[Micki]

I think I mentioned in some post here at PO that several miners seem keen on selling direct in order to capitalise on better margins.
MMN (Macmin Silver for instance expressed this but has since then gone into voluntary administration)

Here is gold mine planning to sell direct.

Hill End Gold Ltd (ASX:HEG)
Australian junior to sell gold investment bars direct to the public
Physical gold demand has increased dramatically over the past year with gold dealers and mints unable to maintain supply, so Hill End Gold Ltd (HEG) has decided to make a portion of its gold production available to investors, with shareholders getting priority. Preparations are underway to have gold investment bars of various weights refined to 99.99% from Hill End gold, which will available for shareholders and the public. These gold investment bars will be stamped "Hill End Gold" and will be tradeable at near to their gold value on the global gold bar market. Recently the World Gold Council reported that demand for gold for the third quarter of 2008 was US$32 billion, which is 45% higher than the record set in the previous quarter, and retail investment demand was up 121% to 7.5 million ounces, with strong bar and coin buying in the Swiss, German, and U.S. markets. At the same time the supply of physical gold gold has decreased 9.7% compared to the same period last year with central banks reducing gold sales. The details of the release of the Hill End gold 99.99% investment bars and the pricing structure will be announced shortly when finalised.

ASX announcement: HERE

[like_the_dinosaurs]

Nice find micki. My father will be thrilled!

[kiwichick]

copper or phosphate or silver might be good

[kiwichick]

peak phosphate ? = peak food ?

[Tanada]

peak phosphate ? = peak food ?

Not as long as powdered bone meal can be made, it acts like a slow release phosphate source.

[kiwichick]

global consumption of concentrated phosphate appox. 40 million tonnes

that would seem like quite a lot of bones!!

[Tanada]

global consumption of concentrated phosphate appox. 40 million tonnes

that would seem like quite a lot of bones!!

It is indeed, however if you look up groundwater contamination from farming you will discover that the vast majority of that is waste. It is currently so cheap that industrial farmers use it with abandon, to the point that instead of distributing it efficiently into the topsoil they sprinkle it on top where much of it is washed away by rain. Modern industrial farming is a horribly ineficient enterprise where petroleum energy is substituted for sound resource managment.

Something else to note, for milenia before intensive modern agriculture was invented farmers managed to grow crops. The harvests were not as large because not as many trace elements were availible, however food was provided for a good sized population of people and livestock before P fertilizer was introduced.

[kiwichick]

wow Tanada would you like to come down here and repeat that to some farmers i know !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you would be lucky if got away with your skin in one piece

[Tanada]

wow Tanada would you like to come down here and repeat that to some farmers i know !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

you would be lucky if got away with your skin in one piece

LOL I grew up on a farm surrounded by Rednecks, they may not like reallity but even the hardest headed farmer usually faces facts when all other options cease to be availible.

[kiwichick]

tanada

my point was that most farmers in OZ can't afford ANY fertiliser let alone so much that it is wasted

waste certainly has ocurred in the past and still does in some instances but that is rapidly becoming the exception

in past millenia wasn't the population considerably smaller than today?