Tuesday, July 28, 2009


TNR Gold has announced that its exploration team is already on the grounds of its Lithium and REE properties in Canada. Junior is up to 0.25CAD on the news and volume is over 1 million shares. More funds are taken positions, financing was oversubscribed and Canada Zinc Metals CZX.v came into the picture with its Chinese partners Tongling. Media is full of electric cars and electric bikes stories: some reports suggested that in China in 2008 22 million electric bikes were sold alone. Chinese interest is understandable: TNR Gold still below last year level of 0.35CAD financing without any Lithium and REE properties. Los Azules is shaping into huge Copper deposit with NPV over 1 billion with Copper price above 2.1 USD/lb. Who knows better then Chinese where the commodity prices are going? We like to see that the company is not just sitting and playing on all these developments alone, but advancing its new Lithium and REE start up International Lithium Corp and preparing Alaska properties for Gold surpassing 1000 USD/oz. Will we have another spin out from TNR Gold this time of Alaska Gold and Copper next year?

Friday, July 24, 2009

Our Canada Gold M&A play Roxmark Mines RMK.v is making new headlines and stock is finally breaking out to the upside. In plus to solid continued results from J/V with Premier Gold PG.to company is moving forward its old producing mine with new high grade discoveries. Some estimations suggest the value of 0.18CAD attributed to only J/V part of the game based on Premier Gold PG.to valuation report. Our Target is North of 0.30CAD with 43-101 released by PG.to and gold above 1000 mark.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009




After raising concern about health of US Dollar and our recent US Dollar collapse alert, Chinese premier Mr Wen issues the order to Buy commodities and secure natural resources in order to diversify from paper currencies. US Dollar future from now on is solidly on the next leg down and call from Canaccord Adams seems to be very timely to repeat it again:




"From an investor’s perspective, the goal is to own what China needs and China needs metals. And strategically, it could be easier for China’s state-owned corporations to fly under the radar and buy or take positions in smaller foreign corporations rather than their larger cousins. We return to our long-term thesis: own quality junior exploration and mining companies with superior projects. Canaccord Adams"






We have been advocating this idea to build positions in Junior mining for a while and now we new confirmation to potential of recent M&A activities in companies we monitor.










"Companies (Chinese - S.) are allowed from 1st of August basically to shop around the world for necessary resources in exchange for US Dollars effectively which are overflowing the monetary system."







After recent strategic investment in
TNR Gold TNR.v Canada Zinc Metals is busy on developing its status as regional play:







"
Strategy looks like Investment expansion:Tongling - Canada Zinc Metals - District play with TEC and Korea Zinc - Lundin Mining on board - Zinc and Lead - Cars - Growth space: China largest auto market from March - New Bull - Electric cars - Lithium and REE - TNR Gold and International Lithium Corp."







"
Canada Zinc Metals's Akie holds 23.6 million tons of high grade Zinc, nearby J/V between TEC and Korea Zinc holds another 50 million tons. District play can mean 100 million tons with further discoveries and deals among these three players and now CZX.v has a strong backing strategic partner with deep pockets."














By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing
Beijing will use its foreign exchange reserves, the largest in the world, to support and accelerate overseas expansion and acquisitions by Chinese companies, Wen Jiabao, the country’s premier, said in comments published on Tuesday.
“We should hasten the implementation of our ‘going out’ strategy and combine the utilisation of foreign exchange reserves with the ‘going out’ of our enterprises,” he told Chinese diplomats late on Monday.
Mr Wen said Beijing also wanted Chinese companies to increase its share of global exports.
The “going out” strategy is a slogan for encouraging investment and acquisitions abroad, particularly by big state-owned industrial groups such as PetroChina, Chinalco, China Telecom and Bank of China.
Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC, said: “This is the first time we have heard an official articulation of this policy ... to directly support corporations to buy offshore assets.”
China’s outbound non-financial direct investment rose to $40.7bn last year from just $143m in 2002.
Mr Wen did not elaborate on how much of the $2,132bn of reserves would be channelled to Chinese enterprises but Mr Qu said this was part of a strategy to reduce its reliance on the US dollar as a reserve currency.
“This is reserve diversification in a broader sense. Instead of accumulating foreign exchange reserves and short-term financial assets, the government wants the nation to accumulate more long-term corporate real assets.”
State-owned groups, particularly in the oil and natural resources sectors, have stepped up their hunt for overseas companies and assets on sale because of the global crisis.
China Investment Corp, the $200bn sovereign wealth fund, has been buying stakes in overseas resources companies and has taken a 1.1 per cent stake in Diageo, the British distiller.
In an interview published in state-controlled media, the chairman of China Development Bank said Chinese outbound investment would accelerate but should focus on resource-rich developing economies.
“Everyone is saying we should go to the western markets to scoop up [underpriced assets],” said Chen Yuan. “I think we should not go to America’s Wall Street, but should look more to places with natural and energy resources.”

"From an investor’s perspective, the goal is to own what China needs and China needs metals. And strategically, it could be easier for China’s state-owned corporations to fly under the radar and buy or take positions in smaller foreign corporations rather than their larger cousins. We return to our long-term thesis: own quality junior exploration and mining companies with superior projects. Canaccord Adams"
Now our next industrial revolution play in Lithium, REE, Gold and Copper has the money and interesting shareholders to connect its ambitions to place where the Growth is.
Placement was oversubscribed and made very fast without any brokers involved - it is very positive sign in the current market: financing is available for the strong companies.

"Insider can sell in a lot of circumstances - they buy only in one case: when they know with all available to them information that company is still undervalued. Now he is not alone in his beliefs and we like his new company. It is always important to see that management is also buying into financing and not just cashing in cheap options. It looks like Gary Schellenberg and Kirill Klip made a good team moving TNR Gold fast forward above many other juniors still day dreaming about last summer happy days which are gone forever."






