ISSN 2056-6735 (Online)

How to tackle Air Pollution
Niobium Rising
Lithium in Cornwall

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The magazine of the Minor Metals Trade Association

3rd Edition 2017/March www.mmta.co.uk
1

THE MMTA’S INTERNATIONAL MINOR METALS CONFERENCE 2017
TAKING PLACE AT THE CONRAD HOTEL, DUBLIN, IRELAND, 24-26 APRIL 2017
Organised by Metal Events Ltd

We are looking forward to welcoming over 270 delegates to Dublin!
An exceptional programme of speakers includes: INTEL, Pratt & Whitney, BBC World Service, UCL,
Arconic, and many more, with topical round tables

It’s not too late to enhance your networking time in a more casual setting!
MMTA Conference Golf Tournament, hosted by ICD Alloys & Metals LLC
For our first golf tournament, taking place on Monday 24th April before the start of the conference, we will be at
the prestigious K Club, previous venue of the Ryder Cup.
The tournament fee of EUR150 (+ VAT where applicable) will include transport by coach from and back to theconference hotel, breakfast on arrival, 18 holes of golf, electric buggy, and lunch
Registered conference delegates wishing to join this event, should contact admin@mmta.co.uk

Companies participating in the MMTA Golf Day
Metherma, Ireland Alloys, CCMA, ICD, The Chem-Met Co, Wogen Resources, Darton Commodities, Glencore,
Advanced Alloy Services Ltd, Select Alloys & Materials Ltd, C Steinweg Belgium, Amalgamet, Fujian Weiyuan Minerals Co Ltd,
KaiLiDa Of Changsha , AMC , CP Metals Inc, Umicore Specialty Materials Recycling, ICD Alloys & Metals,
Zhuzhou Cemented Carbide Works Imp. & Exp. Co.

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2

MMTA News in Brief
Having recently been contacted by several MMTA members, James Peer,
MMTA Chairman, and Maria Cox, General Manager, visited the offices ofMetal Bulletin in February to discuss concerns raised by members
regarding recent changes in MB’s subscription structure for pricereporting, as well as the timing and communication of these changes.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE
New Member

3

Liquid-Metal

4

Cornish Lithium Mining

6-7

Metal Bulletin is currently considering holding a meeting for MMTA
members to discuss its price reporting agency in detail.

Tackling Air Pollution

8-9

If any member wishes to contact Metal Bulletin directly, please contact
Alex Harrison, or alternatively, get in touch with the MMTA Executive Team,
who will be happy to forward to Metal Bulletin on your behalf.

Space Junk

10

Niobium Rising

11

Letter from N. America

12

In Brief

13

Gallium adhesive

14

NEW MEMBER– PGS

Update on EU Conflict Minerals

14-15

Titanium blood repellent

15

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PGS是伦敦金属交易所（LME）认证的运营商，PGS为基本金属行业（生产商，贸易商，经纪商，银
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Email: executive@mmta.co.uk

Disclaimer: The information and data contained in thisedition of the Crucible (the Material) has been compiled by
the Minor Metals Trade Association (MMTA) from sources
believed to be reliable at the time of writing but the MMTA
makes no representation or warranty (express or implied)
as to the accuracy, timeliness or completeness of theMaterial. The Material is provided for information purposes
only, but is not to be relied upon as authoritative or taken in
substitution for the exercise of the reader’s own skill andjudgment. It should not be relied upon for any specific or
general application without first obtaining competentadvice. The MMTA, its members, staff and consultants
accept no liability whatsoever (however that liability arises)
for any direct, indirect or consequential loss arising fromany use of the Material.
The Crucible contains links to third party websites andmaterial and information created and maintained byorganisations other than the MMTA. These links areprovided solely for your convenience. The MMTA does notguarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, orcompleteness of any third party information or material
accessed by means of a link within the Crucible. The
inclusion of a link is not intended to reflect the importanceof the third party materials accessed through it, nor is it
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3

Heat-free soldering with Liquid-Metal

polished this layer until it was smooth.

particles"We wanted to make sure the metals don't turn into solids," said
assistant professor Martin Thuo. "And so we engineered the surfaceof the particles so there is no pathway for liquid metal to turn to asolid. We've trapped it in a state it doesn't want to be in."Researchers at Iowa State University have produced novel
micro-sized particles filled with liquid metal that retain their liquidstate at room temperature. These particles are also able to meldwith each other. These liquid/solid hybrids have practicalapplications in heat-free soldering and electronic circuit damage
repair.
The discovery of this new metallic form was made when
researchers looked for a way to prevent liquid metals fromreturning to their solid state, even at temperatures below the point
at which they normally solidify. Known as "undercooling,", thetechnique has often been used to analyse the inner workings ofmetal structures and to look at alternative ways of processing
metals. However, the greatest hurdle in this area is that it is difficult
to create significant amounts of stable quantities of theseundercooled metals.
Looking at this problem in a different way, the Iowa State teamhadthe idea of shrouding minute droplets of liquid metal with athin, uniform coating that held the liquid inside a sort of particle
capsule, to form a balanced batch of particles containing undercooled liquid metal.
To create these particles, the researchers used a high-velocity
rotary cutting tool to slice the liquid metal into minute droplets andthen suspend them in an acetic acid/diethylene glycol mixture.
When the particles were exposed to oxygen, the surface of thematerial oxidized and created a bubble with the liquid metal
trapped inside. Once the oxidization was complete, the team thenUnlike metal glues* used as solder, which join two disparate
substances together, the Iowa State material is created using liquid-metal particles of the same metals. In this case, Field's metal (analloy of bismuth, indium and tin) and other particles containing an
alloy of just bismuth and tin were used to produce the liquid metal
bubbles.
Only about the size of red blood cells at round 10 micrometres indiameter, these bubbles were tested by the team to repair
microscopic defects, to perform micro-soldering, and to join
macroscopic pieces of metal together in heat-free soldering.
"We demonstrated healing of damaged surfaces and soldering/
joining of metals at room temperature without requiring high-tech
instrumentation, complex material preparation or ahigh-temperature process," said the team in their paper.
Thuo has filed a patent on the technology and formed a start-up
company to help bring this new product to market, and he iscurrently working on testing and improving the electricalconductivity and mechanical reliability of the new material.
The team's paper appears in the journal Scientific Reports.
Source: Iowa State University*See page 14 for Gallium used as an adhesive

