Editor, Graeme Irvine
Friday, February 24, 2012
PM motors are the highest-efficiency ones available for elevator applications. Therefore, this high efficiency makes many PM gearless applications well suited for installation together with a line regeneration system. Such a system will provide the building owner further return on investment over time by returning energy generated during empty-car-up/full-load-down operation back to the main line to be
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Here we go again. According to Xinhua, China is planning a big expansion of its use of rare earthelements. If it happens, how long can China remain an exporter of REEs to the rest of the world? Worse, with Molycorp mainly specialising in light REEs, and Lynas still suffering from delays in Malaysia at their separation plant,
Monday, February 20, 2012
The Industrial Revolution brought with it a number of technological advancements. Machine power allowed for fast developments and safety systems were introduced. In 1880, the first electric motor was used to power a lift. Led by ever growing needs in the industry, with the necessity of moving great amounts of raw materials, and the introduction of steel
Some of you are probably thinking what is Graeme talking about, writing 802.11 equals 50 billion in 2020, yet that’s what Cisco’s Chief Technology Officer predicted recently in London at their Cisco Live international conference timed to their sponsorship of the London Olympics. Specifically she predicted that there will be 50 billion mobile devices online by 2020,
Friday, February 17, 2012
“Our Surface Technologies business has seen strong growth as a global supplier to the advanced glass polishing segment. By joining with Baotou Jin Meng Rare Earth, we look forward to accelerating that growth through providing the fast-growing Chinese market with leading edge products,” said Jeffrey Edel, Global Business Director, Ferro Electronic Materials.Is there any point in trying
Sunday, February 12, 2012
The president of the Malaysian Bar association, Lim Chee Wee, said last week, it beggars belief that [the licensing board] could have adequately and properly considered the 1123 public comments within merely two working days.The only natural conclusion is that the whole public consultation process is a sham and charade, he said.All may not be plain sailing
Friday, February 10, 2012
What to make of the latest spat over rare earth elements between China and Japan? The official in charge of the “Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries” doesn’t seem to be very friendly with Japan. But why would Japan’s media be reporting that there was a “signed mutual exchange agreement” if there wasn’t one? If
Thursday, February 09, 2012
A big advance in battery electric vehicle history was announced yesterday as BEVs got to first and third place in Greencars.org Green Vehicle List, beating out Hondas Civic running on natural gas. While BEVs still suffer from perceived “range anxiety” and lack of charging points, this is slowly changing with each passing year. 2012 is the first
Continue reading "Electric Vehicle Beats Honda after 12 years." »
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Is it a bad news day for the rare earth elements? First Robin posted on the news that Japan “ will offer a total of around 5 billion yen in subsidies for the development of technologies and other activities aimed at reducing the use of rare earth elements, amid concern over Chinas export restrictions on the minerals”.
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
The world’s largest gathering of the most influential stakeholders – financier, investors, mining professionals, government officials, etc- in African mining will take place this February. By attending Investing in African Mining Indaba, you will join an international, powerful group of industry professionals that make Cape Town, South Africa their preferred destination to conduct important business and make
Monday, February 06, 2012
Inductive power transfer technology is safe, proven, and the same process that charges your electric toothbrush.For over 100 years, electrical devices around the world have been using inductive power transfer to generate electricity across an air gap. Coils create an electromagnetic field that can be converted into an electrical current once it crosses the gap. No electricity
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Without losers, where would the winners be? Casey Stengel. Germany’s Chancellor Merkel is in China promoting German-Chinese relations and leading a large German trade delegation hoping to win export orders for German manufacturers. Topping the list for Chancellor Merkel was to get China to contribute to the Eurozone’s bailout fund for Greece, and all the other tax
Friday, February 03, 2012
Chevys Volt, which costs a little more than $39 000, will also be seen in far greater numbers. Production of the Volt, which last year totaled about 5000 cars, is slated to rise to 60 000 in 2012, with some being sold outside North America.As goes California so goes America, goes the old sage. As goes America
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Regarding WTO members possible similar actions over Chinas rare earth policies, were ready to respond at any time in line with WTO rules and procedures, Li Chenggang, the head of the ministrys legal and treaty department, told Chinas official Xinhua news agency.China is ready to fight with America and Europe at the World Trade Organisation, if they
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
KUANTAN, Malaysia — The world’s largest refinery for rare earth metals has risen out of the red mud of a coastal swamp here and could soon obtain permission to operate — a step that would help break China’s near monopoly on rare earths but also worsen an emerging glut of some of these strategic minerals.Yesterday’s big news
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Philips’ SpeedStar luminaire, incorporating LEDGINE Greenline, was the perfect fit for this project, combining an innovative carbon neutral design with a long lifetime of 60,000 hours; signaling an end to the hassle and cost of regular maintenance. More specifically, this solution offers savings of up to £10,000 through reduced maintenance alone. SpeedStar also incorporates the easy-to-upgrade LEDGINE
Monday, January 30, 2012
