GLG News by Stainless Steel Experts

Jack LiftonCo-founder and DirectorTechnology Metals Research, LLC

The New "Great Game" : China And India Vie For The World's Natural Resources From Developed Nations While America Sleeps: Part 1: China In Australia

May 4, 2009

Analysis of:Mining: Lynas, Wpl, OZL, ILU | ibtimes.com.au

China's hunt for natural resources to feed its already substantial  heavy industrial base and its growing consumer products industry is fueled by the size of the reserves of capital accumulated by the Chinese state and driven by the single-minded goal of China's government of full employment for China. America's more and more isolated response to this drive by China for natural resources is to ignore it and assume that America and the Western world will continue to follow the American model of myopic free market capitalism in which natural resources will always be miraculously made available to the highest bidder. American bankers like to say that the golden rule is that "Them thats got the gold makes the rules." They're wrong. The rule is "Them thats got the rare resources makes the rules." Its the last few minutes of the new "Great Game," and it's not looking good for the home team.  

Jack LiftonCo-founder and DirectorTechnology Metals Research, LLC

China Has Made An Inroad Into Australia That, If Successful, Will Give It Overwhelming Control of The World's Supply Of Rare Earth Elements For A Long Time To Come. Did The Actions Of Goldman-Sachs Facilitate This Move Or Fail To Prevent It?

May 1, 2009

Analysis of:Lynas Corp strikes $505m China deal | www.wabusinessnews.com.au

China today produces at least 95% of the world's supply of rare earth elements from its domestic mines primarily in Inner Mongolia.   At the beginning of 2008 two very large Australian REE mines were well on the way to coming into production. Either one of them would eventually have been the largest single-point mine for REEs in the world. One of the Australian companies was also beginning construction of a REE refinery in Malaysia, which would have been the largest in the world outside of China. Control of the shares of both of the Australian companies is now coming into hands of state owned aggressive Chinese mining and trading entities. It has been predicted that Chinese domestic demand for REEs will exceed its domestic production in the next 2-4 years. That is precisely how long it will take for the two Australian mines and the Malaysian refinery to be brought into production.   Three significant REE mining possibilities, only, now remain out of Chinese control.

Jack LiftonCo-founder and DirectorTechnology Metals Research, LLC

Scientists And Engineers Are Born, Encouraged, Selected, And Educated. Money Thrown At Existing Ones Does Not Create New Ones.

April 27, 2009

Analysis of:Obama promises major investment in R&D | finance.yahoo.com

It takes twelve to twenty years to find, select, encourage, test, and educate scientists, engineers, and medical professionals. By contrast it takes just a few minutes to select from a crowd those who will run for public office. Yet the future of innovation in America depends on this second class of selected individuals. It is always just luck that gets us progress with this polticized selection system for education.   America can not depend on luck.

Jack LiftonCo-founder and DirectorTechnology Metals Research, LLC

Don't Drink Any Arctic Meltwater Unless You Want To Ingest Up to 0.000000000000023 Grams Of (Gasp) Osmium With Each Gram!

April 22, 2009

Analysis of:Platinum Pollution Issue Gets Measured | www.nature.com

The ability of analytical chemists to detect low levels of metals in water has gone far beyond the ability of environmentalists to exercise common sense and good judgement.

Jack LiftonCo-founder and DirectorTechnology Metals Research, LLC

The Ownership Of North America's Rare Earth Resources Is Consolidated, But There Is Still No New Production In Sight.

April 20, 2009

Analysis of:Molycorp Minerals, LLC Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Controlling Interest in Great Western Minerals Group | uk.sys-con.com

What possible advantage can there be for MolyCorp, which was privatized in 2008 by a group of venture funds, one specializing in mining, and underwritten by Goldman Sachs, in acquiring the publicly traded Great Western Minerals Group (http://www.gwmg.ca)? It may be that GWMG's business model and operations  contains something that completes MolyCorp's business model for its Mountain Pass, California, rare earth mine, so that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

Jack LiftonCo-founder and DirectorTechnology Metals Research, LLC

Attention Hummer And Tesla Converters: There Isn't Enough Lithium Produced For Both You And The Rest Of Us

April 20, 2009

Analysis of:Hybrid Hummer Promises 100 Miles per Gallon | blog.wired.com

The celebration of the creation of sophomoric toys for elites with public money ignores the fact that the supply and demand of lithium is a zero sum game. When the demand for high end toys for people with unlimited discretionary spending ability is high the demand for practical devices for the person of average means will go unfilled. Each 53 kWh battery for a Hummer, for example, will, if a lithium-ion type, use 53 kg, or 116 lb of lithium; it will cost as much as $53,000 at retail just for this battery!

