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  • Business leaders with safety glasses in front of Ucore’s RapidSX demo plant.

    Canada invests $4M in rare earths tech

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 16, 2024

    Natural Resources Canada formalizes funding of Ucore's RapidSX REE separation demo plant in Ontario. In support of a homegrown technology that will help bolster Canada's leadership in responsible production of critical minerals needed for the clean energy and digital economy, Natural Resources Canada's (NRCan) Critical Minerals Research, Development, and Demonstration program is investing C$4.2 million (US$3.1 million) into Ucore Rare Metals Inc.'s RapidSX rare earths...

  • South Dakota map with lithium pellets, compass, and pick

    South Dakota's lithium tax inches closer

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 5, 2024

    In what may be a watershed moment for U.S. state laws regarding critical mineral mining, South Dakota Rep. Kirk Chaffee has taken a second swing at taxing lithium, and this time it may stick. Last year, a similar effort to classify lithium as an energy mineral passed the state House but was rejected in the Senate. The current bill, for which Chaffee is the main sponsor, classifies South Dakota's future lithium as a precious metal and imposes a 10% tax on mining profits, with...

  • Bulls representing vanadium and lithium charging each other.

    Vanadium batteries rival lithium-ion

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 5, 2024

    Global industry ramps up as VRFB appeals to grid renewables Solar and wind renewables can generate very cheap electricity, but like good weather, they're intermittent. To achieve a green-energy future of grids running off renewables, enormous amounts of battery storage will be needed to avoid blackouts. The first redox-flow batteries were developed by Lawrence Thaller and his group at NASA in the 1970s as potential energy storage for solar-powered deep-space missions. They...

  • Artist rendering of CTR’s Lithium Valley Campus on shores of the Salton Sea.

    Groundbreaking start for Lithium Valley

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 5, 2024

    EV executives and dignitaries from the Salton Sea to the White House joined CTR to break ground on the Lithium Valley Campus in SoCal. In a landmark event that marks the start of a clean supply of lithium to support America's clean energy transition, industry executives and political dignitaries joined Controlled Thermal Resources on the groundbreaking of the Lithium Valley Campus at its Hell's Kitchen geothermal lithium project in the Salton Sea region of Southern...

  • David Turk testifies during a Senate committee hearing.

    Senators grill Turk on mine investments

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 31, 2024

    Sens. Murkowski, Manchin contend administration is misinterpreting Congress intent when it comes to funding domestic mining projects. While the U.S. Department of Energy is investing billions of taxpayer dollars into establishing robust battery material processing and battery manufacturing capacity in the United States, the federal agency has done little to support domestic mines that would feed critical minerals into domestic electric vehicle supply chains. Sen. Lisa Murkowsk...

  • CEO Mark Selby presenting a nickel core sample.

    Canada's green nickel boom is coming

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 30, 2024

    Canada Nickel Company is well on its way to developing zero-carbon production of nickel, cobalt and iron in what they've coined the emerging Timmins Zero Carbon Nickel District. Founded by CEO Mark Selby in 2019, Canada Nickel's flagship development is Crawford, a nickel project timed perfectly to bolster the shrinking global supply after losing problematic Russian and Chinese resources to a rising need for stable supply with measurable environmental, social, and corporate gov...

  • Fully equipped army soldier enters area with smoke and fire at night.

    Pentagon prioritizes critical minerals

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 28, 2024

    Reshoring mineral supply chains lost to globalization is a key part of DOD National Defense Industrial Strategy The urgency to onshore critical mineral supply chains in the United States has begun to shift away from a need to secure reliable sources of the minerals and metals needed to support the nation's economy and clean energy ambitions toward the need for these same mined commodities to defend American ideals and interests at home and abroad. "Establishing a fully...

  • A graphic showing a rechargeable battery half-filled with graphite.

    NMG makes world-class graphite purchase

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 24, 2024

    Nouveau Monde Graphite to buy 100% interest in the Lac Guéret graphite deposit. In a strategic move that positions Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. to further ramp up its capacity to offer a reliable and environmentally sound supply of graphite for the lithium batteries powering electric vehicles, the Canadian mining and processing company has acquired full ownership of Mason Resources Inc.'s world-class Uatnan graphite project in Quebec. Uatnan is a road-accessible project about 1...

