Perhaps one of the best parts of working in the metals industry is realizing exactly how versatile the material can be. Besides its great industrial use, metal is an important part in the aesthetic design and art worlds as well. Some of our best-read pieces have been about this fact, and it’s wonderful that we [...]
A couple of months ago MetalMiner reported on a recent investment by Jinchuan, a Chinese state-owned mining company who took a 51% stake in Wesizwe, a junior South African platinum developer. As we have reported, Chinese state-owned producers and mining concerns have taken an aggressive approach to acquiring key raw materials and assets throughout the [...]
We were recently lucky enough to go on a tour of Elkay Manufacturing where we saw American manufacturing at its finest. From state of the art robotic equipment to an amazing laser cutter, we saw a degree of quality and care go into the production of product that may be tough to beat in other [...]
Last week a colleague forwarded me an article from BusinessWeek discussing the role of contango as it applies to ETFs. (Don’t worry – this won’t be a technical piece). In layman’s terms, the article examined how an underlying commodity price could increase whereas an ETF, invested in that same commodity, could go in the opposite [...]
Last week, the collective MetalMiner team had the pleasure of visiting a local manufacturer, Elkay Manufacturing, headquartered in Oak Brook IL. You might not know Elkay by name but you’ve definitely sipped from their water coolers. Last week, we wrote about our visit as it got us thinking about how US manufacturers differentiate themselves from [...]
An interesting article in the New York Times is worth reviewing because the topic is a hot issue on Capitol Hill yet the debate is far too often argued as if there is only one answer without discussion of any other solutions. I talk of course of currency manipulation in general and the Chinese authorities [...]
Recent smelter closures have seen global aluminum production drop in July for the first time since Q1. Output dropped to 112,000 tons per day in July from 114,100 tons per day in June according to a Reuters report. That equates to an annualized drop of 640,000 tons conveniently very close to the 700,000 tons predicted [...]
Whatever is decided by the Pemex board, and we suspect the decision will be taken by the Mexican government rather than the board, it would appear rising domestic demand for gasoline (petrol) will drive some fairly fundamental decisions in the Mexican oil refining industry over the coming months. According to a Reuters report based in [...]
