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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
 Posted - 05/23/2008 : 16:26:03
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Copper, aluminium rise 1 pct on oil, power
Excerpt
Copper and aluminium rose 1 percent on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday, supported by record high oil prices and worries about future supply, analysts said.
Copper for delivery in three months, an increasingly popular alternative investment and a key gauge of real economic activity, traded up to $8,358 per tonne, up $105 or 1 percent from Wednesday's close, before ending the official open outcry session at $8,305, up $65 from Wednesday's close.
Aluminium rose as much as $39 to $3,059 per tonne, then ended the official session at $3,036, up $16 from the close.
"Aluminium has the worst fundamentals nearby, but further forward, there are doubts about China's aluminium smelting capacity if its power problems persist," analyst John Kemp at brokerage RBS Sempra Metals said.
Coal shortages have forced 32 power stations in China to halt generation, sparking worries about a long-term power deficit.
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European Nickel moves on project
Excerpt
Turkey-focused European Nickel has submitted a key application to remove environmental obstacles to developing the country’s Caldag project.
The AIM-quoted company has submitted an application to the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Forestry to develop Caldag, a promising nickel laterite project which had been dogged by delays in obtaining necessary tree-clearing permits. London-based European Nickel has applied for 335 hectares of forestry land, including an open-pit mine, waste dump and processing plant.
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Gold Fields cuts output view 15%
excerpt
Gold Fields Ltd, the world's No. 4 gold producer, cut its gold output forecast for this year by 15 percent on Wednesday because of power shortages in South Africa.
The company now expects to produce about 3.6 million ounces of gold, down from a previous target of 4.25 million ounces.
"We're probably going to miss (the target) by about half a million ounces," Gold Fields Chief Executive Nick Holland told Reuters at a gold conference in Peru. "I suspect we're going to be 3.6 ... something like that."
Like its peers in South Africa, Gold Fields was hit by an energy crisis this year, which slowed power delivery and forced some mines to temporarily halt production. The company has mines in South Africa, Ghana and Australia.
Holland said the worst of the power shortage has passed, but that the coming winter months will be a "big test for the system."
He also expects energy prices to rise sharply in South Africa in the next two to three years, along with the costs of other inputs like steel, timber and labor.
Rising production costs are tempering the boom of high gold prices, which peaked earlier this year at over $1,000 an ounce.
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Feel free to add any news items you may find.
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 05/25/2008 : 11:40:00
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Metals – Most base metals fall on dollar weakness ahead of long weekend
Excerpt
Base metals fell across the board Friday as the dollar strengthened, as inventories of copper rose and as negative sentiment on the equity markets weakened demand prospects.
Looking ahead, U.S. and UK markets will close Monday so trade may turn choppy.
'Overall we expect choppy trading to remain in force and this is especially so today with a long weekend in the U.S. for Memorial Day and in the UK for the Spring Bank Holiday. For the moment while there is an absence of supply disruptions, changes in the economic growth outlook are likely to be all important and therefore expect the market to watch economic data closely,' Basemetals.Com analyst William Adams said.
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Copper, aluminium steady; nickel up from 2-yr low
Excerpt
Copper eked out gains on Friday, underpinned by a strong demand outlook and concerns over longer term supplies, while nickel recovered from a two-year low.
Aluminium held firm on the back of historically high energy prices, despite bearish near term fundamentals -- namely plentiful stocks of the metal used in packaging, transportation and power.
Copper for three months delivery on the London Metal Exchange closed at $8,180 per tonne against $8,130 on Thursday. Earlier it touched $8,040 a tonne, its lowest in more than a week…..
"Although the downside is limited due to the ongoing supply issues that we've seen so far this year and looks unlikely to dissipate in the near term as well," he added.
The metal, seen as a guage of economic activity, had come under selling pressure on Thursday because of the firmer dollar, worries about slow near term demand from China and rising stocks, up more than 10 percent this month to around 125,000 tonnes.
Aluminium ended at $3,002 a tonne from $3,000 on Thursday…….
NICKEL BOTTOMING
Nickel fell more than 8 percent on Thursday and another 5 percent early on Friday before rebounding on a firm fundamental outlook for the metal used to make stainless steel.
Nickel closed at $24,100 a tonne, up from an earlier session low of $22,350 and $23,500 on Thursday.
The metal has come under pressure in recent months on depressed stainless steel demand and expectations of growing supplies.
BHP Billiton (nyse: BBL – news – people ) Ltd said its Ravensthorpe nickel mine in western Australia, one of the largest nickel making facilities in the world, will reach its full capacity of 50,000 tonnes a year by 2010.
However, sharply higher coke costs have driven up prices of the nickel substitute pig iron, which could rejuvinate nickel demand at lower price levels.
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Record oil and weak dollar push gold to one month highs. Platinum also strong.
