Hurricane Season is Here, Ionic Clays Deep Dive, China Mining Q3 Preview, Fortescue at Max Bearishness

Key Highlights Today: OIL (Brent +4%): Multiple escalations yesterday, Hurricane Isaias is a watch for gulf coast refining. IONIC CLAYS 101: Not all clays are equal & where Caldeira fits in for Lynas (Jon Sharp's Deep Dive). CHINA METALS Q3 PREVIEW: Coal & Copper to lead earnings growth, d/g SD gold to UW (Avery Chan Preview). FORTESCUE: CMRG negotiations bite hard, Point of Max Bearishness is close (Lyndon Fagan Note). Brent rose +3.9% to $104.11/bbl yesterday on multiple escalatory headlines, including reports the US was considering strikes on Iran before the midterms, Houthi strikes on Saudi airports, accelerated tanker strikes, a drop in Strait of Hormuz traffic from 15mmbd to 4mbd, a fire at Russia's Salavat refinery, and Hurricane Isaias potentially knocking out 512kbd of Gulf of Mexico production. On ionic clays, LYC's ~A$968m acquisition of MEI brings Caldeira into the portfolio with a low-cost source of feed;