  • A metallic dragon with its claws on a graphite stone and the Chinese flag.

    Next US-China trade clash: graphite

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 24, 2024

    In December, China implemented new export controls on graphite, further compounding trade tensions with the United States and other Western nations. This decision reinforces concerns over the fragility of the West's over-reliance on import monopolies and serves to intensify the ongoing search for alternative sources that would otherwise have been considered economically unattractive. Outside of its use in electric vehicle batteries, an application that is rocketing its...

  • Evan Willing and Tyler Dabney set up tantalum cold spray equipment.

    Wisconsin makes fusion tantalum coating

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 20, 2024

    UW researchers explore capacity of tantalum cold spray technology to protect fusion reactors, prevent hydrogen loss. On the coattails of mankind's breakthrough in fusion technology, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is preemptively preparing a technology that could further stabilize the potential energy of a man-made micro-sun with a spray coating technology that could simultaneously maintain temperature integrity while also extracting the very fuel of a star – hydrogen. "...

  • Periodic table symbol for copper with graph representing rising prices.

    Mine closures and delays impact copper

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 20, 2024

    Copper has had a wild ride in 2023, going from expected surplus to deficit within the last few months due to labor disputes, environmental protests, and volatile demand. The supply-demand roller coaster in 2023 was reflected in the price of this energy metal, which dropped from a high above $9,400 per metric ton last January to fluctuating to lows of around $7,800 in May and again in October before rebounding above $8,700 by year's end. Part of the reason for the late 2023...

  • Computer rendering of the Stardust Power lithium refinery plant.

    Muskogee to be home to Stardust refinery

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 16, 2024

    Oklahoma port town selected as ideal location to build refinery that produces battery-grade lithium for energy transition. Further solidifying its plans to offer a domestic supply of the lithium needed for America's energy transition, Stardust Power Inc. has selected Southside Industrial Park in Muskogee, Okla., as the home of a refinery that is slated to produce enough battery-grade lithium for roughly 1 million sedan sized electric vehicles per year. "When fully operational,...

  • Computer graphic image of a battery hovering above an electronic motherboard.

    The dangers of a battery 'monoculture'

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 15, 2024

    As 2024 gets underway, the direction of rechargeable battery design continues to have major implications for the mining industry. A range of renewable power technologies are under development and expansion across the globe to replace fossil fuels. These advancements and the continued electric vehicle push driving the need for increased energy storage capacity, continue to add to the world's energy transition minerals shopping list. The numbers are already in – the new mines n...

  • Graphic of human body and biosensor targets against graphene lattice backdrop.

    Graphene used for early cancer detection

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 12, 2024

    HydroGraph Clean Power Inc. is a commercial manufacturer of high-quality nanomaterials whose graphene product has been selected and successfully trialed in Hawkeye Bio's biomedical sensor designed for the early detection of lung cancer. Only the third company to be certified globally by the Graphene Council, HydroGraph is headquartered in Toronto, with a manufacturing facility in Kansas where the company has exclusive license from Kansas State University to produce both...

  • Lights from Energy Metals’ White Mesa Mill reflect off a pond at night.

    Energy Fuels starts up three uranium mines

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 6, 2024

    More than 20 countries gathered for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as COP28, agree that nuclear energy has a major role to play in achieving the global goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy endorsed by these nations gathered in Dubai for COP28 includes global resolutions to work together to advance a goal of tripling nuclear energy capacity by 2050 and encourages international financial...

  • Burst of green northern lights over a crusher at the Nechalacho rare earth mine.

    Chinese firm buys Canada's rare earths

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Jan 3, 2024

    Shenghe acquires ore stockpile that symbolized a shift away from China for REEs critical to North America's green energy and high-tech sectors. High-grade ore dug up from a small open pit at Vital Metal Ltd.'s Nechalacho project in the summer of 2021 marked the start of Canada's first rare earth elements mine and the first link in an REE supply chain that was envisioned to be completely independent of China. "The combination of our efforts clearly work together towards the...

  • Closeup of column filled with fluids used to separate rare earth elements.

    Rare earth separation move, counter move

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jan 2, 2024

    On the same day that China bans exports of REE processing tech; Ucore, RER hit milestones on cleaner and more efficient methods. In a move to hold onto its dominant position as the world's supplier of rare earths, China is now banning the exports of technologies for the processing and separation of this tightly bonded group of 15 elements needed for green energy, high-tech devices, and countless industrial and household goods. While China maintains a strong position in the...

