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While innovation to substitute an expensive ingredient from a potentially unreliable supplier is laudable, from a chemist/metallurgist point of view I wish ther
by shaqbert 9y ago
While innovation to substitute an expensive ingredient from a potentially unreliable supplier is laudable, from a chemist/metallurgist point of view I wish there was more innovation in mining and cleaning up the process of getting rare earth in the first place. Every rare earth element increases option value and the potential to make further progress.
The main reason rare earth are expensive is that they mining is done in decades old tech fashion, and dirty as hell. China does not seem to mind as much, as long as it is controlling a strategic resource. Finding higher concentration deposits, and improving the process of extracting the rare earths elements is something I wish to happen more of...
- greendesk 9y agoI also hope for innovation in the mining business. This also seems to be underserved niche for start-up companies. From miners that I have talked with, this is a small-moving enterprise setup.
- perilunar 9y agoThe real innovation in mining is coming from companies like Planetary Resource and Deep Space Industries.
- Cthulhu_ 9y agoThose are moonshot companies; if they work they'd have the potential to bring in trillions worth of minerals from space, but before they get there they'll probably require hundreds of billions of investment first. Plus they'd destabilize the market.
- bdamm 9y agoNo doubt this innovation will occur once cheap and dirty mining practices are banned globally. Until then, any slightly more expensive and clean method has to compete with the cheap and dirty, and in the mining business, that makes you non-competitive fast.