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5

Cornish Lithium: Interview with
Jeremy Wrathall
Demand for electric vehicles rose 36% in 2016. Technology has ramped up, and theperformance of lithium-ion batteries has allowed electric vehicles to enter themainstream. Now, meeting the demand for raw materials has become a major
challenge. The Tesla Giga-factory is eating up current supplies.
Away from the main suppliers of lithium in Chile, Canada and Australia, the UK has achance to get in on the action. Cornish Lithium Ltd has recently won the mineral rights
to a large area of land covering around 30,000 hectares, or around 3,000 square
kilometres in Cornwall, at the South West tip of England. The deal has been made withthree major landowners: Tregothnan Estates, Mineral Exploration Limited andStrongbow Exploration, owners of South Crofty Mine at Pool.
Cornwall has a long history of mining and mineral extraction dating back thousandsof years. Tin and copper have been mined traditionally, but as with many industries in
the UK, underwent a major decline in the 80s and 90s. However, granite andchina-clay extraction has continued on a large scale. The Drakelands tungsten and tin
mine at Hemerdon is a recent example of a metal mining renaissance, but this project
has suffered some teething problems from decreasing demand for tungsten andhigher than expected running costs.
Cornish Lithium has spotted an opportunity to take advantage of a growing market fora material that looks to be under-supplied for the foreseeable future. The UK
represents a secure, low risk destination for investment, with excellent infrastructure
across grid power, road and rail. Cornwall itself is increasingly becoming a centre forrenewable energy in the UK, hence any initiative that supplies a key material for the
storage of such power will be well received by local communities.
Jeremy Wrathall, the Chief Executive of Cornish Lithium was kind enough to speak to
the MMTA about the company’s plans.
When did you see the potential for a lithium project in Cornwall?
We first saw the potential for lithium to be extracted around 15 months ago at thestart of 2016. As a student of mining history, I was aware of the historical reports oflithium in Cornwall. (the presence of lithium was first noted in around 1860) After
further research, records of lithium in brine were unearthed. There were also otherreports of hot water flooding mines, a big problem for these mines at the time, but
a clue to the opportunity of extracting lithium.
In recent years, there have been great advances in extracting lithium from brine, andthere are several viable technologies to perform this in a ‘standard’ plant.
What are your predictions for the lithium market?
There has been a fundamental shift in society in recent years and a realisation of thedamage caused by the internal combustion engine. Lithium in electric vehicles, butalso in battery storage, enables the increased use of renewable energies. I don’t
believe at all that the market is a ‘flash in the pan’. Clean energy generation and cleantransport are enabled by lithium-ion battery technology.
Jeremy points to recent announcements from car manufacturers beyond Tesla,demonstrating a serious commitment to electric vehicles from the traditional
automotive industry. In November, VW announced the following objective:“By 2025 we plan to sell one million electric cars per year, and by then we also want tobe the global market leader in electromobility....Going forward, our electric cars will be
VW brand chief, Herbert Diessthe hallmark of Volkswagen.”6

Conventional Lithium Extraction
As of 2015, most of the world's lithium production is inSouth America, where lithium-containing brine isextracted from underground pools and concentrated
by solar evaporation. The standard extraction
technique is to evaporate water from brine. Eachbatch takes from 18 to 24 months.
Lithium is also present is also present in seawater, butcommercially viable methods of extraction have yet to
be developed.

The lithium source in Cornwall is from a geothermal
well. The lithium is separated by simple filtration. The
process and environmental costs are primarily thoseof the already-operating well; net environmental
impacts may therefore be neutral
The conventional extraction of lithium, through theevaporation of brines, can have significant impacts onwater resources and ecology. The conventional
process evaporates water from brines in large ponds(thousands of acres), which are expensive to build andmaintain. This one-way movement of water from theground to the atmosphere can result in significant
impacts on groundwater as well as land subsidence.
Further, residual salt waste is collected and stored in
massive salt piles that scar the landscape and present
a risk to the environment.
Evaporation based lithium processing suffers frompoor recovery, typically less than 50%, and is affectedby precipitation and other aspects of the weather. The
unpredictability of weather and climate can therefore
impact project economics and time to market.
In addition, the high salt environment in and aroundthe evaporation ponds can be toxic to flora and fauna;related leaching, spills, or air emissions can harm
communities, ecosystems and food production.
Evaporation technology can be expensive, potentiallyharmful, and does not necessarily optimise theresource.
The European Commission on Science forEnvironmental Policy states that lithium’s “continued
use needs to be monitored, especially as lithium
mining’s toxicity and location in places of natural
beauty can cause significant environmental, health,and social impacts.”
Brines are important sources of salt, iodine, lithium,magnesium, potassium, bromine, and other materials,
and potentially important sources of a number ofothers.

