Lithium: First All-Electric Truck for Obama TNR.v, CZX.v, RM.v, LMR.v, WLC.v, CLQ.v, SQM, FMC, ROC, HEV, VLNC, F, SNE, AONE, GM, NSANY, BYDDY, RNO,

"Recent Oil Spill shows the real price for Oil and leaves no doubt for us that there will be no more cheap oil: offshore drilling is costly now, it will be even more costly later. Relatively cheap Oil is in the hands of state owned companies in not so friendly to U.S. places. Oil squeeze will come from diminishing production rates and rising Inflation. The move will be even more explosive than in the Gold market - in the end only minority of people is effected by the gold price even now, Oil is the underlining of all Western Energy Diet. It is not sustainable. Emerging markets are taking more and more share of world wide production, oil producing countries are spending more at home. If you account all cost to produce, deliver and protect Oil supply to U.S. corp the price is already above 150 USD/barrel.
"Peak Oil and Lithium: Joint Operating Environment 2010
Please pay attention, this report is written by those who knows the Real Price of Oil. If you account all military needed to protect Oil supply lines and cost of wars to get more oil, price will be well above 150 USD/barrel already. Now we all have another problem: there is simply no more oil enough for all. Will future wars for oil be the only answer?"
Another "liberation" operation like Iraq, this time against Iran will break the camel's back with no return point. Competition for Oil is heating up and aggressive move by China into Electric Cars leaves no other options for US than to follow. In order to keep power China needs gradually improve standard of living, it will bring upside pressure on labor cost. Electrification will not only provide Energy Security to China, but will significantly reduce the cost of its transportation element and provide another opportunity to stay among low cost producers. Situation is completely different to U.S. - they have capital to invest in Electric Mobility CAPEX now and rip the rewards of lower cash cost on transportation side later. We will refer you to the Economics of Electric Cars.
Recent Ash Cloud events in Europe brought a very sobering sense of the feeling to be grounded. It is amazing how many things are taking for granted. This time it is Ash Cloud - what will happen with oil above 150?
Electric Cars is the only commercially viable technology today to sustain mobility world wide with rising Oil prices. Lithium is at the heart of Green Mobility revolution - it is an industry adopted standard for batteries and billions of dollars are invested into battery technology and upcoming by the end of this year Electric Cars on a mass market scale. This Bull market is still very young - only a year or so from the beginning after the crash of 2008.
We will provide you with few links to study the subject further:"

Vice President Joe Biden calls the Navistar Electric Truck Team to congratulate them on shipping their first vehicle as a result of Recovery Act funding, from his home office in Wilmington, Delaware,

The Recovery Act:

First Recovery Act Electric Vehicle Delivered Today
Posted by Liz Oxhorn on May 13, 2010 at 04:04 PM EDT
For months now, a team at an Indiana plant has been hard at work preparing to manufacture electric delivery trucks that are entirely powered by plug-in power. They’ve been installing equipment, retrofitting an old manufacturing facility, assembling parts, testing the new technology – and today they became the very first Recovery Act recipient to deliver an electric vehicle with the advanced battery and electric drive grants the President announced last year as they unveiled their new truck today and handed the keys off to the customer.
Perhaps the President was on to something last year when he chose Navistar’s Wakarusa plant as the location to announce these awards – because that Indiana team marking this important milestone today is none other than the fine folks at Navistar. You may remember some of them from this video of the President’s visit there last year. Their community was hard-hit when a local employer, RV manufacturer Monaco Coach, went bankrupt during the economic downturn. Like communities across the country, they’re still making their way to back to economic recovery – but they’re starting to see a brighter future thanks to the Recovery Act. The electric truck being unveiled today? It was manufactured at one of Monaco’s old facilities - which is today Navistar’s new electric vehicle facility. And it was made with the help of some former Monaco employees – who, thanks to the Recovery Act, are now on the job at Navistar.
The folks at Navistar took a few minutes in the middle of their busy launch day to take a phone call from a special guest Vice President Biden congratulated the team not only reaching this important milestone, but on playing a leading role in putting Recovery Act dollars to work manufacturing smarter, cost-efficient vehicles and helping build an industry that will create good middle-class jobs for years to come. This is just the beginning for Navistar’s electric vehicle program – they plan to eventually develop and deploy 400 of these trucks and put sixty people to work in the process thanks to the Recovery Act investment.
And this wasn’t just an accomplishment for Navistar, but for the entire advanced battery and electric vehicle industry. In fact, the battery that is powering the new electric delivery truck unveiled today was built in Michigan by Michigan workers at A123 Systems – also thanks to a Recovery Act award announced last year.
It’s easy to get a look at this electric delivery truck and the other advanced technology the Recovery Act awardees are producing and think this is just about the future. But Navistar and companies like it are bringing the future to market today. In fact, this truck isn’t a model or test vehicle – it’s going to be immediately put on the road by the customer making deliveries in a smarter, more cost-efficient way. A plug-in powered vehicle that can carry in excess of 2 tons a distance of up to 100 miles per charge – that’s not the future, that’s today.

