As the municipal elections grow nearer, the politicking gathers momentum and much of this week was focused on that, especially on the fighting and name-calling between the NPA and Vision in Vancouver’s election. On Friday both sides released their donor lists and the numbers were surprisingly close. Vision had raised $2.25 million up to the date of their disclosure while the NPA had raised $2.1 million.
But beyond politics what caught my eye was metals. And not just the plummeting price of gold.
Switzerland is actually voting to go back to a gold standard, although since the country will only be required to hold 20 per cent of its assets in gold, it could be called gold standard lite. The move could cause the price of gold to go up 18 per cent.
And then there’s rubies, a gem you don’t often hear about. A local mining company is set to open a ruby and sapphire mine in Greenland. A new diamond mine is also set to open also in the cold north, but this time the Northwest Territories. And uranium is set to make a come-back with Japan planning to reopen one of its nuclear reactors, all of which have been closed since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
And for those who can’t find any precious minerals or metals in the ground there is always mining at the bottom of the sea.
But, you’ll be happy to know that mining the Antartic is still a no-go.
