their positions. The president immediately signed the document. The record-breaking shutdown is over. This fact suggests that the Fed and investors will quickly start to emerge from the fog once statistics are published again, allowing them to make data-driven decisions. But will they like what they see when the picture becomes clearer?
Alternative sources show a slowdown in the US GDP. The IMF forecasts a decline in its growth rate from 2.8% to 2% in 2025. The eurozone, on the other hand, is expected to accelerate from 0.9% to 1.2%. At the same time, the Bank of France plans to raise its estimates for the country, despite the ongoing political turmoil. The narrowing divergence in economic growth argues in favour of maintaining the upward trend for EURUSD. The same can be said about monetary policy. The ECB has most likely ended its easing cycle, barring any major shocks. The federal funds rate is likely to continue falling amid a cooling US labour market and economy. The euro has advantages over the dollar. However, in the short term, mixed data could lead to mixed movements in EURUSD.
The conflict on Downing Street has allowed GBPUSD bears to launch a new attack. When Labour came to power in Britain in 2024, the pound gained preference thanks to hopes for political stability after constant ministerial changes under the Conservatives. However, since then, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's ratings have been falling. Rumours of a plot to replace the leader have made investors nervous and prompted them to sell sterling. Doubts about the effectiveness of potential currency interventions continue to push the USDJPY pair higher. The current conditions differ from those of last year. Back then, Tokyo intervened in the FOREX market before raising the overnight rate. Now, Sanae Takaichi is sticking to a policy of fiscal and monetary stimulus. Any purchase of the yen will only have short-term success. In addition, it will require the expenditure of foreign exchange reserves. These are needed to make the investments in the US economy promised to Donald Trump. (FxPro)

News

Heavy Industry Awards

Mack Trucks wins Media Man 'Truck Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Caterpillar wins Media Man 'Heavy Equipment Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Bingo Industries wins Media Man 'Construction Brand Of The Month' award

Elders wins Media Man 'Agribusiness Of The Month' award

Landman wins Media Man 'Streaming Series Of The Month' award (Oil/mining industry based story via Paramount Plus)

News

Media

Google Finance wins Media Man 'Business News Website Of The Month' award; Runner-up: Yahoo! Finance

Netflix wins Media Man 'Streaming Service Of The Month' award; YouTube and Paramount Plus are runner-ups! Strong mention: Tubi

News

News

Pop Culture News

Landman (Paramount Plus)

Plot

Set against the backdrop of the booming West Texas oilfields, Landman follows Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton), a crisis manager and landman for an independent oil company. Tommy navigates cutthroat deals, family tensions, and moral dilemmas while trying to keep his business afloat. The story kicks off with an investigation into a fatal accident involving an out-of-town lawyer, weaving in elements of drug cartels.

Landman is an American drama television series created by Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, inspired by Wallace's podcast Boomtown. It explores the high-stakes world of the oil industry in West Texas, blending themes of fortune-seeking, corporate intrigue, and personal drama amid roughnecks, billionaires, and geopolitical shifts.

The series premiered on Paramount+ on November 17, 2024, and has been renewed for a second season.

Landman: Season 2. Trailer (Paramount Plus)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=mhzQawESdqg

"You think you understand how this business works, but you don't." Things are heating up in the final Landman trailer. Season 2 premieres November 16, 2025, only on Paramount+.

"Death and a Sunset"
November 16, 2025

"Sins of the Father"
November 23, 2025

"Almost a Home"
November 30, 2025

"Dancing Rainbows"
December 7, 2025

"The Pirate Dinner"
December 14, 2025

"Dark Night of the Soul"
December 21, 2025

"Forever Is an Instant"
December 28, 2025

"Handsome Touched Me"
January 4, 2026

"Plans, Tears and Sirens"
January 11, 2026

"Tragedy and Flies"
January 18, 2026

News

Gold Movie

Gold is a 2016 American epic crime drama film directed by Stephen Gaghan and written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Édgar Ramírez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Craig T. Nelson, Stacy Keach and Bruce Greenwood. The film is loosely based on the true story of the 1997 Bre-X mining scandal, when a massive gold deposit was supposedly discovered in the jungles of Indonesia; however, for legal reasons and to enhance the appeal of the film, character names and story details were changed.

Trailer

Gold (YouTube Movies and TV)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=yc0S96OZhi0

Gold is the epic tale of one man's pursuit of the American dream, to discover gold. Starring Oscar® winner Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar, Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Kenny Wells, a modern day prospector desperate for a lucky break, he teams up with a similarly eager geologist and sets off on an amazing journey to find gold in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia. Getting the gold was hard, but keeping it would be even harder, sparking an adventure through the most powerful boardrooms of Wall Street. The film is inspired by a true story.

News

Best Quotes

The best and biggest gold mine is in between your ears."

"You are a gold mine of potential power. You have to dig to find it and make it real."

"Your mind is like a gold mine, if you dig deep you will find something golden."

"Don't die without mining the gold in your mind."

"We're like goldfields. Until we dig deep to find what's inside us, our true potentials may be hidden forever."

"If you want to find gold, you've got to love the process of digging."

"Even if you're sitting on a gold mine, you still have to dig."

"Develop men the same way gold is mined"

"Don't go into the mine looking for dirt; instead, go in looking for the gold."

"A prospector's job is to remove dirt as quickly as possible"

"A prospector who analyses every speck of dirt won't find much gold"

"The world is sitting on a gold mine but knows it not." "Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"All that is gold does not glitter."

"Gold is forever. It is beautiful, useful, and never wears out"

"Gold is the money of kings"

"Mining is the art of exploiting mineral deposits at a profit. An unprofitable mine is fit only for the sepulcher of a dead mule."

"Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold."

"True gold fears no fire."

"The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit."

"Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"When taken for granted, gold in one's hand is sometimes considered like cheap copper – so are people."

Media Man

Roy Morgan wins Media Man 'News Services Provider Of The Month' award; Runner-ups: X, Google News, Yahoo! Finance

Markets, Crypto and Culture

Running Of The Bulls To Normal; Cryptos Hurting; All That Glitters ...

October 15/16, 2025

Sin City Sydney, Australia

ASX futures up 5 points/0.1%, at 9024

Wall Street:
S&P 500 +0.4%
Dow Jones: flat
Nasdaq +0.7%

Europe: Stoxx 50 +1%
FTSE -0.3%
DAX -0.2%
CAC +2%

Australian dollar: US65.06 cents

Bitcoin -1.6% to $US111,106

Gold +1.5% to $US4227.10 per ounce

Oil +0.1% to $US58.78 a barrel

Brent crude oil +0.1% to $US62.45 a barrel

Iron ore -0.3% to $US104.90 per ton

10-year yield:
US 4.03%
Australia 4.21%
Germany 2.57%

News Update: (Near Live)

Bitcoin:

New York/Wall St

Cryptos Today: (Near Live) Mood: Corrective! Salt Into The Wound In Checkers?! Or Salt Of The Earth In Metals Right Chess Move?! All That Glitters Not Digital Gold?!

Bitcoin $111,291.65 -1.77%
Ethereum $3,980.33 -3.44%
Tether $1.0005 -0.03%
Binance Coin $1,161.17 -3.98%
XRP $2.4129 -3.48%
Solana $194.13 -3.71%
TRON $0.3194 +0.85%
Dogecoin -$0.1961 -4.15%
Cardano $0.6677 -4.14%

Market corrective. Mood: Somber-like for many! Suspicious! Regaining smiles! Hardcores keep the dream!

Media Man Favs:

October 15, 2025 (Near Live)
Wall St, New York

TKO Group Holdings Inc $191.21 +1.18 +0.62%
NVIDIA Corp $179.83 -0.18 -0.099%
Formula One Group Series C $103.57 -0.15 -0.14%
Alphabet Inc Class A $251.03 +5.58 +2.27%
News Corp Class A $26.57 -0.070 -0.26%
Netflix Inc $1,203.29 -12.06 -0.99%
Caterpillar Inc $534.05 +6.58 +1.25%
Trump Media & Technology Group Corp $16.27
-0.010 -0.061%
Tesla Inc $435.15 +5.91 +1.38%
Walt Disney Co $111.71 +0.54 +0.49%
Wynn Resorts Ltd $118.07 +1.96 +1.69%
Meta Platforms Inc $717.55 +8.90 +1.26%
BHP Group Ltd $43.54
Mercedes Benz Group ADR $15.15 +0.040 +0.26%
Elders Ltd $7.50
Rio Tinto Ltd $129.69

News

The dollar prefers to stay within the range for now

The US dollar turned downward at the end of the day on Tuesday and continues to move downward in the first half of Wednesday. The dollar is being weighed down by the recovery of positive momentum in the stock markets. Pressure on the dollar can also be linked to Powell's latest comments yesterday evening. The Fed chairman confirmed the path to further rate cuts and said asset sales from the balance sheet could be halted soon, ending the quantitative tightening phase. To be cont ..

(FxPro)

News

The US stock market rebound may falter

US stock index futures are rising after a disastrous Friday, when Trump's aggressive response to China's tariffs shook the markets. The US president's announcements were carefully timed, with the most aggressive measures (additional 100% tariffs on Chinese goods) announced after the market closed.

Over the weekend, US and Chinese leaders appeared to reach out to each other, offering opportunities for further discussion and a deal. Market sentiment was close to extreme fear, with the Fear and Greed Index falling to 29 on Friday and recovering to 30 on Monday. These are the lowest values since the end of April, when the market was recovering from the “liberation day” effect on Trump's tariffs. In the last couple of years, this index has entered the extreme fear zone before we saw a reversal in the indices. This means that bears may exert another round of pressure on the markets. It is easy to link this to further toughening of mutual rhetoric between China and the US, albeit with the possibility of dialogue remaining open. In other words, in this case, it is worth talking about a decrease in the intensity of mutual recriminations, but not about a reversal in relations. From this, we can conclude that the risks that caused the markets to collapse on Friday remain. We also note that the S&P 500 is trading at a significant distance from its 200-week moving average, near which the market has ended its declines over the past 14 years since 2011, touching it or turning around within 2-5% of it. This contrasts sharply with the current situation, where the S&P 500 is almost 25% above this line. If we talk about a correction within a bull market, then the target for bears seems to be the 6100–6150 range, where the 50-week moving average and last winter's highs are concentrated. Movement in this direction looks like a viable strategy for the final quarter of the year, unless there is a real reversal in the rapprochement between China and the US, which we highly doubt. In addition, seasonal factors are also temporarily on the side of the bears, given the more than 40% growth from the lows of the year in early April, the suppressed volatility of the last month and a half, and the tendency to look for new patterns in the markets in the final months of the year. If that's not enough, add to this the fact that the economy is beginning to feel the effects of tariff wars and a deteriorating labour market, and AI is no longer a novelty. In these conditions, it will be increasingly difficult for traders to find reasons for local purchases. (FxPro)

News

Crypto market recovers from tariff shock

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation stood at $3.9 trillion on Monday, up 4.4% from the previous day but down 6% from pre-Friday crash levels. On Friday, the US stock market saw its biggest drop since April but recovered some of its losses on Monday. Since Sunday, the crypto market has been attempting to rebound after a sell-off that began as an emotional reaction to tariff initiatives by China and the US but escalated into massive margin calls and stop orders being triggered.

The sentiment index stood at 38 (fear) on Monday morning, down from 24 (extreme fear) the day before. The level of sentiment we saw over the weekend was last seen in April under similar circumstances — when tough trade tariffs were announced.

Bitcoin approached $115K on Monday, while Ethereum exceeded $4,200. Cryptocurrencies are recovering after Friday's sharp decline. The movement on Friday and in the early hours of Saturday swept the ‘weak hands’ out of the market, taking the price of BTC below the 50—and 200-day moving averages and below the August and September lows.

Such sweeping liquidations often set the bottom of the market, but it may take time for the wounds to heal. In 2020, 2021 and 2024, it took a couple of weeks for the rally to start, although the market did not rewrite the lows. But in 2022, the turnaround to growth after the crash began after about six months. Relying on these statistics is encouraging for bargain hunters in crypto. Still, it would be too hasty to say that the recovery will be just as quick and will begin immediately.

News Background

Wall Street crashed on Friday after US President Donald Trump escalated the trade conflict with China following Beijing's tightening of restrictions on trade in rare earth metals, Reuters reports. Cryptocurrencies and stock indices fell sharply on Friday. Some softening of tone from Trump and Xi has led to the probability of 100% tariffs against China by 1 November being estimated at 8% on Polymarket, down from 26% at the end of Friday. Santiment notes that bitcoin remains extremely sensitive to risk appetite and behaves more like a risky asset than a safe haven.

The Kobeissi Letter notes that the collapse of cryptocurrencies on 11 October will not have long-term fundamental consequences and was caused by a combination of technical factors. The market crash triggered a record cascade of liquidations worth $19.3 billion. Analyst Frank Fetter, citing technical indicators, said the cryptocurrency market is still far from overbought, which means there is still potential for the rally to continue.

News Flashback

Oil Holds Strong Despite Bearish Fundamentals

Weekly data from the EIA noted that the US returned to record oil production rates last week, supplying an average of 13.6 million barrels per day to the market, according to the latest EIA data. The trend towards increased supply began in August, but producers have only now returned to the peak levels recorded at the end of last year. Despite a 5.5-million-barrel increase in US commercial inventories over the past two weeks, inventories stay at the lower end of the range seen over the past decade, leaving considerable room for growth. The same can be said for the strategic reserve, which holds nearly 40% less oil than it did five years ago, before the start of the active sell-off. It is an interesting game in which, on the one hand, the US (the largest oil producer) is increasing supplies, while OPEC+ is increasing quotas on a monthly basis. This extremely bearish combination of factors did not cause oil prices to collapse; it was only because of global trade in currency depreciation that caused precious metals, stock indices, and cryptocurrencies to rise. Oil prices have not peaked in recent weeks .. To be cont .. (FxPro)

News

Gold hits new highs due to political turmoil

Gold is outside the realm of politics.

While currencies and securities depend on the actions of presidents and governments, precious metals do not. Therefore, political turmoil forces investors to use them as safe-haven assets.

The impressive 52% rally in gold started in April with the introduction of tariffs on America's Liberation Day. It continued due to the US government shutdown, the political crisis in France, and the change of leadership in Japan. he rise of gold above 4,000 dollars per ounce is not only the result of the weakness of fiat currencies. There are tectonic shifts in the structure of investment portfolios and fears of financial crises due to government recklessness.

The share of precious metals is growing both in speculators' assets and in the gold and foreign exchange reserves of central banks. The indicator has already exceeded the share of the euro. According to Eurizon Capital, if it equals the share of the US dollar, the price per ounce will soar to 8,500 dollars. The Supreme Court's abolition of tariffs will inflate the US budget deficit. France does not intend to reduce it, and Japan plans to increase bond issuance. All this creates a tailwind for commodity assets. (FxPro)

News

Politics remains the main driver of FX

The US government shutdown did not have a noticeable impact on the dollar's performance last week. However, it did help the stock market to grow slightly by strengthening expectations of monetary policy easing. However, these events pale in comparison to the change in Japan's ruling elite and the resignation of the French prime minister less than a day after the formation of the government in terms of their impact on the currency market. In Japan, Sanae Takaichi was chosen head of the Liberal Democratic Party over the weekend and is on track to become the country's first female prime minister. This event caused the yen to fall 2% to 150.49 from Friday's level before correcting to 149.80 at the time of writing. Takaichi is considered a supporter of aggressive government spending, structural reforms, and soft monetary policy, echoing the basic principles of Shinzo Abe. Overall, she has a more right-wing approach to national policy and is also a supporter of revising Japan's pacifist constitution. The market reaction clearly shows that they are considering Takaichi to be the new prime minister. If she does not change her political views (and she has softened them recently to win the party elections), we should be prepared for a further weakening of the yen, which reached its highest level since 1991 in the EURJPY pair, exceeding 176. However, the single currency is also facing uncertainty today due to a new political crisis in France. Prime Minister Lecornu, who had been trying to form a government for a month, resigned the day after he finally presented his new cabinet. His appointments drew criticism from both left-wing and right-wing allies. The EURUSD fell to 1.1650 at its lowest point on Monday, losing a full cent against Friday's levels. Unlike Japan, where a 2% drop in the JPY was accompanied by a 5% jump in the Nikkei225 index, France's CAC40 lost more than 2% intraday, paring its losses to 1.2% towards the end of the trading day in Europe. The EURUSD stopped its climb in July and has been hovering around 1.1700 all this time, not least because of the political crisis in France. Without it, the single currency would have had a much better chance of exploiting political divisions in the US to its advantage. It would be an exaggeration to call the situation in Japan and France a drama. Still, these events once again emphasise that as soon as the dollar's throne begin.

News

Pop Culture News

Dream Matches: Fantasy Booking/Sports; Media Man Group Dream Match Series; Crack The Code!

Million Dollar Man vs IRS
Michael Wall Street vs Billionaire Ted
Mr X vs Mr BTC
Mr Green vs Mr Cash
VKM vs Easy E
Vinnie Vegas vs Mr Corbin
Mr Corp Merch vs Mr Freelance
Masked Superstar vs John McAfee
Sid Justice vs Mr Blood Diamond
Mr Bluey Chipper vs Street Fighter - King Of The Streets Mr Dotcom vs Mr Wiki
Mr Gold vs Mr Green - Money In The Bank Ladder Match Khan vs Khan - Winner Take All Match
Mr Wolff vs The Cleaner
Mr News vs Mr Vice - U.S Market Footprint Stipulation Mr Paramount vs Mr Netflix
Mr ESPN vs Mr Fox
Mr Kross vs Mr H
Cesaro vs Rollins
Dirty Dom vs Mr AAA
Punks vs Egos
Kross vs H
Murdoch Title vs Title
Mr Black Coffee vs Mr Claudio's Cafe Blend
Mr Warner vs Mr Netflix: Broadway draw thus far! Re-match! Winner take all?!
TMZ vs Riddle UFC vs PFL
The Oracle vs Cincinnati, Ohio
Mr X vs Hollyweird
Succession vs Billions
Mouse House vs Art House
NFL vs UFL
ABC vs Mainstream Aussies
Reigns vs Blanka
Cody Rhodes vs Joe
E. Honda vs NJPW
Capcom vs Warner
Cena vs ACME
Combat Sports Players vs Father Time
NXT vs TNA Wrestling (Showdown, not Invasion)!
Alpha vs Meta
TED X vs The Others
WWE's Solo vs Western Australia
UFC Predator vs MMA Predator
Bulls vs Bears

News

Cryptocurrency Movies
Documentaries

The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin (2014)
Follows early Bitcoin adopter Daniel Mross, exploring Bitcoin’s origins, its volatile rise, and the community behind it. Great for understanding Bitcoin’s early days and its potential to disrupt finance.

