Author

admin

Browsing

Chris Taylor, known for his success at Great Bear Resources, is now turning his attention to France.

Taylor has been appointed CEO of Aquitaine Metals, a Vancouver-based company focused on gold and antimony exploration in the Limousin Mining District, a historically significant mining region in Southwest France.

With a Phase 1 drill program set to begin in early 2025, Aquitaine Metals is looking to confirm historical high-grade gold zones and assess the antimony potential at its 100 percent owned Limousin project.

Under Taylor, Great Bear made a district-scale gold discovery at what was then known as the Dixie project in Red Lake, Ontario. The find led to the company’s C$1.8 billion acquisition by Kinross Gold (TSX:K,NYSE:KGC) in 2022.

He’s now bringing his experience to Europe, where France is seeking to revive its domestic mining sector.

Gold and antimony potential at Limousin

‘I was looking for something big,’ he explained during the conversation. “Great Bear was a great success story, and … if I was going to charge back into the fray and sit in the CEO chair again, I wanted to have something that would be significant — a significant project of size, something with clear tier-one potential.’

The Limousin project is located in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, about 40 kilometers south of Limoges. The area is known for its historical gold and antimony production, with mining activity dating back to 500 BCE.

The region hosts more than 900 ancient mining sites, indicating a long history of extraction.

Aquitaine Metals has access to a large historical database that includes a wide array of information, such as 222,000 meters of drilling, as well as over 66,000 drill core and 60,000 operational grade control assays.

Watch Taylor discuss Aquitaine Metals’ plans.

“It is the best potential gold project I have ever seen in a very, very long time — if not ever,” Taylor remarked.

Aquitaine Metals’ Phase 1 drill program will target high-grade gold zones at the Laurieras and Moulin de Cheni mines, focusing on the Pierrepinet and Douillac ore zones. The company aims to verify historical datasets and assess the economic viability of both gold and antimony extraction at the site.

Antimony, which often occurs alongside gold in stibnite form, is a critical mineral used in military applications, fire retardants and high-tech optics. With supply chains increasingly under scrutiny, the EU has identified antimony as a strategic raw material due to its economic importance and supply risks.

France’s mining industry revival

France has historically been a significant mining jurisdiction, with gold, silver and base metals extraction dating back to the Roman era. The Limousin Mining District has been one of the country’s primary gold-producing regions, with commercial mining activity continuing into the 20th century.

However, declining commodities prices and regulatory hurdles led to the closure of many operations.

Taylor explained that despite the country’s mining slowdown in the past century, its historical background in the space makes it a strong candidate for a production renaissance.

“Currently, there’s no real mining industry in France, but it is something that the government and the EU are very eager to get going again, because of the recent geopolitical changes,’ he said.

In recent years, Europe’s push for raw materials security has led France to reconsider its approach to domestic mining. The government has expressed support for projects that align with strategic resource independence, particularly in critical minerals like antimony. Moreover, the country has recently taken steps to streamline permitting and support domestic resource development to reduce reliance on foreign mineral imports.

In 2023, the French government implemented new policies to revive domestic mining and accelerate green energy projects, including plans to revive copper mining and fast track lithium and geothermal energy projects to reduce import dependency and meet climate targets. France, like other European nations, is increasingly viewing critical minerals as a matter of national security amid global geopolitical tensions and rising competition for resources.

As part of these efforts, France is considering cutting the permitting process in half for mining, geothermal energy and carbon dioxide storage projects. The country is also exploring the use of depleted oil and gas wells for carbon storage.

These policy shifts signal a broader commitment to revitalizing the country’s domestic resource sector — a trend that could benefit Aquitaine Metals and other companies seeking to develop new mining projects.

Next steps for Aquitaine Metals

With Taylor at the helm, Aquitaine Metals is preparing to begin drilling in early 2025.

As mentioned, the company’s strategy is to confirm high-grade mineralization identified in historical records and expand its understanding of the Limousin project’s gold and antimony potential.

If successful, the project could play a role in France’s broader efforts to establish a domestic mining industry capable of supporting both local and European demand for critical minerals.

For Taylor, this marks a new chapter — one that builds on his previous success in Canada, while bringing modern exploration methods to one of Europe’s most historically significant mining regions.

