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(46) stories found containing 'texas mineral resources'


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  • A pile of bluish silver lead bars stamped with “Doe Run.”

    DOD invests in Missouri battery metals

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 27, 2024

    Pentagon awards Doe Run $7 million to help scale up a cobalt and nickel processing plant in The Show-Me State. As part of a larger objective to ensure the United States has reliable domestic supplies of the minerals and metals critical to the nation's economy and security, the U.S. Department of Defense has awarded The Doe Run Resources Corp. $7 million to complete a demonstration-scale hydrometallurgical plant for separation of cobalt and nickel at their facility in...

  • Rendering of blue and orange grid sandwiching carbon molecules.

    Geothermal for cheap U.S. CO2 capture

    K. Warner, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 13, 2024

    Combining carbon-free energy with permanent storage of CO2 creates a more cost-effective self-sustaining loop. A research team at Ohio State University (OSU) has proposed the combination of carbon capture with geothermal energy in a cheap, novel method that could make capturing carbon dioxide from the air a viable option. Their system recycles some of the captured CO2 to transport geothermal energy in a closed loop that can make large-scale direct air capture cheaper and more...

  • Piles of black, white, grey, and yellow rare earth oxide powders.

    USA Rare Earth secures magnet feedstock

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 12, 2024

    Enters into agreement with ReElement for a domestic supply of rare earths for its magnet plant in Oklahoma. In a move that will begin to establish a circular and domestic supply chain for the powerful magnets used in electric vehicle motors, USA Rare Earth LLC has signed a deal to buy ultra-pure rare earth elements (REE) produced from ReElement Technologies Corp.'s state-of-the-art rare earths and battery metals refining facility in Indiana. "We are thrilled to be working...

  • A large pile of raw, unused bituminous coal ores.

    DOE funds more REE from coal research

    A.J. Roan, Metal Tech News|Updated Mar 6, 2024

    Three projects that will advance coal-derived rare earths and critical minerals. Further attempting to strengthen America's critical mineral supply chain and by proxy its national security, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $17 million in funding for three projects focused on establishing a domestic supply of rare earth elements and critical minerals from coal-based resources. Funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of President Biden's Investing in...

  • Fully equipped army soldier enters area with smoke and fire at night.

    Pentagon prioritizes critical minerals

    Shane Lasley, Metal Tech News|Updated Feb 6, 2024

    Reshoring mineral supply chains lost to globalization is a key part of DOD National Defense Industrial Strategy The urgency to onshore critical mineral supply chains in the United States has begun to shift away from a need to secure reliable sources of the minerals and metals needed to support the nation's economy and clean energy ambitions toward the need for these same mined commodities to defend American ideals and interests at home and abroad. "Establishing a fully...

  • A geologist uses a hammer to break off rocks to sample for critical minerals.

    USGS invests millions in critical minerals

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

    In 2023 alone, the federal geological survey invested $51M into Earth MRI scans of 35 states as part of a nationwide critical minerals search. From rare earths in Northern Maine to lithium in Southern California and titanium in Florida to 29 critical minerals in Alaska, the United States Geological Survey is investing heavily in strengthening domestic supply chains for the 50 minerals and metals critical to every sector of the American economy. This nationwide search for...

  • ExxonMobil and American flags flying in front of skyscrapers.

    Does lithium boom loom on US horizon?

    Rose Ragsdale, For Metal Tech News|Updated Dec 16, 2023

    The start of ExxonMobil's new lithium production unit in southwestern Arkansas in mid-November highlights rapidly growing industry interest in producing the white mineral from the briny aquifers that proliferate in this region of the United States. Lithium is a crucial component in the manufacture of batteries needed for electric vehicles, and demand for the white mineral is projected to quadruple by 2030. ExxonMobil said its new unit is expected to begin producing the white...

  • Piles of shredded metals to be used in recycling.

    Recycling key to U.S. critical minerals

    K. Warner, For Metal Tech News|Updated Oct 26, 2023

    The growing list of critical minerals and conflict elements like cobalt are drawing intense focus and demand for alternative sources. Investors and consumers are increasingly focused on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials, provenance, and indirect emissions of these supply chains. If done right, prioritizing urban mining – specifically moving recycled materials upstream in supply chains – could provide cheaper domestic supply with a lower emissions...