Vancouver B.C.: TNR Gold Corp. (“TNR” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that due to the high level of interest in its recent financing, the Company has increased the size of the private placement originally announced on July 6th, 2009. TNR is now in receipt of subscriptions totalling 5,900,000 units at a price of $0.20 per unit for gross proceeds of $1,180,000 (the “Offering”). Each Unit consists of one common share and one-half common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder to purchase one additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.30 for a period of twelve months from the date of closing.



A large portion of the Offering is a welcomed strategic investment from Canada Zinc Metals -- a mineral exploration company focused on unlocking the potential of a world class zinc-lead-silver district in British Columbia, Canada. It is the dominant land holder in an extensive mineral belt known as the Kechika Trough which hosts in excess of 80 million tonnes of base metal resources. Significant shareholders of Canada Zinc Metals include Lundin Mining Corp. (TSX: LUN) and Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group Holdings Co. Ltd. Tongling, which currently holds a 13 per-cent equity position in Canada Zinc Metals, is one of China’s largest copper smelting companies and ranked in the top 100 large-scale industry enterprises in China. Tongling’s principal activities are exploration, mining, ore processing, smelting and refining and products processing of copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver and other non-ferrous and rare metals. TNR’s portfolio of lithium and rare metal properties is attracting interest from investors around the world.

TNR’s Non-Executive chairman, Mr. Kirill Klip, will be taking a significant portion of the financing along with other insiders and management.



All securities issued pursuant to this Offering are subject to a 4-month hold period from the date of closing. The Offering is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval and any regulatory approvals, which the company expects within the next few days. Proceeds of the Offering will be used to fund the evaluation of TNR’s Lithium and Rare Metal properties, implement the proposed spin-off of International Lithium Corp. and for general corporate purposes.


ABOUT TNR GOLD CORP.TNR is a diversified metals exploration company focused on identifying and exploring existing properties in Argentina and Alaska and new prospective projects globally. Upon approval of pending licences in Ireland, TNR will have a total portfolio of 32 properties, of which 16 will be included in the proposed spin-off of International Lithium Corp.It is anticipated that TNR shareholders of record will receive one share and one full tradable warrant of International Lithium Corp. for every 4 shares of TNR held as of the yet determined record date. This will result in TNR shareholders owning shares in both TNR and International Lithium. For further details of the spin-off please refer to TNR's April 27, 2009 news release or visit http://www.internationallithium.comThe recent acquisition of lithium projects in Argentina, Canada, USA and Ireland confirms the Company's commitment to project generation, market diversity and building shareholder value.
On behalf of the board,Gary Schellenberg

Monday, July 20, 2009




We have mentioned before that UK and Portugal are very active in Europe in alternative energy field and, particularly, in electric cars' market. Now Japanese auto makers are coming closer to their consumers in electric rim. This is the way forward in general economy and for auto makers: convert at least part part of bail out into manufacturing base for Green Mobility Revolution. China is as well very active in batteries' market and leading the way on basic materials side of the growth story in commodities supply:




"For China, it seems that “security of supply” has evolved into a synonym for “competitive advantage”. Chinese demand for metals has been a significant factor in maintaining high metal prices and now it appears that China’s appetite for metals could begin to have a more significant impact on the pricing of mining equities. From an investor’s perspective, the goal is to own what China needs and China needs metals"







By John Reed, Motor Industry Correspondent
Published: July 20 2009 11:00 Last updated: July 20 2009 14:03
Nissan is to make advanced lithium-ion batteries for electric cars at new factories in the UK and Portugal, the Japanese carmaker said on Monday.
The two countries’ governments have offered financial aid and other support for the investments, the company said, and the British plant will form part of a new low-carbon economic area in north-east England. The factories will have an annual capacity of 60,000 units each.
The UK facility, located in Sunderland near Nissan’s car plant, will be its main site for battery production in Europe. The UK government said the company would will invest more than £200m in the plant, which will create 350 direct jobs.
Nissan and its French alliance partner, Renault, plan to begin selling electric cars in the US and Japan from next year and globally from 2012.
Nissan said nothing about where it planned to produce electric vehicles in Europe. Prime minister Gordon Brown said that Sunderland “could now be a strong contender” and that government would “continue to work with Nissan to ensure this happens”.
Lord Mandelson, Britain’s business secretary, said the investment was “good news not just for the north-east, but for the whole of the UK”. Nissan’s car plant is Britain’s largest vehicle exporter, and employs 4,200 people.
Britain’s government has come under criticism in the past week for doing too little for carmakers, including its failure to disburse anything from a £2.3bn aid package for the industry announced in February.
Nissan said it was also talking to other governments in Europe about possible battery plant locations to meet its volume requirements.
Nissan and Renault are at the forefront of developing electric vehicles, one of several lower-emission technologies carmakers are exploring alongside hybrid cars and downsizing of conventional petrol and diesel engines.
However, questions remain over whether consumers will buy electric cars in large numbers, given the limited availability of charging infrastructure and their initial high price, which is partly due to the expensive batteries. Analysts say the costs of both batteries and cars will only come down as manufacturers build scale.
Britain’s government said it planned to set up a training centre specialising in low-carbon automotive technologies, a technology park, and a test track for low-carbon vehicles.
Last week the UK government unveiled a strategy for promoting investment in low-carbon technologies, and announced the establishment of Britain’s first low-carbon economic area, focused on wind power in Cornwall.
Nissan said that it had identified several possible sites for the Portuguese battery plant, which will involve an investment of €250m and create 200 jobs.
Last year, Portugal signed an agreement on zero-emission vehicles with Nissan and Renault that will see the carmakers supply electric cars from spring of 2011.
Portugal’s government wants to transform the country into “Europe’s electric vehicle Eco-Valley,” and is supporting a project to build 1,300 recharging stations over the next two years."

Sunday, July 19, 2009


China has became number one auto market in the world and shows impressive growth. Chinese companies are on a shopping spree in the resource world. Asia has its own ambitions to play Next Industrial revolution, starting from commodity side:


"1. Market place for Lithium and REE products: Huge potential - auto market is growing...China has become largest market in the world. Electric cars could be the only way to bring mobility to hundred of millions without destroying environment in China and India."


