Washington DC, the White House in Snow. @Orhan Cam at Shuttlestock
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 you’ll have seen “writ large”, Mr Trump won.
With Mr Trump once again in the driving seat, it will be interesting to see if there will be any renewed interest in Critical Minerals.
In October 2019 (the third year of Mr Trump’s last administration), I had the honour of presenting on “Critical Minerals and the U.S.” to a group from The Association of German Metal Traders and Recyclers—Verband Deutscher Metallhändler e.V. (founded way back in 1907)—in Dusseldorf.
Wherever you may lie on the political spectrum, I think one would have to admit that Mr Trump, or at least his administration, actually “got it” about critical minerals. On December 17, 2017 the USGS finally published its Professional Paper 1802: Critical Mineral Resources of the United States—Economic and Environmental Geology and Prospects for Future Supply which presented updated reviews of 23 mineral commodities and commodity groups viewed as critical to a broad range of existing and emerging technologies, renewable energy and national security.
The next day Mr Trump issued his Presidential Executive Order 13817: A Federal Strategy To Ensure Secure and Reliable Supplies of Critical Minerals. Not least, this included (at last) a definition of a “critical mineral”. A critical mineral was a mineral identified by the then Secretary of the Interior … to be (i) a non-fuel mineral or mineral material essential to the economic and national security of the United States, (ii) the supply chain of which is vulnerable to disruption, and (iii) that serves an essential function in the manufacturing of a product, the absence of which would have significant consequences for our economy or our national security.
And, then, on May 18 the following year, the US Department of Interior published its Finalized of List of “Critical Mineral Commodities”. Whilst this list was the same as the USGS’ original draft list of 35 commodities, it is interesting to note that the list, although “final,” was not intended as a permanent designation of criticality and was seen as “a dynamic list updated periodically to represent current data on supply, demand, and concentration of production, as well as current policy priorities.”
It will be interesting to see what, if any, updates may be forthcoming, especially in relation to defence.
Before continuing to this year’s theme of space and looking at satellites (of which, as at 4th May this year, I gathered there were some 9,900 active in orbits around the earth—excluding, I am sure, various spy satellites1), I should like to provide an update on the Minerals Security Partnership.
Minerals Security Partnership
Back in February last year, I wrote about establishment—in June 2022—of the Minerals Security Partnership (“MSP”) (See The Crucible, Friend-Shoring? Yes, Friend-Shoring! 12th February, 2023). The partnership was described by the US Department of State as ‘an ambitious new initiative to bolster critical mineral supply chains.’ 2
Unlike the apparently ill-fated Energy Resource Governance Initiative (“ERGI”), launched in mid-June 2019 with founder members including Argentina, Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, the Philippines, the Holy See and Zambia, the MSP appears not only actually to be successfully pursuing its mission, but also going from strength to strength. If nothing else, as I mentioned back then, the partners alone provided “substance” to the partnership. They included then Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Sweden, the UK, the US and the European Union. Estonia has now joined its ranks.
The MSP’s gathering in New York in late September on he fringest of a UN Assembly also featured the first in-person meeting of the MSP Forum— a platform open to partner countries ready to participate in building the partnership’s supply chains. Argentina, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Namibia, Peru, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan were early joiners. New members joining the September’s meeting were the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, the Philippines, Serbia, Türkiye, and Zambia.
At the New York gathering, MSP member countries’ development finance institutions and export credit agencies established the MSP Finance Network3 to identify synergies and develop co-financing, via both export credit agencies and drawing in private investment. The stated goal is to “drive sustainable investment in global critical mineral supply chains, including by mobilizing private sector capital, in production, extraction, processing, recycling, and recovery projects”.
To my mind, this can only be good news. Involving the private sector, especially investors, will, of course be crucial. But whether they will become involved to the extent needed remains a very big question. We can only hope. And wait.
Satellites
We now return to the topic featured in my earlier letters: satellites. Back at the beginning of May, there were, as mentioned above, nearly 10,000 satellites (most likely excluding spy satellites) whizzing about around the earth. Of what are they made?
Whether it’s rockets or satellites doesn’t really matter, space remains a very hostile place. It’s a vacuum for a start. And, then, there are, to name just three challenges of space, the extremes of temperature, the cosmic radiation and the constant mechanical stress (think of the pressure of the oxygen in the International Space Station against what’s keeping it in. Or, indeed, impacts from space junk and meteoroids) to which anything therein is subject.
As with rockets, the materials used in satellites need to be resilient, durable and reliable. At the same time,they also need to be lightweight: getting them up there is not cheap. For high strength-to-weight ratio, aluminium and titanium have been the “go to” metals. Stainless steel is also used.
When it comes to temperature, it is easy to forget that space being “space”, there is nothing to conduct away heat. And, while one side of a satellite may be facing the sun and, therefore, hot, the opposite will be facing the open expanse of cold space. To solve this problem, multi-layer insulation (or MLI) is often used with its reflective foil outer skin often being made of either polyester film or aluminized polyimide.
Metal coatings are used to protect what’s inside a satellite against the radiation with which it is going to be constantly bombarded in space. Once again, in addition to gold, silver and sometimes copper, both aluminium and titanium are often used. But it’s a case of “horses for courses” as each reacts to the radiation (of which there are different kinds) in different ways and can degrade over time: for example, titanium can oxidise and aluminium tends to form alumina. How the metals will react is contingent not only on which is actually used, but also both its application process and the type of radiation to which it is going to be exposed.
Than there are our old friends—gallium and germanium. When it comes to the solar panels deployed in space, it is gallium that once again enters the picture. For deep space applications, gallium arsenide and crystalline silicon are commonly used, with gallium arsenide having the edge when it comes to both toughness and efficiency. But gallium is not alone in its use in space-based solar cells, germanium-based multi-junction solar panels were recently used in the International Space Station power upgrade.
