Member Info for mrtibbles

Hi Paul then of course there is the disastrous HS2 project,a money printing exercise for the big UK civil engineering contactors who give a tender price and even though initially a contingency sum is agreed they have no intention of abIding by it because they know they have the government over a barrel and that the ministers wont challenge them!

All that wasted money would have been better spent reinstating many of the old branch lines for commuting cross country and locally easily .

Also some of these funds could have been used to sort out the problems in the NHS and our other public services, possibly even restoring some of the funding to local councils which has been systematically cut since 2008.

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/news/the-hopeless-mess-left-behind-by-hs2-compulsory-purchase-orders-260650

Parliament granted HS2 Ltd a compulsory purchase order in June 2018, meaning it could forcibly buy properties out from under owners if they stood on the route

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/hs2-completes-phase-one-land-acquisition-as-compulsory-purchase-powers-expire-23-02-2022/

Thank you Tornado for explaining the relevance to Quark.

Best

Tibbs

short sellers in trouble as physical oil market defies data

by zerohedge

something odd is taking place in the oil market. while on one hand "data" dissembled by biden's dept of energy and specifically its statistical arm, the energy information administration, has done everything it could to indicate there is a glut of oil, which is understandable - there is nothing biden's handlers fear more than an inflationary surge in oil and gasoline prices ahead of the november elections and will do everything in their power to mandate a dataset that has the most adverse impact on oil prices, the physical market is sending just the opposite signal, with spreads showing screaming physical tightness.

consider the brent prompt spread which after tumbling to a multi-year low in late december, has exploded higher to a backwardation around 90 cents...

... entrenching its strongest position since late october, while several other timespreads also the firmest since last september. the comparable wti april-may spread was trading around 50 cents after hitting 75 cents last week.

commenting on the surge in time-spreads, citi strategist max leyton - who is far less bearish than oil permabear ed morse who recently left the bank - says they strengthened on the “perfect storm” of atlantic basin supply issues, and notes that supply issues include “ongoing red sea vessel diversions, us freeze-offs hitting oil output, worker protests disrupting libyan supply, uk oil terminal logistics limiting north sea forties supply, and buying up of crude cargoes at the nigerian dangote refinery."

“most of these issues could ease,” and the second quarter “still looks like a surplus quarter for total oil balances, meaning current strength could pause.” of course, the current strength could very well accelerate if there is even one small geopolitical hiccup in the middle east where nobody expects any surprises, and where all eyes remain on how much more of its ***** iran can make biden, before even the us president is forced to retaliate even if it means 4mm barrels taken off the daily market.

the dramatic spikes in prompt timespreads across the crude complex was the goldman chart of the week just a few days ago, and shows just how dramatically and rapidly the market has tightened up as a result of sudden scarcity of physical which, however, has barely received any mention in daily discussions about the energy market.

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/short-oil-bets-plunge-most-7-years

Cont- Unlike electricity, hydrogen can be used as a fuel to power industrial operations, as well as for cooking and heating. It is also expected to be used as an alternative to electric batteries to power transport, particularly large vehicles such as ships and planes that cannot carry the heavy electric batteries needed to power them using electricity.

This is not the first time that scientists have offered an innovative solution for hydrogen storage. In 2023, a student group at Eindhoven University of Technology had the idea of using small iron balls (iron pellets) to carry hydrogen. The team developed a steam-iron process to achieve this. When iron is exposed to a flow of hot steam under high pressure it reacts with the water molecules, producing hydrogen and iron oxide, known as rust. Hydrogen can then be extracted to be used as an energy source. The remaining rust is regenerated back to iron with the addition of hydrogen, allowing iron to be a circular carrier of hydrogen. This is beneficial as iron has a higher energy density and can store approximately three times more energy per volume compared to pressurised hydrogen. The pellets can also be stored and transported much more easily, as they are safe and compact.

To date, many of the advances in hydrogen storage technology have emerged at the local rather than national level. Many startups and scientists believe they hold the key to unlocking hydrogen’s potential, but the question remains about whether they will be able to replicate and scale the technology to be used in large hydrogen operations. The U.S. is providing high levels of funding in hydrogen technology, with $9.5 billion of investment in the sector from the IRA and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which is expected to support accelerated research and development in the sector. The EU, MENA region and parts of Asia are also investing heavily in the development of hydrogen technologies to support the expansion of the world’s hydrogen capacity.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

Also related !

https://www.toyota.co.uk/hydrogen

There has been great enthusiasm around the increase in global hydrogen capacity, particularly green hydrogen – which is produced using electrolysis powered by renewable energy sources, a process that does not emit carbon dioxide. However, one of the main challenges to hydrogen use is in the way it is stored. Hydrogen can be stored as a gas or liquid. As a gas, it can be stored in high-pressure tanks, and as a liquid in cryogenic temperatures to prevent it from boiling back into a gas – at around −252.8°C. It can also be stored in solid materials through a process of absorption. There are several challenges associated with hydrogen storage for practical use. For example, transport using hydrogen cannot currently hold the large quantity of compressed fuel required for travelling long distances. In addition, the current storage solutions are very inefficient, losing large amounts of energy in the process.

