Category: Metals & Mining
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
What Commodity Bubble? Gold, Silver, Rare Earth and Uranium Miners Rebound / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Jeb_Handwerger
Far be it for Gold Stock Trades to indulge in hubris, nevertheless with all humility we not only saw this risk on rally forming in early October but reiterated on many occasions "be not dismayed by recent declines." "Commodities are not in a bubble." "Patience and Fortitude."
Recent action exemplifies the importance of not being trigger happy when it involves the commodity arena especially precious metals, uranium and rare earths. Volatility can daunt even the most resolute of investors.
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Monday, March 05, 2012
Still Long on Xstrata After Glencore International’s Takeover Offer / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Roger_Conrad
Shares of Xstrata (London: XTA, OTC: XSRAY) have performed well as of late, surging 62 percent after hitting a low in early October. Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX: BHP, NYSE: BHP) Changing Gears in 2012 / Companies / Metals & Mining
By: Roger_Conrad
BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX: BHP, NYSE: BHP) reported fiscal 2012 first-half earnings that disappointed some. Nonetheless, its stock has still returned 12 percent this year, largely on the continued strength and growth of its iron ore and metallurgical coal operations.Both of these are crucial elements in manufacturing steel, which remains in very high demand in developing Asia. The massive focus on these resources has triggered speculation that BHP may be ready to sell mines and other assets producing commodities considered less “core.”
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Saturday, February 25, 2012
Rare Earths Investing Update / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Jeff_Clark
By Jeff Clark, Casey Research We've received a number of inquiries from Casey Research subscribers about our opinion on the current rare earth metals market. We have covered this topic previously, but this article, we'll take a fresh look.
As a matter of a recap, rare earth elements (or REEs) is a generic name for 17 metals widely used mostly in high-technology devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, flat screen televisions, hybrid car batteries, lasers, optics, and military equipment. New uses for these metals are being constantly found, but more on that later.
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Saturday, February 25, 2012
Metals and Mining Paradigm Shift, Exiting Easy And Cheap / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Richard_Mills
The massive growth of global prosperity over the last five centuries has been driven by easy and cheap access to critical materials:
- Food
- Fibre
- Energy
- Minerals
However since October 2001 the CRB BLS Spot Index has reached record levels.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Copper Price Forecast, The Fall of The Chinese Miracle 2012 / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Submissions
Jaroslaw Suplacz writes: Firstly, cycles
The copper consumption has been strongly polarized in recent years. China uses more copper than North America and Europe combined. A drop in copper demand in China alone will signify a global crisis in industries pertaining to this natural raw material.
Despite the high and long-lasting economic growth of China (“despite” and “because of it”) one must remember that economy develops in economic cycles, including long lasting ones, after the economic boom of the Middle Kingdom, there will be a deep recession. The financial system of China may prove to be a bubble and currency reserves, although they appear enormous, will lose their significance against the scale of outstanding credits which were used to finance, among other things, rushed government investments – all of it is still ahead of China.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Rare Earth Metals Demand Is Unstoppable / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Critical_Metals_Repo
Not long after the New Year dawned, Gold Stock Trades Editor Jeb Handwerger noted certain rare earths emerging from their 2011 slumber to produce impressive gains. It's not yet March, but the good news keeps coming. Despite dire predictions that demand is drying up, Handwerger tells The Critical Metals Report in this exclusive interview that the world remains at risk of supply shortfalls. It's not strictly a rare earths story, either. Read on to see what he has to say about the nascent niobium space.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Graphite of Critical Importance, Investors Pencil It In / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Richard_Mills
Sometime between 1500 and 1565 a large graphite deposit was discovered in Cumbria, England. Because the graphite was extremely pure and solid it could easily be sawed into sticks. The graphite was actually thought to be a form of lead and called plumbago - Latin for lead ore.
The Borrowable Mine was soon ordered to be put under armed guard by Queen Elizabeth because the "lead" could be used to line the moulds for making her armies cannonballs. But black marketers managed to smuggle out the graphite for continued use in pencils. Artists from all over the known world quickly learned to appreciate the qualities of Cumbria's graphite but it wasn't until 1795 that Nicholas Conte learned to mix graphite powder with clay and fire it in a furnace to actually make something with the equivalent quality of Borrowables plumbago.
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Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Graphite and Rare Earth Metals for the 21st Century / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Critical_Metals_Repo
The list of once-obscure metals and minerals that are becoming "strategic" seems to be growing daily. However, population growth and rising living standards in developing countries are driving demand for most raw materials. In this exclusive interview with The Critical Metals Report, Institute for the Analysis of Global Security Senior Fellow Jack Lifton explains how increasing demand and harder-to-mine deposits are raising prices on these essential materials.
