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I have my name back, Still looking for a Purrfect picture. I have friends. Time to restart. SA isn't perfect but then I'm not either. But Life is far too short, and as the Roman Gladiators used to say: Eat, drink and make merry because tommorow, you may die. Why hasten your demise, don't worry,... More
  • Tungsten/Tantalum 26 comments
    Nov 6, 2009 05:41 AM
    Tungsten, stainless steel and superalloys, more than 80% of worldwide output is Chinese but they are running out so exports are being curtailed. I'm trying to track down companies with production or properties. Do not have any to post.

    Tantalum, electronics and power supply, the Chinese have to import it. Unfortunately for us, the largest reserves are in areas of Central Africa considered to be Combat Zones. The Chinese purchase their supplies easily because they deal with the sellers.

    We can't. We have Rules against dealing with countries which abuse human rights and the Environment.

    The Illegal Tantalum is abundant, the Chinese buy it, use it and undermine Legal producers. Last year because of the Demand Destruction and Chinese sales, many mines were shuttered. When push comes to shove, the rest of the World will either have to give up its "Scruples" or face severe shortages.

    We are screwed.

    This is an overview. If I see companies involved, I will shove them in here.

    http://go.infomine.com/?re=136&tg=http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72103?oid=92550&sn=Detail

    GDLNF, amazing how these writers do not bother to go through the effort of finding the Symbols which can be used by US Investors.
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This post has 26 comments:

  •  
    Good post, Miss Freya.
    Website I found that might give us some ideas:
    equipment.surfwax.com/...
    Nov 06 09:09 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    So, what you're saying is, it is in the Chinese best interest to see genocide in areas that have natural resources?

    This never occurred to me before, but it makes sense.
    Nov 06 09:13 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    OK, Talison is the first company (talison.com.au/) that I looked over. It is Australian, of course, and can supply over 64% of the world demand for lithium, and over 50% of the Tantalum. They also claim to be in a position to greatly increase these numbers if need be.
    Nov 06 09:41 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    There is supposed to be a Tungsten Jobbie in Canada, with a property in the Yukon. But I don't have a name...ooops the sound is getting louder. I'll try the laptop.
    Nov 06 12:41 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Any of these? www.tungsteninvestingn...
    Nov 06 02:32 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Freya: Maybe you missed it, but I posted this tungsten company yesterday:

    www.northamericantungs...
    Nov 06 02:38 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Of course, I miised it...will see if Nor Am Tung has american issue.

    OG: your link requires me to enter to win.

    The sucker is still whirring away. Did you get Inmet. One Eye?
    Nov 06 02:44 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    NATUF looks like it could be it. Thanks.
    Nov 06 02:48 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    No it doesn't. You can close that! Look at the corner of that stupid pop up box...


    On Nov 06 02:44 PM Freya wrote:

    > Of course, I miised it...will see if Nor Am Tung has american issue.
    >
    >
    > OG: your link requires me to enter to win.
    >
    > The sucker is still whirring away. Did you get Inmet. One Eye?
    Nov 06 02:53 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    If one reads over the G20 pdf that came out yesterday carefully, including the pledge to help the po nations out with things like Global Swarming, and then takes note of the unusual pronouncement by the Chinese premier yesterday after the G20 report was published, where he makes a commitment to spread some good cheer around Africa...

    And then read what Freya had to say about their active participation in what amounts to "conflict minerals" in some really nasty places in Africa, which makes perfect sense considering the strong Aussie currency and the high price of Australian raw materials like lithium and tantalum right now...

    It all makes sense.

    The Chinese are killing 2 birds with 1 rock.
    Nov 09 07:38 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Freya, I've been researching NATUF. I think they closed down their one operating mine because of low prices- did you read that? Getting the coo from Thompson Creek is certainly a plus. They also have a small factory in MN and are looking into using Tungsten instead of lead in products like toys and ammo but need to expand the existing facility.
    I'm thinking that this should be a good takeover candidate in the future. Good quality tungsten and the only workable mine in North America with another one being developed. They are short of cash. These penny stocks slay me... I'm going to buy 5000 shares, but I'm going to wait and see if it comes down with the rest of the market. I sure would like to know how these Canadian companies work, because none of them seem to be reporting right now. I wonder why.
    If anyone has information about how the TSXV works, please share. I don't know enough about penny stocks- especially foreign ones.
    Nov 10 01:09 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    This is a private company, but has a great deal of info on its website. It is concentrating on lithium. It stated it closed the tantalum mine. Did I miss something? Did they reopen it? I am little under the weather and not concentrating too well. I'd appreciate any comments on this.


