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(285) stories found containing 'china minerals mining'


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  • “Critical Mining for these Critical Times” banner with AMA logo.

    Critical mining for these critical times

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Nov 1, 2024

    Alaska's critical minerals potential to take center stage at AMA convention; antimony and graphite expected to be hot topics. Rising geopolitical tensions around the globe, China's increasing use of critical minerals as a trade war weapon, and the International Energy Agency's forecast that an additional $800 billion needs to be invested into the mining of energy transition metals by 2040 in order to meet global climate ambitions, have political and military leaders looking...

  • Female geologist in winter workwear beside a five-foot stibnite boulder.

    Felix eyes 2025 Alaska antimony mine start

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Oct 31, 2024

    Carries out studies to support permitting and development at high-grade antimony mine north of Fairbanks. Felix Gold Ltd. Oct. 23 announced that it has taken several steps toward the goal of establishing a 5,000-metric-ton-per-year antimony mine on its Treasure Creek project about 12 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska, by the end of next year. Treasure Creek is part of a larger land package Felix began assembling in 2020 that covers roughly 151 square miles of the Fairbanks...

  • Soldiers marching through a desert landscape in military equipment.

    A brief primer on the history of antimony

    A.J. Roan, Mining News|Updated Oct 31, 2024

    An interesting tale of a mineral that has shaped human progress for over a millennium, from alchemy to modern industry. Mysterious, enduring, and occasionally deadly, few elements have woven themselves into the tapestry of human history quite like antimony. Revered for its alchemical potential and wielding a double-edged role as both poison and remedy, this versatile element found its way into everything from ancient makeup and medicine to early batteries and, ultimately, a...

  • Soldering iron applying tin to a circuit board for electrical connections.

    A quiet element that sustains modern tech

    A.J. Roan, Data Mine North|Updated Oct 2, 2024

    Tin is indispensable today and shapes innovation of tomorrow. From $5 flashlightS to multi-million-dollar super computers, virtually all electronics rely on tin, primarily because of its use in soldering. If circuit boards are considered the backbone of technology, then tin-based solder could be seen as the connective tissue that holds the industry together. Despite its fundamental role in the Digital Age, tin is often overshadowed by other critical minerals and contends with...

  • Up close photo of 3 F-35 fighter jets flying in close formation.

    Critical Minerals Alliances 2024

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Critical minerals security seen as national security issue. Welcome to Critical Minerals Alliances 2024, the fourth installment of this annual magazine that provides in-depth insights into minerals and metals critical to a robust economy, national security, and the transition to clean energy. For the Data Mine North news team, Critical Minerals Alliances is more than an annual update on the rapidly changing critical minerals markets and policies. From the very beginning, it...

  • Rendering of two bulls fighting, representing periodic elements.

    Vanadium is lightning in a very big bottle

    K. Warner, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Redox flow batteries are just beginning to hit their stride. Although vanadium is an abundant element, it is quite rare in its metallic form. That fact, combined with its position as a strategic metal for industry, national defense, and the green energy transition, has put it squarely on the list of critical minerals. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), "Estimated U.S. apparent consumption of vanadium in 2023 increased by 27% from that in 2022....

  • A tracked mining machine being lowered into the ocean at sunrise.

    The changing tides of deep-sea mining

    K. Warner, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Incalculable riches, delicate ecosystem, and the green energy future. Deep-sea mining has captured the world's attention as a uniquely promising source of the metals needed for lithium-ion batteries powering the green energy future and a bitterly controversial topic of debate. Undersea deposits contain quantities of nickel, cobalt, copper, and manganese sufficient to replace every U.S. car on the road today with an electric vehicle. They also host some of the most diverse, lit...

  • Closeup of silver-colored gallium in its crystallized form.

    US looks for domestic gallium sources

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    China dominates global supplies of future-leaning tech metal. With a growing range of unique properties that are being leveraged in next-generation smartphones, shape-shifting robots, and catalysts that scrub carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, gallium is an uncanny tech metal that teeters on the edge of science fiction and science fact. Gallium's unusual properties begin with its 85.6-degree Fahrenheit melting point, which means it is a solid at normal room temperatures but...

  • A technician sets up fiber optic systems for high-speed data transfer.