Banking on Bitcoin (2016)
Examines Bitcoin’s history, ideological roots, and impact on global financial systems through interviews with pioneers and experts. A solid primer for newcomers.

Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains, and the Future of the Internet (2020)
Directed by Torsten Hoffmann, this documentary dives into blockchain’s broader applications beyond cryptocurrency, addressing scalability and regulatory challenges. Ideal for those interested in blockchain’s transformative potential.

Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain (2018) Narrated by Rosario Dawson, it explores blockchain’s societal impact, from financial inclusion to voting systems. A comprehensive look at real-world applications.

Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It (2015)
Traces the history of money and introduces Bitcoin as a decentralized alternative, critiquing centralized financial systems. Features interviews with crypto experts.

Deep Web (2015) Narrated by Keanu Reeves, this documentary focuses on the Silk Road marketplace and its creator, Ross Ulbricht, highlighting Bitcoin’s role in dark web transactions.

Bitconned (2024) Explores the Centra Tech crypto scam, detailing how three individuals defrauded investors during the 2010s crypto boom. A cautionary tale about unregulated markets.

Feature Films

Crypto (2019)
A crime thriller starring Beau Knapp, Luke Hemsworth, and Kurt Russell. It follows a young anti-money laundering agent investigating corruption and cryptocurrency in his hometown. Critics note its exaggerated portrayal but praise its entertainment value.

Silk Road (2021)
A dramatization of Ross Ulbricht’s creation of the Silk Road, a dark web marketplace using Bitcoin. It explores his rise and fall, blending crime and drama.

Dope (2015) A coming-of-age comedy-drama featuring Bitcoin as a plot device. High schooler Malcolm uses Bitcoin for a dark web transaction, reflecting its early association with illicit activities.

Bonus Mentions

Life on Bitcoin (2014): Follows a couple attempting to live solely on Bitcoin for 100 days, showcasing early adoption challenges.

Bitcoin Heist (2016): A Vietnamese action-comedy about hackers chasing a crypto criminal, blending humor and thrills.

Notes Documentaries are generally more educational, focusing on Bitcoin’s history, blockchain technology, and real-world implications. They’re great for beginners and enthusiasts alike.

Feature films often dramatize crypto’s association with crime or scams, sometimes oversimplifying or exaggerating for effect. They prioritize entertainment over accuracy. For a deeper dive, check streaming platforms like Prime Video, Fandango at Home, or YouTube, where many of these are available.

News

Wall Street (Movie)
Wall Street (1987), directed by Oliver Stone, is a drama about ambition and greed in the 1980s financial world. It follows Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), a young stockbroker desperate to succeed, who gets entangled with Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), a ruthless corporate raider. Gekko’s mantra, “Greed is good,” drives the story as Bud is lured into insider trading and unethical deals, compromising his morals for wealth and power.

The film explores themes of capitalism, loyalty, and betrayal, with Bud navigating pressures from Gekko, his father (Martin Sheen), and his own conscience.

Key Details: Cast: Michael Douglas (Gordon Gekko), Charlie Sheen (Bud Fox), Daryl Hannah (Darien Taylor), Martin Sheen (Carl Fox).
Runtime: 2h 6m.
Genre: Drama/Crime.
Rating: R. Box Office: ~$44 million (US).

Awards: Michael Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Notable Aspects:

Gekko’s “Greed is good” speech is iconic, reflecting 1980s excess. Inspired by real-life figures like Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken.

A sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), continued the story.

Where to Watch (as of 2025):
Streaming: Available on platforms like Peacock or rentable on Amazon, YouTube, or Apple TV (check current availability).
Physical: DVD/Blu-ray via retailers like Amazon.

News Flashback

Gold, copper, & silver:

How metals are moving this year

Metal futures have made some pretty dramatic moves lately from safe haven gold to tariff sensitive copper. So let's take a look at the longer term trends. I'm Jared Blikre, host of Stocks in Translation. And I'm going to start by charting some of the moves in Dr. Copper because this is where we have the most zig and zags over the last 25 years. So this goes back to the beginning of the century and we can see right now, we're at $5.51 per pound. That is a record high. But if we go back to the beginning of the century, guess what? Uh we had a little bit of a slump in the wake of the dot com boom and then bust, but starting in 2003, we saw a big rise there. And that was as China actually joined the World Trade Organization or the WTO. That lasted into the global financial crisis. Then we had a pretty big bust in in Dr. Copper, and then we had another rise. And that rise was due to unprecedented stimulus, not only from the Chinese government, but also from the United States government, QE was in force, and then we saw kind of a strong dollar play. That weighed on this metal all the way into the beginning of 2016. The entire world, most of the world indices went through a bear market in 2015, and then 2016, we found the footing. And that was actually the year that Trump won, began his first presidency. And from there, we saw some zig and zags, and then we saw a shock into the pandemic. A couple of, a couple of years of deflation or a semi-deflation, disinflation, that caught up with it in 2022, but then it was off to the races again. And especially with the Trump tariffs now on copper, threatening to be threatening to be 50% on August 1st, we're seeing a lot of front running in this trade. Now, I also want to show you gold futures and I'm going to show you silver as well. And they follow a very similar pattern. We're not seeing the dramatic zig and zags that we did in copper, but we did see the same pattern of China joining the WTO, contributing to that huge rise in price to 1800, almost $2,000 an ounce by the beginning of the global financial crisis. So a little bit of a meltdown there. But in 2016 into 2018, we saw a bit of a rise into the pandemic, a little bit of a whipsaw there, and consolidation over a few years. Again, that 2022 bare market in US stocks that contributed to some deflation and disinflation globally, supply chain chain shocks came into force again, and then we saw this huge rise beginning in late 2023, and we are now at 3353. We've seen a high of as much as $3,500 per ounce. And gold is kind of unique among the precious metals and also the industrial metals, and this is because central banks have been a huge determining force in their buying of it. This is a bar chart that shows central bank buying in tons going back all the way to 2010. And what you notice here is the last three years, 2022, 2023, 2024, all of those had gold being bought by central banks of in the amount of over 1,000 tons. And so that's a pretty big dramatic increase from the prior years. And this has to do with the ongoing dedollarization in China, as well as Russia, but also a host of other countries, even some in western and eastern Europe. So this is a trend that we want to follow. Uh, I want to close out here with silver, and I'm going to just chart the price action. Again, very similar chart to gold and copper in terms of the big movements here. We saw a big price spike into almost $50 per ounce, and that was just as the global financial crisis was getting underway. And then the QE area in 2011, that's when we saw that high. Then we saw a dramatic, dramatic crash into 2016, kind of found its footing, saw a big squeeze in the early pandemic, 2020 was a great year for silver, but then we saw a little bit of a fallout. And again, silver is on the rise here at $38. It's still off of that $50 record high, but it is increasing very quickly. To round out the conversation, I want to just put on a table here. I have all three medals and just kind of grouping them together. I want to display how they are moving with their specific patterns with a trigger, and then to tell you which one of these is featured in these specific criteria. So here, under the pattern, we have acceleration. So that would be an economic acceleration. The trigger would be liquidity. And when that happens, we see all metals benefiting from that. And then when there's a safe haven scare, and that trigger would be a crisis of some sorts, you're going to see gold and silver outperforming the most, kind of leaving Dr. Copper behind. And then here's a bearish one, industrial drags, that affects copper disproportionately here, and the trigger there is typically a stronger US dollar because the US dollar surges when global global industrials tend to drag, and that's because the US is the least dirty shirt in the laundry basket of the world. And then finally here, we have a policy shock. This will affect all three medals, but especially copper and gold here. Um, arguably, the biggest reason is tariffs and debt, and we've seen both of those contribute to silver rising. So we could put all three in that basket as well. But when you put it all together, we have the perfect explosive mix for all three of these metals, including palladium and also platinum, which we didn't get to have time for, but all of these are experiencing huge thrust in 2025. And we'll have to see how these tariffs play out, especially on Dr. Copper with respect to that August 1st deadline. Remember, 50% there. So tune into Stocks in Translation for more jargon busting deep dives, new episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays on Yahoo Finances website, or wherever you find your podcast. (Transcript from Yahoo! Finance podcast)

News

Best Quotes

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." — Benjamin Franklin

"Bottoms in the investment world don't end with four-year lows; they end with 10- or 15-year lows." — Jim Rogers

Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful." — Warren Buffett

Media Man "Bullish is a mindset"

Motorsport

Formula One

Singapore Grand Prix

October 3–5, 2025
Marina Bay Street Circuit
4.94km circuit

Results:

1. George Russell (Mercedes)
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4. Lando Norris (McLaren)
5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
7. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
9. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
10. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

News

Driver Standings:

1. Max Verstappen
Red Bull
345

2. Lando Norris
McLaren
312

3. Oscar Piastri
McLaren
278

4. Charles Leclerc
Ferrari
245

5. George Russell
Mercedes
232

6. Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
198

7. Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
187

8. Sergio Perez
Red Bull
156

9. Nico Hulkenberg
Haas
34

10. Pierre Gasly
Alpine
28

Media Man: Well done to all. Much respect.

Mining/Energy/Resources/Markets: Australia and World

September 2025

Sept 23

BHP Group $40.61 +0.58 +1.45%
Rio Tinto Ltd $119.66 +2.74 +2.34%
Fortescue Ltd $19.39 +0.080 +0.41%

News

MinRes' US debt deal a critical confidence test

Mineral Resources is looking to replace $US700 million ($1062 million) in high-yield bonds that are due to mature in early 2027, and is hoping to do so by the end of this week. It is aiming to replace them with bonds that will take MinRes into the next decade, while it is expected its new bonds will be slightly cheaper than its current ones. The debt replacement deal is seen as a test of confidence in new chairman Malcolm Bundey, while MinRes' long-term challenge revolves around improving its balance sheet. (RMS)

News

Gold miners surge amid gaming-changing forecast

Shares in Australian gold miners surged on Monday after Wall Street banks Citi and UBS released their latest predictions for the precious metal. With UBS upgrading its 2026 gold price forecast to $US3,825 per ounce or around $A6,000 per ounce, and Citi announcing a near-term target of $US3,800 per ounce, Genesis Minerals rose by 13 percent, while Northern Star was up eight per cent. Evolution Mining climbed by six per cent, while Newmont was up five per cent. (RMS)

News

'Stiffed' mine investors try to put heat on Albanese

Investors in NuCoal Resources hope to draw their plight to the attention of President Donald Trump with a mobile billboard campaign in New York and Washington DC. The campaign has been timed to coincide with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's official visit to the US. The former NSW government had cancelled NuCoal's licence for the Doyles Creek coal mine in 2014, following a ruling that corruption had been involved in the awarding of the licence to the mine's previous owner. NuCoal chairman Gordon Galt says the federal government should force NSW to compensate the company's investors as part of negotiations with the US for an exemption from the Trump administration's tariffs regime. (RMS)

News

Coal royalties out as state tries to aid miners

Queensland's Treasurer David Janetzki has ruled out any changes to the state's controversial coal royalty regime, He says the state government is providing certainty for the coal industry with faster decisions, streamlined approvals and a stable royalty regime, in line with its pre-election commitment. However, the government is widely tipped to provide the state's coal mining sector with some form of financial relief amid an ongoing downturn in coal prices. BHP, Anglo American and QCoal recently announced job cuts at their Queensland coal mines. (RMS)

Sept 22

Mining Stocks

BHP Group $40.11 +0.47 +1.19%
Rio Tinto Ltd $116.79 +2.79 +2.45%
Fortescue Ltd $19.32 +0.60 +3.21%

News

Markets

Australian Dollar: $0.6586 USD (down $0.0025 USD) Iron Ore: $106.60 USD (up $1.00 USD) Oil: $62.68 USD (down $0.96 USD) Gold: $3,685.78 USD (up $41.42 USD) Copper: $4.6305 USD (up 0.0305 USD) Bitcoin: $115,367.59 USD (down 0.39%) Dow Jones: 46,315.27 (up 172.85 points)

News

Jobs in the balance as PM snubs Glencore amid copper crisis

Glencore recently advised that its copper smelter and refinery in Queensland are expected to post a cumulative loss of $2.2bn over the next seven years. Sources have claimed that Glencore is seeking taxpayer assistance of about $600m over three years as part of ongoing negotiations with the federal and state governments to keep the copper facilities open. The federal government is said to have urged its state counterpart to increase its contribution to the joint rescue package. Glencore has previously delayed a decision on the future of the copper operations until mid-September. (RMS)

BHP exec dusts Crisafulli vision

BHP's president of its Australian operations, Geraldine Slattery, has criticised the Queensland government's controversial coal royalty regime. Slattery argues that the resources sector has helped underwrite Australia's prosperity. However, she has warned that Queensland's coal industry is reaching a crisis point, which is a risk to the nation's future prosperity. She has called for "courage and vision" to encourage investment in Queensland, particularly the Bowen Basin. Media reports in the UK have suggested that Slattery is now the leading contender to eventually succeed CEO Mike Henry. (RMS)

News

China orders steel mills to stop using some BHP iron ore

China Mineral Resources Group has told Chinese steel mills to suspend purchases of BHP's Jimblebar blend fines, with CMRG being China's state-run iron ore trader. It is understood that CRMG's actions were in response to a breakdown in talks in regard to long-term action, with its actions having the support of the China Iron and Steel Association. Jimblebar is one of BHP's main mines in Western Australia, and it supplies ores with around 60 per cent iron content that are extensively used in Chinese sintering blends, while a BHP spokesperson said it would not comment on commercial arrangements. (RMS)

News

Sept 20

Rio Tinto expected to join corporate culling season

Rio Tinto has declined to comment on speculation that it plans to make further job cuts at management level. The resources group has already sacked Sinead Kaufman and Kellie Parker as part of a restructuring under new CEO Simon Trott, which reduced its commodity group from four to three. Rio Tinto is now tipped to slash the number of managing directors at the level below its nine-person executive committee, amid suggestions that about one-third of these roles could be abolished. BHP, Anglo American and QCoal have recently announced job cuts. (RMS)

News

Emissions report pokes holes in Forrest's green mine truck dream

Fortescue aims to fully decarbonise its fleet of iron ore haulage trucks by 2030; BHP and Rio Tinto in turn have backed down on their initial targets for transitioning their haulage fleets to 'green' fuel sources. Meanwhile, a report from the Climate Change Authority has concluded that iron ore and coal miners are only likely to begin replacing diesel trucks with battery electric or hydrogen alternatives between 2030 and 2035. The Climate Change Authority estimates that diesel trucks account for 14 per cent of the resources sector's emissions. (RMS)

News

Billionaire family feud takes a new twist in litigation

The lengthy dispute between the children of Peter Wright, who helped unlock the iron ore wealth of Western Australia's Pilbara region with business partner Lang Hancock, is again back in court. Julian Wright had claimed his older siblings Angela and Michael, who along with him were heirs to their father's billion-dollar iron ore fortune, had cheated him out of his stake in the family company Wright Prospecting. The WA Supreme Court would decide in 2020 that Julian Wright had proven his case in regard to his allegations against his siblings, but lawyers for his sister Angela are now trying to find out who funded Julian Wright's case against she and her brother Michael. (RMS)

News

A 100-fold return marks end of line for $3.7bn miner

Gold Road Resources' shareholders are expected to approve South Africa-baed Gold Fields's $3.7 billion takeover bid today. The deal values Gold Road's shares at about $3.40 apiece, compared with just $0.03 in mid-2013, which is the year in which it discovered a gold deposit in Western Australia that became the Gruyere mine. Gold Fields paid $350m for a 50 per cent stake in the then-undeveloped project in 2019. Meanwhile, Gold Road held a 17.3 per cent stake in De Grey Mining prior to the latter's acquisition by Northern Star Resources earlier this year, and Paul Hissey from Moelis Australia says this deal may have prompted Gold Fields to make a move on its joint venture partner.