In early March 2017, it was reported that electric vehicle charging
network ‘ChargePoint’ has raised $82 million in a round of funding
led by German automotive giant Daimler, with participation fromexisting investors that include BMW i Ventures, Linse Capital,
Rho Capital Partners, and Braemar Energy Ventures.
After the exploration phase, how long before the lithium isready to sell? Is there a processing plant in place for the brine?
The first stage is to use modern geophysics to target the drilling tolithium brine structures. If there is success, samples with be taken
and tested and a financial model created. Optimistically we’relooking at a 5-year horizon until lithium from this source is ready tosell.

What about the local community? Is there support forthe plans?
We were very pleasantly surprised by the reaction of the local
community. MPs and the local council have been extremely
supportive of the company’s plans.
Due to the chemistry of the brine and the geology of the area, there
is also potential for potassium to be extracted and even for the heatfrom the hot brine to be used as a geothermal energy source. In
addition, other metals such as tin and copper may be present in thesame source.

There is, however, a geothermal project starting to drill soon in thearea, which may be an opportunity to access earlier samples. This
project is planning to drill to 4.5km deep, whereas the lithium projectwill be between 400 and 1000m deep, so more akin to oil drillingthan mining.
The processing of the brine is envisaged to happen adjacent to thewell, but water can be easily piped anywhere. Eventually, secondary
industries could be stimulated in the area, so potentially a whole new
sector in the region.
What advantages are there for Cornish Lithium over otherlithium projects around the world?

A design for a lithium from brine plant using Tenova Bateman Technologies (TBT) Source: http://
www.pureenergyminerals.com

A Cornish source of lithium would offer more diversity to the current
supplies. As we know, it is unwise to rely on limited geographic areas
for sources of raw materials, as political stability of a region canchange rapidly.

Do you think the future looks bright for Cornish mining
in general?

Lithium prices are rising rapidly, so investors are looking for new
projects; they need to know supplies are there and know where to
drill to access them.

South Crofty mine is starting a tin mining project which could also
include various by-product metals, such as indium.

Do you envisage any long-term environmental impact fromthe project?
The extraction of the brine is similar to a water well or a geothermal
well (but not at all like fracking!) and is a well-establishedtechnology, and very different to traditional mining
The environmental impact would be limited to the well and a
relatively small processing plant adjacent.

Although there have been teething problems at the Drakelands
mine , the mining future of Cornwall looks positive.

In the past, gaining mining rights has been difficult in Cornwall,and there has been very little exploration of many areas withmodern techniques.
Cornish Lithium is excited to explore the very large area of land using
the new techniques. At the moment the focus is on lithium andgeo-thermal energy, but who knows what else may happen in the
future.
Cornish Lithium is currently raising money for the next phase of
their exploration. For more information visit their website:www.cornishlithium.com

Jeremy has over 25 years of experience in the field of mining finance. Following his graduation from theCamborne School of Mines in Cornwall, he spent three years working as a mining engineer in the South
African gold mining industry. He then pursued a career in mining investment banking in London and has
financed mining projects globally, including companies listed on all of the world’s major mining exchanges.
Having held various senior roles in the investment banking industry, Jeremy currently works for Investec
Bank. Jeremy was formerly the Chairman of ASX listed Glory Resources, which sought to develop the
Sapes gold discovery in Greece, until its takeover by Canadian listed Eldorado Gold. He also held positions as
Chairman of AIM listed Zambezi Nickel and Non-Executive Director of AIM listed Zambezi Resources.
7

How to tackle air pollution
2017 had scarcely begun before London residents were informedthat air pollution limits for the entire year had been breached inseveral areas. Just 5 days in to the New Year hourly levels of toxic
nitrogen dioxide (NO2) rose above the 200 micrograms per cubic
metre (µg/m3) limit more than 18 times in the borough of Lambeth
which is situated south of the river Thames.
NO2 pollution is produced largely by diesel vehicles. Thousands ofearly deaths every year are attributed to these emissions. The cold
weather in January in London also heightened the effect of thepollution on people with lung conditions. Air pollution has also
recently been linked to Alzheimer’s and miscarriages. New data has
also revealed that modern diesel cars produce 10 times more
NO2 pollution than heavy trucks and buses per litre of fuel,which experts say is due to the much tougher testing faced byheavy vehicles.

In November 2016, data from the European Environment Agency
revealed the UK is second only to Italy in Europe for the highest
number of annual deaths from NO2. It also ranked London’s
Marylebone High Street as the most polluted site in Europe.
In December, Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City pledged to ban
polluting diesel cars from their centres by 2025, and a number ofcities outside the UK have already taken action, such as banning cars
on specific days or making public transport free.
In China, toxic smog also covered large areas in the north of thecountry in January and again since then. This smog is caused byburning coal rather than diesel vehicles specifically. Coal is not onlyused as a cheap heating source, but also the reliance on coal power
stations. There are 22 coal power stations circling Beijing. The
Chinese Government said it will dramatically slash its coalproduction, and recently announced it would spend 2.5 trillion yuan($489 billion) on renewable energy to ease the pollution crisis. In
reality, it seems that China still has big plans for coal. Two hundredcoal-fired power plants will be built in the coming decade. Some ofthe older plants will be decommissioned, but even by 2020, coalcapacity is estimated to increase by 20 per cent.

