I have only just started reading this book and already Richard Thaler (with a very casual writing style) has provided a devastating demolition of classical economics and the rational being. Thaler shows quite clearly that analytical economic models do not take into account the real world economic choices that human beings make that differ greatly from the rational economic actor that always seems to star in traditional economic models.

Importantly Thaler shows how there is only very limited value in forming government policy from traditional classical economic models. It is sad to think how many economists do not accept the real world nature of the actors they try to encapsulate in their economic models.

For further information please see the link below:

Geothermal electric energy will match, if not surpass, both solar and wind power generation as geothermal energy is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. Unlike solar energy or wind turbines, geothermal energy is not reliant on changeable weather conditions and/or the Earth’s rotation.

Geothermal electricity generation needs three things to be viable: heat, fluid, and a substrate permeable enough to allow movement of fluid through it and up to the surface, where the steam is used to turn power-producing turbines. In the case of conventional geothermal energy, sometimes called hydrothermal energy, all three of these elements naturally occur together. Enhanced geothermal involves drilling wells into the hot rock, and forcing fluid, water or brine, into the hot rock through fractures or permeable areas. The heated water is then extracted via another well and put to work generating electricity.

High temperature geothermal resources are most important for electricity generation (temperatures greater than 150 degrees Celsius), while medium-to-low temperature resources (below 150 degrees Celsius) are suited for many different types of applications utilizing heat.

Much of the world is underlain (3-6 miles down), by hot dry rock, no water but lots of heat. Scientists in the U.S.A., Japan, England, France, Germany and Belgium have experimented with piping water into this deep hot rock to create more hydrothermal resources for use in geothermal power plants. Thousands more megawatts of power than are currently being produced could be developed from already-identified hydrothermal resources. With improvements in technology, much more power will become available. Usable geothermal resources will not be limited to the "shallow" hydrothermal reservoirs at the crustal plate boundaries but available almost anywhere.

As well as for electrical generation Geothermal energy can be utilized for various other types of heat direct use applications, such as heating purposes, fish farming, bathing etc. Compared to other renewable energy technologies, geothermal is unique as it provides a base-load alternative to fossil fuels based electricity generation, but can also replace those used for heating purposes.

Many countries in the world are currently benefiting from geothermal energy. In 2016, according to a study done by TGE Research, the top ten countries were the United States, Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Italy, Mexico, Turkey, Kenya, Iceland and Japan.

The thermal energy potential present underground is enormous. A group of experts has estimated the geothermal potential of each continent in terms of high and low temperature resources (International Geothermal Association, 2001).

If exploited correctly, geothermal energy could certainly assume an important role in the energy balance of some countries. In certain circumstances even small-scale geothermal resources are capable of solving numerous local problems and of raising the living standards of small isolated communities.

Geothermal Plants Around the World

The recent neutron star collision/merger is likely the most important and biggest scientific discovery of the 21st century.

In one fell swoop we have had the confirmation of an outer space event through gravitational waves/electromagnetic waves/optical ROGBIV optical light/radio waves. This gives us great confidence in attributing mathematical values to astronomical observations and we have seen how the two neutron rich stars have created heavy elements when they dramatically jettisoned approximately 5% of their mass. Scientists believe that substantial quantities of gold were created by the recently observed neutron star merger.

Interestingly the two neutron stars were only 20 km's in diameter each, however they ejected many thousands of times their volume in gold alone because of the extreme density of the neutron mass that makes up neutron stars. The otherworldly feel of gold, silver and platinum really does have an otherworldly genesis. Neutron stars are so dense that they are gravitationally on the edge of the known universe providing the most exotic source of the royal metals.

It is amazing to think that we have only recently confirmed an actual starting point source of gold metal.

For further information please see the article below released by ABC News:

Mineral exploration, especially greenfields exploration, is a precarious venture for a company director to explain (let alone promote) to investors.

Then there is the small matter of undertaking the exploration itself and signing off as a company director on a use of funds that, of itself, pre-assumes an exploration strategy. However, if there is little or no data on the mineral project in question, then what is the ini

tial exploration strategy? What is the first step in mineral exploration, especially in a greenfields area? Obviously this question is most often answered by the reason that the tenement or project was pegged or acquired in the first place. For example, there may be highly anomalous soil samples or gossanous material or preferably an outcrop of some sort. Geophysical anomalies can also provide the hook for tenement pegging or acquisition. Further, the earth geology doesn’t stop at tenement boundaries; hence the much maligned ‘nearology’ makes actual perfect sense, which is why mineral exploration (and especially mineral discoveries) create more exploration by others in the region where the mineral exploration and/or discovery/discoveries are taking place.

