December 14, 2010

The Globe and Mail obtained an advance release of the Enough Project's review of technology companies and their ability to prove their raw materials are "conflict free".

David Sullivan, who is Research Director at the Enough Project said, "It’s important that the forward-leaning companies, folks like HP and Intel and Motorola, are demonstrating that this is all possible – not easy, but it is possible" This article highlights the difficulty in tracing the raw material supply chain.

The article states that "The Enough Project ranking is especially important because of the disconnect between where conflict minerals are mined and where the finished product is sold to consumers"

Legislation on conflict minerals has been passed in the US, and the Canadian Government is also considering new laws. It is important to study the effect that these laws may have on the supply of technology metals such as tantalum, cobalt, niobium and tungsten.

Read Enough Project's Full Report:

http://www.enoughproject.org/publications/getting-conflict-free

Original article here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/report-highlights-conflict-minerals-in-electronics/article1836295/

December 6, 2010

A recent report issued by the Boston Consulting Group called "What Next for Alternative Energy" raises concerns about material availability for the future of electric vehicles.

The report stats that "constraints on raw materials - such as lithium used in lithium-ion batteries and rare-earth metals used as magnets in electric motors" could hinder EV depoloyment, despite the fact that " ample lithium exists to supply the needs of EV batteries, the potential for rapid market growth could cause temporary supply disruptions."

The report gives the example of polysilicon shortages affecting in solar photovoltaic manufacturers in 2007-2008. "During the shortage, manufacturers that hadn't contracted for a secure supply of polysilicon were forced to procure it on the open market at very high spot rates." The report continues, "Similar periods of rapid growth or temprorary supply disruptions - a potential concern given that four countries account for 90 percent of global lithium reserves and China alone accounts for the vast majority of rare earth metal prodution - could negaitvely impact both EV manufacturers and battery manufacturers"

Read the full report here:

http://www.bcg.com/documents/file65187.pdf

December 5, 2010

We are pleased to announce that the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy is sending Dr. Cyrus Wadia to speak at TREM11. Dr. Wadia will join such speakers as Chile's Minister of Mining, Laurence Golborne.

The conference, which will take place on March 22-23, 2011 in Washington, DC is the event in which policy makers from the US Congress and Administration meet with executives from technology, energy, defense, finance and mining industries to discuss the way America imports, produces and uses technology metals.

Dr. Wadia holds a dual appointment as Co-Director of Cleantech to Market at the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley) and Guest Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)

For more information on the conference, visit

http://www.shmeego.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=113&Itemid=504

December 5, 2010

An American geologist named Xue Feng with dual Chinese and American citizenship is appealing his indictment on espionage charges. Staff members from the US Embassy in China have been denied access to the proceedings, according to AP.

The Texas resident, who obtained in Ph.D at the University of Chicago, disappeared in China 3 years ago. In his first months of captivity, he was tortured with cigarettes, being forced to sit for extended periods and to hold a chair up behind his back with handcuffs.

He was in China doing market research for international firm IHS on the Chinese oil and gas industry, and obtained a database of 30,000 oil wells. The same company has assembled data on energy reserves all around the world, which Chinese companies have used to exploit resources in Africa and Australia.

Earlier this year, four Rio Tinto employees were also detained on espionage charges for researching Chinese steel production capacity.

The incident highlights the dangers of doing market research in China, and running afoul of vague espionage rules.

For more information on Xue Feng's life, see the Wall Street Journal Article here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704584804575644470575141314.html