Monday, August 30, 2010

REE -rare earth elements

Having followed NTU - Northern Uranium for a number of years now and being mostly disappointed I was delighted that their foray into rare earth minerals is strating to pay dividends. Following is a list of rare earth minerals :

Symbol #, name, how the name was derived, uses
57 La Lanthanum from the Greek "lanthanon," meaning I am hidden. High refractive index glass, flint, hydrogen storage, battery-electrode, camera lens
58 Ce Cerium for the Roman deity of fertility Ceres. chemical oxidising agent, polishing powder, yellow colors in glass and ceramics, catalyst for Self-cleaning oven etc.
59 Pr Praseodymium from the Greek "praso," meaning leek-green, and "didymos," meaning twin. Rare-earth magnets, laser, green colors in glass and ceramics, flint
60 Nd Neodymium from the Greek "neo," meaning new-one, and "didymos," meaning twin. Rare-earth magnets, laser, violet colors in glass and ceramics, ceramic capacitor
61 Pm Promethium for the Titan Prometheus, who brought fire to mortals. Nuclear battery
62 Sm Samarium for Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets, who discovered the rare earth ore samarskite. Rare-earth magnets, Laser, neutron capture, maser
63 Eu Europium for the continent of Europe. Red and blue phosphors, laser, mercury-vapor lamp
64 Gd Gadolinium for Johan Gadolin (1760–1852), to honor his investigation of rare earths. Rare-earth magnets, high refractive index glass or garnets, laser, x-ray tube, computer memory, neutron capture
65 Tb Terbium for the village of Ytterby, Sweden, where the first rare earth ore was discovered. Green phosphors, laser, fluorescent lamp
66 Dy Dysprosium from the Greek "dysprositos," meaning hard to get. Rare-earth magnets, laser,
67 Ho Holmium for Stockholm (in Latin, "Holmia"), native city of one of its discoverers. Laser
68 Er Erbium for the village of Ytterby, Sweden. Laser, vanadium steel
69 Tm Thulium for the mythological land of Thule. Portable X-ray machine
70 Yb Ytterbium for the village of Ytterby, Sweden. Infrared Laser, chemical reducing agent, High-temperature superconductors (YBCO)
71 Lu Lutetium for Lutetia, the city which later became Paris.


The above information comes from an article in wikipedia

Friday, August 20, 2010

Restaurants

On our recent week off we decided to spend our money on dining rather than travelling further afield. The first stop was the Victory Hotel on our way to Cape Jervis. It is about a third off the way there with wonderful views over the sea and almost back to what used to be the refinery.

Their menu is interesting and Lyn had rabbit, an item I have not seen on a menu before and it reminded Lyn of her childhood. I had the Hamburger as that is something I do not have often these day. We both enjoyed our meals and the service.

Of course while we stay at Cape Jervis we always have at least one meal at the Cape Jervis Tavern. The meals are always very good and you receive a good sized serve. Even though I would not go out of my way to eat there I highly recommend it if you happen to be in the area or on your way through to Kangaroo Island.

Our plans to dine at Victor Harbour's newest restaurant Stingrays were put off by a day, but we still did the trip to Victor and instead had a lunch at the local Crown Hotel. We had lunched at this hotel at various times and never had any complaints. This time we decided to cheap it and went into their TAB bar. The punter's menu offered three choices for $5 and an $8 choice including a glass of beer. I opted for the bolognaise with the beer and Lyn had the fish'n'chips. This was definitely BANG4BUCKS - I go their again anytime.

The following day we finally went to Stingrays, the place I was looking forward to. It was evening so unfortunately we could not enjoy their view. The restaurant had only started a couple of weeks ago. When receiving our bottle of bubbly we were asked to fill our glasses ourselves - hmmmmmm. I thoroughly enjoyed the chirpy service of the two waiting staff all the same. After the nice oysters some of us ordered steak. I requested mine medium to rare; it was served more on the side of well done with no pink to be seen anywhere. This was rather a shame as the meat itself was beautiful. Then came the crunch - we asked for coffee - WELL they didn't have any. The boss forgot to drop it in during the day. That to me was an excuse to have my desert with a Brandy - it was served in just an ordinary glass.
We enjoyed the evening but were somewhat underwhelmed.

Finally on our way back to Adelaide we stopped for lunch at McClaren Vale at D'arry's Restaurant - part of D'arenberg's Winery. We had this one planned ever since Lyn went there with sister Sue. Set amongst the vineyards of the southern vales this place is for some serious relaxing. Both Lyn and I settled for their winter degustation menu. As the restaurant is right beside their tasting room we visited there before our first course was delivered. Each cousre was an absolute delight and the three hours it took to complete lunch seemed to just fly by. Brilliant and I am looking forward to get back there for lunch. A definite recommendation.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Private use only

The following are my thoughts only. They are put on this blog for family members' perusal and not designed as investment advice.

CDL - (Canada Land) company which has its investment in China real estate. I like the connection to China even though the risk is that control is not in Australia. CDL is going ex dividend Aug 16. It is an investment which should be long term as it is raely traded and one might find it hard to sell if money is needed in a short term.

SNE - (Somerton Energy) A company which missed bankruptcy by being taken over by its ex partner Beach. My hope is that Beach had a good reason to save this company and these become reality soon.
Of course Beach itself - BPT - whould be a decent investment if you are looking for longer term investment

MEY BMN - (Marenica & Bannerman) These two uranium hopefuls are on my watchlist. I believe that uranium prices will rise as the world economy gets back on track and China is looking for more energy.

ASB - Austal is a shipbuilding company and according to some reports may be on the verge of signing a big contract. If this should happen there could be a decent increase in its shareprice.

NTU - this has been a stock I have long followed; but got disenchanted when french Avexe decided not to support a recent capital raising. Now its apparent why: the company is shifting its focus from uranium to rare earth minerals. I am back in hoping that the recent chinese interst in this company will give it futher lift. NTUOB are 15c options with a fair bit of time to run.