The development of effective hydrogen storage solutions is vital for the advancement of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies in applications. Hydrogen has the highest energy per mass of any fuel, but a high-tech storage solution is required to ensure the fuel or gas can be used effectively, without losing excess energy. In the U.S., the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (HFTO), supported by funds from the Biden administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), is conducting research and development activities to advance hydrogen storage systems technology. To date, progress has been slow due to a wide range of challenges facing technological development.

A startup in California, founded in 2021 by two scientists believes it has discovered an innovative way to store hydrogen. The company, H2MOF, hopes to compress hydrogen into a small volume without the use of high pressure or low temperatures to store the fuel. If successful, the technology could be used to allow hydrogen to be stored at room temperature for a range of applications, including auto mobile fuelling. Many of the existing hydrogen storage methods are expensive and require high amounts of energy, making them inefficient. However, if hydrogen could be stored in a solid state it could massively reduce the storage burden.

Fraser Stoddart, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2016 and the co-founder of H2MOF, stated “The production of hydrogen, as far as I’m aware, is a settled problem.” He added, “There are ample efficient ways of producing hydrogen. The big challenge that remains is to store it in a manner that stores a lot of it at low pressures and ambient temperatures… “I am confident that one way or another we will get there of course.”

H2MOF believes that it can launch the innovative hydrogen storage technology within the next couple of years. The startup has been able to accelerate its research using AI and computer-generated models. The founders view hydrogen as key to achieving a green transition. Cont-

This is quite alarming and stupid beyond belief to say he least abut a result of the unfit for purpose kicking the can down the road political policies giving encouragement to profit seeking regulated and artisanal mining miners and EV car makers who have been instrumental in the ruination and pollution of so much of our planet above the sea level to now carry out industrial pollution and destruction on our planets sea beds, I suppose whilst this destruction is carried out there will be other exploration of nearby planets to see how much money can be made by plundering and polluting those!

Will our worlds stupid, greedy leaders and decision makers never learn!

Tibbs

This month, Michael Lodge, the head of the International Seabed Authority, the U.N. regulator that oversees deep-sea mining, said that he believes it is only a matter of time until deep-sea mining activities take place. Lodge is seeing renewed global interest in deep-sea mining as a means of accelerating the global green transition. Governments and regulators worldwide have been exploring ways to meet the growing demand for critical metals and minerals, for fear that demand will outstrip supply if we cannot access alternative mineral deposits.

Lodge explained, “One of the main drivers of industrial interest is the potential to produce larger quantities of minerals at equivalent or lower cost to what can be produced on land.” He added, “That’s the commercial driver and certainly there is vast resource potential in seabed minerals. The question is whether they can in the end be produced economically. “But the resource potential is absolutely there. This is clear. The technology is advanced, so it seems like it is possible. And at the same time, it is very clear also that demand for minerals is increasing exponentially and is only going to continue to increase.”

The ISA is scheduled to recommence talks on deep-sea mining in Kingston, Jamaica, in March. If successful, this could lead to the development of a regulatory framework for deep-sea mining on a commercial scale. The ISA regulates mining across an area covering 54 percent of the world’s oceans, representing 68 member states as well as the EU, but not the U.S. The ISA Council has previously stated its intention to develop deep-sea mining regulations by 2025. However, 24 countries around the globe have called for a pause on these types of activities, supported by several major companies, such as Google, Samsung, and Volvo. Deep-sea mining requires the use of heavy machinery to remove metals and minerals from the ocean floor. There is a fear that commencing deep-sea mining operations before fully understanding the potential impact on the sea bed could lead to permanent harm to marine life and ecosystems.