  • A U.S. versus China chess board with metallic gold and silver pieces.

    China plays gallium, germanium pieces

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 14, 2023

    As the White House continues to dole out hundreds of billions of dollars to position America as the global leader in clean energy and digital technologies, Beijing initiates a strategy to put America in check with the global economy equivalent of pawns. These pawns in the technology chess match between the U.S. and China are gallium and germanium, a pair of semiconductor metals used to make the computer chips essential to every facet of modern life. Before all the major news o...

  • An EV motor with casing partially cutaway to show the internal parts.

    Rare earth supply for USA magnet plant

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

    USA Rare Earth has entered a deal with Australian Strategic Materials to supply magnet rare earths for Oklahoma plant. With its sights set on producing rare earth magnets at its new Oklahoma plant next year, USA Rare Earth LLC has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Australian Strategic Materials Ltd., a producer of metals for clean energy and high-tech devices. "Having a supply agreement in place with ASM plays a critical role in delivering on our vision of...

  • Fireworks light up the sky behind the Capitol Building in Washington, DC.

    Coloring our skies, powering our lives

    U.S. Geological Survey|Updated Jul 24, 2023

    What's the secret behind the bright colors lighting up the US night skies on the 4th of July? The answer is minerals! Each color is the result of specific chemicals derived from different minerals. Read further to find out what these minerals are, and get ready to be surprised at the other ways these minerals are used when they're not competing with the stars to illuminate the night sky. The Color: Green The Chemical: Barium Chloride Mineralogy 101: Barium chloride is what's...

  • Piles of rare earth oxides used for magnets, batteries, and high-tech products.

    Making rare earths separation less rare

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Oct 10, 2022

    US invests heavily into developing domestic rare earth element processing plants Despite what their name suggests, rare earths are not all that scarce. An efficient and environmentally sound technology capable of separating this tightly bonded group into the 15 individual elements of innovation, however, is truly unique and the key to establishing a rare earths supply chain in North America. There are currently no commercial-scale rare earths separation facilities in North...

  • Gallium in its crystal form at below 86 degrees Fahrenheit.

    Gallium may be more critical than realized

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 27, 2022

    CO2 scrubbing liquid-metal catalyst is tech metal's latest amazing property From making smartphones smarter to transforming troublesome carbon dioxide into useful oxygen and high-value carbon products for batteries and other advanced products, gallium is an amazing tech metal lending its incredible qualities to high-performance computers, telecommunications, national security, and the environment. A soft silvery metal that will turn to liquid in the palm of your hand due to...

  • Automakers move into lithium mining space

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 13, 2022

    General Motors, Stellantis, and Tesla moving further up battery supply chain With the batteries powering the electric vehicle revolution demanding more lithium than miners can produce, the price of this lightest metal in the universe rocketed more than 1,000% over the span of two years. This has prompted automakers such as Tesla and General Motors to become more directly involved in the mining and refining of the lithium-ion battery namesake. "Price of lithium has gone to insa...

  • A satellite view of a coal ash landfill in Pennsylvania.

    Outside-the-box critical mineral sources

    A.J. Roan, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 12, 2022

    Coal ash, acid drainage, and tailings for future green economy As the world continues to prime itself for the global energy shift, academia, governments and the private sector are scrambling to extract the valuable minerals and metals necessary to power the low-carbon renewable future – resulting in some truly innovative and unconventional methods. In addition to the rare earths, cobalt, lithium, and other technology metals that capture headline attention, this list often mi...

  • Aerial view of the large Elm Branch solar energy farm in Texas.

    First Solar powers new tellurium demand

    Shane Lasley|Updated Sep 12, 2022

    Rare metalloid  key element of CdTe thin-film solar cell tech The rising popularity of thin-film solar cells as a highly effective means of converting sunlight into electricity is creating increased demand for tellurium, amongst the rarest of the stable elements on the periodic table. Tellurium is a metalloid, one of seven elements with properties that fall between metals like aluminum and tin and non-metals like carbon and phosphorus. These semimetals, which also...

  • Piles of rare earth element oxides with many high-tech and industrial purposes.

