Disruptive Discoveries Journal - Chris Berry (@cberry1)

$80 Million Deal Between Western Lithium and Lithium Americas Redefines the Junior End of the Lithium Market

On an otherwise quiet holiday week in North America for mining, the news of the effective merger between Western Lithium (WLC:TSX, WLCDF:OTCBB) and Lithium Americas (LAC:TSX, LHMAF:OTCBB) is an exciting and positive catalyst in the lithium space. I have maintained for some time that, despite the rosy demand growth projections for lithium, the market needs fewer players. The lithium market (at approximately 160,000 tpy of lithium carbonate equivalent) just isn’t big enough for numerous players to generate adequate cash flows (and hence returns). Further, the resulting players will need to demonstrate costs or competitive advantages that allow them to exist alongside the oligopoly in the space.

[ Read the Whole Blog Post ]

PayPal to Acquire Xoom

Entry into $600 Billion International Money Transfer Market¹ with Leading Technology Solution
Expands Services for PayPal’s Customers and Accelerates Time-to-Market in Key International Markets

SAN JOSE, Calif. & SAN FRANCISCO--- PayPal, Inc. and Xoom Corporation (XOOM), a digital money transfer provider, today announced a definitive agreement under which PayPal will acquire Xoom for $25 per share in cash or an approximate $890 million enterprise value. The transaction represents a premium of 32% over Xoom’s three-month volume-weighted average price and was unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies, as well as the Board of eBay Inc., PayPal’s parent company.

By Chris Berry of Disruptive Discoveries Journal

China Repositions
With attention focused on Greece and the brinksmanship on display, it was refreshing last week to focus on another topic and participate in a roundtable discussion on the development path for China and its minor metals business over the next five years. The seminar, held in New York and hosted by TREM and MMTA (two important think tanks focused on the strategic metals space), hosted numerous individuals across metals value chains, from traders, to strategists, to trade lawyers to investment professionals. I participated as a panelist with a group emceed by Clint Cox, founder of The Anchor House, an exceptional think tank on rare earth element matters.

[ Read the Whole Blog Post ]

By Rachel Fox of FoxOnStocks.com

Are you with the best online broker for you? Does your broker work well with your trading and investing habits and style? These are difficult questions to answer. The truth is … you may or may not be with the best online broker for you.

How can you be certain you are trading with the best broker for YOUR specific trading needs?

There are countless options for online broker platforms and each one offers different things for different prices. Look at these real-life broker comparisons below:

[ Read the Blog Post ]