View from North America Dear Members I started to write this missive just a few days before our presidential election here in the US: Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris. As…
EVs drive demand Annual global lithium-ion battery demand is expected to sur-pass 1 TWh (1,000 GWh) for the first time this year. Demon-strating the scale of growth in this sector,…
MMTA member Molymet, a major molybdenum processor and the world’s largest producer of rhenium, with headquarters in San Bernardo, Chile has launched production of highly spheroidised powders of rhenium, molybdenum…
View from North America Dear MMTA Members, Good afternoon from Cleveland Heights, Ohio this Labor Day. And it is quite stunning weather here: sun shining, not too hot and…
There has been a noticeable uptick in interest in niobium of late. In our view, this is worth pondering. Niobium is a rarely used metal, with annual consumption amounting to…
Dear Members, Before moving on, in my next piece, to such topics as space mining and ion propulsion drives, I thought it would be fun to take a brief…
Fastmarkets has relaunched rare earth prices and coverage after a pause of several years. The Crucible asked Strategic Markets Editor for Technology Metals, Caroline Messecar, to talk about why a…
In many respects, niobium’s properties resemble those of its chemical cousin tantalum, but nearly always in a way that disappoints. Niobium is chemically resistant to mineral acids, it can…
What makes vanadium critical? Vanadium ranks 10/40 in Project Blue’s Critical Materials Risk Index (CMRI) 2022. Concerns over vanadium supply availability are underpinned by its co-product nature. Vanadium feedstock…
This month Project Blue is looking more closely at two of the rare earths underpinning energy transition: dysprosium and terbium. Dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb) are two elements that form…
In this article for The Crucible, analysts Andrew Matheson and Patrick Stratton of CPM Group home in on Hafnium, that most minor of minor metals. Don’t judge a market…
In this submission to the Crucible on the subject of critical materials underpinning energy transition, Project Blue focusses on scandium. What makes scandium critical? Scandium ranks 24/40 in Project…
Selenium is a non-metallic element, but it also belongs with minor metals. It can be used as a photosensitive material, decolourising agent in glass, electrolytic manganese industry catalyst,…
Go, Go, Gallium After several false starts, NASA’s Artemis I mission took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 16 November, the first in a series of complex missions…
Hafnium prices have surged since September as firm demand from the aerospace, industrial gas turbine (IGT) and semiconductor industries rapidly outpaces supply, and buyers attempt to navigate this notoriously illiquid…
In this submission to the Crucible on the subject of critical materials underpinning energy transition, Project Blue focusses on cobalt. While there are numerous challenges facing the cobalt supply chain,…
As one who pays superficial attention to the booming battery industry, I’m struck by the frequency with which new technologies are touted that are “set to replace lithium-ion…
This month’s feature analysis from China Non-Ferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA) and China’s leading mining and metal industry consultancy Bejing Antaike Information examines China’s growing presence in global ITO target…
This month Project Blue takes a look at the previous poster child of critical materials: antimony. Antimony, mainly used in flame retardant and lead-acid batteries has lost its position as…
HFW Briefing The Paris Agreement 2015 established that, if the global increase in average temperatures is to be halted, nations would need to reduce their greenhouse emissions.1 As…
Aerospace This year it was the turn of Farnborough in the UK to host the International Airshow, and Boeing was the clear winner on order numbers. During the show, Boeing…
Gallium is widely used in photoelectric devices, semiconductors, permanent magnets, photovoltaics, and other fields, due to its good superconductivity, ductility, optical properties, and excellent thermal shrinkage and cold expansion properties.…
If you think trade sanctions, the battle for critical metals and the race to secure a local supply chain is all a modern headache, read on. A recently discovered time…
Sticking to outliers in metal choices to kick off the topic of critical materials underpinning energy transition, Project Blue’s second submission to the Crucible is chromium. While most metals, including…
Niobium might seem like a strange choice for Project Blue’s first submission to the Crucible on the subject of critical materials underpinning energy transition. After all, it’s mostly used in…
Global minor metal supply chains are currently grappling with a multitude of issues. Covid-19, war in Ukraine, climate change and net zero targets, and inflation, have all converged in 2022.…
Indium and its compounds are widely used in optoelectronics. The most well-known indium-based compounds are indium antimonide (InSb), indium phosphide (InP), indium arsenide (InAs), etc. Among these compounds, InSb is…
The world of minor metals can be a cruel and unforgiving place. As valuable as these metals are, global markets are small. Tantalum is essential in every computer logic chip.…
Passenger traffic to return to 2019 levels in 2023-2024, and a return to long-term growth trends a few years thereafter — Boeing Aerospace The major commercial airframers, Boeing and Airbus,…