Designer face masks
You may be struggling to breathe, but it doesn’t mean that style has to go out
the window!
Companies such as Vogmask have seized the opportunity to make fashionable
face masks for the style conscious city dweller.
By combining fashion with function, people in different cities are slowly
warming to the idea of donning face masks beyond their more common sightin the far East.
Leading face mask manufacturers are making products equipped with advanced filters which can professedly block out particulatematter as tiny as 0.3 microns.
Vogmask’s designer mask range boasts vivid paisley motifs and geometric prints. These were a part of a designer’s Spring/Summer
collection showcased at the Paris Fashion Week recently, where the audience tried on the designer masks and posed for pictures.
in the UK. Similarly, natural gas can also be converted into dimethyl
ether (DME) – another potential alternative to diesel. It is thought
To tackle air pollution caused by diesel vehicles, there needs to be a that the use of DME reduces NOx emissions by around 25%
many-pronged attack. No single technology is the ‘golden bullet’ to (compared to a standard diesel), and virtually eliminates PM
fix this issue.
emissions. DME is less straightforward to implement than GTL, in
Below are some technology scenarios, which combined could make the sense that it requires some engine modification, althoughmanufacturers such as Ford and Volvo are apparently investigating
the gains needed, not only to make legislative requirements but
the potential to bring vehicles to market which use DME as a fuel.
also to protect the health of city dwelling citizens.

What needs to be done?

Hydrogen Fuel Additives: Improving the fuel combustion cycle in
Gas to Liquids: a move to alternative fuels, such as “gas toexisting vehicles through the use of additives. The ezero1 technology
liquid” (GTL) fuel derived from natural gas which is a “drop in”
producedby UK developer CGON does this by feeding small
replacement for diesel (i.e. the engine requires no modification).
Testing has shown that the use of GTL in heavy duty vehicles such amounts of hydrogen into the vehicle air intake such that it createsa more efficient burn. Independent tests show that this increases
as trucks, buses and ships could reduce Nitrogen Oxide (NOx)fuel efficiency, whilst reducing emissions of NOx, PM, Hydrocarbons
emissions by 5-37%, and Particulate Matter (PM) emissions by
and Carbon Monoxide. The technology can be retrofitted to existing
10-38%, depending on the vehicle age. GTL fuel is already beingcars and vans (petrol or diesel) and is available commercially,
produced in significant quantities globally, and is available
commercially in the Netherlands, but its use is currently very limited although to date has only been sold in relatively small numbers.
8Autonomous vehicles: one of the mega-trends in the automotive
sector is the move towards autonomous vehicles or “self-drivingcars”. This could fundamentally change the way that vehicles use
the road network, reducing the stop-start nature of traffic (which ispartly caused by the way that we humans drive cars), and opening
up the possibility of “vehicle platooning” on motorways. A range ofstudies have estimated that autonomous vehicles could improvefuel efficiency by 15-40%, reducing emissions of local pollutants aswell as greenhouse gases, not to mention the benefits in terms ofsafety and congestion.
Liquid air: New technologies are also being developed to address
very specific sources of pollution. For example, a growing source ofpollution in cities comes from refrigerated vans and trucks. It has
been estimated that there are around 84,000 transport
refrigeration units on the road in the UK, each of which emits 29
times as much PM and six times as much NOx as a modern truck.
Whilst trucks are subject to emissions standards, the auxiliary
engines used to power refrigeration units are largely unregulated
and are highly polluting. Technology company, Dearman, isdeveloping an alternative system based on the use of “liquid air”,
which produces zero emissions on the road.

by a kickstarter campaign), and the designers claim that a single
tower could clean 3.5 million cubic metres of air per day. They plan
to roll out the smog-free towers across other global cities.
Roll out of electric cars: We cannot leave out electric vehicles
from the possible solutions to air pollution from cars. However,electric cars could cost five times as much per tonne of pollution
reduction compared to the other technologies modelled. They
are sure to play a major part to cleaner cities in time, but not
immediately.
There are also some more “mundane” ways to tackle air quality
issues, which may be more palatable for cash strapped
governments.
Retrofitting old buses with the latest emissions control exhaustsystems

Scrappage scheme for old diesel vehicles – paying drivers tohand in their old gas-guzzlers for more economical models

Changes to taxation levels, for example the planned erosion of
LPG duty differential should be reviewed, and any futurechange in fuel taxation should take account of the impact of
local air pollution as well as CO2