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

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

On Monday (February 3), the United States reached agreements with Canada and Mexico that narrowly averted the start of a trade war as tariffs set to begin Tuesday (February 4) were paused for 30 days.

Both Canada and Mexico offered plans to increase security at their respective borders with the United States, some of which were already planned and underway. This aligned with US President Donald Trump’s stated goal with the tariffs of increased border monitoring as he claimed there were increasing numbers of illegal migrants and high volumes of fentanyl entering into the United States.

Both Canada and the US released upbeat job reports on Friday (February 7) indicating strong employment gains in both countries.

Statistics Canada reported that 76,000 jobs were added to the Canadian economy in January, the majority of which were in the private sector. Manufacturing contributed 33,000 new workers, and professional, scientific and technical services added 22,000.

This marks the third consecutive month of net gains following the addition of 91,000 jobs in December and 44,000 in November. The agency indicated that over the past three months, 147,000 full-time jobs were added, while part-time labor increased by 64,000.

The additional workers entering the labor force pushed the unemployment rate down by 0.1 percent from the previous month to 6.6 percent.

Meanwhile, south of the border, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released its employment situation summary, which indicated that 143,000 new jobs were added in January. Large gains were seen in healthcare with 44,000 new jobs during the month. Retail trade increased by 34,000 and social assistance jobs saw gains of 22,000 new workers.

Overall, the employment rate edged down to 4 percent from the 4.1 percent recorded in December, marking the lowest level since May 2024.

Markets and commodities react

While markets saw small losses on Friday, they were broadly positive over the past five days, with the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:INX) gaining 0.94 percent to end Friday at 6,025.98 while the Nasdaq 100 (INDEXNASDAQ:NDX) gained 1.93 percent to 21,491.31. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) was flat, gaining just 0.08 percent to 44,303.41.

In Canada, the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index (INDEXTSI:JX) saw a 4.95 percent gain on the week to close at 639.28 on Friday (February 7). Meanwhile, the S&P/TSX Composite Index (INDEXTSI:OSPTX) posted a 1.21 percent increase to hit 25,442.91 and the CSE Composite Index (CSE:CSECOMP) jumped 3.47 percent to reach 135.64.

Gold saw further gains this week as it continued to set new all time highs. Overall, the gold price increased 2.26 percent during the week to close at US$2,861.49 per ounce on Friday at 5 p.m. EST. Silver performed strongly as well, closing the week up 1.61 percent at US$31.80.

In base metals, the copper price surged 7.67 percent for the week to close at US$4.63 per pound on the COMEX, and the S&P GSCI (INDEXSP:SPGSCI) was largely flat, posting a 0.24 percent gain to close at 563.24.

Top Canadian mining stocks this week

So how did mining stocks perform against this backdrop? We break down this week’s five best-performing Canadian mining stocks below.

Data for this article was retrieved at 4:00 p.m. EST on February 7, 2024, using TradingView’s stock screener. Only companies trading on the TSX, TSXV and CSE with market capitalizations greater than C$10 million are included. Companies within the non-energy minerals and energy minerals sectors were considered.

1. Orosur Mining (TSXV:OMI)

Company Profile

Weekly gain: 91.67 percent
Market cap: C$45.19 million
Share price: C$0.23

Orosur Mining is an exploration company focused on the development of early to advanced-stage assets in South America.

Exploration has revealed multiple gold deposits at its flagship Anzá gold project in Colombia, which is located 50 kilometers west of Medellin and sits along Colombia’s primary gold belt.

Orosur also owns several early-stage projects, the El Pantano gold-silver project in Argentina, the Lithium West project in Nigeria and the Ariquemes project in Brazil, which is prospective for tin, niobium and rare earths.

The Anzá gold project was previously a 49/51 joint venture with Minera Monte Aguila (MMA), a corporation owned equally by Newmont (TSX:NGT,NYSE:NEM) and Agnico Eagle Mines (TSX:AEM,NYSE:AEM).

Orosur shares have seen significant gains since the end of November 2024 when the company announced that it had completed its acquisition of MMA, giving Orosur 100 percent indirect ownership of the Anzá gold project.

Following the transaction’s completion, exploration resumed at the project’s Pepas prospect in mid-November to test high-grade results from a 2022 drill program. The company announced its most recent drill results on Tuesday, saying it had encountered high-grade gold over long intervals beginning at surface. One highlighted intercept assayed up to 7.24 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold over 76.3 meters.

