Mount Hope Mining Kicks Off Maiden Drilling in NSW’s Prolific Cobar Region

Gold’s record-setting price run continued this week, with yet another new all-time high in the books. Silver also fared well, breaking US$42 per ounce.

According to Bloomberg, gold has now also surpassed its inflation-adjusted all-time high of US$850 per ounce, which it set more than 45 years ago on January 21, 1980. The news outlet notes that at the time the US was dealing with currency issues, inflation and recession concerns.

These are problems that sound all too familiar today. This week brought the release of the latest US consumer price index (CPI) data, which shows a 0.4 percent month-on-month increase for the all-items index — that’s ahead of estimates and the most since the start of 2025.

Meanwhile, core CPI, which excludes the food and energy categories, was up 0.3 percent from July. On an annual basis, core CPI was up 3.1 percent, while overall CPI rose 2.9 percent.

US producer price index (PPI) data also came out this week.

The index, which measures costs at a wholesale level, showed an unexpected 0.1 percent month-on-month decrease for August; the result was the same for core PPI.

Attention is now shifting to the US Federal Reserve’s next meeting, which is set to run from September 16 to 17. For weeks now the central bank has been widely expected to cut interest rates, and experts believe this week’s CPI and PPI numbers support that idea.

“Today’s CPI may appear to offset yesterday’s PPI, but it wasn’t hot enough to distract the Fed from the softening jobs picture. That translates into a rate cut next week — and, likely, more to come” — Ellen Zentner, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management

CME Group’s (NASDAQ:CME) FedWatch tool now shows odds of 93.9 percent for a 25 basis point cut, while the likelihood of a 50 basis point reduction stands at 6.1 percent.

Bullet briefing — Mining majors in mega M&A, Newmont to exit TSX

Anglo, Teck to merge in US$53 billion deal

Anglo American (LSE:AAL,OTCQX:AAUKF) and Teck Resources (TSX:TECK.A,TSX:TECK.B,NYSE:TECK) announced that they plan to merge in a US$53 billion transaction.

The new entity, which the companies say will be one of the world’s largest copper producers, will have assets in Canada, the US, Latin America and Southern Africa.

Its primary listing will be in London, but its headquarters will be in Canada — a commitment that Teck CEO Jonathan Price told BNN Bloomberg will be “perpetual.” In a bid to safeguard its critical minerals sector, Canada said last year that it will only greenlight foreign takeovers of large critical minerals miners in “exceptional circumstances.”

The companies expect annual pre-tax synergies of about US$800 million by the end of the fourth year following the completion of the arrangement.

Experts say the zero-premium, all-share tie up is the second largest mining deal ever, and the biggest in more than a decade. It comes not long after other high-profile M&A attempts involving both companies —…