Lessons and Surprises !

Do check out the side-bar for all the latest updates on a variety of subjects from Shares,Derivatives and items such as Bitcoins. The latest updates are always near the top of the list


1.The eyes went open of many of our South African socialist politicians when they observed how the population of our neighbor state ZIMBABWE  went wild celebrating in the streets for days at the fall of the socialist leaning tyrant Mugabe was deposed after 37 years in power. 
At independence Zimbabwe was referred to as the breadbasket of Africa. Our local politicians held him up as some one they would aspire to be like!

2. Agro-mining is likely to be the the in thing in future. That is using plants to take up metals especially on worked out mines ,then to extract this from the plants to get the minerals from the harvested plants and then process the contents.

3. At the moment lithium batteries are over shadowing fuel cell technology especially in passenger autos. 

4. All these resource subjects will be further commented upon on the Bvians Abacus Information Alerts website. So be sure to check it out.

NOW TRENDING OIL !

 Oil is now trending as surprising as this now sounds. 
 Oil has clawed its way back and it now is less volatile and likely to stay above $60 per barrel for Brent for the for see-able future. 
 The reason it would seem is that Saudi Arabia the leader in Opec has been able to curtail the amount of oil produced by the cartel more successfully than the former times when there was over production.

(Also visit... Bvians Abacus information 
Alerts... for comment on new ideas usually first discussed there)

Do remember it is likely to take another decade before alternate so called "clean energy " will start to diminish the use of fossil fuels and even longer to phase them out.
 Opec has now also consulted the shale producers and has pointed that its in every producers  interest to curtail oil production as a glut leads to not only falling prices,but large losses and companies going under. As we understand it there is no formal signed agreement between them but relies on mutual advantages at the moment.
 When the price falls too far there is no advantages for frackers 
either as now banks are adverse to lending them extra monies to continue their drilling as there is a social aspect as ground water does in some instances become contaminated.
 On the sidelines of course are deep water drills standing idle as this costs the companies billions of US Dollars. So they would not require a higher price to cover their debts.

SEE ALL THE UPDATES FOR THIS MONTH IN THE RIGHT HAND SIDE-BAR

MINING SURVEY FRIENDLY COUNTRIES

  A Mining survey shows that the most mining friendly countries and areas are ARIZONA,NEVADA,FINLAND,MEXICO,IRELAND,WESTERN AUSTRALIA AND QUEENSLAND.  

On the whole African independent states including South Africa have fallen out of favor. These regions formerly were very favorable to miners. The governments since independence when they took over from in their eyes from the much maligned colonialists who handed them good working economies on a platter have been very corrupt ,lazy and are it would seem only interested in lining the pockets of politicians and top government officials.
Looting has become commonplace and increased taxes have made establishing new mines a risky enterprise. Added to this now further talk of "windfall taxes" and socialist polices of nationalisation have driven overseas capital away completely.
These indigenous officials don't seem to realise that it takes millions of US Dollars to establish a working mine and this process can take up to ten years and not all mines can be profitable as metal and mineral prices rise and fall all the time.

Older mines are closing down plus heavy taxes and royalties shedding  thousands of jobs with no replacements on the horision 
is causing great misery.

Whipping the local indigenous Africans populations with talk of "white mining exploitation !"  is not helping matters either. Also The new mining charter in South Africa will bring new misery. South African mines have some of the best legislation ,which compares well with the world in protecting laborers rights.
UPDATES:- Google :- SEE SIDE-BAR RIGHT TOP
MY SPECIALIST WATCH LISTS

SPRING AND SUMMER SEPTEMBER UPDATES
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ABACUS INFORMATION ALERTS

BVIANS AND NAOMI'S SMALL CAP STOCKS

BVIANS MINING STOCKS

NOW TRENDING Recovery of Platinum Group Metals and Chrome picking up !

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UPDATES : -              My specialist lists for September,see side bar  and summer and spring updates                                                        also 
                                                 See what to Google below post


Platinum Group Metals (PGM's) six months ago were $ 919 per basket ounce. Now they are $ 974 per basket.

