The Elements of Innovation Discovered

Articles from the May 11, 2022 edition


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  • A smartphone and other digital devises dependent on an array of metals.

    Apple, USGS develop rock-to-metal ratio

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    How much rock must be moved to produce the metals in an Apple iPhone, Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle or any other product that requires mined commodities (i.e., nearly everything)? Apple teamed up with the United States Geological Survey to develop a "rock-to-metal ratio" that makes it easier to answer that question. Metals are essential to every aspect of modern life. Even a bowl of oatmeal requires these fundamental building materials to grow, ship, and process this...

  • Workers in an underground nickel mine in Ontario, Canada.

    Tesla buying low-carbon nickel from Vale

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    The rumors are true, Tesla Inc. will be buying nickel for the lithium-ion batteries powering its vehicles from Vale's Canada operations. "We are pleased to have the leading electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla among our customers," said Vale Executive Vice President of Base Metals Deshnee Naidoo. A Brazil-based mining company with operations around the globe, Vale is the world's largest nickel producer. Under a long-term contract confirmed by both companies, Vale will supply...

  • Bags of black mass that will be sent to a Li-Cycle hub facility for processing.

    Glencore invests $200M into Li-Cycle

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    Lithium-ion battery recycling company Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. has entered into a strategic partnership with Glencore plc, with an initial investment of $200 million toward improving the electric vehicle supply chain. "We are thrilled to have Glencore as a long-term strategic investor and global commercial partner," said Li-Cycle CEO Ajay Kochhar. "Bringing our complementary capabilities together will accelerate the path to a circular economy for critical materials in the...

  • Aqua Metals Aqualyzer pushing out soggy Black Mass with its pilot machines.

    Lead to lithium, Aqua Metals recycling

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    A leading innovator in metals recycling, Aqua Metals Inc. has achieved a new milestone in proving its recycling technology by plating high-purity nickel metal, one atom at a time, from black mass recovered from a variety of lithium-ion batteries. "The only Li-battery recycling method commercially in use today is smelting, which produces an alloy of the metals that needs multiple pyrometallurgical steps of processing to achieve the product we produce right out of our system," s...

  • Underground development at former cobalt and copper mine in Idaho.

    Electra grows Iron Creek cobalt deposit

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    With its lithium-ion battery materials park in Canada on pace to begin ramping up production in phases beginning at the end of this year, Electra Battery Materials Corp. continues to expand a cobalt deposit in Idaho that could provide the United States with an environmentally sound and socially acceptable domestic supply of this metal critical to electric vehicle batteries. "At a time of heightened geopolitical risk, America has committed to securing a domestic supply of...

  • An American Manganese recycled battery made from the RecycLiCo process.

    RecycLiCo awaits final impact assessment

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    American Manganese Inc. reported that it has received the preliminary life cycle assessment results for its RecycLiCo lithium-ion battery recycling process and is awaiting the final external review by an ISO-compliant third party before releasing the results. The complete "gate-to-gate" life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed by Minviro Ltd., a UK-based and globally recognized sustainability and LCA consultancy, to quantify the environmental performance of producing...