The gold price plunged early in the week as ~3.3 Moz of contracts traded hands in ½ hour in New York, but recovered and closed on Friday just below US$1,470 per ounce. Over the weekend, a major M&A transaction, which involved the sale of a large open pit gold mine in Western Australia, saw two major gold market themes play out: a post-mega merger divestment and an acquisitive Australian gold producer. In The Rant, I summarize my impressions from the Swiss Mining Institute conferences. In Stock Talk, a prospect generator consolidates land on a copper play in Mexico while another one restarts a drill program at a copper play in Brazil. I also review third-quarter financials of both a junior producer and a streaming/royalty company.

The prospect of a rollback in the tariffs between China and the U.S. pushed both the gold price and equities down for the week, but upon the U.S. President's denial of such cuts, the yellow metal recovered. So we end as we began. In Stock Talk, lots of news including drilling results from gold and copper projects in Alaska and Japan, a portfolio update from a South American-focused prospect generator, drill targets ready at new prospect from a gold explorer/developer in French Guiana, and mixed results from a junior gold producer’s development stage assets and operating mines in North America.

Down under, a group of protestors blaming the mining sector for everything from mass extinctions to bringing plaid back into fashion disrupted a major mining conference. Thankfully, things were much quieter in Lapland, Finland. This week, I discuss the good and the bad of exploring in Finland and review one of the junior explorers working in the Nordic nation.