     
                   OTHER  PRICES IN US DOLLARS PER OUNCE
TWO MONTHS AGO                            END AUGUST 2017

 $   880                              PLATINUM               $939         


ONE  YEAR AGO                                                NOW

$690                    PALLADIUM                            $920                       
$655                      RHODIUM                              $1100
COMPARING  PGM'S WITH GOLD LEADS ONE TO THE CONCLUSION GOLD'S USES ARE SO LIMITED AS TO ALMOST DECLARE IT A MONO USE METAL !
PGM'S ON THE OTHER HAND ARE SO MULTI FACETED THAT ITS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO STATE ALL THEIR USES.
DO READ LAST MONTHS POST ALSO CLICK ONTHE LABELS IN THE SIDE BAR CLOUD TO GROUP ARTICLES THAT INTEREST YOU.
                                                         ALSO
1.GOOGLE EVERY MONTH FOR NEWS YOU WILL SEE NO WHERE ELSE !
                              and2. BVIAN'S ABACUS INFORMATION ALERTS.
                              and                               

                 3 BVIANS   EDGE 
                        and                 
                  4 BVIANS MINING AND RESOURCES update for SEPTEMBER
POST FOR UP TO THE MINUTE  NEWS ON METALS AND MINERALS. ITS WORTH READING THE OLDER POSTS AS WELL ON THIS WEBSITE.
                         5.BVIANS AND NAOMIS SMALL CAPSHARES SEPTEMBER 2017
                                                      DO
BOOKMARK THESE TWO WEBSITES FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION . DO VISIT MONTHLY
  

Revitalised Bright Future for PLATINUM GROUP METALS

================================



FUEL CELLS will obviously be the rage sooner than we thought would be the case in the past.

Important announcements in this regard are:-
 1. VOLVO has decided that from 2018 it will no longer produce internal combustion autos

2. The BRITISH government will no longer allow new internal combustion(pretroleum) autos on their roads from 2040 onwards.

3.Stationary fuel cell generators are being increasingly being used in the most polluted city environments worldwide.

4.THE MOST IMPORTANT NEWS OF ALL IS THAT MERCEDES SCIENTISTS have reduce the amount of platinum in auto fuel cells to the same loading as is now used in catalytic converters making this move the item price wise of choice above lithium batteries for the future !

5. Lithuim batteries still need a great deal of development as they  are somewhat unsafe and have still have to be charged by electricity probably still coming from coal produced electricity! The range of absolute FUEL CELL CLEAN ELECTRICTY is so much greater when used in autos..

UPDATES. See side-bar at top on the left of the page.
1.top 40 spring and summer lists now in place.

2 CLICK ON:- Stock Trading Trends THEN CLICK ON : BVian's Abacus Information Alerts for NOW TRENDING PLATINUM!
3 MY SPECIALIST WATCHLIST HAS BEEN UPDATED FOR AUG 2017 SEE SIDE-BAR
4 SMALL CAPS HAVE BEEN UPDATED FOR AUGUST 2017 CLICK ON SIDE-BAR TO GO THE MINING AND RESOURCES UPDATE AUGUST IN SIDE-BAR

South African Dilemma!

URGENT UPDATE. SEE MINING NEWS IN THE SIDE BAR


The ANC has been in power for 23 years with out any serious rivalry from other parties. Now with the worlds recent recession and people wishing to have a greater say and exercise their democracy, the bloated upper echelons are starting to scramble to preserve their lifestyle. The president Zuma and his cohorts have been involved in numerous scandals and they wish to keep their gains by proposing his wife for the next president, the term starting 2019,which will also avoid prosecution of those now being investigated. The ANC has lost the major cities to opposition groups a major blow to their party.
Unfortunately  they are now resorting to left wing slogans,also replacing trusted democratic ministers with those involved in those scandals as they are really forced to be loyal to the president or likely end up in jail!
 As an example the new mining minister of four months proposes a third mining charter which would is illegal as the Pretroleum Resources Development act still being debated by consensus in the commitee stage has first to be passed for legality.  Riding roughshod over the rules expects the mines to comply within the year!
This bill is opposed by the CHAMBER OF MINES which is taking it to court as as it stands it would be impossible to find any funds to start any new ventures. 
The CHARTER 111 also falls foul  of the GENERAL AGREEMENT OF GATT which could  lead to this being suspended ,leading to great financial loss to South Africa.