2. Almonty Industries (TSX:AII)

Company Profile

Weekly gain: 64.1 percent
Market cap: C$480.52 million
Share price: C$1.92

Almonty Industries is a tungsten and molybdenum mining and development company focused with operations in Spain, Portugal and South Korea.

It is currently working on developing the Sangdong tungsten-molybdenum mine in South Korea, which hosts the largest tungsten deposit in the world. The mine is expected to begin production at the end of 2026 and has an anticipated mine life of 60 years. When fully ramped up the mine is projected to have an annual throughput of 640,000 metric tons, and will deliver 5,600 metric tons of molybdenum.

On January 29, Almonty announced it had entered into an offtake agreement with SeAH Group (KRX:058650) subsidiary SeAH M&S, a Korean metals company supplying the steel industry. SeAH M&S will purchase the entire production of molybdenum for the life of the Sangdong mine with a hard floor price of US$19 per pound.

Almonty also operates the Los Santos mine in Spain and the Panasqueira mine in Portugal, both producing high-grade tungsten concentrate.

In addition to the offtake agreement Almonty also announced on January 19 its intention to relocate its jurisdiction of incorporation from Canada to the US state of Delaware. It said it would maintain its listings on both the TSX and ASX.

Shares in Almonty began trading higherthis week after China announced on Tuesday it would be restricting metals exports, including tungsten and molybdenum, in response to US trade tariffs.

3. Blue Lagoon Resources (CSE:BLLG)

Company Profile

Weekly gain: 89.29 percent
Market cap: C$20.58 million
Share price: C$0.265

Blue Lagoon Resources is an exploration and development company focused on advancing its gold and silver projects in British Columbia, Canada.

Its flagship Dome Mountain gold project, located near Smithers, BC, is a past-producing asset composed of 26 claims covering 21,000 hectares and hosts 15 known high-grade gold veins.

A February 2022 updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) from the site demonstrated measured resources of 45,000 ounces of gold and 250,000 ounces of silver from 136,000 metric tons with average grades of 10.32 g/t gold and 57.31 g/t silver. Additionally, the MRE reported indicated resources of 173,000 ounces of gold and 876,000 ounces of silver from 662,000 metric tons of ore grading 8.15 g/t gold and 41.19 g/t silver.

Blue Lagoon’s shares saw significant gains this week after the company announced on Thursday (February 6) that it had received the final mine permits and is preparing to begin mining operations as soon as July 2025.

“We are delivering to our shareholders one of only a handful of mining permits granted in British Columbia over the last decade,” Chief Geologist Bill Cronk said.

Once in operation, annual production will be limited to 55,000 metric tons of ore, from which the company expects to recover 15,000 ounces of gold.

4. Electric Metals USA (TSXV:EML)

Company Profile

Weekly gain: 58.33 percent
Market cap: C$13.75 million
Share price: C$0.095

Electric Metals is a mineral development company focused on advancing its flagship Emily manganese project in Minnesota, US.

According to the company, the asset is North America’s highest-grade manganese resource. A May 2024 MRE shows Emily hosts an indicated resource of 6.23 million metric tons with grades of 19.27 percent manganese and 22.41 percent iron with an additional inferred resource of 4.91 million metric tons with grades of 17.5 percent manganese and 20.44 percent iron with a cut off of 10 percent manganese.

Shares in Electric Metals have seen recent gains after a January 28 news release when the company announced it was starting work on a preliminary economic assessment for the Emily manganese project. It expects the report to be completed during the second quarter of 2025.

5. Goldgroup Mining (TSX:GGA)

Company Profile

Weekly gain: 51.22 percent
Market cap: C$34.79 million
Share price: C$0.31

Goldgroup Mining is a gold production, development and exploration company working to advance its Cerro Prieto heap-leach gold mine.

The 4,335-hectare property, located in Sonora, Mexico, produces an annual average of 11,500 ounces of gold and has produced more than 120,000 ounces since its beginning in March 2013.

Goldgroup is currently working to double the capacity of the mine to more than 25,000 ounces per year. The last update on the progress came in October 2024, when it announced that it had installed the primary crusher with a 2,200 metric ton per day throughput. It also said it had expanded pumping and irrigation capacity.

