The Elements of Innovation Discovered

Articles from the May 25, 2022 edition


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  • Rare earths include 15 individual elements found on the periodic table.

    Elk Creek deposit proves to be rare earth

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Apr 16, 2023

    An updated feasibility study for developing a mine at Elk Creek confirms that the proposed niobium-titanium-scandium mine in Nebraska also boasts one of the richest stores of rare earth elements in the United States. According to the new report released by NioCorp Developments Ltd. on May 19, Elk Creek hosts 632,900 metric tons of total rare earth oxides, 970,300 metric tons of niobium oxide, along with 11,337 metric tons of scandium oxide and 4.2 million metric tons of...

  • Meltio's metal 3D printer head attached to a robotic arm.

    Meltio 3D printing goes three dimensional

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    The ability to design and manufacture parts from metals or polymers into nearly any shape imaginable has been the dream of production companies for years, with one tech company taking it a step further – a robot arm that adds a precision to additive manufacturing the likes that have only been seen in science fiction. Simply named, Meltio is a joint venture that came together in 2019 between Additec, a Las Vegas-based technology company that specializes in 3D printing, and S...

  • Cat is developing electric versions of large mining haul trucks like these.

    Cat electric trucks for BC gold-silver mine

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    With the goal of developing a carbon-neutral open pit mine at its Blackwater gold project in British Columbia, Artemis Gold Inc. has cut a deal with Caterpillar Inc. for the future delivery of electric haul trucks. Located in Central BC, the Blackwater Mine is forecast to produce roughly 7.5 million ounces of gold and 40.4 million oz of silver over 22 years. A feasibility study published last fall details an open-pit operation that will be developed in phases – starting off a...

  • A photo of a Sandvik underground haul truck deep inside a tunnel.

    Oyu Tolgoi goes underground, autonomous

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    Rio Tinto is leveraging the safety and productivity advantages of Sandvik's autonomous mining equipment as it heads underground at the enormous Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in the South Gobi Desert region of Mongolia. Oyu Tolgoi, which began operations as an open pit mine in 2013, produced 359.4 million pounds of copper, 468,000 ounces of gold, and 977,000 oz of silver last year. Turquoise Hill Resources, a company that is majority-owned by Rio Tinto that operates Oyu Tolgoi,...

  • A rendering of the nano-sized CrSBr crystals developed at Columbia University.

    Tuned magnetism for quantum components

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    Columbia University chemists and physicists recently found a link between tunable electronic magnetic properties in a 2D semiconductor that could potentially be applied to quantum computing, spintronics, and other fundamental research. Created in the lab of chemist Xavier Roy, chromium-sulfide-bromide (CrSBr) is chemistry that is called a van der Waals crystal, which can be peeled into stackable, 2D layers that are just a few atoms thin. It is due to the unique nature of van...

  • Robot arms build electric vehicles on a futuristic auto assembly line.

    Gridlock could delay clean energy future

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    The International Energy Agency warns that traffic jams threaten the clean energy future. Not on global highways congested with electric vehicles, nor in lines of these EVs waiting to top off their batteries with low-carbon electricity at charging stations. Instead, this gridlock is more likely to happen in automotive and battery factories that cannot find plentiful and affordable supplies of the minerals and metals needed. "Prices of many minerals and metals that are essentia...

  • Prototype silicon anode battery packs by Sila Nanotechnologies.

    Sila Nano silicon anode for Mercedes EVs

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    In a significant step forward for the electric vehicle industry, Mercedes-Benz announced the next step in its partnership with Sila Nanotechnologies, to incorporate Sila's silicon anode chemistry in batteries for its upcoming Mercedes-Benz G-Class electric vehicles. Aptly located in Silicon Valley, Sila Nano has developed a silicon-based anode battery technology that is expected to enable lighter, safer, and higher energy density batteries for EVs, longer-lasting portable...

  • A picture of the open cabin of SPEE3D's WarpSPEE3D metal 3D printer.

    SPEE3D metal printers for US Navy exercise

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Jul 1, 2022

    Australia-based SPEE3D, a leading supplier of some of the world's fastest and most rugged metal 3D printers, has been selected to take part in the U.S. Navy's Maintenance Technology Engagement Exercise (MAINTENX) to manufacture deployable metal 3D printing technology at both port and sea. "We are thrilled to collaborate with the US Naval Warfare Centers to test and validate our unique metal 3D printing capability that is used anywhere – not just a lab – and to quickly pri...