Copper end use trends

Salzgitter announced that it has increased its stake in Norddeutsche Affiniere, a German copper producer, whose subsidiaries Schwermetall Halbzeugwek and Prymetall achieved 2007 production of 239,000 tonnes and 62,000 tonnes respectively. The steel and technology company acquired a 5.8% stake in Norddeutsche on the 15th of July and yesterday increased this by a further 5% to 10.8% total.

LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Australia's Minara Resources Ltd (MRE.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it had to defer its Australian $300 million ($273.5 million) nickel expansion plan due to high costs and reported an 80 percent drop in profits for the first half year. Minara, Australia's second-largest nickel miner after BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), posted a net profit after tax for the half year to 30 June 2008 of $50.9 Australian million, down from $245.9 Australian million in the same period in 2007.

Mexico - Sustainable Rural Development Project

Aneel's College Board of Directors has authorized Copel (Paraná Electric Energy Company) to implement the pilot-project which determines the selling of exceeding energy, derived from animal waste, produced in small rural proprieties in Paraná. The project, named Distributed Generation with Environmental Sanitation Project, will allow the elimination of organic matter resulting from the hog creation, which will stop being released over rivers and deposits such as Itaipu's. Such residue will be transformed, via biodigesters, in biogas, a fuel used in the generation of electric energy.

Imagine qué ocurriría si la ciencia descubriera una nueva fuente de energía capaz de satisfacer el 20 por ciento de la demanda global de electricidad a un costo prácticamente nulo y sin impacto medioambiental alguno.

Already the world's deepest copper and zinc mine, the latest project will extend the mining zone at Mine D from 9,100 feet to 9,500 feet, improving the production profile from the mine through the addition of 3.4 million tonnes of ore to the mining plan and extending the mine life by one year to 2017.

Sumitomo Electric Industries reshuffles offshore plants of automotive wiring harness when automakers restructure the production sites in North America.

On 6th August, Xstrata reported H1 profits were down 6.7% versus the same period in 2007. Revenues were 13% higher at $16.092 billion, after record first-half production in coking and semi-soft coal, ferrochrome, refined nickel, platinum, zinc concentrate and lead concentrate. The company expects second-half production to be even stronger, reflected in their decision to raise the interim dividend by 13% to 18c. per share. Xstrata remains bullish over demand prospects in China, with ongoing infrastructure development and urbanisation underpinning growth, adding "the Group is well positioned to enjoy margin expansion and improved profitability from the second half of 2008 and into 2009".

MIT researchers have discovered a way to store solar energy that could make solar power in homes a mainstream energy option and might even make power companies obsolete, at least for residential needs.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will provide $36 million for 15 projects aimed at furthering the development of new and cost-effective technologies for the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the existing fleet of coal-fired power plants. \n\n"Currently, the existing U.S. coal fleet accounts for over half of all electricity generated in this country," U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said. "The projects announced today will combat climate change and help meet current and future energy needs by curbing CO2 emissions from existing coal-fired plants." \n\n

Driven by the need for increased speed, portability and wiring density, the interconnect pitch on semiconductor packages, and the corresponding high density interconnect (HDI) substrates, continue to shrink. The combination of filled blind microvias and build-up technology provides a means to achieve the required wiring densities. With the rapid growth of this technology, the use of electrodeposited copper for filling blind microvias has become a widely adopted process for manufacture of both HDI printed circuit boards (PCBs) and also semiconductor package substrates.

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Lonmin shares surged on Wednesday after Swiss rival Xstrata launched an unsolicited $10 billion takeover bid for the platinum producer, with the move sparking gains across the entire London-listed mining sector. Lonmin (UK:LMI: news, chart, profile) shares traded 46.9% higher at 34.06 pounds, above the 33 pounds a share that Xstrata said it's prepared to pay to take control of the platinum producer in order to boost its own production of the metal.

measures to encourage the greater use of energy efficient mortgages (EEMs). Such mortgages allow people to purchase or refinance their principal residence and incorporate the cost of energy efficiency improvements into the mortgage.

Of course, consumers can currently invest in energy efficient technology (or anything) using mortgage funds. However, the EEM is an important concept. This is because it may offer funds above a usual individual mortgage limit. Therefore, this additional money can provide guaranteed funds to grow demand/the efficiency market.

Japanese electronics company Sanyo Electric Co Ltd (6764.T) announced today that it intents to raise its solar cell output to 4 gigawatts (GW) a year by 2020--a tenfold incrase from current production levels, according to a Reuters report. If achieved, the increase would account for roughy 10% of the global market. The company had a 4.4% share of the market in 2007.

Venture-capital and private-equity investments in the clean-technology sector more than doubled to nearly $6 billion across the globe in the second quarter, just as oil traded at record levels near $150 a barrel and the stock market moved lower on economic woes. Money for companies in the business of cutting carbon-dioxide emissions totaled $5.8 billion, up from $2.6 billion in the year-ago period, according to a report from research firm New Energy Finance, released Tuesday.

The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index (ST:SXXP: news, chart, profile) ended 0.9% lower to 277.59, with markets missing an upturn in the U.S. when crude-oil prices fell sharply. The metals sector was in full retreat as platinum futures tumbled for a second session amid worries about global auto sales, sparked by the $15.5 billion loss from General Motors, BMW's profit warning and weak July sales in the U.S. Copper futures also fell sharply, and copper miners had a difficult session. Kazakhmys (UK:KAZ: news, chart, profile) shares fell 9.5%, Xstrata (UK:XTA: news, chart, profile) shares fell 5.9% and Boliden (SE:BOL: news, chart, profile) lost 5.4%.

Sony Corp will invest about 40 billion yen (US$372 million) to boost its output capacity of lithium-ion batteries amid growing global demand, the company said. On top of plans to increase production in Singapore and China, the Japanese consumer electronics firm said it will build new facilities and enhance existing lines in Japan, hoping to expand output capacity to 74 million cells per month in 2010 from the current 41 million cells. "This is the first phase of investment in lithium ion batteries Sony is undertaking as part of efforts to reinforce core areas of its component and semiconductor business over the next three years," the company said in a statement.

It is getting on for a year since Rio rejected BHP's initial proposal out of hand.

It hopes to start production by 2020 and gradually increase it to about 560,000 U.S. tons of copper per year.

Endesa, a Spanish-based (Italian-owned) utility company will be soon distributing to its customers in Santiago Chile an EV car.