OilPrice.com | Metals | Commodities

OilPrice.com | Metals | Commodities The latest commodity price movements in the various metal and foods sectors. We cover Copper, aluminium, zinc, corn, coffee and other softs and metals. http://oilprice.com/ Fri, 25 May 2012 7:31:40 GMT Oilprice.com (info@oilprice.com) Burma - Truly One of the Last Untapped Energy Frontiers, Opening for Business http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Burma-Truly-One-of-the-Last-Untapped-Energy-Frontiers-Opening-for-Business.html Investors, looking for sure bets, can stop reading right now.For those seeking overlooked energy "final frontiers," well, there’s now – Burma.According to the secretary of Burma's largest business federation, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), Myo Thet, he has been meeting with companies "every day for a year" even though "there is still rather low interest from the West. There have been some bank owners from the west and also Australia but it’s still low compared to Asian countries.…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:39:09 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Burma-Truly-One-of-the-Last-Untapped-Energy-Frontiers-Opening-for-Business.html Can China's Monopolisation of the REE Market be Reduced? http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Can-Chinas-Monopolisation-Of-The-REE-Market-Be-Reduced.html What does this percentage refer to? 97% That's the percentage of global production of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) controlled by the People's Republic of China. But even with a virtual monopoly, sales are sluggish in the REEs business. BEIJING (AP) — China announced a cut Tuesday in its rare earths export quota as it tries to shore up sagging prices for the exotic metals used in mobile phones and other high-tech goods. China accounts for 97 percent of rare earth output and its 2009 decision to curb exports while it builds up an industry to…

]]> coheng@oilprice.com (Dave Cohen) Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:09:45 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Can-Chinas-Monopolisation-Of-The-REE-Market-Be-Reduced.html Commodity Prices Will Remain High and Volatile for the next 20 Years: McKinsey http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Commodity-Prices-Will-Remain-High-And-Volatile-For-The-Next-20-Years-McKinsey-.html Just looking at a new article from global consultants McKinsey about the state of world commodities and the outlook looks bleak, to say the least. (Original here) “Our research shows that during the past eight years alone, (commodity prices) have undone the decline of the previous century, rising to levels not seen since the early 1900s,” according to McKinsey. “In addition, volatility is now greater than at any time since the oil-shocked 1970s because commodity prices increasingly move in lockstep. Our analysis suggests that they will remain…

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]]> tylerhamilton@oilprice.com (Tyler Hamilton) Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:04:26 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Commodity-Prices-Will-Remain-High-And-Volatile-For-The-Next-20-Years-McKinsey-.html Peak Metal: U.S. Preparing for the Coming Shortages in Metals and Minerals http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Peak-Metal-U.S.-Preparing-For-The-Coming-Shortages-In-Metals-And-Minerals.html Many if not most metals, rare earth minerals and other elements used to make everything from photovoltaic panels and cellphone displays to the permanent magnets in cutting edge new wind generators and motors will become limited in availability. Geologists are warning of shortages and bottlenecks of some metals due to an insatiable demand for consumer products. 2010 saw China restrict the export of neodymium, which is used in wind generators and motors. The move was said to direct the supplies toward a massive wind generation project within China. …

]]> james@pokemoncard.info (Brian Westenhaus) Fri, 14 Oct 2011 12:38:55 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Peak-Metal-U.S.-Preparing-For-The-Coming-Shortages-In-Metals-And-Minerals.html Afghanistan - Newly Discovered Mineralogical Treasure House (Again) http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Afghanistan-Newly-Discovered-Mineralogical-Treasure-House-Again.html As the U.S.-led Afghan campaign lurches into its second decade, the country’s vast untapped mineralogical resources are again emerging in the Western media, seemingly underpinning the benefits of International Security Assistance Force troops “staying the course” and defeating the insurgency, after which these resources can be tapped, both providing the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai with a source beyond drugs for reconstruction and Western companies who develop the reserves a handsome profit. The latest discovery is that…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:58:31 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Afghanistan-Newly-Discovered-Mineralogical-Treasure-House-Again.html Malaysian Environmentalists Lead Opposition to Rare Earth Processing Facility http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Malaysian-Environmentalists-Lead-Opposition-To-Rare-Earth-Processing-Facility.html With the price of rare earth elements due to China’s de facto monopoly now running at more than $100,000 per tons of unprocessed ore, it would seem that countries would be lining up to attempt to gain a piece of the action. Many are, with operations extending from Estonia to Mongolia. While the 17 elements, are not in themselves radioactive every global rare earth ore deposit is found amongst radioactive thorium deposits. But the Third World model of attracting foreign investment, even in so rich a potential investment has aroused environmental…

