The Best One can do Now !

  The best one can do now is hold onto sections of stocks one knows are going to be needed in future to supply the needs of the world popula...

About Me

Retired but always looking for new challenges.
Showing posts with label PLATINUM PRODUCERS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PLATINUM PRODUCERS. Show all posts

Monday, April 1, 2019

TRENDING COMPANIES AND MINERALS.

Ever since 2009 ,except for a couple of short periods ,I have been a PGM (Platinum Group metal) bull!
There is always a couple of them increasing in price. I have always maintained that Platinum is the more important than Palladium. The palladium price has for the last couple of years been higher than platinum,mainly because motor manufacturers lied about the loadings of platinum in catylitic converters . This damaged platinum use and speculators did the rest and chased prices down. Palladium is now in bubble territory,so is now easing against the platinum price.
THE GREAT FUTURE IN PLATINUM is now in FUEL CELL TECHNOLOGY 
Remember fuel cells produce no pollutants in every type of engine from autos to stationary engines. Japan is going full steam ahead with this production ,whilst the rest of the world is concentrating on lithium solutions which  has many drawbacks as the electricity to load these batteries will still mostly be produced by coal fired power stations for at least the next half centuary.
THE LEADING WORLD MINING COMPANIES THAT ABLE TO SUPPLY THESE NEEDS ADEQUATELY HAVE MANY OF THEIR ASSETS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA.
                DO WATCH 
ANGLO (AGL)
SYBANYE (SGL)
AMPLATS (AMS)
IMPALA (IMP)
RBPLATS (RBP)
NORTHAM (NHM)
1. 
A good idea is to also read Bvians Southern African mining and resources news on a monthly basis        AS WELL

2.
The latest  page updates are always at the top of the right hand column.

Friday, February 1, 2019

The New Hydrogen AGE, REVOLUTION !

HYDROGEN which can easily be extracted from water is likely to drive the  new clean air revolution.
This is the preferred fuel that works with Platinum catalityic fuel cells. Its half the price of pretroleum fuels and has the advantage of being 100 % free of pollution.
Of course there's talk of using boron etc .to cut out rare earth ,such as platinum altogether ,but these experiments are still unproven.
When platinum is used for catalysts the power produced is strong enough to drive the largest stationary engines or so little can be used for small engines.
Toyota and other car,bus and heavy duty manufacturers have all chosen platinum to drive their future plans.
Germany is also tooling up now. Their leading manufacturer Mercedes Benz is also getting in on the act.
South Africa is the leading country regarding supply of platinum in the world .Impala platinum mine is now gearing up to supply their own electricity.
There is genuine scope for down-line applications helping create work locally. Do read all the other posts that I have written on platinum group metals over the years. Click on labels below or in the side-bar.
SEE THE PAGE UPDATES EACH MONTH. THE LATEST UPDATE IS AT THE TOP OF THE LIST IN THE SIDE-COLUMN

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

NEW YEAR PROSPECTS

1.During the previous year the general investment climate in Southern Africa never really lived up to  expectations.
Stocks of course had over shot the true recovery from the 2008 recession. Further, very bad political decisions such as the land grab debate to curry favor  with the  uneducated part of the electorate had bad repercussions for our country as overseas investors sold off our stocks . Moving to the more safe countries of the world.
See the side bar as some stocks held up  and mid-capital stocks did rather well when based on sound principles .
As our government is now looking for overseas funds to prop up their program of aims they have to get a lid on corruption and general government wastage. It unlikely that they will do the absolute take overs as Europe and America put pressure on them to behave in a civilised manner!
One danger is that they are turning to China for more of their monetary needs,how  ever China itself being under threat of  trade wars is cutting back on more reckless lending.
2. Platinum group metals are now coming into their own. There is always at least a couple , out performing. At the moment Rhodium and Palladium are trending. Do look at our Mining website where reasons are discussed from time to time. 
See the top of right hand side-bar,for the latest updates .