    Germanium: the OG Digital Age metalloid

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Original computer semiconductor now energizes space ambitions. Germanium is a versatile and powerful semiconductor that traces its technology roots back to the dawn of the Digital Age and continues to lend its superlative semiconducting and optical properties to enhancing computers, smartphones, solar panels, fiber optics, and other devices 80 years later. In 1945, Sylvania introduced the first germanium diode to enhance the vacuum tube computers that launched the Digital...

  • A gold Lucid Air four-door sedan EV at the AMP-1 factory in Arizona.

    Trifecta of graphite disadvantages for US

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Rising demand, lack of domestic supply, and China's dominance. While graphite has not captured the same level of media attention as some of the other mined materials critical to the clean energy transition, the strategic nature of this largest ingredient in lithium-ion batteries powering electric vehicles is high on the list of concerns for American automakers, Washington policymakers, and the Pentagon's top brass. These worries are based on a trifecta of graphite...

  • Gloved hand holding nuggets of nickel.

    Nickel: bringing green tech home

    K. Warner, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Nickel's continuing journey toward clean processes and domestic production. Nickel has a complex relationship with the ongoing energy transition: It provides relatively inexpensive energy density and greater capacity to the lithium-ion batteries powering electric vehicles and storing clean energy, helping to lower the cost of each kilowatt hour. Its properties have been instrumental in untethering the portable electronics we use every day and incorporating clean power...

  • AI-generated image of a pistol frame and various military munitions.

    North America fortifies scandium supply

    A.J. Roan, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Projects, initiatives, and technology expand scandium supply chain security. While it may not have quite as strong a chemical bond to its adopted lanthanide siblings as they do each other, scandium does possess similar enough characteristics and is almost always found at the same geological gatherings (deposits) as the rest of its rare earth family. Named for the Latin word for Scandinavia, "Scandia," – as the mineral was thought to only dwell off the Nordic peninsula – sca...

  • Front of the White House on a spring day in Washington, DC.

    Unlocking America's critical minerals

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    An all-of-government strategy is beginning to unfold in the US. Over the first two years following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Department of Energy has invested billions of dollars into establishing a clean energy supply chain in the United States. These heavy investments, however, have neglected one vital link – the domestic mines needed to supply the processing facilities, battery plants, and other energy t...

  • Three fully equipped U.S. Army Green Berets during desert combat training.

    Antimony is high on DOD mineral concerns

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Pentagon turns to Idaho gold mine for a strategic domestic supply of critical metalloid. Falling in the grey area between metals like zinc and nonmetals like carbon, antimony is a semi-metal that possesses some interesting properties that make it a vital ingredient in a wide range of household, industrial, high-tech, and military goods. Despite its widespread uses, many people have never heard of antimony and fewer still realize that this intriguing metalloid is considered...

  • Metallic tree with periodic element cobalt in roots.

    The highs and lows of critical cobalt

    K. Warner, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Will the controversial metal find its place in green tech? About 30 years ago, nobody thought much about cobalt. Today, this metal, with myriads of uses, is one of those elements that gets dragged into the spotlight due to the role it plays in electric vehicle batteries, with critics citing the disparity between the environmental and social costs of producing cobalt and the green tech solutions this critical metal enables. But we can't build a clean energy future without...

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

    DOD invests in mission-critical minerals

    Shane Lasley, Data Mine North|Updated Sep 18, 2024

    Import-reliance a top concern for national security officials. America's heavy reliance on China and others for the minerals and metals critical to the nation's economic competitiveness, military strength, and clean energy future is high on the list of strategic concerns for top brass at the U.S. departments of Defense and Homeland Security. While much of this concern is rooted in the fact that the United States' ability to defend its strategic interests at home and abroad...

  • Hand holds up a slab of rock with metallic blue antimony mineralization.

    Looking North to Alaska for antimony

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Sep 9, 2024

    As China curbs exports of the strategic and critical metalloid, America's Last Frontier reemerges as potential domestic supplier. China's coming state-controlled restrictions on antimony exports has significantly elevated the criticality and price of this semi-metal that is already a top concern from many officials within the U.S. Department of Defense due to its use in military hardware and the dearth of antimony mines in the United States. An element that has properties that...

  • A computer in a lab with periodic table entry for antimony on the display.

