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> One major problem that Re6Se8Cl2 faces is that rhenium is one of the rarest elements on Earth. This makes Re6Se8Cl2 very expensive and unlikely to ever make i
by dist-epoch 3y ago
> One major problem that Re6Se8Cl2 faces is that rhenium is one of the rarest elements on Earth. This makes Re6Se8Cl2 very expensive and unlikely to ever make its way into a commercial product.
Something doesn't add up.
Rhenium price seems to be $2k/kg. Gold price is $62k/kg. Silver price is $0.8k/kg. So Rhenium is about 3 times as expensive as silver and 30 times cheaper than gold.
- lstodd 3y agoI guess it's because there isn't much demand. If this takes off, prices will too.
- brudgers 3y agoMy understanding (from binge watching Asianometry) is that the rare earth metals are not mined directly. Instead they are extracted from ores in the tailings of large scale mining operations like coal or copper and refined by specialty processors. It is not commercially viable to mine the rare earth elements on their own. Because the price is only $2k/kg, it makes more sense to build a business around all the coal (or whatever) that has to be moved to get a kg of a rare earth. Because you still have to move all that dirt. Basically, the price reflects only the costs of refining, marketing, and distribution. Extraction is sunk cost.
- runeks 3y ago> Rhenium price seems to be $2k/kg Based on what?