And because of the advances the more than 40 recipients of the Recovery Act’s $2.4 billion investment in electric vehicles are making today, we’re going to go from two advanced vehicle battery factories last year to 30 by 2012. We’ll go from two percent of the world’s advanced vehicle battery market share to 20 percent by 2012. And we’re not just making the parts here at home, we’re also helping plant the power stations to fuel electric cars all over the country. So while Navistar’s customer will hit the road with a brand new electric vehicle soon – it may not be long before you do too.
Liz Oxhorn is Recovery Act Communications Director

READ MORE - Lithium: First All-Electric Truck for Obama TNR.v, CZX.v, RM.v, LMR.v, WLC.v, CLQ.v, SQM, FMC, ROC, HEV, VLNC, F, SNE, AONE, GM, NSANY, BYDDY, RNO,

James Dines: The Future of Gold, Nuclear Power and Rare Earth Minerals TNR.v, CZX.v, RM.v, LMR.v, LI.v, WLC.v, CLQ.v, AVL.to QUC.v, RES.v, GRC.to,

The Future of Gold, Nuclear Power and Rare Earth Minerals

Satturday May 8th, 2010.

James Dines Editor & Publisher The Dines Letter with Jim Puplava.

"Lithium is the leveraged play on Peak Oil and rising Oil price with coming Inflation. Sector is very small and market is even more smaller - everything is ready for the parabolic move in case of supporting fundamentals."

James Dines has started the fire with REE market last spring as he did with Uranium before:

Lithium and REE Investment Manifesto and Next Big Thing in action:San Francisco notes.

"Big IF" was in 2003 when James Dines pronounced bull market in Uranium and we made an easy killing on basket of Uranium Junior miners, some of them going from low 0.2 to over 1.0 AUD on Chinese money coming into the sector in less then a year. James Dines is in the picture again and this May he moved the REE market with value doubled and tripled with his announcement of the first Major Bull market after 2003 Uranium call in Rare Earth Elements. It will be our first take out from San Francisco Hard Assets conference last week - meeting hall was full of crowd and Master energised by attention proclaimed:
In 70s he told to his followers Buy Gold and he was a Gold Bug. He was stared down but refused to retreat. (This phrase followed every of his bullish calls.)
In 80s he told to Buy China and he was China Bug. He was...you know what happen next.
In 1997 he told to Buy Internet and he was an Internet Bug.
In 1999 he told to sell Internet stocks.
He told that it will be era of raw materials in 2000.
2002 he announced Uranium Super Bull.
2005 he told Sell Real Estate.
In November 2008 he told that it is Not the End of the world and mining stocks will double again.
In May 2009 he told about coming Buying Panic in Rare Earth Elements, announced Super Major Bull market in REE and became a Rare Earth Bug. They (REE) will be on front pages and Goldman Sachs owns Molycorp - private company which owns last past producing mine in USA. (We did not verify this information.)
- James Dines, John Kaiser and Jack Lifton are all extremely bullish on Rare Earth Elements and Jay Taylor has picked up recently TNR Gold / International Lithium for his Watch List. James Dines called it "The One Best Area to Buy Now", John Kaiser worried about "Security of Supply in a Changing World" and Jack Lifton reported on "In 2010 What will be the Best Plays in Rare Earths for Small Investors As Well As Large". Reasons sighted are the same as we have discussed before here:
China controls more then 97% of the market now.
By 2014 China will consume everything that will be produced in REE space.
All other REE metrics like 36 kg of REE in every Prius and 300kg of Rare Earth magnets per 1 mW of Wind Tubines."