Friday, February 03, 2012
Critical Materials for Critical Technologies / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Richard_Mills
Critical materials have been described in various ways, with perhaps the clearest being the following two definitions:
A critical or strategic material is a commodity whose lack of availability during a national emergency would seriously affect the economic, industrial, and defensive capability of a country.
The critical materials are natural resources that have a threatened supply availability and are a necessity for technology that is experiencing growing demand.
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Thursday, February 02, 2012
The Coming Disruption In Rare Earths / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
In December 2011, the US Department of Energy (DoE) released the 2011 ‘Critical Materials Strategy’, a report that examines the role of materials such as rare earth metals in the ‘clean energy economy.’ The report cautions that the US runs the risk of facing disruptions in its short-term rare earth supply chain until 2015 at least. Shortage of five critical rare earth minerals—dysprosium, europium, neodymium, terbium and yttrium—could create expensive interruptions in the production of electric vehicles, wind turbines and energy-efficient lighting.
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Thursday, February 02, 2012
Battery Power: The Next Generation / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
Lithium Manganese Dioxide (LMD) batteries have 4% lithium, 61% manganese and 35% oxygen by atomic weight. Their high power output, low production cost, enhanced safety and thermal stability in comparison to other lithium ion batteries have made LMD batteries very attractive in the electric vehicle market. LMD batteries are already being used by the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf.
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Thursday, February 02, 2012
Have Your Heard of Graphene? / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
Graphene was discovered about seven years ago in Britain and since then, the material has been generating tremendous attention. The wonder value of the material is extraordinary—it is 200 times stronger than steel and tougher than diamond yet almost invisible and weightless; it stretches like rubber and is a better conductor of heat and electricity than copper. In fact, some researchers claim it is the most important substance created since synthetic plastic a century ago!
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Toyota Innovates Way Out of Rare Earth Handcuffs / Companies / Metals & Mining
By: G_Joel_Chury
According a report from Reuters today, Toyota Motor Corp. has developed a way to manufacture hybrid and electric vehicles without the use of rare earth metals. The announcement comes in response to China’s export quotas that have made the metals less economic.
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Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Solving Critical Rare Earth Metal Shortages / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Critical_Metals_Repo
Years of supply mismanagement have left the U.S. dependent on foreign sources for critical metals like graphite, vanadium and manganese. In this exclusive interview with The Critical Metals Report, Dr. Michael Berry, publisher of Morning Notes and a former portfolio manager, and Chris Berry, founder of House Mountain Partners and co-author of Morning Notes, discuss what early-stage mines close to home could be the first to bolster the supply in U.S.
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
New Rare Earth Metal Deposits in 2012 / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Critical_Metals_Repo
China's tight grip on rare earth elements supply may loosen as other deposits around the world come to fruition in 2012. In this exclusive interview with The Critical Metals Report, Jon Hykawy, head of global research with investment bank Byron Capital Markets, discusses the supply and demand fundamentals that are driving his predictions for the New Year.
The Critical Metals Report: Many analysts, including you, expected a shortage of heavy rare earths (HREES), especially dysprosium, in the medium term. You no longer believe that's true. What changed your outlook?
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Tuesday, January 03, 2012
2012: A Year of Transition for Strategic Metals / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
China announced its rare earth export quota for 2012 on December 27. The initial quantity has been reduced by 27% in comparison to 2011 but the whole year’s quota is slated to remain almost unchanged from 2011 levels. Officials have launched a new system whereby the export quota would be split among the different types of rare earths—such a move is expected to better match supply and demand. China has, for the first time, split its export quota into light and medium-to-heavy categories. Mining companies that cannot meet the environmental standards of the government would be excluded from the quota.
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Wednesday, December 07, 2011
The Age of Rare Earth Metals / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Critical_Metals_Repo
Just as the Bronze Age catapulted human civilization to new levels, so are critical metals changing the way we live in the modern world. Despite weak across-the-board market sentiment, Jacob Securities Analyst Luisa Moreno maintains that rare earths will continue to revolutionize our daily lives. In this Critical Metals Report exclusive, Moreno explains how to pinpoint investment opportunities as new projects inevitably come online.
Friday, December 02, 2011
Graphene The "Miracle Material" That Will Change the World / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Money_Morning
Michael A. Robinson writes:
A radical new material made from a single carbon atom will soon have a pervasive impact on the U.S. economy - and the entire human race.
Stronger than steel and lighter than a feather, this high-tech medium will shape virtually every part of our daily lives by the end of this decade.
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Time For U.S. To Focus On Mining Stocks / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Jeb_Handwerger
The markets have spoken in response to the failure of the Super-committee to reduce spending in Washington with a major decline. This is less than a stellar review for currently elected officials going into the 2012 election. At this point, the marketplace is saying that the "Emperor's Have No Clothes". The word emperor is deliberately chosen. Latter day royalty comports behind the scenes in collegial collusion. It is not too far fetched to suspect the unbelievable. The fix may be in.
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