RARE -- CHAPTER 14 -- THE NEXT PRECIOUS METALS

CHAPTER 14 – THE NEXT PRECIOUS METALS

In this chapter, the author looks at the next generation of rare and scarce metals (and possible replacements) whose rapidly evolving use may one day earn them the distinction of the next precious metals.  In the section the Department of Defense’s lust for beryllium, the author presents the case for the critical importance of high-purity beryllium in times of protracted military engagement.  Beryllium is used as the lightweight structural metal used for frames in 5 US fighter crafts; as copper-beryllium alloys used in many electrical systems in manned craft and drones, x-ray and radar equipment for identifying bombs, guided missiles, and improvised explosive devices (IED’s); and in mirrors used in the visual and optical systems of tanks because beryllium makes the mirrors resistant to vibrational distortion.  High-purity beryllium is worth $0.5 million/ton.  A private corporation, Materion in Ohio, provides the DoD 2/3 of its plant output.  Germany and Kazakhstan are the only two significant sources of imported beryllium for the US. 

Next on the list is lanthanum, which has been widely used in in welding equipment, camping lamps, movie theater projectors, and, more recently, as a key component of nickel-metal hydride batteries found in electronic devices and batteries including electric car batteries.  Although, not as rare as other metals, its complicated separation and extraction process makes it less available than others.  The need for lanthanum is prjected to keep increasing due to its use in the growing market for electric cars:  Toyota Prius batteries already require about 20 lb lanthanum and 2 lb neodymium per car.  Lanthanum is also used in car batteries for the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Motors’ Roadster. 

The next metal, thorium, is a radioactive metal typically found in ores processed form rare earth metals.  It has been used in handheld gas lamps and as additive in class manufacturing until it was deemed too dangerous for close-quarter use due to its radioactivity.  Thorium used in lamp mantles has been replaced by yttrium.  Thorium is being billed as a possible safer alternative to uranium for generating electrical power in nuclear reactors.  In a thorium reactor, a small amount of uranium will be used to initiate the nuclear reaction in thorium fluoride salt.  The first thorium reactor built in the US was in the military town of Oak Ridge, TN which ran between 1965-1969.  Using a thorium mixture to power nuclear reactors has the added advantage of containing the powerful gamma emitter thallium-208, exposure to which can be deadly.  This provides a deterrent to theft of thorium as manufacturing a bomb from it will require heavy-duty shielding to prevent detection of the intensely radioactive thallium-208 signature.  Some disadvantages of a thorium nuclear power plant:  its nuclear reactions do not create weapons-grade waste by-products, requires more vigilant monitoring because of production of dangerous amounts of xenon gas.  China is on-track for constructing a thorium reactor for large-scale energy production.  India is exploring it as well.

Neodymium is the most widely used permanent magnet (does not lose its magnetic properties): in hard drives, wind turbines, purse button clasps, superconductors, etc.  Niobium is also used as a magnet in safety implements, electronic, tiny speakers, implantable devices like pacemakers because of its hypoallergenic properties, and superconductors.  Superconductors are used in particle accelerators; the CERN Large Hadron Collider used in search of the Higgs Particle used superconductors made from niobium-titanium alloy magnets. These strong permanent magnets are also used in maglev trains in China and Japan.  This type of technology is being considered to construct vertical tracks for a magnetic field-launch propulsion system that can propel cargo at very high speeds to enable it to escape the earth’s gravitational attraction.  This is projected to cost 1% of the estimated cost of other systems.  Potential uses of strong permanent magnets in biology in creating three-dimensional cell cultures have also been explored:  bacteria can be coated with magnetic nanoparticles and suspended in space in the presence of a neodymium magnet so that their growth and proliferation in 3-dimensional space can be observed (in contrast to the 2-dimensional world of a petri dish).  This is expected to resemble tissue construction more closely.

Hafnium is a rarely used metal whose weaponizable property has been investigated in the last two decades.  The basis for considering the possibility of building hafnium explosives was an experiment in which hafnium-178 was observed to emit gamma rays after being exposed to an x-ray beam produced using a dental x-ray equipment.  The theory suggests that the intense x-ray beam provided a trigger for the energy stored in the hafnium atoms to be released in a “quick flood” in contrast with the slow release over its 31-year half-life through normal decay.  Extrapolations from results of this experiment suggest that an ounce of single hafnium can release enough energy to boil 120 tons of room temperature water.  The main body appointed by the US government to investigate the results came out with a critical report in 1997, citing insufficient experimental evidence.  The weaponizable promise of hafnium lies in the small amount needed to release a lot of energy at one time and the use of a fairly easily accessible and portable dental x-ray machine.  In addition to hafnium, nuclear isomers of tantalum, osmium, and platinum exist that are potential candidates for induced gamma emission.

