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Gold has traded between $1,317 and $1,328 so far today…as of 8:50 am Pacific, bullion is off $7 an ounce at $1,320…Silver is down 13 cents at $18.98…Copper is up 2 pennies at $2.17…Crude Oil is up slightly at $44.79 while the U.S.Dollar Index has added one-tenth of a point at 95.62…

Holdings in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest Gold-backed ETF, fell 0.22% to 949.14 tonnes yesterday…holdings are up slightly this month after falling for the first time in several months in August…

Physical Silver volumes have picked up to the highest level for the month as the $19 price point becomes an attractive accumulation level in Asian markets…

Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who was the subject of unprecedented criticism by a Presidential candidate (Trump) in Monday night’s Presidential debate, is testifying before the House Financial Services Committee today on supervision and regulation…she will undoubtedly be commenting as well on monetary policy…five other Fed officials (FOMC voting members) are making public appearances today (if they would only just smile and keep their mouths shut, but they won’t)…

OPEC countries won’t reach a deal to curb output during talks this week, but could agree to cut production when they meet at the end of November, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said this morning…more may come later today as the informal meeting wraps up in Algiers…

An explosion at a Coal mine has left at least 18 workers dead, one of China’s larger accidents this year after more than a decade of progress in lowering casualties from mining…

Sugar futures surged today to the highest level in more than 4 years as the market continued to worry about production from Brazil, the world’s largest grower of the commodity…Sugar has drawn strong interest from money managers this year as one of the few commodities with a bullish outlook in terms of the fundamental supply-demand balance…global demand for sugar is expected to outstrip production in back-to-back years, making Sugar the best performing major commodity this year (up more than 50%)…

Nickel On The Rise Amid Government “Shock & Awe” Crackdown On Mining In Philippines

Politics moves markets, so you’d be wise to get to know this man and his team…foreign investors are starting to get a little nervous – over the last month or so, they have been strong net sellers on a daily basis on the Philippine Stock Exchange while the Philippine peso has plunged to a 7-year low…

On June 30, Rodrigo Duterte was elected the new President of the Philippines (he’s “complicated” but refers to himself as a “socialist” and “the first Left President of the Philippines”)…in July, Nickel prices rose 13%, their biggest monthly gain since April 2014…that was no coincidence…after a pullback in August, prices are up significantly again this month, close to July’s 52-week high near $5 a pound…

“We will survive as a nation without you,” Duterte told a media briefing, referring to the country’s miners, shortly after being elected.  “Either you follow strict government standards or you close down.”

Duterte said he can forgo the annual 40 billion Philippine pesos ($852 million U.S.) in government revenue from the mining industry.  “It’s about time to reconfigure the wealth of the nation among its citizens.”

In the weeks before he took office, Duterte warned miners to “shape up” and to “stop spoiling the land“…immediately after winning the Presidency, he appointed radical anti-mining advocate Gina Lopez to lead the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)…on her first day on the job, Lopez ordered an audit of all mining companies in the country and within just a few weeks 6 Nickel mines were suspended, representing 8% of total output…

Yesterday, the government provided an update with regard to its audit of the country’s 41 operating metallic mines, and 20 more of them are now in jeopardy.  “So far, we have suspended 10. Eleven passed the audit and 20 need to get their acts together,” Lopez declared…

Keep in mind, the Philippines is the world’s top supplier of Nickel ore, which is used to make stainless steel…the 30 mines under review (the 10 that have been suspended and the 20 that have been told they “need to get their acts together”) accounted for 55% of the 32 million metric tons of Nickel ore the country produced last year, according to Leo Jasareno, undersecretary of the Philippines’ environmental agency…water pollution and other environmental damage were tied to the mines, he said.  “For as long as there is cause and the reason falls within (legal) grounds, the government has the authority to cancel mining contracts,” he told Reuters (just what investors want to hear!)…

Alarmingly, the growing anti-mining sentiment in the Philippines is playing out in several other countries in the region…these include Malaysia, Indonesia and even China…they’ve all initiated crackdowns in the wake of citizen complaints about air and water pollution they link to mining…

Lopez may soon become the “Poster Girl” for anti-mining, far-left environmental fanatics in North America…she is a staunch critic of using fossil fuels as energy sources (sound familiar?) and has campaigned vigorously against Coal mining (sound familiar?), advocating instead that eco-tourism be used to boost local economies…

Lopez has been quoted as saying in the past that she is “absolutely against mining” because, in her view, it destroys the environment and deepens poverty levels.  “Mining contributes to massive siltation of our rivers, poisons our waterways and agricultural fields, causing loss of livelihood.”  She believes open-pit mining is “madness”. 

Yesterday she back-tracked slightly but took a shot against Canada in the process:  “I’m not against mining. I’m vehemently against the adverse effect that may happen and are happening. I want us to be better than Canada and Australia.”

Lopez has called the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 “unfair” because it is “skewed towards the mining sector, and not towards our people.” 

She has also said there is no such thing as “responsible mining”.  “If there is responsible mining,” she asked, “why is it that wherever there is mining, there is poverty?  The poorest sites in the country are mining areas,” she claimed…the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) correctly countered that, noting “there are no mining operations in the 10 poorest provinces in the country.” 

Certain facts, of course, don’t matter to those who simply hate mining…Lopez shot back at the COMP, stating:  “Some people may twist the truth to serve their own ends, but the fact remains – mining has not helped raise our people from the pits of poverty.”

There’s not ENOUGH mining in the Philippines!

Mining contributes less than 1% to the Philippine economy, with a large chunk of minerals from Gold to Copper and Nickel remaining untapped, according to the country’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau…the industry has powerful opponents in the Philippines, including the influential Catholic Church, following public anger over past environmental disasters and the displacement of local communities…

“The industry is using less than 20,000 hectares out of the 30 million hectares comprising the total land area in the Philippines,” ⁠⁠⁠Dante Bravo, president of Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc., the Philippines’ second-biggest Nickel ore miner, told Reuters.  “And we are contributing so much to the national economy and local development. So, I think we should be treated fairly.”

The Philippines supplied 95% of China’s Nickel ore imports in the first 6 months of 2016, according to Chinese customs data, and while global stocks are high a suspension or closure of more mines could drive refined Nickel prices up further…

“If the Philippines does shut its mining industry, the fact that you’ve got high stocks simply won’t matter, the market will simply skyrocket,” said Wood Mackenzie analyst Andrew Mitchell…

Beginning tomorrow, we’ll take a look at how investors can profit from lower Nickel production in the Philippines…

In Today’s Morning Musings…

1. An intriguing new Zinc play that the masses haven’t picked up on yet…

2. What’s up with Gainey Capital (GNC, TSX-V)?…

3.  BLO, CXO updates…

4.  Daniel’s Den – superb TSX Oil junior with exposure Down Under…

Plus more…click here to read the rest of today’s Morning Musings and all BMR exclusive content, through a risk-free Pro, Gold or Basic package, or login with your username and password…