Which, of course, brings us to the question of just how much, or, indeed, if, current Chinese restrictions on the export of both gallium and germanium will affect current and future satellite programmes. This is something to keep an eye on and perhaps revisit in a future letter.
Some Last Observations on Metals in Space
The genesis of my pieces this year written around the metals commonly used in space, for example in satellites or rocket propulsion units, has been my knowledge (and Polina’s) of those we know that are currently used.
For this piece, however, I decided to choose some metals and try to discover if, indeed, they too are used in this context.
Thinking not only of how it has been in the news recently, but also of its fire retardant properties, the first metal I have chosen is antimony. And, yes, it can (and has been used) in space. Apart from being found in miniscule quantities as a dopant in various semiconductors, it can also be found, in the form of antimony trioxide compounded with ammonium sulphate, as a thermal insulator in the combustion chambers of some rocket motors. How commonly, though, I have not been able to discover.
The next two are molybdenum and rhenium. In September’s look at nuclear propulsion in space, there was brief mention of moly, with its high melting point and greater machineability than tungsten, making it a good choice for use in rocket nozzle units.
However moly is used in a variety of other applications in space. These include: nose cones, high temperature structural parts, leading edges of control surfaces, support vanes, re-entry cones and heat radiation shields.4
In addition, moly can be found in space in radiation shielding, solid lubricants and, as molybdenum permalloy (“MPP”), an alloy of nickel, iron and moly, in electronic instruments such as mass spectrometers.
However, possibly the most interesting to me, was the fact that moly can be used as a propellant!
Back in early December last year, Australia-based space company, Neumann Space, announced that it had “completed the very first series of on-orbit tests of its world leading propulsion system, the Neumann Drive®.”5 The company went on to say: “Neumann Space becomes the first commercial entity to fire a thruster in space that utilizes Molybdenum as a solid metallic propellant, a world-first use of a safe, storable, abundant propellant for electric propulsion.”6
It appears that the drive, a “self-contained electric propulsion solution for small spacecraft” uses “patented pulsed cathodic arc thruster technology.” This is, I have to admit, something of which I have never before heard.
A further news release 7 was put out by the company on 21st August this year. It threw a little more light on the propulsion unit: “This month, SpIRIT [the Space Industry Responsive Intelligent Thermal nanosatellite] was able to demonstrate charging of the Neumann Drive®’s power capacitors by the nanosatellite’s solar panels and batteries, and conduct several test firings, successfully demonstrating the ability to use molybdenum as a solid metallic propellant.
“The Neumann Drive® is an important new form of space propulsion available to spacecraft. It brings together the use of solid metal propellant with a simple design that enables mobility in space on demand, seamless integration into satellites, enhanced safety, and has created the unique capability of being able to be transported and stored with a full load of fuel.”8 It will certainly be interesting to follow how things go with the drive from here.
So to rhenium. And, yes, it, too, can be used in space. Maybe not surprisingly (looking at how it is used in jet engines), with its very high melting point (5,756°F) and durability in high-pressure environments and through myriad repeated temperature changes, rhenium can be used not only in rocket combustion chambers and engine nozzles, but also in iridium-coated rhenium radiation-cooled rocket engines. In addition, tungsten-rhenium alloys are used in rocket nozzles, together with the thermocouples used in propulsion systems and thruster components.
There are probably a number of other, perhaps surprising, metals used in space applications, whether satellites, rockets, or space probes. But I have not yet had a chance to explore either assiduously or methodically what they may be. However, should I find any in which I think readers may be interested, I shall certainly note them in my next missive.
In the meantime, from Cleveland Heights, Ohio and before I embark on a whistle-stop 10-day trip around the world to discuss, on the one hand, disabilities at a Zero Project conference in Singapore and, on the other hand, “sign off” (I’m retiring from VanEck at the end of the year) with my colleagues in both Frankfurt and Amsterdam, I wish you all an excellent holiday season.
Yours
Tom
©2024 Tom Butcher
Tom Butcher, formerly Director of ESG there, is now a Marketing Advisor at Van Eck Associates Corporation (“VanEck”). The views and opinions expressed herein are the personal views of Tom Butcher are not presented by or associated with VanEck or its affiliated entities. Please note that VanEck may offer investments products that invest in the asset class(es) or securities mentioned herein. This is not an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation to buy or sell any of the securities/financial instruments mentioned herein.
1Kongsberg NanoAvionics, “How Many Satellites are in Space”, May 4, 2024, https://nanoavionics.com/blog/how-many-satellites-are-in-space/
2U.S. Department of State: Minerals Security Partnership, 14 June, 2022, https://www.state.gov/minerals-security-partnership
3U.S. Department of State: Joint Statement on Establishment on the Minerals Security Partnership Finance Network , 23 September 2024
https://www.state.gov/joint-statement-on-establishment-of-the-minerals-security-partnership-finance-network/
4 EFINEA: Molybdenum Applications, https://www.efineametals.com/refractory-metal-supplier/molybdenum/molybdenum-applications-rod-sheet-plate-threaded-rod-nuts/
5Neumann Space: Neumann Space successfully completes initial tests in space of its world leading propulsion system, 4 December, 2023,
https://neumannspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/2023-12-04_Media-Release-NS-First-Launch-Results-Release.pdf
6ibid.
7.Neumann Space: SpIRIT Successfully Demonstrates Australian Propulsion Technology, 21 August, 2024,
https://neumannspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024-08-21_Neumann-SpIRIT-Results-Media-Release.pdf
8ibid.
