The Elements of Innovation Discovered

Articles from the February 22, 2023 edition


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  • Golden Gate Bridge disappears into low clouds over San Francisco Bay.

    Bridge to the US lithium battery future

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 3, 2024

    Li-Bridge alliance unveils blueprint to build resilient US lithium battery supply chain. A wide chasm lies between where the United States is today and securing the lithium battery mineral resources and manufacturing capacity required to achieve ambitious visions of a green energy future where electric vehicles are charged with low-carbon energy. An alliance of America's national laboratories and more than 40 companies representing the entire lithium battery supply chain have...

  • A hand holds an instrument against bands of pink and cream mineralization.

    Deeper look at Sheep Creek rare earths

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jun 8, 2023

    Latest lab results show high grades extend to depth at REE property in SW Montana. Assay results confirm that high-grade rare earth mineralization identified on the surface at US Critical Materials Corp.'s Sheep Creek project in southwestern Montana continues underground. In early February, the company reported that 52 Sheep Creek surface samples tested by Activation Labs, a Canadian analytical laboratory renowned for its rare earth analysis, returned an average grade of 9%...

  • A battery-electric Sandvik truck and loader working underground.

    Rana Gruber orders electric Sandvik fleet

    K. Warner, For Metal Tech News|Updated Jun 8, 2023

    In Norway, the Rana Gruber iron ore mining and mineral processing operation has purchased a fleet of 19 battery-electric vehicles from Sandvik. The order is being filled during this year's first quarter through 2024 and is Sandvik's second-largest battery-electric mining fleet sale to date. Valued at 370 million Swedish kronor (US$35.5 million), the Rana Gruber order includes eight drills, six trucks, and five loaders, along with on-site support and batteries for the fleet....

  • The metal framing of one of Electra's battery materials refineries.

    Electra makes first battery recycling move

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 21, 2023

    Becoming the frontrunner of battery recyclers, Electra Battery Materials Corp. announced that it has successfully completed the first plant-scale recycling of black mass material in North America, recovering critical metals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese needed for the electric vehicles of the low-carbon future. Colloquially known as black mass, it is essentially the remains of pulverized lithium-ion battery anode and cathode materials. Imperative toward the...

  • Aluminum-cerium alloy being poured from a furnace into a ladle.

    Aluminum alloys offer rare earths balance

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 21, 2023

    The U.S. Department of Energy has published a portfolio of research and development projects on the commercialization of aluminum-cerium alloy that offers a possible solution to the overabundance of the most abundant rare earth element. The clean energy transition depends on critical materials like rare earth elements that power wind turbine generators, electric vehicles, and other clean energy technologies, materials, and processes. Typically, REEs are found together in...

  • Extended hand holding a large chunk of nickel ore with a mine in the background.

    Nickel's evolving role in green power

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 15, 2023

    The challenge of reducing emissions from the mining industry as a whole is ongoing and especially vital for the metals needed in renewable power and de-carbonized transportation. Taking center stage in this push, the electric vehicle space is being tasked to evaluate the overall environmental impact of EV battery life cycles. Scalable solutions are needed by 2030 for the anticipated first wave of batteries soon reaching end-of-life to keep them out of the toxic waste stream....