The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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Gold has been a symbol of prestige, royalty and wealth since before man first put words to clay tablets. While jewelry, coins and bars of this gleaming precious metal continues its storied history as a symbol of status and prosperity, today gold is also a very important ingredient to the functionality and reliability of most electronics, including the iPhones, iPads, Macs and other high-tech devises coming off the Apple assembly lines. Wanting to be as highly regarded for its...
While the importance of rare earth metals is widely acknowledged in manufacturing sophisticated devices for use in space, defense, clean, green and consumer technologies, the increasingly innovative and effective roles REE are playing in the development of new medicines and medical technologies get little public attention. New developments in medical technology are expected to increase the use of surgical lasers, magnetic resonance imaging, and positron emission tomography...
A promising concept in the mining industry, utilizing the technology of artificial intelligence to accomplish never before dreamed of precision in mineral deposit discovery. While not an entirely new concept, as companies become more familiar with machine learning, the rate of success in its calculations can only grow. Finding buried lodes of metals that are economic to mines has become more difficult with time. If you examine the past twenty years of exploration expenditure...
BMW Group has secured a deal for 100 million euros worth of the sustainably sourced cobalt needed for the lithium-ion batteries that are powering its expanding line-up of electric vehicles. This important but oft-controversial battery metal will be acquired from Managem Group, a Moroccan mining company that produces cobalt, copper, fluorite, gold, silver, and zinc at its seven mines in Morocco and one in Sudan. The agreement with Managem will provide BMW with about 20% of its...
Aptly named startup Phoenix Tailings seeks to transform a core concern within the mining sector, the waste materials from mining, into a profitable and sustainable new solution and market. Founded in 2018, Boston-based Phoenix Tailings saw potential untapped value in the waste left behind by the refining of metals and decided to get into the business of mining this mine waste, which could revolutionize the sector if done sustainably and economically. Intending to leverage this...
White Gold Corp. is adding artificial intelligence to the exploration toolbox at its disposal as the innovative company unlocks the massive gold potential of its namesake district in the heart of Canada's Yukon Territory. White Gold already employs a systematic exploration strategy that combines traditional mineral exploration techniques such as soil sampling and good old-fashioned prospecting with state-of-the-art technologies such as the use of drones for lidar mapping and...
As the cultural and economic shift towards renewable energy continues to develop, the pursuit for new renewable technologies is emerging as well. Some believe these pursuits should include revisiting a bygone, yet controversial, energy source to combat the encroaching climate issue. Nuclear energy, a hot button issue due to our sordid history with the technology, but a discussion regarding the viability of nuclear energy may soon be approaching. For almost a hundred years the...
As lithium-ion battery and electric car companies seek reliable and ethical sources of cobalt, Fortune Minerals Ltd. has sights set on supplying some of that cobalt – along with copper, gold and bismuth – from its Nico mine project in Northwest Territories and associated refinery in Canada. Over the past two decades, Fortune has advanced Nico from an in-house mineral discovery to a development stage project that could produce two critical metals, a third metal vital to an ele...
Hardrock mining companies have long been envious of their oil and gas counterparts' ability to drill a hole into the ground and extract liquid minerals. Group 11 Technologies Inc., a US-based technology firm, aims to provide miners with a way to pump gold and other metals out of the ground. Group 11 is a planned partnership between Golden Predator Mining Corp., EnviroLeach Technologies Inc. and enCore Energy Corp. that will use EnviroLeach's proprietary formula, which...
Reminiscent of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, a small submersible scours the inky depths of the ocean, not in search of seams of coal, but towering spires created by thermal vents. The remotely operated sub's lights splash across the cluster of vents that spew mineral rich plumes of super-heated water from deep in the earth into the chill of the ocean depths. The ROV moves into position, its clawed arm reaching out and breaking off a sample of mineral rich rock...
