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Siemens Launches Permanent Magnet-Based Gearless Wind Turbine
Progress in the development of commercially-viable direct drive wind turbines took a significant step forward last week, with the official launch by Siemens Energy of its SWT-3.0-101 wind turbine. This turbine has a faceplate rating of 3 MW, has no gearbox and uses a permanent magnet generator to produce electricity. What’s really interesting about this system [...]
Continue reading...The Concerted European Action On Magnets: A Model For Facing The Rare Earths Challenge?
10. February 2010
In 1984, the magnetic materials research community in Europe was at a formidable crossroads. The latter part of 1983 had seen industrial research groups in the USA and Japan simultaneously announce the discovery of a promising new permanent magnet material, based on the neodymium-iron-boron [Nd-Fe-B] alloy system. This long-sought successor to the ever more expensive [...]
Continue reading...Magnetic Tape Gets A Boost
25. January 2010
Earlier this week, MIT’s Technology Review published a story on a new magnetic tape material which, combined with a novel tape-reading technology, can produce data storage capacities of 35 Tb per cartridge – over 40 times higher than current tape storage systems. The research was conducted at IBM’S Zurich Research Labs in Switzerland, in conjunction [...]
Continue reading...How do We Deal With The Pollution Associated With Chinese Rare Earth Production?
5. December 2009
I’ve just finished writing up a new article over at Rare MetalBlog titled “Chinese Rare Earth Production: A Darker Shade of Green?“. The article discusses a new Sunday Times report on the extensive pollution caused by the mining and production of rare earths in China, and the effects that they’re having on the local people. [...]
Continue reading...US Rare Earths, Inc.: A Discussion With Ed Cowle And Jack Lifton
23. November 2009
Last week, I spent over an hour with Ed Cowle, CEO of U.S. Rare Earths, Inc., a privately-held rare earths junior mining company, and Jack Lifton, Founding Editor of The Jack Lifton Report and a consultant to U.S. Rare Earths. The discussion was prompted by an earlier post over at the RareMetalBlog Web site, concerning [...]
Continue reading...Rare Earths & Permanent Magnets On The Radio Airwaves
16. November 2009
Over the past few days, Australia’s ABC Radio National broadcast not one, but two items on rare earth metals, to both of which I heartily recommend listening. The first item was broadcast on the Breakfast program on Friday, and lasts a little over 6 minutes. It’s an introductory piece on the subject, but spends significant time [...]
Continue reading...The Problems Of Sourcing Wind Turbines And Rare Earth Metals From China
12. November 2009
Last weekend, Democrat US Senator Chuck Schumer of NY made headlines with his comments on a recent plan to fund a wind farm in Texas, using Federal stimulus money to pay for Chinese-built wind turbines. Rare metals commentator and analyst Jack Lifton has posted a new article on the subject, called “The Rare Earth Crisis [...]
Continue reading...DMTC Hosts 2nd Annual Strategic Materials Conference
8. November 2009
The Defense Metals Technology Center [DMTC], based in North Canton, Ohio, is hosting its 2nd Annual Strategic Materials Conference [SMC] during Feb 1-2, 2010 in Cleveland, Ohio. According to the DMTC Web site: The Defense Metals Technology Center (DMTC) was formed in January, 2007 in order to establish an industrial base capable of affordably producing [...]
Continue reading...USMMA Forms New Advisory Board
28. October 2009
Earlier today, the United States Magnet Materials Association [USMMA] announced the formation of a new Advisory Board, comprising three highly-respected members of the magnetics & rare earths community. Joining the USMMA in this capacity are: Jack Lifton, of Jack Lifton LLC and The Jack Lifton Report, who is a well known commentator and consultant with [...]
Continue reading...The Critical & Strategic Metals Shindig
28. October 2009
I know I’ve been rather lax in following up on my last post here, sent just before the Critical & Strategic Metals Conference in Washington DC last week. It was a most interesting event. It gave many folks a chance to interact with other parts of the supply chain that they might not have directly [...]
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25. April 2010
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