Top

Mitsui says 2035 climate target bolsters case for gas expansions

Takashi Yamamura, the new head of Australia for Japan-based Mitsui says his nation's demand for gas will rise in the medium-term. Yamamura says gas can play a role in the energy transition, both in terms of bolstering electricity supply during periods when wind and solar generation wane, as well as helping to facilitate the shutdown of coal-fired power stations. He says he understands the need for Australian gas producers to supply domestic markets, but that supplying offshore markets is also important. (RMS)

News Flashback

Sept 19

WA court keeps lid on explosive MinRes papers

The Federal Court has rejected Nine Publishing's application to lift suppression orders that have prevented the release of key documents in a legal dispute at Mineral Resources. The documents in question relate to the falling-out between MinRes founder Chris Ellison and the miner's former head of procurement, Steven Pigozzo; they had filed claims and counter-claims against each other before settling the dispute last year. However, the court has also ruled that more than a dozen MinRes documents should be redacted and released. (RMS)

News

Santos runs out of friends

Santos chairman Keith Spence is upbeat about the oil and gas group's outlook, despite the XRG consortium's decision to abandon a takeover bid just days before it was required to make a binding offer. Spence has noted amongst other things that Santos's unit production costs are set to fall over time, while the Barossa LNG project and the first phase of the Pikka oil project in Alaska will boost output. Santos has also held merger talks with Woodside Energy and Harbour Energy in the past decade; some analysts believe that the latest failed deal may put pressure on its board to a restructuring, which could potentially include a demerger. (RMS)

News

Santos and XRG: The letter that killed the deal

XRG indicated that a "combination of factors" contributed to the decision to withdraw its takeover bid for Santos. Sources have indicated that a letter from Santos that XRG received two days before pulling out of the deal had been a key factor. Santos made a number of demands in the letter, including the requirement that the XRG consortium must make a binding offer by the agreed dealine of 19 September, with the due diligence period having already been extended several times. Santos also wanted XRG to secure the Foreign Investment Review Board's approval for the deal before putting it to shareholders, while a tax liability in Papua New Guinea was another major sticking point. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Markets

Sept 19

Australian Dollar: $0.6611 USD (down $0.0039 USD) Iron Ore: $105.60 USD (down $0.25 USD) Oil: $63.64 USD (down $0.33 USD) Gold: $3,644.36 USD (down $15.57 USD) Copper: $4.6000 USD (down 0.0155 USD) Bitcoin: $117,484.61 USD (up 1.73%) Dow Jones: 46,142.42 (up 124.10 points)

Mining Stocks

BHP Group $39.58 -0.39 -0.98%
Rio Tinto Ltd $114.10 -1.44 - 1.25%
Fortescue Ltd $18.65 -0.10 -0.53%

Sept 18

News

BHP called 'un-Australian' over job cuts

BHP has advised that it will close down its Saraji South coal mine in Queensland's Bowen Basin, with the loss of 750 jobs. BHP has attributed the move to factors such as falling coal prices and the impact of the state's coal royalty regime. CEO Mike Henry had recently warned that the coal royalty burden could result in job losses and mine closures. BHP's coal asset president Adam Lancey has stated that the group's Queensland coal division paid eight times more in taxes and royalties in 2024 than it made in profits; he adds that this is not sustainable, and some "difficult but necessary decisions" had to be made. BHP has also indicated that it may close the FutureFit skills and training academy. (RMS)

News

Unions drag BHP to the negotiating table at Port Hedland

BHP has agreed to hold negotiations for a new enterprise agreement that may cover more than 400 workers at its iron ore port in Western Australia. The Australian Workers Union says that 74 per cent of its members at BHP's Port Hedland export facility have signed a petition to bargain for a new enterprise agreement. The Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union are also pursuing a workplace agreement for BHP's maintenance and electrical workers at Port Hedland. BHP may seek to consolidate the separate union bargaining actions into one enterprise agreement covering its maintenance and production workers at Port Hedland. (RMS)

News

Coal miner Anglo American confirms job cuts in Brisbane, Bowen Basin

The Isaac Regional Council's mayor Kelly Vea Vea claims that more than 1,000 jobs will be lost in the latest round of redundancies in Queensland's coal mining sector. Anglo American has advised that it will shed an undisclosed number of jobs at its Brisbane office and the Grosvenor coking coal mine, which has yet to resume production in the wake of an underground fire in mid-2024. Ben Mansour from Anglo American Australia says the job cuts are necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of the company's coal operations in the state. BHP has also revealed plans to retrench 750 workers at its Saraji South coal mine. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Massive $36.4b Santos takeover deal collapses as ADNOC walks away

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company-led consortium has withdrawn its takeover bid for Santos just days before the deadline for submitting a binding offer. ADNOC subidiary XRG has advised that while the consortium retains a positive view of the Santos business, a combination of factor have impacted the assessment of its indicative offer of $US5.76 per share; the consortium had increased its offer several times since making its first offer at $US5.04 per share in March. Saul Kavonic from MST Marquee says the market is now likely to raise questions about Santos's valuation. (RMS)

News

Markets

September 18

Australian Dollar: $0.6650 USD (down $0.0030 USD) Iron Ore: $105.85 USD (down $0.45 USD) Oil: $63.97 USD (down $0.58 USD) Gold: $3,659.93 USD (down $26.90 USD) Copper: $4.6155 USD (down 0.0835 USD) Bitcoin: $115,850.80 USD (down 0.71%) Dow Jones: 46,018.32 (up 260.42 points)

News

Aussie Mining Stocks: Losing modest shine leading into Friday; Play The Long Game! (Media Man Group)

BHP Group $39.97 -0.34 -0.84%
Rio Tinto Ltd $115.54 -0.79 -0.68%
Fortescue Ltd $18.75 -0.13 -0.69%

News Flashback

September 17

Miners boost ASX; Super Retail, CSL drop

The Australian sharemarket posted a solid gain on Tuesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 adding 0.3 per cent to close at 8,877.7 points. Rio Tinto was up 1.9 per cent at $117.49, Bellevue Gold rose 6.3 per cent to $1.01 and New Hope Corporation finished 5.1 per cent higher at $4.58. However, Super Retail Group was down 4.3 per cent at $16.52 and CSL shed 1.3 per cent to end the session at $201.91. (RMS)

News

ASX stocks to fire as Fed kicks off cuts

Bond traders have fully priced in a 25 basis point interest rate cut at the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting this week. They are expect at least another four rate cuts over the next year, although David Bassanese from BetaShares and Sebastian Mullins from Schroders contend that the central bank will be less aggressive in reducing monetary policy. Meanwhile, Australian stocks are widely tipped to rally if the Federal Reserve does reduce the cast rate; Jun Bei Liu from Ten Cap says James Hardie Industries stands to benefit the most, given its exposure to the US housing market. (RMS)

News

Multi-year rally tipped for energy sector

Mark Taylor from Morningstar is bullish about the long-term outlook for the crude oil price, forecasting that it will trade within a range of $US60 to around $US75 a barrel until 2035. He expects demand for oil to then fall by 15 per cent over the following 15 years, although this will be offset by a 20 per cent decline in supply. Taylor is also upbeat about Australian-listed oil and gas producers, increasing his fair-value estimates for Santos, Woodside Energy, Beach Energy and Karoon Energy. Tom Allen from UBS in turn has a 'buy' rating on Santos, and a 'neutral' rating on Woodside and Beach (RMS)

News

Northern Minerals bets on non-China premium

Northern Minerals has released the definitive feasibility study for its Browns Range rare earths project in Western Australia. It estimates that the project will cost about $592 million and have a mine life of 11 years. Browns Range will produce rare earths such as dysprosium, terbium, neodymium and praseodymium. The latter two are currently fetching about $US70 per kilogram, but Northern Minerals says it hopes to receive about $US107/kg for the rare earths it produces at Browns Range; it adds that prices could potentially rise to around $US138/kg if the world moves to aggressively decouple from Chinese supply chains. (RMS)

News

China has a 'chokehold' on the rare earth supply chain. Could Australia offer an alternative?

Magnetic rare earth elements such as neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium are critical for the energy transition, defence industries and electric vehicles. Extracting and refining rare earths can be costly, complex and environmentally challenging, and China controls around 90 per cent of global processing capacity. However, federal Resources Minister Madeleine King says Australia could become the world's alternative supplier of refined rare earths. Iluka Resources is currently building a rare earths refinery at Eneabba in Western Australia; the project is being supported via a $1.65 billion loan from the federal government, which also plans to establish a Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve. (RMS)

Mining/Energy/Resources/Culture/Digital Gold: Australia and World

September 2025

Newsfeed

Sept 9

Gold rallies to new record as US rate cut bets surge

The gold price has risen to a new record high of more than $US3,604 an ounce. The latest spike in the price of the precious metal has been driven by factors such as the latest US payrolls and unemployment data, which have heightened expectations of further interest rate cutsin 2025. The price of gold has more than doubled over the last three years, and Goldman Sachs recently forecast that it could reach $US5,000 an ounce if the Trump administration's move to sack Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook is upheld by a court. (RMS)

News

Sept 8

Guinea pressures Rio to build ore refinery

Guinea's minister of planning and international co-operation, Ismael Nabe, says his nation wants companies that are mining its resources to build refineries to process those resources in his country. These companies include Rio Tinto, which is behind the $US23.2 billion ($35.5 billion) Simandou iron ore project; it includes a 650-kilometre rail network and port infrastructure to service two new mines. Nabe's comments come just two months before Rio and its Simandou partners ship their first ore from the mine in November. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Sept 5

MinRes drivers 'asked to fill out false timesheets'

A former employee of Mineral Resources has told Western Australia's WorkSafe that the iron ore miner is not complying with safety rules on its 148km private haulage road. The ex-employee contends that truck drivers are being asked to work 12-hour shifts in order to meet Mineral Resources' targets for transporting iron ore from the Ken's Bore mine in the Pilbara to its export facility. It has also been alleged that drivers have been "coerced" into falsifying their timesheets. The company has spent more than $200m on repairing the road, while there have been a number of truck crashes and rollovers since the road opened. (RMS)

News

Shell plots exit from North West Shelf

Sources have indicated that energy giant Shell is considering the sale of its 16.67 per cent stake in the North West Shelf LNG project. Shell previously decided to withdraw from the $US30bn ($46bn) Browse LNG project, which is likely to supply gas to the processing plant at Karratha in Western Australia to replace the declining NWS gas fields. Woodside Energy has a 50 per cent stake in the NWS project, and Shell's potential exit would allow it to either increase its own stake or bring new partners into the venture. (RMS)

News

LNG export blow as US, Qatar to flood market

Investment bank Goldman Sachs has forecast that the LNG price willl fall $US7.35 per million British thermal units in calendar 2027. This is 42 per cent lower than in the current quarter. Goldman Sachs notes that global LNG supply is expected to rise by 50 per cent to a record 200 million tonnes by the end of this decade, amid increased production in the US and Qatar. Australia currently exports about 81 million tonnes of LNG a year, but the US appears to be on track to ship about 110 million tonnes in 2025; Qatar is aiming to ramp its LNG output to a similar level. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Bass Strait partners Mitsui, Woodside, ExxonMobil in $300m feud

The Federal Court is to hear a dispute involving Mitsui, Woodside Energy and ExxonMobil. It involves Mitsui being asked for a payment of $156.3 million from ExxonMobil and $141.6 million from Woodside. The latter two companies are of the view that Mitsui should make a greater contribution to the petroleum resource rent tax payable to the federal government for gas extracted from the Kipper gas field in Bass Strait. The dispute is linked to a demand from the Australian Taxation Office for greater payments of the tax for the period between 2013 and 2017. Mitsui, which acquired Santos's 35 per cent stake in the Kipper field in 2016, does not believe it should be liable for those debts. (RMS)

News

Sept 3

High-grade threat to Australian iron ore

Australia exported about $120 billion worth of iron ore from the Pilbara during 2024-25. However, Vale executive Rogerio Nogueira contends that Brazil has a key advantage over Australia because its iron ore is better suited to beneficiation; this process removes contaminants such as silicon or alumina to produce the higher-grade ore that will be needed to make steel using natural gas or hyrogen instead of coal. Australia's iron ore miners are already facing the problem of decline ore grades in the Pilbara. (RMS)

South32 chief in blast over green tape

Diversified miner South32 battled the bureaucracy for more than seven years to secure approval to continue operating its Worley bauxite and alumina business in Western Australia. Meanwhile, difficulty in gaining approval for an extension to the Dendrobium coal mine in the Illawarra region of NSW prompted South32 to sell the asset in 2024. South32 CEO Graham Kerr says the Trump administration has made it much easier to gain environmental approval for US mining projects compared with Australia. The company is on track to gain all approvals for its Hermosa critical minerals project in less than four years; it was the first project to be added to the FAST-41 list. (RMS)

News Flashback

September 3, 2025

Medals/Rare Earths News

Gold may be targeting $4,500, silver $50 Precious metals have returned to active growth, pushing the spot price of gold to $3,490—just $10 below its historic high of 22 April. Meanwhile, silver has decisively moved above $40, its highest level in 14 years.

The news agenda continues to favour metals, with reports that India is now actively selling US government bonds, building up its gold reserves. China did the same before, and Russia even earlier. However, this may turn out to be nothing more than a glimpse into the past, cleverly picked up by the global media. It should also be remembered that years of net sales of gold reserves did not initially prevent gold from rallying. This could also work in the opposite direction: the actions of finance ministers and central banks may not have a very noticeable long-term effect.

The lack of progress on a peaceful settlement between Russia and Ukraine also helps gold. After months of virtually empty promises, hopes are gradually fading.

A more visible but at the same time short-term factor is the growing expectation of a Fed key rate cut in September from 75% on 21 August (before Powell's speech) to 87% now. This leaves room for the rate to rise by another 10-13 percentage points, which is negative for the dollar and positive for commodities.

However, we recommend paying more attention to the technical picture now. The gold market has been in a prolonged sideways trend since reaching highs in April. At the same time, the bullish scenario is supported by sluggish resistance from bears in recent days and a series of higher local lows.

Silver has been under less pressure from local profit-taking, gaining in each of the last four months. Platinum and palladium seem to be ending their corrective decline, having risen sharply in early September. This behaviour of precious metals indicates that traders are serious about this direction, sharply increasing the chances of new historical highs soon.

Nevertheless, we urge caution when joining the gold rally in the coming days. First, reaching historic highs could trigger widespread selling in gold, as we saw in April and as is happening with Bitcoin.

If the breakout above $3,500 does not trigger a sell-off, as was the case earlier this year, the potential target is $4,500, close to which the 161.8% Fibonacci extension level is located.

In silver, it appears that the bulls are targeting the area of historical highs near $50.

Platinum also looks rested and ready to renew its multi-year highs after a corrective pullback. Its technical growth potential suggests a rise above $1,800, to the highs of 2011. However, such ambitious growth will only become the main scenario if the recent highs are exceeded and the price rises above $1,500. (FxPro)

News

Gold News

August 29, 2025

Gold approached the upper limit of the 4-month trading range Gold is trading above $3,400 again at the end of the week. The upper limit of the trading range, within which the price has been fluctuating since April, is close to $3,430. Jerome Powell's signals about a rate cut, unprecedented pressure from the White House on the Fed, and the continuing high level of geopolitical risks have brought the price back to this level.

Washington's introduction of 50% tariffs against India risks further deepening the divide between the West and the East, as well as the associated processes of de-dollarisation and diversification of gold and foreign exchange reserves by central banks in favour of precious metals.

For the first time since 1996, central banks hold more gold (about 25%) than US government bonds (about 20%) in their gold and foreign exchange reserves. For comparison, between 2008 and 2015, this ratio fluctuated between 10% and 30%, respectively.
Gold bulls are drawing strength from the dynamics of the US yield curve. Yields on 2- and 10-year Treasuries are falling. The market is painting a stagflationary backdrop, which is the best food for gold bugs.

Gold's ability to break through the resistance zone above $3,430 will be an important signal of the market's readiness to return to a rally after four months of tug-of-war. But it is worth being cautious with early bullish bets at these levels. Formally, there is now a greater chance of another pullback to the lower end of the range at $3,300-3,315.

At the same time, investors should remember that whichever way the breakout occurs, the subsequent movement could be very strong, given how long the gold market has been gathering strength while remaining in a sideways trend. (FxPro)

News

Australian Mining: Overview

Economic Impact: Mining accounts for around 13.6% of Australia's GDP (2023) and nearly 70% of total export revenue. It generated $356.6 billion in company tax and royalties over the past decade. Iron ore, coal, lithium, gold, and bauxite are among the top exports, with Australia being the world’s largest producer of lithium, iron ore, and bauxite, and a top-five producer of gold, lead, zinc, and nickel.

Key Regions and Resources:

Western Australia (WA): The epicenter of Australian mining, hosting major iron ore, gold, lithium, and nickel projects. It employed 134,871 full-time-equivalent workers in 2023-24, with iron ore (62,950 FTEs), gold (31,884 FTEs), and lithium (11,386 FTEs) leading employment.

Queensland (QLD): Contributes $75 billion annually to the economy and employs over 50,000 people, with high-grade graphite and rhenium deposits.
New South Wales (NSW): Rich in coal, gold, and copper, with the Cowal gold mine as the largest. It provides 40,000 jobs and nearly $2 billion in royalties.

Northern Territory (NT): Home to the world’s largest manganese mine and one-third of Australia’s uranium reserves, valued at over $4 billion.

Victoria (VIC): Known for gold, antimony, and brown coal, with a strong mining equipment and technology sector.

Tasmania (TAS): A century-long mineral producer with diverse geology.

Critical Minerals and Innovation: Australia is a global leader in critical minerals like lithium, rare earths, and manganese, essential for renewable energy and defense. The industry is adopting automation (e.g., driverless trucks), AI, and blue hydrogen to improve efficiency and reduce emissions. The government’s $1 billion Value-Adding in Resources Fund aims to enhance domestic processing.

Environmental and Social Challenges: Mining faces scrutiny for environmental impacts, including land destruction, water pollution, and carbon emissions from fossil fuel production. ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) concerns and commodity price uncertainty are top risks for 2024. The industry is criticized for low tax contributions relative to profits (6% of federal revenue) and benefits from subsidies like the $3.5 billion Fuel Tax Credit Scheme.

Employment and Ownership: The sector employs about 229,500 people (2% of the workforce), with high median earnings ($2,649/week). However, it’s 86% foreign-owned, with major players like BHP (76% foreign-owned) and Rio Tinto (83% foreign-owned) dominating.

Future Outlook: With 80% of Australia’s mineral potential unexplored, the industry is poised for growth, particularly in critical minerals for electric vehicles and renewable energy. However, regulatory changes, climate goals, and community expectations for fairer taxation and environmental stewardship pose challenges. (Grok)

News Flashback

September 1, 2025

BHP call to voters in coal tax fight

BHP's BMA coking coal joint venture in Queensland paid an effective tax rate of about 67 per cent in 2024-25. BHP CEO Mike Henry has warned that some of the joint venture's mines may need to be shut down due to the impact of low coal prices and the state's coal royalty regime. Meanwhile, BMA's head of operations Mariette Bylsma says Queensland has one of the world's highest coal royalty regimes, which is making the state less competitive and less predictable for investment. Bylsma adds that the "unsustainable" coal tax is having a real impact on regional jobs and communities, and she has urged the general public to raise the issue with their local MP. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

MinRes takeover of miner run by Ellison's brother faces backlash

Resource Development Group's administrator McGrathNicol recently advised that it had received seven non-binding offers to acquire the failed garnet miner. However, the firm decided to recommend the offer from RDG's majority shareholder, Mineral Resources, as it would result in the highest return to shareholders. However, minority investors in RDG claim that they are not being treated fairly, and allege that Mineral Resources is hastening the takeover without allowing time for other bids to emerge. RDG's former MD Andrew Ellison is the brother of Mineral Resources' founder and MD Chris Ellison. (RMS)

News

Sunday truck crash adds to MinRes woes

Mineral Resources is under renewed scrutiny following another incident on the private road that is used to transport iron ore to port facilities at Onslow in Western Australia. There has been a rear-end collision between one of the company's road trains and a truck that was being driven by a contractor; it is believed that nobody was injured in yesterday's incident and both trucks sustained only minor damage. However, there have been a series of incidents on the 150km road since it was opened in 2024, including a road train rollover last week. Mineral Resources has also spent $230m on repairing damage to the road caused by cyclones in early 2025. (RMS)

News

Gas industry frays over future of LNG as lobbying intensifies

Australia's east gas market is facing a supply crisis that could hit NSW and Victoria as early as 2029, with the nation's $90 billion liquefied natural gas sector at odds as to which of its participants should face the burden of addressing the looming crisis. With the federal government having announced a review of the LNG sector earlier in the year, Australia Pacific LNG and Santos, which is the operator of the Gladstone LNG project, are both actively lobbying the federal government as to their views as to how the two ventures believe the sector should be reformed. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Bitcoin Mining News

Industry Challenges and Hashrate Records: Bitcoin mining difficulty recently hit an all-time high of 126.9 trillion on May 31, 2025, before slightly dropping to 126.4 trillion. The network hashrate crossed 1 zetahash per second (ZH/s) in April 2025, reflecting intense competition. Miners face financial pressures from the April 2024 halving, which reduced block rewards, coupled with rising operational costs. Despite this, companies like MARA (mined 950 BTC in May 2025, holding 49,179 BTC) and CleanSpark (mined 694 BTC, holding 12,502 BTC) are expanding and retaining BTC as a treasury asset.

