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National strategic rare metal mineral resources
Update Time : 2022-04-19 View : 2101
Snowball column from smoke chain technology
Strategic minerals, as the name suggests, are some minerals of great strategic significance to the country.
Previously, the U.S. Department of the interior released a list of 35 strategic minerals (key minerals) that are considered essential to the U.S. economy and national security (final list of critical minerals 2018).
These 35 strategic minerals include almost all economic minerals, such as aluminum used in industry, platinum group metals used in catalyst manufacturing, rare earth elements used in electronic products, tin and titanium used in alloy manufacturing, etc.

copper

In the metal Kingdom, copper is second only to silver in conductivity. Copper ore is more and cheaper than silver ore. In today's world, more than half of copper is used in power and telecommunications industries. It has good ductility, high thermal conductivity and conductivity. Therefore, it is the most commonly used material in cables and electrical and electronic components. It can also be used as building materials and can form many kinds of alloys. Copper alloy has excellent mechanical properties and low resistivity, among which bronze and brass are the most important. In addition, copper is also a durable metal, which can be recycled many times without damaging its mechanical properties.
gold
Although the social status of gold has experienced vicissitudes, ups and downs, ups and downs, ups and downs and ups and downs in the thousands of years of human civilization history, it still maintains a sacred aura among many people and is a wealth pursued by the world. Jewelry manufacturing is the largest demand side in China's gold market. Other industrial gold, such as mobile phones, military products and even temple decoration, are gold users.
nickel
Nickel is a very important non-ferrous metal raw material. It is used to manufacture stainless steel, high nickel alloy steel and alloy structural steel. It is widely used in various military manufacturing industries, such as aircraft, radar, missile, tank, ship, spacecraft, atomic reactor and so on. In civil industry, nickel is often made into structural steel, acid resistant steel, heat-resistant steel and so on, which are widely used in various machinery manufacturing industries. Nickel can also be used as ceramic pigment and anti-corrosion coating. Nickel cobalt alloy is a permanent magnet material, which is widely used in electronic remote control, atomic energy industry and ultrasonic technology. In the chemical industry, nickel is often used as hydrogenation catalyst.
molybdenum
Pure molybdenum wire is used for high-temperature electric furnace, EDM and wire cutting; Molybdenum sheets are used to make radio appliances and X-ray equipment; Adding molybdenum to alloy steel can improve the elastic limit, corrosion resistance and maintain permanent magnetism. Molybdenum is one of the seven micronutrients required for plant growth and development. Without it, plants cannot survive. Animals and fish need molybdenum as much as plants.
phosphorus
84% ~ 90% of the world's phosphate rocks are used to produce various phosphate fertilizers, 3.3% to produce feed additives, 4% to produce detergents, and the rest are used in chemical, light industry, national defense and other industries. Phosphate rock is also an important chemical mineral raw material. Part of phosphate rock is used to prepare pure phosphorus (yellow phosphorus, red phosphorus) and chemical raw materials, and a small amount is used as animal feed.
manganese
In modern industry, manganese and its compounds are used in various fields of national economy. Among them, iron and steel industry is the most important field, with manganese accounting for 90% ~ 95%. It is mainly used as deoxidizer and desulfurizer in iron making and steel-making processes, as well as in alloy manufacturing. The remaining 10% ~ 5% of manganese is used in other industrial fields, such as chemical industry (manufacturing all kinds of manganese containing salts), light industry (for batteries, matches, printing paint, soap making, etc.), building materials industry (colorants and fading agents for glass and ceramics), national defense industry, electronic industry, environmental protection, agriculture and animal husbandry, etc.
vanadium
Vanadium can be found everywhere in automobile, aviation, railway, electronic technology, national defense industry and other departments. In addition, vanadium oxide has become one of the best catalysts in the chemical industry, known as "chemical bread". Vanadium steel can be made by adding vanadium into steel. Vanadium steel is more compact than ordinary steel structure, with higher toughness, elasticity and mechanical strength.