1. Spring and Summer top 40 updates now in place
2.The new Winter list is now in place on the Small Cap lists
3. My new specialist watchlist  has been updated see side-bar.

4. GOOGLE BVIANS ABACUS INFORMATION ALERTS then bookmark the site and visit monthly for those traders and investors that want to take their trading to the next level! Updated 

NOW TRENDING - POSITIVE DEMOCRATIC ACTIONS!

1.
Rand / American Dollar has not declined by the amount that was expected as our international debt was downgraded to junk,but not our local debt, by S&P and Fitch but not Moody's.
It is felt that   we still using our democratic rights to take government  and private corruption , to task. 
The nation as a whole has said stop this ,over riding political boundries. Added to this genuine efforts are being made at this time to keep our international debt in line!
At year end our descredited president is likely to be replaced by a better more educated person,as party leader, who understands how business is done. 
If the ANC ruling party does not make the right decisions then their party is going to be decimated at the polls in 2019 and unfortunately for the rest of us,more slogan bearing left-wing populists added to the mix which will cause chaos to our political and economic  life causing a bigger shambles than we have ever known.
2.
I see President Trump shares my veiws on the climate change debate. Do read my post on this matter which I posted on 1/May/2015. Namely "THE GREAT CARBON CREDIT SCAM ! "
3.
Do visit my specialist watch lists in the index in the left-hand side bar above which have been very successful over a number of years on stock that thrives over longer periods. UPDATED 5/6/2017
4.
.STOCK BVIAN,s mining and resources blog has been updated.CLICK ON STOCK TRADING TRENDS ABOVE, THEN ENTER THE BLOG U WANT TO VISIT 12/6/2017
 5.SEE ABACUS ACTIVE ALERTS for fantastic news about lithium u have never read about before. More to follow in subsequent months
 6. SUMMER TOP 40 PRELIMINARY UPDATE
 7 SMALL CAPS UPDATE JUNE 2017
 8 SPRING UPDATE TOP 40

Overcoming problems !

South Africa has been down graded to below investment grade namely BB+ by both Fitch and Standard , Moodys has not yet decided to follow and is waiting to see if democratic principles will prevail.
The ruling party is losing considerable ground after 23 years in power, becoming more corrupt, with officials looking to line their own pockets with wealth at the expense of the electorate the so called  "Gravy Train !" . 
They have had a wake up call as they loose ground in bye- elections to the more populist and slogan bound left wing.
Our electorate is mostly poorly educated . So now the ruling ANC are starting to use slogans and revert to more socialist and unfortunately racialist ideas blaming the Whites (All Europeans) for their shortcomings. 
All sides gave ground with the beautiful idea of a rainbow nation under De Klerk and Nelson Mandela ,who won the Noble peace prize for their joint efforts. This is now been eroded and forgotten.
The sacking of the world renowned minister of finance Gordhan and replaced by  the new minister with an already shady record. Named  Gibata,  finally triggered   the rating agencies decision.
Gibata has an university professor adviser  with ideas that might seem moronic! This adviser wishes to strip all whites of positions in banks,insurance companies and white farmers of their land with out compensation.
Our president is encouraging the use of the slogan  RADICAL CHANGE, with out spelling out what this means!

