hallstatt (unesco heritage)

well, i was quite disappointed after visiting hallstatt, the unesco cultural heritage and city which was copied and re-built by one chinese mining company as an 1 : 1 replica somewhere in china. even when we have had a bad weather it still was interesting to see the old houses + 2 or 3 churches squashed between the lake hallstätter see and the rocks of the dachstein massif, but i've expected something more, to be honest from this heritage (weltkulturerbe) in the salzkammergut region of austria

enjoy few pictures anyway

 2nd church

 

 view from the 2nd church down to the lake and the 1st church ...

 skulls and bones

 

good-bye dachstein

just in case you want to read about the history of hallstatt: salt (world's first known salt mine is located just above the city), bronze, other metals, ... and probably also fishing + hunting + forestry and today tourism, of course :-)

more pictures in my google album

eof

rare earths (REE) madness

folks, now i start 2 understand all that REE craziness out there! wanna see the recent price developments? (source: the latest lynas corp quarterly report):

...

RARE EARTHS PRICES

Rare Earths supply constraints has further impacted Rare Earths prices. The average quarterly price for the Mount Weld Rare Earths distribution, on Freight on Board (FOB) China basis, increased to US$ 92.84/kg REO, which is an increase of over 49% across the quarter. Prices continue to increase post quarter end and as at 27 April 2011, the average price for the Mount Weld Rare Earths composition was US$ 160.32/kg on a FOB China basis. 160.32/kg on a FOB China basis.  

...
damned hell! the madness lasts for quite some time now, isnt it? just imagine, the price of lynas' REO composition increased from $13.13 to $160.32 in only 13 months --- what the heck is going on? all of that only because china cornered the REE market (via price dumping and thus destroying almost all foreign production) some time ago?

my REE fighters (rare earth elements):

• commerce resources - canada
• quantum rare earth - usa
• aurizon mines - canada
• zimtu capital - canada
• talon metals - canada
• arafura resources - australia
• lynas corp - australia

go commodities go!