South Africa
Zirconium and tantalum under the spotlight
I was a guest speaker at an international conference on the zirconium-tantalum family of metals. The conference, ZrTa 2011, took place at a beautiful venue in Magaliesburg, about 100 km from Pretoria. There were also speakers from countries such as Canada, France, Japan and the UK. The crowd at the conference exhibited a great spirit of enthusiasm, and they ranged in age from the seniors to young graduates entering the field.
This family of metals is important in a number of high-tech applications, including the nuclear field. I am trained not only in the nuclear field, but also in materials science and metallurgy.
Even though I know the science of metal alloys, it is still amazing to me how small additions of one metal to another can change the resulting properties so dramatically.
Most members of the public probably do not realise this dynamic in the high-tech alloys business. Most people still retain the old image that you make an alloy by throwing in a bucket of this and a bucket of that and then cook and stir it all up together. Modern high-tech alloy making is much more like bricklaying with atoms.
One can imagine a metal internal structure at the atomic level being like a bucket full of tennis balls. If you want to make the metal perform differently, you can add golf balls. The golf balls then fall into the spaces between the tennis balls. To go further, one could add marbles; they fall in between the golf balls and the tennis balls.
In the metal atomic lattice, these spaces between the atoms are known as interstitial sites, and different metals have different size atoms, which, just as in my golf ball analogy, fit in between the other larger atoms.
This is a reasonably simple explanation; it gets much more complicated than that. The people at ZrTa 2011 were not only interested in making alloys – they also wanted to do high- precision metal coating, and they wanted to know what happens in situations of potential corrosion. The list goes on. This business, really, is bricklaying with atoms. These folks have to figure out which atoms to place where so that the result provides characteristics that some industrial operator wants.
Dr Hiroaki Muto, of Japan, even reported that some corrosion-resistance properties showed improvement when subjected to nuclear radiation. So the nuclear radiation energy seems to be doing something to the atoms that results in improved performance. Very interesting.
Dr Zeb Vilakazi had already pointed out that the science of metalworking has been at the forefront of mankind’s development since the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Now we are in the age of looking at the atom arrangements of exotic metals like zirconium, niobium and tantalum. Tantalum is used to grow single-crystal metal turbine blades, which are used in the jet engines of large passenger aircraft. So, when you fly in an aeroplane, look out at the engine at a height of 30 000 ft and say: “Thank heavens, some scientists know how to work with tantalum.”
If you want to impress the person sitting next to you, just say in an authoritative tone: “I wonder what the spot market price for tantalum is today.”
Richard Burt, of Canada, told us that, in Asia, they are digging up roads that were paved a century ago. Why? Back then, in the production of tin, they used the waste slag to make road surfaces. Now they have found that there are significant amounts of tantalum contained in this waste slag. A century ago, nobody realised that tantalum would be worth anything. In fact, the miner of the day would not have known what tantalum was.
Tantalum is also used to manufacture the special glass used to make the camera lenses in cellphones. So next time you take a photo with your cellphone, say: “Thank heavens that some scientists know how to work with tantalum.” Well, anyway, you get the picture. Tantalum is also used in computer flash drives. These fancy metals end up in strange places.
The South African Department of Science and Technology has launched a special programme, the Advanced Metals Initiative, to examine these metals so that South African innovation can be brought to bear on applications to make money for the country.
Dr Johann Nel, the ZrTa 2011 conference chairperson, is part of this advanced metals initiative. He invested a great deal of effort in getting the meeting-of-the-minds conference on the go. At such events, people do not just learn during the formal sessions but also while chatting over a drink as the South African sun sets. A French visitor told me that it was his fist time in Africa and he was excited to be here. Hopefully, he and the others will be back.
By: Kelvin Kemm
Source: http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/
Chromium, are Nations Hoarding Natural Resources?
