More mines, more ounces: A decade of gold gains turned Canada into a mining powerhouse

By Anam Khan

October 22, 2025

A contractor works at the underground at LaRonde mine in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, Quebec, Canada.

Gold keeps setting records and Canada is producing a lot more of it.

High gold prices over the past decade have driven new mine openings and expansions pushing Canada’s gold output up 31 per cent, according to the Mining Association of Canada.

It pushed Canada past the U.S. into number four in the world two years ago, and Canada is still climbing with fresh projects, producing about 198 tonnes of gold in 2023, worth roughly $16 billion, according to Natural Resources Canada.

“All we’ve been opening up is gold mines,” Pierre Gratton, president and CEO of the Mining Association of Canada told BNN Bloomberg in an interview.

He said in the last 15 years, mining for base critical minerals haven’t grown as much because their prices have stayed low.


But gold has been the bright spot, he said, with global prices up nearly 150 per cent over the past decade and surpassing US$4,300 an ounce this week.

“Gold just has continued to grow,” said Gratton.

Gratton said permits for gold mines are often quick and take three to five years to get approved because they’re smaller than big open-pit or base-metal projects and they tend to be easier and faster to assess.
A decade of expansion

Ontario and Québec have represented more than 70 per cent of Canada’s gold output in recent years according to Natural Resources of Canada.

Gratton confirms several new mines have entered production, including B2Gold’s Goose mine in Nunavut, Agnico Eagle’s Odyssey mine in Quebec, Equinox’s Valentine mine in Newfoundland and Labrador, Artemis Gold’s Blackwater project in British Columbia, and Osisko’s Cariboo Gold, now under construction in British Columbia.

Kinross is advancing its Great Bear project in Ontario’s Red Lake region, while Agnico is expanding Upper Beaver in Ontario

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IAMGOLD’s Cote Gold open pit mine, located off Highway 144 between Timmins and Sudbury, had its official ribbon-cutting ceremony as production ramps up. (Lydia Chubak/CTV News Northern Ontario)

IamGold’s Coté Gold began operations last year in Ontario, and Equinox’s Greenstone mine has entered production in Ontario.

Copper expansions such as Newmont’s Red Chris project in British Columbia is expected to add to national gold output.

This week, IAMGOLD announced deals to acquire Northern Superior Resources Inc. and Mines d’Or Orbec Inc. in Quebec, a combined transaction worth roughly C$392 million.


“That’s a lot of new activity,” Gratton said.

High prices, high performance

A surge in gold prices is fueling record profits for producers.

Agnico Eagle, Canada’s largest gold miner, said it’s staying disciplined despite soaring prices, posting record free cash flow and reaching $1 billion in net cash by June.

“With the higher gold prices and solid operational results, we have achieved record financial performance and generated record free cash flows in the first half of 2025,” Jean-Marie Clouet, Vice President of Investor Relations at Agnico Eagle Mines Limited, told BNN Bloomberg in an email.

The company said it is exploring ways to boost value, from extending the life of aging mines to using idle plant capacity and reviving projects made profitable by higher gold prices.
What’s next if prices stay high?

Canada’s production base is set to expand into the 2030s if today’s prices hold.

Agnico outlined five internal projects it believes could lift its output to 4.0 to 4.3 million ounces annually in that decade.

Plans include growing Detour Lake toward one million ounces a year, expanding Canadian Malartic with a second shaft and satellite deposits, building Upper Beaver in Ontario and Hope Bay in Nunavut.

The company is also developing the San Nicolás copper-zinc project in Mexico. All five projects are being internally funded.

Gold industry-wide, Gratton expects “next year’s numbers to be better than this year’s” as new Canadian capacity ramps.

The only issue is a worker shortage. Gratton said the industry needs mining engineers and skilled trade workers across the board.

“We need to attract more young people into this industry.”
Beyond the surge, Canada’s clean reputation

Canadian miners are recognized globally for clean, responsible operations.

TD Securities’ Bart Melek noted that Canadian producers are “among the most ethical and environmentally responsible in the world,” a factor that boosts their reputation with investors and governments alike.

Gratton said Canada also has a competitive edge because of the Royal Canadian Mint. It plays a key role in Canada’s gold sector, because it is a trusted national institution that helps Canadian gold reach global markets.