 NEWEST UPDATES IN PLACE   SEE PAGES AT TOP  OF LEFT HAND SIDE-BAR
1.SMALL CAPS.
2 ABACUS NEW IDEAS

3. SEE MY NEW SUMMARY ON MY SPECIALIST WATCH LISTS
4. Spring derivative top 40 list updated

BONANZAS

In all this political turmoil happening around us at the moment,we feel it is imperative to look at the basics of what is now needed in the world, in as far as metals and minerals are concerned.
Suddenly platinum group metals are not quite the in thing anymore. Too many mines wanted to get in on the act as prices soared and of  course there was massive  over production.As stockpiles come down its easy to turn the spigots open again and over produce.
Rare earth type metals which is now needed in all manner of things is LITHIUM. There is not enough of this resource to go around and the hunt is on to find more. As electric cars become the in thing there is likely to be a shortage for the next couple of decades.
The main producers at the moment are United 
States,Bolivia and Chile. Australia has now been added to these states as new deposits have been found in great quantity as well as Namibia. There are SPODUMENE deposits right here in 
South Africa but with hostile political uncertainty they remain undeveloped.
It would seem ,we South Africans have only one chance in getting in on this bonanza at the moment and that is by investing in TAWANA SHARES. We usually avoid small caps especially ones that are only 5 cents a share which was the price a year ago. It was an exploration company,but has shot up to about R4.00 by end March 2017. How ever its prices are likely to be very volatile till the the end of the year when the first income can be expected. 
1.Use the labels to group posts on the same subjects together beneath articles and in the side-bar.
2. The newest PAGES are always published at the top of the index in the right side-bar. 1.MY SPECIALITY LIST NOW UPDATED 2.PRELIMARY SPRING LIST
3. Sister websites published  click on Stock trading trends in the side-bar , in April updates are:- Abacus .
4.Southern African and Mining News main post and pages have been updated.

NOW TRENDING :-COBALT

1.An exciting time lies ahead for both the world and Southern Africa with rare earth type minerals and metals taking centre stage !
Lithium and Colbalt are now been needed in ever greater quantities for electric vehicles and as far as cobalt goes there will be a shortage for the forsee-able  future. 
 2.The cobalt metal is suddenly needed in a myriad of new ways such as electric vehicles,computers,software and even tyres.  The price has almost doubled in the last couple year and mines are scrambling to find new sources.
 3.There is a great opportunity for especially 
South Africa as the cobalt metal occurs in the same strata as gold and platinum ores.At the moment its blasted away to get at the PGM's and gold. Only a small change is needed in blasting techniques to recover the cobalt. This knowledge was passed on to the mining houses last year,but they preferred to sit on their hands. Only a few small enterprising companies are looking at this method!  At the moment the cobalt is allowed to decay and it becomes a contaminent, leaching into rivers and drinking water. Worked out gold mines could also get anew lease of life.
4. THERE are very few pure cobalt and copper mines in the world. GLENCORE has pounced on the largest one in the Democratic Rebublic of the Congo and is now in a position to make many billions of US Dollars.
  Click on the newest page updates , always on the index above. 
Please also inform other forumites of these contents as at this time i am not able to post on the comments blog. Thank you.

The New Year

1.The first post of this year is published on  the  new post ABACUS ACTIVE STOCK ALERTS.

Then click on : STOCK TRADING TRENDS then on the blog: ABACUS ACTIVE STOCK ALERTS   at the top of the  left side-bar

2. Barrys and Naomis Small Cap lists
 final updates are in place .Reach it via Stock Trading Trends in the side-bar. After a some what ropey start the small cap list did exceptionally well! 
 3. The final updates FOR 2016 on SOUTHERN AFRICAN MINING AND RESOURCES NEWS HAS BEEN PUBLISHED4 Remember the newest updates are always mentioned at the top of the index above above the home button.

The year that was !

This has been a year  in which there have been more financial  and political shocks worldwide than normal.Growing  populations have become more restive and even rebellious as the recession lingered on. At year end America is well on the way to recovery and the first sprigs of recovery are seen in Europe and Asia. As always Africa is lagging. 
How ever a pleasing change has been seen on the African Continent as populations strive for more accountability and less graft  top of government officials. This is playing itself out especially here in  South Africa as we strive to avoid  downgrades in our borrowing to junk status. As many other major countries have failed this test of morality we have for a second time avoided this fate.
It must be remembered that we produce 80% of the world platinum group metals and also a full range of base metals and minerals.
How ever at the present price of platinum, around $900 per ounce it is being produced at a loss. There is already a shortage of 20% in  ounces, per annum, built up and as fuel cells and other catalytic converters are needed for cleaner air become the vogue. In the last ten years the price has suddenly spurted by a couple of hundred USA dollars per ounce! this exciting event can happen again. Do remember it takes five years to ramp up and open mothballed areas in existing mines and a great deal longer in new developments!
I wish all our readers,Google and our advertisers all the best for 2017.