titanium
Titanium raw materials are mainly used to produce titanium dioxide (titanium dioxide), metal titanium (sponge titanium), titanium containing steel and electrode coatings. Titanium dioxide is not only a white pigment with excellent performance, but also an important chemical raw material. After the titanium concentrate is smelted into sponge titanium, it is then cast into ingots and made into industrial pure titanium and titanium alloy titanium materials. Titanium and titanium alloys titanium materials are mainly used in aviation and aerospace sectors. In addition to being mainly used to produce industrial pure titanium and titanium alloys, titanium is also used to produce ferrotitanium and titanium containing steel for the iron and steel industry. Titanium as an additive element in steel can change the properties of steel. In addition, rutile, the main titanium bearing mineral, is also an indispensable raw material for high-quality electrode coating.
magnesium
Magnesium is often used as reducing agent to replace titanium, zirconium, uranium, beryllium and other metals. It is mainly used to manufacture light metal alloy, nodular cast iron, scientific instruments and Grignard reagent. It can also be used to make fireworks, flash powder, magnesium salt, aspirator, flare, etc. Similar to aluminum in structural characteristics, it has various uses of light metals and can be used as alloy materials for aircraft and missiles. This limits the use of magnesium in gasoline.
In addition, magnesium can be used in medicine to treat magnesium deficiency and spasm. Magnesium is one of the lightest structural metal materials. It also has the advantages of high specific strength and stiffness, good damping and machinability, easy recovery and so on. Magnesium alloys are used in the automotive industry at home and abroad to reduce weight, energy saving, reduce pollution and improve the environment.
bismuth
Bismuth is mainly used to make fusible alloys. The melting point range is 47 ~ 262 ℃. The most commonly used alloy is the alloy composed of bismuth and metals such as lead, tin, antimony and indium. It is used for the safety plugs of fire-fighting devices, automatic sprinklers and boilers. In case of fire, the pistons of some water pipes will "automatically" melt and spray water. In the fire and electrical industry, it is used as automatic fire extinguishing system, electrical fuse and solder. Bismuth alloy has the characteristic of no shrinkage during solidification. It is used for casting printing type and high-precision mold. Bismuth oxycarbonate and bismuth oxynitrate are used to treat skin damage and gastrointestinal diseases.
Platinum group metals
Platinum group metals are silver white except osmium, which is blue gray. Rhodium has various uses and can be used to make hydrogenation catalysts, thermocouples, platinum rhodium alloys, etc. It is also often plated on searchlights and reflectors. It is also used as polishing agent for gemstones and electrical contact parts. Pure platinum and palladium have good ductility. The cold plastic deformation without intermediate annealing can reach more than 90%, and can be processed into micron filaments and foils.
Rhodium and iridium have good high temperature strength, but poor cold plastic workability. The metal ruthenium prepared by powder metallurgy can only be plastic worked at 1150 ~ 1500 ℃, while osmium can hardly be plastic worked even at high temperature.
niobium
A large part of niobium in the world is used to produce nickel, chromium and iron-based superalloys in pure metal state or in the form of high-purity niobium iron and niobium nickel alloy. These alloys can be used in jet engines, gas turbine engines, rocket components, turbochargers and heat-resistant combustion equipment. Niobium as a superconducting material will hardly lose current. If superconducting cable is used for power transmission, because it has no resistance and there will be no energy loss when the current passes through, the transmission efficiency will be greatly improved.
tantalum
Tantalum is a refractory metal and is often used as a secondary component of alloys. Tantalum has low chemical activity and is suitable to replace platinum as experimental equipment. Tantalum forms a stable anodic oxide film in acidic electrolyte. Electrolytic capacitors made of tantalum have the advantages of large capacity, small volume and good reliability. Making capacitors is the most important use of tantalum.
Tantalum is also the material for making electron emission tube and high-power electron tube parts. The corrosion-resistant equipment made of tantalum is used to produce strong acid, bromine, ammonia and other chemical industries. Tantalum can be used as the structural material of the combustion chamber of aircraft engine. Tantalum tungsten, tantalum tungsten hafnium and tantalum hafnium alloys are used as heat-resistant and high-strength materials for rockets, missiles and jet engines, as well as parts of control and regulation equipment.
beryllium
Beryllium as a new material has been paid more and more attention. Beryllium is an indispensable and valuable material in atomic energy, rocket, missile, aviation, aerospace and metallurgical industry. Among all metals, beryllium has the strongest ability to transmit X-rays, which is known as metallic glass. Therefore, beryllium is an irreplaceable material for making small windows of X-ray tubes. Beryllium is the treasure of the atomic energy industry.