Photo-catalytic materials: Deployment of technologies which Investment in development of zero-emission vehicles such as
remove pollution from the ambient air. For example, a number ofelectric vehicles should be balanced by funding for trials ofcompanies are developing photo-catalytic treatments which
innovative technologies which offer realistic prospects ofremove pollutants from the air in the presence of sunlight. These
cost-effective air pollution reductions – such as phototreatments can be applied to a range of surfaces, for example
catalytic treatments.
roofing tiles, roofing felt or even the surface of roads. A recent
report by the Environmental Industries Commission suggested that  Indicator boards displaying real time air pollution data
applying photo-catalytic treatment to roads is amongst the(referenced to any legal limits) should be set up in majorcheapest options to reduce PM and NOx pollution, although it
urban centres.
acknowledged that further trials of the technology would be Dual carriageway speed limits should be reduced to 60mph
required to understand its potential. However, contrary to this,(100 Km/h) where such roads pass through pollution hotspots.
a recent report for Defra found “no compelling evidence” that the
Sources:use of these treatments would actually reduce NOx pollution.
Air purification: Developers are also looking at other ways ofcleaning air in urban environments. Studio Roosegarde, a Dutch
design company, has developed the “Smog Free Tower” – an air
purifying tower which sucks in pollution and expels clean air. The
extracted pollution is, somewhat bizarrely, turned into pieces ofjewellery. The first tower has been installed in Rotterdam (paid forhttps://policyexchange.org.uk/6-new-technologies-which-could-improve-urban-air-quality/
https://qz.com/829359/vogmask-designed-by-manish-arora-a-trendy-pollution-mask-fordelhis-rich-and-beautiful-all-the-way-from-the-nevada-desert/
http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/air
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-08/chinese-air-pollution-crisis-caused-by-ongoingcoal-use/8168702

9

Space, the final (littering)
frontier
Littering and fly tipping are the bane of many a community. But
already, the human race has managed to pollute space withnumerous pieces of junk. Currently, an estimated 100 million humanartefacts are drifting above in perpetual orbit. Amongst these
artefacts are decommissioned satellites, batteries and parts ofrockets; not to mention space suits and, for a period of time, aspatula lost during a repair on a space station.
The debris is a risk to working satellites, and there are often
collisions with space junk. If the current rate of littering continues
we’ll be lucky to find a path through to travel to Mars or
anywhere else.
However, science is trying to come to the rescue! To combat thistrend, various inventions are in the pipeline to clean up space,including ‘janitor’ satellites, laser tractor beams and an

Like a firework…
Many pieces are of space junk are made of titanium, which with its
1670 °C melting temperature, won’t burn up on re-entry to Earth.
The French space agency has proposed a solution: using thermite.
Thermite is a mixture of metal powder, fuel and metal oxide,
which releases heat when ignited, as with fireworks andwelding processes.
Most varieties are not explosive, but can create brief bursts of hightemperature in a small area. Thermite attached to the metal parts
10

electro-magnetic tether, to capture the rubbish. I don’t think I needto talk the enormous technical challenges these ideas face, and justnot dumping things in the first place may be somewhat simpler. Or
failing that, making sure the pieces left are small enough to burn up
in the Earth’s atmosphere. The end of space junk doesn’t look likely
to happen soon, 4500 more satellites are soon due to be launched
into low Earth orbit to enable global Broadband coverage. I hopeend-of-life plans are in place for these new additions.!
The oldest redundant satellite orbiting currently is a weather
satellite that has its own Twitter account. Fengyun has been orbiting
Earth at 28,000 Kilometres per hour since 2007. Now heading
towards imminent destruction by the atmosphere, Fengyun isspending its final months sending some poignant tweets on thenature of life and the universe.
You can find the satellite on twitter @FengyunAdrift
This account, as well as music recordings and a short documentary
called Adrift' ‘exploring the troubling, beautiful, dangerous andfascinating world of space junk ‘were created by a group of artists .
To find out more, visit: http://www.projectadrift.co.uk/

would ignite when entering the upper atmosphere creating holes inthe structure and increasing the likelihood of the pieces breaking
up on re-entry.
Thermites have diverse compositions. Fuels include aluminium,
magnesium, titanium, zinc, silicon, and boron. Aluminium iscommon because of its high boiling point and low cost.
Oxidizers include bismuth(III) oxide, boron(III) oxide, silicon(IV)oxide, chromium(III) oxide, manganese(IV) oxide, iron(III) oxide,iron(II,III) oxide, copper(II) oxide, and lead(II,IV) oxide.

Niobium: US$6.1Bn andmounting. Why?

terms of usage. Ferroniobium usage is currently lowest in countries where
it has the greatest potential to grow, either through higher steel production
or just because of a move to making higher-quality steel. Another reason,and one that applies mainly to CMOC, is the desire on the part of China togain greater influence over its raw materials’ supply chain (and CMOC is part-controlled by the Chinese government).

Within the space of a few short years, the face of the global niobium
industry, particularly ferroniobium, has changed almost out of recognition.
As recently as 2011, the Brazilian niobium and ferroniobium giant CBMM waswholly owned by the Salles family, with Anglo American providing thebalance of the country’s ferroniobium output. The only other significant
ferroniobium producer, Canada’s Niobec, was in the hands of the Torontolisted miner IAMGOLD.
Things look very different today. During 2011, CBMM sold 30% of itself for
US$3.9Bn to two consortia of Asian investors, one Japanese/Korean, theother Chinese. Both groups include steelmakers (i.e., CBMM’s own clients).
In 2015, IAMGOLD sold Niobec to the Toronto-based private-equity firm
Magris Resources, which is backed to a large extent by investors in
Singapore and Hong Kong. That deal was worth US$0.5Bn. Not to be leftout, Anglo American offloaded its Brazilian niobium and phosphatebusiness in 2016 to China Molybdenum (CMOC) for US$1.7Bn, an earnings
multiple that surprised most in the industry, and quite possibly even
Anglo American.

