Gold Mining in Brazil is big business but will it become the next big investment

With Brazil now an investment hotspot for many experienced and novice investors thanks to companies like ecohouse group making investments in property not only more profitable but safer should investors be looking at Brazil’s other abundant resources such as gold.

Gold has been mined and produced in Brazil since earliest colonial days in the early seventeen hundreds. In those times, the main focus of the industry was the town (later city) of Ouro Preto in Minas Gerais state, of which it was at one time the capital.

The city is and was around 500 Km north of Rio de Janeiro and it was expanded rapidly by thousands of adventurers and prospectors and their dependants, attracted by the prospect of rapid riches. For some people this ‘gold rush’ did transform their lives, but not all. However, enough prosperity did result to attract a second wave of immigrants in the 19th century. This time creative artists, architects and creative people of all types came to the area and created many of the beautiful buildings and artifacts which are still such an attractive feature of the city today.

In actual fact the settlement was only granted the more familiar name of ‘Ouro Preto’ in 1823 when it was changed from ‘Vila Rica’. This coincided ironically with a sharp decline in gold mining and was also as a result of the place being re-designated as an imperial town. At that time a number of higher education institutions also moved to the city. With the transfer of the provincial (state) capital to Belo Horizonte in 1897 a further decline in mining took place. Nowadays, and from the nineteen thirties onwards, the main industry in the area is tourism, although gold still does play a part.

These days, total gold production in Brazil is about seventy-five tonnes per year which does not compare with the really big world producers such as China (420 Tonnes per year), Australia (255) or the US and Russia (about 220 each). Taking into account total global production of around 2,800 Tonnes per year the nation’s percentage is indeed small. However, the Brazilian total is not insignificant and actual primary production of the precious metal is in any case only part of the story. After all, the South American giant is now the world’s sixth largest GDP economy and has considerable gold reserves, quite separate from actual mining. Expansion is now taking place again. The main centres of production are ( and will be) the Kinross Gold mine at Paracatu, 230 Km from Brasilia, the AngloGold sites at Cuiaba and Corrego do Sitio in Minas Gerais and the Chapata joint Gold-Copper mine in Goias. All four are attracting much interesrt and investment from domestic and international sources alike.

In summary, Investing in Dilma’s minha casa minha vida social housing programme through reputable developers such as ecohouse group is still the safest way to profit from this booming economy, but when the programme comes to it’s inevitable end investor should be looking to diversify their portfolios with commodites such as gold and silver as we’ll as luxury beach resorts that are also on the rise in Brazil

Anyone wishing to find of more about investing in Brazil should visit EH International. to see what type of investments are currently on offer.

Porto Alegre ready for World Cup

Last month, Brazilian property giant EcoHouse Group announced that its latest housing project, Monte Alegre, would be in the southernmost state capital of Brazil, Porto Alegre. This World Cup host city is possibly Brazil’s most passionate about football and was seen by FIFA and the Brazilian government as a safe bet to host a great tournament.

Porto Alegre is home to two of Brazil’s leading football clubs, Gremio and Internacional, and after much deliberation it was decided that Internacional’s Beira Rio stadium would be renovated in order to host the World Cup. This relatively simple (by the standards of Brazilian stadium construction) process was completed in February and the stadium looked ready to go. However disagreements between Internacional, the state government and FIFA over who should fund the fitting of media facilities meant that Porto Alegre went from a safe bet to one of the most ‘at risk’ stadiums.

Thankfully in April the problem was resolved and the Beira Rio stadium can now proceed with hosting five World Cup matches including Argentina v Nigeria and one second round match. Fans can now look forward to a warm welcome from the people of Porto Alegre, including buyers at EcoHouse Group’s Monte Alegre project.

In the other city where EcoHouse Group produces social housing, Natal, there were no such problems in World Cup preparations with the beautiful Arena das Dunas completed in January. The stadium was opened with a match between Alecrim, the team which EcoHouse Group sponsors, and rivals ABC.

