We have a long conversation with Jared Dillian for our first segment of this week's long-form episode. Despite an upward move in the major markets, sentiment still appears to be mostly bearish. Jared discusses this dynamic as we continue to move through the debt ceiling debates within the US government. What are the probabilities of something bad happening and the US defaulting? We also chat about a second wave of inflation and what it will take to kill the demand psychology of the US consumer.
And we conclude the episode with a conversation with David Finch. We ask David about the $18B deal between Newmont and Newcrest, what it means for the gold sector, and why these major mergers are more prominent than buying early stage juniors.

We'd like to thank our sponsors:
Western Copper and Gold is focused on developing the world-class Casino project in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Casino project consists of an impressive 11 billion pounds of copper and 21 million ounces of gold in an overall resource. Western Copper and Gold trades on the TSX and the NYSE American with WRN. Be sure to follow the company via their website, www.westerncopperandgold.com.
ASCU is an early-stage copper developer and explorer of the Cactus Mine and its satellite project, Parks/Salyer, both situated on a 4km mine trend on private land in Arizona's porphyry copper district. Opportunity for significant growth and scale exist along the trend, while future capex requirements outlined in the Cactus PEA benefit from significant onsite and nearby access to infrastructure. The Company is led by an executive management team and Board which have a long-standing track record of successful project delivery in North America. For more information, please visit www.arizonasonoran.com.
Fireweed Metals is advancing 3 different projects within the Yukon and Northwest Territories, including the flagship Macmillan Pass Project, a large zinc-lead-silver deposit and the Mactung Project, one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits in the world. Fireweed plans to advance these projects through exploration, resource definition, metallurgy, engineering, economic studies and collaboration with indigenous people on the path to production. For more information please visit fireweedmetals.com.