Shift to AI and Energy Competition: Bitcoin miners are increasingly competing with AI data centers for cheap energy, prompting some to pivot into AI infrastructure. For instance, Bitmain plans to open a U.S.-based BTC mining hardware facility by late 2025, and TeraWulf has secured Google as its largest shareholder, validating its AI-integrated strategy. This shift is driven by the need to monetize power, with executives noting that energy, not just hashrate, is now the critical factor.

Environmental and Regulatory Concerns: A Harvard study revealed that Bitcoin mining exposes 1.9 million Americans to harmful PM2.5 air pollution, primarily from fossil fuel-powered plants. The study highlights a "cross-state domino effect," urging federal regulation. Meanwhile, rural U.S. communities, like Dresden, NY, report noise pollution from mining operations, sparking local backlash despite support from some pro-crypto policies under the current administration.

Centralization Risks: Posts on X have raised alarms about mining centralization, with two pools controlling over 51% of the network’s hash power, potentially enabling a 51% attack. This has sparked debate about Bitcoin’s decentralization, though these claims remain inconclusive without further evidence.

Innovations and Expansions: Companies like Cipher Mining launched a 150MW Bitcoin mining site in Texas (Black Pearl), aiming for 300MW, and BitFuFu reported a record 34.1 EH/s hashrate, mining 400 BTC in May 2025. Block introduced Proto Rig, a modular, repairable miner, and Proto Fleet, an open-source software to enhance mining efficiency.

Profitability Struggles: Mining a single Bitcoin now costs approximately $137,000 in electricity, exceeding its market value of around $95,000-$104,000, rendering traditional mining unprofitable for many. Miners are adapting by holding BTC or diversifying into other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum.

Song

Welcome To The Blockchain (Song lyrics)

We're now standing on the precipice of a global revolution

Of economics, of politics, and government

Welcome to the blockchain

verse

Power corrupts, money is power

The power to control the money is one that is now

In the hands of those who pretend we can't function without them

So how can we do something about it? (Huh?)

Working hard to get a raise, lifting that wage up

Inflation takes it like a hidden taxation

Manipulated interest rates to give the banks

A way to create money with the loans that they're giving out daily (yup)

That means our money is debt

That we gotta pay back more than a hundred percent

No wonder then why the middle class is going under

When the one's above them gotta cover and come to collect

And many have no access to banking

Making payments, or saving, so more fees are taken

And every day the gatekeepers are trying to stop change

We can not wait, welcome to the blockchain

chorus

Welcome to the blockchain

Things are about to change

Open up the gates

Systems get replaced

Bitcoin

Decentralize the trust

Security, transparency

The network's run by us

Bitcoin

verse

Bitcoin is a decentralized ledger

And the currency is its first enterprise ever

Secured by the worldwide incentivized network

Can't be stolen or controlled by any sized effort

You can send it anywhere and instantly

No one can intervene, no third party in between

There's no counterfeiting

Algorithms control the outer limits of how many coins can get released

Programmable money, no government can seize it

Payments can be customized by sender and receiver

Contracts can be written cementing your agreements

With terms that can't be bent once you consent then it completes it

Autonomous businesses are possible

Where profit is distributed amongst those adopting it

Paradigm shift we must adjust to the ending

With the blockchain, bitcoin is just the beginning

chorus

Welcome to the blockchain

Things are about to change

Open up the gates

Systems get replaced

Bitcoin

Decentralize the trust

Security, transparency

The network's run by us

Bitcoin

bridge

Now that we got control

We're not gonna let it go

My people all around the globe

We gotta keep building, building, building

Now that we got control

We're not gonna let it go

My people all around the globe

We gotta keep building, building, building

chorus

Welcome to the blockchain

Things are about to change

Open up the gates

Systems get replaced

Bitcoin

Decentralize the trust

Security, transparency

The network's run by us

Bitcoin

By di DECAP, Toby / Toby Ganger

News

Working Man: Sony Lyrics

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

At the age of sixteen years Oh, he quarrels with his peers Who vowed they'd never see another one In the dark recess of the mines Where you age before your time And the coal dust lies heavy on your lungs

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

At the age of sixty four Oh, he'll greet you at the door And he'll gently lead you by the arm

Through the dark recess of the mines

Oh, he'll take you back in time And he'll tell you of the hardships that were had

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground

And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground

And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground

And I swear to God if l ever see the sun

Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

God, I never again will go down under ground

By Rita Macneil

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

The best and biggest gold mine is in between your ears."

"You are a gold mine of potential power. You have to dig to find it and make it real."

"Your mind is like a gold mine, if you dig deep you will find something golden."

"Don't die without mining the gold in your mind."

"We're like goldfields. Until we dig deep to find what's inside us, our true potentials may be hidden forever."

"If you want to find gold, you've got to love the process of digging."

"Even if you're sitting on a gold mine, you still have to dig."

"Develop men the same way gold is mined"

"Don't go into the mine looking for dirt; instead, go in looking for the gold."

"A prospector's job is to remove dirt as quickly as possible"

"A prospector who analyses every speck of dirt won't find much gold"

"The world is sitting on a gold mine but knows it not." "Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"All that is gold does not glitter."

"Gold is forever. It is beautiful, useful, and never wears out"

"Gold is the money of kings"

"Mining is the art of exploiting mineral deposits at a profit. An unprofitable mine is fit only for the sepulcher of a dead mule."

"Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold."

"True gold fears no fire."

"The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit."

"Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"When taken for granted, gold in one's hand is sometimes considered like cheap copper – so are people."

Mining/Energy/Resources/Culture/Digital Gold: Australia and World

September 2025

Newsfeed

Sept 5

MinRes drivers 'asked to fill out false timesheets'

A former employee of Mineral Resources has told Western Australia's WorkSafe that the iron ore miner is not complying with safety rules on its 148km private haulage road. The ex-employee contends that truck drivers are being asked to work 12-hour shifts in order to meet Mineral Resources' targets for transporting iron ore from the Ken's Bore mine in the Pilbara to its export facility. It has also been alleged that drivers have been "coerced" into falsifying their timesheets. The company has spent more than $200m on repairing the road, while there have been a number of truck crashes and rollovers since the road opened. (RMS)

News

Shell plots exit from North West Shelf

Sources have indicated that energy giant Shell is considering the sale of its 16.67 per cent stake in the North West Shelf LNG project. Shell previously decided to withdraw from the $US30bn ($46bn) Browse LNG project, which is likely to supply gas to the processing plant at Karratha in Western Australia to replace the declining NWS gas fields. Woodside Energy has a 50 per cent stake in the NWS project, and Shell's potential exit would allow it to either increase its own stake or bring new partners into the venture. (RMS)

News

LNG export blow as US, Qatar to flood market

Investment bank Goldman Sachs has forecast that the LNG price willl fall $US7.35 per million British thermal units in calendar 2027. This is 42 per cent lower than in the current quarter. Goldman Sachs notes that global LNG supply is expected to rise by 50 per cent to a record 200 million tonnes by the end of this decade, amid increased production in the US and Qatar. Australia currently exports about 81 million tonnes of LNG a year, but the US appears to be on track to ship about 110 million tonnes in 2025; Qatar is aiming to ramp its LNG output to a similar level. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Bass Strait partners Mitsui, Woodside, ExxonMobil in $300m feud

The Federal Court is to hear a dispute involving Mitsui, Woodside Energy and ExxonMobil. It involves Mitsui being asked for a payment of $156.3 million from ExxonMobil and $141.6 million from Woodside. The latter two companies are of the view that Mitsui should make a greater contribution to the petroleum resource rent tax payable to the federal government for gas extracted from the Kipper gas field in Bass Strait. The dispute is linked to a demand from the Australian Taxation Office for greater payments of the tax for the period between 2013 and 2017. Mitsui, which acquired Santos's 35 per cent stake in the Kipper field in 2016, does not believe it should be liable for those debts. (RMS)

News

Sept 3

High-grade threat to Australian iron ore

Australia exported about $120 billion worth of iron ore from the Pilbara during 2024-25. However, Vale executive Rogerio Nogueira contends that Brazil has a key advantage over Australia because its iron ore is better suited to beneficiation; this process removes contaminants such as silicon or alumina to produce the higher-grade ore that will be needed to make steel using natural gas or hyrogen instead of coal. Australia's iron ore miners are already facing the problem of decline ore grades in the Pilbara. (RMS)

South32 chief in blast over green tape

Diversified miner South32 battled the bureaucracy for more than seven years to secure approval to continue operating its Worley bauxite and alumina business in Western Australia. Meanwhile, difficulty in gaining approval for an extension to the Dendrobium coal mine in the Illawarra region of NSW prompted South32 to sell the asset in 2024. South32 CEO Graham Kerr says the Trump administration has made it much easier to gain environmental approval for US mining projects compared with Australia. The company is on track to gain all approvals for its Hermosa critical minerals project in less than four years; it was the first project to be added to the FAST-41 list. (RMS)

News Flashback

September 3, 2025

Medals/Rare Earths News

Gold may be targeting $4,500, silver $50 Precious metals have returned to active growth, pushing the spot price of gold to $3,490—just $10 below its historic high of 22 April. Meanwhile, silver has decisively moved above $40, its highest level in 14 years.

The news agenda continues to favour metals, with reports that India is now actively selling US government bonds, building up its gold reserves. China did the same before, and Russia even earlier. However, this may turn out to be nothing more than a glimpse into the past, cleverly picked up by the global media. It should also be remembered that years of net sales of gold reserves did not initially prevent gold from rallying. This could also work in the opposite direction: the actions of finance ministers and central banks may not have a very noticeable long-term effect.

The lack of progress on a peaceful settlement between Russia and Ukraine also helps gold. After months of virtually empty promises, hopes are gradually fading.

A more visible but at the same time short-term factor is the growing expectation of a Fed key rate cut in September from 75% on 21 August (before Powell's speech) to 87% now. This leaves room for the rate to rise by another 10-13 percentage points, which is negative for the dollar and positive for commodities.

However, we recommend paying more attention to the technical picture now. The gold market has been in a prolonged sideways trend since reaching highs in April. At the same time, the bullish scenario is supported by sluggish resistance from bears in recent days and a series of higher local lows.

Silver has been under less pressure from local profit-taking, gaining in each of the last four months. Platinum and palladium seem to be ending their corrective decline, having risen sharply in early September. This behaviour of precious metals indicates that traders are serious about this direction, sharply increasing the chances of new historical highs soon.

Nevertheless, we urge caution when joining the gold rally in the coming days. First, reaching historic highs could trigger widespread selling in gold, as we saw in April and as is happening with Bitcoin.

If the breakout above $3,500 does not trigger a sell-off, as was the case earlier this year, the potential target is $4,500, close to which the 161.8% Fibonacci extension level is located.

In silver, it appears that the bulls are targeting the area of historical highs near $50.

Platinum also looks rested and ready to renew its multi-year highs after a corrective pullback. Its technical growth potential suggests a rise above $1,800, to the highs of 2011. However, such ambitious growth will only become the main scenario if the recent highs are exceeded and the price rises above $1,500. (FxPro)

News

Gold News

August 29, 2025

Gold approached the upper limit of the 4-month trading range Gold is trading above $3,400 again at the end of the week. The upper limit of the trading range, within which the price has been fluctuating since April, is close to $3,430. Jerome Powell's signals about a rate cut, unprecedented pressure from the White House on the Fed, and the continuing high level of geopolitical risks have brought the price back to this level.

Washington's introduction of 50% tariffs against India risks further deepening the divide between the West and the East, as well as the associated processes of de-dollarisation and diversification of gold and foreign exchange reserves by central banks in favour of precious metals.

For the first time since 1996, central banks hold more gold (about 25%) than US government bonds (about 20%) in their gold and foreign exchange reserves. For comparison, between 2008 and 2015, this ratio fluctuated between 10% and 30%, respectively.
Gold bulls are drawing strength from the dynamics of the US yield curve. Yields on 2- and 10-year Treasuries are falling. The market is painting a stagflationary backdrop, which is the best food for gold bugs.

Gold's ability to break through the resistance zone above $3,430 will be an important signal of the market's readiness to return to a rally after four months of tug-of-war. But it is worth being cautious with early bullish bets at these levels. Formally, there is now a greater chance of another pullback to the lower end of the range at $3,300-3,315.

At the same time, investors should remember that whichever way the breakout occurs, the subsequent movement could be very strong, given how long the gold market has been gathering strength while remaining in a sideways trend. (FxPro)

News

Australian Mining: Overview

Economic Impact: Mining accounts for around 13.6% of Australia's GDP (2023) and nearly 70% of total export revenue. It generated $356.6 billion in company tax and royalties over the past decade. Iron ore, coal, lithium, gold, and bauxite are among the top exports, with Australia being the world’s largest producer of lithium, iron ore, and bauxite, and a top-five producer of gold, lead, zinc, and nickel.

Key Regions and Resources:

Western Australia (WA): The epicenter of Australian mining, hosting major iron ore, gold, lithium, and nickel projects. It employed 134,871 full-time-equivalent workers in 2023-24, with iron ore (62,950 FTEs), gold (31,884 FTEs), and lithium (11,386 FTEs) leading employment.

Queensland (QLD): Contributes $75 billion annually to the economy and employs over 50,000 people, with high-grade graphite and rhenium deposits.
New South Wales (NSW): Rich in coal, gold, and copper, with the Cowal gold mine as the largest. It provides 40,000 jobs and nearly $2 billion in royalties.

Northern Territory (NT): Home to the world’s largest manganese mine and one-third of Australia’s uranium reserves, valued at over $4 billion.

Victoria (VIC): Known for gold, antimony, and brown coal, with a strong mining equipment and technology sector.

Tasmania (TAS): A century-long mineral producer with diverse geology.

Critical Minerals and Innovation: Australia is a global leader in critical minerals like lithium, rare earths, and manganese, essential for renewable energy and defense. The industry is adopting automation (e.g., driverless trucks), AI, and blue hydrogen to improve efficiency and reduce emissions. The government’s $1 billion Value-Adding in Resources Fund aims to enhance domestic processing.

Environmental and Social Challenges: Mining faces scrutiny for environmental impacts, including land destruction, water pollution, and carbon emissions from fossil fuel production. ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) concerns and commodity price uncertainty are top risks for 2024. The industry is criticized for low tax contributions relative to profits (6% of federal revenue) and benefits from subsidies like the $3.5 billion Fuel Tax Credit Scheme.

Employment and Ownership: The sector employs about 229,500 people (2% of the workforce), with high median earnings ($2,649/week). However, it’s 86% foreign-owned, with major players like BHP (76% foreign-owned) and Rio Tinto (83% foreign-owned) dominating.

Future Outlook: With 80% of Australia’s mineral potential unexplored, the industry is poised for growth, particularly in critical minerals for electric vehicles and renewable energy. However, regulatory changes, climate goals, and community expectations for fairer taxation and environmental stewardship pose challenges. (Grok)

News Flashback

September 1, 2025

BHP call to voters in coal tax fight

BHP's BMA coking coal joint venture in Queensland paid an effective tax rate of about 67 per cent in 2024-25. BHP CEO Mike Henry has warned that some of the joint venture's mines may need to be shut down due to the impact of low coal prices and the state's coal royalty regime. Meanwhile, BMA's head of operations Mariette Bylsma says Queensland has one of the world's highest coal royalty regimes, which is making the state less competitive and less predictable for investment. Bylsma adds that the "unsustainable" coal tax is having a real impact on regional jobs and communities, and she has urged the general public to raise the issue with their local MP. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

MinRes takeover of miner run by Ellison's brother faces backlash

Resource Development Group's administrator McGrathNicol recently advised that it had received seven non-binding offers to acquire the failed garnet miner. However, the firm decided to recommend the offer from RDG's majority shareholder, Mineral Resources, as it would result in the highest return to shareholders. However, minority investors in RDG claim that they are not being treated fairly, and allege that Mineral Resources is hastening the takeover without allowing time for other bids to emerge. RDG's former MD Andrew Ellison is the brother of Mineral Resources' founder and MD Chris Ellison. (RMS)

News

Sunday truck crash adds to MinRes woes

Mineral Resources is under renewed scrutiny following another incident on the private road that is used to transport iron ore to port facilities at Onslow in Western Australia. There has been a rear-end collision between one of the company's road trains and a truck that was being driven by a contractor; it is believed that nobody was injured in yesterday's incident and both trucks sustained only minor damage. However, there have been a series of incidents on the 150km road since it was opened in 2024, including a road train rollover last week. Mineral Resources has also spent $230m on repairing damage to the road caused by cyclones in early 2025. (RMS)

News

Gas industry frays over future of LNG as lobbying intensifies

Australia's east gas market is facing a supply crisis that could hit NSW and Victoria as early as 2029, with the nation's $90 billion liquefied natural gas sector at odds as to which of its participants should face the burden of addressing the looming crisis. With the federal government having announced a review of the LNG sector earlier in the year, Australia Pacific LNG and Santos, which is the operator of the Gladstone LNG project, are both actively lobbying the federal government as to their views as to how the two ventures believe the sector should be reformed. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Bitcoin Mining News

Industry Challenges and Hashrate Records: Bitcoin mining difficulty recently hit an all-time high of 126.9 trillion on May 31, 2025, before slightly dropping to 126.4 trillion. The network hashrate crossed 1 zetahash per second (ZH/s) in April 2025, reflecting intense competition. Miners face financial pressures from the April 2024 halving, which reduced block rewards, coupled with rising operational costs. Despite this, companies like MARA (mined 950 BTC in May 2025, holding 49,179 BTC) and CleanSpark (mined 694 BTC, holding 12,502 BTC) are expanding and retaining BTC as a treasury asset.

Shift to AI and Energy Competition: Bitcoin miners are increasingly competing with AI data centers for cheap energy, prompting some to pivot into AI infrastructure. For instance, Bitmain plans to open a U.S.-based BTC mining hardware facility by late 2025, and TeraWulf has secured Google as its largest shareholder, validating its AI-integrated strategy. This shift is driven by the need to monetize power, with executives noting that energy, not just hashrate, is now the critical factor.