THE NEXT PHASE IN METALS AND MINERALS USE Part 2 MINING MODERISATION

  All systems are go to arrest the present decline in mining activity, and overcome the obstacles out there. The easy mining ore bodies are fast becoming the thing of the past.
 Public and private companies, with workers are beginning to work together to preserve jobs, income and tax revenue.
  Modernising and research into methods of refining especially in South Africa which has always been a world leader in this regard as during the last hundred years we were the world leaders in production of platinum group metals ,gold and diamonds. An added source of income is the production of equipment to further these activities now been developed.
  These activities will lead to sustainability of the mining environment over the next half century.
  Of great importance now is safety of workers at extreme depths in tunnels and difficult mining circumstances.
  Remote control of machines will keep workers out of harms way for the most part in dangerous areas. Narrower machines are already working and more innovative ones are being built.
Backfill of pulverised rock now has many advantages as it stabilises the ground in worked out areas avoids unsightly heaps of  ground and in generally more environmentally friendly.
The greatest advances are continually been made in refining of complicated metals such as precious metals as well as more basic metals in seperation by using enzymes instead of the old methods such as sieves to seperate the various elements from the waste rocks. This also results in greater recoveries and more profits.
IT MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA TO ALSO READ PART 1  PUBLISHED IN SEPTEMBER ALSO THE STRIPPING OF RESOURCE ASSETS mentioned in the posts in the side-bar to get a continuity picture of the whole subject in South Africa.

For the latest on Stocks go to... Abacus Top stock tips.... and bookmark the post.

THE NEXT PHASE IN METALS AND MINERALS USE Part 1

   First of all lets take stock of the present position ! The world is in such a deep recession that although newly mined material in many circumstances does not nearly cover  the present use of these minerals and metals and in other instances just about does.
   Where then is the supply coming from ,one may ask? Obviously from stock piles built up in the past years.
  Prices are very low and in some instances continue to fall. Production is falling even faster and in some cases there are delays in being able to have a continuity of supply. In the past alarm bells would have been ringing and money that is needed to ramp up production would be forthcoming for the obvious boom to follow!
   Not this time as governments have messed up their economies with quantitative easing etc. spending and printing money they have no backing for and it seems keeping the recession/depression going ad-infinitum!
   The good news is that we need these mined products to keep and expand our lifestyle as populations in developing economies keep growing and in first world countries grow older.
    Eventually demand will return and then there will be explosive activity  to try to supply these products in the shortest time.
    To make ends meet mines are sticking to old methods at the moment and  to ramp up sustainable production would take at least five years. Billions of US$ would required to start new workings would take at least a ramp up period of ten years to reach full production in most ventures, but first investors must be sure that there must be a sustainable need for that particular metal or mineral!

RAND STRENGTH

During the whole Brexit fiasco the Rand held up surprisingly well, losing very little against the US Dollar.
 As Soon as the initial panic ended it made it all back in three days! Compare this with other countries through out the world where a rout took place as if a comet was threatening the world.
The reason was that longer term mutual funds, large conglomerates and longer term traders  are looking to receive a better returns on their investments.  Most first world investments such as bonds are now in negative territory ,so large investments are losing money. 
 First our bonds were in demand again and large cash flows are coming in. Our bonds are still around 7% positive.
Now our mining shares are starting to take off as modest demand  to return and risk on investments are coming into vogue again.
                                         ALSO


1.The British Commonwealth will in the long run be better off ,as will British relations with those countries as the European grouping have been urging Britain to cut favourable trade deals to its former empire! South Africa is also a member of the commonwealth.
2. The reason for the no vote winning was the European Union showing little resolution to curb illegal immigration, which any thinking person could see would lead to  WORK BECOMING VERY SCARCE AND COUNTRIES STRUGGLING WITH MONIES TO PROVIDE SOCIAL SERVICES FOR THEIR OWN POPULATIONS ,LET ALONE ILLEGAL FOREIGNERS !

BREATHING SPACE !

