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Barrick Mining Corp. ABX-T +2.97%increase is taking a writedown of more than a billion dollars on its Malian operations, as a dispute that shut down its biggest African mine shows few signs of a resolution.

Toronto-based Barrick said in a Monday release accompanying its second-quarter results that it reduced the carrying value of its 80-per-cent share in the Loulo-Gounkoto complex by US$1.035-billion.

In June, a Mali court gave the west African country permission to seize operational control of the site. In the months before, relations between the big Canadian gold miner and Mali had been steadily deteriorating.

Mali, which has been ruled by a military government since a 2021 coup, demanded a much bigger share of the profits from Loulo-Gounkoto in 2024, after the introduction of a new mining code. As Barrick pushed back, Mali piled on the pressure, jailing four of the company’s executives, blocking exports and seizing bullion from the site. Barrick late last year sought international arbitration and in January shut down the mine.

The loss of the revenue from Loulo-Gounkoto has left a significant hole in Barrick’s finances. When it was in operation, the mine accounted for about 15 per cent of the company’s production.

Mali court orders Barrick operations to be handed over to provisional administrator

Despite a relentless chain of negative developments in Mali, Barrick chief executive Mark Bristow says the company hasn’t reached the end of the road yet with the junta government, and he remains hopeful that a deal can be reached.

“We’re not at that stage where we don’t believe that we can’t find a resolution,” Mr. Bristow said during a conference call with analysts on Monday.

“When you’re engaging and talking, there’s always an opportunity.”

Barrick is no stranger to protracted negotiations with hostile host countries, and while most have eventually been solved, the company has incurred a steep cost owing to many years of lost production.

It took the company the best part of a decade to find a workable solution with Pakistan after a falling out in 2011. Disputes with Tanzania and Papua New Guinea also took several years to resolve.

Barrick inherited its Malian operations after it bought Randgold Resources Ltd. in 2019. The acquisition also saw Mr. Bristow, Randgold’s founder, take over as Barrick’s CEO.

Barrick asks Mali to resume talks over mining dispute as court decision over control looms

Mr. Bristow said that the company is engaging with Mali through treaty programs established betweenthe country and Canada, through its Malian legal counsel and through executives still on the ground.

Shares in Barrick fell by 2.4 per cent in trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, closing at $31.46 apiece.

With uncertainty clouding the company’s future in Mali, Barrick is forging ahead with the development of its Reko Diq project in Pakistan, another jurisdiction that investors have concerns about. The copper and gold project will be constructed in two phases, with Barrick needing to invest around US$5-billion. The company is currently seeking a US$3-billion financing package.

Barrick has been steadily building a war chest for Reko Diq. Earlier this year, the company sold its 50-per-cent stake in the Donlin gold project in Alaska for US$1-billion.

Barrick earlier this year also put its Hemlo gold mine in Ontario up for sale, deeming it an asset not big enough to move the needle. After a failed attempt to sell the mine once before, Barrick invested a significant amount back into the operation in the years since Mr. Bristow joined, something that should help it fetch an attractive valuation.

“We invested quite a lot into Hemlo,to reestablish it as a viable operation,” Mr. Bristow said in Monday’s call. “And as we’ve seen, there’s a real appetite for these types of mines.”

Late last year, Denver-based Newmont Corp. sold its Musselwhite mine in Ontario to Vancouver-based Orla Mining Ltd. for around US$850-million.

The world’s biggest mining companies are streamlining their portfolios to zero in on their biggest and most profitable operations, and cashing out during a time of near-record high gold prices.

Canada’s canola industry is facing steep losses and urging Ottawa to compensate farmers after Beijing announced a 75.8-per-cent preliminary duty on Canadian canola seed.

The Tuesday morning announcement comes toward the end of a one-year anti-dumping probe launched by China in September. Canada’s agricultural sector has benefited from extensive government subsidies and preferential policies that distort markets, said an announcement from China’s Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.

But Beijing’s actions are not about dumping and effectively cut off Canada’s most lucrative crop from one of its most important markets weeks before harvest, say many in the sector.