Environmental and Regulatory Concerns: A Harvard study revealed that Bitcoin mining exposes 1.9 million Americans to harmful PM2.5 air pollution, primarily from fossil fuel-powered plants. The study highlights a "cross-state domino effect," urging federal regulation. Meanwhile, rural U.S. communities, like Dresden, NY, report noise pollution from mining operations, sparking local backlash despite support from some pro-crypto policies under the current administration.

Centralization Risks: Posts on X have raised alarms about mining centralization, with two pools controlling over 51% of the network’s hash power, potentially enabling a 51% attack. This has sparked debate about Bitcoin’s decentralization, though these claims remain inconclusive without further evidence.

Innovations and Expansions: Companies like Cipher Mining launched a 150MW Bitcoin mining site in Texas (Black Pearl), aiming for 300MW, and BitFuFu reported a record 34.1 EH/s hashrate, mining 400 BTC in May 2025. Block introduced Proto Rig, a modular, repairable miner, and Proto Fleet, an open-source software to enhance mining efficiency.

Profitability Struggles: Mining a single Bitcoin now costs approximately $137,000 in electricity, exceeding its market value of around $95,000-$104,000, rendering traditional mining unprofitable for many. Miners are adapting by holding BTC or diversifying into other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum.

Song

Welcome To The Blockchain (Song lyrics)

We're now standing on the precipice of a global revolution

Of economics, of politics, and government

Welcome to the blockchain

verse

Power corrupts, money is power

The power to control the money is one that is now

In the hands of those who pretend we can't function without them

So how can we do something about it? (Huh?)

Working hard to get a raise, lifting that wage up

Inflation takes it like a hidden taxation

Manipulated interest rates to give the banks

A way to create money with the loans that they're giving out daily (yup)

That means our money is debt

That we gotta pay back more than a hundred percent

No wonder then why the middle class is going under

When the one's above them gotta cover and come to collect

And many have no access to banking

Making payments, or saving, so more fees are taken

And every day the gatekeepers are trying to stop change

We can not wait, welcome to the blockchain

chorus

Welcome to the blockchain

Things are about to change

Open up the gates

Systems get replaced

Bitcoin

Decentralize the trust

Security, transparency

The network's run by us

Bitcoin

verse

Bitcoin is a decentralized ledger

And the currency is its first enterprise ever

Secured by the worldwide incentivized network

Can't be stolen or controlled by any sized effort

You can send it anywhere and instantly

No one can intervene, no third party in between

There's no counterfeiting

Algorithms control the outer limits of how many coins can get released

Programmable money, no government can seize it

Payments can be customized by sender and receiver

Contracts can be written cementing your agreements

With terms that can't be bent once you consent then it completes it

Autonomous businesses are possible

Where profit is distributed amongst those adopting it

Paradigm shift we must adjust to the ending

With the blockchain, bitcoin is just the beginning

chorus

Welcome to the blockchain

Things are about to change

Open up the gates

Systems get replaced

Bitcoin

Decentralize the trust

Security, transparency

The network's run by us

Bitcoin

bridge

Now that we got control

We're not gonna let it go

My people all around the globe

We gotta keep building, building, building

Now that we got control

We're not gonna let it go

My people all around the globe

We gotta keep building, building, building

chorus

Welcome to the blockchain

Things are about to change

Open up the gates

Systems get replaced

Bitcoin

Decentralize the trust

Security, transparency

The network's run by us

Bitcoin

By di DECAP, Toby / Toby Ganger

News

Working Man: Sony Lyrics

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

At the age of sixteen years Oh, he quarrels with his peers Who vowed they'd never see another one In the dark recess of the mines Where you age before your time And the coal dust lies heavy on your lungs

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

At the age of sixty four Oh, he'll greet you at the door And he'll gently lead you by the arm

Through the dark recess of the mines

Oh, he'll take you back in time And he'll tell you of the hardships that were had

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground

And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground

And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground

And I swear to God if l ever see the sun

Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground

God, I never again will go down under ground

By Rita Macneil

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

The best and biggest gold mine is in between your ears."

"You are a gold mine of potential power. You have to dig to find it and make it real."

"Your mind is like a gold mine, if you dig deep you will find something golden."

"Don't die without mining the gold in your mind."

"We're like goldfields. Until we dig deep to find what's inside us, our true potentials may be hidden forever."

"If you want to find gold, you've got to love the process of digging."

"Even if you're sitting on a gold mine, you still have to dig."

"Develop men the same way gold is mined"

"Don't go into the mine looking for dirt; instead, go in looking for the gold."

"A prospector's job is to remove dirt as quickly as possible"

"A prospector who analyses every speck of dirt won't find much gold"

"The world is sitting on a gold mine but knows it not." "Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"All that is gold does not glitter."

"Gold is forever. It is beautiful, useful, and never wears out"

"Gold is the money of kings"

"Mining is the art of exploiting mineral deposits at a profit. An unprofitable mine is fit only for the sepulcher of a dead mule."

"Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold."

"True gold fears no fire."

"The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit."

"Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"When taken for granted, gold in one's hand is sometimes considered like cheap copper – so are people."

Mining/Energy/Resources/Mining/Culture: Australia and World

Newsfeed

August 4/5, 2025

August 4

ASX-listed gold miners arrive at Diggers & Dealers with more than $7.5b in cash and bullion

The annual Diggers & Dealers Mining Forum begins in Kalgoorlie-Boulder on Monday, with the price of gold having risen by 38 per cent in Australian dollar terms since last year's event. ASX-listed producers of gold collectively held more than $7.5 billion of cash and bullion as of 30 June, with how they intend to spend that money certain to be a dominant topic of conversation at the three-day event. Surbiton Associates director Sandra Close suggests the money could be spent on further acquisitions, while she is sure shareholders would like it spent on higher dividends. (RMS)

News

Court looms for Anglo, Peabody in $5.8b deal dispute

Peabody Energy is slated to acquire four Queensland coking coal mines from Anglo American in a $US3.78 billion ($5.87 billion) deal. However, it has become complicated by an underground fire at the Moranbah North mine on 31 March. Peabody and Anglo American are at odds over whether the fire represents a "material adverse change" event, which would allow the terms of the deal to be renegotiated, with the companies prepared to go to court over the issue. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

The new Great Game: how China's grip on critical minerals is redrawing the world order

China is the chief player and reigning champion in what has been described as the new Great Game, namely the control of critical mineral supply chains and the mineral resources that power modern technologies such as EVs and mobile phones. China's dominance of critical minerals is something that has developed over decades, and which saw it control 97 per cent of global rare earth element production by 2010. It has taken time for the West to wake up to China's critical minerals dominance, and closing this gap will not be easy; a war-time mindset is needed. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

AVZ 'hell-bent' on getting best deal for Congo project

AVZ Minerals' MD Nigel Ferguson says he is determined to get the best deal for shareholders in any sale of its Manono lithium project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. US-based KoBold Metals is regarded as the leading contender to buy the project, although Ferguson says the company will have to "step up" its offer in order to secure a deal. KoBold's shareholders include US billionaire Marc Andreessen, who is a backer of Vice President JD Vance. Any breakdown in negotiations between AVZ and KoBold could therefore potentially jeopardise a proposed critical mineral pact between the US and the DRC, which could be signed within weeks. (RMS)

Newsfeed

August 5

Fortescue safety jobs relocated to India

A decision by Fortescue to shift safety alert monitoring roles to India is said to be causing confusion at its iron ore mines in Western Australia. It is understood that calls to workers at the mines to alert them of potential problems are displaying as overseas numbers, prompting staff to decline the calls because they believed they are being scammed. The safety alert monitoring roles were moved to India a few weeks ago as part of cost-cutting measures, while it is understood that local workers who were performing the jobs have been redeployed in other roles. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Canberra to follow Trump's lead on rare earths to counter China

Resources Minister Madeleine King says the federal government is looking at national offtake agreements for the sale of Australia's rare earths as part of its Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve policy. King says the government is considering creating a floor price for rare earths as part of its policy, while she stopped short of saying that the government would directly invest in rare earth mining companies. The US Department of Defense recently acquired a 15 per cent stake in MP Materials, which is the biggest rare earth producer in the US. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Santos deal is not in national interest: Beach

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company-led consortium's exclusive due diligence period regarding a proposed takeover bid for Santos will shortly end. Beach Energy is Santos's partner in the Cooper Basin gas venture, which supplies gas for both exports and the domestic markets. Beach CEO Brett Woods contends that it is not in the national interest for the Cooper Basin assets to be sold to foreign operators; he adds that it is not certain that the ADNOC-led consortium would be committed to continuing to supply the domestic market. Meanwhile, Beach has posted a loss of $43.8m for 2024-25, due primarily to a large impairment charge. (RMS)

News

Bitcoin Mining

Bitcoin mining is the process of validating transactions and securing the Bitcoin network by solving complex mathematical problems using specialized hardware. Miners compete to find a hash that meets the network's difficulty target, earning newly minted bitcoins and transaction fees as rewards. Here's a concise overview based on current insights:

How It Works: Miners use powerful computers (ASICs) to solve cryptographic puzzles, adding validated transactions to the blockchain in blocks. The first miner to solve the puzzle broadcasts the block, and if validated by the network, they receive the block reward (currently 3.125 BTC, halved in April 2024) plus fees.

Hardware & Costs: Modern mining requires Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) due to high computational demands. Costs include hardware (e.g., Bitmain Antminer S19, ~$1,500-$3,000), electricity (often $0.04-$0.10/kWh for profitability), cooling, and facility expenses.

Profitability: Depends on electricity costs, hardware efficiency, Bitcoin price (~$60,000-$70,000 recently), and network difficulty (which adjusts every ~2 weeks). Small-scale miners often join pools to share rewards and reduce variance.

Environmental Impact: Mining consumes significant energy (~150 TWh annually, comparable to small countries). Some operations use renewable energy (e.g., hydro in Canada or geothermal in Iceland) to mitigate impact.

Challenges: High upfront costs, regulatory risks (e.g., bans in China), and competition from large-scale operations. The 2024 halving reduced rewards, squeezing margins for inefficient miners.

Trends: Shift toward sustainable energy, adoption of liquid cooling, and geographic diversification (e.g., U.S., Kazakhstan). Some miners pivot to AI computing to offset costs. (Grok)

News

The sector faces a dynamic landscape of high costs, regulatory shifts, and environmental scrutiny, with miners adapting through strategic sales, diversification, or renewable energy adoption

Recent developments in Bitcoin mining highlight a mix of technological advancements, economic challenges, and environmental concerns:
Industry Performance: June 2025 saw mixed results for miners. Australian-based IREN reported record revenues but lower Bitcoin production, while CleanSpark hit a 50 EH/s hashrate milestone, holding 12,608 BTC despite selling 578 BTC for over $61 million.

MARA Holdings mined 950 BTC in May 2025, a 35% increase from April, boosting its reserves to 49,179 BTC without selling any.
Mergers and Acquisitions: CoreWeave acquired Core Scientific for $9 billion in an all-stock deal to enhance AI and high-performance computing capabilities. Meanwhile, Gryphon Digital Mining merged with American Bitcoin Corp, backed by Eric and Donald Trump Jr., aiming to leverage pro-crypto policies under the Trump administration.
Mining Difficulty and Hashrate: Bitcoin’s mining difficulty hit a record 127.6 trillion in early August 2025, increasing operational costs after the April 2024 halving reduced block rewards. A slight 3% difficulty drop is expected around August 9, potentially easing pressure on less efficient miners. The network hashrate crossed 1 zetahash per second in April 2025, reflecting intense competition.
Environmental and Social Impact: Bitcoin mining’s energy consumption, estimated at 2.3% of the U.S. grid, has raised concerns. A Harvard study found that 34 major U.S. mines, primarily fossil-fuel-powered, increased PM2.5 air pollution, affecting 1.9 million Americans. Noise pollution from mining facilities, like one in Dresden, New York, has sparked community backlash, with residents reporting health issues and disrupted peace.
Policy and Regulation: The Trump administration’s push to make the U.S. the “crypto-mining capital” includes plans for a national Bitcoin stockpile, boosting mining stocks like MARA, Core Scientific, and Riot Platforms. However, the IMF blocked Pakistan’s plan for cheap electricity in crypto mining, citing energy market risks. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis proposed addressing double taxation for miners.
Cloud Mining and Scams: Cloud mining platforms like PAIRMiner and VN Bit Cloud gained traction, driven by pro-crypto policies and Bitcoin’s price surge past $94,000 in January 2025. However, warnings about scams like Tophash and GlobaleCrypto highlight risks of high fees and centralization.
Innovations and Shifts: Some miners, like Bit Digital, are pivoting to Ethereum staking, while others, like HIVE Digital Tech, scaled up to mine 6.5 BTC daily using hydro-cooled facilities. Auradine Inc. announced next-generation mining hardware at the Bitcoin 2025 Conference. (Grok)

News

Welcome To The Blockchain (Song Lyrics)

We're now standing on the precipice of a global revolution
Of economics, of politics, and government
Welcome to the blockchain

verse

Power corrupts, money is power
The power to control the money is one that is now
In the hands of those who pretend we can't function without them
So how can we do something about it? (Huh?)
Working hard to get a raise, lifting that wage up
Inflation takes it like a hidden taxation
Manipulated interest rates to give the banks
A way to create money with the loans that they're giving out daily (yup)
That means our money is debt
That we gotta pay back more than a hundred percent
No wonder then why the middle class is going under
When the one's above them gotta cover and come to collect
And many have no access to banking
Making payments, or saving, so more fees are taken
And every day the gatekeepers are trying to stop change
We can not wait, welcome to the blockchain

chorus

Welcome to the blockchain
Things are about to change
Open up the gates
Systems get replaced
Bitcoin
Decentralize the trust
Security, transparency
The network's run by us
Bitcoin

verse

Bitcoin is a decentralized ledger
And the currency is its first enterprise ever
Secured by the worldwide incentivized network
Can't be stolen or controlled by any sized effort
You can send it anywhere and instantly
No one can intervene, no third party in between
There's no counterfeiting
Algorithms control the outer limits of how many coins can get released
Programmable money, no government can seize it
Payments can be customized by sender and receiver
Contracts can be written cementing your agreements
With terms that can't be bent once you consent then it completes it
Autonomous businesses are possible
Where profit is distributed amongst those adopting it
Paradigm shift we must adjust to the ending
With the blockchain, bitcoin is just the beginning

chorus

Welcome to the blockchain
Things are about to change
Open up the gates
Systems get replaced
Bitcoin
Decentralize the trust
Security, transparency
The network's run by us
Bitcoin

bridge

Now that we got control
We're not gonna let it go
My people all around the globe
We gotta keep building, building, building
Now that we got control
We're not gonna let it go
My people all around the globe
We gotta keep building, building, building

chorus

Welcome to the blockchain
Things are about to change
Open up the gates
Systems get replaced
Bitcoin
Decentralize the trust
Security, transparency
The network's run by us
Bitcoin

By di DECAP, Toby / Toby Ganger

News

Working Man: Sony Lyrics

It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground
At the age of sixteen years Oh, he quarrels with his peers Who vowed they'd never see another one In the dark recess of the mines Where you age before your time And the coal dust lies heavy on your lungs
It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground
At the age of sixty four Oh, he'll greet you at the door And he'll gently lead you by the arm Through the dark recess of the mines Oh, he'll take you back in time And he'll tell you of the hardships that were had
It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground
It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground
It's a working man l am And I've been down under ground And I swear to God if l ever see the sun Or for any length of time I can hold it in my mind I never again will go down under ground
God, I never again will go down under ground

By Rita Macneil

News

Markets

August 6, 2025

Australian Dollar: $0.6467 USD (up $0.0005 USD) Iron Ore: $101.20 USD (up $0.60 USD) Oil: $66.23 USD (down $1.10 USD) Gold: $3,373.82 USD (up $10.81 USD) Copper (CME): $4.4560 USD (up $0.0205 USD) Bitcoin: $114,898.78 USD (up 0.41%) Dow: 44,173.64 (up 585.06 points)

Cryptos: (Near Live)

August 5, 2025
(Sydney, Australia)

Bitcoin $114,226.74 USD -0.23%
Ethereum $3,652.44 USD +3.15%
XRP $3.02 USD +1.36%
Tether $1.00 USD +0.00%
BNB $763.64 USD +1.12%

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

The best and biggest gold mine is in between your ears."

"You are a gold mine of potential power. You have to dig to find it and make it real."

"Your mind is like a gold mine, if you dig deep you will find something golden."

"Don't die without mining the gold in your mind."

"We're like goldfields. Until we dig deep to find what's inside us, our true potentials may be hidden forever."

"If you want to find gold, you've got to love the process of digging."

"Even if you're sitting on a gold mine, you still have to dig."

"Develop men the same way gold is mined"

"Don't go into the mine looking for dirt; instead, go in looking for the gold."

"A prospector's job is to remove dirt as quickly as possible"

"A prospector who analyses every speck of dirt won't find much gold"

"The world is sitting on a gold mine but knows it not." "Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"All that is gold does not glitter."

"Gold is forever. It is beautiful, useful, and never wears out"

"Gold is the money of kings"

"Mining is the art of exploiting mineral deposits at a profit. An unprofitable mine is fit only for the sepulcher of a dead mule."

"Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold."

"True gold fears no fire."

"The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit."

"Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"When taken for granted, gold in one's hand is sometimes considered like cheap copper – so are people."