In this file photo, the Royal Canadian Mints' world's first 100-kg 99999 pure gold bullion coin with a $1 million face value sits among much smaller 1oz gold coins at its unveiling, in Ottawa Thursday May 3, 2007.(CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson) CANADA

“Most of the mines send their gold to the Mint., and the Mint is also the minter of currencies all over the world, not just Canada’s,” said Gratton.

He explained, the Royal Canadian Mint sells gold to the London Bullion Exchange, where it enters global circulation, and reinforces Canada’s reputation for responsible, high-quality production.

“It’s one of the lesser known jewels in Canada’s crown,” said Gratton.

Anam Khan
Journalist, BNNBloomberg.ca

 

Banks, investors pumped $52B into met coal between 2022 and 2024: report

MINING.COM Editor | October 28, 2025 |

Stock image: by Parilov.

German environmental and human rights group Urgewald has exposed how major financial institutions continue to bankroll the metallurgical coal industry, funnelling nearly $52 billion into mine expansions between 2022 and 2024 despite global climate commitments.

Its new report, Still Burning: How Banks and Investors Fuel Met Coal Expansion, reveals that banks provided $22 billion in loans and underwriting during the period, while institutional investors hold $30.23 billion in securities tied to companies expanding coal mining operations. The top investors include Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street.

Urgewald, which earlier this year launched the first global database of metallurgical coal developers, says many financiers have pledged to end coal funding but exclude metallurgical coal from those promises, which the say it’s a “dangerous” loophole to climate goals. Met coal accounts for about 11% of global CO₂ emissions.

“Met coal fuels the climate crisis just the same as thermal coal,”  Lia Wagner, met coal expert at Urgewald, says. “Banks and investors that ignore this fact are financing the destruction of our planet’s carbon budget.”

Steelmakers rely on metallurgical or coking coal to provide the carbon and heat needed to turn iron ore into molten iron in blast furnaces. While electric-arc furnaces are advancing, they must rely on scrap metal which means they can’t replace coking coal at industrial scale. Green-hydrogen methods can work, but they need abundant cheap renewable power and large-scale hydrogen production, which are not yet widely available.

Until those alternatives mature, analysts warn that met coal will stay critical to building the wind turbines, transmission lines and electric vehicles (EVs) driving the energy transition itself.

China, US lead financing

The report identifies 201 banks that financed metallurgical coal developers in recent years, with Chinese institutions dominating at 67% of global funding — roughly $14.7 billion. China Everbright, CITIC, and CSC Financial top the list, driven by demand from China’s massive blast-furnace steel industry.

The United States ranks second, contributing $3.04 billion. Jefferies Financial Group leads U.S. financiers, increasing its met coal funding nearly 400% since 2022. In 2024, Jefferies, along with KKR Group and Deutsche Bank, arranged a $2 billion loan to Peabody Energy, which later abandoned a major acquisition following mine fires in Queensland, Australia.

Source: Still Burning: How Banks and Investors Fuel Met Coal Expansion.

“Even as the market signals decline, US financiers are clinging to met coal,” Wagner said. “None of this is about protecting steelworkers — it’s about cornering short-term profits.”

Europe’s “double standard“

European banks, despite their climate rhetoric, channelled $1.54 billion into met coal developers over the past three years. Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Santander, and Crédit Agricole are among the top financiers, many of which had pledged to stop backing new coal projects.

Much of this funding went to Glencore, whose mountaintop-removal mines in British Columbia have polluted waterways and destroyed ecosystems. Both Deutsche Bank and UBS previously vowed not to finance such operations but continue to support Glencore.

“It’s hypocritical for European banks to brag about thermal coal phase-outs while secretly funding met coal mining,” Cynthia Rocamora of Reclaim Finance, said.

“It’s hypocritical for European banks to brag about thermal coal phase-outs while secretly funding met coal mining,” says Cynthia Rocamora from Reclaim Finance.

Source: Still Burning: How Banks and Investors Fuel Met Coal Expansion.

Japan and Australia were also found to sustain coal’s lifeline. Over the reporting period, Japanese banks invested $1.22 billion in metallurgical coal developers, led by Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho, and SMBC Group. Japan’s steel giants, Mitsubishi Corporation and Nippon Steel, are expanding coal mines in Australia even as they promote “green transformation” campaigns.

Australia’s banks and investors added another $644 million, with Petra Capital and ANZ leading the way. Their financing has helped companies like Stanmore Resources and BHP extend coal mining well into the next century.

