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

It’s like using fiber optics to communicate – only without the fiber.

Imagine connecting to the Internet through the same room lights that brighten your day. A University of Virginia engineering professor and her former graduate student are already there.

Maite Brandt-Pearce, a professor in the Charles L. Brown Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Mohammad Noshad, now a postdoctoral fellow in the Electrical Engineering Department at Harvard University, have devised a way of using light waves from light-emitting diode fixtures to carry signals to wireless devices at 300 megabits per second from each light. It’s like having a whole wi-fi system all to yourself; using light waves, there would be more network access points than with radio waves, so less sharing of the wireless network.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-07-faster.html#jCp

(Reuters) – China said on Friday it will allow 400,000-deadweight tonne ships to dock at its ports, officially ending a more than three-year ban that had effectively shut out Brazilian miner Vale SA’s giant vessels.

Four domestic ports – Qingdao, Dalian, Tangshan Caofeidian and Ningbo – will be allowed to receive the carriers after they meet technical standards, China’s state planner, the National Development & Reform Commission, said in a joint statement with the Ministry of Transport.

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/03/china-port-vale-idUSL3N0ZJ15220150703

” It is ironic that the collective pressure on China to lift trade restrictions has caused prices to fall to the point that non-Chinese producers such as Molycorp and Lynas are now struggling, potentially handing back monopolistic pricing power to the Chinese. Indeed, China’s current drive to force its REE sector into six consolidated, vertically integrated producers will only enhance the country’s influence.

The question is how it will use that lever.

Is this about controlling global supply of strategic commodities or controlling its own supply chain?

Many observers outside China, particularly parts of the Western defence industry, fear it’s the former.”

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/30/rareearths-china-ahome-idUSL8N0ZG39Z20150630

The looming fossil energy crisis and serious environment and climate issues urgently call for sustainable energy systems and next-generation energy storage technologies. Instead of a traditional “carbon cycle” based on fossil energy, the “hydrogen cycle” has emerged and may be a promising alternative. With a water splitting device, H2 can be generated from water by electricity or solar energy, and energy transforms between electrical/solar and chemical energy in rechargeable batteries. However, the core issue of water splitting, oxygen evolution reaction (OER) (4OH^– —> 2H₂O + O₂ + 4e^–, in base), is a kinetically sluggish half-reaction, which requires a high overpotential and hinders the development of water splitting.

Recently, a research group from China, led by Prof. Qiang Zhang in Tsinghua University, has developed a novel graphene/metal hydroxide composite with superior oxygen evolution activity. This work is published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-06-pomegranate-like-nanocomposites-avenue-graphene.html#jCp

Novak Djokovic….helped by Nobel-Prize winning technology. AFP by Jonathan Barrett.

 When world number one Novak Djokovic starts his title defence at Wimbledon, which starts Monday, he’ll be wielding a racquet that relies on Noble-Prize-wining technology.

The Amsterdam-headquartered tennis and ski company Head, which sponsors Djokovic, reinforces its racquets with a wonder material called grapheme.

Read more at: http://www.afr.com/business/sport/wimbledon-and-the-graphene-revolution-20150628-ghrfmb

Mick Davis, the South African born former chief executive of Xstrata, has been knighted by the UK’s Queen Elizabeth II for services related to holocaust commemoration and education.

Read more at: http://www.moneyweb.co.za/news/former-xstrata-ceo-mick-davis-is-now-sir-mick/

…CHINESE IMPORTS UP

And possibly also in China’s increased appetite for refined nickel.

Net imports of refined nickel were 17,225 tonnes in May, the highest monthly level since January 2013.

Cumulative net imports of 40,300 tonnes over the first five months of this year were 7.2 percent higher than the year-earlier period, a noteworthy change of trend after more than a year of negative year-on-year comparisons.

Russia has been a major supplier of nickel to the Chinese market for many years so it’s difficult to say to what extent May’s imports from this country of 16,400 tonnes, a near four-year high, were amplified by bets on the ongoing ShFE deliverability questions.

The continued acceleration in imports of ferronickel, a cheaper-priced alternative for China’s stainless steel producers, looks a better indicator of tightening supply in China.

Imports have more than doubled so far this year to 259,000 tonnes and are running at record rates.

However, the single largest component of this year’s ferronickel flow to China, 55,200 tonnes, has come from Indonesia.

Read more at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/25/us-nickel-china-ahome-idUSKBN0P502E20150625

Vale SA, the world’s largest nickel producer, is considering selling about 25 percent to 30 percent of its base metals business in an initial public offering.

Work on the transaction continues, although the Rio de Janeiro-based miner will only proceed if nickel and copper prices reach “appropriate” levels, Investor Relations Director Rogerio Nogueira said in Sao Paulo Wednesday.

Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-24/vale-says-possible-ipo-of-base-metals-to-be-for-25-30-stake