The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Sorted by date Results 501 - 525 of 664
Two metals, nickel and titanium, come together in a unique alloy that is gaining popularity in new applications, including in outer space. Known as "nitinol," this high-demand metal is prized for its ability to snap back to a heat-trained shape after being pulled, twisted or deformed. Accidentally discovered by metallurgist William Buehler at the Navy Ordinance Laboratories in 1959, nitinol has been used in increasingly sophisticated applications over the years, finding...
With the recent completion of a $50 million financing, USA Rare Earth LLC has the funds to take major strides toward executing its rare earths mine-to-magnet strategy in the United States. At the front end of this strategy lies the Round Top heavy rare earths and critical minerals project in Texas, which USA Rare Earth recently exercised its option to acquire an 80% joint venture interest in from Texas Mineral Resources Corp. Situated in the Texas desert about 85 miles...
Glencore plc has teamed up with fellow miners China Molybdenum Co. Ltd. and Eurasian Resources Group, and battery material supplier Umicore to pilot a blockchain solution for end-to-end cobalt traceability. Earlier this year, Glencore joined the Global Battery Alliance, a World Economic Forum initiative to help establish and collaborate on a sustainable battery value chain. As of 20 May, a new pilot named Re|Source, headed by major metals and mining companies as well as...
From $15 billion to bolster clean energy research to incentives aimed at encouraging Americans to buy electric vehicles, the Biden administration's proposed $174 billion investment in the United States EV industry is a once-in-a-generation strategy that is missing a key piece – a plan to secure the minerals needed to manufacture these vehicles and the batteries that go in them. In a new fact sheet that outlines its plan to supercharge U.S. transportation and manufacturing, t...
In the world of cybersecurity, innovations that offer robust protection of private data from ill-intentioned people are becoming more crucial. Now, researchers at Pennsylvania State University have leveraged graphene's unique properties to design a way to make encryption harder to crack. Current silicon-based technologies exploit microscopic differences between computing components to create secure keys. However, artificial intelligence can predict these keys, thereby gaining...
While it is still several years before any significant quantities of the Ultium batteries going into the next generation of General Motors electric vehicles will reach the end of their lifecycle, the automaker is already establishing lithium-ion battery recycling capabilities at its Ultium battery cell manufacturing mega-factory in Lordstown, Ohio. To establish this capacity, Ultium Cells LLC, a joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution, has entered into a multi-year con...
Policymakers must take swift and decisive action to ensure that the minerals critical to the global transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles are not the bottleneck that prevents governments from meeting their climate goals, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency. "Today, the data shows a looming mismatch between the world's strengthened climate ambitions and the availability of critical minerals that are essential to realizing those...
Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd. has entered into a research agreement with scientists at University of Queensland's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, and the university's commercialization company Uniquest, to unlock the potential of graphene aluminum-ion batteries. Unlike typical lithium-ion, graphene aluminum-ion batteries could potentially have up to three times longer life while also being capable of up to 70 times faster charging, and...
Seeking to bolster America's critical mineral supply chain, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has introduced legislation that tackles the notoriously long permitting process in the United States. "America's reliance on foreign countries for the production and recycling of our critical minerals is a vulnerability to our national security, a disadvantage to our economy, and a hindrance to our global competitiveness. Unfortunately, the current federal permitting and review process...
Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida, and Congressman David McKinley, R- West Virginia, along with 12 other U.S. lawmakers, are urging the Biden administration to develop domestic metallurgical capabilities for the separation and processing of rare earth elements to end America's dependence on China for this critical supply chain. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the lawmakers wrote, "China's monopoly of the rare earth value chain is a significant...
A pair of Texas congressmen, Republican Lance Gooden and Democrat Vicente Gonzalez have introduced the Reclaiming American Rare Earths Act, bipartisan legislation aimed at reducing America's dependence on China for rare earth elements and other minerals critical to the United States. The U.S. depends on foreign countries for more than 50% of its supply of 28 of the 35 minerals deemed critical to America's economic and national security, including 100% import-reliant for 14 of...
Answering the Biden administration's call for industry input on the risks to battery supply chains in the United States, American Battery Metals Corp. said accelerating lithium-ion battery recycling and next-generation extraction technologies is one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways to increase the supply of the battery-grade nickel, cobalt, lithium, and other materials needed for the transition to electric vehicles. "Unlike fossil fuels, elemental...
TechMet Ltd. continues to build strong financial support for its vision of building a portfolio of world-class projects that produce, process, and recycle technology metals critical to electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and energy storage. "TechMet's mission is to build ethical, independent, and environmentally sound supply chains for the metals that are needed to ensure the success of this 21st-century clean energy and EV revolution," said TechMet Chairman and CEO...