"Billions are coming into our Next Big Thing: Green Mobility revolution - new factories for lithium batteries are under contraction and new Electric Cars models are rolled out. In Lithium Supply chain, which will benefit from newly born Bull, place is not very crowded, but success will depend on people involved, their energy and ability to develop the projects."








By Reenita Malhotra Hora
The Associated Press Albert Lam, the chief executive of Detroit Electric, spoke to Green Inc. about recent moves by his company.
Last week, the Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor Corporation and Detroit Electric Holdings — keeper of the Detroit Electric brand, a decades-old, long-defunct electric vehicle label that was recently ressurected as a Netherlands-based, largely Asian-financed maker of electric drive train technology — announced plans to jointly research, develop, market and sell fully electric vehicles in China.
The partnership follows on the heels of Detroit Electric’s $331 million assembly agreement with Proton Holdings, a Malaysia-based automotive manufacturing company, signed at the end of March. It will allow Detroit Electric to expand its international sales, and the company says it aims to sell 45,000 vehicles across Europe, the United States and Asia by next year. It says it will increase that to 270,000 by 2012.
Green Inc. spoke with Detroit Electric’s chief executive, Albert Lam, about this new partnership and his plans for expanding Detroit Electric’s reach in Asia.
Excerpts from that conversation follow.

Can you tell us a bit about your Asian partners?
Our manufacturing partner is Proton Holdings of Malaysia, a well respected automotive company, that is positioned for long-term growth. Proton provides us with vehicle platforms. We modify the exterior design slightly, add our patented electric drive train, and homologate the vehicle to meet the local safety requirements.
Our business model seeks to leverage existing Asian vehicle designs, allowing us to focus instead on our technology. This model gives us the opportunity to get to market without investing heavily in local manufacturing facilities. Our business strategy is unique among our competitors. We plan to add additional contract manufacturing partners to expand our product segments.
What Asian markets are a priority for Detroit Electric?
China and Japan are key markets for us. Hong Kong specifically, with its size, dense population and air pollution issues, [is] ideal city for electric driving. Not only will this significantly improve the quality of life here, but also enhance a cleaner and greener environment. We believe that strong local government support, ideal partners like Dongfeng, and growing consumer demand will allow Detroit Electric to be successful in Hong Kong first, and in the broader Chinese market, thereafter.
We also plan to take our sports car product to Japan. There, we can develop a strong niche market which will enable us to showcase our technology and the excellent potential for electric driving.
Aside from the size of the Chinese market, what motivated the partnership with Dongfeng?
Dongfeng is a world-class automaker with the market share and technical expertise needed to quickly bring [pure electric vehicles] to market in China. Our agreement with Dongfeng is a proof point for the technical leadership and commercial readiness of Detroit Electric’s electric motor drive technology. … Also, the fact that it is state owned means that it has the leadership to define future policy for China’s automotive industry. Working with a strong partner like this provides a direct line of communication to Chinese policy makers who will define the strategic direction for the new electric car industry.
Is this venture funded in any way by China’s stimulus $600 billion stimulus package.
As we are still in discussions regarding the structure of the partnership, it is too early to identify the funding sources."


Automakers are taking Green Mobility Revolution seriously and getting up to speed with production. Lithium technology is a choice for batteries according to industry insiders:



"Lets check first on "Zero to 1 Billion" matrix:
1. Market place for Lithium and REE products: Huge potential -
auto market is growing...China has become largest market in the world. Electric cars could be the only way to bring mobility to hundred of millions without destroying environment in China and India.
2. Transition potential: groundbreaking - Fleet conversion to Electric mobility plus Electric cars economics. Money are going directly into the pockets of most in need. Basis for the next industrial revolution and manufacturing base in the West including US Corp. with High Tech jobs
."





Ford, Nissan and Tesla gearing up production of planned electric models
By Dan Carney