Could Minha Casa Minha Vida Come to Joinville, Brazil’s German city

Social housing is now being constructed all over Brazil thanks to the government’s Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House My Life) programme. A major participant in this programme is Anglo-Brazilian property developer EcoHouse Group who began building under the scheme back in 2009, Now 5 years later and with almost a dozen developments to their name in the north east of the country they move south, announcing that their next project will be located near to Porto Alegre, state capital of Rio Grande Do Sul.
There was a lot of speculation early this year as to where EcoHouse Group would be building next, rumours where correct and their next social housing project was indeed in the south of the country but not Joinville as some had speculated.
Joinville is the largest settlement (but not the capital) of Santa Catarina State. Nowadays Joinville has rather more than half a million residents plus about the same number again in the surrounding metropolitan area. Many of the people in the city are of German descent and indeed some estimates put the total at over half. Of course, being of German ‘descent’ often means just partly rather than wholly.
The first Europeans to come to the area were German, Swiss and Norwegian immigrants in the year 1851 when the town was founded. In the decades that followed people from many countries came to Joinville but the largest component was a total of 17,000 German immigrants sent over the years by an emigration society based in Hamburg. These people were mainly agricultural Lutheran and working-class people who came to make a fresh start in a new land.
The name Joinville is actually French not German. It was chosen in the early 1800’s to honour the french Prince de Joinville (son of the king) who married a Brazilian princess. Although the royal couple had no connection to the area, a palace was eventually built for them here. It’s now a museum about the German 19th century immigration process.
Eventually ‘cash-flow’ problems meant that the Prince was eventually forced to sell nearly all his land in the south of Brazil. Holdings in this district went to the German, Senator Schroder who was a leader of the Hamburg Colonisation Society previously mentioned.
Nowadays Joinville is well known for its continuing German architecture, cuisine and general culture. Needless to say, though, there are also many other people in the city and area who have Portuguese, Italian or Dutch ancestors. Compared to many other regions and cities of Brazil, there are comparatively very few inhabitants of African or indigenous native American heritage. It’s also famous as a popular centre for exhibitions, trade fairs, business conventions and conferences and the like.
The economy today is centred on engineering, industry and manufacturing. In 2012 GM opened a vehicle plant. There are also (among many others) software companies like Datasul and Logocenter and large firms like Tupy, Tigre, Schulz SA and Dohler. Nearby, BMW has plans to launch a large factory producing luxury vehicles and this is due to open by the end of this year, 2014.
The economy of Joinville is generally regarded as doing well and for this reason inward investment, from both domestic and overseas sources is steady.

Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff defends World Cup organisation

She insisted it would be a resounding success, despite criticism about late stadiums and infrastructure delays.

She told reporters these kinds of problems were common everywhere.

Ms Rousseff, who faces the possibility of fresh anti-government protests, said they would not be allowed to disrupt the tournament.

“Everywhere in the world these big engineering projects always go down to the wire,” Ms Rousseff told a group of foreign reporters at the presidential residence in Brasilia.

“Nobody does a (subway) in two years. Well, maybe China,” she said about delays in infrastructure projects which have riled many Brazilians who were expecting to benefit from upgrades planned for the World Cup.

Urban transport systems in Cuiaba, Salvador, Recife and many other cities have not been finished as all efforts went into completing work on football stadiums for the tournament.

The president called the delays “the cost of our democracy”.

Referring to recent anti-World Cup protests – some of which descended into violence – the president said that while demonstrations were part and parcel of democracy, thousands of extra police and soldiers would ensure that they did not mar the World Cup.

“We fully guarantee people’s security,” she said.

Rio’s $700m ‘bus corridor’ opens 10 days before World Cup begins

Brazil has delivered parts of one of the costliest infrastructure projects built ahead of the World Cup in Rio.

The country’s president, Dilma Rousseff, rode a bus to mark Sunday’s official opening of a $700m (£417m) bus corridor for quickly moving people between the airport and subway stations in the western part of the city. None of Rio’s subway lines goes to the international airport.

The Transcarioca bus system is a 24-mile (39km) line with dedicated lanes for buses that are expected to carry 320,000 passengers a day.

While the line is now open, not all of its bus stations have been completed.

The bus project joins a list of infrastructure projects that will not be fully completed by the 12 June start of the tournament.

Officials are still rushing work at stadiums and at airports, but have acknowledged some projects won’t be finished on time, adding to worries about how Brazil will handle an event expected to attract 600,000 tourists from other countries. Of the 12 host cities, Rio de Janeiro is expecting the most foreigners, at about 90,000.

The World Cup has also prompted anger from groups unhappy about the billions of dollars spent for both the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Outside the station where Rousseff arrived, protesters gathered to complain about a lack of spending on education, and teachers threatened to strike if the government did not increase their salaries.

WorldCup is Here — Should You Travel To Brazil?

Without doubt, Brazil ranks among the top bucket-list destinations with its carnival spirit, postmodern architecture and to-die-for beaches and jungle forests. But when the usually avuncular FIFA tartly points out the host country screwed up an unprecedented seven-year head start — then yes, it’s safe to say a mighty unflattering hash tag is looming.

