And the finger-pointing begins.
asserted
pointing → begin → ?
Albo is acting annoyed and flabbergasted that the RBA had the temerity to jack up interest rates again, as if the latest rise has somehow arrived from another planet rather than after years of rampant government spending.
asserted
rise → act → spending
Meanwhile, RBA Governor Michele Bullock has finally stopped gaslighting the Australian public on spending and made one thing pretty clear: demand is running too hard relative to supply, productivity growth is doing bugger all and monetary policy can’t fix everything.
asserted
policy → stop → everything
In other words, ‘it’s not our fault’.
asserted
it → ’ → words
She was careful not to play the blame game, but the message is getting harder to miss.
asserted
message → play → game
The economy simply cannot keep consuming more than it produces without the public’s hip pocket paying the price.
asserted
pocket → keep → price
The rate hike has taken the cash rate to 4.6 per cent, its highest level in 15 years and the highest in the developed world!
asserted
hike → take → world
For the average Aussie mortgage holder, that means nearly $1500 a year in added repayments.
asserted
that → mean → repayments
The RBA has left the door open to another increase, with markets already pricing a serious chance of a November hike as inflation remains stubbornly above target.
asserted
inflation → leave → target
Australians evidently can’t do a thing to cool Albo, Jim and Bowen’s spending themselves.
asserted
Australians → do → spending
So, while households are being told to tighten their belts, the Labor gang keep jetting around the world, accepting awards for Net Zero virtue signalling and pursuing policies that critics argue are piling further pressure onto already brutal electricity bills.
asserted
critics → tell → bills
The contradiction was hard to miss.
asserted
contradiction → miss → ?
This week Albo was also busy praising India’s Modi for expanding electricity access and lifting living standards, while India still relies on a majority of its coal from Australia.
asserted
India → praise → Australia
We dig up the coal, load it onto ships and send it overseas to help other countries manufacture, grow and burn our CO2, while simultaneously making energy more expensive for the Australian industries competing against them.
asserted
energy → dig → them
We can virtue signal about Net Zero until the cows come home, but apparently the virtue stops at the wharf.
asserted
virtue → signal → wharf
Energy arguably has the strongest correlation with economic growth of any fundamental economic input.
asserted
Energy → have → input
Look back through industrialisation and the pattern is difficult to ignore: abundant, reliable and affordable energy drives industry.
asserted
energy → look → industry
Which makes Australia’s position look increasingly like an extraordinary act of economic self-sabotage.
asserted
position → make → sabotage
Don’t worry though, our Albo is going to save everyone a few cents on their morning coffee.
asserted
Albo → worry → coffee
The card surcharge ban should do the trick – assuming the already struggling small businesses don’t immediately pass on the cost.
asserted
businesses → do → cost
Beyond the broader economy though, the ASX looks like it is coughing up a lung as we size up the big R word — recession.
asserted
we → look → word
It was another ugly week in ASX land, with investors having plenty to digest from rates, inflation, energy prices and an economy.
asserted
investors → have → rates
As such, our Runners list was tough going.
asserted
list → go → ?
The Runner of the Week was once again a company bouncing back from 12-month lows rather than charging ahead.
asserted
Runner → bounce → lows
This time, though, the rebound comes amid a rather entertaining critical minerals arm wrestle between the Trump administration and the Democratic Republic of California’s environmental establishment over its gold and rare earths sitting beneath the Mojave Desert.
asserted
rebound → come → Desert
DATELINE RESOURCES LTD (ASX: DTR)
Up 130% (6.3c – 14.5c)
Bulls N’ Bears Runner of the Week is Dateline Resources after the Californian gold and rare earths hopeful landed some seriously heavyweight backing from Washington in its fight to restart operations at its Colosseum project.
asserted
hopeful → land → project
Judging by the market’s reaction, this was exactly the tonic Dateline punters wanted, with the stock rocketing after the US Department of Justice filed its own motion seeking a stay of the preliminary injunction that halted work at Colosseum.
asserted
that → judge → Colosseum
At the same time, the Department of War has weighed in with a sworn declaration arguing that exploration at the project is in the national security interests of the United States.
asserted
exploration → weigh → States
If granted, the stay would allow Dateline’s wholly owned subsidiary, Colosseum Rare Metals, to resume operations under its already-approved Plan of Operations, while the broader appeal works its way through the courts.
asserted
appeal → grant → courts
The Federal Government is also arguing that the District Court erred in finding the “valid existing rights” savings clause under section 508 of the California Desert Protection Act did not protect the approved Plan of Operations.
asserted
clause → argue → Operations
More importantly for Dateline, it says leaving the injunction in place creates irreparable harm to US national security interests and the broader public interest.
asserted
leaving → say → interests
Rare earths are increasingly being treated as a national security issue in Washington, and Colosseum sits right next door to America’s flagship operation, MP’s Mountain Pass.
asserted
Colosseum → treat → operation
Away from the courtroom, Dateline is also getting increasingly interested in what might be hiding beneath Colosseum beyond its established gold story.
uncertain
what → get → story
The company has pulled its geophysical and geochemical datasets into a consolidated model, sharpening up three carbonatite-style rare earths targets.
asserted
company → pull → targets
The standout is the 1.2km-long Clark Mountain Fault Zone, where electrical, radiometric, gravity and geochemical anomalies are stacking up in the same patch of ground.
asserted
anomalies → stack → ground
With the US Government now stepping into the ring alongside Dateline, the stakes have certainly been raised ahead of the October hearing.
MAMBA EXPLORATION LTD (ASX: M24)
Up 115% (3.8c – 8.2c)
Continuing where it left off and making it back-to-back Runners appearances is copper-gold explorer Mamba Exploration, after the company unearthed a treasure trove of historical high-grade copper results at its Meeka East project in WA’s Murchison region.
asserted
company → step → region
The historical data dive delivered 165 copper intersections from just 47 drill holes across the Copper Hills and Lady Alma prospects, outlining a mineralised corridor stretching for around 3km.
And with the ground sitting just 30km along strike from Solstice Minerals’ Nanadie project, which has emerged as one of WA’s more intriguing greenfields copper discoveries, Mamba has found itself sitting in a rather interesting postcode.
asserted
itself → deliver → postcode
The obvious question is whether a Nanadie 2.0 is hiding down the road.
asserted
Nanadie → hide → road
Mamba’s share price, which was languishing around 2.1 cents two weeks ago, ripped from 3.8 cents last Friday to as high as 8.2 cents on Friday as the company followed up the exploration story with a $6 million placement and a new earn-in over the Poison Hills copper-silver project.
asserted
company → languish → project
The placement was priced at 3.8 cents, giving the company a serious cash injection to get stuck into the Murchison.
asserted
placement → price → Murchison
…and 29 more, not listed.
The Aporia