Thursday, December 1, 2016

The year that was !

This has been a year  in which there have been more financial  and political shocks worldwide than normal.Growing  populations have become more restive and even rebellious as the recession lingered on. At year end America is well on the way to recovery and the first sprigs of recovery are seen in Europe and Asia. As always Africa is lagging. 
How ever a pleasing change has been seen on the African Continent as populations strive for more accountability and less graft  top of government officials. This is playing itself out especially here in  South Africa as we strive to avoid  downgrades in our borrowing to junk status. As many other major countries have failed this test of morality we have for a second time avoided this fate.
It must be remembered that we produce 80% of the world platinum group metals and also a full range of base metals and minerals.
How ever at the present price of platinum, around $900 per ounce it is being produced at a loss. There is already a shortage of 20% in  ounces, per annum, built up and as fuel cells and other catalytic converters are needed for cleaner air become the vogue. In the last ten years the price has suddenly spurted by a couple of hundred USA dollars per ounce! this exciting event can happen again. Do remember it takes five years to ramp up and open mothballed areas in existing mines and a great deal longer in new developments!
I wish all our readers,Google and our advertisers all the best for 2017.




Sunday, March 1, 2015

Keeping Our Breathable World Safe



 We should thank JAPAN for the  innovative way  they are introducing ecological changes to the world. A world leader indeed! Using Fuel Cell  technology for the next Olympic games is a great step forward .
They are show-casing the Hydrogen economy, which  is something the rest of the world will have to quickly consider if we want to save our planet as cities become more polluted all the time. Electricity is to be produced solely by fuel cells at the games and all government Honda and Toyota cars will also be powered by fuel cells, during the games.
This is where we South Africans enter the scene as we produce over  70% of the world newly mined platinum, as it is platinum fuel cell that is being used.

Do read for more information about platinum   Our Mineral and News        http://2010plusstocktrends.blogspot.com

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Platinum Group Metals now and in the future

    The longest strike in South African history, namely five months has come to an end. There were no winners as the workers will have to work up to five years to make up lost  pay under the no work no pay principle and the mines were brought to their knees as there was no spike in the platinum and other related metal prices.
The newest entry is always found at the bottom of the index above. The rest of this article is beneath Alerts and Notes.
ALERT 22/7/2014
It seems as if there is going to be an over supply of COAL in the not too distant future world wide. At the moment ,there is a shortage of coal at our electricity company ,namely ESCOM  perhaps not the time to rush into buying coal mining shares!


 ALERT 10/7/2014
Gold has made a comeback in the last couple of days, much against a the consensus that it will continue to wane. Nervousness about the future of stock markets as they have  out performed the actual recovery as well as slowing growth in Europe's main driver Germany as well as major trouble in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and over production in China is unsettling the markets, also the firing of indiscriminate rockets into Israel from Gaza that can only be stopped by a ground invasion.
NOTE 5. FINAL WINTER UPDATE NOW IN PLACE July 28
Note 4.Spring share and derivative update is now in place 21/7/2014  see also preliminary SUMMER LIST 23/7
NOTE 3 My specialist watch list parts A,B,C    have been updated see above 14/7/2014
NOTE 2 Small caps summer list has been updated see above 25/7/2014
Note 1.See the relaunched  Resources News on page 3 for my reasons for choosing AMPLATS to recover best from the platinum strike above on 3/7/2014

