A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info

Speaking at a press briefing at the #NewYork Stock Exchange, Murilo Ferreira of #Vale made a bold prediction that half of the cars in the Group of Seven industrialized democracies — the #US, #Canada, #France, #Germany, #Italy and the #UK — would be #ElectricVehicles within five years.

He said Vale’s #Nickel assets would be well-placed to supply the battery makers building batteries for electric vehicles, which required nickel purity of 99.9%, with the #Canadian assets supplying #NorthAmerica and #NewCaledonia supplying #Asia.

Read more at: http://www.platts.com/latest-news/metals/newyork/vale-sees-nickel-opportunity-in-electric-vehicle-21198072

#Lithium, or white petrol as it’s becoming known, is a hot commodity. Demand for the metal could triple in the next ten years, driven particularly by a rise in demand for #Batteries in products like #Smartphones, #Laptops and electric cars. Only today a group of leading carmakers including #Ford, #BMW and #Porsche announced they wanted to build a #Europe-wide network of charging stations for #ElectricVehicles.

Read more at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04jf21v

The #Copper market will start to enter a “substantial” supply deficit from 2021, pushing prices of the industrial metal higher, the head of #Chile’s national mining association Sonami said on Monday.

“In the near term, mining companies are not investing in additional capacity and copper demand is growing at a pace of around 2 percent a year,” Sonami Chairman Diego Hernandez told the Copper 2016 industry conference in #Kobe, #Japan.

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sonami-copper-idUSKBN13915E

#NETL researchers hope the new #Nickel catalyst, and catalysts using other similarly inexpensive materials, will accelerate the installation of large-scale #CO2-conversion and #Hydrogen-generation systems for the production of #Carbon-friendly, environmentally responsible fuels and chemicals.

Read more at: http://www.energy.gov/articles/move-over-platinum-we-want-nickel

#PadmasreeWarrior believes that by leveraging the Internet of Things (#IoT), the next generation of vehicles will be better poised to eliminate the pain points that come with owning and maintaining a car.

Padmasree Warrior is the CEO of #US for #NextEV, an electric vehicle company and was called the “Queen of the Electric Car Biz” by #Fortune magazine.

Read more at: https://iq.intel.com/padmasree-warrior-transform-auto-industry/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmasree_Warrior

Polymet Mining announced it has applied for a permit to mine #Copper, Nickel and precious metals at a site in northern #Minnesota known as The Duluth Complex – a rich vein of minerals stretching from about 150 miles north of Duluth to the #Canadian border.

Read more at: http://www.mining.com/first-copper-nickel-mine-minnesota-inches-forward/

 

The Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS) would effectively give its wearer superpowers, such as the ability to see in the dark, super-human strength and a way of deflecting bullets.

It is aimed at providing Navy SEALs and Special Forces with enhanced mobility and protection technologies – and will be tested in 2018.

Scientists at the #Massachusetts Institute of Technology (#MIT) are developing a next-generation kind of armour called ‘liquid body armour.’

It ‘transforms from liquid to solid in milliseconds when a magnetic field or electrical current is applied,’ the Army website said.

Read more at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3898700/US-Army-test-radical-Iron-Man-bullet-proof-liquid-armour-gives-soldiers-super-human-strength.html

Potentially flammable #Llithium-ion batteries are in many electronics, including #Samsung phones. The Department of Energy (#DOE) is now spending tens of millions of dollars on creating a safer alternative, and one research project is showing promising results, reports #CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford.

At a research lab at the University of #Maryland, small, lithium-infused ceramic discs are replacing the combustible components of today’s lithium-ion batteries. Research scientists are showed us how they plan to build a better battery – one that can’t catch fire.

Read more at: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/samsung-recall-lithium-ion-batteries-catching-fire-research-lab-safer-alternatives/

Battery-grade #Lithium prices tripled to more than $20,000 a tonne in top consumer #China over the summer as demand surged, but #Chile continues to consider the mineral as “strategic” and limits its production.

Read more at: http://uk.reuters.com/article/lmeweek-chile-lithium-idUKL1N1D31DY

Percentage of Canadian Mining Assets by Country, 2014

 

The move has had an immediate and profound impact on #Canadian attitudes toward #Argentina, said Mario Capello, under secretary of Mines and Energy for Argentina.

“Eighty per cent of mining investment in Argentina is Canadian,” he said in an interview this week with the Midas Letter in #BuenosAires, making them the nation’s most important mining financiers.

Read more at: http://business.financialpost.com/midas-letter/midas-letter-in-argentina-eliminating-export-tax-creates-an-opportunity-for-canadian-miners