    On Nov 06 09:41 AM tripleblack wrote:

    > OK, Talison is the first company (www.talison.com.au/) that
    > I looked over. It is Australian, of course, and can supply over
    > 64% of the world demand for lithium, and over 50% of the Tantalum.
    > They also claim to be in a position to greatly increase these numbers
    > if need be.
    Nov 10 01:57 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Freya: Is this the link you couldn't open? This is an old article, from last March.
    I am reprinting it here:
    For tungsten miners, it’s exploration as usual

    Fri, Mar 13, 2009

    Featured Articles, Tungsten Articles

    By Leia Michele Toovey- Exclusive to Tungsten Investing News

    The tungsten market has been quiet for ‘09. Ferro-tungsten prices have been slowly creeping up due to short supply, so it is exploration as usual for the tungsten business. Tungsten exploration outside of China is critical, as the country has a monopoly on the metal used for military and aeronautical equipment.

    North American Tungsten Corp’s (TSX.V:NTC) exploration program is bringing the company good news. The drilling program on the company’s 100 per cent owned Cantung mine continues to intersect high grade mineralization. ”Ongoing definition and exploration drilling at Cantung has discovered a high grade western extension at the lower levels of the West Extension zone of the mine. This extended zone is within 100 feet of existing underground development and further highlights Cantung potential for defining additional mineralization” said North American Tungsten Chairman and CEO, Stephen Leahy. “This recent exploration drilling by Cantung geology and engineering teams is adding significant near term value as we continue to focus on expansion of the existing resource and extension of the Cantung mine life.” The Company is a publicly listed Tier 1 Junior Resource Company engaged primarily in the operation, development, and acquisition of tungsten and other related mineral properties in Canada. The company’s Cantung mine and Mactung development project make it one of the few tungsten producers with a strategic asset in the western world. Mactung is one of the world’s largest known undeveloped high grade tungsten-skarn deposits.

    Largo Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: LGO) has completed a new block model and updated mineral resource estimate incorporating the results from its 2008 drill program. The updated mineral resource has increased The grade of WO3 and Molybdenum by 14 per cent and 15 per cent respectively. The tonnage of the new Measured and Indicated category has increased by 58 per cent compared to the previous Indicated mineral resource estimate, While the contained pounds of WO3 and Molybdenum have increased by 56.5 per cent and 76 per cent respectively. Most importantly, the 2008 drilling program provided much better definition of the higher-grade zone which is estimated to contain a Measured and Indicated resource of 60.3 million tonnes grading 0.137 per cent WO3 and 0.045 per cent Mo and Inferred mineral resource of 5.4 million tonnes grading 0.134 per cent WO3 and 0.047 per cent Mo (WO3 equiv 0.214 per cent) at a 0.17 per cent WO3 equivalent cut-off grade. These estimates represent grade increases of 35 per cent and 70 per cent over the overall deposit grade for both WO3 and Molybdenum respectively. The Northern Dancer deposit is one of the world’s largest known tungsten-molybdenum porphyry systems. The deposit, which has been tested by drilling for 1.2 kilometers along strike, 500 meters vertically and 600 meters in width, remains open along strike to both the northeast and southwest as well as at depth.

    Malaga Inc. recently published a technical report on tungsten reserves and resources on its PastoBueno property located in the Ancash Province in Peru. The report describes 98,448 metric tonnes of proven and probable reserves with a WO3 average grade of 0.95 per cent, 142,490 metric tonnes of measured and indicated resources with a WO3 average grade of 1.05 per cent and 1,204,000 metric tons of presumed resources with a WO3 grade of 0.82 per cent. Tungsten concentrates have been produced at Pasto Bueno for the last 100 years, since 1910 it has been reported that more than 6 million tonnes of ore has been processed yielding more than 42,000 tons of WO3 concentrates. No drilling had been performed on this property, prior to Malaga’s 2007 campaign. Historical production at Pasto Bueno came from the mining of six main veins.
    Nov 10 02:03 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I just posted a REE link in the Tungsten Insta. I'm doing this on the Fly. CPU cores heat up and shut down because of OVER Heating.

    The other link was for the Music, song, whatever. I had to subscribe, a cpu shut down. I had to leave.

    I now have an external fan blowng into the computer. Transferring everything from one computer to another will be an interesting experiment over thanksgiving.
    Nov 11 03:55 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    OG: If you have the pvt e-mails that Freya passed about this, I posted a summary of my thoughts about it there. If you don't have it, let me know and I'll send you a copy via e-mail. My thought's are certainly not definitive, but ...

