New steel alloy – as good as titanium
• A new lightweight steel alloy which is claimed to be as good as titanium but cheaper has been developed according to a paper in Nature
• Scientists at the Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea have developed the alloy by adding nickel at a nano level with aluminium
• There is still some way to go before the alloy enters commercial production
Battery technology
New SiMax™ battery offers double capacity of normal lithium batteries
• Kopin Corp and Hitachi Maxell have developed a new smaller and lighter battery which offers double the power capacity of conventional lithium batteries
• The battery is based on based on silicon oxide with carbon (SiO-C) in the anode
• Initial production is planned for Q2 2016 and is to be used in Kopin Solos™ cycling eyewear products
Russia – lack of domestic lithium raw material is seen as a serious restriction to Russia’s move to develop lithium production
• Russia has lithium prospects in Eastern Siberia, Irkutsk and Yakutia with feasibility studies on some projects
• The Russian government is reported to be looking at relaunching Liotech, a subsidiary of Rusnano and restarting production of lithium-ion batteries
• The Liotech plant was built in collaboration with Chinese Thunder Sky for around $300m and has capacity for 400m ampere hours. Thunder Sky withdrew from the project in 2013 with production suspended a year later due to collapsed demand for lithium batteries in Russia through the Russian financial crisis.
Lithium – Sony to start production of higher density lithium batteries by 2020
• The new batteries use Lithium- sulphur and magnesium-sulphur and should raise energy density to 1,000Wh/L from 700Wh/L
• Sony have led the way in lithium battery production since they commercialised production of LCO batteries for powering camcorders in the 1990s
• Today the value of lithium in a battery is around $2.8/kWh for 80g of ELC (425g Lithium carbonate)
Attend Cape Town in style with the 121 Group Mining Investing Conference – Cape Town 8-9 February 2016
• Buy-side investors and analysts are able to attend the summit for free. See registration form in link below
https://www.weare121.com/121mininginvestment-cape-town/registration/register-investor
Economic News
US – ISM drops to 48.2 in December
• The reading in December showed a contraction of 0.4 points from November.
• New orders were up 0.3 to 49.2 and US exprts were up 3.5 points 51
Eurozone manufacturing up in December
• Markit’s Eurozone manufacturing PMI moved up to 53.2 in December from 53.1 in the previous month.
• Italy performed well at 55.6 with good performance from Germany with PMI at 53.2 with expectations of 53.
• Greece recorded its first growth in 12 months.
Germany – Consumer prices contracted in December
• Consumer prices fell 0.1% from the previous month less than forecast of a 0.2% rise.
• Year on year prices rose 0.3% less than the 0.6% expected.
• The fall was a result of a fall in food inflation and clothing.
German Unemployment rate shows big fall in December
• The German unemployment rate fell by 14,000 which is more than 8,000 expected.
• Germany continues to enjoy the best unemployment rate in the EU at 6.3%.
Spain – Reports good unemployment numbers
• Unemployment in Spain fell by 55,800 in December better than market forecast of 50,000.
• This gives the biggest one year decline in unemployment.
Japan – Car sales reported in December rose 3.1%
• Data from the Japanese Automobile Association show a healthy monthly reading in December for car sales in Japan.
• This compares with a rise of 0.3% in November.
UK – December saw a slowdown in manufacturing
• UK’s PMI fell to 51.9 from 52.5 in November.
• This was less than expectations of 52.8 for December.
• Manufacturing will only make a marginal positive contribution to overall economic growth in the fourth quarter.
South Africa – if Lonmin fails will the loss of jobs and resulting unrest topple the leadership of the ANC?
Briton to be deported from Kyrgyzstan for posting joke about horse-meat sausage
• The Scot made the mistake of comparing the sausage with a horses’ thingy!
• We are not aware of anyone being deported from Scotland for jokes about ‘Haggis’ which looks like sheep guts – but in the new Peoples Republic of Scotland anything is possible!
Currencies
US$1.0808/eur vs 1.0924/eur yesterday. Yen 119.26/$ vs 119.00/$. SAr 15.5778/$ vs 15.5957/$. $1.4704/gbp vs 1.4754/gbp
0.7202/aud vs 0.7217/aud
Commodity News
Precious metals:
Gold US$1,076/oz vs US$1,072/oz yesterday
Platinum US$890/oz vs US$874/oz yesterday
Palladium US$544/oz vs US$546/oz yesterday
Silver US$13.99/oz vs US$13.95/oz yesterday
Base metals:
Copper US$4,671/t vs US$4,618/t yesterday
Aluminium US$1,487/t vsUS$1,486/t yesterday
Nickel US$8,630/t vs US$8,585/t yesterday
Zinc US$1,584/t vs US$1,563/t yesterday
Lead US$1,760/t vs US$1,752/t yesterday
Tin US$14,470/t vs US$14,500/t yesterday
Energy:
Oil US$37.01/bbl vs US$37.80/bbl yesterday –
Natural Gas US$2.280/mmbtu vs US$2.250/mmbtu yesterday
Uranium US$34.45/lb vs US$34.40/lb yesterday
Bulk comodities:
Iron ore 62% Fe spot (cfr Tianjin) US$39.45/t vs US$41.45/t yesterday
Thermal coal (1st year forward cif ARA) US$41.0/t vs US$44.3/t on 30 December
Other:
Tungsten - APT European prices $170–190/mtu unch on last year
Ferrochrome – Benchmark prices collapsed to 92c/lb in December for Q1/16 marking a 11.5% decline.World’s largest sapphire (1,404 carats) discovered in Sri Lanka. The stone could be worth US$100-175m.
Company News
Aquarius Platinum (LON:AQP) 11.3 pence, Mkt Cap £169.7m - Fatal accident reported at Mimosa Mine
• An employee is said to have died while working underground at the mine.
• A full investigation is underway following a report to the regulatory authorities.
Caledonia Mining (LON:CMCL) 38 pence, Mkt Cap £19.4m – Quarterly Dividend
• Caledonia Mining has declared a quarterly dividend of 1.125 US cents/share. The dividend, which is payable to shareholders on the register at 13th January, is the 11th quarterly dividend since the company declared its policy of paying 1.5 Canadian cents quarterly in 2014.
• Following the recently announced move to report Caledonia Mining’s financial statements in US$, the company has revised its quarterly dividend policy to pay 1.125 US cents each quarter amounting to 4.5 US cents annually.
• The company is currently implementing a major redevelopment of its Blanket mine in Zimbabwe which opens up deeper levels of the mine to secure a long term future for the operation and should increase production from the current level of around 40,000oz pa to approximately 65,000 oz pa by 2017 and 80,000oz pa by 2021.
Conclusion: Caledonia Mining is in a transformational phase as it implements its long term strategic plan at the Blanket Mine. It is encouraging to see the company’s confidence in the future expressed as a continuing commitment to its policy of dividend distribution.