minerals

19 Stories

For These Kids, Toiling in Illegal Mines Is 'Only Option'

Lithium demand creates 'new frontier for mining' in Nigeria, with children doing much of the work

(Newser) - Dressed in a faded pink dress, 6-year-old Juliet Samaniya squats under scorching skies to chip at a jagged white rock with a stone tool. Dust coats her tiny hands and her hair as she works hour after hour, for less than a dollar a day in Nasarawa, Nigeria. The landscape...

Answer to Our Lithium Demand May Lie in Arkansas
Answer to Our
Lithium Demand
May Lie in Arkansas
NEW STUDY
Oct 22, 2024 10:10 AM CDT

Answer to Our Lithium Demand May Lie in Arkansas

New research shows the state could have up to 19M tons buried in Smackover Formation area

(Newser) - The International Energy Agency has predicted that demand for lithium could grow by 40 times by 2040, and one US state in particular may be the solution to that demand. Researchers say that Arkansas could have between 5 million and 19 million tons of the chemical element, used in batteries...

Nigeria Takes Aim at Malnutrition With ... Bouillon

As climate change wreaks havoc, African nation looks to a simple soup cube that everyone uses

(Newser) - Malnourished households in Nigeria soon will have a simple ingredient available to improve their intake of key vitamins and minerals. Government regulators are launching standards for adding iron, zinc, folic acid, and vitamin B12 to bouillon cubes at minimum levels recommended by experts. While the standards will be voluntary for...

The Universe Has a New Mineral
The Universe Has
a New Mineral
Sep 19, 2022 10:30 AM CDT

The Universe Has a New Mineral

China identifies transparent crystal on the moon

(Newser) - China has identified a new mineral on the moon, joining the exclusive club of nations able to make that claim. The transparent crystal has been named Changesite-(Y), after the Chinese lunar goddess Chang'e, reports Space.com . The International Mineralogical Association has confirmed the finding, which New Atlas reports is...

Fool's Gold May Not Be Worthless After All
Fool's Gold May Not
Be Worthless After All
in case you missed it
Aug 2, 2020 6:44 AM CDT

Fool's Gold May Not Be Worthless After All

Researchers find novel way to make it magnetic

(Newser) - Pyrite has the look of gold but, historically, none of the value—hence the nickname fool's gold. But researchers have now come up with a way to make the commonly found mineral much more appealing—and in the process, they induced magnetism electrically in a non-magnetic material for the...

You Could Find, Name a New Mineral

Scientists hope open challenge will reveal 145 unknown carbon minerals

(Newser) - Imagine flooring your friends with the line: "I discovered a carbon mineral." Scientists with the Deep Carbon Observatory hope that will one day be your fate. They've started the Carbon Mineral Challenge , which is urging professional and amateur mineral collectors to scour the planet for carbon-bearing minerals....

Wisconsin Crater Yields One of the Rarest Minerals

450M-year-old reidite find is most ancient yet

(Newser) - Reidite is one of the rarest minerals on earth—it's been found in only four places. The most recent is Rock Elm, Wisconsin, where scientists discovered the material in a crater, Phys.org reports. The crater has been around since the geologic period known as the Middle Ordovician, and...

Introducing the Earth's Most Abundant Mineral

It's called bridgmanite, and it just received its name

(Newser) - Quick, name the Earth's most abundant mineral. If you uttered "bridgmanite," that means you're clearly up on your geologic news because the mineral just got its name this month. In fact, that's because scientists finally saw it for the first time. As LiveScience explains, the...

Gold Miners Discover 'Unique' Mineral

Putnisite has a unique composition and structure, study says

(Newser) - Miners prospecting for nickel and gold in Western Australia have stumbled on a rare find: a mineral that's unique among the world's 4,000 discovered mineral species, LiveScience reports. Called putnisite, it ranges from dark to light purple, has a pink streak, and is found on volcanic rock,...

Aging Mars Rover May Have Made Its Best Find

Rocks full of likely clay minerals point to water

(Newser) - It's been more than nine years, but the Mars rover Opportunity just made a discovery that ranks among its biggest. The rover has discovered rock in the Endeavour Crater that's full of what appear to be clay minerals—suggesting it had extended contact with water, the BBC reports....