“ANZ’s coal policy is not acceptable in the midst of a climate crisis,” Adam Currie of 350 Aotearoa says. “Its policies contain carefully crafted loopholes that continue to permit the expansion of metallurgical coal.”

Coal’s future

While banks keep the loans flowing, investors are ensuring coal’s longevity. As of July 2025, institutional investors hold $30.23 billion in securities tied to companies expanding metallurgical coal operations, with U.S. investors dominating at $17.04 billion.

The world’s top five investors are Vanguard ($3.33 billion), BlackRock ($3.05 billion), State Street ($1.97 billion), Berkshire Hathaway ($797 million), and Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund ($733 million). Collectively, they control nearly one-third of global met coal investments.

Source: Still Burning: How Banks and Investors Fuel Met Coal Expansion.

Despite its “sustainability-conscious” strategy, Japan’s GPIF has drawn criticism for holdings in Mitsubishi, Glencore, and Coal India. Meanwhile, Australia’s largest pension fund, AustralianSuper, has boosted its stake in Whitehaven Coal to 8.47%. Whitehaven’s Blackwater South and Winchester South projects threaten thousands of hectares of koala habitat.

Urgewald’s report concludes that continued met coal financing is incompatible with the 1.5°C climate target. With the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism taking effect and green hydrogen steelmaking gaining traction, the era of coal-based steelmaking, it warns, is nearing its end.

“The time for excuses is over,” Wagner says. “Financial institutions must close the metallurgical coal loophole once and for all because, simply put, coal is coal.”

 

Blackwater photos suggest new symbiosis between fish and anemones

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

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A juvenile carangidae appears to be holding an anemone in its mouth. Photo by Linda Ianniello.

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Credit: Linda Ianniello

A new manuscript in the Journal of Fish Biology reveals that relationships between fish and sea anemones are more diverse than those portrayed in Finding Nemo. Captured through breathtaking blackwater photography, the images featured in the article show rarely seen encounters between these creatures that may provide mutual benefits.

Gabriel Afonso, lead author and Ph.D. student at William & Mary’s Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences & VIMS, said that the emerging field of blackwater photography, or images captured by night-time divers, made this study possible. 

Rich Collins is one of the divers who contributed to the article and a consultant at the Florida Museum of Natural History. He has witnessed lots of surprising interactions between tiny organisms since he started doing blackwater photography, such as filefish carrying box jellyfish in their mouths despite their dangerous sting. 

“Some species of vulnerable larval or juvenile fish use invertebrate species apparently for defensive purposes,” Collins said. “They’ll find something that’s noxious or stingy, and they just carry it around.”

The pictures featured in the article show how this behavior extends to other juvenile fish and larval anemone interactions. Filefish, driftfish, pomfrets, and a young jack can be seen carrying larval tube anemone or button polyps in their mouths, possibly for protection.

While adult fish are known to cling to corals for rest and other purposes, the way these juveniles seem to be using anemones for self-defense is still not fully understood. While the sting from a larval anemone might not be enough to kill a predator, it would be “unpalatable,” Afonso said. 

This could be a new form of mutualism between fish and anemone, because the anemone could also benefit from being carried by the fish as a form of dispersion.

“The anemones have a relatively low speed compared to juvenile fish,” Afonso said. “As far as I know, this is the first relationship of an open water fish interacting physically with an anemone that looks to be carrying the invertebrate.”

Afonso hopes that this article sheds more light on the previously unseen world revealed by blackwater photography and sparks people’s curiosity about the many different interactions happening between fish and invertebrates of all shapes and colors.

Visit the Wiley Online Library to read the full article.

Juvenile filefish carrying a palythoa larva in its mouth. Photo by Rich Collins.

Juvenile bamidae holding an anemone in its mouth. Photo by Linda Ianniello. 

Journal

Journal of Fish Biology

DOI

10.1111/jfb.70214 

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Associations between fishes (Actinopterygii: Teleostei) and anthozoans (Anthozoa: Hexacorallia) in epipelagic waters based on in situ records

Exploring The High Rates Of Social Violence In America – Analysis

 October 1, 2025  

By John P. Ruehl

For decades, the Americas have been the most violent part of the world outside active war zones. Many factors contribute to this, but long-term solutions remain difficult to achieve.

By mid-2025, U.S. homicide rates were lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. It is a welcome sign, though the decline has been uneven across the country, and wider trends in violent crime remain mixed throughout the Americas.