Foot-dragging sprint
Of course, the handwringing looks awfully familiar. Isn’t this the usual foot-dragging/last-minute sprint that happens with all these mammoth sports undertakings? Things turned out fine with the Winter Games in Russia (although not so much with the Crimean peninsula takeover during the Paralympics), the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India. (OK, strike that last one: The corruption was so glaring and the sewage ran so freely, the Olympic committee briefly banned India from Sochi when the country elected the same bumbling secretary general to its Indian Olympic Association.)

Will EcoHouse Group’s next project also be in Rio Grande do Sul.

It’s no longer a secret that property giant EcoHouse Group has launched their latest Minha Casa Minha Vida social housing development in the city of Alvorada in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, but if history repeats itself then Ecohouse will more than likely launch additional developments in the same state, one candidate is the city of Caxias do Sul.

Caxias do Sul has about 450,000 people in its area and is the second largest metropolis in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is only exceeded in size by the state capital, the harbour city of Porto Alegre, which has a population about three times as large. The two cities are about two hours’ driving distance apart. The early town of Caxias was first established by (mostly) Italian immigrants in the closing years of the 19th century. For the most part the incomers were farmers from Veneto in the north of Italy, but there were also others from Lombardy and Trento. A certain number of people (principally Portuguese speakers) also came from other coastal regions of Brazil.

In the year 1910 the town of Caxias do Sul officially became a city. On the very same day (1st June) the first railway line was inaugurated. From then on Caxias had a fast, reliable all-weather link to the outside world. It was vital as it provided the city a better access to markets on the one hand and an important provider of imports for the area on the other.

The original main industries in the area were centred on cultivating vines and producing wine, a product for which the area is still famous to this day. From those early times to now there’s also been a certain amount of wheat and corn (maize) production but this was and is relatively small-scale and mainly for only local consumption.

Industrialisation in Caxias do Sul started in a small way, mainly as a series of small-scale domestically based workshops. Gradually however, larger and larger units developed until nowadays really large factories exist, some part of larger national or international chains. A cross section of large companies in the metropolitan area would have to include Marcopolo (makers of truck and bus chassis), Randon SA (transport parts and systems), Tramontina (domestic silverware) and Todeschini (furniture).

Generally, the per capita income for the urban area is regarded as being one of the highest in the whole country. For this reason the district is a popular destination for immigrants seeking to move here from other parts of Brazil. The growing population does present certain challenges to the city (and indeed the State) government, regarding health and education services as well as public utilities. Central to all this is the need for more housing, especially for people on modest incomes. That’s where EcoHouse comes into the picture!

EcoHouse Group has changed the face of Brazilian Property Investment by introducing a safe, ethical and secure way to profit from a government backed housing programme, with the economy booming and scams and ponzi schemes a thing of the past thanks to the power of the internet there has never been a better time to invest in Brazil.

Anyone wishing to invest in this new project should do so asap before investing is closed, Interested parties should visit the Monte Alegre website and download a free brochure

HAVE YOU BEEN DONE BY ABACUS ADVISORY LIMITED

abacusadvisorylimited

I’m looking for people who have been cheated by Abacus Advisory Limited and in particular by Philip Hughes, Philip Clarke and James Keaton. I have lost thousands of pound through their selling me investment diamonds that they never sold and which were worth a fraction of the price I paid for them. I believe this company works in the following way and I would be happy if anyone, even if you have not been done by these crooks, would contact me if they were sold diamonds. You will see why now.

This is how I believe Philip Clarke (I think this is the same person as Philip Hughes) starts a company. Abacus Advisory Limited he started in 2012. I believe he starts and ends companies every few years with different names.

Once the company is started he goes to his old clients to whom he sold diamonds to at wholesale…

View original post 656 more words

Don’t fall for the Diamond investment scam

The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau says hundreds of elderly people are being targeted by a new form of investment scam involving diamonds and rare jewels. Companies are cold-calling victims and trying to persuade them to hand over thousands of pounds to invest in gems that have been marked up by as much as 17 times their actual value.

The companies may also refuse to hand over any diamonds at all and will constantly encourage people to keep the investment a ‘secret’ from potential jewel thieves. Diamond brokers do not have to be registered with a regulator, which makes the market vulnerable to such abuse, so police advise hanging up on cold-callers.

Rio will be ‘World Harp Capital’ in May

This year world attention on Brazil will not just be because of the FIFA World Cup. There’s also another important international event, the Ninth Rio de Janeiro Harp Festival. Harpists from around the world will play their instruments there in 140 different concerts across the city, in a variety of locations during May

Altogether, there’ll be over 100 musicians supporting 45 Harpists from 25 different countries. They will perform at such venues as the Cultural Centre, San Clemente Palace and the Guanabara Palace plus a host of others.

The opening event will be at Guanabara, a venue at which the Marine Corps Orchestra will support the performance of Harpist Doreenbos Habiba from the Netherlands.