Chromium is a topic that you rarely hear about, but in today´s environment of uncertainty and the, ¨Great Worldwide Resource Grab¨, chromium gets more attention. Recently we have the EU and USA going into Libya (oil, lithium), Iraq (oil), Afghanistan (oil pipeline, rare earths), West Africa (cobalt, tungsten, oil, gold, timber and many more). Let us not forget China and the contracts that they are signing all over the world for their natural resource needs. This all makes for some very interesting times for nations and investors alike. Rare industrial metals are no different. Chromium has been in the news so it is time to explain its uses and background.
Chromium was discovered by Louis Vauqelin in 1797. Chromium is a blue-white metal with great corrosion resistance. It has the symbol Cr with an atomic number of 24. Chromium can be polished to form a very shiny surface and is used to plate other metals to form a protective layer.
The main use of chromium is in the production of steel where it is used as a hardener, corrosion resister and helps fight decolorization. Iron and chromium form Stainless Steel which is strong and has a high resistance to heat and decomposition. The two form one of the most versatile and durable metals known in the world. Stainless steel contains approximately 10% chromium. Chromium is also used in paints, coloring in glass, and as a plating agent.
According to the USGS the top producers are South Africa, Kazakhstan and India. South Africa produces almost 50% of all chrome ore. The three countries account for 80% of all chrome ore mined. Approximately 95% of all known reserves are located in Kazakhstan and the southern tip of Africa to include Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The background of chromium is interesting, but today we have a hot topic. India is thinking about a ban on exportation of chrome ore. This is after news out of South Africa that the, ¨National Union of Mineworkers¨, called for restrictions of chrome ore exports to China. It has been speculated that China has been stockpiling chrome ore in order to control future prices. Does this sound familiar? We currently have to deal with the manipulation of the rare earths and rare industrial metals by China. As of October 2011 India and South Africa have not followed through with the plans. The next few weeks and months will be quite interesting, we are seeing an increase in the need for chromium, with a possible decrease in available supply.
Today our world is full of uncertainty. Every day brings us news of something amazing. Governments are under pressure, people are suffering, companies are folding, wonderful inventions, worldwide internet connectivity, and resources are becoming scarce. I have learned that in times like this you can either complain or build a grand future. Many fortunes were made during the US Great Depression. We are living through a worldwide recession, when we come out on the other side natural resources will be needed like never before. Where are you putting your money and future?
By: Randy Hilarski - The Rare Metals Guy
China Will Continue to Dominate the Rare Earths Market in 2011
Editor’s Note: Prices for many precious and base metals hit record highs in 2010, as economic uncertainty rattled around the globe. What does 2011 hold for gold, silver, platinum, palladium, copper and other metals? Kitco News reporters have prepared a series of stories which examine what is in store for 2011, not only for metals but for currencies, stocks and the overall economy. These stories will be posted on Kitco.com during the holiday period and also will be featured in a special section. Stay tuned for video highlights as well.
(Kitco News) - China’s dominance of global rare earths output will continue in 2011, yet at the same time other nations are starting to make preparations to pull more metal from the ground and reduce China’s stranglehold on the market in future years.
Until the last few months, the mention of rare earth metals likely would elicit a blank stare unless the conversation involved someone in a specific sector that uses the elements.
Rare earth metals, known as REEs, burst into the mainstream media limelight during the past several months, with articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, on major wire services and televised segments on CNBC. The big exposure came with a flap that developed when China, which controls 95% to 97% of the current REE global output, stopped exporting to the Japanese.
Fears continue over the supply of rare earth metals, which consist of 17 elements used in creating a variety of consumer, environmental and industrial-driven technological products. Despite some movement expected in 2011 and beyond to develop greater supply from other global sources, the Chinese still hold the shovel.
“They have the ability to dictate the market if they want to,” said Charl Malan, senior metals and mining analyst at Van Eck Global. The company offers a number of metals-related investments and this fall started the first U.S.-listed exchange-traded fund for equities of companies involved with producing, refining and recycling rare earth/strategic metals.
