Global Mining & Metals · SEPTEMBER 14, 2026Gold is the fear gauge. Silver and the PGMs are half-industrial tells.
| Gold US$/oz | 4,318 | -14.5% 6M | +18.7% 1Y | 63 | |
| Silver US$/oz | 63.51 | -21.5% 6M | +52.3% 1Y | 62 | |
| Platinum US$/oz | 1,766 | -13.3% 6M | +26.6% 1Y | 51 | |
| Palladium US$/oz | 1,302 | -16.2% 6M | +6.8% 1Y | 35 |
What the spot price won't tell you: the shape of the futures curve (who's paying up for metal now) and where warehouse stock is heading. Figures are indicative until a live LME/CME feed is wired.
Deferreds trade over spot — comfortable supply and positive carry. A long rolling the front bleeds the spread.
COMEX deferreds (indicative)
Gold has slipped from last week's three-month high to about $4,336/oz as traders whipsaw between a softening US labour market and a Fed chair signalling he may raise rates to fight sticky, war-fed inflation before the September 16 decision.
ASX:TM1TM1 last printed A$0.23, 38% under the February placement and 51% off the 52-week high. The till still holds most of an $85m raise, five rigs are turning at Southwest, and the register is a short list of resource houses. That is overhang. It is not a gold-stock bargain.
Right Resources (ASX:RRE), a ~$10m-market-cap explorer at Tumbarumba, NSW, is chasing a Reduced Intrusion-Related Gold System with CODES-backed geology — and found a coherent, open-ended tungsten anomaly next door in a market where China controls 85% of supply.
Brightstar Resources (ASX:BTR) has more than doubled off its August low, and this week's record intercepts at the Two Mile Hill-Shillington deposit — including 19m at 24.3g/t gold — gave the run something to point to besides a hot gold tape.
Barton Gold (ASX:BGD) has ridden record bullion — gold near US$4,600/oz and the ASX Gold Index's best session of the year — back toward its 52-week high, while its own Challenger and Tunkillia drilling keeps delivering grade to justify the re-rate.
With gold near record highs around US$4,200/oz, Evolution Mining swung to net cash and kept paying dividends, while peers Northern Star and Newmont return cash through buybacks.
With gold off its January peak but still above $4,300/oz, the majors are spending record free cash flow on deals — royalty roll-ups, regional consolidation and reserve replacement — rather than the drill bit.
Barton Gold completed an oversubscribed A$25.9m institutional placement at A$0.85 per share, led by Canaccord Genuity and MST Financial, to fund a Challenger DFS, Tunkillia studies and Tolmer drilling in South Australia's Gawler Craton.
A yieldless rock is near record highs while real assets are supposedly out of fashion. Gold isn't telling you about gold. It's telling you what the smart, nervous money thinks about everything else.
| Operation | Country | Owner | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tunkillia / Tarcoola | Australia | Barton Gold | Development |
| Sandstone | Australia | Brightstar Resources | Development |
| Pilot Project | Australia | Right Resources | Exploration |
| Carlin Trend / Nevada | United States | Nevada Gold Mines (Barrick/Newmont JV) | Producing |
| Kalgoorlie Super Pit | Australia | Northern Star Resources | Producing |
| Mogalakwena | South Africa | Anglo American Platinum | Producing |
