Oldtent Archives 2007 - 2008

June 2 (Bloomberg) — Bolivian President Evo Morales nationalized Bolivia’s main gas pipeline company, expanding his control over the Andean country’s natural resources one day after losing two regional referendums on his rule.

Morales issued a decree seizing the shares in Transredes Transporte de Hidrocarburos SA owned by Europe’s Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Ashmore Energy International, which had a majority stake. Bolivia’s state energy company held 47 percent.

Today’s move is the latest by Morales to fulfill campaign pledges to “re-found” Bolivia by taking over energy and mining companies. The government forced foreign oil companies to renegotiate contracts in 2006 and last year seized Glencore International AG’s tin smelter. The actions have helped fuel discontent among business groups and provincial leaders opposed to Morales.

http://tinyurl.com/3jju7m

Yes I agree and we always must remember it could be a commie plot to make us think we are all a bunch of em. <G> Most answers I have seen so far were between gandie and iggy pop……lol

But some of the questions are confusing, or not really questions.  For instance,

“a significant advantage of a one-party state is that it avoids all the arguments that delay progress in a democratic political system.”

is a statement that I strongly agree with, but I fear that by clicking “strongly agree”  I am, for the purposes, agree that a one-party state is a good thing (which I do not).  It certainly affects the outcome.

Take the test,

http://www.politicalcompass.org/test

 and then check your score

ie;

Who are you most like?

-stalin

-gandie

-kaplan <G> etc……

Bill, you’ll find some other historical data relating to perhaps his Grandfather in the “Links Library.”

Australian quarterly gold output plunges to lowest level in 19 years

By: Matthew Hill
Published on 2nd June 2008

Gold production in Australia dived to the lowest levels in about two decades for the March quarter as miners treated lower ore grades, a Melbourne-based mining consultancy said at the weekend.

At 53 t, Australia’s first-quarter gold production showed a 16% drop on the previous quarter’s figure, and was 12% lower year-on-year.

The price of the yellow metal hit new highs during the three months ended March, which was slightly offset by a stronger Australian dollar, Surbiton Associates said in an emailed statement.

While the production figures seemed dismal, there were reational reasons for the drop, and “things were nowhere near as bad as they seem”, Surbiton director Sandra Close said.

“The primary cause of the sharp drop in output was the lower average grade of ore treated,” she stated. “I suspect some operators are taking every advantage of the high gold price to reduce their head grade.”

Close explained that this enabled them to recover more gold over the life of the mine, while still maintaining their profitability.

Operational problems had also reduced the grade of ore that some mines were treating, which had been compounded by wet weather.

“Closures accounted for about two tons of the quarterly production drop,” Close said. “Few new operations have come on stream lately, but there are several slated to commence in the latter part of the year.”

RISING COSTS

She went on to note that sliding grades also had an effect on production costs.

“When costs have to be spread over fewer ounces produced, obviously the cash cost per ounce must rise,” commented Close, adding that this was “certainly the case” in the March quarter, but that it was only part of the picture.

“Despite the increase in cash costs per ounce of gold produced, there has been far less of an increase in the cost per ton of ore mined and treated,” she said. “The cost of labour, energy and consumables may be rising but the industry is doing a remarkable job keeping overall costs under control.”
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It’s Coming,, although far too slowly..

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abtd
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My thoughts are just that, any critique is welcome. Today we saw the pms enjoy a bit of a rally as the sm fell 100pts or so and then it seemed fear became a little too much for pm investors and a sell of(albeit small) seemed to happen.  I acted on that and sold some pm longs at that point roughly and went short here for some nickels.

If you need hammers to beat the livin daylights out of your enemy you need to sell some at the high and buy more at the lows and have more hammers to beat the livin behesus outa those sob’s, otherwise you end up looking as smart as a bag of em with a 2 bit hammer outo some 5yr olds xmas sock.

“The real nasty in that article though is here:

“The Fed is selling Treasury bills at the fastest pace since it was founded in 1913 to support bank- lending programs meant to boost confidence in financial markets. The Fed owns $34.3 billion of the securities, down from $267 billion, or 27 percent of the market, in December.”

Uh, wait a second. Dr. Spinmeister, please stop and tell the truth.

What truth? Try this.

From $267 billion to $34.3 billion is a decrease of 88%. Yes, it was 27% of the market back then and is much less now, but the more important fact here is that The Fed has sold off 88% of its Treasury Securities and replaced them with garbage CDOs and other toilet paper from the banks! What happens when The Fed runs out of good collateral to sell?

Uh, gee, you think that day has basically arrived?”

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/

 being played in AZK and AZC.

 Have to see what they try to do with CDE and GSS at the close since those two are holding the HUI up - barely.

  Volume in the whole space is still anemic, but some signs of life in a couple of my Canadian jrs. (for now).

  Ipso - very true. All we have is this moment in time.

I can grok on that.  For instance, today, the SM fall is doing us in PM land no favors. 

I have no sm pos but at the same time understand that the sm can influence the pm’s at times. Mostly they bottom together but the transition period from high to low for each may see a divergence in performance. So I watch the sm for a potential bottom and feel the pm’s will be draw to that point at some time.  While they may outperform the sm until a point of fear where all is tossed out with the bathwater.  jmo

32.   Inch Time Foot Gem A lord asked Takuan, a Zen Teacher, to suggest how he might pass the time. He felt his days very long attending his office and sitting stiffly to receive the homage of others.Takuan wrote eight Chinese characters and gave them to the man:

Heads keep rolling…

June 2 (Bloomberg) — Wachovia Corp. ousted Kennedy Thompson as chief executive officer of the fourth-largest U.S. bank after the board blamed him for losses that cost the lender more than half its market value in the past year. The stock fell as much as 4.5 percent.

Chairman Lanty Smith was appointed interim CEO, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said today in a statement that cited “a series of previously disclosed disappointments and setbacks” for the change. Separately, Washington Mutual Inc. said its CEO will step down as chairman.

Wachovia stripped Thompson, 57, of the chairman’s title on May 6 after shareholders — incensed by the company’s first quarterly loss since 2001 — demanded his removal at April’s annual meeting. A four-member search committee headed by Smith will seek a replacement to deal with fallout from rising mortgage defaults and writedowns tied to subprime home loans.

“This company was run under Ken Thompson without very good controls,” Gerard Cassidy, an RBC Capital Markets analyst, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. Chances are even that Wachovia will seek a new CEO from outside the bank because there isn’t a clearly designated successor, Cassidy said.

Wachovia dropped $1 to $22.80 at 10:35 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The company’s shares have slid about 40 percent this year. Source

So… I guess you are thinking that the SM may be looking to turn up here?  On that long term chart you showed it looks like it could get ugly if it breaks the trend line.

I’m glad I take no position on the SM… up or down.  Like that great seer Yogi Berra said:  “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future. ”