GLG News by Mining Experts

General Motors made a bad bet by putting all of its (out)sourcing into a China price basket; it left itself thereby completely at the mercy of global market forces over which it has no control whatsoever and which its increasingly isolated purchasing managers seem not to comprehend.

The obsolescent Toyota Prius is probably now and most likely has always been a money losing car to build, sell, and maintain, which even at just 3% of Toyota's yearly build may now be having a negative impact on Toyota's image all out of proportion to its sales volume. This is a sharp contrast with...

It has always been cheaper to use coke, 'carbonized coal,' to reduce iron oxide (ore) to iron in a blast furnace than to use any other reducing agent, such as hydrogen. Coke has long been the only practical reducing agent, and has been in use, since the beginning of the blast-furnace era in Wyandotte,...

Tata is trying to buy the Jaguar and Land Rover brands as an entre into the western European and North American markets for its future higher end, but still commodity, cars.

The business model of Mexico's Elektra Stores is as attractive to Chinese car makers as it is frightening to all of the others.

The production of platinum and palladium has doubled in the last ten years. Chinese demand for platinum for automotive emission control catalyst has just begun. Will western usage at current rates be possible if Chinese demand ramps up?

Honda has a state-of-the-art fuel cell reliable enough, small enough, and powerful enough to demonstrate as a short range capable power train for a small car. Honda is far from being ready to sell this vehicle outright, and the market is even farther away from being ready for it. The fuel cell is expensive...

The announced new scrubber installations at major eastern coal fired plants by TVA, Southern Company and American Electric Power will increase the demand for high calcium lime production staring in 2008.  Most of these installations will utilize "wet scrubber" desulfurization equipment with for...

A crisis is looming for those American OEM heavy industrial companies who depend on imports of key specialty metals from China for production of their products in the US. China wants to create and maintain employment in China, and it feels that it is only logical to restrict access to strategic and...

All of GM's real losses lately are not just due to legacy costs and product mix. GM is hiding, in plain site, its massive exposure to Chinese currency fluctuations and raw material costs.