News

News Bonus

Gold by Spandau Ballet Producers: Steve Jolley & Tony Swain

Music Video: Gold
https://youtube.com/watch?v=VQ4qrcHyYj4

[Verse 1]

Thank you for coming home Sorry that the chairs are all worn I left them here I could have sworn

These are my salad days Slowly being eaten away Just another play for today

Oh, but I'm proud of you, but I'm proud of you

Nothing left to make me feel small Luck has left me standing so tall

[Chorus] Gold (gold)

Always believe in your soul You've got the power to know You're indestructible, always believing

You are gold (gold) Glad that you're bound to return

There's something I could have learned

You're indestructible, always believing

[Verse 2]

After the rush has gone I hope you find a little more time
Remember we were partners in crime

It's only two years ago
The man with the suit and the face
You knew that he was there on the case
Now he's in love with you, he's in love with you

And love is like a high prison wall And you could leave me standing so tall

[Chorus]

Gold (gold) Always believe in your soul You've got the power to know You're indestructible, always believing You are gold (gold) Glad that you're bound to return Something I could have learned You're indestructible, always believing

[Bridge]

Love is like a high prison wall
You could leave me standing so tall

[Chorus]

Gold (gold) Always believe in your soul
You got the power to know
You're indestructible, always believing
You are gold (gold)
Glad that you're bound to return

Something I could have learned

You're indestructible, always believing (You are, gold) Always believe in your soul
You've got the power to know
You're indestructible, always believing
'Cause you are gold (gold)
I'm glad that you're bound to return
Something I could have learned
You're indestructible, always believing (gold)

[Verse 1]

Thank you for coming home Sorry that the chairs are all worn I left them here I could have sworn

These are my salad days Slowly being eaten away Just another play for today Oh, but I'm proud of you, but I'm proud of you

Nothing left to make me feel small Luck has left me standing so tall

[Chorus]

Gold (gold) Always believe in your soul

You've got the power to know You're indestructible, always believing

You are gold (gold) Glad that you're bound to return

There's something I could have learned You're indestructible, always believing

[Verse 2]

After the rush has gone I hope you find a little more time Remember we were partners in crime

It's only two years ago The man with the suit and the face You knew that he was there on the case

Now he's in love with you, he's in love with you And love is like a high prison wall

And you could leave me standing so tall

Mining, Resources, Energy, Markets,News: Australia and World

June 30, 2025

War, tariffs, growth slump take $33bn toll on miners

The Department of Industry, Science & Resources has forecast that Australia's resources export earnings will fall to $369bn in 2025-26, compared with an estimated $385bn in the current financial year. The quarterly resources and energy report also forecasts that the sector's export earnings will fall to $352bn in 2026-27. The report notes a number of risks for the sector, including geopolitical tensions, the Trump administration's tariffs regime and slowing global economic growth. The report forecasts that iron ore export earnings will fall by $11bn to $104.8bn in 2025-26; however, gold shipments are expected to rise by $10bn to $56bn, and become the nation's third-biggest resources export in 2025-26. (RMS)

News

Iran could resume uranium enrichment 'in a matter of months', UN nuclear watchdog says

International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi says Iran might be able to resume uranium enrichment 'in a matter of months', despite the US and Israeli attacks on several of its nuclear facilities. There have also been questions as to whether Iran was able to relocate some or all of its estimated 408.6-kilogram (900-pound) stockpile of highly enriched uranium before the attacks, with Grossi admitting to CBS News that "we don't know where this material could be". Iran has decided to suspend co-operation with the IAEA, and has Grossi's request for a visit to the damaged facilities. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Rio Tinto puts hunt for CEO on fast-track

Sources have indicated that Rio Tinto is likely to announce the successor to CEO Jakob Stausholm after its half-year results are released on 30 July. The resources group has commenced the process of interviewing and assessing the shortlisted candidates for the role; the leading internal contenders include chief commercial officer Bold Baatar and the head of iron ore, Simon Trott. Stausholm revealed plans to step down in May, prompting speculation that he had been pushed out. Rival BHP is said to be preparing for the eventual departure of CEO Mike Henry. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Beach touted as Narrabri buyer

Citi has stated that regulators might require Santos to divest its undeveloped Narrabri gas field in NSW in order for them to approve its $30 billion takeover by Abu Dhabi's XRG consortium. It comes as XRG was given an exclusive four-week period of due diligence on Friday to progress its bid for Santos, while the Kerry Stokes-backed Beach Energy is seen as a potential buyer for the Narrabri gas field, which contains an estimated 1,500 petajoules of gas. Potential daily production of 200 terajoules is equivalent to half of NSW's current gas consumption. (RMS)

News

June 26, 2025

Australia sues China-linked rare earths investors

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has lodged Federal Court action against Indian Ocean International Shipping & Service for breaching Australian foreign investment laws; action is also being taken against a former unnamed associate of the firm. The company is one of five foreign investors with links to China that Chalmers ordered in 2024 to divest their shares in rare earth miner Northern Minerals due to national interest concerns, with Chalmers' legal action against Indian Ocean International Shipping & Service said to be the first of its kind. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

The best and biggest gold mine is in between your ears."

"You are a gold mine of potential power. You have to dig to find it and make it real."

"Your mind is like a gold mine, if you dig deep you will find something golden."

"Don't die without mining the gold in your mind."

"We're like goldfields. Until we dig deep to find what's inside us, our true potentials may be hidden forever."

"If you want to find gold, you've got to love the process of digging."

"Even if you're sitting on a gold mine, you still have to dig."

"Develop men the same way gold is mined"

"Don't go into the mine looking for dirt; instead, go in looking for the gold."

"A prospector's job is to remove dirt as quickly as possible"

"A prospector who analyzes every speck of dirt won't find much gold"

"The world is sitting on a gold mine but knows it not."

"Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"All that is gold does not glitter."

"Gold is forever. It is beautiful, useful, and never wears out"

"Gold is the money of kings"

"Mining is the art of exploiting mineral deposits at a profit. An unprofitable mine is fit only for the sepulcher of a dead mule."

"Anyone can find the dirt in someone. Be the one that finds the gold."

"True gold fears no fire."

"The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit."

"Make new friends, but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold."

"When taken for granted, gold in one's hand is sometimes considered like cheap copper – so are people."

News

Gold holds decline as ceasefire saps haven demand

Gold held a decline as a shaky Iran-Israel ceasefire appeared to hold, reducing demand for haven assets. Bullion was near $US3330 an ounce, after closing down 1.3 per cent on Tuesday. The truce between Israel and Iran continued after US President Donald Trump lashed out at both sides for early breaches. Geopolitical uncertainties, along with Trump’s aggressive trade policy and central bank buying, have spurred a 27 per cent advance in gold this year. The rally has lost momentum over the last couple of months, however, with bullion mostly trading between $US3300 and $US3400 an ounce. Spot gold rose 0.2 per cent to $US3330.85 an ounce in Asian trading. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was flat. Silver was steady, while platinum and dipped.

News

Bonus

Gold by Spandau Ballet

Producers: Steve Jolley & Tony Swain

Music Video: Gold
https://youtube.com/watch?v=VQ4qrcHyYj4

[Verse 1]

Thank you for coming home
Sorry that the chairs are all worn
I left them here I could have sworn
These are my salad days
Slowly being eaten away
Just another play for today
Oh, but I'm proud of you, but I'm proud of you
Nothing left to make me feel small
Luck has left me standing so tall

[Chorus] Gold (gold)

Always believe in your soul
You've got the power to know
You're indestructible, always believing
You are gold (gold)
Glad that you're bound to return
There's something I could have learned
You're indestructible, always believing

[Verse 2]

After the rush has gone I hope you find a little more time Remember we were partners in crime
It's only two years ago
The man with the suit and the face
You knew that he was there on the case
Now he's in love with you, he's in love with you
And love is like a high prison wall
And you could leave me standing so tall

[Chorus]

Gold (gold) Always believe in your soul
You've got the power to know You're indestructible, always believing
You are gold (gold)
Glad that you're bound to return
Something I could have learned
You're indestructible, always believing

[Bridge]

Love is like a high prison wall
You could leave me standing so tall

[Chorus]

Gold (gold) Always believe in your soul

You got the power to know You're indestructible, always believing
You are gold (gold)
Glad that you're bound to return
Something I could have learned
You're indestructible, always believing (You are, gold)
Always believe in your soul You've got the power to know
You're indestructible, always believing 'Cause you are gold (gold)
I'm glad that you're bound to return
Something I could have learned
You're indestructible, always believing (gold)

[Verse 1]

Thank you for coming home
Sorry that the chairs are all worn
I left them here I could have sworn
These are my salad days
Slowly being eaten away
Just another play for today
Oh, but I'm proud of you, but I'm proud of you
Nothing left to make me feel small
Luck has left me standing so tall

[Chorus]

Gold (gold) Always believe in your soul
You've got the power to know
You're indestructible, always believing
You are gold (gold)
Glad that you're bound to return
There's something I could have learned
You're indestructible, always believing

[Verse 2]

After the rush has gone I hope you find a little more time
Remember we were partners in crime
It's only two years ago
The man with the suit and the face
You knew that he was there on the case
Now he's in love with you, he's in love with you
And love is like a high prison wall
And you could leave me standing so tall

News

Markets

June 30, 2025

Australian Dollar: $0.6535 USD (down $0.0009 USD)
Iron Ore July Spot Price (SGX): $94.75 USD (up $1.20)
Oil (WTI): $65.52 (up $0.33)
Gold: $3,274.23 (down $53.78)
Copper (CME): $5.1220 (up $0.0690)
Bitcoin: $107,356.68 (up 0.13%)
Dow Jones: 43,819.27 (up 432.43)

Markets

June 27, 2025

Australian dollar +0.5% to 65.46 US cents

Wall Street:
S&P 500 +0.8%
Dow Jones +0.9%
Nasdaq +1%

Europe:
Stoxx 50 -0.2%
FTSE +2%,
DAX +0.6%
CAC -0.01%

Bitcoin +0.1% to US$107,875

Gold $US3329.90 an ounce at 6.41am AEDT
US oil +0.5% to $US62.26 a barrel at 8.42am AEDT
Brent Crude Oil +0.1% to $US67.78 a barrel
Iron ore -1% at $US94.52 a ton
10-year yield: US 4.24% Australia 4.1% Germany 2.57%

News

Gold once again approaches a cliff edge

The Israel and Iran ceasefire has reduced demand for gold as a safe-haven asset. The precious metal failed to break out of the medium-term consolidation range of $3,100 to $3,400 per troy ounce and resume its upward trend. This signals weakness among bulls and allows Citigroup to predict a fall in prices below $3,000 in 2026. According to the bank, thanks to Donald Trump's ‘big and beautiful’ tax bill, the acceleration of the US economy will push gold prices down. The decrease in geopolitical risks will also contribute to gold's decline.

Goldman Sachs, on the other hand, maintains its forecast for the precious metal to rise to $4,000. It cites the insatiable appetite of central banks, the weakening dollar, and the fall in US Treasury bond yields. Indeed, the White House is keen on lower debt market rates and a weaker currency. A recent survey by the World Gold Council shows that 43% of central banks plan to increase their bullion purchases over the next 12 months, up from just 29% a year ago.

The recent de-escalation has once again tested gold's support at its uptrend, marked by the 50-day moving average. On Friday, sellers pushed the price below this level, which passes through 3324, and are even attempting to stabilise below 3300. In May, a sharp movement managed to push the price back above this line. However, this metric is now turning downward, reflecting over two months of consolidation after reaching recent highs.

All signs indicate a potential repeat of the consolidation seen in November-December last year, which laid the groundwork for the subsequent rally. However, there is also a high probability that the failure to break through the $3500 level over the past two months signals a global trend reversal. We await whether this will mirror 2020, with a 20% correction in the next six months and a two-year sideways movement or resemble the nearly halving in gold prices from 2011 to 2015. (FxPro)

News

ASX dips on tech sell-off; lithium stocks rally

The Australian sharemarket drifted lower on Thursday, with the S&P/ASX 200 easing 0.1 per cent to close at 8,550.8 points. Northern Star Resources fell 2.3 per cent to $18.84, Xero was down 5.3 per cent at $184 and the Commonwealth Bank finished 0.4 per cent lower at $190.71. However, Mineral Resources was up 3.6 per cent at $20.90 and DroneShield added 11.7 per cent to end the session at $2.39. (RMS)

News

'Not the moment' for abandoned rare earths mega-merger, says Lynas boss

A merger of Lynas Rare Earths with MP Materials would create a monopoly of rare earths in the Western world, and the idea that they should merge has been previously flagged. Lynas CEO Amanda Lacaze said on Wednesday that she had been of the view that a merger of the two was a good idea, but that for a "variety of reasons, it didn't happen". Speaking on the sidelines of a talk for the Western Australian Mining Club, she said that there were no discussions between Lynas and MP Materials about a merger at present. She said that deals often have their moment, "and now is not the moment, unfortunately", in terms of one between the two companies. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

"The best and biggest gold mine is in between your ears. To find the gold, think deeply and think better."

"You are a gold mine of potential power. You have to dig to find it and make it real."

"Don't die without mining the gold in your mind."

"We're like goldfields. Until we dig deep to find what's inside us, our true potentials may be hidden forever."

"Even if you're sitting on a gold mine, you still have to dig." Broadway Mining

"There's a gold mine in you that must be exploited"

Japan

Japanese companies and people popular with Australians; Where does China, Korea, Macau and the rest of the Orient rank with down under Australians?

Casino And Gaming News

Macau

October 2024

Macau's gaming revenue jumps 15 percent

Macau's gaming revenue rose 15.5 percent year-on-year in September, exceeding analysts' forecast as casinos gear up for one of China's biggest holidays, which usually fuels travel to the gambling hub.

Gross gaming revenue reached 17.25 billion patacas (HK$16.73 billion) for the month, according to data released by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau. The result is compared to the median analyst estimate of a 14.2 percent increase and has returned to 78 percent of the pre-pandemic level seen in 2019.

The reporting was still lower than in the previous month, as September - when children go back to school and it being a peak typhoon month - is historically a weak season for Macau.

Expectations for the Golden Week holiday, which started yesterday, are high. Advanced bookings for hotel rooms are strong, with bigger gamblers making reservations earlier than usual, Citigroup analyst George Choi wrote in a note.

Affluent players remain able and willing to spend, and the trend seems to be accelerating, Choi said, citing a survey of gaming table performances.

Still, retail sales in Macau have shown signs of weakness. Lower-spending players appear to be betting less for the first time since China's reopening from Covid early last year, according to Choi. It is expected that this trend will ease as Beijing's recent announcement of a series of economic stimulus measures boosts disposable income, he added.

News

Global Gaming

Eklutna tribe clears land for anticipated casino

Alaska

A tribe near Anchorage has begun clearing land for the possibility that it will soon win federal approval to build a 50,000-square-foot facility with a tribal gaming operation. The casino would be the first of its kind outside Southeast Alaska. The Native Village of Eklutna has long pursued the idea of building the gaming hall on 8 acres of land…The parcel is in Birchwood, about 20 miles northeast of downtown Anchorage.

News

Julapun pushes for talks on casino complex plan

Thailand

Deputy Finance Minister Julapun Amornvivat is calling on all relevant state agencies to discuss the government's push to allow casinos to operate within entertainment complexes. He hopes the discussion can be concluded by the middle of the month. He said the discussion will focus on the mechanism for tax collection, as there are restrictions in the State Fiscal and Financial Disciplines Act that the government must adhere to.

News

Nevada

Sports Betting Revenue Grows in August

Nevada sports betting posted August gains in handle and revenue, total August volume surpassed $455.2 million, a boost from the $431.6 million bet during the same month last year. Nevada sports betting operators cleared $25 million behind a 5.5% August win rate…The 5.5% hold for NV sportsbooks is one of the lowest this year, though on par with the market’s average win rate of less than 6%.

News

Florida

Slot revenue rises to $54.9 million in August

Florida Gaming Control Commission has revealed that the state’s non-tribal casinos collected almost $54.9 million in net slot revenue in August from around $825.6 million in wagers. That’s a 1.5 percent year-on-year increase from the $54.1 million generated in August 2023. With 1,236 machines, Harrah’s Pompano Beach Casino, reported as the Isle Casino & Racing at Pompano Park, led with $9.8 million of the total.

News

Pete Rose dies at age 83

Pete Rose, baseball’s career hits leader and fallen idol who undermined his historic achievements and Hall of Fame dreams by gambling on the game he loved and once embodied, has died. He was 83. Stephanie Wheatley, a spokesperson for Clark County in Nevada, confirmed on behalf of the medical examiner that Rose died Monday. Wheatley said his cause and manner of death had not yet been determined. Rose is in the WWE Hall of Fame (Celebrity Wing) Rose was grabbed around the neck in a staged skit by the late, great, Andre The Giant. And yes, there are some WWE themed slot games, mainly found in Vegas, Atlantic City and Florida from what the foot soldiers tell us.

News

Australia

Star Sydney could be worth as little as $8m: Barrenjoey consultants; Star Entertainment’s Sydney casino has emerged as a laggard in the troubled company’s property portfolio with one estimate putting its valuation as low as $8m!

News

Atlantic City

Atlantic City hotels defeat latest class action over casino room rates

Major casino-hotel operators in Atlantic City including Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts have persuaded a U.S. judge to dismiss a proposed consumer class action accusing them and a revenue management platform of overcharging for room rentals.

U.S. District Judge Karen Williams in Camden, New Jersey, ruled, opens new tab on Tuesday that the consumers had failed to present enough evidence to let their price-fixing lawsuit move ahead.

Williams dismissed the consumers’ lawsuit with prejudice, meaning it cannot be filed again. The case was part of a wave of new lawsuits claiming the use of revenue management platforms that rely on rivals' data can be deemed price-fixing.

The judge’s ruling marked a second setback for plaintiffs claiming that major hotels schemed to artificially jack up room rates. Consumers in a related case have appealed a Nevada federal judge’s order dismissing their lawsuit against Wynn Resorts, Caesars and others.

In both cases, the plaintiffs alleged hotel owners fed sensitive internal information — such as real-time price and occupancy data — to a shared software platform that offered pricing recommendations.

The hotels and the software maker, Cendyn, which was also a defendant, have denied any wrongdoing.

Representatives from Cendyn, Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts and Hard Rock on Tuesday did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys in the New Jersey case at law firms Lite DePalma Greenberg & Afanador; Burns Charest; and Susman Godfrey did not immediately respond to a similar request.

The consumers said in their lawsuit that the hotels used Cendyn’s “Rainmaker” software “as their shared pricing brain” that “does all the hard work for them.”

They said “while the AI-driven technology at issue may be fairly novel, the underlying conduct is not.” (Wires)

Markets and Commodities

October 4, 2024

Australian Dollar: $0.6840 USD (down $.0040 USD)

Iron Ore Nov Spot Price (SGX): $108.75 USD (down $0.20 USD)

Oil Price (WTI): $73.71 USD (up $2.70 USD)

Gold Price: $2,656.04 USD (down $2.97 USD)

Copper Price (CME): $4.5435 USD (down 0.1195 USD)

Bitcoin: $60,801.67 USD (up 0.09% in last 24 hours)

Dow Jones: 42,011.59 (down 184.93 points on yesterday's close)

Market, Commodities and Financial News

Snapshot via Media Man

October 4, 2024

ASX futures down 33 points or 0.4% to 8209 near 6am AEST

AUD -0.6% to $US68.44¢

Bitcoin +1.3% to $US60,954

Dow -0.6%

S&P -0.4%

Nasdaq -0.3%

FTSE -0.1%

DAX -0.8%

CAC -1.3%

Gold -0.1% to $US2657.32 an ounce

Brent oil +5.2% to $US77.77 a barrel

Iron ore +0.6% to $US108.75 a tonne

The FX trade that ticked all the boxes

August 8, 2024

All four ways people invest in the currency markets contributed to the historic weakness of the yen — and then its violent bounce back over the past month.