Meteorite Yields New Ancient Mineral

Panguite found inside 1969 fireball

(Newser) - A mineral new to science but older than our planet has been found in fragments of a meteorite that smashed into northern Mexico in 1969. Panguite was found in bits of the Allende meteorite by Caltech researchers who used an electron-scanning microscope to study minerals that were trapped inside the...

Moon Mineral Found in Ancient Rock ... on Earth

Last 'unique' lunar mineral was in Australia all along

(Newser) - A mineral brought back from the moon by astronauts in 1969 has been found on Earth for the first time, buried in billion-year-old rocks in Australia. Tranquillityite, named after the moon's Sea of Tranquility, had long been considered "the moon's own mineral." Two other previously unknown...

China Needs to Grow Up, US Needs to Wise Up

 China Needs to Grow Up, 
 US Needs to Wise Up 
paul krugman
Oct 18, 2010 1:21 PM CDT

China Needs to Grow Up, US Needs to Wise Up

The story of rare earth minerals has many lessons, writes Paul Krugman

(Newser) - When Japan detained a Chinese fishing boat captain whose vessel had collided with two of its Coast Guard ships, China cut off its access to rare earths, the essential minerals on which China has a near-monopoly. For Paul Krugman, this highlights two concerns: First, that the US let “unreliable”...

Did Pentagon Use the Times to Hype its Afghan Auction?

Timing of miracle minerals story fishy

(Newser) - There has been much grousing about the New York Times’ non-scoop on Afghanistan’s trillion-dollar mineral deposits. Most people figured the Pentagon spoon-fed the paper the story to drum up public support for the war. But now it looks like it may have been trying to drum up customers, says...

Times 'Scoop' on Afghan Minerals Less Than Meets the Eye

Administration using carrot of mineral wealth to drum up war support

(Newser) - The New York Times reports today that the government has discovered billions in mineral reserves in Afghanistan—"far beyond any previously known reserves." But is it true? In fact, Afghanistan's mineral wealth seems to be well known—Paul Jay, writing for the Huffington Post , points to a 2007...

War in Congo Is Over Profit—From Us
 War in Congo Is Over 
 Profit—From Us 
OPINION
Nov 1, 2008 8:47 AM CDT

War in Congo Is Over Profit—From Us

Westerners fund violence over control of minerals

(Newser) - We’re told that the renewed bloodshed in Congo is spurred by tribal conflict and payback for the Rwandan genocide, but that’s not true, writes Johann Hari in the Independent. In fact, the war starting again there—"the deadliest war since Adolf Hitler"—is over Congo’s...

Arctic Boom Awash in Green Risk
 Arctic Boom 
 Awash in
 Green Risk 
ANALYSIS
Jul 10, 2008 1:42 PM CDT

Arctic Boom Awash in Green Risk

Rush to tap vast mineral riches will tax area dearly without needed infrastructure

(Newser) - As the Arctic sea ice melts, it’s uncovering vast resources, leading to an international energy and mining rush. Companies are lining up to explore the region, and nations are reviving Arctic border disputes in hopes of tapping its wealth. But the exploitation of the area’s resources could have...

Resource-Rich Greenland Looks to Break Free

Another consequence of climate change may be independence

(Newser) - Global warming has put Greenland’s mineral and oil deposits within reach, raising the volume on long-simmering chatter about independence. Denmark supplies much of the island's budget—including a substantial welfare system—but the self-sufficiency offered by melting ice means Greenlanders may no longer need the Danes at all, reports...

The Arctic Is Ours: Kremlin
The Arctic Is Ours: Kremlin
Sep 21, 2007 2:33 AM CDT

The Arctic Is Ours: Kremlin

Russia claims polar mineral wealth

(Newser) - In the latest audacious claim by Russia, the nation is insisting that rock samples taken 13,000 feet beneath the North Pole prove that a large part of the Arctic seabed is rightfully Russian territory. The US, Canada, Norway and Denmark also have territorial claims to the mineral-rich area that's...

19 Stories