I studied geology in the 1960s and worked for a small mining company before getting a start in journalism during the 1969 nickel boom. Since then I've covered repeated booms and busts in the commodities sector for a passing parade of newspapers, magazines and website. I am also a
Uranium Booms. Oil To Follow If Climate Rules Soften
Cautious investors will remain wary of uranium even as the nuclear fuel trades at a 15-year high of $80 a pound with the promise of more to come as market and geopolitical conditions look alarmingly like a repeat of 1973.
Chinese Mining Companies Blunder In Australia
Chinese and Australian companies clash over the development of lithium and rare earth assets.
Glencore Adds Teck’s Mines To Its Global Coal Business
Unintended but not unexpected is one way of describing what’s happening to the price of steel-making coal as governments suppress supply in the face of steady demand growth, a perfect recipe for a higher price.
ExxonMobil’s ‘Back-To-The-Future’ Mining Move
Mining has not been a comfortable business for oil and gas giant ExxonMobil in the past, but its plan to produce lithium should wipe away memories of its earlier failure.
The Energy Transition Has A Gold Problem
The hoped-for shift from fossil fuels to battery metals is getting more difficult as explorers maintain a focus on the metal which is easiest to monetize because it is already a form of money, gold.