   THE  DECISION WE WERE ALL WAITING FOR, THAT IS TO SEE IF WE WERE TO FALL INTO JUNK  (NON INVESTMENT GRADE)WAS AVERTED YESTERDAY .WE ALL GAVE A GREAT SIGH OF RELEF WHEN STANDARD AND POOR KEPT US ONE NOTCH ABOVE THIS STATUS. LATE LAST MONTH MOODY'S EVEN  MOVED US UP TWO NOTCHES.   THIS GOES TO SHOW WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED WHEN BUSINESS , THE TRADE UNIONS AND GOVERNMENT ALL WORK TOGETHER FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY INSTEAD OF SHOUTING AT EACH OTHER. A FURTHER REVEIW WILL BE HELD AT YEAR END SO THERE IS MUCH WORK TO DO. WE ARE STILL THE STRONGEST FISCAL STATE IN AFRICA!
   THE CRISES WAS BASICALLY CREATED WHEN THE BOTTOM FELL OUT OF THE RESOURCE PRICES WITH DOWNTURNS IN DEVELOPED AS WELL AS DEVELOPING NATIONS AND HAS PERSISTED FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS. OUR GOVERNMENT WAS VERY LAX AND CONTINUED TO TRY TO SPEND OUR WAY OUT OF THE RECESSION ON BORROWED MONEY.
   WE CAN NOT REST ON OUR LAURELS NOW.
A GOOD MOVE WAS TO BRING MR GORDHAN BACK AS  THE MINISTER OF FINANCE. THE GOVERNMENT MUST CUT DOWN ON GRAFT WHICH REACHES FROM THE VERY HIGHEST ECHELONS OF STATE STRUCTURES TO THE LOWEST. THIS IS A SERIOUS MATTER. A GOOD START WAS MADE WHEN THE PUBLIC PROTECTOR MADE OUR STATE PRESIDENT PAY FOR PART OF THE UPGRADES TO HIS PRIVATE RESIDENCE.
    A MORE OMINOUS  SUBJECT WHICH WAS PUT ON THE BACK BURNER WAS THE SOCIALIST MINING CHARTER. IN ITS PRESENT FORM WHICH WOULD ALLOW THE STATE TO IMPOSE IMPOSSIBLE DEMANDS AND AND EVEN SEIZURE IF NOT MET SHOULD BE TOTALLY SCRAPPED,AS MINING COMPANIES CANNOT PAY WORKERS MORE OR CEDE MORE TO THE STATE TAKING THE STATES SHARE TO 50% AS PRICES DECLINE. NO NEW MINES ARE BEEN DEVELOPED AS THIS REQUIRES BILLIONS OF AMERICAN DOLLARS AND WHO WOULD INVEST IN SUCH AN UNCERTAIN COUNTRY,IF THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF THOSE ASSESTS BEEN CONFISCATED ?
AFTER ALL IT TAKE MANY YEARS TO BRING MINES TO PROFITABILITY.
  ANOTHER DUMB MOVE,  IN ANOTHER BILL STILL IN THE MAKING IS TO FORCE MINING COMPANIES AT THIS CRITICAL TIME TO KEEP A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF THEIR PRODUCTS BACK FOR FURTHER BENEFICATION HERE BEFOR EXPORTING THEM. THIS QUOTA WILL BE DECIDED BY TECHNOCRATS OF THE RULING PARTY. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE TO CREATE JOBS, BUT SUCH BENEFICATION IS USUALLY HIGHLY SOPHISCATED,REQUIRING SKILLED WORKERS FROM OUTSIDE OUR REGION , IS UNLIKELY TO CREATE JOBS AND WORST OF ALL , WHERE WOULD WE SELL THESE PRODUCTS?
IN THE COMING MONTHS I SHALL ENDEVOUR TO REPORT ON POSITIVE ASPECTS OF OUR EVENTUAL  RECOVERY WHICH IS A MUST.
 1 THE NEWEST ADDITIONS TO PAGES ARE MENTIONED AT THE TOP OF THE INDEX ABOVE.
 2 SEE THE ADDITIONAL NEW SMALL CAP WINTER  AND YEAR  LISTS ABOVE
3 Whilst we wait for Brexit to play itself out on the 24 June 2016 maybe visit our revamped site at http://paws2012.blogspot.com for a gentler look at life !