In atomic reactors, beryllium is a neutron source that can provide a large number of neutron shells (hundreds of thousands of neutrons can be produced per second); Beryllium has a strong deceleration effect on fast neutrons, which can make the fission reaction go on continuously. Therefore, beryllium is the best neutron reducer in atomic reactor. In the metallurgical industry, bronze containing 1% to 3.5% beryllium is called beryllium bronze. It has better mechanical properties than steel, good corrosion resistance and high conductivity.
strontium
Strontium widely exists in mineral water. It is an essential trace element for human body. It has the function of preventing arteriosclerosis and thrombosis. Whether in the manufacturing process of reducing SRS with carbon and then reacting, or in the soda treatment process, celestite is the starting material for manufacturing SrCO. Because strontium carbonate can produce other SR compounds, it is the most important SR compound for purifying Zn (removing Pb and CD) for manufacturing ceramic permanent magnets and for manufacturing TV fluorescent screens. Sr (no) is used for pyrotechnic devices, SRO is used for aluminum smelting, and Sr and SrCl are used to repair teeth. Sr (OH) has long been used for the purification of molasse.
rubidium
Rubidium has no separate industrial minerals, and is often dispersed in mica, lepidolite, cesium garnet, salt deposits and mineral springs. Rubidium is an important raw material for manufacturing electronic devices (photomultiplier tube, photocell), spectrophotometer, automatic control, spectral determination, color film, color TV, radar, laser, glass, ceramics, electronic clock, etc; In space technology, ion thrusters and thermionic energy converters require a large amount of rubidium; Rubidium hydride and boride can be used as high-energy solid fuel; Radioactive rubidium can determine the age of minerals. In addition, rubidium compounds are used in pharmaceutical and paper industries; It can also be used as getter of vacuum system. The function of getter is similar to that of purifier, which can remove excess gas that may pollute the system.
cesium
Cesium-137 can be used as γ Radiation source, used for radiation breeding, irradiation storage of food, sterilization of medical devices, treatment of cancer and maintenance of industrial equipment γ Flaw detection, etc. In industry, cesium chloride is reduced by metal calcium at high temperature to produce metal cesium. In addition, cesium ions can also be used as propellant for space rockets.
hafnium
It can be used as the cathode of X-ray tube, and the alloy of hafnium and tungsten or molybdenum can be used as the electrode of high-voltage discharge tube. Pure hafnium has plasticity, easy processing, high temperature resistance and corrosion resistance. It is an important material in the atomic energy industry. Hafnium has a large thermal neutron capture cross section and is an ideal neutron absorber. It can be used as a control rod and protective device of atomic reactor. Hafnium powder can be used as rocket propeller.
scandium
Scandium is mainly used as sodium scandium lamp and solar photovoltaic cell, γ Ray source and other purposes. Scandium in its elemental form has been widely used in the doping of aluminum alloys. Scandium is also an excellent modifier of iron. A small amount of scandium can significantly improve the strength and hardness of cast iron. In addition, scandium can also be used as an additive for high temperature tungsten and chromium alloys. Of course, in addition to making wedding clothes for others, scandium has a high melting point, but its density is close to that of aluminum. It is also used in high melting point light alloys such as scandium titanium alloy and scandium magnesium alloy. Scandium oxide is used on ceramic materials.
germanium
Germanium has many special properties. It is widely and important in the fields of semiconductor, aerospace measurement and control, nuclear physics detection, optical fiber communication, infrared optics, solar cells, chemical catalysts, biomedicine and so on. It is an important strategic resource. It can also be used as catalyst in electronic industry, alloy pretreatment and optical industry. High purity germanium is a semiconductor material. It can be extracted from high-purity germanium oxide by reduction and smelting. Germanium single crystal doped with trace specific impurities can be used to make various transistors, rectifiers and other devices. Germanium compounds are used in the manufacture of fluorescent plates and various high refractive index glasses.