Goldgroup’s most recent news came on February 6, when it announced that all shareholders holding share purchase warrants from financing rounds completed in September and November 2024 had informed the company they would exercise all outstanding warrants. The company had previously informed shareholders it was accelerating the warrants, changing the expiry date to February 9. Goldgroup will receive gross proceeds of C$1.87 million.

FAQs for Canadian mining stocks

What is the difference between the TSX and TSXV?

The TSX, or Toronto Stock Exchange, is used by senior companies with larger market caps, and the TSXV, or TSX Venture Exchange, is used by smaller-cap companies. Companies listed on the TSXV can graduate to the senior exchange.

How many companies are listed on the TSXV?

As of June 2024, there were 1,630 companies listed on the TSXV, 925 of which were mining companies. Comparatively, the TSX was home to 1,806 companies, with 188 of those being mining companies.

Together the TSX and TSXV host around 40 percent of the world’s public mining companies.

How much does it cost to list on the TSXV?

There are a variety of different fees that companies must pay to list on the TSXV, and according to the exchange, they can vary based on the transaction’s nature and complexity. The listing fee alone will most likely cost between C$10,000 to C$70,000. Accounting and auditing fees could rack up between C$25,000 and C$100,000, while legal fees are expected to be over C$75,000 and an underwriters’ commission may hit up to 12 percent.

The exchange lists a handful of other fees and expenses companies can expect, including but not limited to security commission and transfer agency fees, investor relations costs and director and officer liability insurance.

These are all just for the initial listing, of course. There are ongoing expenses once companies are trading, such as sustaining fees and additional listing fees, plus the costs associated with filing regular reports.

How do you trade on the TSXV?

Investors can trade on the TSXV the way they would trade stocks on any exchange. This means they can use a stock broker or an individual investment account to buy and sell shares of TSXV-listed companies during the exchange’s trading hours.

Article by Dean Belder; FAQs by Lauren Kelly.

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

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

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO,NYSE:RIO,LSE:RIO) has selected French engineering firm Eurodia to supply the industrial extraction unit for its Argentine lithium subsidiary Rincon, which holds the Rincon lithium project.

Rio acquired the Rincon asset from Rincon Mining in March 2022. The property is located in the Lithium Triangle in Argentina’s Salta province, which hosts more than half of the world’s lithium reserves.

According to an initial mineral resources and ore reserves report, released in December, Rincon’s mineral resources, inclusive of ore reserves, stand at 1.54 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent in the measured category, with 7.75 million tonnes in the indicated category and 2.29 million tonnes in the inferred category.

Eurodia is a global specialist in custom-designed, eco-efficient liquid purification processes. The company develops and implements innovative solutions for industries driving the eco-energy transition.

In a Monday (February 3) release announcing its deal with Rio Tinto, Eurodia said Rincon is ‘a breakthrough moment for lithium processing, proving that innovation and responsibility can come together to meet the demands of the future.”

Rincon has an expected annual capacity of 53,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate over a 40 year mine life, although Rio Tinto plans to expand production at the site to 60,000 tonnes per year.

“Eurodia’s contribution is central to this vision, delivering a tailored, high-performance industrial lithium extraction unit that maximizes lithium yield while minimizing environmental impact,” Eurodia said.

“The project combines precision engineering with process efficiency, ensuring that Rio Tinto’s lithium ambitions are realized with both economic and sustainability objectives in mind.”

Rincon is Rio Tinto’s first commercial-scale lithium operation. The major miner announced a US$2.5 billion investment to expand the project this past December, and first lithium was produced at a starter plant the previous month.

A pilot battery-grade lithium carbonate plant is in development at the site and scheduled for completion in H1 2025.

On the exploration side, Rio Tinto is collaborating at Rincon with private company Fleet Space Technologies.

Rio Tinto will use ExoSphere, an exploration solution developed by Fleet Space, to create 3D subsurface maps of the reservoir, basement-depth and brine-influencing structures at Rincon’s salt flat and nearby subvolcanic structures.

Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

However, there could be a pullback before that happens. Although gold and silver prices are thriving now, Durrett believes a ‘rug pull’ could take gold down to the US$2,350 to US$2,400 per ounce level.

