Locally, it was Victoria’s broken budget and an Australian Government plan to raise funds by taxing unrealized profits in superannuation accounts which highlighted the debt crisis which is likely to keep interest rates high despite this week’s modest 0.25% cut in official rates.

The Queensland Government raised the alarm about the potential for Victoria to drag down the rest of the country by using a generous share of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to persist with cash hand-outs rather than retire some of its $235 billion in total debts.

In the U.S., a crisis is brewing over exactly the same issue with a plan by President Donald Trump to add an estimated US$3.8 trillion to the government’s debt load, a factor in the New York stock market falling sharply, and the yield on 30-year government bonds rising back above 5%.

It was a different story for assets beyond the reach of debt-laden governments with Bitcoin and other crypto currencies joining gold with strong gains.

Bitcoin it hit an all-time high of US$111,427, just as gold jumped to US$3388/oz, taking the Australian gold price back above A$5000/oz.

Gold miners relished the return of a rising price after a four-week slide from the all-time high of US$3433/oz reached on April 22 with the ASX gold index up 9.5% this week, easily eclipsing the all ordinaries, which was down marginally, and the overall mining index, which was up marginally.

The big goldminers performed strongly. Northern Star rose by $1.27 to $19.90 over the week. Evolution added 96c to $8.91. Spartan put on 19c to $2.15.

Smaller gold stocks driven by exploration and deal news included:

  • Antipa Minerals, up 18c to 66c after announcing the addition of 100,000 ounces of gold to its Minyari project in the north of WA.
  • West African rose by 29c to $2.57 thanks to a thick and rich gold intersection of 44 metres assaying 25.8 grams of gold a tonne in the main lode at its Sanbrado project in Burkina Faso.
  • Kingston Resources added 4c to 14c after announcing the sale of the Misima project in Papua New Guinea to the PNG Government owned Ok Tedi Mining.
  • Alkane Resources continued to move higher thanks to its plan to merge with Mandalay Mining, rising by 2c to 73c, but with Bell Potter tipping a target price of $1.40, and
  • Polymetals added 3c to 85c after reporting the start of commissioning at its Endeavor silver/zinc mine in NSW.

Investor interest in gold stocks seems likely to remain a highlight of trading on the ASX with broking firm Canaccord estimating that there is $12 billion earmarked for investment in explorers and producers.

“We think valuations for gold stocks in general are undemanding,” Canaccord said.

ANZ Bank is more cautious, warning that cooling of the U.S. v China trade war had triggered profit taking in gold while macroeconomic (big picture) developments, especially rising bond yields and signs of increasing U.S. dollar strength, was also not supportive of gold.

Corporate activity continued at a brisk pace this week led by Adriatic Metals announcing that it was in talks with Canada’s Dundee Precious Metals about a possible takeover, news which lifted Adriatic by $1.14 (30%) to $4.93.

New World Resources said it had agreed to a merger with London-listed Central Asia Metals at a price of 5c a share with New World rising on the market by 1.6c (53%) to 4.6c, a price which indicates that a competing bid is not expected.

Not everyone is impressed with the high level of corporate activity. Evolution Mining chief executive Jake Klein said during the week that he would not be joining in.

Speaking at a mining conference in Perth, Klein said doing deals when the gold price is at a record high is “precisely the wrong time”.

Uranium stocks ran out of steam after solid upward moves over the previous month, despite little movement in the price of the metal and a stream of encouraging news from Europe about a regional nuclear power revival.

On commodity markets, uranium eased back by US20c a pound to US$71.05/lb, a price which is still up 8.8% for the month.

Falls by local uranium stocks included Paladin shedding 54c to $5.54. Deep Yellow lost 10c to $1.17 and Boss was down 42c to $3.53 – but was still up $1.15 over the month.

Better future times for uranium stocks can be seen in news from Germany and Denmark, two countries historically opposed to nuclear power, but more concerned today about Russia’s aggressive intentions towards Europe and its control of gas supplies.

In Germany the countries new chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government was dropping its anti-nuclear position as part of rebuilding power sharing arrangements with pro-nuclear France, and in Denmark there is political pressure growing to end a 40-year ban on nuclear.

Copper stocks moved higher, in line with the recovering price of the metal, as trade war tensions eased sufficiently to lift copper by US15c/lb to US$4.67/lb.

Sandfire was the pick of the local copper stocks, rising by 19c to $10.96. FireFly added 5c to 98c, and White Cliff Minerals gained another 0.1c to 3c, up 50% on where it was a month ago.

Copper news this week included:

  • Reclusive Chinese billionaire Bian Ziming, who made a fortune making plastic pipes and trading gold, reportedly amassing a US$1 billion position in copper.
  • Big Canadian miner Teck Resources made an overdue return to the Australian exploration scene assembling a portfolio of tenements in WA with a focus on copper, nickel and platinum, and
  • Patriot Resources, formerly Patriot Lithium, agreed to buy the Sugarloaf copper deposit in the home of African copper, Zambia.

Critical metals moved in different directions, rare earth stocks rose, and lithium stocks fell.

Lynas led the rare earths sector with a rise of 38c to $8.02 after Australian Resources Minister Madelaine King said there would be no obligation on local miners to sell into the strategic reserve she is planning to create.

Hastings Technology Metals, the company controlled by iron ore miner Andrew Forrest, rose by 1c to 32c while Brazilian Rare Earths (BRE) added 5.5c to $1.96 after three weeks of losing ground. Ord Minnett reckons BRE is on the way to a price of $7.

Continued weakness in the Chinese lithium price wiped 15c off Liontown Resources which fell back to 64c. Traders sold Pilbara Minerals, which fell to $1.33, and wiped 1c off Core Lithium, which slipped to 8.9c.

Other news and market moves of interest this week included:

  • Fortescue fell by $1.10 to $15.87 after reporting that its Iron Bridge iron ore upgrading project designed to supply high-grade material to make green steel was running three years late with full capacity now not expected until 2028 rather than the mid-2025 scheduled.
  • Mineral Resources was another iron ore miner hit by sellers, losing $3.21 to $23.21, a fall also effected by the company’s exposure to lithium, and
  • Syrah Resources, which is struggling to lift production at its Balama graphite project in Mozambique fell 7c to 33c despite reports from the U.S. that the Trump administration is planning to apply a 700% tariff on Chinese graphite anode material.