Category: Metals & Mining
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Crude Oil and Commodity Resources Security of Supply / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Richard_Mills
While working for Shell Oil during the 1940's Dr. M. King Hubbert noticed the production of crude oil from individual oil fields plotted a normal bell shaped curve. Roughly half of the oil from a field has been exhausted when the bell curve peaks.
Carrying that insight further he surmised that oil production from a group of oil fields would follow a similar bell shaped pattern.
Read full article... Read full article...
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Solving the Global Iron Ore Shortage / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: The_Gold_Report
If there is one thing UBS Securities' Dieter Hoeppli knows it's steel. As global head of steel, as well as metals and mining in the Americas for UBS, he's spent the last 20 years analyzing the steel business and acting as an advisor on countless mergers and takeover deals. He regularly travels the world and crunches numbers to determine what's going to grow and what's not. In this Gold Report exclusive, we take you inside the recent Forbes & Manhattan summit for some of Dieter's candid thoughts on the shortage of iron ore global steel manufacturers are now facing.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
Investing in Chinese Rare Earth Metals Mining Companies / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
During the recent de facto ban on the export of rare earth shipments to Japan by China, what almost went unnoticed is the fact that the ban was only on raw materials and not on finished goods that utilized rare earths sourced from China. This is viewed as a move by China to force foreign buyers to purchase China’s manufactured goods in addition to the raw materials. Economist Paul Krugman, while not sympathetic to the Chinese cause, blames the US and other advanced economies for getting themselves into such a position of dependence. He has pointed out that one way of breaking free is to do what the Japanese are doing – recycle rare earth metals, or get innovative and design products that do not require rare earths.
Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
How and Where Manganese & Magnesium is Used / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
Manganese is found in nature as a free element, in combination with iron and many other minerals. The most important industrial use of manganese is as an alloy, predominantly in the steel industry. In fact, there is no comparative substitute for manganese in its primary applications. Pure magnesium, on the other hand, is not found as a free element because of its highly reactive nature. The primary industrial applications of magnesium are as a component of aluminum and zinc alloys, in the removal of sulfur in the iron and steel-manufacturing sector, and in the production of metals such as titanium.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Downstream Value in Rare Earth Metals Companies / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: The_Gold_Report
Byron Capital Markets Analyst Jon Hykawy sees the rare earth elements (REE) sector for what it is—something much different from mining copper or gold. He believes the keys to making money in rare earths involve metallurgy, deposit location, marketing and downstream integration. In this Gold Report exclusive, Jon makes his case for rare earth elements and the companies he believes have the best chance to deliver them at a profit.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Is BHP Billiton (BHP) Too Big to Grow? / Companies / Metals & Mining
By: Money_Morning
Jack Barnes writes:
In the banking crisis we learned that a group of U.S. banking and insurance firms are allegedly "Too Big To Fail." Now the world's largest mining company BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE ADR: BHP) has grown so large it is struggling to make meaningful deals, introducing us to another phrase: "Too Big To Grow."
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Rare Earth Elements (REEs) / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Richard_Mills
The rare earths are a group of 17 elements comprising Scandium, Yttrium, and the Lanthanides. The heavy rare earth elements, HREE. Light REE's are made up of the first seven elements of the lanthanide series - Lanthanum (La, atomic number 57), Cerium (Ce, atomic number 58), Praseodymium (Pr, atomic number 59), Neodymium (Nd, atomic number 60) Promethium (Pm, atomic number 61) and Samarium (Sm, atomic number 62).Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
The Yukon Metals and Mining Boom: Today’s Hottest Investment Play / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Casey_Research
Andrey Dashkov, Editor, Casey’s International Speculator writes: Building on the spectacular early takeover of Underworld Resources by gold major Kinross this June, recent discoveries in the Yukon Territory have made this large region of frozen tundra the hottest area play in the junior resource sector today.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
A Politician In Every POT / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: HRA_Advisory
[Journal Preface] Did we mention we’re contrarians at heart? As October wore on and legions of new “experts” declared resources the place to be we started to get uncomfortable with the sudden surfeit of company we had in the metals space. Not that we mind fresh buyers coming in after we own something. Far from it. Still, things became so good so quickly it’s hard not to get nervous.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
West Loses Resources War, China Controls Rare Earths and Middle East Has Crude Oil / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Dian_L_Chu
While most are anxiously anticipating a grand currency showdown at the G20 summit in Seoul this month, rare earths is bound to be one act of the G20 high Korean Drama amid the mounting worries among corporations and governments around the world about China’s recent export restrictions and embargo,
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Lithium Powers Hi-Tek, New Global X Lithium ETF / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: The_Energy_Report
Cell phones, laptops, mp3 players—they are all powered by lithium. Bruno del Ama, the portfolio manager of New York-based, exchange traded fund issuer Global X Management, has recently launched an ETF targeting lithium companies for just this reason. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, del Ama discusses why sizeable deposits of lithium just now being developed may not be enough to keep up with the demand generated by consumer electronics and the emerging electric vehicles industry over the next decade.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Will China's Residential Construction Bubble Hit Copper, Zinc and Nickel Industrial Metals? / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Mike_Stall
China is the world’s largest consumer of copper, zinc and nickel and also among the leading consumers of other base metals. The country has one of the fastest growing auto sector (which has overtaken the US in size) and has plans for rapid expansion of railroads and other infrastructure segments. Not surprisingly, China’s demand growth is expected to be the single most important factor in determining the direction of metal prices.
