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ProEdgeWire’s Graphite and Graphene Weekly Review sees surging demand for graphite and its derivative graphene, not least because of their important role in battery technology, where graphite continues to be a traditional component, while graphene is considered a major factor in future generation batteries. Recent reports of aircraft batteries catching fire won’t change that – as ProEdgeWire’s Allesandro Bruni points out: “for all the gloom experienced by the Boeing, the solution to its problem will be found and it will still involve batteries using graphite anodes.”

Corresponding with ProEdgeWire’s findings, a new USGS report on graphite outlines increases in both U.S. domestic graphite demand and prices paid for the material. Gross domestic imports of graphite for consumption rose by more than 7 percent from 2010 to 2011.

While demand is increasing, China, which not only dominates a large share of global graphite supply but also holds all of the spherical graphite processing technology, is pushing to regulate its graphite industry and – very similar to the Rare Earths situation – is in a position to engage in geopolitical powerplays in this field. In this case, however, the saving grace may be that with graphite and graphene, the rest of the world still has a few years left to correct the problem if it places an emphasis on supply diversity now.

If you’d like to learn more about the relevance of graphite and why graphene may just be the “new black,” check out American Resources expert Simon Moores’s study titled “The Natural Graphite Report 2012.” The report by Moores, a London-based graphite market specialist with Industrial Minerals, reviews “every major graphite producing company around the world, building from the bottom up data and analysis of the industry. It also contains a focus on the commercialisation of graphene, its production and demand potential.”

In a three-part interview series with Metal Miner, American Resources principal Daniel McGroarty discusses resource nationalism, the role of China in global resource wars and lessons for the United States’ mineral resource strategy against the backdrop of the East China Sea territorial dispute between China and Japan over a tiny group of islands, with outsized importance in terms of seabed rights.

Outlining the takeaway for U.S. policy as it relates to domestic rare earth mineral/resource policies, McGroarty argues:

“I do believe there is an impact on the US – the question is, to what extent? What form does that impact take? Can we affect it in a positive way? From a security standpoint, we have a treaty relationship with Japan that requires us to come to their defense and will guarantee that our policymakers will watch this closely. Longer-term, it reminds us that resources will be fought over (metaphorically and hopefully not militarily) and can be used as a policy tool. This conflict should give us pause to develop [the United States'] own strategic rare earth resources. We need to cover our own dependencies.”

Click here to read part one, part two, and part three of the interview.

The Daily Caller reports that the EPA’s preemptive assessment of the Pebble copper and gold mine in Alaska could cost the U.S. $220 billion in investment. The agency’s report, based on an evaluation of a hypothetical mine, expresses concern over the site’s potential environmental impact and could lead to Pebble’s rejection before it has a [...]

Continuing our informational campaign to highlight the breadth of our nation’s metals and minerals needs, we’re going to drill down into the utilities of and challenges associated with zinc this month. In its ongoing efforts to satiate its growing appetite for mineral resources, China – long having enlarged its footprint in Africa – has recently [...]

Northeastern University scientists caused a stir earlier this week with their announcement that they have designed a “super strong magnetic material that may revolutionize the production of magnets found in computers, mobile phones, electric cars and wind-powered generators,” alluding to the possibility of replacing neodymium/praseodymium permanent magnets. On his website TechMetalResearch.com, American Resources expert Gareth [...]

As we’re kicking off week two of “Copper Month” at American Resources, here’s a look at the geography at global copper mining, and the geopolitical challenges that arise from it.  According to the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries, most of the world’s copper is mined in Chile, Peru, and China. The U.S. ranks fourth, but domestic [...]

The Indian daily Economic Times recently ran an article that discussed Alaska’s mineral riches. In that piece, the writer declared that the state may well become the “Silicon Valley” for rare earths. While there’s not much new in the article from a U.S. standpoint – the rich Bokan Mountain rare earths deposits are well-known, and state geologists [...]

As if they had known that October is Copper Month here on AmericanResources.org, the current issue of the Economist features a story on what the publication calls “Red Bull – the world’s most informative metal.” Leading off with an anecdote on the increase in copper theft (an issue we have previously discussed) serving as an [...]

October is here – and so is Copper Month. We’re kicking off our informational campaign to highlight the breadth of our nation’s metals and minerals needs by drilling down into the many utilities of and challenges associated with copper – a mainstay industrial metal that has more in common with the often-discussed rare earth elements  [...]

As American Resources launches “Copper Month,” Instapundit blog provides a link to a story that kicks us off with a bang, though thankfully not the thermo-nuclear kind. U.S. Oak Ridge Laboratory, home of super-secret nuclear weapons work during World War II, is auctioning off artifacts from the Manhattan Project.  Among them, massive magnets called “D-Rings,” [...]