Nevertheless, Lodge believes it is only a matter of time until deep-sea mining activities are approved. He said, “Clearly now, we are reaching a very high level of interest so I would say that yes it seems to be inevitable.” Lodge added, “Whether that takes place in international waters, or in national waters, whether that be Norway or another country, that’s impossible to say. It depends in part upon the terms and conditions I suppose.” He emphasised the unsustainably of the current situation, with a few state powers dominating the mineral and metal mining industry – such as China and Russia, and suggested that deep-sea mining could create greater competition in the industry and provide the stable supply of resources needed to support a global green transition.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oil price.com

Cont

Just a month after Norway approved the world’s first deep-sea mineral mining, a UN regulator has stated that he thinks the international practice of deep-sea mining is likely inevitable. There is growing interest in commercial deep-sea mining for critical metals and minerals to support an accelerated global green transition. However, there is also widespread opposition due to fears of the environmental impact of these types of activities, which could hinder efforts to tackle climate change.

At the beginning of the year, Norway became the first country to approve the practice of deep-sea mining for critical minerals. There has been a growing international discussion around the potential for deep-sea mining to extract metals and minerals needed to grow the world’s renewable energy capacity and help develop clean technologies. However, there has been widespread opposition to these types of mining activities from environmentalists and scientists who say we do not yet understand the potential impact of deep-sea mining well enough for it to be deemed safe. Many worry that the environmental impact of deep-sea mining could undermine the efforts of developing the world’s renewable energy capacity to tackle climate change.

In January, the Norwegian parliament voted in favour of opening its waters for commercial-scale deep-sea mining to support a global shift away from fossil fuels to renewable alternatives. It also believes that deep-sea mining could be less harmful to the environment than land-based mining, the widespread practice currently used to extract metals and minerals. There is an abundance of potato-sized nodules of critical minerals, including cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese, sitting on the bottom of the seafloor that Norway, and many other world powers, want to access through deep-sea mining to meet the growing demand for critical minerals from the green energy sector. However, Norway will not immediately commence mining operations. The government will instead assess proposals from mining companies on a case-by-case basis for license approval.

cont-

Not diversion at all Mr Bond, but all very much related to the effects and stupidity of short term, protectionist policies of of Trump, our UK government, Brexit and others who even in the aftermath of the pandemic and now global conflicts have failed to realise, or won't admit that in the 21st century the vast majority of countries economies are dependant upon open trading with each other and having access to safe and reliable worldwide intentional transport avenues for all the goods and commodities the worlds nations have become so dependant upon!

Supply Chain Woes Could Derail Biden’s Electric Vehicle Agenda

By ZeroHedge - Feb 27, 2024, 1:00 PM CST

Automakers are struggling to meet rigorous criteria for manufacturing batteries using US and ally materials, opting for cheaper batteries from countries like China.

The exclusion of China from the supply chain threatens to increase costs and hinder the development of a competitive EV market in the US.

Both Ford and GM are cutting prices and curtailing investment in EVs, while General Motors plans to focus more on hybrid vehicles in the interim.Colon us not surprised, but another one of the Biden administration's "visions" for forcing people to own electric vehicles isn't working out exactly as planned.

Supply chain logistics problems, with Bloomberg reporting this week that in the year and a half since passing the Inflation Reduction Act, auto makers are finding out the hard way that the rigorous criteria for manufacturing batteries using materials from the United States and its free-trade allies could render them cost-inefficient compared to global competitors.

Companies like Tesla are instead taking advantage of a temporary shift in the rules to stock up with cheaper batteries from countries like China.

The Biden administration's new rules will all but cut out China from the supply chain, however, which will make it tougher to find affordable metal suppliers.

This, in turn, will threaten President Biden's goal to boost the domestic electric vehicle market. Bloomberg writes that mining companies and labour unions insist that without curtailing the influx of cheaper, Chinese-subsidized materials, the U.S. can't develop a competitive EV market.

Meanwhile, the higher costs are driving auto makers away from EVs. And as battery material requirements are set to double by 2027, fulfilling these mandates will be increasingly difficult, putting Biden's ambitious EV strategy at risk.

The demand side of the equation also looks less than favourable. We wrote just hours ago about how Ford was slashing prices on its Mach E and Lightning 150. Tesla has been slashing prices to stoke demand for nearly a year now.

Both Ford and GM have said they're going to curtail their investment in EVs. General Motors, who posted better than expected earnings earlier this month, said that it plans on changing its product range of more hybrid vehicles, drifting away from pure electric vehicles.

CEO Mary Barra said “Let me be clear, GM remains committed to eliminating tailpipe emissions from our light-duty vehicles by 2035, but, in the interim, deploying plug-in technology in strategic segments will deliver some of the environment or environmental benefits of EVs as the nation continues to build this charging infrastructure.”

