Category: Metals & Mining
The analysis published under this category are as follows.
Thursday, June 07, 2012
China Gives Birth to Rare Earth Giants / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
China, the largest producer of rare earths in the world, has been restricting the export of its rare earth minerals through a quota system for some years now. Reduced rare earth exports from China have forced many global companies to setup production facilities in China to ensure access to a steady supply of raw materials.
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
Beware of Rare Earth Metals False Claims / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Critical_Metals_Repo
Bob Wolf, Alliance LLC vice president, doesn't believe everything he reads. Manufacturers claim they can swap out rare earth elements for cheaper, more accessible materials, while some miners insist they can fill every gap in the rare earth supply chain. In this exclusive interview with The Critical Metals Report, Wolf explains why rare earth elements are irreplaceable in many applications and outlines the patenting and permitting hurdles that producers must overcome to realize mine-to-magnet production.
Tuesday, June 05, 2012
Mining Stocks Booms, Busts and Bargains / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Submissions
David Dittman writes: The S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index comprises a wide range of commodity-related manufacturing industries, including companies that manufacture chemicals, construction materials, glass, paper, forest products and related packaging products as well as metals, minerals and mining companies. It forms the basis of the basic materials stocks in my coverage universe.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Mining Stocks: How Long Will the Downturn Last? / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Money_Morning
Martin Hutchinson writes:
Over the last twelve months mining stocks have substantially underperformed the market.
In fact, the Standard and Poor's Metals and Mining select industry index (INDEXSP: SPSIMM) is off 35% in the past year, while the overall market is up 2.5%.
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Friday, May 04, 2012
Crisis in Mining / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Richard_Mills
A combination of mass retirements and increasing natural resource demand from emerging economies has created a crisis in the resource extraction sector - one which is definitely not on investor’s radar screens.
Currently there is a “massive talent gap” that is going to get worse because the global mining industry is experiencing the biggest wave of workforce retirements in 70 years - the oldest baby boomers turned 65 years old in 2011.
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Thursday, May 03, 2012
Manganese Production Gearing Up Worldwide / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
Manganese may be the fourth most used metal in the world but last year ended on a relatively weak note for manganese products. While Chinese ports had large stockpiles of manganese ore, the weak demand for steel long products was reflected in a weak demand for manganese. The economic uncertainty and low business confidence in Europe and the USA were key reasons for the lack of interest in manganese. The recovery of the construction industry in these regions would certainly be a big boost to the manganese market and prices would firm up by 2013.
Thursday, May 03, 2012
Rare Earths Industry Expanding Outside China’s Borders / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
Colorado based Molycorp Inc. is one of the few non-Chinese mining companies develop-ing rare earth metal mines. The company’s shares shot up by over 7% when it announced that its Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California contained at least 36% more proven or probable reserves than earlier estimated. The deposit is now estimated to contain about 2.94 billion pounds of rare earth oxide equivalent, an amount that is about 11 times the existing annual global demand of 120,000 tons. The number could rise further with progress in drilling.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
BHP Billiton Boost From Resumption of Production in Key Operations Should / Companies / Metals & Mining
By: Yiannis_G_Mostrous
Wild weather and a prolonged strike at its coalmines in Queensland, Australia exacted a toll on the world’s biggest miner, BHP Billiton (NYSE: BHP). That said, there still was plenty of news to cheer investors.
BHP Billiton reported first-quarter 2012 production numbers, with iron as the brightest spot. Energy coal also was strong and copper remained flat. However, heavy rains and industrial action hit production of metallurgical (met) coal.
Tuesday, May 01, 2012
The ABCs of Picking Mining Stocks / Companies / Metals & Mining
By: Roger_Conrad
Stick to physical metals, avoid mining stocks. That’s the conventional wisdom in global stock markets in spring 2012.
Mining companies’ stocks across the board have sunk to their biggest discount ever, to the price of the resources they produce. As many investors worry that slower growth in Asia could reduce demand for key minerals, these stocks could fall further.
Friday, April 20, 2012
LME Considering Settling Metals Contracts in Renminbi / Politics / Metals & Mining
By: Dr_Jeff_Lewis
According to a report last week in the Financial Times, the London Metals Exchange or LME is currently considering allowing members to settle their contracts in Chinese renminbi.
In a survey of its members aimed at aiding the design of a new clearing house, the metals exchange reportedly asked if they would like to include the renminbi among its current roster of other currencies for the settling and clearing of trades, and if dropping the pound sterling would be problematic.
