Buyer's Guide Membership
Jobs
Video
Treasure Hunt
TNM Marco Polo
Hello!
Commodities
Country/Region
Data
Live Charts
Products

March 2010

Brazil’s Plan to Accelerate Growth

President Lula de Silva of Brazil has big plans for his country’s energy sector. Lula proposes to spend $255 billion on energy between 2011 and 2014, and another $344 billion in the years after that. The goal is to secure a reliable supply of energy, and would include expanded electrical grids, oil and gas exploration, renewable sources and improved energy efficiency. Energy represents nearly 70 percent of the $872 billion allocated to Brazil’s latest economic growth program, known locally as PAC 2. Other areas of focus for the plan are housing, transportation and general quality-of-life improvements. The need is certainly there – last fall we highlighted some of Brazil’s infrastructure gaps, as observed by our global strategist Jack Dzierwa when he traveled there. But what about the funding? Brazil has a relatively small tax base and its public debt-to-GDP ratio of 67 percent is relatively high among other key Latin American economies. Lula’s plan would require a tax hike or more debt on the national balance sheet. Another potential hurdle is this year’s presidential election. Lula can’t run again, but he is throwing his weight behind Cabinet Chief Dilma Rousseff – if Rousseff wins (she now trails in the race), the plan’s chances improve.

Frank Holmes - U.S. Global Investors | March 31, 2010 - 9:00 pm

CiDRA’s SONARtrac Flow Monitoring Systems gain PROFIBUS certification

CiDRA Mineral Processing’s SONARtrac Flow Monitoring Systems have been granted a PROFIBUS certificate, ensuring conformance with the standard’s specifications and guidelines, as well as interoperability with devices from other manufacturers. “The addition of PROFIBUS will enable our customers to further leverage the existing data and functionality resident in the SONARtrac flow and entrained air/gas transmitter [...]

International Mining | March 31, 2010 - 6:50 pm

Financial support needed to sustain Queensland mineral resources sector

The Queensland Government has been urged not to drop its support for minerals and energy exploration to ensure that the state continues to sustain a thriving resources sector. “We share the government’s desire for Queensland to become Australia’s greenfield exploration capital by 2020,” said Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive Michael Roche. However, [it] needs to [...]

International Mining | March 31, 2010 - 6:40 pm

Tags for you
# Aboriginal Issues # Base Metals # Battery Metals # Careers # Critical Minerals # Education # Energy # Exploration # Intelligence # Iran War # Markets # News # Precious Metals # Regulatory Issues # Suppliers & Equipment # Top Companies # Video

NLT Receives Approval by MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) for their Permissible Compact IS NetPort…

Toronto, Canada – NL Technologies (NLT) announces today the approval by MSHA for their Permissible Compact IS NetPort which is an 802.11a/b/g access point with a built in Ethernet bridge.  It transmits and receives data via two antenna ports (from a radio, operating in the 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz bands), two fiber optic ports […]

infomine - mining equipment and supplier news | March 31, 2010 - 5:25 pm

Videos

Mining Insights. Delivered.

Get the top mining stories, market trends, and commodities updates sent straight to your inbox