You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Investing & Finance’ category.
I do not thinks there is anything wrong or inappropriate about the facts I cite in this article. My Canadian friends bewail the fact that the United States is an imperial power, colonizing smaller nations and exploiting their resources. They deny that Canada is as imperial a colonizer as any. Consider Canadian ownership of United States mines.
Just added to the Blogroll is a new blog The Bottom Line by Michael Assouline CFA. There are but three posts and no comments. These are the posts:
- Substance behind the uranium hype.
- Getting technical with copper
- To beat the market, stick to the basics.
Good luck to him. Good luck to you investing on his advice. And good luck to the mines invested in.
How can mines benefit from global warming? Greg Easterbrook, in the April 2007 Atlantic Monthly notes that in economics there are no zero-sum games; somebody will benefit from global warming. His top nominees are the Inuit who rule Nunavut, a place that will change from a frozen waste land to a nice warm place. Then there is Greenland waiting to be clear of the ice. Both places probably contain ore bodies just waiting to be mined. Is the mining industry ready? The obvious action is to go exploring and stake claims. This all seems like trivial, trash-press talk. But just maybe it is not, and global warming may just be for real. Rationale people might as well discuss how we are going to benefit from the inevitable.
If only real-world mining were as simple as those incredibly complicated games played on the internet. Here is my take on two. I have sent this piece to my grandkids who will likely enjoy the games more than I do.
First there is one of those dark sites that look like a bad Hobbit’s dream; or a Hobbit’s bad dream; it amounts to much the same. You know the sort: mostly black with misty blue hills enmassed in smoke and mist. There is a baroque castle and a wicked-looking fellow resembling the offspring of an angel and Osama Ben Laden. The pusillanimity of the world they inhabit is well captured by the idiotic simplicity of the actions they scurry around performing. For example, here are two Q&As re mining—something pretty essential to building castles, fighting dragons, and rescuing maidens.
Cameco has issued updates on progress at their Cigar Lake property. For basic information on the mine and its flooding take a look at the Cameco site itself. (I particularly recommend the diagram of the underground mine workings.) The most informative information I found regarding current conditions is at this site. The share price increased on issue of the news release. I may be a pessimist, or worse a cynic, but I see little in the report to justify an increase in the share price. There are more cautionary statements and there is more wriggle room in the reports I read than there is solid technical information justifying paying more for a future promise. Let us examine some technical uncertainties.
Today we read that “A perceived end run by Coeur d’AleneMines and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers against a federal court injunction may have cost Coeur Alaska the ability to dispose of the Kensington gold into a nearby freshwater lake.” This statement is a follow up to the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in the Kensington gold mine (Coeur d’AleneMines) permit challenge. The court reversed a lower federal court decision and vacated the permits associated with a tailings facility at the Kensington gold mine in Alaska. Coeur Alaska had obtained its Section 404 Army Corps of Engineers permit in 2005 for the placement of fill material at the mine, which is currently under construction.
If you are intrigued by the continuing saga of news about Vatukoula, Fiji, here is an (edited) extract from a report about the company, Westech that is buying the mine (The link to this report is broken. Here is what I edited when I was able to access the site.):
Run by Brian and Amelia Wesson, Westech International Pty Ltd is a resource and energy company based in Sydney. Brian Wesson said the company designs mines and power stations. “It is a small company; we have about 20 employees dotted around the country. We take on a lot of contracts for various jobs. We also have interest in other mining companies, such as Queensland Mining Corporation.”
Here is my simple investment advice for the week: If the news announcement dances around the technical facts, sell. Here are egregious examples to illustrate my thesis. Keep in mind, this is my opinion. The following does not constitute valid investment opinions or advice.
John Chadwick has turned International Mining into a visual delight, like the National Geographic, which I received for thirty years, looking at the pictures and never reading the text. I then decided to read the editorial in March’s International Mining. Here is my critique of John’s opinion, another gloomy piece that ignores the reality of America. Let me put the Englishman right by reminding him of the strengths and spirit of the average American and the common sense that rules the U.S.A. in spite of foreign criticism and national self-interested groups.
John writes of a study being undertaken by the National Academies on factors influencing the supply of minerals critical to the United States’ economy. It seems that while the U.S. consumes most of the world’s minerals, it does not produce many, and certainly the U.S. is not spending nearly enough on exploration to find the supply needed in the future. The really bad-sounding news, which will no doubt be used to justify the funding of a study, is that in 2006, the U.S. imported over fifty percent of the top 45 minerals consumed and relied one-hundred-percent on imports for 17 of the top minerals it consumed.
The best part of Business.scotsman.com is the advert. I found myself watching in fascination as a balloon floated up the box and displaced same text about tax free savings, then the balloon raised a ticket telling you you can get 6.0 percent with ING DIRECT. Sadly, the link telling me to find out more took so long to download that I lost patience; I never did see it. Instead I phoned my own taxman and told him I will send the income slips next week—just a reminder that tax day approaches, and now is as bad a time as any to deal with taxes, so here are some profound thoughts on social issues to distract you from reality.