    Drills tap high-grade antimony in Alaska

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Sep 6, 2024

    New assays from 2022 drill core turn up 16% antimony at Treasure Creek, Felix Gold focuses on standalone critical minerals mine. Felix Gold Ltd. Aug. 28 reported that new high-grade assays from 2022 drilling at Treasure Creek support the idea that this Alaska gold project could host a standalone antimony mine. "Treasure Creek constitutes a large-scale gold-antimony system characterized by the identification of high-grade antimony mineralization in numerous locations," said...

  • Looking over a long airstrip and camps in an Alaska river valley.

    West Susitna Mineral District emerges

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Sep 5, 2024

    U.S. GoldMining and Nova Minerals work side-by-side to advance gold, copper, and antimony projects at end of West Susitna Road. WEST SUSTINA MINERAL DISTRICT – The 4,000-foot Whiskey Bravo airstrip about 100 miles northwest of Anchorage as the Cessna 206 flies is serving as the operational headquarters of an emerging Alaska mining district with the potential to be a domestic source of minerals and metals critical to America's economic wellbeing, national security, and clean e...

  • Dark grey Lucid Air four-door sedan EV on the beach at sunset.

    Graphite One links Alaska to EV industry

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Sep 5, 2024

    A graphite supply agreement struck with Lucid Motors provides a key link to forging a mine-to-EVs supply chain. Graphite One Inc. has struck a battery materials supply agreement with California-based electric vehicle manufacturer Lucid Motors that is expected to forge a complete mine-to-EVs graphite supply chain with links in Alaska, Ohio, and Arizona. Alaska's delegation in Washington, D.C., is hailing this battery materials agreement as a win both for America's 49th State an...

  • A finger holds an upright white tile as blue and red tiles lean on either side.

    Cults tend to gravitate to the middle

    J. P. Tangen, Special to Mining News|Updated Sep 5, 2024

    Now is the time to be optimistic about the future because the 2024 version of the Hatfields and the McCoys has run out of steam. I have long felt that mining will be the workhorse industry for Alaska. The state is vast, and the deposits are remote. Furthermore, they tend to be large. Unhappily, the political environment has, for about 75 years, been antagonistic toward mining based on a series of specious issues. Mines are unsafe, so they say. But a worker in a government...

  • Outline of Alaska with underground mine on a periodic table backdrop.

    US Antimony company stakes Alaska claims

    Shane Lasley, Mining News|Updated Aug 22, 2024

    USAC stakes road-accessible copper property; investigating other critical mineral projects in underexplored state. United States Antimony Corp. Aug. 21 announced that it has staked 69 state claims covering prospective high-grade copper showings in Alaska. The critical minerals-focused company that owns an antimony refinery in Montana has yet to reveal the location of this 11,040-acre property in Alaska. "The State of Alaska is under-explored, and we are considering other...

  • Sen. Murkowski speaking at a summit on critical minerals in Alaska.

    Kudos are in order for Senator Murkowski

    J. P. Tangen, Special to Mining News|Updated Jul 1, 2024

    Secretary of the Interior Haaland is fighting a Congressional Review deadline to ensure that the Ambler Road is blocked now. For those who haven't been paying attention lately, Senator Murkowski has weighed in strongly on behalf of the Alaska mining industry several times in the past few months. First, at a meeting of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, she used her time to sternly admonish Interior Secretary Haaland about the BLM's decision to block the Ambler...

  • A mine worker in high visibility coveralls and hard hat monitors operations.

    SRC buys Canada's first rare earths ore

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

    High-grade REE concentrate previously destined for China is now on its way to Saskatchewan for further processing. As home to the first rare earths mine in Canada, Vital Metal Ltd.'s Nechalacho project in Northwest Territories grabbed national headlines as the initial link of a burgeoning rare earth supply chain that would be completely independent of China. With this being hailed as a major milestone for Canada and its allies, Vital's announcement late last year that it...

  • Alaska mining lawyer in hardhat with lamp, safety glasses, and winter parka.

    Antipathy toward Alaska mining is myopic

    J. P. Tangen, Special to Mining News|Updated May 30, 2024

    The Bureau of Land Management has struck again, this time in the form of a land management plan for the Central Yukon Resource Management Area or the "CYRMP" (pronounced crimp). The CYRMP and the associated Final Environmental Impact Statement, dated April 2024, will have significant adverse effects on the future of mining in Alaska because of the intent to adopt hybrid Alternative E that will effectively foreclose vast acreage in the state to mineral exploration and...

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