Jack LiftonCo-founder and DirectorTechnology Metals Research, LLC

What If The Hybrid, Plug-in Hybrid, And Pure EV (Battery Only) Markets Are Only SegmentsThat Become Saturated Before Economies of Scale Are Achieved?

April 13, 2009

Analysis of:No easy road for U.S. auto industry | www.latimes.com

It's been a common practice for carmakers to first introduce a new vehicle "type" in limited production as a marketing test. There have been, for example, the Corvette, the Thunderbird, the Aquacar, the Edsel, the Pinto, The Chevrolet Vega, The Cadillac Cimmeron, the American Motors Alliance, the Chrysler K-car, the Chrysler Minivan, the SUV, The GM EV1, the Toyota Prius, and so on. Few of the very, very,  expensive marketing gambles for OEM auto makers have ever paid off, or even repaid their tooling costs, viz the second edition of the Thunderbird by Ford  This explains why auto makers are reluctant to try out totally new car types or radical "under the hood changes" the benefits of which need to be explained to non technical customers. The reluctance of any major car maker to put a pure EV or a lithium battery using vehicle on any kind into even limited production is an old story not a new one.

Jack LiftonCo-founder and DirectorTechnology Metals Research, LLC

Exxon Says That in 2050 Hydrocarbon Fuels Will Still Account For 80% Of The World's Energy Supplies-The Same As In 2009

April 8, 2009

Analysis of:Oil Giants Loath to Follow Obama’s Green Lead | www.nytimes.com

The energy calculus that drives the creation of alternate sources of electricity is very simple: The world runs on the fuel that delivers the lowest cost per watt.   The key problem today with the electrification of cars, by which I mean the change of power trains for private passenger carrying vehicles from hydrocarbon burning internal combustion engines, ICEs, to electric drive trains powered by batteries, is the initial cost of batteries that can replace the performance of ICEs. Lithium-ion batteries, though today they must be hand made and selected, can be used to manufacture high performance private cars with decent ranges, but the battery for the Tesla, which it is claimed will allow an electric vehicle, EV, to go up to 150 mph and have a range of 300 miles, costs nearly $40,000.00, and the Tesla equipped with this battery will cost around 125,000 at retail. No one today knows how to make EVs with a range of 300 miles  and a top speed over 45 competitively with ICEs. 

Jack LiftonCo-founder and DirectorTechnology Metals Research, LLC

The Use Of Lithium-ion Batteries For Large Scale Applications Is Impractical Except When Price Is No Object

April 6, 2009

Analysis of:Lithium-ion Batteries: 9 Years of Price Stagnation | seekingalpha.com

After nine years of research and billions of dollars of testing ideas it is obvious that there is no technology or manufacturing process extant or on the horizon that can bring to the market a practical, economically competitive, lithium-ion battery that can be used in a power train for an electrified private passenger carrying motor vehicle. Why does the research continue?

George DorkhomExecutive ChairmanGREENKOTE PLC

Auto makers and the dinasourses

April 5, 2009

Analysis of:Chrysler Plan Trims Fiat's Stake, Cuts Out Cerberus | online.wsj.com

The US car makers ,especially GM and Chrysler, have caused self inflicting injuries on their operations and other orgnizations that work with them and for them. , I have written in the fall of 2008 about the ultimate need for GM and Chrysler to file for chapter 11 and reorganize under the supervision of the court and have then explained the merits of filing and how fitting these companies' circumstances to such filing. My article was not that popluar at the time ,because I think the auto industry insiders are and still in denial with the arrogance that how could it be possible that GM is in Bankruptcy ? well it is possible and if this was done early on, we the tax payers would not have to throw good money after bad money , and also the bleeding would  perhaps have stopped ..sort off.Chapter 11 to flush out the old GM and Chrysler and emerge as a new, strong, leaner and perhaps smaller companies is the answer,  of course with a different management team that know the real world.

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