It turns out they are, just not in Australia. The ABARE numbers measure exploration spending within Australia. But many Australian-listed firms are looking for gold and uranium in other places, especially in Africa. They’re doing so because production costs are lower there, even if political risk is higher (although in some places, it’s more than acceptable for the projects on offer).
November 20th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 0 comments | ContinuedArchive for Dan Denning
Dan Denning is the author of 2005's best-selling The Bull Hunter (John Wiley & Sons). Dan draws on his network of global contacts from his base in Melbourne. He’s the managing editor of resource newsletter Diggers and Drillers and the editor of The Daily Reckoning Australia.
Speculators and Chinese Firms Accumulating Australian Resource Companies and Commodities
And while China and America bicker over currencies, Chinese firms are scrambling to buy real assets. And while Aussie banks source foreign borrowing to lend in local real estate, Aussie mining firms go begging for bits of capital that would bring world-class ore bodies (and key strategic resources) into production…by local producers and owners.
November 19th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
Borrowing and Paying Back in a Foreign Currency
Capital flows are good now. The sun is shining and the country is lucky. But if we’re right and the strong Aussie dollar is mostly a function of the U.S. dollar carry trade, capital flows can reverse just as quickly. Currency traders probably love this because of the volatility. But the question is: how risky is it for Australia’s economy to source so much of its borrowing needs overseas?
November 18th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
Dollar Rally the Sort of Thing that Will Lead to Correction in Gold Price
House prices were up 6.2% in the third quarter over the same time last year, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. House prices in the capital cities are surging. Stocks are surging. Gold and oil are surging.
November 17th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 3 comments | Continued
$2,000 Gold Prediction
The weekend edition of the Australian Financial Review has gold on the cover, incidentally. You can see a picture of it a few paragraphs down. Underneath the giant golden letters it reads, “Why you shouldn’t laugh about gold hitting $US2000 an oz.” But if anyone’s laughing, it’s a nervous laughter.
November 16th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 8 comments | Continued
Finding Assets that Out Run Inflation as Bond Yields Move Up
The week began with your editor wondering how the bond market would choke down another $81 billion in U.S. Treasury debt. On Monday, it swallowed $40 billion in three-year notes with gusto, and even belched in satisfaction. Demand, analysts said, hadn’t been that strong since 1990-when the bond vigilantes used the bond market as a weapon to discipline government spending.
November 13th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 6 comments | Continued
Total Implosion of the Chinese Economy
You could take all of these as signs that China is leading the world to recovery and managing itself quite well. It should achieve 8% GDP growth. That’s the growth rate that China’s economic planners reckon the country must achieve to maintain high unemployment. And high employment rates promote political stability – valued above all else by a regime that makes free market gestures but still is run by old school communists.
November 12th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 22 comments | Continued
World of Super Collides With World of Credit Crunch
Meanwhile, mischief is still afoot in the world of superannuation. Australian super assets under management exceed $1.2 trillion. That’s the fourth largest pool of investable savings in the Western world.
November 11th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 1 comment | Continued
A Trader’s Market or an Investor’s Market?
Is it a fragile little market after all? You can’t really tell by appearances. For example, the world’s largest bond insurer (MBIA) fell 27% in New York trading. It reported a $727.8 million loss in insured credit derivatives. Yes…those credit landmines are still out there.
But the proper question – if you’re sitting on the fence about this move – is how broad the rally is.
November 11th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 2 comments | Continued
The Fed Has Put a Rocket Under the Market
The unconventional wisdom is that the Fed has learned nothing from the last bubble – or is so scared of deflation it’s willing to gamble on another bubble in asset prices. The trouble , the eventual bust in asset prices has to be reckoned up. And the Fed, along with all central banks who key off the Fed’s policy, are just kicking the can down the road, hoping asset values improve.
November 10th, 2009 | Dan Denning | 7 comments | Continued