Back on January 16th, Nanomarkets.net released their very detailed update on the latest research into improvements in the anodes and cathodes of Lithium batteries. At $2,495 a copy for up to 5 readers, my Scots rational instinct kicked in, and I declined buying a copy, following the update as best I could via the mainstream media. But
Friday, January 27, 2012
Apart for being the monopoly supplier of rare earths and metals to the global economy, China is now the marginal economy that keeps the western economies healthy or sick. Yes I know that Europe seemingly has a death wish all of its own making, and its politicians are dithering dolts incapable of facing up to the reality
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
‘[Terra 51] is the world’s only DC rapid charger that can connect interoperably with other systems using something called OCPP, Open Charge Point Protocol,’ ABB’s UK head of sales for EV charging, Martin Hale, told The Engineer.Yesterday the Paris based International Energy Agency released a report forecasting the price of a barrel of crude oil reaching $247
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Has Toyota come up with a way to make electric vehicles without using any rare earth elements? According to an article in Japan’s Kyodo News, supposedly they have and they hope to be using the new technology in about two years. Of course, this sort of story has regularly made the rounds, but if true it will
Monday, January 23, 2012
The New York Times has a very informative, if long, article on Apple’s reliance on Chinese manufacturing and why it’s unlikely ever to change. Over simplifying, Apple gets the benefit of Chinese government subsidies to Apple’s contractors, while the contractors get the use of near serf labourers, who live in onsite dormitories, subject to near 24 hour
Friday, January 20, 2012
A flashlight, for example, could run for six hours on a battery, Hall said, and would also require six hours to recharge. “An ultracapacitor could run it about an hour and it would take 60 seconds to recharge.”The other functional difference, he said, is cycle life. “You’re going to have roughly 400 to 1,000 cycles [of discharging
Thursday, January 19, 2012
With electric vehicles about to get taken more seriously in 2012, as new manufacturers enter the market and the autos become more widely available to potential buyers, the issue of the batteries becomes more of a concern. If the EV demand matches manufacturers plans, is there enough Li-ion manufacturing capacity to meet demand? Then there’s still the
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Commonly used by military expeditionary forces, the TPS-77 is a 3D surveillance radar that is designed for long-range detection, especially in weather systems and “clutter” – the on-screen phenomenon sometimes created by wind farm rotor-blades that causes blind spots on older radar systems. The MoD had lodged objections to wind developments in a number of “strategic” locations
Monday, January 16, 2012
The 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show was the biggest such event in the show’s 44-year history, with more than 153,000 attendees, up from 149,000 a year ago.Hot trends included Ultrabooks, OLED TVs, Android 4.0 tablets, next-generation smartphones and 3D printers.The world’s consumer electronics show which was held last week in Las Vegas, was apparently the biggest and
Friday, January 13, 2012
‘Electric-powered racing is really taking off with the launch of the new FIA Formula E world championship for electric racing cars planned for 2013 and we are thrilled to be at the forefront of the push for innovation at such an exciting time for the sport and industry.’There were two interesting developments this week in the world
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Justin Wu, lead wind analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said: The public perception of wind power tends to be that it is environmentally-friendly, but expensive and intermittent. That is out-of-date - in the best locations, where generation is already cost-competitive with fossil fuel electricity, and that will be the case for the majority of new onshore
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
China’s ruling Communist party wrapped up its most important economic meeting of the year with an agreement to focus on maintaining fast economic growth in the midst of what it described as an “extremely grim and complicated” global outlook. The annual three-day Central Economic Work Conference for top Communist officials sets policy for the coming year and
Sunday, January 08, 2012
In other LED-related news, Air New Zealand has halved the amount of energy required to light key areas of its Auckland engineering base following installation of a new LED lighting product, Ecofluro.The airline contracted New Zealand company Business Lighting Solutions and international energy management specialists Schneider Electric to replace more than 2,100 fluorescent bulbs at the site
Thursday, January 05, 2012
The XC60 Plug-in Hybrid Concept uses a 260hp (280 lb-ft), turbocharged 4-cylinder gasoline engine. The gasoline engine drives the front wheels while a 70hp (148 b-ft) electric motor provides power to the rear wheels. The electric motor is fed by a 12 kWh lithium-ion battery pack -- it can be charged in 3.5 hours with a 220V
Continue reading "Demand for REEs Increasing with Modern Electric Vehicles" »
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Big political change happens this year which could have a big impact on China’s relationship with the world, and possibly impact China’s rare earth supply policies. Up first is January 14ths presidential election in Taiwan, where the incumbent rapprochement president is in danger of losing to a China hard liner. In October or possibly November, 7 out
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Yes its coming up to that time of year again when everyone except this humble editor, head off to Las Vegas to sample the local attractions, gamble, look for greatly discounted real estate, and if they survive, attend the annual Consumer Electronics Show January 10-13. With 3-D technology proving to be hard sell to Americans and Europeans,
Continue reading "The Consumer Electronics Show Las Vegas." »
Monday, January 02, 2012
Today, some lesser covered REE related news from the holiday season. From God’s lips to London’s Financial Times writers? Well at least to the one based in Beijing. While we were all away vacationing, or doing our bit for the Chinese economy by shopping in the sales, the FT came out with an article sceptical that China’s