Why it matters: Yen traders made front-page news this week as a sharp unwind of their positions caused stock markets in Japan and globally to sink.

State of play: Currency investing broadly falls into four separate quadrants. The investors can be institutional or retail, and the type of investing can be carry or momentum.

With the yen, all four quadrants were in play — institutional and retail investors were engaging in a trade that was both carry and momentum.

The big picture: In the U.S., investing is generally thought of, first and foremost, as investing in the stock market. That's not the case in the rest of the world.

In Japan, households have historically saved their money in bonds rather than stocks. From there it's only a short hop to the FX markets.

How it works: Because Japan has had ultra-low interest rates for decades, individual Japanese investors started looking at dual-currency notes, where coupon payments or the principal amount would be repaid in a foreign currency. That could be the Australian or U.S. dollar, or, for even more risk and even higher yields, it could be something like the South African rand.

Such notes are a form of carry trade — the investors' yen gets sold, and a higher-yielding currency is bought. The investors then enjoy the higher yield and hope the yen won't appreciate so much that their higher coupons get erased in FX losses.

Between the lines: Institutional investors, like U.S. hedge funds, also play the carry trade. In their case, however, they don't have Japanese yen to begin with, so they have to borrow the yen in Japan before selling it in the FX market and buying a higher-yielding currency.

Those institutional investors normally invest in very short-term money-market instruments, so they can remain liquid and unwind the trade at will.

Catch up quick: Once individual investors got used to the idea of investing in foreign currencies, they soon started playing in the FX markets directly, rather than by buying bonds.

The classic play in FX investing is the same for both individuals and institutions: Buy a currency that is appreciating, or sell one that is depreciating. That's a strategy known as "momentum," and it generally works.

By the numbers: Both the carry trade and the momentum trade tend to be surprisingly successful, generating equity-like returns with lower volatility.

From early 2022 through mid-2024, they both worked wonders in Japan. The Japanese yen had super-low yields, making it the perfect funding currency for the carry trade; it was also depreciating rapidly, making it a perfect momentum trade.

Either way, the trade involved shorting the yen and going long some other currency, normally the U.S. dollar.
Reality check: Stein's Law — that if something can't go on forever, it won't — always applies. The yen had to stop depreciating eventually, and the nature of FX markets is that such moves rarely happen slowly.

Instead, the carry trades and momentum trades all get unwound at the same time, which means a huge wave of yen buying, and a sharp appreciation. That's what's happened over the past month, and might yet continue for a while.

The bottom line: Currency trades can be very profitable, but they're never buy-and-hold investments. Indeed, they can sometimes interfere with stock market strategies in spectacular fashion. (AXIOS)

Full article and coverage via subscription to AXIOS @axios

Global markets go wild and woolly as U.S. economic outlook shifts
https://www.axios.com/2024/08/05/global-stock-market-japan-us-selloff

AXIOS is a former Media Man 'News Outlet Of The Month' award winner and finalist

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Mining, Energy and Resources: Australia and Oceania

August 9, 2024

News

Legal fees for BHP class action top $680m

Law firm Pogust Goodhead is representing about 600,000 participants in a class action over Brazil's Samarco iron ore tailings dam collapse in 2015. The firm estimates that its legal fees could be around Stg250m, while total legal fees arising from the case could exceed Stg350m. Documents filed with the UK's High Court show that BHP's share of the legal costs have been forecast at around Stg108m; however, this is just for the first stage of the trial, and BHP will face a further legal bill if the resources group is found liable for the disaster in Brazil. Samarco is a joint venture between BHP and Vale.

(Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Win for Fortescue in private eye battle

Federal Court judge Brigitte Markovic has dismissed an application by Element Zero's founders to access the instructions that Fortescue gave to private investigators who had been hired to put them under surveillance. Fortescue alleges that its former employees Bart Kolodziejczyk, Bjorn Winther-Jensen and Michael Masterman used its intellectual property to develop Element Zero's rival green steel technology. Justice Markovic ruled that the instructions given to the private investigators are likely to be subject to legal professional privilege.

News

Creasy in talks for Macquarie's $148m debt at miner Calidus

Macquarie Bank has a four per cent stake in Calidus Resources, while it holds $148m of the failed gold producer's debt. Sources have indicated that Macquarie has finalised the terms of a deal to sell its Calidus loan at a price that is at or near its carrying value. The buyer of the debt is believed to be Yandal Investments, the private investment vehicle of Western Australian billionaire Mark Creasy. His deal to acquire Macquarie's debt could give Creasy an edge over other potential bidders for Calidus or its assets, which include the Warrawoona gold project and a 40 per cent stake in the Pirra lithium joint venture.

News

Win for Whitehaven, MACH as court rejects climate bid

The High Court has dismissed the Environment Council of Central Queensland's application for special leave to appeal the Federal Court's decision to allow two NSW coal mine extension projects to proceed. The court had ruled in May that federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek had acted lawfully in handling the environmental approvals process for the Whitehaven Coal and MACH Energy projects. The ECCQ had initiated legal action against the proposed mine expansions in 2022.

(Roy Morgan Summary)

Mining, Energy and Resources: Australia and Oceania

August 7, 2024

News

Liontown wants lithium breaks as prices teeter

Association of Mining & Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce says it is holding talks with the Western Australian government with regard to royalty relief for lithium producers. The price of spodumene has fallen to $US870 ($1,337) per tonne, and Liontown Resources CEO Tony Ottaviano contends that the government should intervene in order to avert a similar crisis to the rout that hit the nation's industry. He has also suggested that the federal government should expand its production tax credit scheme to include the upstream processing of spodumene.

(Roy Morgan Summary)

News

MinRes job cuts add to thousands lost in WA's mining sector route

A spokesman for Mineral Resources has confirmed that the iron ore and lithium producer will reduce its head count, although the bulk of the job cuts will be at its Perth head office. Mineral Resources has not disclosed the extent of the job losses, although it is believed to be about 100. The move follows the company's recent decision to mothball its high-cost iron ore mines in Western Australia's Yilgarn region and a delay in the expansion of the Wodgina lithium mine. WA's mining sector has already been hit by massive job losses in the nickel industry in 2024.

(Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Iron ore 'must learn from nickel pain'

Dino Otranto, the CEO of Fortescue's mining arm, has warned that Australia risks missing out amid the global shift to 'green' steel'. He has called for increased collaboration between industry and government to ensure that the nation capitalises on the decarbonisation of the steel industry. He adds that the demise of Australia's nickel industry provides a timely warning for iron ore producers.

News

Jilted ERA heads to court over Jabiluka mine axing

Energy Resources of Australia wants the Federal Court to undertake a judicial review of the Northern Territory government's decision to not renew its mining lease for the Jabiluka uranium deposit. ERA contends that it was denied "procedural fairness and natural justice" in the decision to permanently ban mining at Jabiluka. Amongst other things, ERA has questioned the haste with which federal Resources Minister Madeleine King advised the NT government to reject an extension of the mining lease, which is slated to expire on 11 August.

News

Newmont fights $130m 'restructuring' tax bill

The Australian Taxation Office contends that Newmont Corporation owes it some $132.6m in capital gains tax liabilities arising from a restructuring in 2011. The tax dispute is believed to centre on Newmont's decision to consolidate ownership of its local mines under its Newmont Australia subsidiary; this included a transaction in which two of the mining giant's North American subsidiaries sold their holdings in Newmont Australia back to it. Newmont contends that the transfer was an internal restructure rather than a share sale, and it should therefore not attract capital gain taxes

News

Watchdog threatens 'critical' Browse

Woodside Energy's CEO Meg O'Neill has emphasised the importance of the company's Browse LNG project. She contends that Browse is the only gas field of sufficient size to meet the forecast demand for energy over the near-term. The Browse project's future is under scrutiny following a preliminary ruling from Western Australia's Environmental Protection Authority that it presents a "unacceptable risk" to marine ecology. The EPA is expected to make a final recommendation on the project in 2025, although it can be overruled by the federal government. O'Neill has also defended Woodside's deal to acquire a low-carbon ammonia project in the US.

(Roy Morgan Summary)

Commodities News: Gold via Media Man and FxPro

July 7, 2024

Weakness in gold's growth

Gold has lost 0.9% since the start of Monday, almost back to the point where it was trading before the release of jobs data on Friday. Perhaps the very first market reaction to the data release highlighted the mindset of key market participants: they are ready to sell.

Gold has been on an upward trend since the last few days of June, leading the price up 4% to $2390 at its peak on Friday. This can largely be attributed to the dollar's 1% decline, as gold often moves with a higher amplitude.

Weak employment figures also pushed up the gold price on Friday, leading to a weaker dollar and bringing the start of rate cuts closer. However, we note the momentum of the 0.8% decline in gold in the first moments after publication.

The subsequent market reaction was a "worse is better" style: the weakness in the labour market increased expectations of a rate cut soon, which boosted risk appetite. But this is a very unsustainable play, as not all the negativity in the macro economy is disinflationary. Just the opposite, we saw confirmation of wage growth (4.1% y/y) above inflation (3.3% y/y). At the same time, the previous months' hiring figures were revised downward, and the unemployment rate reached a 31-month high.

Thus, the economic situation is deteriorating faster than inflation is slowing. A key rate cut, in this case, would be an attempt to support economic growth rather than remove excessive tightness in monetary policy. That is, the chances of a cut for "bad" reasons rather than good ones are growing, which is negative for risk appetite in the medium term.

On the charts, gold has so far hit resistance at $2390, which also caused a local reversal in April. Further improvement in risk appetite in global financial markets cannot be ruled out and may be helped by the reporting season. Gold's ability to gain strength above $2390 could serve as an important price signal, heralding a fresh assault on historical highs near $2450.

However, we see more chance of further pressure on the gold price. We see the 50-day moving average at $2340 as the first signalling point. If this line is stormed without bullish resistance, the price could quickly retreat to the $2300 area, which is crucial for determining the dynamics for the coming months. A fall below it would be seen as a break of the bullish trend since October when the Fed first signalled its willingness to cut rates.

Markets and Commodities

July 9, 2024

Australian Dollar: $0.6735 USD (down $0.0003 USD)

Iron Ore Aug Spot Price (SGX): $108.75 USD (down $1.50 USD)

Oil Price (WTI): $82.30 USD (down $0.86 USD)

Gold Price: $2,358.93 USD (down $32.66 USD)

Copper Price (CME): $4.6035 USD (down $0.0645 USD)

Bitcoin: $56,215.84 USD (down 1.75% in last 24 hours)

Dow Jones: 39,344.79 (down 31.08 points on Friday's close)

(Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Finance / World Business News

Euro, Gold, Crypto and more via Media Man and FX Pro

A strong current account surplus may not help euro

The eurozone's current account surplus climbed to a six-month high of 31.9bn in December. Analysts, on average, had expected a decline to 20.3 bn from 22.5 bn the previous month. The current level was seen in the eurozone during the relatively benign pre-Covid period and sometime before Natural Gas prices spiked in the second half of 2021.

The normalisation of the surplus is good news for the single currency, as it means more net capital inflows into the region. But this growth has been fuelled by falling imports, which can be the result of lower commodity and energy prices (which is a very good thing), but also partly indicative of a slowdown in domestic demand. This threatens to translate into economic contraction in the coming months.

The euro area experienced periods of severe import contraction in late 2008 and early 2010, and in both cases, the economy experienced a severe downturn. Back in 2008, all this was accompanied by the collapse of the euro.

Gold

Gold rises but within a downward channel

Gold rallied for the fourth consecutive session to reach $2023, recovering almost all the losses suffered the week before on the back of the inflation report. Gold's ability to rally suggests continued domestic demand, as some investors are clearly rushing to buy back any losses.

At the same time, however, we note that since the beginning of the year, gold has been characterised by solid selloffs on the news, forming a smooth downtrend. In the context of this downtrend, a rise to $2040-2045, which is the upper boundary of the bearish range, looks quite acceptable.

The area around $2035 - the highs of two weeks ago - also appears to be a crucial intermediate level. Confident buying from this level would be the first important signal that the recent correction is over and that gold is ready to make a fresh assault on the highs.

Much more important, however, will be the behaviour of gold as it approaches the $2050 level, where the reversal of the decline in late January took place.

Consolidation at this level would confirm the breakdown of the downtrend and set the stage for a move towards $2100 and the subsequent renewal of historic highs.

However, as long as gold is trading within the downtrend, there is a greater chance of a breakdown or even an acceleration of the downtrend.

Among the fundamental factors, the potential for growth could be provided by the fall in the dollar if Fed officials show a softening of their position, bringing the start of interest rate cuts closer.

On the bearish side, equities could come under pressure following the optimistic rally in the tech giants and the news of a sharp slowdown in economic activity. We also do not rule out the possibility that the recent support measures for the Chinese stock market and property sector will cool demand for gold as a safe-haven for investors from that part of the world.

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Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from Latin: aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal in a pure form. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions. Gold often occurs in free elemental (native state), as nuggets or grains, in rocks, veins, and alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as electrum), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium, and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium (gold tellurides).

Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), forming a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid alone, which dissolves silver and base metals, a property long used to refine gold and confirm the presence of gold in metallic substances, giving rise to the term 'acid test'. Gold dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating. Gold also dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, and as the gold acts simply as a solute, this is not a chemical reaction.

A relatively rare element,[6][7] gold is a precious metal that has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history. In the past, a gold standard was often implemented as a monetary policy. Gold coins ceased to be minted as a circulating currency in the 1930s, and the world gold standard was abandoned for a fiat currency system after the Nixon shock measures of 1971.

In 2020, the world's largest gold producer was China, followed by Russia and Australia.[8] A total of around 201,296 tonnes of gold exists above ground, as of 2020.[9] This is equal to a cube with each side measuring roughly 21.7 meters (71 ft). The world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments and 10% in industry.[10] Gold's high malleability, ductility, resistance to corrosion and most other chemical reactions, and conductivity of electricity have led to its continued use in corrosion-resistant electrical connectors in all types of computerized devices (its chief industrial use). Gold is also used in infrared shielding, production of colored glass, gold leafing, and tooth restoration. Certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine. (Wikipedia)

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In economics, a commodity is an economic good or service that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them.

The price of a commodity good is typically determined as a function of its market as a whole: well-established physical commodities have actively traded spot and derivative markets. The wide availability of commodities typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (such as brand name) other than price.

Most commodities are raw materials, basic resources, agricultural, or mining products, such as iron ore, sugar, or grains like rice and wheat. Commodities can also be mass-produced unspecialized products such as chemicals and computer memory.

Hard and soft commodities

Soft commodities are goods that are grown, such as wheat, or rice.

Hard commodities are mined. Examples include gold ,silver, helium, and oil.

Energy commodities include electricity, gas, coal and oil. Electricity has the particular characteristic that it is usually uneconomical to store, and must therefore be consumed as soon as it is produced.

(Wikipedia)

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A strong current account surplus may not help euro

The eurozone's current account surplus climbed to a six-month high of 31.9bn in December. Analysts, on average, had expected a decline to 20.3 bn from 22.5 bn the previous month. The current level was seen in the eurozone during the relatively benign pre-Covid period and sometime before Natural Gas prices spiked in the second half of 2021.

The normalisation of the surplus is good news for the single currency, as it means more net capital inflows into the region. But this growth has been fuelled by falling imports, which can be the result of lower commodity and energy prices (which is a very good thing), but also partly indicative of a slowdown in domestic demand. This threatens to translate into economic contraction in the coming months.

The euro area experienced periods of severe import contraction in late 2008 and early 2010, and in both cases, the economy experienced a severe downturn. Back in 2008, all this was accompanied by the collapse of the euro.

Gold

Gold rises but within a downward channel

Gold rallied for the fourth consecutive session to reach $2023, recovering almost all the losses suffered the week before on the back of the inflation report. Gold's ability to rally suggests continued domestic demand, as some investors are clearly rushing to buy back any losses.

At the same time, however, we note that since the beginning of the year, gold has been characterised by solid selloffs on the news, forming a smooth downtrend. In the context of this downtrend, a rise to $2040-2045, which is the upper boundary of the bearish range, looks quite acceptable.

The area around $2035 - the highs of two weeks ago - also appears to be a crucial intermediate level. Confident buying from this level would be the first important signal that the recent correction is over and that gold is ready to make a fresh assault on the highs.

Much more important, however, will be the behaviour of gold as it approaches the $2050 level, where the reversal of the decline in late January took place.

Consolidation at this level would confirm the breakdown of the downtrend and set the stage for a move towards $2100 and the subsequent renewal of historic highs.

However, as long as gold is trading within the downtrend, there is a greater chance of a breakdown or even an acceleration of the downtrend.

Among the fundamental factors, the potential for growth could be provided by the fall in the dollar if Fed officials show a softening of their position, bringing the start of interest rate cuts closer.

On the bearish side, equities could come under pressure following the optimistic rally in the tech giants and the news of a sharp slowdown in economic activity. We also do not rule out the possibility that the recent support measures for the Chinese stock market and property sector will cool demand for gold as a safe-haven for investors from that part of the world.

Cryptocurrency

Crypto market growth halted amid capital inflows

Market picture

The crypto market has corrected 0.46% in the last 24 hours, fluctuating within a narrow range without a clear direction. Bitcoin is down 1% but up 3.7% over seven days, Ethereum is flat for the day but up 10.6% over the week. The top coins are mixed with BNB +2% and Solana -2.5%.

Bitcoin is currently drawing its fourth daily candle with opening and closing levels close to each other. Such sideways consolidations are characteristic of strong bull markets, as opposed to corrective pullbacks on smoother rallies.

Ethereum hit local highs on rumours of a positive regulatory decision before the end of March. Bloomberg analyst James Seyffarth bet 4 ETH that the SEC will not approve a spot Ethereum ETF next month.

According to data from CoinShares, investment in crypto funds rose by a record $2.452 billion last week, following inflows of $1.116 billion the previous week.
Bitcoin investments increased by $2.424 billion, Ethereum by $21 million, Cardano lost $6 million, and Solana lost $1.6 million.

Since the beginning of the year, crypto funds have seen inflows of an impressive $5.2 billion, with total AUM rising to $67 billion, the highest since December 2021.

