Welcome back to our weekly update. I'm Charlotte Mloud with investingnews.com and we're going to run through a few of this week's biggest stories in the mining industry. If you like this video, don't forget to subscribe to our channel, hit the like button, and of course, leave us a comment below. Let's get into it. It's been quite a week for the gold price. The yellow metal continued its record-breaking streak early in the period, touching the 3,500 per ounce level for the first time, but then saw a


sharp pullback, even dropping briefly below the 3,300 mark on April 23rd. What's behind gold's latest moves? Market Watchers have pointed to US President Donald Trump's comments about Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell as the trigger for its latest spike. In a true social post on April 21st, Trump said there could be a slowing of the economy unless Powell, who he referred to as Mr. too late lowers interest rates. Trump has criticized Powell heavily in recent days, saying last week that his termination cannot come fast


enough. That statement reignited discussions on whether Trump has the ability to fire Powell. Powell has said previously that it can't be done and there isn't any precedent since no president has ever tried to oust a Fed chair. For now, the tension has subsided. Trump walked back his harsh words about Powell on April 22nd, saying he doesn't intend to fire him, but still wants to see interest rate cuts. Going back to gold, I heard from Vince Lansancy of Gold Fix this week, who offered an alternate view on the reason


for gold's price jump. Here's what he said. Gold goes up $400 in uh in uh a little over a month. Was that Trump, pal? No. The last $50 maybe. You know, but but the people who understand know that the Trump pal issue is a non-issue. And it's really the issue is gold's going up because the trade war, like it or not, who likes it? The trade war, excuse me, is an acceleration of what's been going on throughout the world. Anyway, so this acceleration makes people pay attention. Oh, look at


that. they are selling treasuries. China is unfair. Trump is being crazy. You know, all these things come together and it's like, well, politically I'm leftleaning and I don't like Trump, so I'm going to buy gold. Politically, I'm right leaning and I think China is really bad, so I'm going to buy gold. And so, you have this, you know, this perfect storm. It kind of unites the hate, you know. Um but Trump and Pal uh that the reason gold's going up to paraphrase my friend Tom Londono the


reason we'll put it in one sentence uh the reason gold's going up is because geopolitical and Trump pal is not geopolitical in that sense. I'll leave the link to the full interview with Vince below. Definitely check out the conversation for more on what could be next for gold. Barrett Gold said on April 22nd that it's reached an agreement to sell its 50% stake in the Alaskabased Donland Gold project to affiliates of Pollson Advisers and Nova Gold Resources. The major gold miner will sell its interest


in Donland for 1 billion US in cash with Pollson providing 800 million and Novagold contributing the other 200 million. Once the deal closes, Pollson will have a 40% interest in Donlin while Novagold's stake in the asset will rise from 50% to 60%. Bareric president and CEO Mark Bristo said Donlin is an asset that might be better suited in the hands of others, adding that the company is exiting at an attractive valuation. While Donland is one of the world's largest gold projects, the lack of


infrastructure in its remote northern location has made development difficult. At the same time, Bareric is looking to hone in on tier 1 assets and boost its copper exposure. Thomas Kaplan, chair of Novagold, said in a conference call after the sale was announced that his company did not see eye to eye on a couple of things with Bareric, including the timing for a feasibility study for Donlin. Paul Pollson Advisers, a longtime Nova Gold shareholder, is chaired by American billionaire John Pollson, who's known for betting against


the housing market during the great financial crisis. In an interview with Bloomberg this week, he said gold is moving to a new level of valuation as central banks continue to buy. In other gold M&A news, COC Group has agreed to buy Lumina Gold in a transaction worth 581 million Canadian dollars. The allcash deal will see COC pay $1.27 per Lumina share. Lumina is focused on its Congra project, which it says is the largest primary gold deposit in Ecuador. A prefeasibility study completed in 2023


outlines a 26-year mine life for the asset with average annual payable production of 371,000 ounces of gold plus average annual payable byproduct production of 41 million pounds of copper. Well-known mining industry figure Ross Speedy is Lumina's largest shareholder while COC is a major producer of metals like malibdinum, tungsten, copper, and cobalt. 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


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