Archives for Commodities - Page 18
Feedback from Part One has been interesting. I think that people most often consider that any distribution will be normal (or Gaussian). This is not true, but may partly explain why rare events, such as financial crises, are so unexpected. They are often referred to as outliers, which implies outliers…
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…
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…
Nature is cyclical. The Earth was born and it will die, albeit on a different timeframe to human life. Man’s economic systems are also part of the cyclicity of life. But, one of the absurdities of current economic thought is that growth can continue forever. This is hubris, in some…