27 new species from Peru, lithium in Mali, China's Great Solar Wall, the sea turtle renaissance, snow leopards in Kazakhstan, an Anthropocene-ready California grid, a new U.S. wildlife fund, and more!
Another really good one. I would like to offer two thoughts on these topics.
1. Spodume, a lithium bearing pyroxene mineral, is not actually a good source of lithium for batteries. It is a good source of lithium for glasses. I learned this while consulting for a well known and controversial project in western maine.
2. All those solar farms over fertile agricultural lands are not quite what they seem. They were largely put where there because those fields are tainted with forever chemicals from the beneficial reuse of solid wastes, fire training activities, or AFFF foam migration. Solar leases are a good way for the farmer to maintain a revenue stream through senescence, and it is still possible for the land to be available for phytoremediation strategies being pioneered at DOD-related AFFF remediation activities and a few non-DOD related sites. The pace at which this type of remediation blossoms is coupled tightly with the role out of some really cool decarbonization technologies (pyrolysis w/ flameless thermal oxidation / biocharacene technology).
Thanks for adding this context! I'm aware that spodumene is indeed often used as a source of lithium for glass manufacturing, but it's also used as a source of lithium for EV battery manufacturing due to high demand. I personally would bet that given the high expected volume of production from the Goulamina mine and China's interest, a lot of that Malian lithium will end up in EV batteries.
Purity was a big factor in the deposit I am familiar with.
Thanks for the link. What a treatment train! Starting with lithium salts is way easier and way less energy needed. Dissolving silicates is super energy intensive and way less wastes - hence why it is not likely to be a long term solution and is being done in a third world nation.
Another random thought, but likely applicable is that lithium bearing pegmatites are often co-located with beryllium and boron, and therefore gem quality pockets of beryl and tourmaline. They may be going after all of it. Gem pockets are hard to find jackpots, so getting value out of the waste materials would be one way to fund a gem search.
Best way to approach business is to always try to make money on everything they can. Good thing about mining in pegmatites is it is basically not much different than a granite rock quarry - no acid mine drainage or weird cascading reactions. fugitive dust and noise are the big issues.
great compilation of solar panel expansions world-wide, along with other inspiring updates. Thanks for doing all this work to bring it together for us, Sam!
Another really good one. I would like to offer two thoughts on these topics.
1. Spodume, a lithium bearing pyroxene mineral, is not actually a good source of lithium for batteries. It is a good source of lithium for glasses. I learned this while consulting for a well known and controversial project in western maine.
2. All those solar farms over fertile agricultural lands are not quite what they seem. They were largely put where there because those fields are tainted with forever chemicals from the beneficial reuse of solid wastes, fire training activities, or AFFF foam migration. Solar leases are a good way for the farmer to maintain a revenue stream through senescence, and it is still possible for the land to be available for phytoremediation strategies being pioneered at DOD-related AFFF remediation activities and a few non-DOD related sites. The pace at which this type of remediation blossoms is coupled tightly with the role out of some really cool decarbonization technologies (pyrolysis w/ flameless thermal oxidation / biocharacene technology).
Thanks for adding this context! I'm aware that spodumene is indeed often used as a source of lithium for glass manufacturing, but it's also used as a source of lithium for EV battery manufacturing due to high demand. I personally would bet that given the high expected volume of production from the Goulamina mine and China's interest, a lot of that Malian lithium will end up in EV batteries.
https://www.pall.com/en/chemicals-polymers/energy-storage/lithium-processing-spodumene.html
Purity was a big factor in the deposit I am familiar with.
Thanks for the link. What a treatment train! Starting with lithium salts is way easier and way less energy needed. Dissolving silicates is super energy intensive and way less wastes - hence why it is not likely to be a long term solution and is being done in a third world nation.
Another random thought, but likely applicable is that lithium bearing pegmatites are often co-located with beryllium and boron, and therefore gem quality pockets of beryl and tourmaline. They may be going after all of it. Gem pockets are hard to find jackpots, so getting value out of the waste materials would be one way to fund a gem search.
Best way to approach business is to always try to make money on everything they can. Good thing about mining in pegmatites is it is basically not much different than a granite rock quarry - no acid mine drainage or weird cascading reactions. fugitive dust and noise are the big issues.
great compilation of solar panel expansions world-wide, along with other inspiring updates. Thanks for doing all this work to bring it together for us, Sam!
Thank you so much!
Thank you for the research ans news. I am always in need of hearing some of the positives changes beinf made.
Other then its head, the rest of the "blob headed catfish" reminds me of the Plecostomus species. 🤔
So much enlightening information. Enjoy very much.
So much excellent news! I got a kick out of the horse depicted in the Chinese solar panels.