Photo: Aluminum, titanium and platinum, in unexpected colors.
Credit: Richard Baker, University of Rochester.
In 2006, U.S. scientists announced the first step to a perfect, pitch-black Batmobile for the hero of The Dark Knight. Using lasers (or more accurately, a quick beam of light called a femtosecond laser pulse), scientists discovered a way to alter the surface properties of […]

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It surprised me to read how little platinum is actually in circulation, even though one in five goods manufactured either contains or is produced using the metal. According to the article, all the platinum ever mined would fit in a room measuring 25ft square (I notice they didn’t say how high it was though!). Nevertheless, when […]

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Once again rising near $1,000 an ounce — the same high prices that led some consumers to sell their gold jewelry and others to melt the kitchen sink — gold’s great heights on Tuesday were quick to fall as oil prices slowed the progress of gold and several other metals that were boosted Monday.
Gold hit that staggering […]

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Few metals are as emotive as uranium. Due to its not unique but certainly special properties, uranium can be both a source of unlimited low emission power or a potential method of mass destruction either in the form of a bomb or as with Chernobyl when human error can allow a plant operation to go horribly […]

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Or so went JP Morgan’s statement to the US Congress in 1913. Apart from quoting that perceptive line, an article in MineWeb also covers a new report by Erste Bank of Austria that predicts the gold price will be $1200/oz by the end of the year and could exceed the inflation adjusted all time high […]

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A toilet seat made out of solid gold may not be in the cards for one Mr. Austin Powers, but Hong Kong entrepreneur Lam Sai-wing is holding tight to his own sparkling commode, a record-breaking, 24-carat, fully-flushable piece of artwork.
In 2001, Mr. Lam began building a palace that rivals the homes of kings and queens – […]

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One little side benefit of high commodity prices is companies start to quickly ramp up product substitution and new product innovation. Two years ago, when nickel skyrocketed, many firms moved toward 400 series stainless alloys and other product substitutions. High oil prices have a dual benefit - they change consumer behavior which in turn changes […]

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In a move that analysts consider a bullish sign for the industry, four Chinese gold producers are battling over rights to develop the promising Yangshan Gold Mine. China now produces more gold than any other country, even South Africa, and the mine is rumored to be China’s largest gold bullion deposit.
Although full financial details have […]

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Photo Credit: No Dirty Gold (c) 2006.
Mining for gold isn’t always as pretty as that glimmering necklace or your favorite gold ring. “Customers don’t realize that one wedding ring weighs 10 grams and causes three tons of toxic waste,” says Greg Valerio, owner of ethical jewelry company Cred, which partners with the Colombia-based Green Gold Corporation.
We’ve all […]

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Gold, copper, silver, platinum, and zinc are a few of the metals that hide deep within the ocean floor and camp out in deep-sea vents. As hoards of precious metals plummet and the metals become scarcer, exploring and mining beneath the waves seems more commercially viable. British engineering company Soil Machine Dynamics is creating the […]

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