  Despite the return to work and hefty increases for entry level miners (20% plus),the mines will not be able to carry as usual on if there is not a significant increase in metal prices soon ,an unlikely event ( Read the recent posts on the strikes as well to fully understand why)
   A fact not often written about is that hungry striking miners on some mines opened old ventilation shafts and old entrances to tunnels and stripped the mines of miles of electrical copper cables and iron pipes to sell illegally on the black market to gain money to pay for food to survive the strikes as well. All will have to be replaced now at high prices before mining can safely commence again. Contractors are now being payed off which cause a ripple effect on the economy and as miners retire etc they are not being replaced.
A great deal has been written about mechanizing the mines. This is not always feasible for many of the mines as there narrow ore bodies very deep down. The most likely result is that most of the older mines will close down permanently.
    Amplats and the other miners will also probably sell off the deeper mines and go for the opencast option ,as that is the only way they will be able to mechanise.
    There is unlikely to be a strike on this scale in the future, which has almost forced our country back into a recession again. Since we pride ourselves on being democratic, the minister of mines is now mulling over legislation that will make it illegal to strike unless a strike ballot is held and sixty percent of the workers approve it. There after further supervised strike ballots must be held say every four weeks. Security will also be beefed up during such an action so as to allow non striking unions members to work with out the danger of being killed. This present strike was called by the union boss and then he used strong arm tactics to enforce it.
SEE ALSO MY MOST POPULAR POST OF 1 MARCH  2012
MENTIONED IN THE SIDE BAR NAMELY The stripping of South African Resource Assets part 1.As this foretold of the events of the present period!

Sunday, June 1, 2014

IN A REFLECTIVE MOOD

 Time to step back from the market and take stock. There has been a good run over the last couple of months. Most markets are at their highest points, or just below.

The latest entry on the index above is always at the bottom
 of the list. Rest of the post above can be found below ALERTS AND NOTES
5.The winter list has been updated above June 23/6/2014
4.See the SPRING UPDATE ABOVE f June 17
3.Resources Post has been updated above 12,14,25,30/6/2014.SEE OUR NEW PAGE 2 OUR CHOICES 
2.MY SPECIALIST WATCHLISTS A.B AND C HAVE UPDATED SEE ABOVE 9/6/2014
1.TRANSFER TO SMALL CAPS HAS BEEN UPDATED 4/6/2014

11/6/2014 ALERT       At long last after five months of the platinum strike, the prices of the platinum group metals are beginning to start to rise. The place to be might be to buy the Exchange Traded Funds as the mines are still proving to be unstable.
The mines are considering undisclosed , at this stage steps to return some of their holdings to production. The government s also proposing to build houses at their expense relieving the mines of this task. It must be added that the mines already pay quite generous amounts to all the miners to obtain better accommodation. These steps have not appeased the hard core union which is also tied to an extreme left political party. Ordinary starving miners are asking for protection from the extremists to return to work.

 NOW some traders would say a bubble is forming in certain sectors. This is really not true as the majority of shares are increasing on good management which in turn leads to increased profits. Of course shares also run ahead on expectations and this is where some dangers lie.
 Shares are likely to pull back  around 8% or slightly more in the months ahead ,then continue their progress, although they are fully priced now the world is generally still coming out of the recession. We in South Africa have  suffered a general set-back with the long miners strike, how ever there is now hope, since the ANC had a resounding victory in the election that they will act firmly, some thing they did not do in the past fearing a backlash in the voting. There is unfortunately a great deal of savagery taking place with workers returning to worked being chopped up literally into pieces. On a SMS campaign 60% have voted for return to work.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

EMERGING MARKETS showing Value.

Emerging markets are beginning to show value again for the first time after the long recession thats lasted from 2007.Up to now investors have opted for safety of their industrialised countries.
Rest of this post above, below the ALERTS and Notes.
30,  OCTOBER REVEIW
Well the month that was has passed.The stock markets have reached all time highs in both the USA and here in South Africa.The market always run ahead of actual conditions after recessions.That does not mean the party is over,but the upturn will probably last for a number of years.The shock of the American government closing did not spoil the party,but has made countries world wide nervous and they are starting to look for alternative structures so to avoid a similar threat in future.

ALERT 25/10
BILITON(BIL) is in a  better position to exploit the stabilising steel prices in China and the rest of Asia as they are virtually on their "door step",than any of the other large mining groups as the distance between them and their market is the nearest.That is why they are expanding their mining works in Australia.