Excerpt
Author: Frank Tang and Lewa Pardomuan
Posted: Thursday , 22 May 2008
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) -
Gold rallied to its highest level in a month near $930 an ounce on Wednesday after oil soared to a record, and platinum jumped more than 3 percent as strong fundamentals and a weaker dollar spurred buying.
"If ever there was an oil-dominated trading day, today was it as far as gold was concerned," Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers in Montreal told clients in a note.
U.S. crude futures ended above $130 per barrel on a surprise drop in U.S. crude stockpiles, boosting gold's appeal as a hedge against inflation.
"I am looking at $935-$940 for nearby resistance. After that, we will be looking at $950-$955," said Adrian Koh, an analyst at Philip Futures in Singapore. "Technically, it looks gold and platinum could go up some more."
Spot platinum rallied to a high of $2,198.50 an ounce, its highest since March 6. It was last at $2,187/2,207 an ounce, up from $2,133/2,153 in New York late on Tuesday.
Platinum, used in jewelry and auto catalysts, powered to a record at $2,290 an ounce on March 4 after a power crisis in main producer South Africa disrupted mining and sparked fears of a supply deficit.
"I have to say the strong short-term uptrend on platinum is still intact and there's probably more upside to come and that could probably go well with more upside on gold," said Koh.
Platinum was likely to head toward record highs of $2,290-$2,300 an ounce after it broke a key resistance of $2,192, said Koh.
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Apex Silver assures analysts Bolivia will not nationalize San Cristobal
Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Wednesday , 14 May 2008
RENO, NV -
Excerpt
Apex Silver officials assured analysts Tuesday that Bolivia has no intention of nationalizing mining companies, stressing that the nation's Mining Ministry specifically mentioned it would not nationalize Apex's new San Cristobal silver mine.
However, analysts expressed concern about San Cristobal's funding requirements including $82.1 million contributed during the first quarter of this year and a possible $90 million tax payment that may have to be paid to the Bolivian government on January 1, 2009.
The Bolivian government has recently enacted various changes to applicable mining taxes, including increasing the income tax rate from 25% to 37.5% when metals prices are above specified thresholds, eliminating the creditability of the complementary mining tax (CMT) against the income tax, again when metals prices are above specified thresholds. These changes will result in a higher income tax burden for the company. |
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fiatboy
Administrator
912 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2008 : 02:31:31
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quote:
Platinum was likely to head toward record highs of $2,290-$2,300 an ounce after it broke a key resistance of $2,192
Seems like every time I check the platinum price, it's breaking "key resistance." You can't knock it out. It stays in there round after round.  |
"Bart, it's not about how many stocks you have, it's about how much copper wire you can get out of the building." --- Homer Simpson |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 06/04/2008 : 20:58:23
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Not really news, but interesting commentary
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by Howard Ruff
Excerpts:
A word of caution: all my words of advice are for the long term only. In the short term, gold and silver can do anything, go anywhere. In the last bull market of the ‘70s-‘80s gold went from $120 to $850, but there were discouraging retreats of as much as 30% several times along the way... I was new to the advice business back then, and even I got scared out once for a little while.....Actually, this is “déjà vu all over again,” as said the master of malapropism, Yogi Berra. It’s an eerie repeat of the 1970s, only more so. All the same factors that drove that historic 1970s bull market are back, only a lot more so; an explosion of money creation by the Federal Reserve that is so great they have even stopped publishing a monthly report on M-3, the most trustworthy measure of changes in the money supply. I guess they no longer know, or don’t want you to know, the embarrassing numbers.......Actually, it’s worse than that. Did you know that the phrase “printing press” no longer means much when it comes to money? Actually, less than five percent of the money is actually minted, printed or coined! The rest of it is in cyberspace, created at the Federal Reserve, or by commercial banks. The amount is beyond comprehension. This process is called “monetary inflation,” and that is what ultimately drives price inflation and drives gold and silver.
History tells us ...The average time each currency lasts is 50 to 75 years before the world is littered in dead paper currencies...
I believe the best bit of advice from Mr. Ruff's commentary is the fact that gold and silver prices do fluctuate, drops in prices will happen, but the overall price trend is upwards for precious metals. |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 06/05/2008 : 13:53:19
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What does a US recession imply for the gold price?
Recent research from the World Gold Council is particularly pertinent following the revision to the US First Quarter GDP figures.
Author: RhonaO’Connell
Posted: Wednesday , 04 Jun 2008
Excerpts
Natalie Dempster, the Investment Research Manager at the Council, has produced a paper that studies the performance of gold in recessionary conditions and one of the primary conclusions is that regression and correlation analysis suggest that there is no relationship between changes in US GDP growth and changes in the gold price. A US recession, therefore, would not have negative implications for the gold price. This is a reflection of the unique drivers of the gold market, and underpins the advection of gold's role as a diversifying asset, even in times of recession.
The (World Gold) Council research points out that there are obvious winners and losers in terms of asset performers in a recession. While car manufacturers and homebuilders, along with financial stocks, suffer as result of reduced consumption and slowing bank lending, defensive stocks such as biotechs or foodstuffs tend to perform well, as do fixed-income assets as interest rates are lowered in an effort to stimulate consumer demand. Commodities tend to underperform on the back of reduced demand.
