Bobwins – Zinc
I have been thinking about supply and demand for zinc. Years ago, car bodies rusted out in a very short period of time, due to the auto manufacturers use of paint over metal to prevent rust. They went to electro galvanizing the entire car body and started giving rust free warranties. Zinc oxide and silicon dioxide are added to tires and provide extended wear, resulting in 50,000 – 70,000 mile warranties on tires. Are car companies going to go back to paint and skip galvanizing if zinc goes any higher? Are 25,000 mile tires coming back? There are no cheap substitutes for zinc. Zinc prices will climb to crazy levels if the supply gets any tighter. I think a supply and demand crunch is coming because there are no quick fixes to bring on more supply. Any company that can bring zinc concentrates to the market anytime soon should do very well.
I liked that Coxe update you posted the other day, the part about the 4 suicidal words in investing, “It’s different this time”, CLASSIC! But it is a little different this time in that we are being caught flat-footed on meeting the demand for raw materials. It takes so long to bring metals to the market.
2 days ago I heard the world population crossed the 6,500,000,000 mark.
Good Luck on EZM, hope they get zinc mines on line within a year or so.
Kipp