In the next year or so, after only a century or so of trying, the electric car may break free of the lunatic fringe and become a mainstream transportation option for everyday drivers.
The next step forward for electric cars will come on Aug. 2, when Nissan is expected to unveil the first of three electric models in three vehicle segments that the automaker will reportedly sell en masse by 2013 in the United States, Japan and Europe.
In fact, fanatics (aka “early adopters”) have been gutting regular car cars and packing them with a thousand pounds of golf cart batteries for years. But very soon it will be possible for drivers other than those who already have a home-brewed solar array atop their home to have a chance to whir quietly to work using household electric current for propulsion.
This comes after a long history of mostly dashed hopes, unrealized dreams and no shortage of P.T. Barnum-esque wild claims unsupported by reality. But this time, mass-produced electric cars really are preparing to begin trickling into showrooms, a reality cemented by U.S. government loans to the three companies that are gearing up for production.
Ford, Nissan and Tesla have received U.S. government loans that the companies say will help them tool up to manufacture their planned electric models, with the first cars arriving in 2010 from Ford and Nissan. Tesla says production of its sleek $57,400 Model S will commence in late 2011.
Growing marketWithin five years, the market for electric cars could reach between 270,000 and 335,000 units per year in the U.S., predicts Art Spinella, president of CNW Research, a market research firm in Bandon, Ore. That would certainly confirm the arrival of the electric car as a “real” product in a way that has never happened before, though it would still represent only about 2 percent of total sales, Spinella points out.
That means that the cars that are supposed to save the world will still sell in total numbers in the U.S. that are similar to those of the number three-selling pickup truck, the macho Dodge Ram pickup. So while everyone won’t be propelled by electrons anytime soon, for the first time, everyone can at least consider that as an option when the buy their next car.
These cars aren’t likely to be cheap, but Nissan at least is promising to be price-competitive in the premium compact car segment. The company won’t say whether that competitive price will be the one before or after the $7,500 federal tax credit, but it seems likely that the tax break will be needed to help make these cars reasonably competitive with gas-powered alternatives.
No sooner did consumers come to embrace the notion that hybrid-electric cars need not be plugged in than battery electrics will arrive to test drivers’ willingness to rely on plug-in-only cars.
Nissan has demonstrated its electric drive system installed in its trendy Cube compact model, but the production car will be its own model, said Mark Perry, Nissan’s director of product planning. The car will have space for five occupants and will have a driving range of 100 miles on a charge, a distance that is sufficient for the daily driving needs of 98 percent of Americans, according to the company.
Nissan will target an upmarket customer with its electric model, complete with the premium amenities and safety features expected by the kind of customers who might otherwise buy a Mini Cooper rather than say, a Toyota Yaris. Nissan will begin offering this new model in 10 to 15 markets nationwide in 2010, gradually expanding to full availability in 2012, said Perry.
Electric minivanFord, meanwhile, is gearing up to offer its Transit Connect commercial minivan as an electric model next year. This will also start out in limited numbers, reported Rob Stevens, Ford’s chief engineer for commercial vehicles. The Transit Connect will be available with either of two lithium-ion battery packs, a 21 kilowatt-hour pack or a 28 kWh pack. The first will offer a driving range of about 70 miles and the second will go about 100 miles, he said, and the vehicle will have a top speed of 70 mph.
Ford isn’t ready to talk about the electric Transit Connect’s price, but acknowledges that even after the tax credit it will be higher than that of the gasoline model. Smith Electric Vehicles, the British company providing the electric drivetrain, enjoys the benefit of selling these vehicles to customers who are able to escape London’s congestion fee.
The electric Transit Connect will only sell through select Ford dealers, but in 2011 the company will follow that with a higher-volume electric version of either its Focus or Fiesta small car, which will be sold through all of its dealers to regular customers.
With the recent grants of federal money, both Ford and Nissan are solidly positioned to begin manufacturing regular production versions of the cars that already exist in drivable prototype form.
Tesla, the Silicon Valley startup that suffers no shortage of bold claims but that missed by nearly two years its announced production target for its first electric model, the Tesla Roadster, also says that it will have a more affordable four-door sedan ready for production by late 2011.
Now that the company says it has delivered more than 500 of its tiny $109,000 Roadster models to customers, perhaps it can make this forecast with greater reliability. The new car, called the Model S, is slated to cost $57,400 when equipped with a battery pack with a range of 160 miles. Larger batteries with 230- and 300-mile driving ranges will also be available, according to Tesla.
With the Tesla’s anticipated long driving range, cultivation of a network of fast charging stations along highways could even make electric cars practical for trips someday, rather than just the around-town commuting that is expected to be the primary duty of such cars.
To support urban use, office parking garages and shopping centers are a prime targets for charging stations, according to Perry. Regular wall-type 110-volt outlets will take considerable time to fully recharge these cars’ battery packs and would probably mostly be used to keep the batteries topped up.
Better charging stationsNissan says its car takes 14 hours to charge the lithium ion batteries completely on standard 110-volt power, but that a 220-volt charger that will do the job in about 4 hours. The expectation is that customers will have a 220-volt charger installed in their home for quick everyday charges — which might even be coordinated with their utility to get a better rate by charging in the middle of the night — and use the 110-volt capability when they are parked elsewhere, said Perry.
Car makers are working with power utilities and others to define the standard for a planned 440-volt charger, which would recharge Nissan’s electric car to 80 percent of capacity — good for 80 miles of driving — in 26 minutes and the Tesla Model S’s in 45 minutes.
This would make it practical for gas stations to have charging stations that drivers could use if they needed to drive somewhere beyond the range of a full charge. Although 26 minutes is still a good while to wait, it turns out that the average customer’s visit to a fast food restaurant lasts 20 minutes, so it could be that McDonalds will emerge as a player in the emerging industry of recharging electric cars.
The expected increase in electric car manufacturers draws concern in some quarters, where there is concern about toxic battery components and about the fact that most electricity produced in the U.S. today comes from coal-fired power plants.
Nissan’s Perry points out that materials used in the batteries are valuable and will be recovered for reuse when the car is retired. Addressing concerns that battery electric cars only move the source of pollution from the tailpipe to the smokestack, Perry explained that even with today’s coal-heavy mix of electric power generation, electric cars produce only 40 percent the amount of CO2 as gas-powered cars, and this percentage can improve over time as utilities shift away from coal.
And they’ll be even cleaner if some of those early adopters can charge them from their homes’ roof-top solar arrays.


Next Big Thing means tough competition on pricing in the end product - Electric cars, the most lucrative business for a while will be batteries. Now auto makers are securing their say in battery makers and they in turn will move to secure Lithium Supply.


"Normal investment cycle will include money flowing into new play - this time Lithium, into companies like SQM, ROC and FMC first and then they will move down the food chain. What will be the M&A targets of new Bull?"


China is moving ahead in Lithium and REE space as usual:



"It is a ground breaking milestone for both Juniors involved: value network in action. TNR Gold has attracted interest from Canada Zinc Metals and its shareholders including Chinese Tongling and Lundin mining with opportunities opened in Lithium and REE market."