gallium
The industrial application of gallium is still primitive, although its unique properties may be used in many aspects. The wide temperature range of liquid gallium and its low vapor pressure make it suitable for high temperature thermometers and high temperature pressure gauges. Gallium can be used to manufacture semiconductor doped elements such as gallium nitride, gallium arsenide, gallium phosphide and germanium; Pure gallium and low melting alloy can be used as heat exchange medium for nuclear reaction; Filler for high temperature thermometer; It is used as a catalyst for Di esterification in organic reaction. Gallium indium alloy can be used as a substitute for mercury.
indium
Because of its strong light permeability and conductivity, indium ingots are mainly used in the production of ITO targets (for the production of liquid crystal displays and flat screens). This purpose is the main consumption field of indium ingots, accounting for 70% of the global indium consumption. The next few consumption areas are: electronic semiconductor, accounting for 12% of global consumption; Solders and alloys account for 12%; The research industry accounts for 6%. In addition, because of its soft nature, it is also used for seam pressing in some industries requiring filler metal. In medicine, indium colloid is used for liver, spleen and bone marrow scanning. Indium DTPA was used for brain and kidney scanning. Indium Fe (OH) 3 particles were used for lung scanning. Indium Fe ascorbic acid was used for placenta scanning. Liver blood pool scanning uses indium to transport ferritin.
rhenium
Rhenium and its alloys can be used to make tap water pen tips and high-temperature thermocouples. They can be used as catalysts in alcohol dehydrogenation, ammonia synthesis and sulfur trioxide production from sulfur dioxide. Alloys containing 90% tungsten, 1% vanadium and 9% rhenium can withstand high temperature.
tellurium
80% of tellurium consumption is applied in metallurgical industry: adding a small amount of tellurium to steel and copper alloys can improve their machinability and increase hardness; Tellurium is used as a carbide stabilizer in white cast iron to make the surface firm and wear-resistant; Lead containing a small amount of tellurium can improve the corrosion resistance, wear resistance and strength of the material and can be used as the sheath of submarine cables; Adding tellurium to lead can increase the hardness of lead, which is used to make battery plates and print type.
Tellurium can be used as an additive of petroleum cracking catalyst and a catalyst for preparing ethylene glycol. Tellurium oxide is used as a colorant for glass. High purity tellurium can be used as an alloy component of thermoelectric materials. Bismuth telluride is a good refrigeration material. Tellurium and some tellurides are semiconductor materials. Ultrapure tellurium single crystal is a new type of infrared material.
Barite
Barite is a very important non-metallic mineral raw material, which has a wide range of industrial applications. At present, the consumption structure of barite in the world is roughly as follows: it is used as weighting agent for drilling mud, accounting for 85%; As the raw material of barium chemical industry, it accounts for 10%; Other uses such as filler, mineralizer for cement and road construction account for 5%.
arsenic
Many arsenic compounds contain lethal toxicity and are often added to herbicides, rodenticides and so on. Arsenic is used as alloy additive to produce lead pellets, printing alloy, brass (for condenser), battery grid plate, wear-resistant alloy, high-strength structural steel and corrosion-resistant steel. Dezincification can be prevented when brass contains arsenic by weight. High purity arsenic is the raw material for preparing compound semiconductors such as gallium arsenide and indium arsenide. It is also the doped element of semiconductor materials germanium and silicon. These materials are widely used as diodes, light emitting diodes, infrared emitters, lasers and so on.
helium
Because helium is light and nonflammable, it can be used to fill airships, balloons, thermometers, electronic tubes, diving suits, etc. It can also be used for protecting gas in atomic reactors and accelerators, lasers, rockets, smelting and welding. It can also be used to fill light bulbs and neon tubes, and also to make foamed plastics.
Since the solubility of helium in blood is very low, it can be added to oxygen to prevent decompression sickness, as a breathing gas for divers, or to treat asthma and asphyxia.
The temperature of liquid helium (- 268.93 ℃) is close to absolute zero (- 273 ℃), so it is used as superfluid in superconducting research and manufacturing superconducting materials. Liquid helium is also commonly used as a coolant and refrigerant. In medicine, it is used for argon helium knife to treat cancer. It can also be used as part of the artificial atmosphere and laser media.
So, these strategic minerals are really useful, and they are of great strategic significance to a country's development, stability and international competitiveness. How many strategic mineral resources a country has is an important embodiment of its comprehensive national strength. The exploration and development of strategic minerals still can not be ignored!

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