The first time I saw a Harry Potter movie, I wasn’t able to finish it. A “scary, scary troll” basically chased me and my kindergarten accomplice from the theater. Seriously, if we hadn’t left right then, he probably would have leapt from the screen and made scary, scary troll noises as he followed us home. […]

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This blog entry comes from guest editor, Jason Busch of  SpendMatters
I recently purchased a new 3G Apple iPhone but was dismayed to learn upon unpacking the oh-so-cool chi-chi box that the venerable tech giant – now as large as Google from a market cap standpoint – had replaced the metal casing with a black plastic […]

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It isn’t often that we side with unions of any type. But in this case, the Chief of United’s airline pilots, in a letter to the FAA, recently said, “maintenance standards have deteriorated at United as operational decisions are increasingly driven by economic considerations,” according to this Wall Street Journal article. From a quality perspective, […]

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First, mining companies found metals in them thar’ hills. More recently, they decided to dive headfirst into the waves and excavate metals beneath the ocean floor. In a few years, mining companies might have the opportunity to explore infinity – and beyond.

Forget about about global sourcing. How does intergalactic sourcing sound? Last week, the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp. hosted the “Asteroid […]

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Photo Credit: Design for Sustainability.
There’s a new definition for “superpower” in Rock Port, Mo., the first self-sufficient town in the U.S. to receive all of its energy from wind power. Located in the foothills of the Ozarks, this environmentally-friendly Missouri town has a small population of about 1,300 people. Generating five megawatts per day and […]

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Photo Credit: University of Michigan News Services.
After covering 4,000 cross-country kilometers in a 10-day competition, an elite group of solar-powered cars are finally getting their day in the shade. The 2008 North American Solar Challenge, an event where college students design, build and race cars powered by the sun, ended last week after the cars […]

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I really enjoy when our HVAC repair guy comes to pay a visit (not because I enjoy sweltering in 90 degree heat mind you when the AC isn’t working) but when you talk to someone in the trades who really knows their business and who happens to recognize some interesting trends. My first question, “have […]

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Last week Crain’s Chicago had a story on the sale of a local titanium powder company, International Titanium Powder LLC (ITP) to a Maryland based firm, Cristal U.S. Inc (owned by Cristal Global, a Saudi company). It wasn’t a typical M&A story of so and so bought such and such. The article stated that the […]

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Outside of the industry it is often assumed that most titanium bearing ores such as ilmenite and rutile are turned into titanium metal (for well known applications in aerospace and medical implants due to its high strength and low weight). In fact 95% of titanium is used as the oxide in pigments for paints, plastics and […]

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It’s Titanium Tuesday here at MetalMiner. We’ll cover three topics on the sector, beginning with a general look at the titanium producer segment and pricing. A second piece will cover product innovations to reduce metal costs, and afterwards, you can read a third piece on the controversial acquisition of a US titanium producer. According to this article, […]

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