SELL IN MAY ?

and go away! Not really ,but do note that resources such as gold ,coal and platinum group metals have soared in the last couple of months   , coming off lows and driven by speculators.
There is really no sign that there is an increased demand at  this stage. The recovery continues, but at a snails pace.
Best to wait till August before entering any large buying moves.

OUR BACKS TO THE WALL!

   Our finance minister with years of experience is doing a great job bringing order to our fiscal system.
TRANSFER TO MINING NEWS IN THE INDEX ABOVE FOR THE LATEST ON GOLD AND PLATINUM
   How ever as hard as he tries and he has succeeded in bringing  almost every one on board even the major trade unions as they see the number of jobs declining due to circumstances world wide.
   The major reason is of course that we remain a basic producer of metals and minerals. The demand for these has declined drastically and of course the needs of the poorer citizens have to be met to keep their body and souls alive!
   Therefore I RELUCTANTLY forecast that we will be downgraded to junk status(i.e. non investment grade) ,likely this winter. We are held in such good stead that countries such as Brazil and Russia were downgraded a considerable time before us.
 The good news is we are unlikely to be downgraded further and not if but when demand for commodities improve we are likely to be upgraded before many other countries of the world.
I hope we have learnt our lesson and in future keep strict fiscal discipline!

ADDITIONAL ASSET CLASSES

Most of us have   read at certain times that money is not worth the value of the paper its printed on!
Unfortunately this is turning out to be the norm , more often than we would like!
It was obvious that there was not enough gold in the world to cover all the paper currencies as in the past. Coming up with PAPER GOLD as it was called was not the answer, but the chosen method politicians decided on. It was thought that the working endeavours of ordinary citizens would always be equal to the value of  a currency. As time has gone on cracks have started to emerge, but the method of dealing with this situation is to ignore it and never mention the bind we find our selves in.
So this has now led to a even more dangerous phenomenon called the BITCOIN ,which we are told is mined out of thin air, according to a complicated mathematical formula, which no one fully understands with no backing of any kind.
TANGABLE ASSET CLASSES are now forming additional methods of preserving wealth so as all our hard earned value is not lost.
GOLD,PLATINUM GROUP METALS,SILVER ,DIAMONDS ARE TRUE WEALTH PRESERVERS, AS THEY CAN BE USED AND STORED AS BARS,COINS OR AS JEWELLERY OR A COMBINATION OF THESE (EXCUDING DIAMONDS OF COURSE).
ANOTHER ADVANTAGE IS THAT THEY CAN BE EASILY CARRIED OR SOLD.
REAL ESTATE UNLESS IN VEHICLES SUCH AS REITS,, CAN BE A BIND IN TIMES OF DISTRESS AS THE FORMER ARE EASILY DEPOSED OF.
STOCK EXCHANGE SHARES ARE ALSO EASILY DEPOSED OF OR BOUGHT IN THE RIGHT SECTORS,MUCH BETTER THAN FIXED DEPOSITS ETC.
Stamps and paintings might not be easily deposed of in times of stress and similar objects such as antiques.
THE LATEST PAGE UPDATES ARE AT  THE TOP ARE ALWAYS AT THE TOP OF THE INDEX ABOVE

South African Financial Strength

Visit the index above as the latest page updates are placed first in the index .
Our economic ship has steadied since the appointment of our  finance minister Pravin Gordhan has been re-appointed .This man has a good record of managing our financial affairs in the past and was a good choice after the two light weights just before his appointment .As a result the Rand has shown signs of strengthening  , at least for the time being!
 We are the most stable financial country on the African Continent.
  Our government has stuck to the capitalist system for the most part, despite agitation from the far left. Unlike many other states in the world it is easier to remove money quickly from our country as there fewer constraints .
 The South African Republic does not go in for "ambush economics" such as Nigeria now seems to be doing. Now that their oil industry is failing  and they cannot balance their budget, they have taken to fining all the large companies such as our own MTN ridiculous amounts of money for frivolous reasons. Western   world companies are also  finding out they also in the line of fire! Surely in the longer term this will negate new companies investing there.
Through its long history South Africa has always paid what it's borrowed from banks in other countries.