From the category archives:

News Analysis

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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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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Toyota: Toward the 21st Century Electric Car

by Jack Lifton January 20, 2010

The Wall Street Journal yesterday, January 19, 2010, reported that:
“A key supplier of Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) moved to secure a long-term source of lithium in Argentina, in one of the first global natural-resource plays of the electric-car age.”
Today, January 20, 2010, it has been disclosed that the same Toyota “supplier” has also extended its [...]

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The Rare Earth Crisis Of The Second Decade Of The Twenty-First Century: A Threat Or An Opportunity?

by Jack Lifton January 16, 2010

Allow me to pose a question: with regard to the rare earths, is there a global threat of supply interruption by China – or is any threat really due to a failure of the American way of doing business?
America was actually self-sufficient in its supply of rare earth metals until 2002. In that year, due [...]

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The True Drivers Behind China’s Accelerated Development of Natural Resources

by Jack Lifton December 6, 2009

A few weeks ago, in the second of my articles on “The Rare Earth Crisis of 2009“, I commented on the fact that the Chinese put as great an emphasis on full employment as the West does on making a profit. This emphasis has to be borne in mind when considering the Chinese perspective on the [...]

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The Electrification Coalition: The Dangers Of Logical Analysis

by Jack Lifton November 21, 2009

Yesterday at the Seeking Alpha Web site, John Petersen published an excellent article on the new Electrification Coalition, titled “Rapid Transition to Grid Enabled Vehicles Not Possible or Desirable.” I suggest you read this article right now, if you haven’t done so already.
To paraphrase John Milton, “logical analysis is a dangerous thing, drink deep or [...]

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Rare Earth Metals, Uranium And Thorium: Commonly Found Together And All Desired By China

by Jack Lifton November 20, 2009

Last weekend I listened to an audio clip broadcast on Australia’s ABC Radio National, and I think, if you have an interest in investing in the development of rare earth supply chain dynamics, you should also listen to it. You can listen to the show via the clip below:

I’m certain that the above clip was [...]

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The Rare Earth Crisis of 2009 – Part 2: The Green Wind Blows From China

by Jack Lifton November 8, 2009

The immediate consequences of total import reliance
DETROIT, Nov 8, 2009 — U.S. Senator Charles (Chuck) Schumer (D-NY) is up in arms about the fact that a wind power “farm” to be erected in Texas, would be made up of components entirely constructed in China, and would create in the USA only the temporary jobs needed [...]

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Will The Chevrolet Volt Even Be Built As A Production Model? That’s The Question

by Jack Lifton September 4, 2009

Johan de Nysschen, President of Audi USA, recently vocalized what is on everyone’s mind in the OEM automotive world when it comes to the Chevrolet Volt. His basic sentiment that the Volt is an idiotic concept, is widely shared wherever in the world cars are designed , built, and marketed by existing mass producers.
In general, among [...]

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