I would like to graciously thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for your participation in the 2nd Annual Technology Metals Summit, Renewable Energy -- the next industrial revolution. It was more than just another event for me; it was a gathering of friends and colleagues, and an affirmation of a promise for our industry's future prosperity. Speakers clearly articulated how the exciting new renewable energy technologies will drive growing demand for rare earths, graphite, lithium, vanadium and scandium, just to name a few...or as we call them -- Technology Metals. The above photo is a collection of thank you letters that we have received since the event…
Goldman Sachs sees potash as the commodity for the next decade. In its latest report, Evolution of the super cycle: what’s changed and what may, Goldman places potash among the top 10 future themes in commodities. They say what we’ve been saying since Potashblog.com — one of the forerunners of ProEdgeWire — was started. As the Goldman analysts put it, “growing population, an increasing middle class and decreasing arable land, all lend themselves o increasing demand for potash”. That's it. In a nutshell. They equate potash with iron ore: like iron ore several years ago, there is in potash now…
On May 16, Orbite Aluminae (‘Orbite’, TSX: ORT | OTCQX: EORBF) presented its quarterly results. Some of the highlights that were mentioned included the start of non-commercial operations of the High Purity Alumina (HPA) plant and the delivery of first commercial HPA samples with a purity of 99.99%, the exclusive worldwide agreement with Veolia, the issuance of patents in China and Russia. Orbite also announced that Mr. Glenn R. Kelly will join Orbite as the new Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer (COO), starting on May 21, 2013. Interestingly, all management will report to Mr. Kelly. As with all new technologies,…
On the back of news from Potash Corp of Saskatchewan that spot potash prices have gained up to $70/tonne in recent weeks, with deals in Southeast Asia being done at $470/tonne, comes a bank report that sees shipments of the fertilizer feedstock on the recovery track. Analyst Patricia Mohr at Toronto-based Scotiabank notes that spot prices were largely flat in April at around $405/tonne (against $452.50 last December) but look like picking up soon. Yet April, according to some press reports, saw Canada’s biggest monthly potash export volume since the 1990s. Mohr notes that while buyers in Brazil and Malaysia…
Mr Market seems to have decided that a jilted heavy rare earth explorer might be worth another look. After its battering last week (down 30.4% on Thursday, down a further 4% on Friday and no trading Monday), TUC Resources (ASX:TUC) bounced 13.2% after the Australian market opened Tuesday morning to hit A6c. No further announcement has been made since TUC reported on Thursday that Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources had shelved the memorandum-of-understanding that would have seen A$19 million invested in the junior’s projects which have good yttrium, dysprosium and erbium content. However, on Tuesday morning also…
The death of over 1000 people killed in a Dhaka factory collapse late April should come as no surprise to those who are familiar with Bangladesh’s poor labor standards. Bangladesh has become one of the most important textile and garment manufacturing centers in the world. However, the secret of Bangladesh’s textile sector boom has less to do with a tradition of quality, outstanding design and craftsmanship. No, the reason has far more, exclusively so, with the fact that major international garment producers can secure manufacturing at very low cost thanks to ‘world beating’ wages and poor safety and industrial practices -…
Are we on the way back? That is, has the rare earths sector finally bottomed out? Too early to tell, but some stocks are again showing life and making gains, some in considerable percentage leaps. (Australian and Canadian share prices are in their respective currencies. Trading in dual listed markets, or over-the-counter, are excluded from the summary below.) The tone for Friday was set by Molycorp (NYSE:MCP), which saw its stock just after the New York open headed for a 22% rise after reporting a smaller than expected loss. (The details are in the news column on ProEdgeMedia’s home page.)…
Some of us - of whom yours truly happens to be an especially indicative example - enjoy driving cars, motorcycles and most other transportation emitting an appealing mechanical whine, requiring a certain skill in managing a manual gear shift and a clutch pedal. Even more of us want to make sure their vehicles can reach the intended destination without running out of ‘power’. Even for the more compromising majority of people who still affect this ‘primitive’ affliction, electric cars are a hard sale. The majority of electric cars is small and has awkward ‘faux-futuristic’ designs; most electric vehicles also have…
Potash is the news with two developments — a new controversy over Saskatchewan potash policy and India slicing its subsidies (again). Clearly, it may not be all plain sailing for the potash producers in the near future with London brokers Whitman Howard predicting subdued Indian demand and prices possibly going lower than the $400/tonne recently negotiated with Indian and Chinese customers. As of April 1, the Indian government cut its potash and phosphate subsidies. The hardest hit is muriate of potash, the dominant form imported by India; those subsidies have been reduced by 21.5% to 11,300 rupees a tonne ($209.69)…