After that happens, gold will be ‘off to the races,’ with silver following. He anticipates gold rising to the US$3,200 to US$3,400 range, while silver could make it anywhere between US$45 and US$65 per ounce.

In closing, Durrett listed his 15 ‘must-own’ silver stocks:

    Watch the interview above for more of Durrett’s thoughts on those topics and more. You can also click here to view our Vancouver Resource Investment Conference playlist on YouTube.

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

    This post appeared first on investingnews.com

    President Donald Trump on Friday announced he is revoking former President Joe Biden’s security clearance and stopping his daily intelligence briefings.

    ‘There is no need for Joe Biden to continue receiving access to classified information,’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Friday night.

    The privileges will be revoked immediately, according to the President.

    He added the precedent was set by Biden himself.

    ‘He set this precedent in 2021, when he instructed the Intelligence Community (IC) to stop the 45th President of the United States (ME!) from accessing details on National Security, a courtesy provided to former Presidents,’ Trump wrote. 

    The president noted the Hur Report, which he claimed ‘revealed that Biden suffers from ‘poor memory’ and, even in his ‘prime,’ could not be trusted with sensitive information,’ according to the post.

    Trump said he will always protect National Security.

    ‘JOE, YOU’RE FIRED. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,’ he wrote.

    This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

    President Donald Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House Friday and said the U.S. will have relations with the North Korean regime of dictator Kim Jong Un.

    ‘We will have relations with North Korea, with Kim Jong Un. I get along with them very well,’ Trump told reporters alongside Ishiba.

    Trump, who first met Kim in 2018 in Singapore and became the first sitting president to meet with the leader of North Korea, is looking to build off his personal diplomacy he established with Kim during his first term.

    ‘We had a good relationship. And I think it’s a very big asset for everybody that I do get along with them,’ the president said. 

    Trump met Kim again in 2019 and became the first president to step foot inside North Korean territory from the demilitarized zone.

    Trump said Japan would welcome renewed dialogue with North Korea because relations between Japan and North Korea remain tense since diplomatic relations have never been established.

    ‘And I can tell you that Japan likes the idea because their relationship is not very good with him,’ Trump said.

    Ishiba said it’s a positive development Trump and Kim met during Trump’s first term. And now that he has returned to power, the U.S., Japan and its allies can move toward resolving issues with North Korea, including denuclearization.

    ‘Japan and U.S. will work together toward the complete denuclearization of North Korea,’ Ishiba added.

    Prime Minister Ishiba also addressed a grievance involving the abduction of Japanese citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s. Although North Korea released some of the prisoners in the early 2000s, Pyongyang never provided Japan with any explanation for the abduction of its citizens, and there can be no normalization of relations between Japan and North Korea until the issue is resolved.

    ‘And so our time is limited,’ Ishiba warned.

    ‘So, I don’t know if the president of the United States, if President Trump is able to resolve this issue. We do understand that it’s a Japan issue, first and foremost. Having said that, we would love to continue to cooperate with them,’ the prime minister added.

    This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

    Rep. Jim Jordan, GOP chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., sent employees from the Fulton County District Attorney’s office requests Thursday to hand over documents and interviews related to the Jan. 6 Committee as they continue investigating District Attorney Fani Willis. 

    ‘The committee previously wrote to District Attorney Willis requesting documents relating to her coordination with the January 6 Select Committee. Because District Attorney Willis has declined to cooperate, the committee must pursue other avenues to obtain this information,’ a press release states. 

    Jordan and Loudermilk sent letters to Assistant Chief Investigator Michael Hill, Assistant Chief Investigator Trina Swanson-Lucas, Chief Senior District Attorney Donald Wakeford and Deputy District Attorney Will Wooten, requesting ‘all documents and communications’ between the employees and ‘any member, staff member, agent, or representative of the January 6 Selection Committee.’ 

    The letters also request the employees hand over ‘all documents and communications referring or relating to records in your possession obtained’ from the Jan. 6 Committee. 

    All employees were asked to submit the requested documentation no later than Feb. 20. 

    The letters sent Thursday say the lawmakers had previously written to Willis ‘requesting documents relating to her coordination with the January 6 Select Committee.’

    The lawmakers say they received a letter from Willis in December in which she confirmed the requested documents existed ‘but declined to produce such materials on the grounds that the materials were ‘protected from disclosure by attorney-client privilege, work product privilege, and other common law protections.”

