2025-07-10 20:06
DAKAR/TORONTO, July 10 (Reuters) - A Malian military helicopter airlifted gold from the Barrick-owned Loulo-Gounkoto complex on Thursday, three sources said, days after Reuters reported that a court-appointed administrator planned to sell the site's bullion to finance operations. A Bamako court last month appointed a provisional administrator to restart operations at the West African country's largest gold mining site, nearly six months after Barrick Mining (ABX.TO) , opens new tab suspended them amid tense negotiations over the implementation of a new mining code. Sign up here. Barrick said it was forced to suspend operations in mid-January after Mali's military-led government blocked its exports for two months, detained some of its executives and seized three tons of bullion. It also launched arbitration at the World Bank to try to resolve the dispute. On Thursday morning, a brown and green helicopter touched down at the site's tree-lined landing strip. Its passengers were escorted by the mine's security team to the plant, where the gold room is located, the first source said. The helicopter took off some five hours later with the bullion on board. "Any plan by the provisional administrator to restart operations or sell gold from the site would be not only illegitimate but also ill-advised," Barrick said in a statement on Thursday. One ton of gold - worth about $107 million - had remained in the site's storeroom since January, when three tons of gold were removed to be stored in a bank vault on the orders of a Malian judge, the first source said. The full ton was taken on Thursday, the second source said. The provisional administrator, former health minister Soumana Makadji, has said he plans to finance the mine's operations by selling gold, the first and third sources and a fourth person said. The first three sources said the airlifted gold would be sold for this purpose. While drilling and other extractive activities have not yet begun, operations at the site's plant - which processes ore stocks into gold - restarted on Monday, the third and fourth sources and another person said. According to internal estimates seen by Reuters, it will take between 11 and 13 days from the restart of the plant to the production of the first gold bars. Spokespeople for Mali's mines ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Makadji could not be reached for comment. Barrick and Mali's government have been in negotiations since 2023 over the implementation of a new mining code that raises taxes and gives the government a greater share in the gold mines. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/mali-military-helicopter-airlifts-gold-barrick-owned-loulo-gounkoto-2025-07-10/
2025-07-10 18:41
Majority of bank's board open to gradual rate cuts Most governors see favorable medium-term inflation determinants Headline inflation eased in June but remains above target Dissenting governor Heath calls for prudence MEXICO CITY, July 10 (Reuters) - Most of the Bank of Mexico's governing board supports smaller cuts to the key interest rate, minutes from June's rate decision showed on Thursday, signaling a more cautious approach as Mexico grapples with stubborn inflation and sluggish growth. All four board members who backed June's 50-basis-point cut — the fourth in a row — signaled openness to a slower pace going forward. At least two said the June move should be the last of that size. Sign up here. Annual headline inflation accelerated in May beyond the central bank's target range of 3%, plus or minus one percentage point. While it eased in June to 4.32% after four months of increases, it remains above target. Crucially, the core inflation index, a key gauge that strips out volatile prices, accelerated to 4.24% – its highest level since April 2024. For the board's majority, "the central argument is that the weakness in the economy will create slack conditions that would allow inflation to converge toward the 3.0% target," analysts from Actinver said. One of those governors noted the bank's current monetary policy stance "is appropriate to address risks to inflation on both sides of the balance," adding that "going forward, a more gradual approach will be adopted during the rate-cutting cycle." Another suggested that "adjustments of lesser magnitude" could be considered given the inflation outlook. Banxico, as Mexico's central bank is known, has cut its benchmark interest rate by 325 basis points since early 2024 and by 200 points this year alone, as inflation has eased from its 2022 highs. Alberto Ramos, head of Latin America economic research at Goldman Sachs, said the balance of views on the board "remains dovish though more cautious," lowering the baseline for the board's next decision, in August, "to a cut of no more than 25 basis points." Deputy Governor Jonathan Heath, who cast the sole vote at the June meeting to hold the rate at its previous level of 8.50%, called for prudence while making his dissent argument. Heath said the expectation that inflation would naturally become low due to "greater slack conditions" is "unrealistic" because even though there is economic stagnation, current forecasts do not point to a deep enough recession that would sufficiently weaken aggregate demand. Analysts polled by the central bank in the second half of June forecast the Mexican economy growing just 0.2% this year. The central bank's latest forecast, in late May, estimated growth at 0.1% for 2025. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexico-central-bank-board-signals-smaller-rate-cuts-amid-sticky-inflation-weak-2025-07-10/
