The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
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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...
Copper3D, a Chile-based tech start-up, is harnessing the power of copper, 3D printing and an open-source design to help ensure there are enough face masks to go around during the COVID-19 pandemic. Working under the hashtag, "hack the pandemic," this innovation company has designed a N95 mask – a close-fitting respiratory device that filters at least 95% of very small particles – that can be printed with a patented material that has nano-copper additive that works as an ant...
When it comes to criticality, not all critical minerals are equal. To sort out the hierarchy of these mined materials, the United States Geological Survey has developed a powerful new tool that helps identify which mineral commodities needed by America's manufacturing sector are most at risk to supply disruptions. "This methodology is an important part of how we're meeting our goals in the President Trump's strategy to ensure a reliable supply of critical minerals," said USGS...
Adapting to a future of renewable energy, trendsetters are focusing on recycling lithium-ion batteries to create a more efficient repurposing of one of the most vital and important technologies of today and possibly the future. Lithium-ion batteries have been around for decades but as we see a forward push for an electric future, the demand has changed to necessity. Global climate concerns, finite resources and the sheer growth of technology that requires mobile energy all...
Hydrogen, boron and lasers could be the secret ingredients to the Holy Grail of energy – fusion. A team of scientists in Australia have developed a method of creating fusion energy like that of the sun that utilizes a unique process first pioneered by Professor Heinrich Hora in the 1970s. The company, aptly named HB11, uses an approach to fusion that does away with rare, radioactive and difficult fuels-as well as the incredibly high temperatures necessary for conventional f...
Zen Graphene Solutions is collaborating with Graphene Composites Ltd. to develop a COVID-19 killing virucidal graphene-based composite ink that can be applied to fabrics, including N95 face masks and other personal protective equipment. Graphene Composites, a United Kingdom-based company with offices in the U.S, specializes in the technology of nanomaterials. Focusing on the usage of graphene and other distinctive materials, such as aerogels, they produce a range of products...
First Cobalt Corp. has taken a critical step toward its goal of supplying North American and European electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery manufacturers with 25,000 metric tons of battery grade cobalt sulfate per year. With an initial investment of only US$56 million, First Cobalt's already established refinery in Ontario could be churning out enough cobalt for the batteries powering more than 500,000 EVs annually by 2022. "This is an important milestone in our efforts to...
Despite global mines supplying more lithium than markets demand and the effects COVID-19 is having on the worldwide economy, Morningstar Inc. sees the 2020s as being "a transformational decade for lithium, as demand will grow over six times 2019 levels." This forecasted growth in lithium demand will be largely powered by an uptick in the adoption of electric vehicles and the lithium-ion batteries that power them. Roughly 305 metric tons of lithium was consumed globally during...
Texas Mineral Resources Corp. and USA Rare Earth LLC April 2 said the COVID-19 outbreak thus far has not held up progress on their Round Top critical minerals project in Texas and pilot heavy rare earths separation plant in Colorado. "Our first priority is to safeguard the health and well-being of our employees, partners and contractors," said Texas Mineral Resources Chairman Anthony Marchese. "Fortunately to date, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a minimal effect on our...
Vale, a Brazil-based mining company with operations in Canada and around the globe, is challenging innovators to come up with solutions to minimize the societal impacts of COVID-19 and is offering US$1 million to get those innovations deployed to those who need them as quickly as possible. "Around the globe, industries and individuals alike are working diligently to find innovative solutions to combat this invisible enemy," said Vale North Atlantic Operations and Asian Refiner...
USA Rare Earth LLC has acquired state-of-the-art neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnet manufacturing equipment, another key piece to the company's strategy to establish a complete rare earths mines-to-magnets supply chain in the United States. New York-based USA Rare Earth has already made major headway toward this objective as the funding and development partner at Round Top, a rare earth and critical minerals project about 85 miles southeast of El Paso. According to a prelim...
Can zinc lozenges and syrups galvanize our bodies' defenses against COVID-19? Research and clinical trials have demonstrated its ability to lessen the severity and duration of similar severe acute respiratory (SARS) coronaviruses and would likely help your body put up a stronger fight against this latest strain. Inside your body, zinc galvanizes your immune system on two fronts – it has natural antimicrobial properties and it boosts the white blood cells that fight off coronav...
The strongest and most conductive material known to man, graphene is considered a miracle material that will likely change how we construct things in the 21st century – from micro-electronics to mega-building structures. But, can this single layer of super strong carbon atoms also protect us from the spread of diseases like COVID-19? GrapheneCA, a New York-based producer of graphene and developer of technologies that use this miraculous allotrope of carbon, believes the a...
The future of computing may be seeing a transition back to germanium, a material that is at the same time the past and future of quantum computing. While today's computers have become exponentially faster, smaller and more powerful than their World War II predecessors, they work much the same way – carrying out complex computations with binary code, a stream of zeros and ones. The very first of these computers used vacuum tubes to switch on and off the flow of electricity, c...
The American Energy Innovations Act, legislation hailed as Congress' best chance to modernize the nation's energy policies in more than 12 years, bogged down in the U.S. Senate in early March after a dispute erupted among several lawmakers over an amendment aimed at limiting hydrofluorocarbons emissions from home appliances. The legislation, introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and ranking committee member...
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...
Tesla's "big battery" utility-scale Powerpack systems are emerging around the globe, proving a supplemental energy storage system that reduces costs and provides a reliable backup in cases of emergency. The Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia, owned by French renewable energy producer Neoen, is currently home to the largest lithium-ion battery energy storage system in the world with 100 megawatts (MW) of power storage and 129 megawatt-hours (MWh) of output capacity....
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...
If your buddy is bitten by a werewolf or vampire and infected, myth, legends and pop culture say the cure is silver. Whether it is a silver bullet through the heart or skin searing silver to keep your vampire at bay, silver is the answer to most of your supernatural ailments. But what about the more mundane? And how did silver become the hero of mythology? The fact is, silver has been used for thousands of years in medicine. While it has only been recently that we understand...
The United States depends on foreign countries for more than 50 percent of its supply of 31 minerals considered critical to the nation's economic wellbeing and national security, including 100 percent import-reliant for 14 of them, according to Mineral Commodity Summaries 2020, a recent U.S. Geological Survey report. The list of mined commodities for which the U.S. is fully reliant on foreign nations for its supply is littered with high-tech minerals and metals needed for rene...
Many in the United States, from President Donald Trump to sector analysts, have been raising the alarms about America's heavy dependence on China for rare earth elements and other critical minerals and metals. Most of this talk has centered on the geopolitical risks associated with depending on an economic and strategic rival for more than 80 percent of these 17 metals vital to a wide array of high-tech and military devices. Instead of export restrictions resulting from...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. wants to provide the Pentagon with an American source of rare earth elements, vital ingredients to a wide array of U.S. military hardware, from helmet mounted radios to laser guided missiles. While essential to national defense, the U.S. currently depends on foreign countries for 100 percent of its supply of rare earths. And more than 80 percent of these critical metals are imported from China, either directly or via secondary countries. As part of a...
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...
Ucore Rare Metals Inc. says the COVID-19 pandemic shines a spotlight on the need for a domestic supply of rare earth elements and other critical minerals and the company continues to make headway toward helping to fill that supply with its mine-to-metal-to-market "M3" strategy. "The current crisis underscores the extremely vulnerable nature of critical materials supply chains in the U.S. globalization and single-source foreign dependencies are not mitigating this risk – t...
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...