Canadian canola is exported in accordance with rules based trade and fair market access, said Chris Davidson, President of Canola Council of Canada. Beijing’s tariffs are instead a “political issue that needs a political resolution,” he said.

The anti-dumping investigation came after Ottawa imposed 100-per-cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and 25-per-cent tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum. Beijing imposed 100-per-cent tariffs on meal and oil in March as retaliation for Ottawa’s tariffs. Now all three canola products – meal, seed and oil – are facing Chinese tariffs.

“There are geopolitical forces and we seem to be getting side-swiped,” said Dale Leftwich, Policy Manager at SaskOilseeds, adding that farmers feel like “collateral damage.”

“This is fairly devastating right now,” said Alberta farmer Roger Chevraux. His crop is around three weeks away from harvest and it lost $90,000 in value after markets reacted and the price per bushel dropped by $1.

Mr. Chevraux will try to hold onto the crop until prices improve. But storage space is limited and September is an expensive time of year. Costs like fuel from running harvest machinery and the bill for fertilizer might force a number of farmers to take a low price. The price could also fall lower.

“We need a return to rules based trade all the way around the world … We need normal trade we can rely on.”

In the meantime, Mr. Chevraux would like to see Ottawa offer compensation.

“They’re willing to support other industries in Canada. I sure hope they don’t forget about us.”

Valued at $4-billion in annual exports, China is the largest market for Canadian canola seed. It is also the largest vegetable oil consumer in the world, with an annual consumption of 38.3 mmt.

The product set for China cannot be easily move elsewhere.

There have been some promising developments in Ottawa’s relationship with China, said Mr. Davidson. In early June, Canada and China trade ministers committed to convening the Joint Economic and Trade Commission.

“We will be looking for the government to double down on those efforts moving forward.”

U.S. consumer prices increased moderately in July, though rising costs for goods because of import tariffs led to a measure of underlying inflation posting its largest gain in six months.

The consumer price index rose 0.2 per cent last month after gaining 0.3 per cent in June, the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Tuesday. In the 12 months through July, the CPI advanced 2.7 per cent after rising 2.7 per cent in June. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI rising 0.2 per cent and increasing 2.8 per cent year-on-year.

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI rose 0.3 per cent, the biggest gain since January, after climbing 0.2 per cent in June. The so-called core CPI increased 3.1 per cent year-on-year in July after advancing 2.9 per cent in June.

The Federal Reserve tracks different inflation measures for its 2 per cent target. Prior to the CPI data, financial markets expected the U.S. central bank would resume cutting interest rates in September after July’s weak employment report and sharp downward revisions to the nonfarm payrolls counts for May and June.

The Fed left its benchmark overnight interest rate in the 4.25 per cent-4.50 per cent range last month for the fifth straight time since December.

The CPI report was published amid mounting concerns over the quality of inflation and employment reports following cuts in budget and staffing that have led to the suspension of data collection for portions of the CPI basket in some areas across the country.

Those worries were amplified by President Donald Trump firing Erika McEntarfer, the head of the BLS, early this month after stall-speed job growth in July, reinforced by sharp downward revisions to the May and June nonfarm payrolls counts.

The suspension of data collection followed years of what economists described as the underfunding of the BLS under both Republican and Democratic administrations. The situation has been exacerbated by the Trump White House’s unprecedented campaign to reshape the government through deep spending cuts and mass layoffs of public workers.

Citing the need to “align survey workload with resource levels,” the BLS suspended CPI data collection completely in one city in Nebraska, Utah and New York. It has also suspended collection on 15 per cent of the sample in the other 72 areas, on average.

This affected both the commodity and services pricing survey as well as the housing survey, which the BLS said resulted in the number of collected prices and the number of collected rents used to calculate the CPI temporarily reduced. That has led to the BLS using imputations to fill in the missing information.

The share of different cell imputation in the CPI data jumped to 35 per cent in June from 30 per cent in May.

Different cell imputation, which the BLS uses when all prices are unavailable in the home cell, maintains the item category but expands geography. The home cell method, considered by economists as higher quality, uses the average price of the same item in the same location as the missing product’s price.

