From the category archives:

Metals & Minerals

Rare Earths Are Still Hot: Musings From Hong Kong

by Jack Lifton February 26, 2010

Rare earths are a “hot topic” in Southeast Asia. I’ve just arrived back from Hong Kong and Tokyo. In both cities I had private meetings with the clients of CLSA, a large Hong Kong based brokerage, which advises institutional investors.  I also spoke at the CLSA “U” Forum in Tokyo where that company brings together [...]

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Shortage Of Rare Earth Elements Could Thwart Innovation

by Admin February 16, 2010

by Jeremy Hsu – LIVESCIENCE – Published: Feb 16, 2010
Silicon may represent one of Earth’s more common elements, but it transformed Silicon Valley into a high-tech corridor and helped usher the world into the Information Age.
Now rare earth elements with exotic names such as europium and tantalum hold the key to hybrid cars, wind turbines [...]

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The Common Elements Of Innovation

by Admin February 12, 2010

by Jeremy Hsu – TECHNEWSDAILY – Published: Feb 12, 2010
Rare earth elements with exotic names such as europium and tantalum are crucial for future technologies such as hybrid cars, but their scarcity could thwart innovation.
But more common metals used in the tech industry could fare better, even if their prices rise due to worldwide demand. [...]

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Going For A Rare Find

by Admin February 11, 2010

by Larry MacDonald – CTV NEWS & THE GLOBE AND MAIL – Published: Feb 11, 2010
The Big Picture
The rare-earth elements – supply and demand have “a wild dynamic.”
Introduction
There are 16 rare-earth elements on the periodic table. Many of them, particularly neodymium, dysprosium, lanthanum, terbium and europium, are used to make specialized magnets, phosphors and other [...]

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On The Green Road: Cape Town Capers II – South African Rare Earths As Part Of The Global Picture

by Jack Lifton February 8, 2010

On Friday, February 5, I flew from Cape Town in a small plane, to Springbok, Northern Cape Province, Republic of South Africa, to visit a privately-owned rare earth exploration site there. I was impressed by two aspects of the deposits that the owners had discovered so far:

The grades presented were as high as 21%, and
the [...]

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Metals Prices Heading For The Roof

by Admin February 7, 2010

by Jim Jones – TIMES LIVE – Published: Feb 7, 2010
Speakers at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town this week seemed as one in warning of a near-term supply-demand squeeze and some solid price increases for a swathe of metals.
They made the point that China and India will be central to minerals demand growth. And [...]

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Rare Metal ETFs: the Positives and the Negatives

by Jack Lifton February 6, 2010

I’m still in Cape Town, but I got the news a couple of days ago from a Canadian source, that a major Canadian bank, quite active in mining finance, has publicly announced that it has agreed to undertake (but not underwrite, as far as I know) the raising of $25,000,000 for the purpose of capitalizing an ETF that will [...]

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Rare Earth Deposit Holdings Of Utah-Based U.S. Rare Earths, Inc. Ranked Highly In Global Listing By The U.S. Geological Survey

by Admin February 4, 2010

February 4, 2010 – SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)– U.S. Rare Earths, Inc. (www.usrareearths.com), a privately owned company, announced today that its rare earth element deposits in Idaho and Montana were listed as among the nation’s most important domestic deposits in the annual listing of the worldwide distribution of rare earth element deposits, produced by the U.S. [...]

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China’s CNNC Plans To Acquire Mongolian Uranium Resources For $53 Million

by Jack Lifton February 4, 2010

Reported at domain-b.com, this is a great story. A Russian and a Chinese company competing to buy a Mongolian uranium mine from a Canadian junior, while mighty Washington sleeps…
Continuing its acquisition spree for the world’s natural resources to fuel the development of the its fast-growing economy, another state-owned Chinese company, CNNC Overseas Uranium Holding Ltd [...]

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Could China Suspend American Independence Of Action Using Rare Metals Supply As A Tool Of Diplomacy?

by Jack Lifton February 3, 2010

You may have seen the story over the weekend on China’s suspension of military exchanges with the USA.
The geopolitics of natural resource geography may be about to rear its head for the first time since the Cold War ended. Perhaps a Cool War is now underway.  Americans currently in political power seem to have very short [...]

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