Consumer Reports last year found that electric vehicles have almost 80% more problems and are "generally less reliable" than conventional internal combustion engine cars!

hedgehog,

i am sorry to hear how brexit has caused so many problems for your family business and as you may be aware that is the sad state of affaires for so many businesses, forget any help or even understanding from ian duncan smith, utter toss pot, he married into money one of my wife's schoolfriends daughter of the lord of the manor in swanbourne http://www.swanbourneestate.co.uk/

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/bedroom-tax-iain-duncan-smith-1794517

mr bond is right sir kier stanmer is afraid of anything controversial like stating just what a disaster brexit has been and why the uk should rejoin, sir keir is worried about upsetting the brain dead of the constituencies, although most of then don't vote, or when they can get off their fat lazy ****s from in front of the tv they will vote brexit, ukip or "reform" to stop those scrounging foreigners from coming here and pinching their jobs, not that so many of them have ever worked anyway!

my wife's mother was german and when we visit hannover i am often asked my opinion on how brexit has gone, i explain that i am embarrassed that so many in my country could have been so stupid to have fallen for all the lies that boris and his party told!

brexit fact checks around imports, exports and trade figures

https://fullfact.org/europe/trade/

Banks and insurers have moved almost £1tn ($1.4tn) out of Britain and shifted thousands of jobs to Europe due to Brexit, according to a "sobering" new report on the impact of leaving the EU on Britain's financial services sector.

More than 440 financial services firms have shifted jobs to the EU as a result of Brexit, according to a new report from think tank New Financial, and firms have moved £900bn to the EU. The think tank said more jobs and assets were likely to leave Britain in the coming months and years.

The think tank said its report was the most comprehensive measure of the impact of Brexit on the City of London so far.

The study, published on Friday, identified over 440 companies that "have moved or are moving part of their business, staff, assets or legal entities from the UK to the EU." New Financial estimated that around 7,400 staff have been shifted out of London since the 2016 Brexit vote. That is in-line with EY's Brexit tracker,

Large multinational companies have not been taking lightly the fact that Britain is leaving the single EU market and customs union. Over the past year, many high-profile firms have announced relocating their European headquarters and thousands of jobs from London to Amsterdam, Dublin, Paris, Frankfurt, and even Dubai.

http://www.businessfondue.com/2019/02/27/these-large-companies-are-leaving-the-uk-because-of-brexit/

T seems the UK financial and corporate establishment is agreed. The London stock market is in a funk, with too many companies hopping off to re-list in New York. Therefore the UK executive class must be given US-style pay packages to keep ‘em loyal.

That’s a slight exaggeration since, so far, it’s only a handful of companies – the likes of AstraZeneca, HSBC, LSEG (the owner of the London Stock Exchange) and the medical devices group Smith & Nephew – that have revealed, or signalled, that they want to boost executive rewards to keep up with US rivals. And none of them have threatened to quit London. All the same, it’s remarkable that an intense debate about the woes of the London stock market has morphed into a refrain about executive pay in the UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/27/quiet-conspiracy-afoot-give-ftse-100-executives-pay-rise

What a shower , how do they manage on such a few millions per year , how ever big their over bloated ego's or however good they may claim to be no single CEO can make so much difference to any comapny to justify what they are getting at present!

In my view let these greedy parasitic buggers go abroad if they want to , they are out of touch with reality

Tibbs

Jeremy Hunt’s financial planning is “dubious” and “lacks credibility” and the chancellor should not announce tax cuts in next week’s budget if he cannot lay out how he will fund them, an economic thinktank has said.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) calculates that Hunt would need to find £35bn of cuts from already threadbare public services if he plans to use a Whitehall spending freeze to pay for pre-election giveaways.

Taxes have increased steeply under successive Conservative administrations, bringing about the biggest tax-raising parliament in modern history. A report by the Resolution Foundation thinktank found that British households were on course to be worse off at the end of this parliamentary term, despite Hunt’s £20bn of tax cuts in his autumn statement.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/feb/27/jeremy-hunts-dubious-financial-planning-lacks-credibility-says-ifs

Forgive me Quark but I was unaware of your appointment as forum moderator?

But that said had you been a forum member for as long as I have then you would be aware that in order to help keep the forum ticking over when there isn't any Centamin news (Unless you have some snippets?) then all manner of subjects that may influence the markets or commodity prices are discussed on here and world wide government polices are very relevant.

You may find some kindred spirits on GB News although beware it's infested with some awful characters!

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/feb/24/gb-news-is-being-allowed-to-break-impartiality-rules-say-senior-tv-figures spirits on GB News,

Have a nice day!

The freedom of journalist's from oppressive dictatorial regimes and biased media company owners such as Murdock is essential in any society that wants to claim to be democratic.

