April 2010

Chinalco Moves a Town to Access Copper Deposit

by Stuart Burns on April 30, 2010

Style:    Category: Commodities, Minor Metals, Non-ferrous Metals

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What do you do if you have just spent $860 million buying a copper mining company but find you have the problem of a town on top of your 2 billion ton ore body? Simple, if you are Chinalco you just spend another $50 million building a new town. The 5000 inhabitants of Morococha at [...]

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Australia, the Lucky Country, Risks Economic Implosion

by Stuart Burns on April 30, 2010

Style:    Category: Macroeconomics

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Few would expect Australia to be facing any problems. The country was one of very few to avoid a recession over the last 18 months and one of the first to raise interest rates with five rate increases since last October and two in a row in February and March as the economy has powered [...]

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Indian Radioactive Scrap Not Just a Random Occurrence

by Lisa Reisman on April 29, 2010

Style:    Category: Ferrous Metals, Global Trade

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Over a year ago we published a pair of articles involving radioactive stainless steel materials and the risk inherent in global supply chains. These two posts remain some of the most popular content we have ever published on this site. My hypothesis as to why involves a simple question that metal sourcing professionals have probably [...]

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NIST Funding for Nano-Particle Casting Technology Shows Potential for High Strength Low Weight Aluminum Alloys

by Stuart Burns on April 29, 2010

Style:    Category: Metal Fabricated Parts, Non-ferrous Metals, Product Developments

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A fascinating new manufacturing concept incorporating the use of ceramic nano particles into the melt of aluminum and magnesium alloys could revolutionize the production of high strength low weight components used in a wide range of transport and defense products. So attractive is the new technology, that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) [...]

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Pressure for More Iron Ore and Steel Price Increases Mounts in Asia

by Stuart Burns on April 29, 2010

Style:    Category: Commodities, Ferrous Metals, Global Trade, Supply & Demand

Keywords: , , ,

The China Iron and Steel Association, CISA, has officially given up on its role in the iron ore contract negotiations by saying the steel mills are free to negotiate their own deals on whatever terms they can secure from the major iron ore suppliers. The tone of the announcement though, illustrates the organization’s frustration in [...]

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GM Could Soon Sell More Cars in China Than in the US

by Stuart Burns on April 28, 2010

Style:    Category: Global Trade, Product Developments

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Yes that’s quite an eye catching headline isn’t it? The Las Vegas Sun reporting on the Beijing Car Show quoted GM as saying its China sales jumped 68% in March from a year earlier and 2010 sales could top 2 million vehicles. That would nearly equal last year’s sales of 2.1 million in the United [...]

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Consumer Data Still Telling a Sad Story – Despite The Headlines

by Lisa Reisman on April 28, 2010

Style:    Category: Automotive, Macroeconomics, Supply & Demand

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The Wall Street Journal ran several stories earlier this week with rather rosy titles sure to put a smile on any manufacturer’s face “Consumer Mojo Lifts Profits and “Whirlpool’s Profit Soars as Consumer Demand Increases, to Manufacturers See Rebound. Now I don’t want to rain on this parade but it does remind me of a [...]

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Thermal Coal Prices on the Rise Despite New Sources of Supply

by Stuart Burns on April 28, 2010

Style:    Category: Commodities, Global Trade, Supply & Demand

Keywords:

Mention Colombia and most people think of drugs and death squads. It is unfortunate to say because the country has a lot more going for it than a thriving drugs business and a long history of unsavory regimes. For one thing, it has some of the highest grade low sulfur coal in the world, a [...]

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