READ MORE - James Dines: The Future of Gold, Nuclear Power and Rare Earth Minerals TNR.v, CZX.v, RM.v, LMR.v, LI.v, WLC.v, CLQ.v, AVL.to QUC.v, RES.v, GRC.to,

Jim Puplava is looking for Electric Car TNR.v, CZX.v, RM.v, LMR.v, LI.v, WLC.v, CLQ.v, SQM, FMC, ROC, NSANY, BYDDY, HEV, AONE, VLNC, SNE, PC, F, GM,

We think that Fisker Karma will do the trick:

"IRVINE, CA – April 15, 2010: American green-car maker Fisker Automotive will be launching a North American tour to introduce the stylish Karma premium plug-in hybrid to local markets, and support the company’s new retail network.Scheduled to kick off Tuesday, April 27 from the company’s Irvine, California headquarters, the two-month program will stop in 42 cities in 26 states and three Canadian provinces. An intended schedule can be found below and online in the News section of http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/"

Will he be looking next for Lithium for his portfolio?

Chinese Revaluation The Coming Surge in Energy Prices

May 1st, 2010.

Bill Powers (Energy) Editor Powers Energy Investor Topic: Peak Oil, Higher Natural Gas Prices & Energy Opportunities

READ MORE - Jim Puplava is looking for Electric Car TNR.v, CZX.v, RM.v, LMR.v, LI.v, WLC.v, CLQ.v, SQM, FMC, ROC, NSANY, BYDDY, HEV, AONE, VLNC, SNE, PC, F, GM,

Wall Street Journal:The U.S. may stockpile lithium and REE under Strategic Materials Security Program TNR.v, CZX.v, RM.v, LMR.v, LI.v, WLC.v, CLQ.v,

Race for Strategic Materials is on and U.S. is not in the front seats now: China controls 97% of REE market and lithium mostly produced in Chile, Argentina and Australia at the moment. Bolivia - named the Saudi Arabia of lithium by some, has its own mind about its vast undeveloped resources of lithium. Japanese companies are buying into Canadian and Australian junior mining companies to secure lithium supply and Chinese are very active in Australia. When U.S. will look at domestic lithium development in Nevada? Government sponsored enterprise in U.S. Strategic Metals Development Corp. like a Japanese JOGMEC can do the trick and finance juniors like International Lithium, Western Lithium and Rodinia Minerals on J/V basis: otherwise it will be 80s with Japanese Fever all over again. This time Japanese conglomerates will control not only movie studious, but something little bit more essential in the time of peak oil - lithium supply for the Electric Mobility Revolution. Recent deal in Nevada by JOGMEC with Lomico Metals is the first step in that direction, properties are still under DD review, but appetite to be engage in lithium exploration and development in Nevada by Japanese is there. Who will be gone next? When GM, Ford, GE, Dow, Rio Tinto, Boeing and DOE will wake up?

