We talk about lithium batteries, but few know that lithium is a metal that is mined from the earth and rocks. Lithium occurs in a number of pegmatitic minerals, but is also commonly obtained from brines and clays, and done. Lithium is a wanted mineral at the moment, because lithium batteries are widely used in the increasingly popular electric cars.

I ran across tantalum in a recent petition to stop mobile phone companies to use batteries that are built on tantalum excavated from Congo. The Congolese tantalum is said to originate from war zone, and to be a cause for murders, abuse and decreasing living space for gorillas. Nokia's statement about Congo, tantalum, and the full substance list can be found here.

Niobium is used mostly in alloys which is the largest part in special steels, even 0.1%, of Niobium improves the strength of the steel.
The temperature stability of niobium-containing superalloys is important for its use in jet and rocket engines. Niobium is also used in various superconducting materials, ending up in products like MRI scans, electronics, optics etc. 

The real super high tech metal is palladium. Palladium is found in computers, mobile phones, multi-layer ceramic capacitors, component plating, low voltage electrical contacts, and SED/OLED/LCD televisions. Palladium is also used in dentistry, medicine, hydrogen purification, chemical applications, and groundwater treatment. Palladium plays a key role in the technology used for fuel cells, which combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat and water.

What's special about these metals?

• High tech metals have better chemical, electrical, metallurgical and optical qualites than "low tech" metals
• They are used in nanotechnology, superconductors, hybrid engines and other future proof products
• Market demand for high tech metals are quickly catching up with copper, zinc etc
• China produces over 50%, but through imports govern 80% of the world's high tech metal markets

EU is worried about its access to raw materials, including high tech metals. The Geological Survey of Finland is driving a EU project called ProMine. ProMine has 11 countries, 27 parnters and 18 million euros, and their target is to discover minerals from Europe worth of 100 billion euros.

The four high tech minerals that I picked to explain - lithium, tantalum, niobium and palladium -  are all found in the Finnish ground. Getting EU countries into the mining business will take market share away from the current mining countries like Congo, Chile, China and Bolivia. You can argue for and against on a number of grounds: availability, market price, and miners' working conditions. I don't know what the right answer is, but a change in this industry is sure to be happen.



Lithium. Image from University of Helsinki http://www.helsinki.fi/research/news/2009/week3.htm

Sources: Wikipedia, Kauppalehti Oct. 2nd