    The DA’s office asserted the same claim in a court filing that same month when it declined to turn over any new communications between Willis and special counsel Jack Smith, who had also been investigating alleged efforts by President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The filing asserted that the documents either did not exist or were exempt from disclosure under Georgia law.

    Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney had previously ordered Willis to produce any records of communication with either Smith or the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 within five business days. In doing so, the judge sided with Judicial Watch, a conservative legal group that had filed suit against Willis, determining that Willis had violated the state’s open records act by failing to respond to the lawsuit. 

    The House Judiciary Committee launched its investigation into whether Willis coordinated with the House Jan. 6 Committee in December 2023. Jordan and Loudermilk took the lead on the probe after learning that Willis’ office ‘coordinated its investigative actions with the partisan Select Committee.’

    The lawmakers said at the time that Willis asked the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 to share evidence with her office.

    Willis charged Trump with one count of violation of the Georgia RICO Act, three counts of criminal solicitation, six counts of criminal conspiracy, one count of filing false documents and two counts of making false statements. 

    Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts.

    Fox News Digital reached out to Hill, Swanson-Lucas, Wakeford, Wooten and the DA’s Office but did not immediately hear back. 

    Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch and Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

    This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

    Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk’s efforts to clean up waste and fraud in the federal government will soon shift its focus to the Social Security Administration (SSA) in a move likely to create a firestorm with Democrats.

    The SSA, created by the Social Security Act under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935 and tasked with establishing a federal benefits system for older Americans, will soon become a focus of DOGE, according to a report from Semafor that was not denied by the White House when contacted by Fox News Digital.

    While several Democrats — including Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., in a post on X — have been quick to accuse this move as being aimed at slashing Social Security benefits for the elderly, several areas with potential waste exist in the agency that don’t involve cutting current benefits. 

    Just Facts, a nonprofit research institute, previously reported that the agency disbursed roughly $2 billion in fraudulent or improper payments in 2022, which it calculated was enough ‘to pay 89,947 retired workers the average annual old-age benefit of $21,924 for 2023.’

    Just Facts explained that through a policy known as ‘administrative finality,’ once the ‘SSA mistakenly overpays a beneficiary for more than four years, it does not recover past overpayments and deliberately continues to make future overpayments excepting cases of fraud.’

    The SSA sent roughly 7,000 federal employees disability benefits in 2008 while they were still taking wages from federal jobs, according to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

    The GAO estimated that about 1,500 of those individuals ‘may have improperly received benefits’ since their wages went beyond maximum income thresholds. The GAO investigation also found that over 71,000 ‘stimulus checks’ were sent by the Obama administration to people who were deceased, including 63,481 people whose deaths had been previously reported to the agency.

    ‘Social Security will not be touched, it will only be strengthened,’ President Donald Trump said during a press conference on Friday. ‘We have illegal immigrants on Social Security and we’re going to find out who they are and take them out.’

    Trump added, ‘We’re going to strengthen our Social Security, etc. We’re not going to touch it other than to make it stronger. But we have people that shouldn’t be on, and those people we have to weed out, most of them, or many of them, so far, have been illegal immigrants.’

    On Friday afternoon, White House Principal Deputy Communications Director Alex Pfeiffer posted a report on X from the Center for Immigration Studies in 2021 that said, ‘We estimate that there are 2.65 million illegal immigrants with Social Security numbers.’

    Trump added that DOGE will go through ‘everything’ when it comes to waste and fraud in the federal government.

    In a statement to Fox News Digital, a spokesperson for the SSA said, ‘We remain focused and vigilant on the integrity of our programs and take seriously our responsibilities to deter fraud, waste, and abuse.’

    DOGE has dominated news headlines over the past week as Musk’s team has moved to slash USAID’s $40 billion spending budget and put on leave the vast majority of its employees, as photos of the sign at the door of the agency’s Washington, D.C., headquarters being taken down have circulated on social media.

    Musk has said that both he and Trump ‘agreed’ that the agency should be ‘shut down.’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been named acting director of the independent agency, on Monday echoed the sentiment, telling reporters, ‘USAID is not functioning.’