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Wednesday, April 18, 2012
WTO Suit Won't End China's Rare Earth Monopoly / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Critical_Metals_Repo
Washington misses the point about rare earth element supply, says Jeffery Green, founder of J.A. Green & Co. With the Departments of Energy, United States Trade Representative and Department of Defense each approaching China's near monopoly from different angles and Congress more divided than ever, it takes an expert like Green to illuminate the structure of this complex global market. In this exclusive interview with The Critical Metals Report, Green explains the fragmented policy developments in this space and pending WTO action, arguing that the U.S. needs to develop a domestic supply chain in order to remain competitive.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Copper Projects Push Forward in Prolific Walker Lane Belt / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Chris_Devauld
Perhaps best known as the fault zone that could replace the San Andreas plate boundary if California slips into the Pacific, the Walker Lane Belt also hosts a whole lot of copper. Aligned with the California / Nevada border, the Walker Lane descends across the two states, incorporating the famed Death Valley along with myriad geological features that have attracted scores of miners.
Friday, April 06, 2012
Dr. Copper Leads the Breakout in Commodities Prices / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Money_Morning
Don Miller writes:
Demand for commodities of all kinds is ramping up at breakneck speed. And despite fears of a slowdown in China's economic growth, Dr. Copper is leading the rise in commodities prices.
Copper earned that nickname because it's thought to be a bellwether on the health of the global economy, thanks to its numerous economic uses.
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Thursday, April 05, 2012
Lithium Rare Earths Critical Metal for Green Energy Technologies / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Richard_Mills
Rare and critical metals are playing a crucial role in recent scientific advancements, especially in the environmental technologies and energy sectors. These advancements in today's and tomorrow's green technology are driving industrial countries like the United States to allocate significant funding for breakthroughs in alternative fuels for vehicles and alternative energy storage.
Thursday, April 05, 2012
U.S. Prepares For Rare Earth Metals Major Supply Disruptions / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Anthony_David
In continuation of the China vs. the-rest-of-the-world rare earth saga, the US, EU and Japan recently filed separate but coordinated complaints with the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the grounds that China was fortifying its stocks of those rare earth metals that were critical for the manufacture of technology products such as mobile phones, camera lenses, hybrid cars and weapons. The complaint also includes non-rare earth metals tungsten and molybdenum.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Investor Energy Metals Bonanza / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: The_Energy_Report
It's a great time to be invested in energy metals, says Chris Berry, president and founder of House Mountain Partners. The current worldwide desire for a higher quality of life is a trend that will continue, argues Berry. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Berry highlights the amount of research and development underway in the tech and energy sectors and why it spells a bullish message for lithium, graphite and uranium.
The Energy Report: Please tell our readers about TIMBIs and CIVETS and their expected contributions to global gross domestic product (GDP) growth over the next five years and beyond.
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Monday, March 19, 2012
Obama: U.S. Energy Future Depends on Rare Earth Metals / Politics / Metals & Mining
By: Money_Morning
Don Miller writes:
Will a near-monopoly in rare earth metals do for China what oil did for Saudi Arabia?
Not if the U.S. government has anything to say about it.
President Barack Obama made that clear last week when he joined the European Union and the Japanese government in filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) about China's manipulation of the global market in rare earth metals.
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Friday, March 16, 2012
A Nations Metallurgical Achilles Heel, Critical Materials Should be on Investors Radar / Politics / Metals & Mining
By: Richard_Mills
The following have all combined to limit control of foreign minerals by US companies:
- In 2011, Resource nationalism became the number one risk for mining companies
- Nationalization
- Expropriation
- Increased taxation
- Constraints on the degree of foreign ownership
- A trend in the less developed countries toward processing their own ores
- Increased completion from large eastern based mega mining companies
- Increasing competition from sovereign wealth funds and end users wishing to vertically integrate
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Investor Opportunities in Clean Rare Earth Metals Mining / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Critical_Metals_Repo
Cleantech companies are exploring—and exploiting—the connections between many sectors of the energy, infrastructure and other industrial markets. Dallas Kachan, principal of cleantech research and consulting firm Kachan & Co. in Vancouver, points to the emergence of "clean" mining as an important investment theme for 2012. In this exclusive interview with The Critical Metals Report, Kachan shares some companies using green techniques to improve their bottom lines.
The Critical Metals Report: Dallas, can retail investors make money in the near-term in cleantech companies or should they be more focused on the long-term?
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Tuesday, March 13, 2012
'The Gray Hairs and the Slick Hairs' (notes from PDAC) / Commodities / Metals & Mining
By: Marin_Katusa
Marin Katusa, Casey Research writes: Many of Casey Research's editors and analysts spent last week in Toronto at the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) convention. PDAC is one of the biggest resource conventions in the world – this year more than 30,000 people attended the show.