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]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:01:44 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Malaysian-Environmentalists-Lead-Opposition-To-Rare-Earth-Processing-Facility.html Growing Controversy over Molycorp’s Plans to Mine Rare Earth Elements http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Growing-Controversy-Over-Molycorps-Plans-To-Mine-Rare-Earth-Elements.html On Tuesday, the New York Times ran a story stating Molycorp, currently America’s only operating rare earth materials producer, will soon announce a heavy rare earth metal deposit right near its Mountain Pass operations. In addition, Molycorp has mining rights and regulatory approval for the deposit to “continue for decades.” According to the story, Molycorp CEO Mark Smith said in a phone interview on Monday that the company might be able to produce heavy rare earth metals in a little over a year. The heavy rare earths in the deposit…

]]> agmetal@oilprice.com (Ag Metal Miner) Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:28:59 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Growing-Controversy-Over-Molycorps-Plans-To-Mine-Rare-Earth-Elements.html Report From the Molycorp Mountain Pass Mine http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Report-From-The-Molycorp-Mountain-Pass-Mine.html When I heard that Molycorp (MCP) had just cratered by $22 from $53 to $31 in two days, I did what I usually do when a mining company I follow gets in trouble. I jumped into an airplane and flew over the pit, making sure that it was still there. I also go into the local bar and talked to the workers with my antennae out to detect any unreported problems. For good measure, I threw a compass and a few extra bottles of water into the cockpit in case I crash landed in the desert and had to hike out. This is far and away the most remote part of California,…

]]> (Mad Hedge Fund Trader) Thu, 29 Sep 2011 9:00:28 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Report-From-The-Molycorp-Mountain-Pass-Mine.html China’s Rare Earths Monopoly - Peril or Opportunity? http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Chinas-Rare-Earths-Monopoly-Peril-Or-Opportunity.html The prosperity of China’s “authoritarian capitalism” is increasingly rewriting the ground-rules worldwide on the capitalist principles that have dominated the West’s economy for nearly two centuries. Nowhere is this shadow war more between the two systems more pronounced than in the global arena of production of rare earths elements (RREs), where China currently holds a de facto monopoly, raising concerns from Washington through London to Tokyo about what China might do with its hand across the throat of high-end western technology. In…

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]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Tue, 27 Sep 2011 6:55:33 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Chinas-Rare-Earths-Monopoly-Peril-Or-Opportunity.html China, Japan Minuet Around the Issue of Rare Earths http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/China-Japan-Minuet-Around-The-Issue-Of-Rare-Earths.html It’s official – China’s de facto monopoly on current rare earths production is a threat to the global economy. As least, that was the gist of hearings on 21 September by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. Center for a New American Security fellow Christine Parthemore ominously intoned, "Reliable access to critical minerals is a matter of both economic and geostrategic importance to the United States. Today, no minerals are more troubling to U.S. security and foreign policy…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Mon, 26 Sep 2011 9:33:23 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/China-Japan-Minuet-Around-The-Issue-Of-Rare-Earths.html European Union to Stockpile Rare Earth Elements http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/European-Union-To-Stockpile-Rare-Earth-Elements.html In the light of the Chinese hegemony for its own energy projects, it is feared that restrictions in the global supply of rare earth elements (REEs)will ensue. Until last year, China provided some 97% of the REEs available in the world, which are used increasingly to fabricate the magnets in wind-turbines and in electric vehicles. As China expands its own use of energy, including that from renewable sources, the nation intends to hold-back its exports of REEs for its own use, with potential impacts on the development of renewable energy such as…

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]]> profs@oilprice.com (Professor Chris Rhodes) Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:06:03 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/European-Union-To-Stockpile-Rare-Earth-Elements.html China Using Rare Earths as a Weapon http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/China-Using-Rare-Earths-As-A-Weapon.html China is currently responsible for more than 90 percent of the worlds rare-earth production, and some analysts allege that China is using its de facto monopoly to lure a high tech companies to China. U.S. Magnetic Materials Association president Ed Richardson said, "We're all losing. They (the Chinese) are using their monopoly of rare earths as a weapon. And they're going to get what they need." Richardson added that rare earth element (REE) mining projects currently being pursued by companies worldwide from Mongolia to Africa to counteract…