"By Chang-Ran Kim and Kiyoshi Takenaka - Analysis
TOKYO (Reuters) - Rechargeable batteries could become the core technology for the auto industry if pure electric cars enter the mainstream -- a prospect that has carmakers racing to team up with battery makers.
Auto executives say that with fewer moving parts, easy-to-assemble electric cars may also lower the bar for entry into the cut-throat autos industry and make battery manufacturers the unlikely competitors for car giants.
"I've said for years that Toyota's rival will be Hitachi," said Kenichiro Senoo, a professor at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo.
"Or that in 2016, you'd be able to buy a car assembly kit in Akihabara," he said, referring to Tokyo's famous electronics shopping district.
Already, China's battery maker-cum-automaker BYD Co has entered the scene, bad news for automakers whose expertise lies in the complex task of fitting together thousands of components into a safe and reliable vehicle.
Some see the shift to electric cars turning the auto industry into something resembling the PC sector, where Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp, which supply key devices across PC brands, take the lion's share of the industry profit.
Firms such as Panasonic Corp and Hitachi Ltd, which have the core technology to make batteries, could be the Intels and Microsofts of the auto industry of the future.
Japanese electronics conglomerate NEC Corp plans to raise around $2 billion and use some of that money in growth areas such as lithium-ion batteries, a source and the Yomiuri newspaper said on Friday.
LINKING UP
Lithium-ion batteries are seen as the most practical option available now for electric vehicles as they have the higher energy density required to feed the electric motors that power the car instead of an engine.
To avoid being sidelined, top automakers are looking to tie up with battery giants to have a say in developing batteries that still face cost and safety hurdles for commercial viability.
Most hybrid cars use nickel-metal hydride batteries, which store less energy.
Early movers such as Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co and Mitsubishi Motors Corp have set up joint ventures to produce batteries with Panasonic, NEC and GS Yuasa Corp, respectively.
"When we were doing the research for electric vehicles (EVs), we believed we needed to have the core battery technology in-house," said Andy Palmer, senior vice president and head of product planning at Nissan, which wants to be the world's first automaker to mass-market zero-emission electric vehicles in 2012.
"That was a strategic decision we chose to make. If Nissan is right ... and zero-emissions is the future, then we've ensured that future by having that technology."
The Nissan-NEC venture is looking to sell its lithium-ion batteries widely in a move some say resembles an open structure that Intel succeeded with.
Not to be left behind, Volkswagen AG has sealed non-equity battery partnerships with Japan's Sanyo Electric Co and Toshiba Corp.
Europe's top automaker said in May it would explore options for a third partnership, with China's BYD, which already has the endorsement of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway.
Daimler AG now has a 6 percent stake in Tesla Motors Inc, a California start-up that has used its battery technology to create high-performance sports cars under its own brand.
In danger of falling through the cracks is Honda Motor Co, which formed a late venture this year with Mitsubishi Motors partner GS Yuasa limited to batteries for hybrid cars.
Honda has dismissed electric cars as a short-range compromise, betting instead on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles as the zero-emission option to ultimately replace today's cars.
Absent from the growing list of tie-ups are U.S. automakers General Motors, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler, which have little cash to spare.
Toyota is going even further by researching, without the involvement of partner Panasonic, an advanced battery that it hopes would beat lithium-ion batteries in performance and cost.
Panasonic, for its part, is in the process of acquiring Sanyo, while SB LiMotive, a battery venture between South Korea's Samsung SDI and Germany's Robert Bosch, is buying U.S. battery maker Cobasys.
BUMPS AHEAD
While batteries could take center stage in the world of electric cars, it's not all doom for automakers. The rigorous testing involved in ensuring safety is an area where battery makers trail automakers.
"I think electronics makers can probably make cars if they buckle down to it," said Mitsuru Homma, executive vice president of Sanyo, the world's largest rechargeable battery maker.
"But electronics companies are miles behind automakers when it comes to awareness of safety and product liability concerning vehicles, and the technological know-how on the whole process of auto-making. Some things are best left to the experts," he said.
Succeeding in the auto industry also requires brand power, competitive sales channels and services, and expertise in parts integration, analysts said.
That probably means few battery giants, which also include South Korea's LG Chem Ltd, Hitachi and A123 of the United States, are likely to go down the same road as BYD.
"If consumers are happy with that level of crudeness, then maybe BYD has a chance," a top executive at a Japanese automaker said.
"But there's something to be said for building a sophisticated, fun-to-drive car, and that takes experience."
(Additional reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Valerie Lee)"

Thursday, July 16, 2009




We have our promised surprise on growth in China:



"China’s Economic Growth Accelerates to 7.9% on Loans (Update1)
By Bloomberg News
July 16 (Bloomberg) -- China’s
gross domestic product grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter as the nation became the first of the major economies to rebound from the global recession.
The figure, announced by the statistics bureau in Beijing today, exceeded the 7.8 percent median forecast of 20 economists in a Bloomberg survey and a 6.1 percent gain in the first quarter that was the slowest in almost a decade.
China, the biggest contributor to global growth, overtook Japan as the world’s second-largest stock market by value yesterday after a 4 trillion yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package spurred record lending and boosted share prices. The first-half expansion laid the foundation for meeting the year’s 8 percent growth target for creating jobs and maintaining social stability, the statistics bureau said today
."



And we have our Chinese M&A Canada Zinc, Lithium and REE story on the radar screen now: Canaccord Adams Junior Mining put it among others as desired target for Chinese expansion.



"Canada Zinc Metals CZX.v is as a Takeover Target in July 15th Canaccord Capital's Morning Coffee


Insatiable appetite. In the first half of 2009, commodities discussion generally focused on China stockpiling physical metal, building inventories to supply feed for its expanding industrial base. With its storehouses bursting with metal, China may have altered its focus from the present to the future. Security of supply has tended to be tied to rarer metals and minerals. However, security of supply has taken on a different tone within the borders of China. Security of supply is no longer simply applicable to those specific resources required to sustain strategic industries that are considered vital to a national existence. For China, it seems that “security of supply” has evolved into a synonym for “competitive advantage”. Chinese demand for metals has been a significant factor in maintaining high metal prices and now it appears that China’s appetite for metals could begin to have a more significant impact on the pricing of mining equities. From an investor’s perspective, the goal is to own what China needs and China needs metals. And strategically, it could be easier for China’s state-owned corporations to fly under the radar and buy or take positions in smaller foreign corporations rather than their larger cousins. We return to our long-term thesis: own quality junior exploration and mining companies with superior projects. Canaccord Adams Junior Mining Weekly team highlights the following junior companies with projects that could be of interest to a Chinese mining group: Axmin Resources (AXM), Bear Creek Mining (BCM), Canada Zinc Metals (CZX), Candente Resources (DNT), Chariot Resources (CHD), Continental Minerals (KMK), Corriente Resources (CTQ), Forsys Metals Corp (FSY), Norsemont Mining (NOM), and Zazu Metals Corp (ZAZ)."




"Companies (Chinese - S.) are allowed from 1st of August basically to shop around the world for necessary resources in exchange for US Dollars effectively which are overflowing the monetary system."