    HardToLove


    On Nov 10 01:09 PM optionsgirl wrote:

    > Freya, I've been researching NATUF. I think they closed down their
    > one operating mine because of low prices- did you read that?
    <snip>
    Nov 11 05:10 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    HTL: This is a total Flier, Money you can afford to lose. But I put it into the same realm as some of the REEs. To me its all about assets. They have some good ones, I'm willing to wait until NATUF is "discovered", maybe longer.

    If you take a look at the chart pattterns of the REEs prior to Discovery, you will essentialy see a Flatline. I look for Volume spikes with little or no movement in the stock to give me advance warning.

    Sometimes they occur shortly before a move, sometimes it can be many months, Hence the Flier aspect, I've done this before and been burned before. No Guts, No Glory...just as long as you realize that your Guts may be lying there. If you can't afford to lose it, do Not Buy it.
    Nov 11 05:38 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Found and included the Symbol for Greenland Minerals

    GDLNF
    Nov 11 06:15 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    No one has mentioned Commerce Resource Corp (CCE on TSXV):

    www.commerceresources....

    They have a tantalum resource in central British Columbia in Canada.

    As for Talison, someone asked if they are placing their Ta mine back into production. The answer is: yes they are.

    Finally, there is Gippsland (GIP on ASX). They have a considerable resource in Egypt:

    www.gippslandltd.com/p...
    Nov 11 07:03 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I fully understand. My thoughts were just the thinking process that I use to make sure I "cover the bases". I've got some spec $ set aside for it and am looking to enter. I call it my "Vegas cash". I consider it lost going in.

    Regardless of the positive/negative things I considered, I do believe that the long-term supply/demand issues will kick in and if the company does execute the stock should have a lot of upside. That's without the near-term catalyst you mentioned as coming.

    Thanks,
    HardToLove


    On Nov 11 05:38 AM Freya wrote:

    > HTL: This is a total Flier, Money you can afford to lose. But I put
    > it into the same realm as some of the REEs. To me its all about assets.
    > They have some good ones, I'm willing to wait until NATUF is "discovered",
    > maybe longer.
    >
    > If you take a look at the chart pattterns of the REEs prior to Discovery,
    > you will essentialy see a Flatline. I look for Volume spikes with
    > little or no movement in the stock to give me advance warning. <br/>
    >
    > Sometimes they occur shortly before a move, sometimes it can be many
    > months, Hence the Flier aspect, I've done this before and been burned
    > before. No Guts, No Glory...just as long as you realize that your
    > Guts may be lying there. If you can't afford to lose it, do Not Buy
    > it.
    Nov 11 07:28 AM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Thank you, HTL. I got it and wrote back to you.


    On Nov 11 05:10 AM H. T. Love wrote:

    > OG: If you have the pvt e-mails that Freya passed about this, I posted
    > a summary of my thoughts about it there. If you don't have it, let
    > me know and I'll send you a copy via e-mail. My thought's are certainly
    > not definitive, but ...
    >
    > HardToLove
    Nov 11 01:06 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    I would love to see what you look at as a tell. Can you post a chart as an example?


    On Nov 11 07:28 AM H. T. Love wrote:

    > I fully understand. My thoughts were just the thinking process that
    > I use to make sure I "cover the bases". I've got some spec $ set
    > aside for it and am looking to enter. I call it my "Vegas cash".
    > I consider it lost going in.
    >
    > Regardless of the positive/negative things I considered, I do believe
    > that the long-term supply/demand issues will kick in and if the company
    > does execute the stock should have a lot of upside. That's without
    > the near-term catalyst you mentioned as coming.
    >
    > Thanks,
    > HardToLove
    Nov 11 01:07 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Just background, and its a very BIG mine, potentially. They have a lot of unused capacity. I see them as an Australian winner if the Chinese continue to pinch the REE supply. In looking over the whole "cornering the market" concept, I thought it best to find out who (other than the Chinese and companies they control in other countries) represent large potential suppliers. Molycorp in the U.S. is a similar story. Looking at the giant corporate backing for these closely held firms - and what China might be planning - yields an interesting scenario.

    Longer term, the odds that REEs and other things sourced primarily in China will be increasing in price - even if shortages do NOT occur (and I am not discounting that) - need to include these off-the-stock-investme... sources. I see some subtle maneuvering occurring at high levels in the Corporate stratosphere, involving private companies sitting on closed mines waiting for either the Chinese to push prices to the moon - or for a stronger yuan/RBM and more demand in their growing economies to do the same thing.

    This was why I took a small position in AMLM a while back, though I had my stops set too tight.

    I hope that makes sense. I am now looking into other alternatives, but the sparcity of the findings reinforces my impression that a lot of the playing field is already dominated by the giants.