Of the 17 rare earth metals, there are eight that 8 that cannot be produced in the US in usable amounts because there are no known deposits in the US: Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Europium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, and Lutetium.  In the section on graphene, the author presents some promising experimental data suggesting the value of this newly discovered material as a possible replacement for many metals.  Graphene is an extremely thin material made from a single layer of carbon atoms hexagonally bonded to each other.  It has considerable strength as a material stronger than steel and approximating that of diamond.  It is also a very good electrical conductor.  While not a metal, it may one day prove to be a more easily acquired replacement for rare and scarce metals. The problem of large-scale production appears close to being solved when the Advanced Institute of Technology in Korea published a synthetic method using germanium to produce uniform sheets suitable for large-scale production.  Some of the potential applications for graphene include aircraft bodies, large-scale water desalination, super-efficient transistors, radioactive waste disposal, condoms, and other strong, lightweight materials that can be manufactured using a 3-D printer.

·          “Humankind’s history of mining and cherishing gold reaches back to about 4600 BCE.”  The earliest evidence of the high value placed on gold (above iron, lead or other metals in use at the same time) is the inclusion of gold trinkets in graves found in Bulgaria’s Varna Necropolis.

·         In this chapter, the author looks at the next generation of rare and scarce metals whose rapidly evolving use may one day earn them the distinction of the next precious metals.

·         THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE’S LUST FOR BERYLLIUM

·         8 of the 17 rare metals that cannot be produced in the US in usable amounts because there are no known deposits in the US:

o   Terbium

o   Dysprosium

o   Holmium

o   Europium

o   Erbium

o   Thulium

o   Ytterbium

o   Lutetium

·         High-purity beryllium has been considered by the US Department of Defense as a critical metal in time of a protracted military engagement.

·         Beryllium is used in the following applications:

o   Lightweight structural metal used for frames in 5 US fighter craft

o   Copper-beryllium alloys are used in many electrical systems in manned craft and drones, x-ray and radar equipment for identifying bombs, guided missiles, and improvised explosive devices (IED’s)

o   Mirrors used in the visual and optical systems of tanks because beryllium makes the mirrors resistant to vibrational distortion.

·         High-purity beryllium is worth $0.5 million/ton.  A private corporation, Materion in Ohio, provides the DoD 2/3 of its plant output.  Germany and Kazakhstan are the only two significant sources of imported beryllium for the US.

·         LANTHANUM AND THE ELECTRIC CAR

·         Uses of lanthanum:

o   In welding equipment

o   Lamps used for camping

o   In movie theater projectors

o   Key component of nickel-metal hydride

·         Not as rare as the other rare metals but it is more complicated to separate and extract limiting its availability

·          The need for lanthanum is just going to keep increasing: Toyota Prius batteries already require about 20 lb lanthanum and 2 lb neodymium per car.  Lanthanum is also used in car batteries for the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Motors’ Roadster.

·         GRAPHENE

·         Graphene is an extremely thin material made from a single layer of carbon atoms hexagonally bonded to each other.  It has considerable strength as a material stronger than steel and approximating that of diamond.  It is also a very good electrical conductor.  While not a metal, it may one day prove to be a more easily acquired replacement for rare and scarce metals.

·         It was first created by the Russian scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov in 2004 and in 2010, they won the Nobel Prize in Physics for its discovery.

·         In early 2014, the Advanced Institute of Technology in Korea published a synthetic method using germanium to produce uniform sheets suitable for large-scale production.

·         Some of the potential applications for graphene include aircraft bodies, large-scale water desalination, super-efficient transistors, radioactive waste disposal, condoms, and other strong, lightweight materials that can be manufactured using a 3-D printer.

·         THORIUM AS A REVOLUTIONARY ENERGY SOURCE

·         Thorium is typically found in ores processed form rare earth metals.