News background

Bitcoin will see institutional support in the next three to six months, according to Coinbase. Bitcoin ETFs could eventually become a major competitor to gold funds.
According to IntoTheBlock, there is an 85% chance that Bitcoin will reach a new all-time high within the next six months. Five factors could contribute to this: the halving of the price, ETFs, monetary easing, the US election, and companies accumulating BTC as part of their treasuries.

Former CIA contractor Edward Snowden, who has been living in Russia since 2013, called bitcoin the most significant achievement of the financial system in the entire existence of money and means of exchange.

Amberdata admitted that Ethereum will outpace Bitcoin in terms of growth due to more constructive deflationary policies. The supply of ETH has been decreasing since September 2022, thanks to the update of The Merge, as well as the implementation of a mechanism to burn part of the commissions. During this time, around 0.36 million ETH, or 0.3% of the total supply of 120 million coins, have been removed from circulation.

Via Roy Morgan Research and Media Man social media

Copper, gold, and Bitcoin rise; Iron ore and oil fall; ASX to fall in response to selling on Wall Street; US vetoes Arab-backed UN resolution demanding ceasefire in Gaza; Assange's lawyers warn that he risks 'flagrant denial of justice' if he is tried in US

Latest updates on Key Economic Indicators

21 February 2024

Roy Morgan Summary

Australian Dollar: $0.6550 USD (up 0.0011 USD)
Iron Ore Mar Spot Price (SGX): $120.85 USD (down $6.40 USD)

Oil Price (WTI): $78.27 USD (down $1.02 USD)

Gold Price: $2,024.37 USD (up $6.43 USD)

Copper Price (CME): $3.8595 (up $0.0465 USD)

Bitcoin: $52,059.35 (up 0.35% in last 24 hours)

New report reveals Roy Morgan is one of Australia's leading data companies - with in-depth information on millions of Australians based on their Helix Personas

Market Research Update

20 February 2024

Roy Morgan Summary

Roy Morgan leads the way as one of Australia's leading data companies. A special in-depth report into Australia's leading data companies interviewed Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine and Executive Chairman Gary Morgan about the role the company plays in compiling data and building profiles of different Australians. One of Roy Morgan's key products is 'Helix Personas' which profiles people under headings such as "young and platinum", "smart money", "cautious conservatives", "fair go", "working hard" and nearly 50 other personas. For example, the "young and platinum" group love their mobile devices and are "always on the hunt for the shiny, new and cool" and "making the rent". Their income is around the $64,000 a year mark and they can often be found "living a conventional life centred around family".

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine confirmed that the Helix Personas market segments are based on statistical information, not data from individual people. "It's totally ethical. Unlike Facebook or any of these things, it's not any particular individual", Roy Morgan's chief executive Michele Levine, said.: 38,582.12 at 3.22pm NY time (down 45.87 points on Friday's close)

Roy Morgan wins three-year contract to deliver domestic tourism statistics for Austrade

21 February 2024

Roy Morgan Summary

From 2025, Roy Morgan will provide Austrade with the world's best practice survey methodology, big data integration and modelling techniques to deliver accurate domestic tourism statistics. Roy Morgan has reimagined the future of domestic tourism statistics to move Austrade and its stakeholders to the forefront of tourism intelligence with a new platform that will drive the future of Australia's tourism industry, which is estimated to be worth in excess of $160 billion. Portia Morgan, the Head of Client Services at Roy Morgan, says that using face-to-face interviewing, which is the gold-standard for surveying the population, enhanced with big data and cutting-edge data science techniques, Roy Morgan will be delivering a future-proofed system that will be cost effective, reliable, and accurate. She adds that Roy Morgan has been delivering survey-based tourism insights via its Holiday Tracking Survey for 20+ years and the company is thrilled to be working with Austrade and the broader industry to provide a deeper of understanding of how many people are travelling, where they go, what they do and how they spend their valuable tourism dollars.

Anti-mining PM pushes BHP's cash offshore

Roy Morgan Summary

It is somewhat hypocritical of the federal government to flag possible support for Australia's nickel industry, given that Labor's anti-mining legislation may jeopardise the expansion of BHP's copper operations in South Australia. BHP is still likely to proceed with an expansion, but the previously touted investment of between $10bn and $15bn is now only a 50 per cent chance. The new labour laws in the government's industrial relations reforms mean that BHP is now more likely to redirect much of this capital investment to its criticals minerals projects in other countries; rival miner Rio Tinto is already doing this.

More than 2.7 million New Zealanders now read newspapers and magazine audiences surge to over 1.7 million

21 February 2024

Roy Morgan has released its readership results for New Zealand's newspapers and magazines for the 12 months to December 2023. The data shows that 2.73 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (64.4%) now read or access newspapers in an average 7-day period via print or online (website or app) platforms. In addition, 1.71 million New Zealanders aged 14+ (40.3%) read magazines, whether in print or online either via the web or an app. The New Zealand Herald is still the nation's most widely-read publication, with a total cross-platform audience of 1,720,000 in the 12 months to June 2023 - almost five times as many as the second placed Dominion Post with a readership of 341,000. Meanwhile, New Zealand's most widely read magazine is still the driving magazine AA Directions, which had an average issue readership of 379,000 during the year to December (an increase of 63,000 on a year ago).

These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan New Zealand Single Source survey of 6,254 New Zealanders aged 14+ over the 12 months to December 2023.

New report reveals Roy Morgan is one of Australia's leading data companies - with in-depth information on millions of Australians based on their Helix Personas

Market Research Update

20 February 2024

Roy Morgan Summary

Roy Morgan leads the way as one of Australia's leading data companies. A special in-depth report into Australia's leading data companies interviewed Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine and Executive Chairman Gary Morgan about the role the company plays in compiling data and building profiles of different Australians. One of Roy Morgan's key products is 'Helix Personas' which profiles people under headings such as "young and platinum", "smart money", "cautious conservatives", "fair go", "working hard" and nearly 50 other personas. For example, the "young and platinum" group love their mobile devices and are "always on the hunt for the shiny, new and cool" and "making the rent". Their income is around the $64,000 a year mark and they can often be found "living a conventional life centred around family". Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine confirmed that the Helix Personas market segments are based on statistical information, not data from individual people. "It's totally ethical. Unlike Facebook or any of these things, it's not any particular individual", Roy Morgan's chief executive Michele Levine, said.

(Credit: Roy Morgan Research)

Roy Morgan Summary

Roy Morgan leads the way as one of Australia's leading data companies. A special in-depth report into Australia's leading data companies interviewed Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine and Executive Chairman Gary Morgan about the role the company plays in compiling data and building profiles of different Australians.

One of Roy Morgan's key products is 'Helix Personas' which profiles people under headings such as "young and platinum", "smart money", "cautious conservatives", "fair go", "working hard" and nearly 50 other personas. For example, the "young and platinum" group love their mobile devices and are "always on the hunt for the shiny, new and cool" and "making the rent". Their income is around the $64,000 a year mark and they can often be found "living a conventional life centred around family". Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine confirmed that the Helix Personas market segments are based on statistical information, not data from individual people. "It's totally ethical. Unlike Facebook or any of these things, it's not any particular individual", Roy Morgan's chief executive Michele Levine, said.

(Credit: Roy Morgan Research)

Media Man

Warrner Bros

Profile

In 2010, the Warner Bros. Pictures Group broke the all-time industry worldwide box office record with receipts of $4.814 billion, which surpassed the prior record of $4.010 billion (set by the Studio in 2009). Warner Bros. also established a new industry benchmark for the international box office with a total of $2.93 billion (marking a record third time of crossing the $2 billion threshold) and retained its leading domestic box office ranking with receipts of $1.884 billion. 2010 also marked the 10th consecutive year Warner Bros. Pictures passed the billion dollar mark at both the domestic and international box offices. Warner Home Video was, once again, the industry’s leader, with an overall 20.6 percent marketshare in total DVD and Blu-ray sales. The companies comprising the Warner Bros. Television Group and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group remain category leaders, working across all platforms and outlets, and are trendsetters in the digital realm with video-on-demand (transaction and ad-supported), branded channels, original content, anti-piracy technology and broadband and wireless destinations.

The Warner Bros. Pictures Group brings together the Studio’s motion picture production, marketing and distribution operations into a single entity. The Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures International, was formed to streamline the Studio’s film production process and bring those businesses’ organizational structures in line with Warner Bros.’ television and home entertainment operations.

Warner Bros. Pictures produces and distributes a wide-ranging slate of some 18-22 films each year, employing a business paradigm that mitigates risk while maximizing productivity and capital. Warner Bros. Pictures either fully finances or co-finances the films it produces and maintains worldwide distribution rights. It also monetizes its distribution and marketing operations by distributing films that are totally financed and produced by third-parties. The Studio’s 2011 slate includes “Sucker Punch,” “The Hangover Part II,” “Green Lantern,” “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2,” “Happy Feet 2” and “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.”

Warner Bros. Pictures International is a global leader in the marketing and distribution of feature films, operating offices in more than 30 countries and releasing films in over 120 international territories, either directly to theaters or in conjunction with partner companies and co-ventures.

New Line Cinema, part of Warner Bros. Entertainment since 2008, coordinates its development, production, marketing, distribution and business affairs activities with Warner Bros. Pictures to maximize film performance and operating efficiencies. Highlights of New Line’s 2011 release slate, distributed by Warner Bros., include “Horrible Bosses,” “Final Destination 5,” “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” and “New Year’s Eve.”

The Warner Bros. Television Group oversees and grows the entire portfolio of Warner Bros.’ television businesses, including worldwide production, traditional and digital distribution, and broadcasting. In the traditional television arena, WBTVG produces primetime and cable (Warner Bros. Television and Warner Horizon Television), first-run syndication (Telepictures Productions) and animated (Warner Bros. Animation) programming, which is distributed worldwide by two category-leading distribution arms/operations (Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution).

Among the primetime series produced by divisions of the Warner Bros. Television Group are “Two and a Half Men,” “The Big Bang Theory,” “The Mentalist,” “Mike & Molly,” “Fringe,” “Gossip Girl,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Nikita,” “The Middle,” “Southland,” “The Closer,” “Rizzoli & Isles,” “Supernatural,” “The Bachelor,” “Pretty Little Liars,” “Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew” and many more. Also produced by the company are first-run syndicated programs such as “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “TMZ” and “Extra,” among others, as well as animated shows “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated” and “Young Justice.”

WBTVG is an innovative leader in developing new business models for the evolving television landscape, including ad-supported video-on-demand, broadband and wireless, and has digital distribution agreements in place with all of the broadcast networks. Internationally, the Studio is one of the world’s largest distributors of feature films, television programs and animation to the worldwide television marketplace, licensing some 50,000 hours of television programming, including more than 6,000 feature films and 50 current series, dubbed or subtitled in more than 40 languages, to telecasters and cablecasters in more than 175 countries.

WBTVG provides original shortform programming for the broadband and wireless marketplace through its Studio 2.0 digital venture, and its digital media sales unit is devoted specifically to multiplatform domestic advertiser sales for both broadband and wireless. WBTVG continues its strategic expansion into digital production and distribution with the launch of several advertiser-supported entertainment destinations, including TheWB.com, a premium, video-on-demand interactive and personalized network and KidsWB.com, a premium destination built around youth-oriented immersive entertainment.

The final component of WBTVG is broadcasting: The CW Television Network, launched (in partnership with CBS) in September 2006 with quality, diverse programming, is targeted to the 18–34 audience.

Warner Bros. Animation’s combined classic and contemporary library currently boasts 14,000 animated episodes and shorts which air on domestic broadcast networks, as well as cable networks and in direct-to-video releases around the world. The classic library includes such brands as Looney Tunes, Merrie Melodies, Hanna-Barbera and Ruby-Spears as well as such beloved characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety, Taz, Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Batman, Superman, the Flintstones, the Jetsons and Scooby-Doo.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group brings together Warner Bros. Entertainment’s home video (Warner Home Video), digital distribution (Warner Bros. Digital Distribution), interactive entertainment/videogames (Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment), direct-to-consumer production (Warner Premiere), technical operations (Warner Bros. Technical Operations) and anti-piracy (Warner Bros. Anti-Piracy Operations) businesses in order to maximize current and next-generation distribution scenarios. WBHEG is responsible for the global distribution of content through DVD, electronic sell-through and transactional VOD, and delivery of theatrical content to wireless and online channels. It is also a significant worldwide publisher for both internal and third party videogame titles.

In 2010, Warner Home Video dominated the U.S. market as the number one company in total sell-through video (DVD and Blu-ray combined) with 20.6% marketshare, theatrical catalog, TV on DVD, non-theatrical family and animation, Blu-ray and VOD. WHV has been the number one studio in overall DVD sales 14 consecutive years, and is also the leading studio in the international home video space.

With more than 3,700 active licensees worldwide, Warner Bros. Consumer Products licenses the rights to names, likenesses and logos for all of the intellectual properties in Warner Bros. Entertainment’s vast film and television library. With a global network of offices and agents in key regions throughout the world, including North America, Latin America, Asia and Europe, WBCP maintains an ongoing commitment to expand and build the power of its core brands’ recognition in the international marketplace through strong and creative merchandising, promotional marketing and retail programs.

DC Entertainment’s DC Comics has been in continuous publication for more than 60 years, and is the leading comic book publisher in the industry and the creator of some of the world’s most recognized icons. DC’s characters continue to headline blockbuster feature films, live-action and animated television series, direct-to-video releases, collectors’ books, online entertainment, digital publishing, countless licensing and marketing arrangements and, most recently, graphic novels. DC continues to attract new readers and fans all over the world with its signature characters Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Justice League leading the way.

Warner Bros. International Cinemas provides a true state-of-the-art movie experience to audiences in Japan with more than 60 multiplex cinemas and more than 600 screens internationally. One of the pioneers in multiplex development for the international marketplace, WBIC is continually exploring new markets for expansion. (Credit: Warner Bros. Entertainment)

Press Release

09 August 2010

MICROGAMING SET TO LAUNCH THE LORD OF THE RINGS™: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING ONLINE VIDEO SLOT GAME

First Title to Utilize Proprietary Cinematic Spins™ Technology Allowing Players to Experience the Film with Every Spin

ISLE OF MAN – Microgaming today announced the imminent launch of a new flagship game, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Online Video Slot Game. This slot game is the first to utilise Microgaming’s new Cinematic Spins™ technology, allowing gamers to see clips from the films with every spin.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is a new online slot game that is part of a multi-year licensing agreement Microgaming signed with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution in 2009. The company is developing a series of cutting-edge, graphic rich video slots based on this popular movie trilogy and will use animation material, themes, and characters, from the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings™ motion pictures that include The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. These online slot games will be available to adults only in countries where online gaming is permitted.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the first online video slot to use Microgaming’s Cinematic Spins™ state-of-the-art gaming technology. This allows movie clips to act as moving backgrounds behind the reels during spins providing players an unprecedented level of excitement and immersion.

Win sequences and expanding wilds also use cinematic clips, instead of traditional animated graphics. The slots feature famous scenes from the film including Ringwraiths during the attack at Weathertop, Balrog in the Mines of Moria, and Uruk-hai in the woods of Middle-earth. Players will also enjoy seeing characters from the films that include Frodo, Aragorn, Saruman and the deadly Black Riders.

Roger Raatgever, CEO Microgaming comments: “Microgaming has always been ahead of the curve with innovative offerings, but this game really does push the boundaries of what an online slot can do. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring looks and feels like an extension of the big screen film experience and we’re confident that our operators will see a great deal of demand from their players, when the game is released. This is an important deal for Microgaming and highlights our commitment to partner with the right brands, at the right time. The Lord of the Rings is one of the most successful and well loved brands on the planet and we are excited about combining this widespread appeal with Microgaming’s groundbreaking software.”

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy generated $3 billion in worldwide box office receipts and was nominated for a total of 30 Academy Awards®; of which they won 17, including Best Picture.

- Ends -
Notes to editors:
*Cinematic Spins is a trademark held by Microgaming

© 2010 New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and the names of the characters, items, events and places therein are trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Middle-earth Enterprises under license to New Line Productions, Inc.

For further information please contact:
Duncan Skehens / Laura Moss/ Lyndsay Haywood
Lansons Communications
020 7490 8828
DuncanS@lansons.com / LauraM@lansons.com / LyndsayH@lansons.com
Warner Bros. Digital Distribution

Peter Binazeski
818-977-5701
peter.binazeski@warnerbros.com
About Microgaming (www.microgaming.com)
Since the company developed the first true online Casino software over a decade ago, it has led the industry in providing innovative, reliable gaming solutions. Thanks to an unrivalled R&D programme, that averages 60 games per year and a unique ‘partnership’ approach to working with operators; Microgaming software powers over 160 market-leading online gaming sites.
The company’s front and back-end software supports multi-player, multi-language games - over 500 of them, all uniquely branded and provides platforms for land-based and wireless gaming. Microgaming powers the world’s largest Progressive Jackpot Network and has paid out over €265million. In May 2009 it created the biggest ever online jackpot winner with a single payment win of €6.37m.

As a founding member of eCOGRA, Microgaming is at the forefront of an initiative focused on setting the highest standards in the gaming industry, and leads in the areas of fair gaming, responsible operator conduct and player protection. Microgaming has been awarded eCOGRA’s Certified Software Seal following a rigorous onsite assessment to ensure that the development, implementation and maintenance of the software is representative of industry best practice standards Microgaming licensees are therefore eligible to apply for the eCOGRA Safe & Fair Seal.

About Warner Bros. Digital Distribution
Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD) manages Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group's (WBHEG) electronic distribution over existing, new and emerging digital platforms, including pay-per-view, electronic sell-through, video-on-demand, wireless and more. WBDD also oversees the WBHEG's worldwide digital strategy, partnerships in digital services and emerging new clients and business activities in the digital space.

News

2009

With Time Warner sitting on $7 billion in cash, the Marvel deal has ignited rumours of a second wave of consolidation in the media industry. Dream Works Animation, home of Shrek, is seen as a potential takeover candidate, as is MGM with its huge library of classic films. The games firms Electronic Arts and Take Two Interactive, with its Grand Theft Auto franchise, are also being touted as potential buys.

Profile

Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. (also known as Warner Bros. Pictures, or simply Warner Bros.) is one of the world's largest producers of film and television entertainment.

It is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank, California and New York City. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, TheWB.com and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

Founded in 1918 by Jewish immigrants from Poland, Warner Bros. is the third-oldest American movie studio in continuous operation, after Paramount Pictures, founded in 1912 as Famous Players, and Universal Studios, also founded in 1912.