Government geological surveys are also involved in mineral exploration for the purpose of geological data mapping and the encouragement of private mineral exploration. Geological surveys often do early preliminary work, mainly regional mapping, and this is where private mineral explorers should start their investigation. Often geological surveys will fly regional geophysics, such as aeromagnetic, and conduct large seismic surveys. However, Government-funded gravity surveys starting in South Australia in the late 80s and early 90s, and much more recently in Western Australia, have yielded very positive exploration results and mineral discoveries in the case of South Australia. More importantly though is the exploration strategy that they have demonstrated, which is a useful lesson for all explorers.

Government geological surveys rarely do drilling as part of their mineral exploration, as they prefer to do broad areas of ground mapping or airborne surveys as first pass exploration. Also, geological surveys can rely on drill data collected from some water bore holes to provide initial drilling data. The very important question then becomes: where does the private explorer start? This is especially the case since investors want to see decent drilling in preference to geophysical surveys. However, it is now clear from the experience of some Australian companies that if there is government gravity data available, it is best to infill this gravity data with ground gravity to inform the later drill testing program. High powered EM is a good new solution for sourcing legitimate bedrock conductors, but a new clear path in exploration has emerged that has shown that in many cases it is best to test the ambient geophysical fields first, like magnetics, gravity and Z-TEM, before pursuing electro magnetics and/or induced polarisation.

Gravity data is especially useful as it is comparatively inexpensive to collect and not as susceptible to false positives and negatives as other geophysical methods, where electricity is imported to create an artificial field that hopefully causes subsurface mineralisation to be highlighted. Mineral exploration is hard enough without having costly false positives or negatives causing an extra layer of difficulty. Furthermore, the market does not have a full understanding, let alone the patience, for the added time and expense that misinformation can cause.

It is now very clear that whatever the outcome of drilling (if indeed any drilling takes place) the first port of call for a private explorer is the government-generated data and an infill program in these ambient fields of gravity and magnetics in particular. These surveys do provide the perfect background picture prior to other methods such as high voltage EM and induced polarisation.

By far gravity and magnetics are the best foundation for ongoing mineral exploration and if Government-run gravity or magnetic data is available then, subject to anomalies, this Government data should be in filled as an absolute first priority by an explorer.

Feature image by Simon Yeo. Used under CC BY 2.0.

As published in https://www.ausimmbulletin.com/opinion/gravity-a-new-trend-in-exploration/

Lithium

Based on figures compiled by Canaccord Genuity it can be said that on average, the lithium space on the ASX is up by some 300 per cent or so since the start of December. Current demand for lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) for batteries and the metal’s traditional applications is approximately 170,000 tonnes annually.

Big name investment houses like Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank have all been busy sizing up what is unfolding in recent days. Goldman Sachs believes that the demand for lithium could more than triple to 530,000 tonnes by 2025. Increased penetration of electric vehicles is a major part of their upbeat assessments of lithium-ion demand. In fact 25 makes and models of electric vehicles are to be released by established car manufacturers in the next couple of years.

“We envision rapid growth of lithium battery capacity in China will drive down the adoption cost and that lithium batteries will then entirely substitute lead-acid batteries in all applicable areas,’’ James Kan, from Deutsche Bank, said.

“Together with the Chinese government’s support for the electric vehicle industry, we believe lithium battery demand is taking off.’’

Gold

Gold and Silver prices have rallied to their highest during early May since January 2015 as the Bank of Japan’s decision in late April to hold off expanding monetary stimulus weighed heavily on the US Dollar, and European and US Stocks fell.

Spot gold was up two per cent at $US1,291.11 an ounce on Saturday 30th of April having reached a 15 month high of $US1,296.76. US Gold futures for June delivery settled up 1.9 percent at $US1,290.50 an ounce.

“All precious metals are up quite strongly on the back of weakness in the dollar, after poor GDP (gross domestic product) data in the United States and a lack of action by the Bank of Japan.” Capital Economics analyst Simona Gambarini said.

“There could be a correction in the price if the dollar starts strengthening again, but we remain positive in gold.”

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/barry-fitzgerald/big-bet-on-lithium-power/news-story/b620e5d7f7cbcbdb9c83ecbd2dcacf05

Source: https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Gold-up-2-on-BoJ-decision

Gold and Silver prices have rallied to their highest since January 2015 as the Bank of Japan’s decision last week to hold off expanding monetary stimulus weighed heavily on the US Dollar, and European and US Stocks fell.

Spot gold was up two per cent at $US1,291.11 an ounce on Saturday having reached a 15 month high of $US1,296.76. US Gold futures for June delivery settled up 1.9 percent at $US1,290.50 an ounce.

“All precious metals are up quite strongly on the back of weakness in the dollar, after poor GDP (gross domestic product) data in the United States and a lack of action by the Bank of Japan.” Capital Economics analyst Simona Gambarini said.

“There could be a correction in the price if the dollar starts strengthening again, but we remain positive in gold.”

Source: https://www.businessnews.com.au/article/Gold-up-2-on-BoJ-decision