BYD Co., #China’s largest electric car and bus manufacturer, plans to obtain supplies of #Lithium to guard against spiraling costs of the raw material used in vehicle batteries, amid rising pressure on automakers to lower prices.
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-31/byd-plans-to-secure-lithium-supply-to-curb-rising-battery-costs
According to a senior official in the #Mines Ministry, the government was looking at one #RareEarth deposit in the central #Indian desert province of #Rajasthan to be put on the block, on an experimental basis, to widen the number of rare-earth miners in the country and ramp up production to pose a challenge to #China, the largest global supplier of rare earths
Read more at: http://www.miningweekly.com/article/india-looking-at-maiden-auction-of-rare-earths-2016-03-31
Chile, the world’s largest copper producer, has conceded that getting an accurate read on China’s future demand for the red metal has become increasingly difficult to forecast given the lack of transparency over how much is being stored in warehouses as collateral for loans.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/chiles-china-copper-conundrum-20160329-gnswo5.html#ixzz44OWxPNDL
#Researchers at the #DepartmentOfEnergy’s #OakRidgeNationalLaboratory have demonstrated a production method they estimate will reduce the cost of #CarbonFiber as much as 50 percent and the energy used in its production by more than 60 percent.
Read more at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/drnl-osu032216.php
As producers react to weak #Chinese demand by slashing output of #Copper, #Zinc and l#Lead, a side effect is #Silver prices are getting a boost as less of the #PreciousMetal is unearthed. Production will fall this year for the first time in more than a decade, say Societe Generale SA and Standard Chartered Plc.
Read more at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-21/silver-getting-accidental-boost-from-base-metal-industry-s-gloom
#RioTinto’s incoming chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques has been tipped to boost the miner’s stake in the vast Oyu Tolgoi #Copper mine in #Mongolia when he replaces incumbent Sam Walsh in July.
Read more at: http://www.mining.com/glencore-closer-to-selling-lomas-bayas-copper-mine-in-chile/
Findings suggest that a red #Bread mold could be the key to producing more sustainable #Electrochemical materials for use in #Rechargeable #Batteries.
The researchers show for the first time that the fungus Neurospora crassa can transform manganese into a #Mineral composite with favorable electrochemical properties.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-bread-mold-rechargeable-battery.html#jCp
#London #Copper popped back above the $5,000 mark on Thursday after #US monetary officials flagged fewer rate hikes this year because of a fragile globalEconomy, knocking the dollar and boosting the value of commodities.
Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) using the Quokka instrument has brought insight into how ions are transported at the nano level in stacked membranes of graphene, materials that have many unique properties. The research was aimed to develop graphene into a more versatile material.
Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2016-03-nuclear-techniques-reveal-tunability-membranes.html#jCp
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