]]> peixej@oilprice.com (Joao Peixe) Mon, 05 Sep 2011 23:52:14 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/China-Using-Rare-Earths-As-A-Weapon.html China - Record High Rare Earths Prices Promoting Illegal Mining http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/China-Record-High-Rare-Earths-Prices-Promoting-Illegal-Mining.html Six months ago, China's exports of rare earth elements (RREs) breached the dizzying price of $100,000 per-ton barrier, a nearly 900 percent increase in prices from a year before, representing a remarkable $50 per pound for unprocessed ore. According to the CIA World Factbook, the estimated 2010 annual income for Chinese citizens overall was $7,600, or a princely $633 per month, or 12.6 lbs of raw rare earth ore, not that the excavators get anywhere near that final amount.As a rough rule of thumb, the further one goes westwards from China’s coastal…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:34:15 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/China-Record-High-Rare-Earths-Prices-Promoting-Illegal-Mining.html China and Rare Earths - Monopoly for Now http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/China-And-Rare-Earths-Monopoly-For-Now.html First, the bad news - China's constrained rare earth supplies will be an "irreversible trend" and prices will remain at high levels, according to Zhang Zhong, general manager of Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co. Zhang should know, as his concern is China’s leading rare earths producer – the Baatou mine produces more than 95 percent of China’s production, while Chinese mines currently account for 97 percent of global supplies. The increase in global demand for rare earth metals has sent prices soaring in world markets. According…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:28:45 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/China-And-Rare-Earths-Monopoly-For-Now.html Mongolia Energy Riches Attract Neighbors and Outside Interests http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Mongolia-Energy-Riches-Attract-Neighbors-And-Outside-Interests.html Pity poor Mongolia, bereft of fiscal resources, caught between the ambitions of its superpower neighbors, Russia and China. Ulaan Bator’s situation is akin to interwar Poland, dexterously attempting to reconcile its foreign policy between the USSR’s hammer and Nazi Germany’s hard place. Who will ultimately benefit is anyone’s guess, but the country’s nascent energy and mineralogical riches have opened the land of Genghis Khan to a fierce bidding war those ultimate outcome is unclear at best. The nation is essentially empty, its 2.8…

]]> admin@namecake.com (John Daly) Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:11:47 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Mongolia-Energy-Riches-Attract-Neighbors-And-Outside-Interests.html China's Rare Earth Industry Coming under Greater Environmental Scrutiny http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Chinas-Rare-Earth-Industry-Coming-Under-Greater-Environmental-Scrutiny.html China is planning to launch environmental checks for the rare earth industry this year to ensure environmental protection – a move that has been met with criticism from the local industry. According to a statement made by the Ministry of Environmental Protection last April, China plans to launch a string of environmental checks for the rare earth industry that will impose higher environmental standards on them, reported China Securities Journal. The ministry noted that local environmental departments will not approve environmental evaluation…

]]> ecoseed@oilprice.com (EcoSeed ) Thu, 04 Aug 2011 12:25:01 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Chinas-Rare-Earth-Industry-Coming-Under-Greater-Environmental-Scrutiny.html Mining and Better Business Practices in Mexico http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Mining-And-Better-Business-Practices-In-Mexico.html At the moment México has multiple mining operations and many are operated by transnational corporations, in a country known for its aversion to any form of foreign presence within its borders. On the other side, Mexico is also exporting more and more minerals to places such as China, with exponential growth in this area of trade due to a favorable climate for mining from the federal government. The people are against, the government for, and transnational mining companies are typically uninterested in what the people who live on the land or in…

]]> smolskia@oilprice.com (Andrew Smolski) Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:37:06 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Mining-And-Better-Business-Practices-In-Mexico.html The Coming Crisis in Phosphate Supplies http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/The-Coming-Crisis-In-Phosphate-Supplies.html Phosphate is a mineral that is used in fertilizer to boost agricultural productivity. It is greatly responsible for the "green" revolution and the increased output of farms around the world. Unfortunately, the world will be coming to a point, if certain trends hold, where we will run out of phosphate. The mineral is widely used, but utterly unrecycled. Like fossil fuels, phosphate may come to a point where it is too costly to use, and world hunger may be the consequence. Phosphate is an inorganic chemical mined from the earth. It typically consists…

]]> gabeli@oilprice.com (David Gabel) Wed, 20 Jul 2011 12:22:43 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/The-Coming-Crisis-In-Phosphate-Supplies.html Afghanistan: Mining Boom Nurtures Transparency Concerns http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Afghanistan-Mining-Boom-Nurtures-Transparency-Concerns.html Go looking for Wahidullah Shahrani and chances are you’ll find him at an investor conference promoting Afghanistan as an ideal opportunity for global mining companies. By most accounts the minister of mines is an effective salesman. Yet, as investor interest grows, there are doubts about whether Afghanistan has the capacity to make the most of an expected surge in mining-related revenue. Afghanistan’s mining potential appears to be huge. Depending on whom you’re talking to in either Washington or Kabul, there is anywhere from…

]]> admin@oilprice.com (Editorial Dept) Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:57:21 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Afghanistan-Mining-Boom-Nurtures-Transparency-Concerns.html China’s Great Grain Robbery http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Chinas-Great-Grain-Robbery.html The Chinese are nothing if not opportunistic. You may recall that a shocking increase in this year’s corn crop predicted by the US Department of Agriculture triggered a series of limit down moves in the grain markets only 12 days ago (click here for “The Great Grain Massacre”). The corn ETF (CORN) was down by a gut churning 13.2% by the time the crying was over, while the grain ETF (JJG) was off by 9.8%. Despite terrible weather and soil conditions, farmers planted anyway, leading to a 1.52 million bushel increase in the forecast…

]]> (Mad Hedge Fund Trader) Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:41:15 GMT http://oilprice.com/Metals/Commodities/Chinas-Great-Grain-Robbery.html