·         Thorium used to be found in handheld gas lamps and as additive in class manufacturing until it was deemed too dangerous for close-quarter use to its radioactivity. “Long-term exposure to thorium mantles (say, sitting by a campfire every weekend for decades) will probably not bring any harm; however, those exposed to larger number of the fragile lamp mantles on a daily basis – individuals working in a manufacturing capacity - tread a dangerous line.  Inhalation of thorium-containing molecules in a factory environment is extremely difficult to protect against, leaving the workforce subject to thorium exposure and deposits lodging in their lungs.”

·         It has even found use as toothpaste additive manufactured by a German company to make use of leftover thorium from lamp mantle manufacturing.

·         Thorium used in lamp mantles has been replaced by yttrium.

·         The metal thorium was co-discovered by Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius and Norwegian mineralogist Reverend Morten Thrane Esmark in 1828.

·         It is far less dangerous than uranium and is being considered as safer alternative to uranium for generating nuclear power.  In a thorium reactor, a small amount of uranium will be used to initiate the nuclear reaction in thorium fluoride salt.  The first thorium reactor built in the US was in the military town of Oak Ridge, TN which ran between 1965-1969.

·         Using a thorium mixture to power nuclear reactors has the added advantage of containing the powerful gamma emitter thallium-208, exposure to which can be deadly.  This provides a deterrent to theft of thorium as manufacturing a bomb from it will require heavy-duty shielding to prevent detection of the intensely radioactive thallium-208 signature.

·         Some disadvantages of a thorium nuclear power plant:  its nuclear reactions do not create weapons-grade waste by-products, requires more vigilant monitoring because of production of dangerous amounts of xenon gas

·         China is on-track for constructing a thorium reactor for large-scale energy production.  India is exploring it as well.

·         NEODYMIUM AND NIOBIUM

·         Neodymium is the most widely used permanent magnet (does not lose its magnetic properties): in hard drives, wind turbines, purse button clasps, superconductors, etc.

·         Niobium is also used as a magnet in safety implements, electronic, tiny speakers, implantable devices like pacemakers because of its hypoallergenic properties,

·         Superconducting magnets are produced when an electrical current is conducted through metal coils to generate the strongest measured magnetic fields.  “Using a wire made of a permanent magnet, like neodymium, turns the basic run-of-the-mill electromagnet into a superconducting one.”

·         Superconductors are used in particle accelerators.  The CERN Large Hadron Collider used in search of the Higgs Particle used superconductors made from niobium-titanium alloy magnets.

·         These strong permanent magnets are also used in maglev trains in China and Japan.  This type of technology is being considered to construct vertical tracks for a magnetic field-launch propulsion system that can propel cargo at very high speeds to enable it to escape the earth’s gravitational attraction.  This is projected to cost 1% of the estimated cost of other systems.

·         Potential use of strong permanent magnets in biology in creating three-dimensional cell cultures:  bacteria can be coated with magnetic nanoparticles and suspended in space in the presence of a neodymium magnet so that their growth and proliferation in 3-dimensional space can be observed (in contrast to the 2-dimensional world of a petri dish).  This is expected to resemble tissue construction more closely.

·         COULD HAFNIUM ALTER THE FUTURE OF WARFARE?

·         Hafnium is a rarely used metal.

·         In an experiment in which a small amount of a nuclear isomer* of Hf – 178 is exposed to a beam of x-rays (using dental equipment), researchers observed an “incredible amount” of energy in the form of gamma rays.  (*”Nuclear isomers differ from the typical definition of isomer in that the number of neutrons is stable, but one or more of the neutrons carries with it an inordinate amount of energy.”).  The theory suggests that the intense x-ray beam provided a trigger for the energy stored in the hafnium atoms to be released in a “quick flood” in contrast with the slow release over its 31-year half-life through normal decay.  Extrapolations from results of this experiment suggest that an ounce of single hafnium can release enough energy to boil 120 tons of room temperature water.

·         From this experiment grew the consideration of building hafnium explosives whose viability was explored by the JASON Defense Advisory Panel.  The JASON Panel was quite critical of the results due to insufficient experimental evidence as reported in a 1997 meeting.

·         The weaponizable promise of hafnium lies in the small amount needed to release a lot of energy at one time and the use of a fairly easily accessible and portable dental x-ray machine.

·         In addition to hafnium, nuclear isomers of tantalum, osmium, and platinum exist that are potential candidates for induced gamma emission.