How about a metal product that commands up to $396,000 a tonne? That’s the top of the range for high-purity alumina (HPA). About 7,500 tonnes is produced globally each year. Even at the bottom of the range the price is impressive at $141,000 a tonne. As explained by one of the hopeful new entrants, Australian Minerals & Mining Group (ASX:AKA), HPA is widely used in filters for magnetic media to boost thermal conductivity, in composite resins and ceramic parts and substrates used in electronic components and semi-conductor manufacturing equipment. Demand is expected to increase off the back of the expanding…
Two years have passed since the earthquake and tsunami that have devastated Japan, the most violent ever recorded in Japan. Although some 20,000 people were killed by the resulting crashes, explosions, fires and gas leaks, whenever the world remembers this major disaster, the media and the public focus on the radiological hazard posed by nuclear power plants, leaving objectivity and clarity to be desired. Upon closer inspection, the real wonder is the high level of safety that was demonstrated by Japan’s reactors when considering the most relevant technical aspects of the nuclear accident and its consequences. Not surprisingly, the new…
The second annual Technology Metals Summit was, by all accounts, great event. At the end of the last session, Richard Brescianini from Arafura Resources General Manager of Exploration & Development at Arafura Resources (ASX: ARU) congratulated Tracy Weslosky, Publisher of ProEdgeWire and the organizer of the TMS2013, going as far as to say that this was “the best event in the industry….by far”. This sentiment was widespread. Participants, sponsors, speakers and delegates alike praised the panel format, which allowed for discussion, debate and a more in depth analysis of the ideas. Those with less expertise in the various issues addressed…
This sign went up outside the Caishikou Department Store in Beijing last week: “No gold bars are available. Customers who have paid can pick up their bars in one week”. That store is Beijing’s largest gold retailer, and last week it ran out of the yellow metal. So not everyone is dumping gold. In fact, investors in China stampeded last week when the price fell well beneath $1400/oz. According to China Daily, one buyer emerging from the store said “I couldn’t wait to buy gold. Many of my colleagues and friends have already made their purchases”. The newspaper said a…
Leading Strategic Material Industry Experts to Gather in Toronto April 21-22, 2013 for #TMS2013: Renewable Energy - the next industrial revolution April 15, 2013 -- ProEdgeWire (ProEdgeWire.com), the investor intelligence source for the strategic material sector, is pleased to announce the countdown to the 2nd Annual Technology Metals Summit (#TMS2013): Renewable Energy - the next industrial revolution (TMS2013.com) on April 21-22, 2013 (Sunday-Monday) at the Sheraton Centre Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Tracy Weslosky Publisher of ProEdgeWire and Founder of #TMS2013 commented: “#TMS2013 is envisioned as an opportunity for contemplation, analysis and strategy in one of the most powerful think…
“You really need a life…” said a friend of mine who text messaged me for a 3rd night in a row last night with “meet us at location X”. My response all week has been the same: “must pass - prepping for #TMS2013”. This said and as we all know, life doesn’t work around the schedules we want; no matter how perfect the intention or commitment may be. This was my thought last night as I received a message from an associate’s family member about their hospitalization and their related concerns about his children. This individual is suffering from depression,…
The discovery of valuable mineral deposits has driven mining firms into increasingly far-flung geographic regions. This expansion has been accompanied by new and often unanticipated environmental and social risks that have substantial implications for corporate competitiveness and profitability. These risks are the main aspects considered under ‘sustainability’. There are no set formulas but generally sustainability must integrate social, community and environmental factors through education, nutrition programs, health provision and facilitating infrastructure. This promotes the idea of long term goals, technology transfer, economic growth and poverty reduction. At a global level, at least six powerful “mega-trends” are increasing both the importance…
Chinese interests have signalled they want to buy a large potash deposit in the Republic of Congo —a further sign that Beijing continues to seek to tie up key resources around the world. In fact, the move can also be seen as part and parcel of the relatively new thrust by that country into food security. Chinese interests have been buying up farmland around the world, so why not also control the fertilizer sources? It has to be noted, however, that the offer to Elemental Minerals (ASX and TSX:ELM) is “an indicative, non-binding, incomplete and conditional” proposal, and not a…
