April 11, 2012

Iron ore price hits 6-month high

The price is up more than 27% from lows struck in October last year when the steelmaking ingredient experienced a mini crash.

April 11, 2012

Vale vs IMF: Who are you going to believe?

Using the dismal science to make forecasts and taking risks with real money are two very different things. And the Brazilian giant is definitely putting its money where its mouth…

April 11, 2012

Look ma, no rare earths

Hitachi has built an 11-kilowatt motor that uses no rare earth materials. The motor took four years to develop, and commercial production is expected in two years.

April 11, 2012

How serious are China and India about their gold?

Despite the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 suffering their worst day of the year on Tuesday, precious metals were able to decouple and climb higher.

April 10, 2012

China’s upcoming leadership change

It's not just the United States that will have a potentially major leadership shake up this fall.

April 10, 2012

A worry for Caterpillar: plunging Chinese excavator sales

Caterpillar has gotten a lot of juice out of overseas sales, and China’s been a growing market for the company. So anything undermining that is a concern for investors.

April 10, 2012

Molycorp’s rare earth reserves jump 36%

U.S.-based Molycorp, Inc., one of the only non-Chinese producers of rare earths, announced today that its proven and probable reserves of rare earth minerals at its Mountain Pass, California facility…

April 10, 2012

No bubble here: Rogers says Chinese property market is cooled down

Legendary commodity-investor and Singapore resident, Jim Rogers, told China Daily News that the property market has been slowed down and there is no crisis.

April 10, 2012

Rare earths shortage would spur Pentagon action, official says

The Defense Department would intervene in case of a shortage of rare earth materials for defense electronics and motors, Brett Lambert, the Pentagon official responsible for industrial policy, said.

April 10, 2012

The whole world is anxiously waiting for one detail from Alcoa’s earnings announcement

If you were thinking "supply," then you were wrong. Sure, Alcoa's investors will want to know when the global glut of aluminum will line up with demand.