Global economic growth slowed in the third quarter as surging fuel prices, Chinese power restrictions and labor shortages disrupted the global supply chain. Market concern over a weaker outlook for metals demand in China was heightened as major property developer Evergrande struggled under a $300 billion debt, which helped drag iron ore and copper prices down in September. Global economic growth forecasts have been scaled back in response to the Chinese slowdown. While the U.S. Federal Reserve continues to indicate support for the U.S. economic recovery, a tapering of its asset purchasing program is expected; this, along with a stronger dollar, has weighed on gold prices. We anticipate that metals prices will slip somewhat in 2022 from their current highs, although medium-term supply constraints are setting the stage for historically above-average prices through to 2025 — driven mostly by increasing demand for materials used in the accelerating global energy transition.

On the back of softening commodity prices and economic activity, equity market support for mining companies ended the quarter down 6.7% quarter over quarter at almost $2.03 trillion. Exploration activity remained relatively strong, reflecting our Corporate Exploration Strategies analysis that identified an aggregate 2021 budget increase of 35% year over year.

Join us to recap the September quarter and to obtain our outlook for next year and beyond.
• Commodity price trends, drivers and estimates
• Drilling activity, exploration metrics and budgets
• Quarterly financing activity
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Key trends for 2022 and beyond