After recent strategic investment in TNR Gold TNR.v Canada Zinc Metals is busy on developing its status as regional play:


"Strategy looks like Investment expansion:Tongling - Canada Zinc Metals - District play with TEC and Korea Zinc - Lundin Mining on board - Zinc and Lead - Cars - Growth space: China largest auto market from March - New Bull - Electric cars - Lithium and REE - TNR Gold and International Lithium Corp."


"Canada Zinc Metals's Akie holds 23.6 million tons of high grade Zinc, nearby J/V between TEC and Korea Zinc holds another 50 million tons. District play can mean 100 million tons with further discoveries and deals among these three players and now CZX.v has a strong backing strategic partner with deep pockets."


"Vancouver, British Columbia CANADA, Jul 15, 2009 (Filing Services Canada via COMTEX) ---- Canada Zinc Metals Corp. (CZX: undefined, undefined, undefined% - TSX Venture), ("Canada Zinc Metals " or the "Company") is pleased to report that the 2009 exploration program on the Akie Property and Kechika Regional tenures (collectively the" Properties") has commenced. This year's exploration program, which is helicopter supported, will be staged from the Akie base camp and will consist primarily of geologic mapping, geochemical sampling and detailed prospecting, with particular emphasis on the latter.. The Properties, all owned 100% by the Company, are centered approximately 260 kilometers north-northwest of the town of Mackenzie in northeastern British Columbia.
Akie Property Program
Work will focus on three high priority soil +/- silt geochemical targets, all underlain by permissive Gunsteel shale, that have been identified as a result of previous work by the Company and others. Of these, the North Lead Anomaly, located some 2.3 km northwest of the nearest drill hole to penetrate the Cardiac Creek deposit, is considered to be the most prospective due to the presence of coarse grained, heterogeneous, mineralization encountered in a 1996 drill hole (11.60% zinc and 9.05% lead over an interval of 0.80 m) within a geologic environment identical to that at Cardiac Creek. In addition, this mineralization is accompanied by sulphide (pyrite, sphalerite and galena) replacement of the fragments and the matrix of an underlying debris flow, quartz-carbonate alteration in footwall rocks beneath the debris flow, and widespread high lead/zinc ratios in the soil samples collected from the surrounding area, all characteristics of a typical vent complex/feeder zone associated with a SEDEX deposit. Hydrothermal centres such as these are often associated with higher grade mineralization at the transition between the vent complex and the laterally extensive bedded ore facies.
Kechika Regional Program
The Kechika regional program will focus on the Pie, Yuen Extension and Yuen claims that extend northwestward from the Akie Property for a distance of some 30 km and encompass the key geological package of Middle to Late Devonian fine grained sediments and associated carbonate rocks that host the Company's Cardiac Creek deposit and the nearby Cirque deposits owned by Teck Resources and Korea Zinc.
The 2009 regional exploration program will have two primary components:
I. To conduct a detailed investigation of the favourable Gunsteel stratigraphy along strike from the Cardiac Creek deposit. These rocks exhibit widespread anomalous lead-zinc soil and silt geochemistry and numerous lead-zinc-barite showings over almost the entire extent of the three tenures, and;
II. To evaluate the continuation to the northwest onto the Yuen tenure and southeast onto the Pie tenure of the prospective package of Gunsteel rocks that host the two Cirque deposits. The favourable strike length covers a total distance of 15 kilometres.
"With the commencement of our 2009 exploration program, we anticipate field work leading to even better and more refined understanding of the geologic setting and to a more concentrated focus that will result in a drill program on new targets. Given our successful first phase of regional exploration last year in combination with historical work, I am certain new discoveries can be made in the months to come," commented Jim Mustard, President of Canada Zinc Metals. "Although there is continued uncertainty in the capital markets, we are pleased that the Board of Directors has approved an exploration budget this year of approximately $1.5 million. The work that we will be conducting at the Akie property, including further environmental baseline studies, will continue to advance the project towards a potential underground program next year."
About the Akie and Kechika Regional Properties
The Akie zinc-lead property is situated within the southern-most part (Kechika Trough) of the regionally extensive Paleozoic Selwyn Basin, one of the most prolific sedimentary basins in the world for the occurrence of SEDEX zinc-lead-silver and stratiform barite deposits.
Drilling on the Akie property by Inmet Mining Corporation during the period 1994 to 1996 and by Canada Zinc Metals since 2005 has identified a significant body of baritic-zinc-lead SEDEX mineralization (Cardiac Creek deposit). The deposit is hosted by variably siliceous, fine grained clastic rocks of the Middle to Late Devonian 'Gunsteel' formation. The Company has outlined a NI 43-101 compliant inferred resource of 23.6 million tonnes grading 7.6% Zn, 1.5% Pb and 13.0 g/t Ag (at a 5% Zn cut off grade).
Two similar deposits, Cirque and Cirque South Cirque, located some 20 km northwest of Akie and owned under a joint venture by Teck Resources and Korea Zinc, are also hosted by Gunsteel rocks and have a combined geologic inventory in excess of 50 million tonnes (non 43-101 compliant).
In addition to the Akie property, Canada Zinc Metals controls a large contiguous group of claims called Kechika Regional hosting identical geology as occurs at Cirque and Akie. Kechika Regional includes Mt Alcock (best historic drill intercept 8.8 metres grading 9.3% Zn+Pb) and several regional base metal anomalies.
Qualified Person
John R. Fraser, P.Geo. (B.C.), Vice President of Exploration and a Director of Canada Zinc Metals is the Qualified Person for the Company, as defined by NI 43-101, and is responsible for the technical information contained in this release."

Wednesday, July 15, 2009



Our Electric Cars will help us to grow solar and wind power to charge them.
"A single idle, electric-powered car could generate as much as 10 kilowatts of power, enough to meet the average demand of 10 houses, according to Willett Kempton, director of the Center for Carbon-free Power Integration at the University of Delaware. With vehicle-to-grid technology, controlled by an array of smart meters, car owners plugged in at home or work could allow the grid to draw off unused chunks of power at times when short-term demand is high. Conversely, cars could be recharged when demand is low."
Welcome to Energy business: Charge it Low, Sell it High!