    I figure everyone already has that process thought through, but I hope this at least explains my approach. If anyone can find the angles, though, its you guys. I will continue to dig around and hope I find an acorn I can share with the group, however.


    On Nov 10 01:57 PM optionsgirl wrote:

    > This is a private company, but has a great deal of info on its website.
    > It is concentrating on lithium. It stated it closed the tantalum
    > mine. Did I miss something? Did they reopen it? I am little under
    > the weather and not concentrating too well. I'd appreciate any comments
    > on this.
    Nov 11 02:25 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    OG: I couldn't really use the charts on this one because the trading volume is so low. Daily average trades for the last 10 days is only 85,013. In a 6.5 hour trade day, this is only 13,079 shares traded/hr average. But when I pull up a chart, I'll see only about 20 trades the last 5 days. And nothing on the market depth which normally shows the bid/ask queues. But on my watch list, I see bid and ask $0.152/$0.168 400x2700 and volume for today of 0.

    I think the problem is that most of its trades probably occur on the Canadian exchange. Since I've never set up my international trading account, I can't access those markets.

    Under those conditions I consider the charts useless for a "tell".

    So, like Freya said, I looked at it more as a "flyer". I just read the stuff I could find, tried to identify the pluses and minuses for the risks of holding it for a long time, etc. After looking at the 200 day chart and saying "Huh? I can't judge anything there", I decided I just had to "gamble" on timing and price.

    After all was said and done I felt it was worth a small play. So I've been putting in small orders each day below what I see on the ask and hoping for a strike.

    I can still post the 200 day, or a weekly or anything you'd like - just let me know if you want it and I'll stick it up there for you.

    HardToLove


    On Nov 11 01:07 PM optionsgirl wrote:

    > I would love to see what you look at as a tell. Can you post a chart
    > as an example?
    Nov 11 03:06 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Feedback from heavy player in China tungsten from the lower quotas announced Nov 2:

    BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 9-Nov-09. The newly announced export quota for 2010 will lend little support to tungsten prices due to weak consumer demand, said Chinese major tungsten producer Xiamen Tungsten Co., Ltd.

    Also:

    BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 11-Nov-09. Tungsten concentrates business has remained slow due to low demand...

    This tallies well with my other reading showing a falling off in capacity utilization in China due to generally full warehouses and low export orders.

    www.metal-pages.com/ne.../
    Nov 11 03:17 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Now that Lynas Corp is free from China & pretty much through with its stock offering/dilution/capital raising. Does anyone have any thoughts on the stock? I believe it along with GWM, will be one of the first to start producing REE outside of China. Nick Curtis the CEO of Lynas corp has a long history in metals/mining, plus a boat load of lynas corp stock.

    My feeling is a lot of these "new miners" have just jumped on the rare earth mania, but are still a lonnngg way out to anything of real substance.

    Take GDLNF, I guess it owns land that has one of the largest rare earth finds in the world. Do you take a gamble this early in the game that all will fall in place? Lynas at .50 seems relatively like a bargain compared to some of the "others"
    Nov 11 04:40 PM | Link | Reply
  •  
    Tx for your response. These thinly traded tiny companies are tough to gauge. Sometimes it's a wing and a prayer. So many possibilities, who
    knows what will work and why?


    On Nov 11 03:06 PM H. T. Love wrote:

    > OG: I couldn't really use the charts on this one because the trading
    > volume is so low. Daily average trades for the last 10 days is only
    > 85,013. In a 6.5 hour trade day, this is only 13,079 shares traded/hr
    > average. But when I pull up a chart, I'll see only about 20 trades
    > the last 5 days. And nothing on the market depth which normally shows
    > the bid/ask queues. But on my watch list, I see bid and ask $0.152/$0.168
    > 400x2700 and volume for today of 0.
    >
    > I think the problem is that most of its trades probably occur on
    > the Canadian exchange. Since I've never set up my international trading
    > account, I can't access those markets.
    >
    > Under those conditions I consider the charts useless for a "tell".
    >
    >
    > So, like Freya said, I looked at it more as a "flyer". I just read
    > the stuff I could find, tried to identify the pluses and minuses
    > for the risks of holding it for a long time, etc. After looking at
    > the 200 day chart and saying "Huh? I can't judge anything there",
    > I decided I just had to "gamble" on timing and price.
    >
    > After all was said and done I felt it was worth a small play. So
    > I've been putting in small orders each day below what I see on the
    > ask and hoping for a strike.
    >
    > I can still post the 200 day, or a weekly or anything you'd like
    > - just let me know if you want it and I'll stick it up there for
    > you.
    >
    > HardToLove
    Nov 11 06:54 PM | Link | Reply
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