    ‘It needs to be aligned with the national interest of the U.S. They’re not a global charity, these are taxpayer dollars. People are asking simple questions. What are they doing with the money?’ Rubio continued. ‘We are spending taxpayers’ money. We owe the taxpayers assurances that it furthers our national interest.’

    Democrats held a rally outside the Treasury Department earlier this week blasting the DOGE efforts as a threat to democracy. 

    ‘Elon Musk is a Nazi nepo baby, a godless lawless billionaire, who no one elected,’ Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., said at a rally, sparking pushback from conservatives on social media.

    ‘Elon, this is the American people. This is not your trashy Cybertruck that you can just dismantle, pick apart, and sell the pieces of.’

    Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.

    This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

    New Orleans is preparing for an estimated 125,000 visitors and a presidential visit during the weekend of Super Bowl 59, as the reigning champion Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles at the Caesars Superdome.

    Local businesses are ready, and hotel demand is surging.

    Tripadvisor said demand for hotel rooms in New Orleans surged 637% this week as fans of the competing NFL teams scurry to find lodging. Interest from travelers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey has increased more than 14 times, and interest from people in Kansas and Missouri is up 8.5 times since the division championship games in the last week of January, the travel site said.

    As of Thursday morning, the average hotel room was going for $650 per night, according to Hotels.com, which is owned by Expedia.

    Caesars has the spotlight, however. Along with naming rights to the New Orleans Saints’ stadium, where the NFL championship will be played, Caesars also holds lucrative status as the only casino in New Orleans.

    The company has rolled out the red carpet with a nearly half-billion-dollar overhaul of what was formerly a Harrah’s-branded property, and it is using the big game to introduce the brand to new customers.

    The biggest football game of the year comes just weeks after a New Year’s Day attack that took place in the city’s French Quarter and killed 14 people, putting New Orleans on high alert.

    Security around town is tight. State police, city police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security all have a heavy presence.

    At an NFL briefing on Monday, law enforcement said more than 700 different types of Homeland Security officials will be on the ground during the Super Bowl, and that was before President Donald Trump indicated plans to attend the game.

    “I am confident that the safest areas to be in the country this weekend is under the security umbrella our team has put together,” said Cathy Lanier, the NFL’s chief security officer.

    Since the Jan. 1 attack in New Orleans, NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Miller said the league has redoubled its safety efforts.

    “We added resources, and we feel really good about where we are,” Miller told CNBC.

    This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

    Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been told to remove words frequently associated with progressive gender ideology from research manuscripts that they intend to publish.

    A screenshot of a leaked internal email sent out to CDC staff, obtained by the newsletter Inside Medicine, showed a list of terms and phrases that must be removed from scientific manuscripts produced by the agency’s researchers and intended for publication. 

    Those terms included: ‘gender,’ ‘transgender,’ ‘pregnant person,’ ‘pregnant people,’ ‘LGBT,’ ‘transsexual,’ ‘non-binary,’ ‘nonbinary,’ ‘assigned male at birth,’ ‘assigned female at birth,’ ‘biologically male’ and ‘biologically female.’ According to the Washington Post, the list includes about 20 terms. They indicated that the directive also ordered the removal of any use of ‘they/them.’ 

    The rule affects manuscripts under review, as well as those accepted but not yet published, no matter whether they are intended for internal circulation only or circulation outside the CDC.

    A CDC spokesperson told Fox News Digital that ‘All changes to HHS and HHS division websites/manuscripts are in accordance with President Trump’s January 20 Executive Orders.’

    After taking office last month, President Donald Trump signed a slew of Day One executive orders, including one that attempts to root out ‘gender ideology extremism’ and restore ‘biological truth’ to the federal government. Meanwhile, in line with that order, the Trump administration’s Office of Personnel Management issued a memo a little over a week later calling on all federal agencies to ‘take prompt actions to end all agency programs that use taxpayer money to promote or reflect gender ideology.’

    In addition to the terms, CDC web pages titled ‘Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth | Adolescent and School Health’ and ‘April 18 is National Transgender HIV Testing Day’ have also been removed.

    The removal of the terms may make it hard to read surveys and research that utilizes them as demographic identifiers, The Post reported. 

    ‘If you are trying to optimize society, you can’t just pretend some people aren’t in it,’ executive director of the National LGBTQI+ Cancer Network, Scout, who legally goes by only one name, told The Post.

    This post appeared first on FOX NEWS