Recovering scandium from its iron-titanium mine in Quebec, tellurium from the Kennecott copper mine in Utah, and now lithium from its Boron mine in California, Rio Tinto is leveraging its operations to produce the critical metals needed for 3D printing, solar energy, and lithium batteries. On April 7, the global miner announced that it has begun producing battery-grade lithium from waste rock at its Boron mine site at the western edge of the Mojave Desert. The mine is...
Toward its mission to "produce the greenest advanced graphite materials with a carbon-neutral footprint for a sustainable world," Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc., has laid out a plan that not only charts a path to a carbon-neutral future but also aims to offset all corporate emissions since the company was formed in 2012. "Nouveau Monde has committed to a zero-harm approach to producing advanced battery materials for decades to come. Carbon neutrality is an important part of this...
Critical materials experts from the University of Birmingham are urging the United Kingdom to take quick action to ensure Britain has a stable supply of technology-critical metals essential for its transition to clean energy. "Our ability to deliver on our international commitments will doubtless be enabled or constrained by our access to the technology-critical metals that underpin the clean energy transition," said Sir John Beddington, chief scientific adviser to the UK...
Typically thought of as a glimmery precious metal used to make coins, bullion, jewelry, and other shiny objects, silver's true value lies in more industrious properties that make it invaluable to high-tech applications such as solar panels, electric vehicles, and 5G networks. "Silver demand has evolved from a monetary ornamental use, to photographic, to digital, and now to energy," Hecla Mining Company President and CEO Phillips Baker, Jr. said during a March 31 keynote...
ZEN Graphene Solutions Ltd. said it supports Health Canada's recent precautionary recall of face masks that contain graphene, a 2D material that has been proven highly effective at killing viruses, bacteria, and fungi responsible for a broad range of diseases. Health Canada recently issued an advisory warning that inhaling graphene particles from treated face masks may pose health risks. "Until the department completes a thorough scientific assessment and has established the s...
A new round of analysis and testing has further confirmed amazingly high grades of gallium associated with the high-grade rare earth zones at Appia Energy Corp.'s Alces Lake property in northern Saskatchewan. An electron microprobe study conducted by the Saskatchewan Research Council successfully demonstrated that the rare earths-enriched monazite mineral from two separate zones and trends at Alces Lake was also enriched with gallium. Following up on the success of this...
In another step toward its overarching goal to deliver battery grade cobalt into the North American electric vehicles market, First Cobalt Corp. has signed a flexible, long-term, offtake agreement with Stratton Metal Resources Ltd. for the sale of future cobalt sulfate production from the First Cobalt refinery in Ontario, Canada. "Stratton Metals are among the most knowledgeable cobalt traders in the world, with a network of relationships in every major market," said First...
Reaching another major milestone on its path to being Canada's first rare earths producer, Vital Metals Ltd. has begun mining at its Nechalacho REE project in Northwest Territories. A 110-kilometer- (68 miles) long, 1.1-meter-thick ice road running across the north side of Great Slave Lake from Dettah, Northwest Territories near Yellowknife was opened for deliveries to the mine site on March 20. Crushing plant, mining equipment, fuel, and other equipment and supplies needed...
The U.S. Department of Energy March 18 announced $30 million in funding to support scientific research of domestic supplies of the critical minerals and metals needed to produce clean energy technologies. Under the Biden administration, and following an executive order signed in February requiring greater coordination among federal agencies on supply chain issues, the Department of Energy has prompted possible funding toward national laboratories, universities, industry, and...
With the current global shift toward sustainability, organizations, cities, and even countries are priming themselves to embrace the change. In particular, Canada's Ontario has unveiled plans to develop its first-ever critical minerals strategy and has already made good headway to set the province as a focal point for delivering valuable materials to the entire world. "By developing this strategy, we will strengthen Ontario's position as one of North America's premier...
Canada thinks about critical minerals differently than the United States and European Union. While its Western counterparts have put together shopping lists of the critical raw materials that are in high demand by technologies important to their economic and security interests, but supplies may not be readily available, Canada's newly released list is more akin to a catalog of 31 critical minerals and metals it has in stock to meet the global needs of a world transitioning to...
As part of a strategy to significantly lower the cost, improve the performance, and minimize the environmental footprint of batteries going into its expanding line-up of electric vehicles in Europe, Volkswagen Group has placed a US$14 billion order with Sweden-based Northvolt. This massive deal between the European e-mobility partners announced on the eve of Volkswagen Power Day, a March 15 event that laid out the German automaker's roadmap to making the electric car...