23 Feb 2024

John Wilson on

Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner and leading opponent of President Vladimir Putin, who has died in a Russian state prison. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001wjrt

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/dec/02/bp-shares-in-kremlin-oil-firm-are-blood-money-says-zelenskiy-adviser

https://ipisresearch.be/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/1809-CAR-conflict-mapping_web.pdf

Mali: New Atrocities by Malian Army, Apparent Wagner Fighters

AU, ECOWAS Should Press for End to Violations, Urge Accountability

https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/24/mali-new-atrocities-malian-army-apparent-wagner-fighters

Hi Tornado,

It was the least I could do, if investors are going to stand a chance of making rational and balanced decisions then they need all the facts, from what Kees had said this wasn't the case with Shanta, so I am glad you got out with a profit, I will let Kees know he is always pleased when he can help investors in some way to avoid nasty shocks and losses!

Best

Tibbs

Hi Cowichan, and Siko,

i reiterate that I feel it beneficial to all concerned to have you both back on this forum and Cowichan you may not feel as a Canadian that it wouldn't be right for you to criticise our government which noble of you.

But that said I will criticise Rishi Sunak and his government and indeed his parties policies of austerity and cuts to central government funding to local authorities from 2008 on that have result in the crisis the UK now faces of virtually no NHS dentists in every area and over 8 million people s on the NHS waiting lists and bear in mind that you are only regardless as being on the NHS waiting list after seeing have a consultant and that can take over two years!

The UK people were lied to on the implications of Brexit Leaving the EU was the point of Johnson’s administration. Without that goal, its founding purpose has gone!

What does per capita GDP tell us about the UK economy? Did the government spend £94bn helping with rising energy prices?

Was Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg right about the cost of the EU Covid recovery scheme? How did Ben Goldacre persuade scientists to publish all their medical research?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001wh8g

Hi Siko, Cowichan & Mr Bond,

Personally I don't see anything wrong with Cowichan or anyone else asking Centamin questions and lets face it they should at least acknowledge receiving them and if they are unable to give a full answer then answer politely as to the reason why, failure to do so can only raise suspicions that the company isn't being honest.

I also think it is to be commended if, after all people have the honesty to admit to be shareholders or not, if there is to be a policy of only those that hold share can post on here, or ask questions then surely the same policy should apply to the traders on here who claim to make profits by jumping in and out, i.e. if the no holder, no poster rule should be applied then when they bail out until the price drops for a new entry point then in that time until they buy in again they shouldn't post at all, but as that isn't the case then there isn't any reason why shouldn't Cowichan post whilst he may also be waiting to buy in again.

I have been critical of Centamin and I am still apprehensive about believing that we are being given the full picture , we were lied to far many too many times in the past for that , but then I have a considerable number of shares and so I have no qualms about expressing my dissatisfaction and of course my satisfaction when I feel it is appropriate.

At the present the service from Centamin Investor Relations is complete pants and I feel there is room for great improvement in the company performance, I await the March update !

Also I don't subscribe to the idea that one should only talk about Centamin shares on here and the idea that one can regard any shares as being ring-fenced from what is going on in the rest of the world is ludicrous to say the least.

Water companies have spent the past few years dumping BILLIONS OF LITRES of raw sewage into our rivers, seas and streams. So far, consumers like us have been footing the bill for the incompetence and mismanagement of water bosses, while they get to enjoy bonuses, dividends and profits. Given their behaviour, banning bonuses doesn’t go far enough. The next Government should fine water companies in shares, not just their bonuses and profits.

https://act.38degrees.org.uk/act/fine-or-renationalise-water-companies-petition

BBC News: Joe Lycett investigates sewage network in new show

Channel 4: Joe Lycett vs Sewage

[2] The Guardian: Thames Water pumped at least 72bn litres of sewage into Thames since 2020

Sky News: Water bosses have received £25m in bonuses since last election, Labour says

The Financial Times: UK water company dividends jump to £1.4bn despite criticism over sewage outflows

Sky News: From privatisation to profits: Pressure on 'rip off' water industry unlikely to go away any time soon

[3] POLITICO: Rishi Sunak confirms loosening of key green pledge

BBC News: Keir Starmer defends Labour U-turn on £28bn green spending

[4] The Mirror: Water company bosses told to 'swim in the mess you've made' after pollution warnings

[5] 38 Degrees: Where’s my poo

38 Degrees: Why we inflated a giant poo emoji outside The Houses of Parliament

[6] Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Government cracks down on bonuses for water company bosses

The Guardian: Labour to urge MPs to ban bonuses for water firm bosses over sewage dumping