Since the latter half of the 20th century, outside of war zones, few regions have experienced comparable levels of lethal violence to the Americas. Even Canada, generally low in crime and consistently ranked high on global peace indexes, recorded a higher homicide rate than any other G7 country in 2023 apart from the United States.

Accurate global comparisons remain difficult. Think tanks such as the Igarapé Institute compile extensive data, but differences in recordkeeping, definitions of violence, and underreporting complicate the process and fail to capture an accurate picture. Even so, underreporting is global and cannot obscure the violence experienced in the Americas.

Home to just 13 percent of the world’s population, the region’s 154,000 killings accounted for roughly one-third of global homicides in 2021, according to UN data, which stated, “The Americas have the highest regional homicide rate in the world, and high rates of homicidal violence related to organized crime.” The regional homicide rate, around 15 homicide victims per 100,000 people, was nearly triple the global average of 5.8. In fact, 43 of the 50 most violent cities in the world were located in the Americas in 2023.

Young men are disproportionately the victims, largely through inter-gang violence, though many other citizens are caught in the crossfire. While much of the violence is related to criminal activities, it is sustained by a wider set of factors. Addressing the problem will require coordinated, continent-wide efforts, which have so far proven elusive or been shaped by policies from Washington.

Sources of Violence

Inequality and poverty are major drivers of violence in the Americas. High inequality often fuels crime by breeding resentment, eroding social cohesion, and limiting legitimate work opportunities. The Gini coefficient, a standard measure of inequality, consistently places countries in the Americas among the worst worldwide. South Africa, which has Africa’s highest homicide rateand is the only country outside the Americas with multiple cities on the world’s most violent cities list, has a relatively high GDP per capita among African countries, but suffers extreme inequality

Yet inequality alone does not explain the picture. Saudi Arabia also ranks poorly on inequality based on 2019 data, but maintains a very low homicide rate. Additionally, although Pakistan’s GDP per capita is lower than that of most countries in the Americas, its homicide rate is lower compared to theirs, showing that poverty alone is not the only cause for violent crime. Corruption is also widespread in the Americas, but by Transparency International’s measures, it is no worse than in many African or Asian countries.

The region’s experience with urbanization, particularly in Latin America, has been an important contributing factor to the rising crime rates. Latin America’s rapid urbanization during the latter half of the 20th century took place before large-scale industrialization, the reverse of what happened in Europe and much of Asia. The region now has some of the highest urbanization rates in the world, with the rush creating sprawling informal settlements outside state control and social services. Combined with limited employment and education opportunities, these conditions have left large populations vulnerable to exploitation and violence.

The region has also fallen victim to geopolitics. Latin America has long been considered Washington’s backyard, and since the Monroe Doctrine, the U.S. has worked to keep out European and later Soviet influence, often backing pliable governments at the cost of strong institutions. This left many states weak, prone to instability, and unable to impose a monopoly on violence or law and order. According to “The Global Safety Report” 2024 by Gallup, the Americas scored lower than most regions outside Africa.

The U.S.-led war on drugs, beginning in the early 1970s, further exacerbated the problem. Washington simultaneously targeted and, at times, cooperated with cartels for geopolitical ends, enriching criminal groups and fueling decades of violence across Latin America and also in U.S. cities, impacted by these actions. These policies continue to be adopted under the Trump administration, leading to “regional tensions.”

Drug trafficking supercharged criminal economies, and homicide rates soared. While some of the worst-hit countries, like Colombia, have seen improvements in the crime rate since 2005, and U.S. violent crime is down from its late-20th-century peaks, the drug wars have left a lasting impact on the Americas.

Firearms have been another accelerant. Roughly 73 percent of murders in Latin America were gun-related, similar to the 80 percent in the U.S. in 2024, compared with a global average of about 40 percent. The flow of weapons stems from legal imports, corruption, local production, and constant smuggling, much of which is tied to the United States. Alongside private purchases, scandals like the “Fast and Furious” and “Wide Receiver” operations revealed the U.S. government’s involvement in helping spread guns to illicit actors in the Americas.

But even when firearms are excluded, violence in the Americas stands out. In the U.S., the country recorded about 0.5 stabbing deaths per 100,000 people in 2021—triple the rate in France and six times higher than the UK.

