Aleksei Golovanov/Alamy Stock Photo
The west wants to punish Russia for the war in Ukraine, but there are huge potential downsides.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech before presenting the Russian Hero of Labour gold medals in June 2023.
(Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russia has tied its currency to gold to evade sanctions. Shifting the ruble away from a pegged value and into the gold standard itself is aimed at making it a credible gold substitute at a fixed rate.
Aerial view of the Pinto Valley copper mine, located on private and U.S. national forest lands in Gila County, Ariz.
Wild Horizon/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Hard rock minerals like gold, silver, copper and lithium on public lands belong to the American public, but under a 150-year-old law, the US gives them away for free.
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History shows how conflicts can create uncertainty that can rattle financial markets. This could feed into consumer price inflation, keeping it higher for longer.
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In a world where economic sanctions make trade in US dollars almost impossible, gold has offered a way to evade these restrictions.
Jordanians being evacuated from Sudan amid fighting between two factions.
AP Photo/Raad Adayleh
Sudan’s location and natural resources have attracted international partners keen to benefit either geopolitically or economically.
Africa is plagued by paramilitary militias and foreign mercenary groups.
Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Armed group, mercenaries, mining, power struggles. It’s a familiar story in Africa, sadly.
A 2kg gold nugget found near Ballarat in 2019.
Minelab Electronics / AAP
A ‘second gold rush’ has seen amateur and professional miners return to Victoria with modern technology.
Stasis Photo/Shutterstock
From Archimedes’ principle to mass spectrometry, there are plenty of ways to test the purity of gold.
Two trucks transport gold ore from Barrick Cowal Gold Mine in New South Wales, Australia.
Jason Benz Bennee/Shutterstock
A gradual drawdown of gold mining is a critical step towards sustainability.
Tellurium pieces.
Jan Askeit / Wikimedia
Tellurium is a critical mineral for renewable energy – but little is known about its environmental effects and how it circulates in the wild.
Opportunity knocks…
Andrey_Popov/ Shutterstock
Housebreakers are no less rational than the rest of us.
A group of Galamseyer, illegal gold miners, work in Kibi area, southern Ghana.
Cristina Aldehuela/AFP via Getty Images
A community centred approach is key to making headway in the battle against illegal mining
The Osun River has become turbid and unsafe for consumption - threatening its cultural and biodiversity significance. Photo by: Stefan Heunis/AFP via Getty Images.
from www,gettyimages.com
The ability of the Osun River to support biodiversity is being threatened by pollution and can only be rescued if the contamination ends.
What Vladimir did next.
EPA
This is the first time a world currency has been pegged to gold since the Bretton Woods system ended in 1971.
Making sense of the reds and the greens.
Standret
Two weeks into the invasion, here’s what’s been happening so far.
The Ghanaian currency is facing its worst run of depreciation in years.
MaxpIxel/Wikimedia Commons
The Ghanaian currency is facing structural hurdles.
Mansa Musa, the king of Mali, approached by a Berber on camelback, from The Catalan Atlas, 1375.
Attributed to Abraham Cresques/Bibliothèque Nationale de France/Wikimedia Commons
Born in Blackness by Howard W. French is a towering work. It argues that, because of gold and slavery, Africa is central to creating the modern world.
The Magi’s latter two gifts to Jesus were natural resins that are becoming increasingly rare.
David Jackmanson/Flickr
Trees that produce resin for frankincense and myrrh – used for thousands of years in healthcare, worship and trade – are facing collapsing populations.
US President Richard Nixon’s decision to end the US promise to convert dollars into gold changed the global financial system.
Getty Images
Nixon’s decision left the IMF without a clearly defined role. Under the leadership of the industrialised countries, it began to fashion a new more intrusive and ideological role.