American mines produced roughly 26,000 tons of rare earth during 2019, a 44 percent increase over 2018, yet the United States is 100 percent reliant on foreign countries for its supply of these 17 elements vital to our modern high-tech society. This apparent paradox speaks to the complexities of these enigmatic metals. The irony of rare earth elements (REEs) begins with their name, which is at the same time a misnomer and accurate descriptor. "All the REEs except promethium...
Artificial intelligence and real boots-on-the ground geological investigations have resulted in a significant new high-grade gold discovery at New Found Gold Corp.'s Queensway project in Newfoundland. Formerly known as the Linear project, Queensway is a massive land package covering at least 17 known high-grade gold showings along a roughly 55-mile- (88 kilometers) stretch of the Central Newfoundland Gold Belt. To help identify the best drill targets across this roughly...
High-speed networking and interconnected devices, which form a unified whole, are opening a new realm of possibilities for consumer and company alike. As the world continues to become more digitally interconnected, the value of companies and their success can almost be directly linked to how quickly they adapt and utilize newer technologies. We can see remnants of bygone eras still lingering in many industries, including mining, in an era where the speed of development of new...
Rare earth elements in Canada have recaptured the spotlight now that the United States has entered a new alliance with its northern neighbor to develop robust supply chains for critical minerals needed for important manufacturing sectors, including communication technology, aerospace and defense, and clean technology. A final agreement between the two countries, reported in December, delivers on a commitment made by their leaders in June to advance joint initiatives to...
When you think of silver, you probably think of coins, jewelry and grandma's special silverware. For over five thousand years, that has been the primary use of silver. Silver was one of the first metals ever mined by man, though it is rarely found in native form, it is often a byproduct of copper smelting. Being shiny, soft and malleable, it was ideal for hammering out into thin strips that could be used in decoration. Silver has one drawback, it oxidizes and tarnishes. Silver...
Companies have begun using drones in many industries around the world. One of the most interesting is the effectiveness of drones in the mining industry. The economic benefits of drones are becoming more obvious as industry experts focus on specific problems drones may be able to solve. Drones have proven to be particularly well-suited for discovering new mineral deposits, as well as safely and efficiently tackling some of the tough tasks around operating mines. These...
From the enormous equipment that dig up and haul ore to processing facilities that extract the sought-after metals, mines use a lot of energy. Over the past century, the largest share of this energy has come from fossil fuels. In recent years, however, an increasing amount of mine power is coming from renewable sources such as wind and solar. Many mines are in remote locations that are beyond the reach of electrical grids, making them ideal for considering renewable sources...
The adoption of electric vehicles and renewable energy is driving increased demand for graphite, a major ingredient in lithium-ion batteries. Graphite, however, is high on a list of 35 critical minerals and metals not mined in the United States. Graphite One Inc. would like to shift America's reliance on foreign countries such as China for its graphite needs by developing a mine at Graphite Creek, a world-class deposit of graphite with some properties that make it uniquely...
Solar accounted for nearly 40% of the new electricity generating capacity added in the United States during 2019. With sun-fueled electricity expected to continue growing with more residents installing panels on their roofs and utilities commissioning large solar electricity generating facilities, a group of metals that typically lurk in the shadows are now seeing the light of day. Many of the metals needed to build out America's solar generating capacity are fairly common...
Scientists are urging world governments to get out in front of the skyrocketing demand for the minerals and metals that are going to be needed for solar, wind and other green energy initiatives in the coming years – whether they come from terrestrial or extraterrestrial sources. According to a research report from the University of Sussex, the amount of cobalt, copper, lithium, cadmium and rare earth elements needed for solar panels, wind turbines, rechargeable batteries, e...
Morning alarm, news feed, email delivery system, daily planner, camera, calculator, social media medium and, oh yeah, a way to talk with family, friends and colleagues – smartphones have become a necessity for roughly 3 billion of the humans on Earth. While necessity may seem like hyperbole, especially for a device we lived without just a decade ago, how did you feel the last time you left yours behind even for a few minutes? Smartphones are so commonplace that it is easy to o...