“With rare earths growth in the next five years about 225,000 tons, that’s about 9% (year-on-year) growth number,” Malan said. “Currently, supply is about 125,000 tons, out of which China produces about 120,000 tons.”
Major importers have come to depend on China due to its ability to manufacture REEs at a reasonable cost. The embargo China placed on exports to Japan has been devastating to the Japanese and shows the strength of the REE demand China commands. Japan was the leading importer of REEs.
“News out of China is a big part of it,” said The Mercenary Geologist Mickey Fulp. “It is a purely speculative sector. As news comes out of China about export quotas, relaxing export quotas or news of any kind on that regard supply and demand fundamentals of the rare earth elements sector is going to affect prices.”
Fulp said China controls well over 90% of the current supply. The dominance is mainly because the Chinese have developed the ability to manufacture these minerals in such a way that the rest of the world could be falling behind quickly, not because rare earth metals are really that rare.
“For me, if I look at the bigger picture for rare earths, this is what’s essential,” Malan of Van Eck said. “There’s an abundance of rare earths around the world. It’s not so much the mining, it’s the fact we don’t have the manufacturing capacity and we don’t have the skill sets or the equipment. That’s my biggest concern.”
Malan believes that China has invested its resources in such a way that it is now properly positioned for the future in terms of manufacturing capacity, but more importantly, well placed from a knowledge standpoint.
“To have the refined product really work, you obviously need very highly educated, highly skilled people specifically within an industry,” Malan said. “There’s something like 800 people with Ph.D.s specifically linked to rare earths. They don’t just focus on the equipment, the processing and the manufacturing side of it but also the manpower and the knowledge base behind it.”
A half century ago China was not among the leading producers of REEs. Between 1950 and 1980, the U.S., India, South Africa and Brazil were considered to be the front-runners in production. During the 1980s, China began underselling competitors, leading to consumers purchasing cheap supply from the Chinese.
This had a negative effect on REE mines in several countries, leading to most being shut down. Molycorp Minerals mine in California was once the largest REE producer in the world but was forced to close in 2002. The mine is set to reopen in 2011 and should begin contributing production by 2012.
“In 2012, there will be additional supply from Molycorp which will be 20,000 (metric) tons,” said Marino G. Pieterse, publisher and editor of Gold Letter International, Uranium Letter International and Rare Earths Elements International.
Molycorp is not the only rare earths company beginning REE production in the next few years.
“In 2013 you’ll have three other companies that will begin producing REEs,” Pieterse said. “Frontier Rare Earths will produce 10-20,000 (metric) tons, Greenland Minerals and Earths LTD will have 40,000 (metric) tons and then there’s Rare Elements Resources LTD, which will have 20,000 (metric) tons.”
Lynas Corporation in Australia is also slated to begin REE production, with tonnage reaching over 20,000.
Analysts said that the move towards wider production could mean there will be an over-supply of REEs by 2014-2015, which will bring stability to prices.
Despite the title of being rare, REEs are in abundance. With countries other than China developing the means to manufacture these metals coupled with the need to introduce and maintain greener technologies, REEs are expected to perform well in the coming years.
“I see bigger and better things for the entire sector,” Fulp said.
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Scandium
Aluminum alloy: aerospace
Yttrium
Phosphors, ceramics, lasers
Lanthanum
Re-chargeable batteries
Cerium
Batteries, catalysts, glass polishing
Praseodymium
Magnets, glass colorant
Neodymium
Magnets, lasers, glass
Promethium
Nuclear batteries
Samarium
Magnets, lasers, lighting
Europium
TV color phosphors: red
Gadolinium
Superconductors, magnets
Terbium
Phosphors: green, fluorescent lights
Dysprosium
Magnets, lasers
Holmium
Lasers
Erbium
Lasers, vanadium steel
Thulium
X-ray source, ceramics
Yterrbium
Infrared lasers, high reactive glass
Lutetium
Catalyst, PET scanners
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