China wants what we have

By Jo Nova

In terms of civilization, Niall Ferguson is speaking simple maths. The arithmetic of resources. Something which is almost never said.

Niall Ferguson:

“For an enormous island that is thinly populated, with enormous resources — for such an island to be ill-defended seems like the most spectacular folly…

Empires, at some level, are about acquiring commodities at below market prices, or at least not trusting to the market to supply you — not to be at the mercy of the market, or the mercy of a navy, the US Navy, which China currently is.

To have security China cannot be dependent on imported commodities and market prices, when you think about what that implies for Australia, its really quite scary…

Australia is a prize…

“If you want Peace, prepare for War.

If you want War, act like it will never come. Allow your defense capability to atrophy.”

The lucky country needs to prepare

Alistair Rae, Stats Maps and Pix.

The rulers of China would be irrational not to want more land to feed people, and control of more resources. Australia has […]

May 14th, 2023 | Tags: , , | Category: Australia, Big-Government, China, Global Warming | Print This Post Print This Post | |

Net Zero by 2050? We need about 10,000 years of current Lithium production to get there first

By Jo Nova

So much for Net Zero by 2050

Simon P. Michaux calls it “Minerals Blindness” — the inability to see that there are just not enough metals to get to Net Zero.

He is an Australian working for the Geological Survey of Finland. He’s an Associate Professor of Mineral Processing and Geometallurgy, and has added up the tonnage required to convert the first generation of the fleet needed (theoretically) to get to Net Zero. So that’s just 25 years worth of wind turbines, solar panels and batteries.

And then we need to do it all again?

Michaux estimates that we need 944 million tons of lithium alone to go Net Zero (the first time). But at the moment every year we dig up about 100,000 tons a year, or 0.01% of what we need to reach the Net Zero target. Current total known reserves of lithium throughout the world in 2022 are just 26 million tons. Total known (best guess) resources are 98 million tons).* Obviously as the price of lithium rises, we will find a lot more. We haven’t been looking for lithium very long so we may even find ten times as much. But at our […]

February 22nd, 2023 | Tags: , , , | Category: Global Warming | Print This Post Print This Post | |

Hate those deniers — Super tax their backers?

Our PM’s rapid descent is described as due to the failure of the carbon trading scheme tonight on the 7.30 Report. To make it so much more pointed, on top of that, there’s the suggestion that Rudd is driven by anger, and that his latest attack on the Mining Industry (with the massive new tax scheme) is about beating the same forces that succeeded over him on the Emissions Trading Scheme.

Author and journalist David Marr spoke with the 7.30 Report‘s Kerry O’Brien about the psychological make-up of the Prime Minister and his collapse in public approval.

Apparently it all boils down to the carbon trading scheme that failed.

The point he started to unravel was not the Global Financial Crisis, an ongoing war, or the weak outcome of his feted hospital plan, it was about the carbon scheme:

9.5 out of 10 based on 2 ratings […]

June 8th, 2010 | Tags: , , , | Category: AGW socio-political, Big-Government, Global Warming | Print This Post Print This Post | |

Tyranny Australis

It’s either a seismic shift in power here, or a farce of Grand Proportions. Either way, if you haven’t heard about the Australian Super-Tax, it’s one of those full-moon-moments in Western Democracy when “one plus one equals minus thirteen”, and the guy earnestly telling you this is also running the country. The sheer Spectacle of Stupid is something to behold.

Guess what the rules will be next year?

For the first time, our government has announced a war against a whole Australian industry: mining (the same sector that rescued us from the global financial crisis and produced 37% of our total exports in 2009).

Australian Prime Minister Rudd desperately needs a big win to go to the next election with, and desperate men are dangerous. He was taken in hook, line and stinker by the Big Carbon Scare — bet his reputation on the big bluff, and crashed and burned. He doesn’t want to look like a complete loser (and who does) so he grabbed the easy wedge; attack the rich foreigners, grab the fast cash, pretend to be Robin Hood. Et Voila! The Resource Super Profits Tax*.

This is not so much about climate (sorry) but it is […]

May 31st, 2010 | Tags: , , , | Category: Big-Government, Logic & Reason | Print This Post Print This Post | |