Antimony is in Short Supply
Antimony, Sb, is an obscure metalloid that rarely gets much notice outside of a few highly specialized areas of technology. The element is most often found in the mineral Stibnite, Sb2S3. Antimony is...
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Uranium Town: Uravan, Colorado
The town of Uravan, Colorado, shows up on maps and road signs. You might think it is a physical town. It sits north of Naturita (pronounced natter reeta), CO, on Hwy 141 about 15 miles up the narrow...
View ArticleYellow Gold and Black Gold in the Ground
Some years back I visited the large CC&V open pit gold mine by Cripple Creek, Colorado. Standing at the bottom of the pit we could see haul trucks busily transferring ore to a staging site....
View ArticleOre Processing and Smelting at MPMM
Ok, I’ll just come out with it and say that I’m a big fan of YouTube. Amidst the large population of silly or stupid videos is a wealth of quite well-done amateur presentations on science and...
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Idaho Cobalt Mining
As interest in lithium batteries continues to ramp upwards, interest in other metals like cobalt used in lithium batteries advances with it. Cobalt has been identified as a particularly problematic...
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Economic Foams and Lithium
While cockeyed optimists are working toward a new age of electric vehicles in the glare of an admiring public, I find myself standing off to the side mired in skepticism. What are the long-term...
View ArticleZombie Oil & Gas Wells in Texas
Much has been written about the gas & oil industry in the US. My aim only is to highlight the leaking, not actively producing, oil & gas wells. Many states have a problem with orphaned and...
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Lateral O&G drilling
Most people have heard of fracking in the context of oil and gas (O&G) drilling and maybe a few of them know that this can be done in horizontal drilling at a distance from the surface well hole....
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Technological Triumphalism
“Technological triumphalism” is a term that surfaces infrequently, encapsulating the belief in our capacity to resolve almost any issue through the innovative use of technology. While technological...
View ArticleChina Bans the Export of Materials Key to Electronic Devices
Guess what? In response to the Biden’s administration’s efforts to restrict US companies from doing business with 140 Chinese companies, severe export license controls have been put in place. China...
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