The use of different cell imputation has grown from a share of only 8 per cent in June 2024. Economists said while these measures adopted by the BLS will not introduce bias in the CPI data, the volatility was a cause for concern. 

Monday August 11

China CPI, PPI, aggregate yuan financing and new yuan loans

Japanese markets closed

(10:30 a.m. ET) Bank of Canada’s Market Participants Survey for Q2.

Earnings include: Barrick Mining Corp.; Exchange Income Corp.; Franco-Nevada Corp.; K2 Mining Inc.; MAG Silver Corp.; Orla Mining Ltd.

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Tuesday August 12

U.K. employment

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian building permits for June. Estimate is a month-over-month decline of 5.0 per cent.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. CPI for July. The Street is projecting a gain of 0.2 per cent from June and up 2.7 per cent year-over-year.

(2 p.m. ET) U.S. budget balance for July.

Earnings include: Artemis Gold Inc.; CAE Inc.; Discovery Silver Corp.; Peyto Exploration & Development Corp.; Sienna Senior Living Inc.

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Wednesday August 13

Japan machine tool orders

Germany CPI

(1:30 a.m. ET) Bank of Canada’s Summary of Deliberations for the July 30 decision.

Earnings include: Birchliff Energy Ltd.; CCL Industries Inc.; Endeavour Silver Corp.; H&R REIT; Hudbay Minerals Inc.; Hydro One Ltd.; Linamar Corp.; Metro Inc.; Northland Power Inc.; Stantec Inc.; TerraVest Industries Inc.; Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd.

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Thursday August 14

Euro zone GDP and industrial production

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. initial jobless claims for week of Aug. 9. Estimate is 229,000, up 3,000 from the previous week.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. PPI Final Demand for July. The Street is projecting a month-over-month gain of 0.2 per cent and a 2.6-per-cent rise year-over-year.

Earnings include: Alibaba ADR; Applied Materials Inc.; Deere & Co.; First Majestic Silver Corp.

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Friday August 15

China retail sales, industrial production and fixed asset investment

Japan real GDP and industrial production

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian manufacturing sales and new orders for June. Estimates are month-over-month increases of 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively.

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canadian wholesale trade for June. Estimate is a gain of 0.7 per cent from May.

(8:30 a.m. ET) Canada’s new motor vehicle sales for June. Estimate is a year-over-year rise of 5.5 per cent.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. retail sales for July. The Street is projecting a rise of 0.5 per cent from June.

(8:30 a.m. ET) U.S. import prices for July. Estimate is flat month-over-month and down 0.3 per cent year-over-year.

(9 a.m. ET) Canada’s existing home sales for July. Estimate is an increase of 10.0 per cent from the same period a year ago with average prices remaining unchanged.

(9 a.m. ET) Canada’s MLS Home Price Index. Estimate is a year-over-year decline of 4.0 per cent.

(9:15 a.m. ET) U.S. industrial production and capacity utilization for July.

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for August (preliminary reading).

(10 a.m. ET) U.S. business inventories for June.

Today Emera Inc. (“Emera”) (TSX/NYSE: EMA) reported financial results for the second quarter and year-to-date 2025.

Highlights

• Emera delivers 49% quarterly adjusted earnings per share ¹ (“EPS”) growth with second quarter adjusted EPS ¹ of $0.79 and reported EPS of $0.45.
• In the first half of 2025, teams across Emera successfully deployed more than $1.7 billion in customer-focused capital and are on track to invest more than $3.4 billion this year.
• Remain committed to our 5% to 7% annual average adjusted EPS ¹ growth guidance through 2027 and 7% to 8% forecasted rate base growth through 2029.

“The second quarter of 2025 marks our fourth consecutive quarter of meaningful earnings increases, which can be attributed in large part to strong growth and favourable weather in Florida,” says Scott Balfour, President and CEO of Emera Inc. “We continue to make essential investments across our operating companies to enhance reliability, storm harden our infrastructure and support economic and customer growth in the communities we serve. The continued need for this type of capital investment remains the fundamental driver of our 7% to 8% rate base growth expectations.”

