History of Zinc (from International Zinc Association, (http://www.iza.com/uses.html) Centuries before zinc was discovered in the metallic form, its ores were used for making brass and zinc compounds, its ores were used for healing wounds and sore eyes. It is believed that the Romans first made brass in the time of Augustus (20 B.C. - 14 A.D.). In the 13th century Marco Polo described the manufacture of zinc oxide in Persia. At Zawar, India, both zinc metal and zinc oxide were produced from the 12th to the 16th century. From India, zinc manufacturing moved to China in the 17th century where it developed as an industry to supply the needs of the brass industry. In 1743, the first European zinc smelter was established in Bristol in the United Kingdom. A major technological improvement was achieved in Germany which led to the erection of ...

We called Potash Corp. (NYSE:POT) the perfect stock back in March, when it was under $150 then ran all the way up to $241 a share.  Today, shares of POT are right back to $150 level and despite the haters, they are still one of the few companies that raised their 2008 and 2009 guidance. Morgan Stanley is out with a very positive Fertilizer call for Potash, saying they think the business model meltdown implied in fertilizer equities’ recent ~35% decline will prove unfounded. Firm believes that peak earnings are likely to come in 2011 (rather than in 2008, as implied by the ...

Triangle Petroleum is an exploration company focused on emerging Canadian shale gas projects covering 584,000 gross acres in the Maritimes Basin in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The company plans to aggressively exploit their shale gas assets based on their prior experience with other shale gas assets in the Barnett and Fayetteville shale gas areas.

Triangle’s first exploration well, N-14-A, was spud in July 2008 and drilled to a depth of 8,500 feet. The well encountered Horton Bluff Shale at a depth of 3,600 feet and drilled through a total of 4,900 feet of shale and interbedded sands. Core samples were obtained at various depths and sent to labs in Houston and Calgary for analysis. The company owns a minimum 45% working interest in the well and is the operator.

Triangle’s second exploration well, O-61-C, was spud early this week. This well is located 14 miles west of the company’s first well

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KKR Indicates "High" Interest in NB. Last week sources close to Lehman said that the asking price for Neuberger would somewhere in the $10 billion range. A quick look at LEH as it trades today and it shows a market cap of approx $9.6 billion. Heck, the stock is pricing the investment bank plus NB even a tad bit cheaper than the asking price LEH has tagged on NB. A takeover of the entire firm could be a 2-for-1 deal: buy Lehman and we throw in a money manager for free. Ah not so easy. If it were then it would have happened by now. The problem: if you buy the firm then you assume the downside of the toxic debt....and how do you value that? And maybe the "smart money" suspects that more bad news is still to come. I for one will be very interested to ...