ALERT 18/10
There is new interest  OIL FROM SHALE leading to intensive  geological investegations in the KAROO BASIN .This is very exciting news for us as ,this will stabilise our prices eventually.SASOL is at the forefront of these investigations.They will gain good experience from their venture in America where they are busy with extracting oil there from shale rock.

10/10ALERT        BOTSWANA is busy establishing a large DIAMOND cutting and polishing industry.De Beers is aiding them in this project at the behest of their government.True they have the largest  number of unmined diamond diferous kimberlite pipes in the world.The trouble is that they are off the beaten track for buyers who frequent the longer established polishing centres of Antwerp and Tel Aviv. 

4/10 ALERT      Mick Davis is at it again!
The former director of ESKOM and founder and CEO of Xstrata which grew into a gaint resources company that has been taken over by  Glencore has not been at a loose end for long.HE is busy with a new company which has all the makings of a new aquisitive gaint.Called X2 RESOURCES,RUMOUR HAS IT THAT IT HAS ALREADY ATTRACTED BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND IS ABOUT TO LAUNCH OVERSEAS.

2/10ALERT  A shortage of platinum group metals are starting to occur world wide. This is not reflected in prices yet as producers are afraid to increase prices as demand might weaken on higher prices,but when industries start to increase orders then prices are likely to rapidly increase.

NOTE 4 See on OUR RESOURCES NEWS latest comment by  Barry on LARGE CAP SHARES COMMENT AND SMALL CAP TIPS 23 OCT 
ips
NOTE 3 See  theTOP 40 WATCHLIST latest update above on 9/10/2013

NOTE 2 See MY SPECIALST WATCHLIST update,in the above index Oct 7 for the newest addition to the list.

NOTE 1 The latest update is always at the bottom of the of the index above,also use the labels below posts and in the side-bar to group articles on the same subject.


EMERGING MARKETS HAVE LAGGED THE FIRST WORLD MARKETS for what the traders considered more stable markets.How ever as emerging markets fell further than the first world markets and shares that survived that fall are beginning to flourish.They are attracting funds from those in the know.Still it is better to buy shares on the more stable markets in this category as the JSE of South Africa which has had the market the longest in Africa and other bourses that have been there the longest on other continents and have an impeccable reputations for rules and regulation of the market. 
Metals and minerals are also starting to take off again as shortages are starting to develop as production was severely cut during the recession.The world is recovering slowly,but the pace will eventually start to speed up ,causing prices to rise rapidly.Do remember it takes time to increase production and its not as simple as turning on a tap!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

NEW MINING METHODS, INNOVATION A GAME CHANGE.

  For over a centuary starting  in the eighteen eighties South Africa was the largest Gold producer in the world.Since platinum has been taken into general use we are still the largest  producers of this metal.We are amongst the leading produces of a whole raft of metals and minerals currently.How ever now costs and increasing difficulty of extracting these metals and minerals is beginning to weigh on our returns.
See rest of this article beneath Alerts and Notes.

20/9ALERT

DE BEERS which is owned  by Anglo American is doing very well this year.This is now mainly been driven by China which is expected to drive the market for the next five years as Chinese brides now prefer diamonds to gold.All other diamond mines should also benefit from this trend.

   11/9 ALERT  

   The world now seems a safer place ,if the Russian plan  to hand the Syrian weapons to the United Nations goes ahead.Anyway the pedal has been removed from the war stance and markets are recovering again.Chinese trade figures have also turned positive this week.Our local strikes all now seem to be going to be resolved in a more amicable manner with increases below 10%.Workers now understand the gravity of our local situation.Our weaker Rand will lead to an increase in the price received for our local products and minerals.

