The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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In a move to fund research and build alliances across America's lithium battery supply chain, the U.S. Department of Energy is providing $209 million for 26 new national laboratory research projects focused on electric vehicles and the next generation of advanced batteries that will power them. "President Biden's administration wants to make it easier for millions of American families and businesses to make the switch to electric vehicles," said Secretary of Energy Jennifer...
With a "substantially complete" application for a loan to fund the development of its Rhyolite lithium-boron project in Nevada already being processed by the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office, ioneer Ltd. is positioned to be one of the early beneficiaries of the more than $20 billion in federal loans and loan guarantees available to mining and manufacturing companies along the electric vehicle battery materials supply chain. Early in 2021, ioneer entered into...
The U.S. Geological Survey has unveiled a proposed list of 50 minerals and metals critical to the United States. While this seems to be a major jump over the 35 critical minerals on the original list published in 2018, most of the increase is from a much-needed breakdown of the rare earth elements and platinum group metals. Listed as a single commodity on the 2018 critical minerals list, rare earths are a group of 15 individual elements, each with their own properties, uses,...
To secure a long-term domestic supply of the rare earths needed to build electric vehicles in North America, General Motors has entered into a binding agreement to buy REE materials and magnets to be produced at a new facility MP Materials Corp. is building in Fort Worth, Texas. "We are building a resilient and sustainable EV manufacturing value chain in North America, from raw materials to cell manufacturing to electric drive motors and beyond, further accelerating GM's...
The proposed list of 50 critical minerals unveiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in November shined a light on how dependent the United States is on foreign countries for rare earth elements and a broad array of other technology metals vital to electric vehicles, clean energy, high-tech, and other industrial sectors. The enormous Round Top deposit in the West Texas desert hosts nearly half of the minerals and metals deemed critical to America's economic wellbeing and national...
Canada-based AP&C has signed a deal to supply Airbus with titanium powders for 3D printing, a technology that is gaining traction for manufacturing lighter, more durable, and uniquely designed parts for the aerospace industry. AP&C is the metal powder company for GE Additive, a division of the famed multinational energy corporation that sees metal 3D printing as a pioneering process with the potential to transform businesses. Often referred to as metal additive manufacturing...
An up to 18-million-pound (US$24 million) investment by global critical metals firm TechMet Ltd. is allowing Cornish Lithium Ltd. to accelerate its mission to provide domestic supplies of lithium and other battery metals from its projects in the United Kingdom's historic Cornwall mining region. "Cornish Lithium has reached an inflexion point in the company's development where larger scale investment is required," said Cornish Lithium CEO Jeremy Wrathall. "This funding...
Whether on the frontlines of a battle or on a humanitarian mission in some remote corner of Earth, military vehicles are usually far from a parts depot when they are needed most. This is why the Australian Army is rigorously testing metal 3d printing technologies developed by SPEE3D to replace armored vehicle parts in the field. During its annual bilateral military exercise between the Australian Army and the Marine Rotational Force – Exercise Koolendong – various parts for...
Skynet's liquid metal T-1000 robot seemed fantastical when the Terminator 2: Judgement Day movie was released in 1991. Fast forward 30 years, however, and researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have created early renditions of shapeshifting soft robots made of liquid gallium infused with magnetic neodymium-iron-boron microparticles. The "robot" is made up of magnetic pixels – particles containing a liquid metal and a neodymium magnet – as well as an elastic matrix mad...
Princeton University researchers have created the world's purest sample of gallium arsenide, a semiconductor used in devices that power cell phones and satellites. From a square no larger than the width of a pencil eraser, the study provided a new perspective into the quantum realm and deep insight into the very nature of electrons. Fashioning the material down to one impurity for every 10 billion atoms, reaching a level of immaculate quality that outstrips even the world's...
In what can be considered the single largest purchase of electric vehicles in the world, Hertz Corp. has put in an initial order for 100,000 Tesla EVs by the end of 2022, along with investing in new charging infrastructure across the car rental company's global operations. In addition, Hertz has teamed up with seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady to showcase how it is making EV rentals fast, seamless, and more accessible as the company accelerates its commitment to leading...
With their sights set on establishing a complete and sustainable North American rare earths supply chain, Search Minerals Inc. and USA Rare Earth LLC have entered into an agreement for the offtake of 500 metric tons per year of neodymium and praseodymium from the future production at Search's Deep Fox or Foxtrot deposits in Labrador, Canada. Enriched with the magnet rare earths neodymium and praseodymium, mixed rare earth carbonates produced at Search's Deep Fox and Foxtrot de...
In a recent breakthrough by Purdue University, researchers have devised a method utilizing the remarkable properties of graphene to support unidirectional electromagnetic waves on its edge, more simply, a new form of potentially lightspeed communications. The topological circulators developed by Purdue scientists are the smallest one-way routers of signals in the world and could be a breakthrough for on-chip, all-optical processing. Circulators themselves are a fundamental...