An enduring characteristic of the niobium market in general, andferroniobium in particular, is the role of CBMM and its behaviour. CBMM
largely created the niobium industry as we know it today and has long been
the dominant player and price setter. Its production cost is not reported but
For a metal that many people have never even heard of, US$6.1Bn of
is believed to be much lower than its competitors’. It could, in theory, havepriced the competition out of the market a long time ago but has neverinvestment in less than five years is pretty impressive. Equally remarkable
is that, from a standing start, Asian investors have gained control of, Roskill done so. Roskill considers that there are several reasons for this. For one
estimates, at least a third of global ferroniobium production capacity.
thing, it is important to CBMM that price and supply are seen as stable andsecure. Getting steelmakers to switch to niobium-containing steels was not
The reasons why the three ferroniobium producers divested are fairly clear.
a rapid process and it would probably not have happened had CBMM been
CBMM certainly didn’t need the money; it wanted to lock-in some of its
a monopoly producer. Trying to become a monopoly supplier by slashinglargest customers. IAMGOLD had acquired Niobec as part of a purchase of
prices would be a PR nightmare, unsettle consumers in the steel industry
another gold miner. It did not really see Niobec as a core business, and it
and could actually cost CBMM money – Roskill calculates that CBMM would
definitely needed the money to plug a gaping gold-related hole in its
make a lot less if it tried to corner the market at price levels designed tobalance sheet. Anglo American simply wanted to get rid of non-core
drive the competition out of the game.
businesses, not to mention a large pile of debt.
There is a further twist. Although the ferroniobium market is alreadyWhy other companies would have wanted to invest in this industry is
comfortably met by existing (huge) surplus production capacity, and will
somewhat less obvious. Demand for ferroniobium went through a growth
remain so, new producers are trying to enter the market. There are several
spurt during the 2000s, more than doubling during the first half of the
projects in the pipeline and at least two of them are at, or near, thedecade and continuing to grow until the global financial crisis kicked in.
financing stage. They would not be large in tonnage terms by CBMM
There are two main reasons for the growth. One is that consumers gained
standards, but is there even a place for them? It all boils down to thebetter understanding of the benefits of using ferroniobium in steel. Whenmarket’s desire for diversity of supply of what is, essentially, a commodity
added to steel in fractions of a percent of the weight of steel, ferroniobium
product and made using similar and well-understood processes by existing
results in much-higher strengths. Less steel overall is needed, which offers
producers; processes that would also be used by any new producer. For any
major cost savings in large steel structures. The other driver was the
project these days, securing offtake agreements is key to securing project
explosive growth in global steel production, particularly in China.
finance, particularly debt finance (which makes getting equity finance
The global financial crisis caused a huge fall in demand for steel and forrather easier, too).
ferroniobium but it recovered quickly and in recent years has remained
The niobium industry in its current form is really only a few decades old.
within a fairly narrow range close to the peak level of the late 2000s. The
It has seen big changes over the last decade or so, and there may well beoutlook for global steel production now seems starkly different to what it
more to come.
was just a few years ago, especially in China. Overall growth in steel
Patrick Stratton, Roskill
production is not going to be the main future driver of demand forferroniobium, Roskill contends.
So why are people still investing very large sums of money in the industry,when growth prospects for steel are not stellar and even the current
ferroniobium production capacity is far bigger than demand and willremain so?
One reason is that there is good potential for the incidence and intensity offerroniobium use to increase. Ferroniobium is not being used in all the steel
applications it could be, and some countries/regions lag far behind others in

Niobium: Global Industry, Markets & Outlook is available
to pre-order
Contact: info@roskill.com
11

LETTER FROM NORTH AMERICA
Dear Members
After a stunningly hard week in Vienna, I am, finally, back in New York to welcome in March after the usual“interminable” month of February.
As some of you may know, for some years now I have been involved in the Zero Project, an initiative of theEssl Foundation, a philanthropic organisation based in Vienna. We work for a world without barriers, hence the“zero”, for persons with disabilities. This year marked our sixth annual conference. And, for the last four years,
we’ve held it at the UN Headquarters in Vienna in the building next to that housing the IAEA. (Sometimes wesee some quite interesting people!)
Apart from helping to host it with my colleagues at the foundation, this year I had the honour of moderating
two separate “couch” discussions in front of an audience of more than 500 from some 60 countries fromaround the world. Our discussions covered workplace accommodations for persons with disabilities andintegrating persons with intellectual disabilities and learning difficulties into the workplace. You should checkout the sessions on the Internet, all the experts were just great. It was only sad that, in both instances, ourchats were cruelly truncated because of other people overrunning their allotted times!
Anyway, back in New York on Sunday, I received an interesting follow-up email about Afghanistan from myfriend Ted Callahan, pointing me in the direction of an article from The Wall Street Journal about the newrailway between China and Afghanistan. I have to say that it came as a complete surprise to me that one
actually existed at all. But it does – as part of China’s Silk Road initiative.
Whilst it appears that freight can travel happily north-south, the opposite is not true, and trains are returning,
through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China empty. And, indeed, there lies the rub. Apparently, worried thatthe trains “could be used to smuggle narcotics and precious stones, which fuel criminal and terrorist networks
in the regions,”1 the Uzbek government is refusing transit to Afghan goods. Amongst other things, the Afghan
government had hoped that the railway would provide a cheap way of exporting the country’s natural
resources and, thereby, attract investors in the country.
So, yet another cautionary tale for anyone thinking of doing a bit of mining in Afghanistan – for whatever: even
if you could dig it out of the ground (which you cannot), currently you couldn’t get the stuff out of the country
by train, if you wanted to.
Back here in the U.S., there’s been a deal of talk recently about getting rid of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act – inwhole or in part. Back at the end of January, Michael Piwowar, the SEC’s acting Chairman, said the agency
would reconsider enforcement of the reporting regulation regarding conflict minerals. The hope for many wasthat it would soon be shown the door. Last Friday (February 24), however, Shelley Parratt, acting Director of
Division of Corporation Finance at the SEC, announced that companies must continue to comply with thereporting rule.
Whether or not anything happens anytime soon remains moot. Whilst a new act of Congress will be required
to repeal the original act, any changes to the rule need a commission vote. But, unfortunately, the commission
is operating with only two out of a full complement of five commissioners – Piwowar, a Republican, and Kara
Stein, a Democrat. So, obviously, nothing’s going to happen for the time being. Or at least not until President
Trump names two further Republican commissioners.
I shall keep my eyes open and report back on any developments.
In the meantime, though, as always, I remain, with best wishes from New YorkYours
Tom Butcher, February 28th, 2017©2017 Tom Butcher
1

