The ‘rare earth elements’ (REEs) are a series of similar elements that are rarely encountered on the Earth’s surface. They’re not even allowed to sit in the proper periodic table, banished to a small row floating below with only the ‘actinide series’ (the what?!) for company. REEs have always been the lonely kid in the playground, but now our mum is making us in ...[Read More]
Chinese-African Partnerships: Impact in the Mining Industry
China has boosted its aid contribution to the African continent. Whilst the total is still low compared with the US aid budget, the trend signifies a wider partnership between the two giants. In the UK, international aid is mainly spent on protecting our national interests. China is emerging as an economic superpower and as a major aid donor, and this raises the question – what interest does ...[Read More]
In the News (March 2013)
A look at some of the issues that have caught my eye in the news recently Deep sea mining: Speculation surrounding the possibility of mining metal rich seafloor nodules has been going on for decades. These nodules grow slowly, so they adsorb high concentrations of metals from seawater, including the increasingly valuable rare earth metals. This resource has not been widely exploited before now bec ...[Read More]
Resources: Free Online Training on Responsible Mining
Impactmin offer free online training courses where you can learn more about the impact of mining. Here Peter Gyuris, the project manager of Impactmin, writes to tell us more about what the courses have to offer. In its strictest sense, the term “Mining” refers directly to the activity of extraction of metallic or non-metallic resources from the Earth’s crust (Merriam-Webster). More commonly ...[Read More]