Monday, November 08, 2010
China’s Urban Migration Catapults Copper Prices to New Highs / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Money_Morning
Don Miller writes:
The next phase of China's economic plan is fueling a relentless appetite for electricity, spiking demand for copper. That has moved investors to drive up the price of the metal, as well as the stocks of companies that mine it.
Copper has risen 14% this year, with contracts traded on the London Metal Exchange tripling since December 2008. The Bloomberg index of world mining stocks this year has climbed 16% to the highest level since Aug. 1, 2008, driven by miners like Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE: FCX), and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (NYSE: IVN)
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Metals and Mining Corporate Earnings Critical Crystal Ball for November 2010 / Companies / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
The global steel industry has had to bear the brunt of the uneven global economy and quite unlike the upbeat expectations harbored at the beginning of the year, both sale and price of steel is on the decline while raw material cost is on the upswing. The failure of the construction industry to regain its pre-recession status is adversely affecting the steel market although the auto and appliance industries have reflected a surge in growth. Global leader ArcelorMittal’s Q3 results reported a drop of 21% from Q2, although it reflected a 48% jump in profits YoY. The company expects steel shipments to increase in Q4 but selling prices are expected to fall.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Molycorp CEO Treads Carefully In Regards To Chinese Rare Earths Monopoly / Companies / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
Rare earth metals company Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) owns the largest deposit of rare earth minerals outside of China and its Mountain Pass deposit in California is the only deposit of any significance in the western hemisphere. MCP is one of the two companies that plan to operate rare earth mines within the next two years in an effort to meet the huge demand expected. MCP’s announcement to reopen its mines has more than doubled its share prices over the second half of this year.
Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
BHP Abandonment of Joint Venture Benefits Chinese / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
The fate of the proposed $116 billion Pilbara iron ore joint venture between global mining giants BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto has finally been sealed, 16 months after the proposal was first announced. In view of the increasing possibility of not obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals, the two companies have decided to abandon the proposal. CEO Marius Kloppers of BHP Billiton said, “With the termination of the joint venture, this focus on efficiently growing and operating our Western Australian Iron Ore business through our existing Perth-based iron ore management team will continue”.
Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Mining Stock Investors Are About to Get Clobbered / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: DailyWealth
Matt Badiali writes: Oh boy... the crowd is about to get killed in resource stocks again.
And this time, the Grim Reaper comes in the form of "rare earth element" stocks...
Friday, October 29, 2010
Copper Could Pullback Soon / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Seven_Days_Ahead
Following a 38.2% pullback in Copper earlier this year subsequent recovery breached important resistance which opens the way for a return to the old 2008 peak. Shorter term, though, the signs are building that a correction is due.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
The West Panics as China Extends Rare Earth Metals Export Ban / Politics / Metals & Mining
By: Money_Morning
Jason Simpkins writes: China for months has blocked shipments of rare earth metals intended for Japan in retaliation for a regional dispute. Now, China appears to have expanded its rare earth embargo to include Western countries - a move that has U.S. and European authorities scrambling to formulate a backup plan.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
China's Rare Earth Metals Revenge, U.S. Military Vulnerable / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Jennifer_Barry
While China has slowly increased their market share in rare earth metals for decades, this year marks a quiet crisis in these elements. As James Dines reported in a recent interview, the Chinese now produce 97% of rare earth oxides and have cut back sharply on exports, slashing them 72% for the second half of 2010. These quotas are causing price spikes from panic buying.