It is a new way to look at our Green Mobility Revolution based on Electric Cars as a structural shift in all energy business. With enough penetration Electric Cars will implement an ideal Mobile Distributed Energy Storage Network, addressing concerns about terror or natural disasters and providing important link to solar and wind power utilisation. Lithium as a base for this applications will be realised in its status of a New Oil - powering the new sustainable economy.



3. Geopolitical implications: the only way, in our opinion, for US corp to survive and maybe one day prosper again. Options are not whether to chose or not, but how to be able to join Electric mobility revolution. You can not compete with China as a producer with electric mobility on the cost side against your oil addiction. With oil above 100USD/barrel wealth transfer is 1 trillion dollars per year. US Corp is bankrupt without this kind of hazard, but here we are talking about cash flow and mere market existence..."




On another front money are flowing in Lithium based batteries:






TOKYO, July 13 (Reuters) - Japanese battery maker GS Yuasa Corp (6674.T) said on Monday that it plans to sell 40 million shares in a public offering and up to an additional 6 million shares, depending on demand.
GS Yuasa plans to make lithium-ion batteries for hybrid cars from 2010 with Honda Motor Co (7267.T). (Reporting by Mayumi Negishi)"


"Billions are coming into our Next Big Thing: Green Mobility revolution - new factories for lithium batteries are under contraction and new Electric Cars models are rolled out. In Lithium Supply chain, which will benefit from newly born Bull, place is not very crowded, but success will depend on people involved, their energy and ability to develop the projects."





The challenge for green energy: how to store excess electricity
For years, the stumbling block for renewable energy has been how to store electricity for days when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. But new technologies suggest this goal may be within reach, writes Jon R Luoma from Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian From Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment Network
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 July 2009 15.41 BST