The Wall Street Journal: Afghanistan Struggles to Access China’s New Silk Road, February 25, 2016

12

IN BRIEF
UK: Building our Industrial Strategy
This consultation closes at 11:45pm on 17 April 2017
The UK Government is seeking views on their approach to building a modern industrial strategy, with the aimof delivering an economy that works for everyone.
“We want to build an industrial strategy that addresses long-term challenges to the UK economy. Our aim is toimprove living standards and economic growth by increasing productivity and driving growth across the wholecountry.
This green paper sets out our approach and some early actions we have committed to take. It is not intended to be
the last word, but instead to start a consultation.
We hope anyone with an interest will respond. We want to hear from every part of the country, every sector ofindustry and businesses of every size – and from the people who work in them and use them.”
If you would like to comment individually, please visit the following website.
The MMTA will be contributing comments through the various industry networks in which we participate.
The green paper can be found on the following site www.gov.uk/government/consultations/building-ourindustrial-strategy and includes instructions on how to submit comments.

3D Printed Gas Turbine Blades
Siemens has produced its first 3D printed gas turbine blades. A multi-national team, including the company Materials Solution, a 3D
printing facility in the UK, has made these blades from high performing polycrystalline nickel super-alloy from powder form. These blades
have been fully revised from previous designs and have an improved internal cooling geometry.

“This is a groundbreaking success for the use of additive manufacturing in the field of power generation, one of the most demanding
areas of application for this technology,” says Willi Meixner, CEO of Siemens Power and Gas Division. “Additive manufacturing is a major
pillar in our digitization strategy. The successful tests resulted from the efforts of a committed international project team comprising
Siemens engineers from Finspong, Lincoln, and Berlin, as well as experts from Materials Solutions”
Gas turbine blades must withstand extreme conditions. Inside a turbine, they undergo high pressures, tremendous centrifugal forces, andhigh temperatures. At full power, blades rotate at 1,600 km/h and carry loads of 11 tons. The blades must also withstand tremendous heatbecause they are surrounded by 1,250°C gas when the turbine is in full operation. These new blades have been fully tested under thesechallenging conditions.
Conventional processing of turbine blades is by casting or forging, which are complex, costly and time-consuming. 3D printing greatly
decreases the time to make a part and uses a laser beam to heat and melt fine layers of metal powder until the part is complete.
Source: https://www.siemens.com/innovation/en/home/pictures-of-the-future/industry-and-automation/additive-manufacturing-3d-printed-gas-turbine-blades.html

13

Gallium as a simple,

Image 1

reversible adhesive
Gallium has been found to have rather interesting new use. Researchers at
the Max Planck Institute have created a reversible adhesive from the metalthat displays glue-like properties. Potential applications for this discovery
range from industrial electronics, pick-and-place processes and short-termsilicon wafer bonding, to feet for climbing robots. Reversible, temporary
adhesives are incredibly useful to any manufacturer that needs to rapidly
move small, difficult-to-handle components. For robots, the temporary
adhesive could allow the machine to climb up different surfaces.
Gallium’s very low melting temperature of just 29.76° C—meaning it
famously melts in the palm of your hand - has allowed scientists at the Max
Planck Institute to introduce a droplet of liquid gallium between two objects,
cooling it slightly to solidify, which then bonds the two objects together. To
separate the objects, the temperature is simply raised slightly meaning
they come apart with a negligible force.
"Wetting an object with a metallic liquid such as gallium that forms a bondwhen cooled slightly is a far more gentle process for fragile materials thansucking them up using a vacuum," said Metin Sitti, Director at the Max Planck
Institute for Intelligent Systems.
The advantages of this gallium adhesive other the vacuum technique is thatthe bond doesn’t require constant energy to maintain and only a quick blast ofheat to release it.
The gallium can also be used over and over again, as it is never depleted byleaving residues behind. There is the added bonus of gallium conducting
electricity, meaning that it is able to be used in temporary circuit connections
multiple times.
To test their theories on gallium as an adhesive, the researchers dipped the tipof a cylindrical elastomer rod in liquid gallium, then brought it into contact witha range of materials, including glass, plastic, and gold. The tip was then cooled
to 23° C (73° F) with the aid of a peltier-effect, thermoelectric cooling device.
(see Image 1.) The resulting bond between the elastomer and the test
materials was very strong for each material combination. Measurementsof the adhesive strength in both liquid and solid phases of gallium werealso tested.
"The behaviour of these two values tells us something about the true
reversibility and switchability of the adhesion process," said Metin Sitti. "Thegreater the difference of the binding power between the liquid and solid state,
the easier it is to reverse and switch the adhesive effect."
Gallium also worked particularly well in tests on rough surfaces and evenworked when wet. This is considered unusual for most adhesives, asadhesives that have shown powerful sticking values on rough or wet surfaces
had always had poor reversibility. A rough surface has a greater surface area
for a traditional adhesive to cling to, which logically would make it likely that it
would be more difficult to pull apart again.
"These are surface conditions that showed up as major weaknesses of
14