    It's OK, USA Rare Earth plant coming soon

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Jul 12, 2022

    The rare earth magnets that help wind turbines transform a breeze into low-carbon electricity and then convert that energy to horsepower in the motors of electric vehicles will soon be made in Oklahoma. On June 9, USA Rare Earth LLC announced it bought a 309,0000-square-foot building in Stillwater, an Oklahoma city that boasts a growing high-tech economy, to house its rare earth elements processing and magnets plant. "Oklahoma has long been on the cutting edge of energy...

  • General Motors GM EV electric vehicles Ultium batteries battery Glencore cobalt

    GM secures Aussie cobalt for batteries

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

    In another deal to secure the raw materials it needs to produce enough Ultium batteries to power up to 1 million electric vehicles per year by 2025, General Motors struck a multi-year agreement to purchase cobalt from Glencore's Murrin Murrin operation in Western Australia. A rare and critical metal, cobalt plays an important role in improving the energy density and longevity of the lithium-ion batteries powering EVs. "Future facing commodities like cobalt play a pivotal role...

  • General Motors GM Canada EV electrical vehicle supply chain Ultium plant cathode

    GM looks to Quebec for cathode plant

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

    Adding to a growing list of deals to source the materials and components needed for its vision to get everybody in on its transition to an all-electric future, General Motors is working with POSCO Chemical to develop a roughly $400 million plant in Quebec to produce cathode active material for Ultium batteries that will power GM electric vehicles such as the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC HUMMER EV, and Cadillac LYRIQ. Planning to have the capacity to build 1 million electric...

  • USA Rare Earth magnet critical minerals gallium battery metals supply chain

    Texas tech metals deposit critical to US

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

    The proposed list of 50 critical minerals unveiled by the U.S. Geological Survey in November shined a light on how dependent the United States is on foreign countries for rare earth elements and a broad array of other technology metals vital to electric vehicles, clean energy, high-tech, and other industrial sectors. The enormous Round Top deposit in the West Texas desert hosts nearly half of the minerals and metals deemed critical to America's economic wellbeing and national...

  • REE rare earth elements 17 15 lanthanides yttrium scandium USGS Mojave Desert

    Made in North America rare earths return

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Nov 2, 2021

    Roughly 38,000 metric tons of rare earth concentrates were produced from American soil during 2020, yet the United States remains 100% reliant on foreign countries for its supply of these 17 elements critical to our modern high-tech society – an apparent paradox that 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...

  • Controlled Thermal Resources Hell's Kitchen California geothermal energy Tesla

    Titans forge critical lithium alliances

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 14, 2021

    The lightest of all the metals in the universe, lithium has emerged as the namesake for the batteries powering electric vehicles down global highways and storing renewable energy for those EVs to plug into. This is on top of the countless laptops, tablets, smartphones, wearable electronics, power tools, household appliances, electric bikes, scooters, toys, and the seemingly endless list of electric devices made possible by lithium-ion batteries. "Lithium consumption for...

  • Appia Energy Critical Minerals Alliances gallium Alces Lake Canada Saskatchewan

    Techy gallium overshadowed by rare earths

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 8, 2021

    Overshadowed by headline-grabbing rare earth elements, gallium is an underappreciated critical metal that is a vital ingredient in next-generation smartphones and communication networks, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), thin-film solar cells, and medical devices. "The development of gallium arsenide as a direct band-gap semiconductor in the 1960s led to what are now some of the most well-known uses of gallium – in feature-rich, application-intensive, third- and...

  • Critical Minerals Alliances Coeur Mining First Solar tellurium Rio Tinto Alaska

    Solar powers demand for rare tellurium

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 8, 2021

    Amongst the rarest of the stable elements on the periodic table and an important ingredient in the emerging thin-film solar panel sector, tellurium embodies what it means to be a critical metalloid – an element that possesses the properties of both a metal and non-metal. "Most rocks contain an average of about 3 parts per billion tellurium, making it rarer than the rare earth elements and eight times less abundant than gold," the United States Geological Survey wrote in a...

  • Critical Minerals Alliances US strategy energy transition zero-carbon EV

    Building a US critical minerals strategy

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 8, 2021

    A heavy reliance on imports for a long list of minerals and metals critical to American supply chains could be a stumbling block for the Biden administration's ambitious "Build Back Better" agenda. "From the largest infrastructure plan since the Eisenhower interstate highway system, to an aggressive plan for a national energy transition, the Biden administration's agenda will require an immense amount of minerals," National Mining Association President and CEO Rich Nolan...

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