#Iceland may be a cold, hard place to live, but the locals sure have made the most of what they’ve got. The country runs on 100 percent #RenewableEnergy, thanks to its #Geothermal pockets and #Hydroelectric dams.
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-21/this-funky-new-turbine-can-bring-green-energy-to-rural-areas
#Volkswagen’s Chief Executive #Matthias #Mueller also declared that battery technology would become a “new competency,” and the carmaker had begun a review of its strategic options in the field.
His comments seemed to lend weight to recent #German media reports that one of those “options” could be for #VW to build a multi-billion euro electric vehicle #Lithium battery plant. It’s worth at least considering — the ambitious target means it will need to source an awful lot of batteries from somewhere.
Mueller should be commended for thinking big and for steering VW towards a cleaner future. Sometimes fortune favors the brave, as #Tesla’s #ElonMusk has shown (so far, at least).
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-06-21/volkswagen-should-be-wary-on-electric-battery-factory
#China is looking to encourage investment in #Graphite as, despite becoming the world’s leading producer, it still trails other more advanced countries in terms of processing and supply chain development.
China has launched the Graphite Industry Development Alliance in #Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang province, one of the biggest graphite-producing bases in China.
While China has become the world’s leading graphite producer, consumer and exporter, the country’s graphite industry still has a long way to go.
Read more at: http://www.indmin.com/Article/3564062/China-launches-Graphite-Industry-Development-Alliance.html
#Fitch Ratings has revised #Swiss-based #SolwayInvestment Group’s Outlook to Positive from Stable, while affirming the company’s Long- and Short-Term Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at ‘B-‘ and ‘B’, respectively. The Outlook revision reflects the mining company’s improved liquidity position, debt reduction and continuing ramp-up of key project #Fenix, which will secure higher absolute (and potentially more stable) operating cash-flows over the next three years.
Read more at: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKFit964828
A research project led by the Critical Materials Institute, a #US #DepartmentOfEnergy Innovation Hub, has identified agents for the separation of rare-earth metals that are potentially much less costly and better-performing than those currently used.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-06-power-supercomputing-rare-earth-refining-alternatives.html#jCp
#Lithium-ion batteries currently on the market have #Graphite anodes and cobalt oxide, iron phosphate or manganese oxide cathodes.
Read more at: http://www.miningweekly.com/article/graphite-rush-intensifying-2016-06-20
#Cuban #Nickel, one of the island’s chief sources of revenue, faces some tough challenges in its need for efficiency and in its search for foreign partners to drive an industry weakened by the mineral’s ebbing international prices – but has great hopes that the nation’s new relations with the #UnitedStates will bring great opportunities.
Read more at: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/06/17/cuban-nickel-industry-looking-to-us-for-new-opportunities/
A definitive solution for Vale’s loss-making #Vale #NewCaledonia (VNC) #Nickel project could involve keeping the operation as it currently is, as long as costs are brought down to a sustainable level.
Vale has been losing about $100 million per quarter on the New Caledonia project.
#Brazilian diversified miner #Vale expects the #Nickel market to register a deficit of 50,000 tonnes in 2016, but sees prices recovering gradually given the high levels of exchange-bonded inventories.
#Bolivia, #Chile and #Argentina were likely to become key players in the #Lithium industry, with the ‘lithium triangle’ of salt flats, or ‘salars’, of Uyuni in Bolivia, Atacama in Chile, and Hombre Muerto in Argentina, accounting for more than 70% of the world’s known reserves. All three countries had made clear their intentions to invest in and develop their lithium deposits, offering a mix of different opportunities and obstacles for investors.
Chile’s lithium industry is the most mature in the #Americas and its reserves of lithium were of a higher quality and more easily exploitable than Bolivia’s, yet the constitutional definition of the mineral as a strategic asset had complicated the investment process and could slow future investment, #London-based risk management consultancy PGI Intelligence
A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info 