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

Small businesses can gain access to ORNL resources such as the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility through a new Department of Energy voucher pilot.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has $5.6 million in funding to share lab resources with small businesses developing clean energy technologies.

The funds are part of a $20 million Department of Energy pilot program aimed at small companies in the advanced manufacturing, transportation and building sectors.

Read more at: http://www.knoxnews.com/business/business-journal/ornl-invites-small-businesses-to-use-its-facilities_24370749

The destructive force of a collapse in world coal prices has been underscored by the sale of a mine valued at A$860 million ($631 million) three years ago for just a dollar.

Brazilian miner Vale SA and Japan’s Sumitomo Corp. sold the Isaac Plains coking-coal mine in Australia to Stanmore Coal Ltd., the Brisbane-based company said Thursday in a statement. Sumitomo bought a half stake for A$430 million in 2012.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-31/the-600-million-mine-sold-for-a-dollar-underscores-ruin-of-coal

The latest idea is that a thin coating of graphene could provide excellent protection against rust and corrosion for large metal structures, such as oil rigs, tankers and bridges. Manchester University, where graphene was first isolated in 2004, and Akzo Nobel, the Amsterdam-based paints and coatings company, are investigating this application as part of a €1m partnership in corrosion research.

Read more at: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/708047de-30b3-11e5-8873-775ba7c2ea3d.html

The consumption of rare earth elements is expected to increase by anywhere from 700 to 2,600 per cent over the next 25 years.

Read more at: http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674nunavik_rare_earths_project_moves_to_feasibility_study_phase/

An SK Innovation employee examines a machine inside the company’s electric car battery plant in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province. (SK Innovation)

SEOSAN, South Korea, July 29 (Yonhap) — SK Innovation Co., South Korea’s top refiner, vowed Wednesday to further bolster its electric vehicle (EV) battery business by expanding its global outreach as part of efforts to find a new income source.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2015/07/29/0501000000AEN20150729007500320.html

It’s a strange time to be in mining.

Irrational exuberance has been replaced by irrational despondency.

Just four-five short years ago even the flimsiest prospect or project could look forward to lavish funding and a fat market cap.

Today even those juniors doing the right thing at the right time still cannot attract investors to take it to the next level.

Read more at: http://www.mining.com/the-nickel-price-can-only-go-up/

Thirteen technologies from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been selected as finalists for R&D 100 Awards, the annual technology prizes given by R&D Magazine.

via ORNL has 13 finalists for R&D 100 Award.

Ferronickel imports also more than doubled in the first half of this year and were running at a record pace of over 60,000 tonnes per month in both May and June.

So is that import demand now spilling into the refined metal market, offering bulls the tantalizing hope that the seemingly endless rise in London Metal Exchange stocks might be about to turn?

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/23/us-china-imports-ahome-idUSKCN0PX1GR20150723

Read more at: http://www.wsj.com/articles/as-commodities-tumble-asia-pacific-economies-grasp-for-growth-1437480942