Archives for Commodities - Page 3
The first lithium boom peaked in 2016, declined through 2017 and then made another high in 2018 before declining through to 2020. This boom was largely driven by hype around electric vehicles. The market was and is unperturbed that existing lithium resources are huge, USGS estimates reserves and resources are…
ASX listed copper-focussed producers are thin on the ground, really it’s a choice between OZ Minerals Limited (OZL, mcap $5.1B) and Sandfire Resources Limited (SFR, mcap $798M). SFR could be worth a look as the imminent closure of its main mine, DeGrussa, has led to negative market sentiment. However, there…
Group Two of the Periodic Table are alkaline earth metals. The name is historic, “earths” refers to substances that were insoluble in water and unaffected by fire, “alkali” refers to those substances, such as calcium oxide, that had similar characteristics to alkalis such as potash. By the early 1800’s it…
Zinc is the fourth most produced metal behind iron, aluminium and copper. About 75% is used as a coating (galvanising) to protect iron and steel from corrosion. It is also used in brass and bronze, as a casting alloy and in other industries such as chemicals and agriculture. All living…
The following details are for Australia’s top ten ASX-listed gold companies. Of most interest is the dramatic difference in P/E between the top four and the next five. Note that GOR has only just become profitable and results are only for the first half. A stronger second half will see…
To some, the nickel boom of the last year or so is reminiscent of the Poseidon nickel boom of 1969. Then, the nickel price rise was driven by the Vietnam war and a strike at the world’s largest producer, Inco. Poseidon rose from $0.80 to a high of $280, a…