Q2 2025 Financial Results

Q2 2025 adjusted net income ¹ was $236 million, or $0.79 per common share, compared with $151 million, or $0.53 per common share, in Q2 2024. The increase was primarily due to increased earnings at Tampa Electric (“TEC”), Emera Energy Services (“EES”), and New Mexico Gas Company (“NMGC”); and lower corporate costs. These were partially offset by lower earnings at Nova Scotia Power (“NSPI”) and decreased earnings due to the sale of Emera’s equity interest in the Labrador Island Link (“LIL”) in Q2 2024.

Q2 2025 reported net income was $135 million, or $0.45 per common share, compared with net income of $129 million, or $0.45 per common share, in Q2 2024. Primarily driven by decreased MTM loss, after-tax, and higher earnings at TEC, partially offset by the $107 million gain, after tax and transaction costs, on the sale of Emera’s equity interest in LIL in Q2 2024 and the $72 million in charges after-tax, primarily impairment, related to the pending sale of NMGC recognized in Q2 2025.

https://www.barchart.com/story/news/33993449/emera-reports-2025-second-quarter-financial-results

Pembina Pipeline Corporation (“Pembina” or the “Company”) (TSX: PPL; NYSE: PBA) announced today its financial and operating results for the second quarter of 2025.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250807818553/en/

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Highlights

• Quarterly Results – Reported second quarter earnings of $417 million, adjusted EBITDA of $1,013 million, and adjusted cash flow from operating activities of $698 million ($1.20 per share).
• Adjusted EBITDA Guidance – Pembina has updated its 2025 adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $4.225 billion to $4.425 billion.
• Enhanced Propane Exports – Through a new commercial agreement and a newly sanctioned project, Pembina will have access to 50,000 barrels per day (“bpd”) of highly competitive propane export capacity. Pembina has approved a $145 million optimization of its 20,000 bpd Prince Rupert Terminal (“PRT”) that will expand market access and significantly reduce shipping costs per unit, thereby improving netbacks for Pembina and its customers. In addition, Pembina has entered into a long-term tolling agreement with AltaGas Ltd. (“AltaGas”) for 30,000 bpd of liquified petroleum gases (“LPG”) export capacity at AltaGas’ current Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal (“RIPET”) and future Ridley Island Energy Export Facility (“REEF”).
• PGI Duvernay Acquisition and New Commercial Agreements – Pembina Gas Infrastructure (“PGI”) has acquired the remaining 8.33 percent interest in three gas processing trains and related infrastructure at PGI’s Duvernay Complex from Whitecap Resources Inc. (“Whitecap”) for $55 million ($33 million net to Pembina) and concurrently entered into new and extended long-term take-or-pay agreements at the Duvernay Complex and KA Plant. In addition, PGI has entered into an agreement with a Montney producer to fund and acquire an under-construction battery and additional infrastructure for a capital commitment up to $150 million ($90 million net to Pembina), which will be supported by a new long-term take-or-pay agreement.
• Advancing NGL and Condensate Pipeline Expansions – Pembina continues to advance more than $1 billion of proposed conventional pipeline expansions to reliably and cost-effectively meet rising transportation demands from growing production in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (“WCSB”). These expansions are secured by long-term contracts underpinned by take-or-pay agreements, areas of dedication across the Montney and Duvernay formations, and other long-term agreements that ensure a strong base of committed volumes. Final investment decisions (“FID”) on the Fox Creek-to-Namao Expansion and the Taylor-to-Gordondale Project are now expected by the end of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, respectively.
• Cedar LNG Project Milestone – Pembina and its partner, the Haisla Nation, recently celebrated the achievement of a major milestone for the project as construction of the floating LNG vessel began with steel cutting on both the top side facilities and the vessel hull.
• RFS IV – Furthering Pembina’s track record of industry-leading project execution, RFS IV is trending under budget with an anticipated cost of $500 million, approximately five percent below the previous cost estimate.
• Capital Guidance – Pembina has revised its outlook for its 2025 capital investment program to $1.3 billion, reflecting continued progression of proposed conventional pipeline expansions to serve growing customer demand, approval of new projects, and acquisitions at PGI.