In another move that demonstrates rare earths production at Nechalacho is scaling up faster than originally anticipated, Vital Metals Ltd. and REEtec AS have amended their offtake agreement to increase the sales of rare earths product sold to REEtec by 50%. A Norway-based company that has developed an efficient and environmentally sound technology to separate the notoriously interlocked rare earths into the individual elements needed for high-tech and industrial applications,...
On the heels of a deal to sell more rare earths carbonate to Norway-based REEtec, Vital Metals Ltd. has entered into a separate agreement to sell some of this midstream REE product produced in Saskatchewan to Ucore Rare Metals Inc, a company advancing the development of a rare earths separation facility in Alaska. "This agreement is an important and exciting entrance into the North American downstream rare earth supply chain," said Vital Metals Managing Director Geoff Atkins....
With its sights set on putting around 10 million fully electric vehicles on global highways over the next decade, the BMW Group is investing in an innovative process to sustainably and efficiently produce the lithium that will go into the batteries powering the BMWs, Mini Coopers, and Rolls-Royces rolling off its assembly lines in the coming years. To help support environmentally sound and resource-efficient extraction of lithium, BMW Group's venture capital fund, BMW i...
In another step toward realizing its vision of establishing a lithium battery materials park at its First Cobalt refinery in Ontario, Electra Battery Materials Corp. is putting in motion a plan to begin recycling lithium, nickel, cobalt, copper, and graphite from the black mass produced from recycled lithium-ion batteries. "With our existing facility in Canada, Electra can be the first recycler to establish a closed-loop supply of battery materials, making electric vehicles...
While laying out an action plan to establish the national network of electric vehicle charging stations needed to keep pace with its ambitious goal of 50% of all vehicles sold in the United States being electric by 2030, the Biden administration reiterated that domestic battery manufacturing and critical minerals supplies are key aspects of the overall EV strategy. The White House is backing up this commitment to domestic battery supply chains with roughly $20 billion in loan...
Continuing its transformation from a British company supplying much of the world's petroleum needs for the past 120 years to an integrated energy company embracing a spectrum of energy sources for a low-carbon future, bp has put in orders for advanced cadmium-telluride (CdTe), thin-film photovoltaic solar modules produced by First Solar. Lightsource bp, the largest solar provider in Europe, and bp have placed multi-year orders for up to 5.4 gigawatts of First Solar PV modules...
Does the United States' electric vehicle ambitions put the cart before the horse? Or, more precisely, place the EVs ahead of the raw material supply chains needed to build them? The Biden administration wants half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030. This comes at a time when the European Union has called for a complete transition away from fossil-fuel-burning automobiles by 2035, and China is making its own massive push into the EV sector. This envisioned...
With the goal of delivering renewable energy to electrical grids by the end of 2023 and near-zero-carbon lithium for General Motors electric vehicles the following year, Controlled Thermal Resources has launched drilling at its Hell's Kitchen geothermal project in Southern California. "We are very pleased to kick start our drilling program and we are on schedule to deliver the project's first 50MW (megawatts) of baseload renewable power in late 2023 and an estimated 20,000 ton...
The ambitious 2035 target for a complete transition to electric vehicle sales set by most global automakers hinges on establishing reliable and responsible supply chains for the batteries that will power this envisioned electric mobility future. To help meet the burgeoning EV sector's battery material needs, First Cobalt Corp. is moving forward with an integrated battery refining, recycling, and manufacturing park in Ontario. "We see serious strains in the automotive supply...
Researchers in Australia and the United States have proven that gallium in its liquid form can economically capture and convert substantial quantities of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas emissions. The process, reported in the Oct. 6 edition of Advanced Materials Journal, uses liquid gallium to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and a high-value solid carbon product that can be sold to manufacturers of batteries, aircraft, or construction materials. "We see very strong...
Luxury vehicle company BMW Group has turned renewable energy up to 11 by teaming up with legendary band Coldplay as part of their upcoming Music of the Spheres World Tour. This will be the world's first-ever mobile, rechargeable show, powered by the two partners' shared sustainability vision. Following the successful hit "Higher Power" synced in the BMW i4/iX commercial and the British band's performance in the virtual world of BMW JOYTOPIA at the IAA Mobility in Munich, BMW...
When China severely cut exports of rare earths following a dispute with Japan in 2010, Rare Element Resources Ltd. and its Bear Lodge project in Wyoming rose as one of the top candidates for offering a domestic supply of this group of elements critical to a wide range of high-tech, energy, and defense applications. After fading into obscurity for the better part of five years due to poor market conditions, Rare Element and Bear Lodge are back in business. This revival of the...