   3/9 ALERT  
OFFICIAL  STRIKE ACTION has started in earnest this morning at mostly gold related mines.As the mines are on a tight -rope alread running at near losses they can ill afford these actions.There can be no increases in wages with out increases in productivity levels.These levels have been declining for several years now.
Note 4 We have changed the format of the TOP 40 index to reflect more contemporary movements see above.
Note  3  The newest updates are always put at the bottom of the index list above.
Note 2 Use labels below articles  and in the side-bar to group articles on similar subjects.
Note 1.Do read in the side-bar  interestng items and ads., especially chosen to enhance your knowledge.

  Mechanisation was tried about ten years ago by LONMIN in it platinum mines.It was the first company to do so.It turned out to be a complete failure.Our Gold mines are very deep and by conventional methods the gold is nearly worked out.It has been partly political pressure that has kept the mines on a large manual footing,employing hundreds of thousands of workers.
All that is about to change and the realisation by all the parties that things have to change is slowly dawning on all.
  A completely new method of mining GOLD
is coming to the fore.Instead of bringing rock carrying the gold to the surface to crush etc.It has been found that with a new method just the GOLD REEF can be removed with chemical and other methods and the rest of the granite left in place.In the past sections of the mines had to be left in place ,if I remember correctly every 27 yards of a square of 27 yards were left to keep the roof up and in between pillars of wood would be put in place for further reinforcement.NOW A METHOD OF BACK FILL is to be used and all the Gold areas not yet mined can be utilised.
  GRAHAM ,Ceo of Harmony has pointed that as much gold as has been removed from the mines in the last hundred years remains to be removed.Most of it at reasonable shallower levels.
  THE MAIN GAME CHANGER WILL BE ROBOTICS NOT JUST MECHANISATION.THE ADVANTAGE OF THIS WILL BE LESS DANGEROUS WORKING CONDITIONS AVOIDING PRESSURE BURSTS THAT ARE LIFE THREATENING AS THE MINES BECOME DEEPER.ALL THIS WILL OF COURSE TAKE TIME,BUT WILL BE LESS LABOUR INTENSIVE AND ALLOW THE MINES TO SURVIVE,SO ATTRACTING CAPITAL TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF MINES.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Miners Dilemma !

PRECIOUS METAL MINERS have had to deal with unexpected circumstances of late in our country,South Africa and the rest of the world. See article below Notes and Alerts .
ALERT Day 20
SIBANYE mine has closed a shaft at the Beatrice Mine after a fire broke out there.The falling gold price has not helped matters .Now seperate from GFI it is mineral rich and consists of the older parts of the then GOLDFIELDS CONGLOMERATE.Sure its gold is expected to run out around 2030,but in the meantime it will produce good dividends.
ALERT Day 8.
25%OF SOUTH AFRICAS working population is either directly or indirectly dependent on mining,states Anglo American for their income.

NOTE 1.The newest update of the pages above is at the bottom of the index list above
NOTE 2.See above Naomi has updated her analysis


Both Platinum and Gold mines should be making a great recovery now as the share prices of other types of mines and industries recover as the world emerges from the long recession,but they are not.
The question should be asked why?
Well Gold has not as many industrial uses and is more a store of wealth to be held in times when the ecomonies are suffering.
Platinum group metals on the other hand are both in demand as precious metals and have a myriad of industrial uses.
So why is the Platinum price not increasing at a greater pace than it did after the last recession in the ninety nineties?In fact it is struggling to increase at a pace greater than the gold price.The platinum price is now around $1700 as is gold.The price after the last recession reached $2200 per ounce!
The answer is that then there was absolutely no platinum recovery process  in place.Now there is a recovery industry which collects scrap platinum metal from spent catylitic converters. The recovery rate is above 90%.This can then be sold to the users at a price well below the newly mined platinum price.
Palladium and rhodium can also be recovered but as they are not such a threat as the scap platinum recovery is to newly mined platinum.
Rising costs and inflation has rendered about half the platinum group mines unprofitable.Many of the gold producers are suffering a similar fate. See the latest update in the index above on 12 feb 2013.