As the year closes, we have revisited our most popular gold news stories from 2024, including updates on what has happened since the news broke.
Victoria Gold's collapse into receivership following a heap leach pad failure at its Eagle mine in Yukon marked one of the gold sector's most consequential stories of 2024, and our coverage of the August receivership order was our most popular gold news piece of the year.
The environmental fallout from the June incident has been severe, with cyanide contamination detected in local waterways and reports of fish deaths.
The Na-Cho Nyäk Dun First Nation, whose traditional territory hosts the mine, criticized Victoria Gold's cleanup efforts, demanding a halt to all mining activities in the region. The Yukon government also took legal steps to assert control over environmental mitigation, citing the company’s noncompliance with directives.
This culminated in an Ontario court approving receivership in August, with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) becoming the receiver and manager of Victoria Gold's assets. The firm is now overseeing cleanup operations.
On December 9, Ontario Superior Court Judge Barbara Conway approved a US$55 million increase to the receivership budget, bringing the total to US$105 million to fund environmental mitigation through March.
Additionally, PwC has been granted expanded authority to sell non-core assets and appoint technical advisors, further solidifying its role in managing the aftermath of this environmental disaster.
In late March, we reported on Goldman Sachs' (NYSE:GS) outlook on commodities in 2024, in which it cited strong structural and cyclical demand as the main drivers of an anticipated positive market.
The US investment bank projected raw materials would deliver a 15 percent return by year’s end, with particular optimism for gold and copper.
Analysts forecast gold prices to reach US$2,300 per ounce and copper to surpass US$10,000 per metric ton by the end of the year, supported by expected interest rate cuts in the US and Europe. Gold and copper, already performing strongly in Q1, went on to break through those targets in April and May respectively.
Goldman Sachs reiterated its bullish position in September, increasing its price target for gold to US$2,700 per ounce by early 2025. This optimism stemmed from central bank demand and anticipated US Federal Reserve rate cuts.
Gold peaked at US$2,788 per ounce on October 30, one day after the analyst firm predicted that the precious metal would reach US$3,000 per ounce by the end of 2025.
However, gold has experienced volatility in the time since, pulling back on factors such as the November 5 US election, and the US Fed's December 18 announcement of slowed rate cuts for 2025.
The spot gold price fell by over 2 percent to US$2,585 per ounce following the Fed announcement as the market buzzed with concerns about inflation and tighter monetary policy under the new Trump administration.
In the firm’s annual Gold Focus report, released in June, independent consultancy Metals Focus forecast an average gold price of US$2,250 per ounce in 2024, which would be a new record average price for the precious metal.
The report highlights key drivers for gold's performance, including looming US debt issues, a contentious election season and uncertainty over China’s economic recovery.
Central bank demand, led by Turkey, China and India, remained robust, contributing to gold's momentum. Geopolitical risks, particularly in the Middle East, also bolstered investor sentiment.
As we know now, gold experienced a historic run in 2024. Gold prices hit a 39 new all-time highs in dollar terms during the year, marking the most record highs in 45 years. Its latest occurred on October 30, when the metal closed at US$2,788.54 per ounce.
Ultimately, the average gold price in 2024 came in well above Metals Focus' bullish forecast. As of December 30, 2024's average closing price for spot gold is US$2,388.09, up by 26.5 percent over 2023's average of US$1,943.
On July 8, 2024, we updated readers on the latest development on the theft of 400 kilograms of gold stolen from Toronto's Pearson International Airport in April 2023.
At that time, Canadian police revealed they believed a significant portion of the gold had been smuggled to India and Dubai. Peel Region police identified these destinations as primary markets for illicit gold, where it can be melted down and re-enter the global supply chain.
The gold, valued at over C$20 million at the time of the theft, was part of a shipment from Zurich, Switzerland, destined for a Canadian refinery.
The heist has since been dubbed Canada’s largest gold theft and the sixth largest in the world.
Nine arrests had already been made in connection with the theft, with suspects facing more than 19 charges. The police said that the suspects reportedly used a 5 metric ton truck and rudimentary smelting equipment to transport and process the stolen gold.
While not much has come out since, Air Canada (TSX:AC,OTCQX:ACDVF) and secure transit company Brink's (NYSE:BCO) are embroiled in a lawsuit over who is at fault and who should cover the cost of the lost gold.
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) addressed a technical issue on June 3 that caused misleading price displays for around 50 companies listed on the exchange, including Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX,NYSE:GOLD) and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK.A).
The problem stemmed from a malfunction in the exchange's limit up limit down (LULD) bands, which are designed to curb extreme market volatility by preventing trades outside predefined price ranges.
As a result, some stocks temporarily appeared to experience nearly 100 percent losses during morning trading. NYSE resolved the glitch and the companies were back to trading normally after a brief pause of about 30 minutes.
While it was resolved quickly, there has been fallout from the event, which saw stock traders placing buy orders at the rock-bottom prices during the trade pause that filled at the stock's usual price or higher when trading resumed.
For example, Reuters reported that Interactive Brokers (IBKR) is down US$48 million after it covered losses for its clients who placed orders for Berkshire Hathaway's class A shares at US$185 that filled at prices of up to US$741,971, more than US$100,000 higher than its pre-glitch price. The exchange denied Interactive's request to bust the trades that were completed at "anomalously" high prices.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
