Stan took over the reins this week as Doug and Kerry are taking a break at the New Orleans Jazz Festival. To change things around a bit, Stan introduced us to some of the 70 or so, worldwide Fellowships of Rotarians, notwithstanding a pecuniary interest in a local chapter related to caravanning!.

 

 

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the great weekend. We had the opportunity to read out some of the accolades given to the “organisers” of the markets, and of course recognizing the fantastic job that Ted has done over the past few months.

 

 

Ted gave a quick outline of the markets and the debrief which will be held on Tuesday evening to provide a response back to CoGB and to develop a survey of market stall holders for their retrospective feedback.

 

Toni will be attending the President Elects Training Seminar (PETS) on April 28^th and also urged new board members and any Rotarian to attend the District Assembly in Melton on May 26^th.

 

 

Tony started his career as a geologist working underground on the Golden Mile in Kalgoorlie amongst other mining operations. He later moved on as an analyst with investment banks such as CIBC. Projects included Aquarius Platinum in South Africa, Centamin in Egypt and Adamus Gold in Ghana.

He was the founding director of Helmsec Global Capital Ltd which seeded, listed and funded numerous companies. He is a board member of a number of companies including Alkane Resources and Alliance Resources. He recently co-founded Rawson Lewis specializing in resources and technology in the Equity Capital Markets. Rawson Lewis also has a philanthropic arm which supports not for profit organisations via a grant process.

Originally from Bendigo and now a part time resident, he was taught by Neville Sharpe (referred to as “Sharpie) and Rod Fyffe, who convinced him to study Earth Sciences, Tony now works from a multitude of offices around the world. The demand for new resources means that startup companies are continually trying to push the boundaries with emerging technologies. Global Energy is now a major issue with coal and nuclear power under pressure from a range of external influences. In China there are approximately 200 coal fired power stations under construction and in India over 70. Globally there are 449 nuclear power stations with 58 in France. France provides most of Europe’s power and at 5c/kwhr; even with high labour costs, still means that manufacturing can be profitable. There are 60 nuclear power plants under construction worldwide and China has plans for 170 more by 2050. As Tony said if you want to look at how a country is vulnerable to the pressures of the supply of energy, look at Germany. On a cost per kwhr, South Australia has the highest energy costs, followed by Germany and California. Australia still relies on coal as its major export earner at roughly $70 billion, followed by Iron ore ($50 b) and gold ($15b). Australian coal from the Hunter Valley is one of the most efficient in the world with less than half of the ash pollution of coal mines in India and China.

With rare earth metals now in high demand for new technology (our smart phone has over 60 different rare earth and mineral components) the race is on to find new processes and systems for the refining and uses of these. China currently mines over 90% of these metals eg, Lithium-batteries and Hafnium-nuclear rods, and it is expected that by 2025, importers will have to buy the finished product, i.e., a car or motor and not the raw materials. (An aside is that Lynas Mining produces the other 10%).

The Paris Agreement as it stands by 2044 will see only 3% of the energy required by the world being able to be provided by wind and solar. The real cost will be the energy costs faced by manufacturers in Australia and this will determine their future viability. Household rooftop systems and wind farms have little influence at this stage.

The big Megatrends Tony described are:

 

As expected there were a multitude of questions from the floor, notwithstanding some attempts from George and Nick to gain some inside tips on the best start ups and companies to invest in. As Tony said “I did go a bit all over the place”, however everyone found such an insightful knowledge of worldwide issues, absolutely fascinating. Thanks Tony for a great presentation and yes, we will take you up on your offer to come back and talk about gold, sometime in the future when you are available.