Welcome back to our weekly update. I'm Charlotte Mloud with investingnews.com and we're going to run through a few of the biggest stories in the mining industry. If you enjoyed this video, don't forget to hit the like button, subscribe to our channel, and of course, leave us a comment below. Let's get into it. Gold and silver were having a fairly quiet week until February 12th when both precious metals experienced steep drops early in the day. The gold price, which had been steady above 5,000 per ounce and even briefly breached 5100, tumbled by over $100, bottoming out around 4,900. Meanwhile, silver sank from above $80 per ounce to below 75. Market watchers have presented various reasons for these declines with a mainstream talking point being that the precious metals were moving in line with the broader stock market. February 12th brought declines in major US indexes as investors reportedly reacted to concerns that various industries could be negatively impacted by AI automation. This week also brought fresh employment data out of the US. The delayed January report shows stronger than expected numbers with 130,000 jobs added for the month. That's above the 70,000 expected by economists pulled by Reuters. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate changed little at 4.3%. The latest US consumer price index report will be available by the time this video is posted. Analysts expected to add color to the country's current economic standing, which will in turn influence the Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision. Of course, with gold and silver, it's always possible and perhaps even likely that there's more going on beneath the surface. Many popular guests on our channel reacted to this week's price drop on X with some suggesting that manipulation was at play. I've also read that a Russian memo seen by Bloomberg may have had a dampening effect on gold. The report details proposals sent by the Kremlin that could see the country return to the US dollar settlement system as part of an economic partnership with the Trump administration. There are more day-to-day developments playing out than we can cover here, but I want to emphasize again that the broad consensus among the experts I've been speaking to continues to be that the run in gold and silver prices isn't over. However, that doesn't mean the path will be straight up. I heard this week from Keith Weiner of Monetary Metals who spoke about the importance of weathering volatility. I mean, we're in a dollar bare market for reasons. And so, but yeah, people have better be prepared for the volatility because as things go off the rails, which is what's happening to the dollar, yeah, there's volatility and there's days when people can't sell the dollar enough and there's days when they're desperately, urgently trying to grab as many fistfuls of dollars as they can and the dollar is extremely well bit and you'll see that as the price of gold falling. So, um, you're going to get it. You're going to get it both ways, but the trend is is clear and and the drivers are clear. >> Keith is calling for $6,000 gold in 2026 and a silver price of 120 by the end of the year. The 6,000 number is in line with recent projections from BMP Parabus and CIBC, whose forecasts indicate that major banks also still see strength in gold. Next week, I have Christopher Aaron of Igold Advisor and Stefan Gleason of Money Metals coming on to help me unpack what's happening with gold and silver prices. Drop your questions below if you have them, and let me know if there are any other people you'd like to see interviewed. Merger talks between Riotinto and Clenor have fallen through, nixing what would have been the mining industry's biggest ever deal, but M&A activity in the space continues to heat up. A new survey from TD Cowan identifies IM Gold as the year's top takeover candidate with close to 20% of the 58 respondents pointing to the company. Artemis Gold was in second place at 11% while Arizona Sonor and Copper Company was third at 7%. Almost all the respondents who included institutional investors and mining executives said they expect to see more gold, silver, and copper M&A in 2026 compared to last year. We'll have to wait and see how any potential deals play out, including Bareric Mining's planned initial public offering for its North American gold assets. Pneumont, which is Barrack's partner at the Nevada Gold Mines joint venture, said it's concerned with the management of the operation and wants to see improvements, which could end up disrupting Bareric's plans. Thank you for watching. If you like this video, make sure you hit the like button and subscribe to our channel. We'd also love to hear your thoughts, so leave us a comment below.