The U.S. may stockpile lithium, thin pieces of which are shown here at the Center for Lithium Energy Advanced Research lab in North Carolina


WSJ:

Pentagon in Race for Raw Materials
Stockpiling Minerals Takes on Greater Urgency as Global Supply Gets Squeezed

By LIAM PLEVEN
The U.S. military is gearing up to become a more active player in the global scramble for raw materials, as competition from China and other countries raises concerns about the cost and availability of resources deemed vital to national security.
The Defense Department holds in government warehouses a limited number of critical materials—such as cobalt, tin and zinc—worth about $1.6 billion as of late 2008. In the coming weeks, the Pentagon is likely to present a plan for Congress to overhaul its stockpiling program,


The new plan, dubbed the Strategic Materials Security Program by the Pentagon, would give the military greater power to decide what it stockpiles and how it goes about buying the materials. It would also speed up decision making at a time when military technology evolves rapidly, commodity markets swing widely and countries around the world fight to secure access to natural resources.
"It's a risk-management program," said Paula Stead, who oversees the effort for the Defense National Stockpile Center at Fort Belvoir, in Virginia. The goal is to be able to obtain "a much broader" array of materials in "a much shorter time," she said.
Right now, the military can't add to the stockpile list without congressional approval, a process that can take as long as two years. The military wants to remove that restriction. It also wants the authority to strike long-term deals with companies or allied nations to provide emergency supplies of materials that the military says are irreplaceable for making weapons, jet engines, high-powered magnets and other gear.
U.S. allies are also increasingly alert to possible supply threats. Last year, Australia blocked a Chinese firm's bid for control of a company that was developing a mine for rare-earth elements, which are used in products such as alloys, electronics and computer monitors.
China controls more than 90% of global production of rare-earth elements, which the U.S. military uses in lasers and high-powered magnets. The U.S. in October added several of these elements to its list of materials that it might warehouse.

The proposed changes to the stockpile system are part of a broader overhaul of the way the Pentagon buys raw materials. The military currently uses hundreds of millions of dollars worth of raw materials annually, for building weapons and equipment, among other things.
The military has recently tested a system of bulk-buying commodities—by putting in joint orders across the armed services—which could cut purchasing costs. The military also wants the latitude to have private companies stockpile materials in "buffer stocks" that the military can tap if other supplies dry up.
Critics argue the current stockpiling system—set up in 1939 for World War II and shaped by the Cold War—is outdated and leaves the U.S. vulnerable to a shortage of critical supplies. That could weaken the military's negotiating position or leave it at the mercy of wild price swings in the market, or unable to get the material it needs for key weapons.
The huge purchasing power of other nations such as China and India makes this even more critical, according to a Department of Defense report given to Congress last year. Worries about potential shortages of strategic materials escalated in 2007 and 2008, as commodity prices jumped and demand from emerging economies soared.
At a hearing on the stockpile last July, a Defense Department official told Congress that the price of rhenium, whose heat-resistant qualities help jet engines operate at higher speeds, at one point shot up 1,000%. Rhenium is one of many materials the department already screens for stockpiling.
China looms large in the debate. In addition to dominating production of rare-earth elements, China is an aggressive deal maker with countries and companies that produce raw materials. The Chinese government also stockpiles a range of natural resources.
The rising competition for raw materials has sparked fears in the U.S. military that some materials that once seemed abundant could suddenly become hard to get at any price. In 2008 the military suspended or limited sales of 13 commodities it had previously considered excess. Last year it added 14 materials to its list of resources it considers for stockpiling, including specialty steels, lithium and some rare-earth elements, taking the total to 68. More additions are expected, said Ms. Stead of the Defense National Stockpile Center.
The changes being proposed by the military have the potential to move prices, especially on materials for which the market is small. If the military decides to add a commodity to the stockpile, it could cause "some upward pressure on price," said Roderick Eggert, a mineral economist at the Colorado School of Mines, who has tracked the proposal.
The Defense Department is also a major buyer of raw materials for immediate consumption, as opposed to stockpiling. It purchases about three-quarters of a million tons of raw materials a year for immediate consumption, and it uses almost 1% of U.S. steel production and nearly 5% of its aluminum.
The stockpiling system evolved over the past few decades into a network of warehouses containing material that, after the Cold War, the military largely concluded it no longer needed. Much of what was stored has since been sold off, shrinking the hoard and netting about $7 billion.
In 1995, the stockpile held 90 different commodities at 85 different locations. Today, it holds 20 commodities in 10 locations, Ms. Stead said.
The system amounted to "putting stuff into big piles," said Robert Latiff, a retired Air Force major general and lead author of a recent study on managing raw materials for the National Academies. The process for adding new material was "not only lengthy but torturous," said Mr. Latiff, who is now a professor at George Mason University.
The military has been caught flat-footed in the past. A special type of steel was needed early in the Iraq war to reinforce Humvees to protect soldiers from powerful explosives used by insurgents. The Defense Department didn't have the steel in its stockpile, and couldn't find a domestic firm to produce all it needed.
The rules were changed to allow the military to use material from Mexico, according to testimony to Congress last year.
At the same time, the military has also adapted to emergencies. When it was racing to build bomb-resistant trucks to use in Iraq, the Pentagon invoked authority it hadn't used in decades to force contractors to give key projects top priority access to essential material, because it feared shortages of ballistic glass and other components.
Write to Liam Pleven at liam.pleven@wsj.com"