People are also more likely to commit violence when they believe they can act with impunity, which remains high in the Americas due to overwhelmed or reluctant police and fear of retaliation. “Police forces, judicial systems, and other key institutions struggle with inefficiency and lack of resources. Moreover, the politicization of these institutions further erodes their credibility and effectiveness. … High impunity rates across the region [Latin America]—where only a fraction of homicide cases result in convictions—highlight systemic failures in the justice system. This ineffectiveness not only emboldens criminal organizations but also perpetuates a cycle of violence and lawlessness,” according to an article in Americas Quarterly. In Latin America, only about eight in every 100 homicides lead to a conviction, while in the U.S., nearly half of murders now go unsolved.

Together, these factors create a volatile situation, and violence can quickly take hold. In 2006, Mexico recorded a homicide rate of about five per 100,000 people. After the launch of the government’s war on drug trafficking that year, the reliance on military force against the cartels fractured existing groups, fueling violent competition, and killings soared to roughly 27 per 100,000 people by 2020. Ecuador, once relatively calm, saw homicides more than double from eight per 100,000 in 2020 to 46 per 100,000 in 2023. Even Costa Rica, one of the region’s safest countries, saw its murder rate almost double from 9 to 17 murders per 100,000 people from 2014 to 2023.

Addressing the Issue

Many regions have endured ongoing periods of violence, with Europe suffering from high homicide rates for centuries before they declined in the 20th century. Today, governments from local to national levels across the Americas are testing different approaches to curb violence.

In the U.S. city of Baltimore, long one of the country’s most dangerous cities, its homicide rate has dropped sharply since 2022 under Mayor Brandon Scott, who has pushed a mix of violence intervention programs, more aggressive prosecution, and coordinated community partnerships. San Pedro Sula in Honduras, once the world’s murder capital with 142 killings per 100,000 people in 2014, dropped to 26 per 100,000 by 2023 (alongside declines in other Honduran cities) after police reforms supported by the Honduran government, Inter-American Development Bank, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Still, concerns remain over corruption and the prolonged state of emergency in place since 2022.

Other leaders have opted for harsher measures. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, elected in 2019, suspended civil rights and jailed thousands of suspected gang members, curbing homicide rates from 53 per 100,000 people in 2018 to 2.4 in 2023. The crackdown remains widely popular, showing how dire the situation was, though its long-term consequences are still uncertain.

Ecuador has followed a similar path. After violence rose rapidly in 2020, Daniel Noboa won the presidency in 2023 on a tough-on-crime platform and backed a 2024 constitutional referendum tightening security laws. Following his 2025 reelection, the electoral council approved his request for another referendum on further constitutional changes, with violence remaining high.

Other countries have pursued reconciliation with criminal groups. Venezuela, for instance, had 11 cities among the world’s 50 most violent in 2021, but by 2023, only Caracas remained on the list. This decline is often attributed to government-brokered understandings with gangs, as President Nicolás Maduro consolidated greater control over the country, in a common but controversial tactic.

Multilateral institutions like Interpol exist to combat crime, but coordination among American countries is limited, and the scale of violence is enormous. U.S.-backed security partnerships, such as those with Colombia, meanwhile, depend heavily on political alignment with Washington, alienating some governments, and tensions between the U.S. and Colombia now threaten the continuity of such partnerships.

The region’s crime crisis has also led to a boom in private security beyond traditional war zones. Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, has been exploring security ventures in Haiti, Ecuador, and El Salvador as of 2025. Private city initiatives, like Honduras’ Próspera, are experimenting with their own security models. Yet private forces have proven to be frequently infiltrated by organized crime and rarely address the root causes of violence.

Countries in the Americas continue to rely on fragmented national strategies tailored to their circumstances to address the crisis, with little effective coordination in the region. The underlying conditions that fueled the turmoil, including rapid urbanization before industrialization, inequality, firearms prevalence, and weak states, are also present in parts of Africa. Countries like South Africa and Nigeria have experienced rapid rises in their homicide rates over the last few years, and Africa had the “highest absolute number of homicides” compared to other regions in 2021, with data suggesting no decrease in the homicide rate, according to the UN. Without preventative measures, African nations risk seeing their violent crime rates continue to rise, making the Americas an important reference for cautionary lessons and potential responses.

• Author Bio: John P. Ruehl is an Australian-American journalist living in Washington, D.C., and a world affairs correspondent for the Independent Media Institute. He is a contributor to several foreign affairs publications, and his book, Budget Superpower: How Russia Challenges the West With an Economy Smaller Than Texas’, was published in December 2022.

• Credit Line: This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.