The Future Technology and its impact on demand for critical metals panel at #TMS2013 entitled: “Satisfying Future Technology’s Demand for Critical Materials: from the graphene patent surge (medical to nanotechnology) to beryllium and nuclear energy”, will address the wider outlook for current technological and scientific developments are slated to shape the future and the materials that will make such a ‘future’ possible. The rare earths ‘business’ has become ever more complex. The United States, European Union and Japan have become engrossed in a silent but intense confrontation with China, the world’s largest supplier, prompting many questions about supply, reflecting the…
Nuclear energy has saved — yes, saved — 1.84 million lives. And it has saved the Earth’s atmosphere from 66 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. This is the inclusion reached by two scientists writing in the American Chemical Society’s journal, Environmental Science and Technology. Pushker Kharecha and James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute looked at all the historical data between 1971 and 2009 and calculated how many more people would have died over the years from atmosphere-related issues such as respiratory diseases had nuclear not existed and, instead, that quantity of electricity had been generated by fossil fuel plants.…
In the original movie ‘The Godfather’, Don Corleone is often shown offering his son and designated heir Santino, aka ‘Sonny’ motivational guidance toward achieving success in the ‘Family’ business. Concerned by Sonny’s impulsive nature, Don Corleone tries to steer his son to adopting a more analytical and philosophical approach to racketeering observing that “a lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns." As wise as this may sound, this adaptation of the famous ‘pen is mightier than the sword’ aphorism attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, has suddenly become redundant. Vito Corleone’s 21st century heir would…
This morning’s news included the Italian police seizing a record €1.3 billion ($1.7 billion) in assets from renewable energy mogul Vito Nicastri. Dubbed the "king of alternative energy" for his involvement specifically in wind farms and photovoltaic cell companies, this 57-year-old clearly will not be attending the Technology Metals Summit April 21-22 in Toronto. After all, the Italians now control his 66 bank accounts and will undoubtedly be identifying the 43 renewable energy companies that all utilize rare earths and critical minerals. So, how does an electrician become a billionaire? For starters, they will be attending the 2nd Annual Technology…
It was only a matter of time until China took steps to control at least some of its own potash supplies, so dependent is it on the world’s big suppliers. Thus we see a report in The Wall Street Journal that Yanzhou Coal Mining Co is considering listing on the Toronto exchange its Canadian potash properties. The company concedes it needs to raise capital as it is also planning further investment in its Australian coal mines. The Shandong-based company in 2011 bought 19 potash mineral exploration permits in Saskatchewan for $260 million. The company says initial data shows the potential…
The debate on the environmental impact of rare earth extraction and processing will undoubtedly increase as our sector moves as one associate cleverly stated to me earlier this week from the “theoretical to the practical.” So it was with great interest that I read the news release on Texas Rare Earth Resources Corp. (TRER, OTCQX: TRER) purchase lease yesterday and did a double take because it essentially amounts to a rare example of a conservation group becoming a major shareholder in a resource company. U.S.-based TRER has released a statement announcing the completion of its recent surface lease purchase for…
Avalon Rare Metals Inc. (Avalon, TSX: AVL | NYSE MKT: AVL) is developing one of the few rare metals projects, reaching an advanced stage in North America. The Nechalacho REE Deposit in Thor Lake, Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada. Among the various REE projects that have been launched around the world, Avalon is one of the few that actually have reserves and that are at an advanced stage of development. Apart from the ongoing technical and metallurgical advancements, Avalon has taken significant steps toward sustainability, reaching an agreement with the people of Fort Resolution NWT including the Deninu K'ue First Nation…
When Kermit the Frog sang “It’s not easy being green” on the Muppet show, he must have had tidal power in mind. While the technology still has to win commercial acceptance in some quarters, tidal projects - like their carbon dioxide-emitting competitors - can very easily run into objections. All this at a time when, according to a new report, the industry is moving towards commercialisation - at least in the United Kingdom. That report, from IT Power, headquartered in Bristol, England, says the progress has been highlighted by a recent surge in the deployment of pre-commercial, full-scale tidal energy…
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I would like to graciously thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for your participation in the 2nd Annual Technology Metals Summit, Renewable Energy -- the next industrial revolution. It was more than just another event for me; it was a gathering of friends and colleagues, and an affirmation of a promise for our industry's future prosperity. Speakers clearly articulated how the exciting new renewable energy technologies will drive growing demand for rare earths, graphite, lithium, vanadium and scandium, just to name a few...or as we call them -- Technology Metals. The above photo is a collection of thank you letters that we have received since the event…