"Why are we ignoring things we know? We know that the sun doesn't always shine and that the wind doesn't always blow." So wrote former U.S. Energy Secretary James Schlesinger and Robert L. Hirsch last spring in the Washington Post, suggesting that because these key renewables produce power only intermittently, "solar and wind will probably only provide a modest percentage of future U.S. power."
Never mind that Schlesinger failed to disclose that he sits on the board of directors of Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company — a business with much to lose if a solar- and wind-powered future arrives. But at least he and his co-author got it partly right. The benefits from wind and solar are mostly intermittent — so far. But the pair somehow missed the fact that a furious search for practical, affordable electricity storage to beat that intermittence problem is well underway.
For decades, "grid parity" has been the Holy Grail for alternative energy. The rap from critics was that technologies like wind and solar could not compete, dollar-for-dollar, with conventional electricity sources, such as coal and nuclear, without large government tax breaks or direct subsidies. But suddenly, with rapid technological advances and growing economies of manufacturing scale, wind power is now nearly at grid parity — meaning it costs roughly the same to generate electricity from wind as it does from coal. And the days when solar power attains grid parity may be only a half-decade away.
So with grid parity now looming, finding ways to store millions of watts of excess electricity for times when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine is the new Holy Grail. And there are signs that this goal — the day when large-scale energy storage becomes practical and cost-effective — might be within reach, as well. Some technologies that can store sizeable amounts of intermittent power are already deployed. Others, including at least a few with great promise, lie somewhere over the technological horizon.
New storage approaches include improvements to existing lithium ionbatteries and schemes to store energy as huge volumes of compressed air in vast geologic vaults. Another idea is to create a network of small, energy-dense batteries in tens of millions of homes. Under such a "distributed storage" scheme, utility computers could coordinate electricity flows over a "smart grid" that continually communicates with — and adjusts the flow of power to and from — local batteries. This would even include batteries in future plug-in hybrid or all-electric vehicles.
And one 2008 breakthrough could even fulfill chemists' long-held dreams of producing a squeaky-clean and storable fuel by using excess electricity generated from renewable sources to cheaply produce hydrogen, which could then be used in fuel cells to power homes and cars.
In a world run mainly on fossil fuels, finding ways to store electricity was not a pressing concern: Power plants across a regional electrical grid could simply burn more fuel when demand was high. But large-scale electricity storage promises be an energy game-changer, unshackling alternative energy from the constraints of intermittence. It would mean that if a wind or solar farm were the cheapest and cleanest way to generate power, it wouldn't matter when the sun shone or the wind blew.One storage approach seems obvious: to improve battery technologies. Picture efficient, enormous batteries that can store tens of millions ofwatt-hours of juice. Today, the vast majority of new rooftop solar photovoltaic panels are connected to the grid, using it as a giant battery, pushing excess power onto the grid when solar panels provide excess power. The building then draws power from the grid when the sun doesn't shine, with its meter spinning backward and forward with the ebb and flow of power. With relatively few solar roofs yet in play, utilities manage any ebb and flow by drawing down and ramping up generation at conventional power plants designed to balance fluctuating supply and demand.A more robust world of solar and wind power might be better served by some sort of giant battery — or, more likely, many of them, widely distributed. The basic concept has been proven. Since 2003, the world's largest battery backup has been storing energy for an entire city: Fairbanks, Alaska. Isolated as it is, and not part of any regional electricity grid, the metropolitan area of about 100,000 residents needs an electricity backstop more than most: In its sub-zero winters, pipes can freeze solid in as little as two hours. Six years ago, the city installed a huge nickel-cadmium battery, the same technology used for years in laptop computers and other portable devices.
Housed in a giant warehouse, the 1,300-metric ton battery is larger than a football field, and can crank out 40 million watts of power. Still, the Fairbanks battery provides only enough electricity for about 12,000 residents for seven minutes. That was enough to prevent 81 blackouts in the city in the battery's first two years of operation.
Yet effective storage of electricity from solar or wind arrays that generate power equivalent to one large coal plant implies batteries on a breathtaking scale — hundreds of units the size of the Fairbanks array.
One possible answer? In Japan, so-called "flow" batteries have been used for years to store backup power at industrial plants. Conventional batteries store energy in chemical form.With flow batteries, charged chemicals are pumped into storage tanks, allowing still more chemical to be charged and pumped away, then pumped back into the active portion of the battery and drawn down as needed. One big advantage: Battery "size" can be expanded by simply adding more chemicals and more storage tanks. In 2003, the local utility on small King Island, off the coast of Australia, installed a large flow battery to sop up and later release excess power from a wind farm.As with the alternative generation technologies, cost will be key for determining which battery or other storage technologies might prevail. Aside from such typical economic concerns as raw material and maintenance costs and durability, storage technologies all face some losses in "round-trip efficiency." Inevitably, some energy is lost as it goes into storage, and more is lost as it comes out.
Right now, hopes are riding high on lithium ion batteries, because they have impressive round-trip efficiencies, can pack in high densities of energy, and can charge and discharge thousands of times before becoming degraded. Because of those attributes, lithium-ion battery technology has become increasingly dominant in laptop computers and cell phones. On a far larger scale, a powerful lithium ion battery pack powers the pricey all-electric Tesla Roadster, and is slated to power the plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt next year.
On the grid, lithium ion experiments are already underway. One company, General Electric-backed A123 Systems, announced late in 2008 that it had been contracted to install a two-megawatt lithium ion storage unit at a California power plant owned by global utility giant AES.
Still, lithium ion remains a relatively expensive technology — 10 times more expensive than lead acid batteries with equivalent capacity. Technological improvements and manufacturing scale should bring lithium costs down over time, but by the time that happens, the world could be beating a path to the door of someone who's found a way to build an even better battery.
Early this year, IBM revealed that it was launching a major research program into what looks like an even more promising technology — the lithium metal-air battery. Last month, a company called PolyPlus announced that it had already succeeded in developing one.
The PolyPlus battery and the IBM technology deliver an astonishing 10 times more energy density than even today's best lithium ion technology. That means that, pound for pound, they offer about the energy density of gasoline. The key reason they can store so much energy is that they use oxygen, drawn from the air, in place of some of the chemical reactants used along with lithium in their lithium ion cousins.There's one big rub: Air isn't just oxygen. Notably, it also contains humidity, and the lithium has a bad habit of acting like ignited gasoline when exposed to moisture, creating a real risk of fire and explosion. Chandrasekhar Narayan, manager of science and technology at IBM's Almaden Research Center near San Jose, Calif., has suggested that it will take five to 10 years to develop an effective membrane that will let oxygen into the battery while keeping moisture out.
Still in pie-in-sky mode, there's "vehicle to grid" storage, or "carbitrage." This enticing notion relies on idled storage in the batteries of the millions of plug-in hybrid or all-electric automobiles that will be in use in the future. There's reason to believe this scheme could work. More than 90 percent of the time cars sit idled, and aside from days they're used for long trips, most of their full energy storage capacity goes unused.
A single idle, electric-powered car could generate as much as 10 kilowatts of power, enough to meet the average demand of 10 houses, according to Willett Kempton, director of the Center for Carbon-free Power Integration at the University of Delaware. With vehicle-to-grid technology, controlled by an array of smart meters, car owners plugged in at home or work could allow the grid to draw off unused chunks of power at times when short-term demand is high. Conversely, cars could be recharged when demand is low.
The stored power in those electric cars, or anywhere on the grid, might not come from batteries after all. In March, Texas-based EEStor announced that it had received third-party verification of its "ultracapacitor" technology. The company claims the lightweight device, which was awarded a U.S. patent last December, can bottle up huge amounts of electricity far more quickly than any battery and can do so at lower cost.
Like batteries, capacitors store and mete out electricity. Small conventional capacitors have been ubiquitous in electronic devices as far back as the early days of radio. But capacitors, so far, haven't been able to store electricity for long enough to come close to competing with batteries. They have found use as devices that level out fluctuations in voltage or that briefly store power for near-instant release.
EEStor claims that its device, which is one-quarter the weight of a similarlithium ion battery, can hold a large charge for days. Its patent describes a 281-pound device that would hold almost the same charge as a half-ton lithium ion battery pack installed on the Tesla Roadster. The company's ultracapacitors have yet to prove themselves in commercial products. But industrial giant Lockheed Martin has already signed up with EEStor to use future ultra capacitors in defense applications, and Toronto-based Zenn Motors, which has also taken an ownership stake in EEStor, says it will have electric cars on the road using the technology in 2010.If advanced batteries or ultracapacitors aren't the ultimate answer, maybe using excess electricity to make hydrogen that can be stored will do the trick. Hydrogen can be produced through simple electrolysis, but technical and cost hurdles have made electrolysis impractical. Today, industrial-scale hydrogen is produced using natural gas as a not-so-clean feedstock.
But that may have begun to change last summer when MIT announced that a team lead by chemist Daniel Nocera had made a "major discovery" that employs a new kind of catalyst using cobalt and phosphate — abundant and non-toxic materials — to kick-start electrolysis.
Outside observers say the process could be revolutionary: opening up the possibility that electricity made at any time by the sun or wind could be stored by simply splitting (and later recombining) abundant water molecules, perhaps even undrinkable sea water. The breakthrough has been hailed by scientist British scientist James Barber of Imperial College London as having "enormous implications for the future prosperity of humankind." The website Xconomy reported in April that Nocera had quietly formed a startup company called Sun Catalytics. Efforts to reach Nocera for comment were unsuccessful.
And there is progress being made on an entirely different front — using excess electricity to pump compressed air into caverns, salt domes, and old natural gas wells, and then releasing the air to help state-of-the-art natural gas power plants spin turbines, lowering the amount of fuel consumed by as much as 70 percent. A consortium of utilities in Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas is already working with the U.S.'s Sandia National Laboratories to develop a giant, 268-megawatt compressed air system. Called the Iowa Stored Energy Park, it would store excess energy from the region's burgeoning wind industry.
• This article was shared by our content partner Yale Environment 360, part of the Guardian Environment Network"




 

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