Lee Allison provides summaries of and links to some of the minerals bills in Congress. These include:
* National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2012
* Federal Land Asset Inventory Reform Act of 2011
* National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act of 2012
* Soda Ash Royalty Extension, Job Creation, and Export Enhancement Act of 2011
Abandoned mines and quarries are dangerous places! Every year about 20 to 30 people die in accidents that occur in abandoned mines across the United States. The victims range in age from preschool children to an 85 year-old mining veteran.
USGS has published: “Lineament Analysis of Mineral Areas of Interest in Afghanistan“. The report provides lineament maps that identify areas that warrant further investigation for optimal bedrock water-well placement within 24 target areas for mineral resources. The data may also support the identification of faults related to modern seismic hazards and support studies attempting to understand the relationship between tectonic and structural controls on hydrothermal fluid flow, subsequent mineralization, and water-quality issues near mined and unmined mineral deposits.
Every person uses products made from minerals every day. Salt, antacid tablets, pencils, cell phones, jewelry, glass, paint, shingles fertilizer, vehicles, highways, buildings and much more are made from minerals.
Most people are familiar with talcum powder, but did you know that the mineral talc is used to make ceramics, paper, rubber, paint, cosmetics, insecticides and many other products?
Silver, the white metal, has an illustrious reputation for its use in jewelry and coins, but today, silver’s primary use is industrial. Whether in cell phones or solar panels, new innovations are constantly emerging to take advantage of silver’s unique properties.
Most people don’t realize that some amazing emeralds have been found in North Carolina. The North Carolina Museum of Natural History just received a gift of four emeralds found in Alexander County in 2011 that are worth millions of dollars.
An ArizonaExperience article includes a video in which Jeff Scovil, perhaps the most widely-known mineral photographer, offers tips on how to photograph minerals. The secrets seem to be in the lighting.
You might have heard about soapstone being used in cooking pots, wood stoves, fireplace surrounds, bed warmers and smoking pipes because of its ability to absorb heat and release it slowly. Now, here’s one for the cold.
“The William & Mary Department of Geology has acquired a world-class mineral collection that geologists say will be a valuable resource in the department for many years. [...] It contains more than 500 specimens, and is appraised at $514,000.” Quote from the William and Mary press release.
Layered, ultramafic to mafic intrusions are uncommon in the geologic record, but host magmatic ore deposits containing most of the world’s economic concentrations of platinum-group elements. These deposits are mined primarily for their platinum, palladium, and rhodium contents. Quoted from the USGS publication release.
“Now, we have a study in Nature that discusses the magmatic events that led up to the Minoan eruption at Santorini — a fairly timely topic considering the rumblings there — that has gotten the media’s attention.” Quoted from the Eruptions Blog.
“The value of mineral production in the United States increased by 12 percent in 2011 from that of 2010, suggesting that the nonfuel minerals industries, particularly metals, continued to recover from the economic recession that began in December 2007 and lasted well into 2009. The value of raw, nonfuel minerals mined in the United States was $74 billion in 2011, up from $66 billion in 2010.” Quoted from the USGS press release.
IBM researchers have announced that they have a new technology that enables them to store one bit of magnetic information in just twelve atoms of material.
A recent article in the Ultratec Newsletter by John Bailey was: “Can You Make Money Faceting?” He thinks you can make good money if you have the desire and basic skills.
Researchers have discovered small amounts of tranquillityite, a mineral previously known only from lunar samples, at six locations in Western Australia.
The United States Department of Energy has published their 2011 Critical Mineral Strategy. It explains how supply concerns for a variety of minerals threaten energy security in the United States.
American West Potash is exploring the possibilities of an underground potash mine in Arizona. Going underground instead of opening a pit lowers the environmental impact.
The-Vug.com has a state-by-state listing of rock and mineral museums, tours and other places of interest. Most states have several locations where you can view a nice exhibit and most of them are open year-round.
This is a great time to introduce kids to earth science with age-appropriate books. The geology.com store has children’s books on topics that include: dinosaurs, rocks, minerals, fossils, gemstones, volcanoes and more.
The Afghan Ministry of Mines has been inviting companies to bid on contracts to mine the copper and gold in portions of Badakhshan, Ghazni, Herat, Balkh and Sar-e-Pul Provinces. Billions of dollars worth of metals could be in these areas but there are significant infrastructure and security problems.