reversible micro/nanostructured adhesives proposed recently," said Sitti.
As a result of its performance in these conditions, the researchers believe
gallium is a perfect fit for biological uses, and Sitti envisions that it may one day
be used to move individual cells, tissue samples, or even entire organs, inlaboratories or hospitals.
For now, the team will continue exploring potential applications, as well as
looking at ways to optimise the technique and studying alloys of gallium
with other metals, such as indium, to investigate other uses at different
temperatures.
The results of this research were recently published in the journal Advanced

Materials.
Source: Max Planck Institute

Update on EU Conflict Minerals Legislation
On 16 March 2017, the European Parliament approved a draft EU
regulation to prevent the minerals trade from funding conflict andhuman rights violations by 558 votes to 17. This regulation will
obligate all but the smallest EU importers of tin, tungsten,tantalum, gold to do due diligence checks on their suppliers, andbig manufacturers will also have to disclose how they plan tomonitor their sources to comply with the rules. The main elements
are as follows:

Mandatory Checks for Importers - due diligence checks, inaccordance with OECD guidelines, should be mandatory forimporters of tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold and their ores
from conflict and high-risk areas. Importers shall also keep
documentation demonstrating their respective compliancewith those obligations, including the results of the
independent third-party audits.



Small Importer Exemption - small importers, accounting for
5%, from the mandatory checks. (Thresholds are set out inthe annex of the full document, which you can find byclicking on the link below).



Recycled materials are also exempt.



Review Clause - Two years after the date of application ofthis Regulation and every three years thereafter, theCommission should review the functioning and theeffectiveness of this Regulation and the latest impact of thescheme on the ground. It may also have to propose additional

mandatory measures should the application of due diligenceby companies prove unsatisfactory.



Disclosure obligations - Union importers of minerals or
metals shall make available to the Member State competentauthorities the reports of any third-party audit or evidence ofconformity with a supply chain due diligence scheme
recognised by the Commission. They shall also make available
to their immediate downstream purchasers all information
gained and maintained pursuant to their supply chain due
diligence with due regard for business confidentiality andother competitive concerns.



Recognition of Supply Chain Due Diligence Schemes Governments, industry associations and groupings ofinterested organisations having due diligence schemes in place(‘scheme owners’) may apply to the Commission to havethe supply chain due diligence schemes that aredeveloped and overseen by them recognised by theCommission. That application shall be supported by
Scope – Tin, Tantalum, Tungsten and Gold.
adequate evidence and information.



Third-Party Audits – third party audits, which will include
information on all of Union importer’s activities, processes
and systems used to implement supply chain due diligence
regarding minerals or metals, including their management
system, risk management and disclosure of information. The
audit shall also include recommendations to the importer as
to how to improve its due diligence practices and must
respect the audit principles as laid down in the OECD Due
Diligence Guidelines.

Once the Council has approved the deal, it will be published in the
EU Official Journal. Due diligence obligations will apply from
1 January 2021 to allow member states time to appoint competentauthorities and importers to become familiar with their obligations.
To read more, please click here. Or visit http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
portal/en and search for ‘conflict minerals’
Summary courtesy of the CRM AllianceBlood Repellent, life-saving
titanium
The human body often rejects foreign objects introduced. Thismechanism is designed to protect the body from damage, but isvery problematic for medical devices implanted to help a patient.
When a medical implant such as a stent or catheter is rejected by
the body, blood platelets adhere to the device, forming a clot that
encapsulates it. Those clots can lead to heart attacks, embolisms or
infections. The current less than ideal solution, is to put patients on
blood clots forming, and starting the chain of events that leads toblood-thinning medications for the rest of their lives.
more serious medical problems. The surface texture andEngineers at Colorado State University, Dr Arun Kota and Ketul
chemistry of fluorinated nanotubes was found to produce thePopat, have developed blood repellent titanium that could be used lowest level contact.
to make the implants.
They produced this surface by taking a piece of titanium andIn a previous edition of the Crucible, we talked about
growing the nanotubes using anodisation. The super liquidsuperhydrophobic materials, making water form droplets on theirrepelling surface is achieved with this type of texture and lowsurface. A blood repellent material is therefore superhaemophobic. surface-energy fluorination chemistry. The chemistry part of theprocess used silanisation (covering the surface with a specific type
An image of a fluorinated nanotubes surface textureof molecule).
One problem that the scientists need to watch out for is making
sure the surface is not too flaky.
So far, tests have been made by simply using blood droplets sitting
still on the surface. The next phase of testing will need the blood toflow dynamically over the surface, in order to mimic the flow ofblood around the body. This would be followed by testing in an
animal model. The scientists predict that it will be at lest 4-5 years
before we see implants made from this blood repellent material.

The idea is that the blood does not meet the surface of the titanium
and instead comes into contact with a layer of trapped air. As there
is very little contact made, there is a greatly decreased chance ofA paper on their research was recently published in thejournal Advanced Health Care Materials.
Source: Colorado State University
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