  • Geologist in hardhat, safety vest collecting samples from a channel cut in rock.

    Two head-to-head Ontario lithium firms

    K. Warner, For Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 1, 2024

    Two companies are in close competition to be the first to officially break ground on commercially productive lithium mines in Ontario, Canada – one local and the other Australian – and that's only a taste of Ontario's promise in the North American lithium rush. Green Technology Metals is a lithium exploration company based in Perth with 100%-owned high-grade spodumene assets in Ontario. The company is prepping for its multi-stage C$1.8 billion Seymour project to start out...

  • Aerial view of Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California’s Mojave Desert.

    Rare earths discovered in Wyoming coal

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 1, 2024

    The only rare earths mine in the United States – accounting for about 16% of the world's rare earths production – is the Mountain Pass mine in California's Mojave Desert, operated by MP Materials. The mine is partly owned by Chinese interests, which export most of what is produced out of the country for processing. China controls 91% of refining activity, 87% of oxide separation and 94% of magnet production, as recently reported in the Wall Street Journal, a supply concentrati...

  • Pile of dark grey graphite anode powder next to four unlabeled silver batteries.

    Graphite One delivers anode samples

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 1, 2024

    As part of its plan to initially produce synthetic graphite anode material in the U.S., G1 ships samples to future clients for testing. As part of its strategy to quickly establish a domestic mine-to-battery graphite anode material supply chain, Graphite One Inc. has delivered samples of synthetic graphite lithium battery anode material to battery manufacturers and automakers in the United States. "With the U.S. currently not producing any natural and synthetic anode materials...

  • The U.S. Department of Homeland Security seal on an American flag backdrop.

    Department of homeland mineral security

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 1, 2024

    Agency founded to fight terrorism views mining and critical minerals as vital to economic, national security of the homeland. For most Americans, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conjures up images of an intelligence agency borne from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon that employs TSA airport screenings, border checkpoints, and internet monitoring to protect Americans from terrorist threats, both foreign and domestic. And these airport, border,...

  • A focused spout of bright blue plasma that looks like flame.

    DOD invests in 6K Additive UniMelt tech

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jan 1, 2024

    Awarded a five-year Blanket Purchase Agreement from the United States Army toward the end of September, 6K Additive LLC announced the receipt of $23.4 million in funding from the Department of Defense to expand its refining capabilities for defense and commercial supply chains. Considered a leader in the sustainable production of materials for additive manufacturing, 6K Additive is a division of 6K Inc., a company focused on delivering next-generation materials at the highest...

  • Pile of grey powder for use in the cathodes of iron-based lithium batteries.

    Mitra Chem speeds iron-based US batteries

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Dec 22, 2023

    GM-backed tech, battery materials company ships initial iron-based cathode samples to global EV and battery makers. One month after closing a $60 million Series B round of financing led by General Motors, Mitra Chem has already shipped multiple samples of commercial-grade lithium-manganese-iron-phosphate (LMFP) cathode active material to major global electric vehicle manufacturers and battery makers. Led by Vivas Kumar, an engineer who previously served as a senior manager on...

  • Ship loaded with colorful shipping containers going under highway bridge.

    Friendshoring balances domestic mining

    K. Warner, For Metal Tech News|Updated Dec 22, 2023

    On Dec. 12, 2015, delegates from almost every country on the planet signed a landmark climate accord, the Paris Agreement, that united more than 190 parties in support of a legally binding treaty pledging to drive the overall planetary temperature down by slashing the use of fossil fuels and adopting solutions for a massive transition to renewable energy and green transportation. This requires extensive economic and social transformation, measured in five-year cycles of...

  • Satellite photo showing the lights around US population centers at night.

    Reviving North Carolina's lithium trade

    K. Warner, For Metal Tech News|Updated Dec 13, 2023

    The world's leading lithium producer, Albemarle, is working to revive the Kings Mountain mine in North Carolina, which has been dormant since the 1980s and historically contains one of the nation's largest lithium deposits. Kings Mountain boasts one of the few known hard rock lithium deposits in the United States, and a miner there is expected to produce enough of the namesake metal in lithium-ion batteries to support the manufacturing of approximately 1.2 million electric...

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