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Right at the end of the year China closed the door to foreign capital investing in new auto deals. Daimler’s 2 billion euro June joint venture with Beijing Automotive Industry Corp. (BAIC) looks like being one of the last deals of its type, if not the last. China says that nearly all the foreign automakers are now
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Following the success of the UK’s biggest electric drive trial earlier this year, when 100 shiny white eco-marvellous smart electric drives took to the roads, the third generation smart fortwo electric drive is coming in 2012!While we all try to figure out what China’s REE export quotas announcement really means for 2012, covered excellently on the blog
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
The full-year quota for 2011 stood at 30,184 tons, but total exports stood at only 14,750 tons in the first 11 months of the year amid a nationwide inspection and crackdown on illegal activities in the sector. Here we go again, China’s latest quota announcement for REEs in 2012. China’s biggest producer still doesn’t get a quota,
Monday, December 26, 2011
Yesterday we covered the opening in Russia of the world’s largest lithium battery factory, a joint Russian-Chinese venture with the initial production intended for China until about mid-decade. Both countries have plans to switch most urban bus transportation over to electric powered vehicles, in an effort to curb out of control pollution problems, in large measure caused
Sunday, December 25, 2011
The company has already signed a number of contracts for battery supply prior to commissioning the plant, which indicates the high demand for Liotechs products. Prime customer MOBEL has already concluded a three-billion-ruble contract for batteries.Just before Christmas the world’s largest Lithium battery manufacturing plant opened and it’s located in Russia. Yes that’s right Russia. It’s a
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
“Put simply, many businesses now recognize that we are living beyond the planet’s means,” said Malcolm Preston, PwC’s global sustainability leader, in a statement.Earlier in the month PricewaterhouseCoopers published their global survey of executives across several sectors of industry. Unsurprisingly the growing scarcity of minerals and metals, was becoming a real problem, with most expecting the problem
Monday, December 19, 2011
While our media coverage today is dominated by the death of the North Korean tyrant, and by the Europeans umpteenth attempt at bailing out their members sovereign debt problems without bankrupting Euroland’s banks, the really important news for us was coming out of China. Chinas Christmas present to the industrialised world. Citing environmental concerns, China cynically and
Sunday, December 18, 2011
There was a flurry of electric vehicle news in America last week, all of it promising to support a rising level of future demand for the permanent magnet metals, assuming we get some non-Chinese mine supply to match the coming demand. In that respect, the recent delay to the Lynas advanced materials plant (LAMP) in Malaysia is
Thursday, December 15, 2011
The V60 Plug-in Hybrid can be recharged from a regular power outlet (230V/6A, 10A or 16A) at home or in a parking lot. Recharging time varies with amperage. A full charge with 10A takes 4.5 hours. This is cut to 3.5 hours with 16A, while a 6A charge takes 7.5 hours.Today, another new entrant next year into
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
The capital contribution ratio of the newly formed company will be 30.0% by Molycorp, 35.5% by Daido, and 34.5% by Mitsubishi. The JV will be financed by the three shareholders and by a government subsidy sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.Announcements are coming thick and fast now in our rare earth elements sector. Is
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Another day, another deal. The rare earth elements sector is suddenly alive with deals or near deals. Yesterday we were learning about Rhodia and China Rare Metals and Rare Earth Co. Ltd. - a unit of China-based mining company Chinalco teaming up via a letter of intent to develop opportunities in the global rare earths. Today its
Monday, December 12, 2011
This year’s roller coaster rare earth prices, caused by China’s monopoly on supply, abuse many would say, has put some 200+ companies into a race to become a reliable non Chinese REE supplier. The leading experts in the REE sector suggest that this decade there’s probably not room for more than 10, so the race is on
Friday, December 09, 2011
Yesterday in “The Next Big Thing”, I wrote positively about how new nanotechnology developments at the likes of IBM and Hewlett Packard are leading towards a major advance in computing power from mid-decade onwards, and that extra computing power will bring life changing advances in everyday life, that will almost certainly add to rare earth element demand
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Polished next-gen. iteration of nanowire-based memory could offer speed, power, and density improvements.What will be the next big thing, must have, gadget(s) that will take the world by storm? Peering into the future is difficult at best, unless like Steve Jobs you can shape that future, but by staying up to date with what the major innovators
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Is the Bloomberg article below, notice of something seriously wrong at Molycorp, or is Molycorp merely a proxy way of profiting from a global slowdown or even new recession, by shorting a large industrial stock? My guess is the later rather than a specific play on Moly. Still with almost a fifth of the stock borrowed and
Sunday, December 04, 2011
In June, a fire broke out three weeks after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash-tested a Volt. A second fire broke out on Thanksgiving in a Volt battery pack seven days after a crash test, while a third battery pack sparked for less than a second, hours after a crash test in November. About two weeks
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
For a producer of anything, lower prices is usually the last thing a producer wants. This morning though, we have the CEO of Lynas lauding the recent price retracement in the rare earths and metals sector. Below, this morning’s talking point.Lower rare earths price healthy – Lynas CEOBy: Esmarie Swanepoel 30th November 2011 PERTH (miningweekly.com) − Australia-based
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