Top Stories This Week: Russia's Gold Price Fix Turns Heads, Key Copper Projects to Watch

Top Stories This Week: Russia's Gold Price Fix Turns Heads, Key Copper Projects to Watchyoutu.be

The gold price has had ups and downs this week, starting the five day period around US$1,930 per ounce before dropping to just under US$1,900 on Tuesday (March 29).

The yellow metal then picked back up and was at about US$1,936 at the time of this writing on Friday (April 1).

One event that's caught the eye of those in the industry is the news that Russia's central bank has started buying gold from banks again, setting a price of 5,000 rubles per gram.

Some have pointed to similarities with the gold standard system, where a currency's value is linked to a specific price of gold. The gold standard hasn't been used for quite some time.

Nate Fisher of RenaissanceMen.org is one person who's delved into this situation, honing in on how it relates to Russia's comments that "unfriendly nations" must pay in rubles or gold if they want to buy oil. We'll be posting the interview with Nate soon, but for now you can read his original comments here and his follow-up here.

While gold has been getting a huge amount of attention this year, it's not the only metal whose price activity has been exciting. Copper hit a fresh all-time high at the beginning of March, and investors are eager to get exposure.

There are plenty of options when it comes to the base metal, and INN's Priscila Barrera recently asked experts from Refinitiv and Commodity Market Analytics about what copper projects they're watching.

The assets they listed include both new operations and expansions, and they're run by some of the world's top miners. The projects are: Grasberg, Kamoa-Kakula, Quebrada Blanca Phase 2, Quellaveco and Spence.

Even with these major developments in the works, experts are still forecasting a significant copper shortage in the years ahead. With that in mind, we asked our Twitter followers this week if they have exposure to the red metal. The poll was ongoing at the time of the recording, but most respondents said yes.

We'll be asking another question on Twitter next week, so make sure to follow us @INN_Resource and follow me @Charlotte_McL to share your thoughts!

We're going to finish with a quick note on cannabis, which has been in focus this week because of a US House of Representatives vote on the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act. Known as the MORE Act, the legislation has a number of purposes, but chief among them is the federal decriminalization of cannabis.

The act made it through the House in December 2020, but because it wasn't acted on by the Senate, the process had to restart once Congress was set up again under the Biden administration. The expectation is that the act will again gain approval from the House, but opinions are split on whether the Senate will have a positive reaction.

Regardless of what happens for cannabis at the federal level, experts have been saying for quite some time that the US space presents an opportunity for market participants.

This week, Charles Taerk of Faircourt Asset Management reiterated that stance to INN's Bryan Mc Govern, emphasizing the growth that's taking place at the state level, and noting that investors now have the ability to get in ahead of institutional players.

"A lot of investors tend to say, ‘Well, without federal legislative changes ... I'm not interested,’ but you miss the growth that's taking place at the state level" — Charles Taerk, Faircourt Asset Management

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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.