Archives for May, 2015
Modern, industrial economies are built on a foundation of plentiful, high quality, low-cost, energy and minerals. No amount of technology will change this dependence. For example, about a third of US electricity is generated by coal. Thus many electric cars are actually “coal fired” cars. The manufacture of solar cells…
Volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits (“VMS” deposits) are significant sources of copper, lead, zinc, silver and gold. They can also contain significant quantities of cobalt, tin, selenium, manganese, cadmium, indium, bismuth, tellurium, gallium and germanium. Some also contain substantial quantities of the toxic elements arsenic, antimony and mercury. See Appendix I…
Equivalent grade is the term used where mineralisation that is comprised of several metals of economic value is converted to a single metal. Typically the minor metals are converted by formula and added to the grade of the major metal. The formula can vary but is often only based upon…
I attended Paydirt Media’s Latin America Downunder conference last week. It was well attended and had a good turnout of officials from most Latin American countries. There was a session devoted to water, which I though was an excellent idea, given the water shortages across the world. Monica Porto, Deputy…
We regularly hear from successful investors, and others, about greed, fear and the like. And how we should buy when others are fearful and sell when other are greedy. The following selection of quotes delves a little more deeply into the subject, and links investing to life. “An investment…
There is ongoing debate as to whether the oil price collapse (and partial recovery) is supply or demand driven. [Of course there are also conspiracy theories; such as the US and the Saudis ganging up on Russia.] To me, the price is demand driven. Most of the world’s economies are…