Mining & Exploration Investing

Investing in mining is a safe place to park your finances often, as it has been done for many years by fund managers, commodity brokers and is still being done today. Why, because the materials mined are used world wide, and likely always will be.

With the market what it is right now many of us are looking for a shelter for our finances. A quote from Myra P. Saefong, with MarketWatch confirms my thoughts on this "SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Canadian stocks fell Friday, with declines in the U.S. stock market feeding further weakness in financial shares, but strength in gold prices lifted shares of gold mining companies."

As shown in the above video mining security prices can go up and down for many reasons, and apparently the Australia's new carbon tax is one of them. That does not mean that the price of these shares will not rise up again.

In support of "Mining & Exploration Companies" that mine rare earths I will discuss a few senior mining and exploration companies such as BHP Billiton (BHP) which also has proven oil reserves, Alcoa (AA), Rio Tinto (RIO), and Great Panther Silver (GPL). There are many emerging markets growing and building with materials being mined and that is why I have established the "Mining Investments" hub as that is one of many interests of mine.

It is important to see how these companies have grown from a start-up exploration company to what they are today. When considering a mining investment as it is with all investments there is a risk, but the reward may be great, and research must be done. Areas that you would consider with any investment such as options, etfs, or securities should include analysis of a companies management, product, service, finances, cash flow, and future probable growth.

If you are truly considering investing you should consider how and where the materials that are mined are used in emerging markets across the globe today, yesterday and will be used in the future before investing in mining and exploration.

A wonderful mining and exploration company to research and understand mining more would be BHP Billiton, as it is one of the largest mining companies today. BHP Billiton portfolio is very broad and the company has significant market-leading operations across the world. They are differentiated from other diversified resources companies by a large-scale energy portfolio. The energy portion of BHP Billiton portfolio is a huge part of the companies success. It may not be base metals, but it is still a form or mining, as they are producing a commodity that is used globally and it was discovered through exploration.

BHP, of Australia company is Public, and has just under 40,000 employees, and average employee growth is around 3.5% annually. BHP Billiton has two headquarters, an Aussie minerals and oil company, BHP Limited acquired UK miner Billiton plc in 2001 resulting in a two-headquartered, dual-listed company that is run as a single entity with the same board of directors and management. The Melbourne side is BHP Billiton Limited, the London side is Plc, and they collectively are known as BHP Billiton. The company ranks among the world's top producers of iron ore and coal (thermal and metallurgical) and is a major producer of petroleum products such as crude oil and natural gas. Other units produce aluminum, base metals, diamonds, manganese, and stainless steel materials. BHP Billiton operates globally. Sales for BHP Billiton's fiscal year ending June, 2010 were at $52798.0M, with a 5.2% one year growth, and a net income of $12, 722.0M, and income growth of 116.5%.

Although the company had started out as a junior mining company it grew through discovery from explorations and support by investors to become a world leading mining company that produces massive amounts of commodities used globally.

Consider the following inquiries related to BHP Billiton, as these may be applied to other mining companies as well for consideration.

1. If you invested $1,000 in start up of BHP Billiton, how many shares did you buy at that time?
2. And how many do you own today if you held on to those shares?
   (When shares split you may gain or lose shares. You will need to research splits.)
3. What would those shares of BHP Billiton be worth today?
4. What was the original exploration and mining operation focus on for BHP Billiton?
   (You are not likely to located this information, but it would be cool if you did.)

If you look at BHP Billiton global locations you will find that there are many locations for many types of mining. For prosperity I think it is important to know which location was originally explored, tested and proven and mined. Can you answer this? If so feel free to post it below, along with where or how you discovered this information.

Officers: Chairman: Jacques A. (Jac) Nasser, CEO and Director: Marius Kloppers, Group Executive and CFO: Alex Vanselow
Grand Competitors of BHP Billiton: Alcoa, Rio Tinto Limited, and Vale

Of course there are many other sites for information on Mining & Exploration companies to invest in that are more directly connected with the industry as a whole and provide updates on the companies such as current and past projects, management, production, processes, finances, discoveries, properties entitled to explore, and licensing. These are all things that are worth being fully aware of when considering investing with a mining and exploration company.

Although I am providing a review of mining and exploration companies and what to consider when investing with them here, I am not inviting or recommending any particular company for consideration. There are many companies that I do believe are of interest however, and I may discuss them in future mining and exploration hubs of mine.

Any questions, feed back or commentary that you may have is welcome so that I may assist with the understanding, research and development of the process of mining materials and why mining is a good investment overall for many to consider.

Supporting facts for mining investments were located on various sites such as Hoovers.com, and MorningStar.com, as well as Wikipedia.org, and Answers.com.

This list will be added to regularly as I come across them whether they have been written by myself or another. Please feel free to message me and let me know if you have found another hub or article that has been useful in the area of investing in mining and exploration companies.