VANCOUVER, BC , Aug. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ – “Wheaton delivered another outstanding quarter, achieving record revenue, adjusted net earnings, and operating cash flow for both the second quarter and the first half of 2025,” said Randy Smallwood , Chief Executive Officer of Wheaton Precious Metals. “We also made significant progress in our near-term growth strategy as Blackwater announced commercial production and Goose successfully delivered its first gold pour during the quarter, a strong indicator that our catalyst-rich year is progressing as planned. We remain committed to disciplined capital deployment, focusing only on the most accretive opportunities that are structured to generate meaningful, long-term value for all stakeholders.”

Record Financial Performance and Strong Balance Sheet

• Second quarter of 2025: A record $503 million in revenue, $292 million in net earnings, a record $286 million in adjusted net earnings, and a record $415 million in operating cash flow.
• Declared a quarterly dividend ¹ of $0.165 per common share and made two quarterly dividend payments totalling $150 million .
• Balance Sheet: Cash balance of $1.0 billion , no debt, and an undrawn $2 billion revolving credit facility as at June 30, 2025 .
  • Undrawn $2 billion revolving credit facility extended by an additional year with the facility now maturing on June 30, 2030 .  

https://www.barchart.com/story/news/33978024/wheaton-precious-metals-announces-record-revenue-and-operating-cash-flow-for-the-second-quarter-of-2025

TORONTO (AP) — TORONTO (AP) — Sun Life Financial Inc. (SLF) on Thursday reported second-quarter net income of $531.2 million.

The Toronto-based company said it had profit of 91 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $1.29 per share.

The results met Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of four analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was also for earnings of $1.29 per share.

The financial services company posted revenue of $6.65 billion in the period.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on SLF at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SLF

The Canadian economy lost thousands of jobs in July, sinking the share of people employed in the population to an eight-month low, data showed on Friday, as the labour market gave back substantial gains seen in the prior month.

The unemployment rate, however, remained steady but at a multi-year high level of 6.9 per cent, Statistics Canada said.

https://charts.theglobeandmail.com/pzPAA/3

The economy shed 40,800 jobs in July as against an net addition of 83,000 jobs in June, taking the employment rate, or the percentage of people employed out of the total working age population, to 60.7 per cent, the agency said.

The employment rate was the lowest since the pandemic and the loss of jobs was concentrated amongst permanent employees, Statscan said.

https://charts.theglobeandmail.com/RrDlW/4

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast that the economy would add 13,500 jobs and the unemployment rate to tick up to 7 per cent.

The bulk of the job losses occurred amongst youth, primarily aged 15 to 24 years, whose unemployment rate edged up to 14.6 per cent in July, the highest rate since September 2010 barring the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.

The youth unemployment rate usually higher than the country’s average. The employment rate amongst this group sank to 53.6 per cent, lowest since November 1998 if pandemic years are excluded.

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Statscan said that the youth were finding it tough to land a job in the current economic environment.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminum and auto have hit the manufacturing sector hard. It has already rippled across other sectors, hurting hiring intentions of companies, the Bank of Canada has previously said.

But the malaise of tariffs have not spiralled into a total meltdown of the jobs sector and employment else where has held up well, data showed.

Overall, there has been little net employment growth since the beginning of the year, Statscan said, but clarified that the layoff rate was virtually unchanged at 1.1 per cent in July compared with 12 months earlier.

The biggest decline in employment was observed in information, culture and recreation which lost 29,000 jobs, followed by 22,000 fewer jobs in construction and 19,000 jobs lost in business, building and other support services.

Employment rose in transportation and warehousing by over 26,000 or a jump of 2.4 per cent in July.

The average hourly wage of permanent employees – a gauge closely tracked by the Bank of Canada to ascertain inflationary trends – grew by 3.5 per cent in July from 3.2 per cent to $37.66.