READ MORE - Wall Street Journal:The U.S. may stockpile lithium and REE under Strategic Materials Security Program TNR.v, CZX.v, RM.v, LMR.v, LI.v, WLC.v, CLQ.v,

Jay Taylor Watch List "In Our Sights": TNR Gold corp.: TNR.v, CZX.v, MAI.to, ABX, NG.to, WLC.v, CLQ.v, RM.v, SQM, FMC, ROC, GOOG, AAPL, FCX, RIMM, F

"TNR Gold Corp. is employing the project generator model. For those of you who may not know what a project generator model is, a word of explanation is in order. “Project generators” are companies that pick up early stage exploration ground when there are historical or scientific reasons to believe a property is prospective for a given mineral. Because these properties are obtained at an early stage of development, the cost of obtaining them is very low.As a project generator, TNR then uses its intellectual capital rather than hard currency capital to add value to its shareholders. By carrying out relatively low cost early exploration work, it demonstrates with greater confidence, the potential for a given property to host an economically viable mineral deposit. At that point in time, TNR hopes to bring in other companies that are willing and able to spend considerably more money to explore and advance those prospects toward production. TNR will generally retain a carried interest in those prospects into the future or at least a Net Smelter Return on any future production from the property. The prospect generator model is in theory a less risky model because, if other companies are spending considerable amounts of money, they can reduce the number of shares issued to raise capital."

Jay's Watch List March 30th Show featured TNR Gold Corp.

Company update:

TNR Gold Corp. TSX: TNR

TNR Gold Corp. has entered into a letter agreement with Cricket Capital Corp. on the Company's 100% owned Forgan Lake property located 125km northeast of Thunder Bay, OntarioIn addition, the Company has commenced drilling at the Mariana Lithium brine project in Argentina, and it has increased its land position in Nevada to 5,285 hectares through staking and has commenced a geophysical program on its Mud Lake project, Nye County, Nevada. The Company proposed to waive the production of a feasibility study and exercise its right to acquire 25% of the northern half of the properties for Minera Andes' Los Azules Project in Argentina.

TNR established June 8, 2010 as a date of the meeting date for shareholder approval of the previously announced spin-out of TNR's lithium and rare metals assets into its wholly-owned subsidiary, International Lithium Corp. TNR shareholders of record on the date of the spinout, planned for late June or early July, will receive one share and one fully tradable warrant of International Lithium Corp. for every 4 shares of TNR."

We have a position in this company, please, do not consider anything as an investment advise, as usual, on this blog.

READ MORE - Jay Taylor Watch List "In Our Sights": TNR Gold corp.: TNR.v, CZX.v, MAI.to, ABX, NG.to, WLC.v, CLQ.v, RM.v, SQM, FMC, ROC, GOOG, AAPL, FCX, RIMM, F