A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info

The Indonesian property market is increasingly getting into the focus of international investors, among them companies from the Middle East, trying to benefit from the country’s newly-found political stability and favourable economic outlook under the present liberal government of President Joko Widodo. With a large number of private developments and government-funded infrastructure projects, as well as relaxed property ownership laws to expect, the sector has received a boost. Adding to this is the growing purchasing power of the Indonesian middle class which has raised demand for a lot of new residential housing projects particularly on the island of Java, the country’s main economic hub.

Read more: http://www.gulf-times.com/eco.-bus.%20news/256/details/424263/indonesia-property-market-lures-growing-gulf-attention

Engineers from Trinity College Dublin are leading a four-year, €500,000 European Space Agency (ESA) project to fine-tune ‘Cold Spray,’ (CS) – a revolutionary, environmentally friendly technology that deposits materials onto engineering components. The fruits of their labours will be seen on spacecraft in outer space as well as on a variety of household applications and on the transport vehicles we use every day.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-01-fine-tune-cold-next-gen-3d-printing-technology.html#jCp

Jan 20 (Reuters) – Freeport-McMoRan Inc could lose its permit to export copper concentrate from its massive Indonesian mine in West Papua, the country’s mining minister said on Tuesday, unless it can show progress in developing a new copper smelter this week.

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/20/fcx-indonesia-exports-idUST9N0NH03A20150120

Indonesia is experiencing a burst of unprecedented economic and political optimism. The world’s fourth most populous country, with some 250 million people, is emerging as a powerhouse of Southeast Asia, at the dawn of an awakening that many compare to pre-boom China three decades ago.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo speaks to the media with his cabinet members at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta. Associated Press

Read more at:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/asian-pacific-business/the-next-china-indonesia-emerging-as-a-new-asian-powerhouse/article22496882/

Former Xstrata PLC chief executive officer Mick Davis is considering a bid for the nickel business of Vale SA, the world’s top producer of the metal, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

Read more at:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/former-xstrata-ceo-mulls-bid-for-vale-nickel-mines/article22437161/

SINGAPORE/MANILA (UPDATE) – Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc, the Philippines’ No. 3 nickel producer, is expected to raise $600 million in a Manila IPO in March, sources said, taking advantage of higher prices and exports triggered by a ban on shipments of ore from Indonesia.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 3,000,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 129 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Energy storage technology just got a big boost courtesy of Uncle Sam’s Canoe Club, also known as the U.S. Navy.

The Naval Sea Systems Command awarded an $81 million contract to K2 Energy Solutions, a developer and manufacturer of lithium-iron phosphate battery technology based in Henderson, Nevada, to design an energy storage system capable of powering “a large modular capacitor bank for the electromagnetic railgun.”

Read more at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2015/01/05/u-s-navy-buys-81-million-lithium-iron-battery/