2025-07-10 18:11
NEW YORK, July 10 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Thursday stablecoins will bolster competition in the payments system, and that that was a good thing. The rise of stablecoins will make many types of payments cheaper and faster, Waller said at an event at the Dallas Fed. “And that's the goal for me, as a free-market capitalist economist, is that I want competition in payments to drive down the cost for households and consumers and businesses. That's it,” Waller said. Sign up here. He also said stablecoins may depress demand for U.S. paper currency while bolstering demand for the dollar in general. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/feds-waller-says-stablecoins-could-lower-payment-prices-2025-07-10/
2025-07-10 12:45
Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders meet in Abu Dhabi First formal meeting since draft peace deal agreed Baku wants Yerevan to change constitution TBILISI/BAKU, July 10 (Reuters) - The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan held substantive talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, their governments said, in what amounted to the most serious direct negotiations yet in a fitful process to end almost four decades of conflict. The two sides said in March they had agreed on the text of a draft peace agreement, but progress since then has been sporadic and slow. Sign up here. The talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in the capital of the United Arab Emirates were the leaders' first formal meeting since they approved the draft. In statements, the countries' two foreign ministries said Pashinyan and Aliyev had discussed items including the delimitation of their shared 1,000-km (621-mile) border and agreed to continue dialogue at various levels. A senior Azerbaijani government source said the talks took place in a "highly constructive atmosphere." Armenia said the sides had agreed to continue talks on a bilateral basis and that the dialogue had been "result-oriented". A peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighbouring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts. Armenia and Azerbaijan, which both won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh - an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population - broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. In 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Both sides have since said they want to sign a treaty on a formal end to the conflict. Some issues, including Azerbaijan's demand that Armenia change its constitution to remove an indirect reference to Karabakh, are yet to be resolved. Russia, which previously deployed peacekeepers in Karabakh, said it fully supported the diplomatic process and hoped it would bring "predictability, stability and peace to the region." https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/armenia-azerbaijan-hold-substantive-talks-no-big-breakthrough-2025-07-10/
2025-07-10 12:42
SANTIAGO, July 10 (Reuters) - Chile's central bank is expected to lower its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.75% at its monetary policy meeting on July 28, a poll of analysts released by the bank showed on Thursday. According to the poll, traders estimate the benchmark rate will continue its downward trend and reach 4.5% within five months. Sign up here. The analysts also estimated consumer prices in the Andean country would rise 0.6% in July compared to the previous month. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/chile-central-bank-likely-cut-interest-rate-by-25-bps-next-meeting-poll-shows-2025-07-10/
2025-07-10 12:36
FRANKFURT, July 10 (Reuters) - Germany's SEFE has agreed a three-year deal to receive about 700,000 metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United Arab Emirates' ADNOC, with deliveries due to begin in summer of 2025, both companies said on Thursday. State-owned SEFE, or Securing Energy For Europe, is seeking long-term supply deals after losing most of its Russian pipeline gas imports in 2022, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sign up here. Valued at $400 million and drawing on Abu Dhabi National Oil Company's (ADNOC) Das Island liquefaction facility, the agreement is aimed at both companies' ambitions to expand their long-term relationships with key energy partners, they said in a joint statement. Under the terms, SEFE may decide on delivery destinations at its discretion. SEFE's chief commercial officer Frederic Barnaud said that the contract was building on a long-term supply agreement with ADNOC signed last year. As a former division of Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) , opens new tab that was nationalised by Germany during Europe's energy crisis, SEFE has delivery obligations over some 200 terawatt hours of gas per year to industry and onward distributors mainly in Germany, Britain and other European markets. Last month, SEFE agreed a 10-year deal over gas deliveries by Azerbaijan state oil company SOCAR. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/germanys-sefe-agrees-3-year-lng-supply-deal-with-adnoc-2025-07-10/
