Straits eyes antimony
CHINA'S dominance of the global antimony metal market is under attack from Australian producers. Straits Resources is the latest entrant to the market.
Straits plans to spend $30 million in a stage-one redevelopment of the old Hillgrove antimony/gold mine in NSW.
The development follows the recent commissioning of AGD Mining's antimony/gold mine at Costerfield in central Victoria.
But planned annual production rates at Hillgrove of 10,000 tonnes of antimony and 20,000 ounces of gold are much bigger than those planned at Costerfield, so the price of antimony could take a hit.
The market for antimony - a high-value metal with fire retardant properties and uses in die-casting - is small and has long been the preserve of small Chinese operations.
First production from Hillgrove is expected in the first half of 2007.
Developing Hillgrove will give Straits five producing mines in Australia and Indonesia. Its shares rose 19c to $3.97.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/straits-eyes-antimony/2006/07/02/1151778809039.html
DuPont Titanium Technologies Announces Price Increase for Titanium Dioxide Grades in Europe Due to Market Dynamics, Increases in Raw Material Costs, and Other Factors
WILMINGTON, June 30, 2006 -- DuPont Titanium Technologies today announced a price increase in Europe for all DuPont titanium dioxide grades. Effective July 1, 2006, or as permitted by contract, prices for all titanium dioxide grades will increase 130 Euros per tonne in Europe.
This increase is supported by market dynamics and significant increases in raw material, energy, fuel costs, as well as reinvestment economics to meet future customer needs. Other regional increases will be announced directly within the local regions.
DuPont Titanium Technologies is the world's largest manufacturer of titanium dioxide, serving customers globally in the coatings, paper and plastics industries. The company operates plants at DeLisle, Miss.; New Johnsonville, Tenn.; Edge Moor, Del.; Altamira, Mexico; and Kuan Yin, Taiwan; all of which use the chloride manufacturing process. The company also operates a plant in Uberaba, Brazil, for finishing titanium dioxide and a mine in Starke, Fla. Technical service centers are located in Uberaba, Brazil; Mexico City, Mexico; Mechelen, Belgium; Kuan Yin, Taiwan; Ulsan, Korea; Wilmington, Del.; and Shanghai, China, to serve the European, Middle Eastern, United States, Asian and Latin America markets.
Source: http://www.chempoint.com/industrynewsdetails.asp?DocumentName=20060630_DuPont&index=9
Aussie PM must rule out leasing enriched uranium
Prime Minister must rule out leasing enriched uranium: Greens
Prime Minister John Howard must rule out Australia leasing enricheduranium, Australian Greens energy spokesperson Senator Christine Milne said today.
"Prime Minister Howard today reportedly ruled out Australia taking radioactive by-products generated outside of Australia," Senator Milne said in Hobart.
"The Prime Minister said he is not pre-empting his own inquiry yet his inquiry is looking at what Australia's prospects are with regard to nuclear waste management.
"His comments today still leave the door open to Australia taking back the waste generated from uranium enriched in Australia and supplied to overseas nuclear power plants under a leasing agreement.
"The Prime Minister must now rule out Australia enriching and leasing uranium. Until he does, Australians face the possibility of storing radioactive waste generated from uranium enriched in Australia and leased to overseas users."
Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0607/S00059.htm
UC study to check manganese
Neighbors of Eramet Marietta Inc., Ohio 7 south, have an opportunity to find out how much manganese is in their bodies through a new study by environmental health researchers at the University of Cincinnati.
The pilot program, which begins at the end of this month, is expected to be complete within two months, said Erin Haynes, lead researcher and assistant professor in environmental health at UC.
It’s aimed first at looking at a small group of people —- of all ages — who live close to Eramet.
Initially, 25 participants from Marietta are being sought for the study, which will include looking at lead and chromium levels too (since they were also detected in air here).
Half the participants will come from homes within three miles of Eramet, one quarter from four to six miles away and the remaining quarter from seven to nine miles.
Each study participant receives $50.
“High exposures of manganese have been found in the air in Marietta. Now we want to know what’s in humans,” Haynes said. “We believe the data we collect should warrant further study.”
Participants who have higher blood levels of manganese will be invited to UC for further study, she said.
Funding for the $16,000 to $18,000 exploratory study comes from the Center for Environmental Genetics at UC.
Manganese is a heavy, metallic chemical element refined at Eramet. This is the only refinery for the substance, which is used in the manufacture of alloys of iron, aluminum and copper - in the U.S. or Canada. The raw material for the process comes from Africa, Haynes said.
Researchers are looking for any health affects to humans from concentrations of manganese in the body.
Manganese, in trace levels, is essential to human beings but researchers are not certain at what level adverse affects begin to surface.
“Symptoms are similar to Parkinson’s Disease with movement and motor disorders, tremors, mood swings, depression, anxiety,” Haynes said.
The study will include both biological and environmental sampling.
Blood and hair samples will be taken, along with samples of dust, soil, and paint from the homes of study participants.
There have been few actual national studies.
“We know that manganese accumulates in the brain,” she said. “We are not sure of genetic mechanisms yet.”
Ruth Breech, Southern Ohio Program Director with Ohio Citizen Action, is working locally with Neighbors for Clean Air, to test local air for contaminants.
Source: http://www.mariettatimes.com/news/story/new65_742006124509.asp
Holey germanium
Porous materials can have unusual properties such as large surface areas, making them ideal as catalysts and sensors. Silicon containing nanoscale pores can emit light, even though ordinary silicon cannot. Now two independent groups of researchers in the US have developed techniques to make porous versions of germanium – another semiconductor widely used in microelectronics. The material could be used to make more efficient solar cells and chemical sensors.
Scientists first discovered in the early 1990s that silicon could be made to emit light by etching holes into it. But attempts to make porous germanium - another semiconductor in the same group of the periodic table as silicon - have been less successful, yielding structures with only randomly distributed pores. Now, Sarah Tolbert and colleagues at the University of California at Los Angeles and Gerasimos Armatas and Mercouri Kanatzidis of Michigan State University have used a technique called "surfactant templating" to make germanium containing well-ordered pores for the first time (Nature 441 1126 & 1122).
Tolbert's team made their porous germanium by taking a compound called K2Ge9, which contains small clusters of nine germanium atoms that link up to form short polymer chains. They then reacted this material with a carbon-containing "surfactant" molecule that, like soap, has a water-loving end and a water-repelling end.
The different electrostatic interactions between the chains of germanium atoms and the two ends of the surfactant molecule cause the germanium atoms to form a hexagonal-shaped honyecomb structure, with the surfactant molecules lying in between as a "scaffold". The surfactant was then removed by oxidising the sample to leave just the porous, honeycomb germanium (figure 1).
Source: http://www.nanotechweb.org/articles/news/5/7/2/1
|
|