....The study notes that there is "no relationship between the gold price and economic activity full stop", with slowing growth sometimes accompanied by a falling gold price and on other occasions, most notably in recent months, gold has rallied strongly during a slowdown.
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Platinum Falls as U.S. Auto Sales Slump, Eroding Metal Demand
By Halia Pavliva
Excerpt
June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Platinum and palladium fell for the third straight day on speculation a slump in U.S. auto sales will erode demand for the metals used in pollution-control devices in cars.
U.S. auto sales in May tumbled 11 percent, the most this year and the seventh consecutive monthly slide. Carmakers around the globe account for more than 60 percent of platinum consumption, according to Johnson Matthey Plc, which makes about a third of the world's auto catalysts.
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Copper Pares Loss as Dollar Falls, Renewing Inflation Concern
By Millie Munshi
Excerpt
June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Copper was little changed, paring earlier losses, as a drop in the dollar renewed demand for the metal as a hedge against inflation.
``It's all about the dollar today,'' said Michael K. Smith, the president at T&K Futures & Options in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
...The metal fluctuated between gains and losses today as traders ``closely'' monitored the currency markets, Smith said. Copper advanced as much as 0.5 percent today and lost as much as 0.9 percent.
Gains will be limited as the prospect of a slowing global economy raises concern that demand will decline, said Donald Selkin, head of equity research at National Securities Corp. in New York.
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Edited by - pencilvanian on 06/05/2008 14:02:37 |
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 06/16/2008 : 19:11:30
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India restarts silver imports after 3-month halt
Mumbai (PTI): After a total halt in imports for almost three months owing to a lack of demand, India has recommenced imports of silver, a top industry official said.
In view of a lack of demand, India had stopped silver imports for the three-month period ended April. However, the country has imported 24 tonnes of silver in the May-June period, Bombay Bullion Association's president, Suresh Hundia, told PTI here.
The demand is expected to remain dull this month, but it may pick up in the next two months, Hundia said.
India's demand of 3,000-4,000 tonnes silver comes from rural India, where agricultural output is determined largely by the June-to-September monsoon.
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pencilvanian
1000+ Penny Miser Member
USA
2209 Posts |
Posted - 06/23/2008 : 20:51:14
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Silver news- new discoveries, or at least discoveries you didn't know about before (if you are just learning about it its news to you.)
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Silver Clusters Become the New Computer Memory
Chemists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered that they can manipulate fluorescent silver clusters into producing light emissions that hold and transmit digital data. Describing their experiments in the journal Science, researchers showed how they created silver clusters a few atoms wide then excited them with different wavelengths of light. By changing the wavelengths, they could produce different characteristics of the light that was emitted. They suggest that data could be written onto these silver particles with one kind of light and then "read" by applying another kind of light. In essence, the silver particles would become like computer memory storage.
Silver News - February/March 2001
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Silver-Coated Wire Device Stores Electricity: No Batteries Needed
Kansai Electric Power Co. and Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. are using silver-coated wires to build a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) device that can store enough power to light a 100-watt light bulb for one second. While it may not seem like a lot, it's a 10-fold increase in power-storage capabilities over previous devices which did not use silver.
The most practical application will be motors that use less power as well as future battery-like devices that don't use chemicals.
SMES devices are designed to store electricity and used mainly by power utilities to help balance consumer load demands. They can be up to 90-percent efficient at storing energy.
The new machine uses more than 5,000 feet of wire tape wound in stacked coils. The silver-coated wires offer better performance than other types of wires the company tired. The wires were also easier to wind because of silver's flexibility.
By cooling with liquid nitrogen, the SMES device was able to store enough electrical energy to light a bulb for about a second. The companies plan further research to see how much more energy can be stored.
Silver News - August/September 1998
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World’s Smallest Light Source Comes From Silver
By exposing molecules of silver to an electric current, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created what may be the world’s smallest light source.
Once developed, the technique could lead to new types of microscopic-sized lights for nano-machines, microscopic light sources for industry and secure cryptographic writing techniques.
By exposing silver-oxide film to electrical current of approximately one ampere, the researchers ‘activated’ some of the silver oxide molecules, which then appeared within ‘discolored’ regions in the film. When electrodes were attached to the film and an alternating current applied, a thin line of silver clusters began to emit light in colors that varied depending on the size of the clusters..
“When you zoom in more closely, you can see the emissions coming from single molecules,” said Robert Dickson, assistant professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “This is the first time that anyone has seen electroluminescence from individual molecules. These molecules emit very strongly, and are very robust.”
Silver News - First Quarter 2003
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Granted, these discoveries may not be fully utilized for many years to come, but when you consider the speed in which electronic devices have gone from research to marketplace, I would not be suprised to see these things available in a few short years. |
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