Fertilizer has often been used as an explosive – often in terrorist acts. Honeywell has a new ammonium nitrate / ammonium sulfate fertilizer that is much less explosive.
The American Geosciences Institute has an interesting article on critical minerals that outlines what makes a mineral “critical” and how the sudden loss of these resources could impact both the U.S. and global economy.
The United States has a 100% import reliance on the minerals listed at right.
The American Geosciences Institute has released a recorded webinar titled “Canadian Exploration- High Demands for the Future Workforce”. You can view it on their website.
An article on RenewableEnergyWorld.com explores potential supply disruptions for rare earth elements. Between 2000 and 2009 demand for these materials increased by more than 50% and future demand will be supported by low carbon technologies.
H.R. 1904 is a proposal that will authorize an exchange of Federal land for non-Federal land… to facilitate development of a world class domestic copper deposit capable of meeting a significant portion of the annual United States demand.
The Law of the Sea Treaty is an agreement that allocates the seafloor resources under the Arctic Ocean. A debate in the Wall Street Journal has arguments in favor and against.
This video takes you on a quick visit to the Molycorp rare earth elementmine at Mountain Pass, California and provides some background on rare earth elements.
This is a story contains some of the history, geology and personal experiences behind the Bokan Mountain rare earth deposit. Located near Kendrick Bay, Alaska, Bokan Mountain could turn out to be one of the largest rare earth deposit in the United States.
During 2010, Arizona’s non-fuel mineral production totaled $6.7 billion – about 10.5% of the USA production. Principal commodities mined were copper, molybdenum, sand and gravel, cement and crushed stone. Arizona also produced $273 million of coal bringing the total mined value to nearly $7 billion.
“Scientists at Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory are part of a team that has discovered a new form of carbon, which is capable of withstanding extreme pressure stresses that were previously observed only in diamond.” Quoted from the Carnegie Institution for Science news release.
Diamond is the world’s most popular gemstones and it’s qualities as the hardest natural substance make it an excellent abrasive. However, diamond is used for many other things which include: heat sink, speaker dome, laser windows and microbearings.
“Diamond may be the ideal substance for MEMS devices,” says NIST’s Craig McGray. “It can withstand extreme conditions, plus it’s able to vibrate at the very high frequencies that new consumer electronics demand. But it’s very hard, of course, and there hasn’t been a way to engineer it very precisely at small scales. We think our method can accomplish that.” Quoted from the NIST press release.
“Imaging spectroscopy is a tool used in mineral resource assessments and other geologic applications to provide extremely detailed information of what kinds of minerals are present on the Earth’s surface.” Quoted from the USGS research release.
After amazing price increases, manufacturers who use rare earth elements are finding substitutes and ways to cut consumption. This is putting some downward pressure on prices.
“Working with the Department of Defense Task Force for Business and Stability Operations, members of the USGSMinerals Project assessed fuel- and non-fuel mineral resources of Afghanistan from October 2009 to September 2011 with the goal of identifying particular deposits that could be relatively easily developed.” Quoted from the USGS report.
Is natural gas part of the shale or is it a fugitive commodity that is not an integral part of any specific rock unit? Will a refined legal definition of natural gas in Pennsylvania overturn thousands of historic leases?
“The Khanneshin carbonatite contains a major potential source of light rare earth elements (LREE), such as lanthanum, cerium, and neodymium. The LREE prospects in the Khanneshin carbonatite are comparable in grade to world-class deposits like Mountain Pass, CA, and Bayan Obo in China, both of which primarily contain LREE.” Quoted from the USGS news release.
“The risk list gives a quick indication of the relative risk in 2011 to the supply of the chemical elements or element groups which we need to maintain our economy and lifestyle.” Quoted from the British Geological Survey news release.
“Ultra high precision analyses of some of the oldest rock samples on Earth by researchers at the University of Bristol provides clear evidence that the planet’s accessible reserves of precious metals are the result of a bombardment of meteorites more than 200 million years after the Earth was formed.” Quoted from the University of Bristol news release.
Gemstones have been faceted for hundreds of years and up until about 20 years ago the facets have been perfectly flat surfaces. New equipment allows facets to be cut with a concave shape that gathers light from a wider range of angles and broadly diverges it within the stone. The result is a bright and interesting gem. The down side is that the weight of the stone is reduced.
Although China is keeping tight controls over the export of rare earth minerals the country is trying to encourage Japanese companies to bring rare earth technologies to China.
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