In recent years, the use of wood for transporting and storing drill cores has come under increasing scrutiny, mainly due to increasingly stringent environmental and occupational safety laws and after QA/QC -related good practices became more widely known and were required in audits in the mining industry.
As we have covered in our blog, drilling is drilling holes in soil or rock and provides valuable information about a mineral deposit.
Any undertaking, be it in the mining, geotechnical, or hydrogeological sector, has a duty to ensure the quality and reliability of these materials. It is from them that various geological characteristics are evaluated with respect to a project.
The correct storage of these materials is required according to the mineral legislation, and is a fundamental requirement for a company to remain competitive in the market.
Having said this, let’s list some points that can make you evaluate the use of boxes made of wood for the storage of core samples. Check it out
Origin of the raw material
Assessing the origin of the material/product used in your company is very important, and with wood it can be no different.
Native wood of legal origin comes from a cut authorized by the competent environmental agency and has a transport and storage license document.
Have you already certified that the wood used in the core sample boxes you use in your project is in fact legalized?
Durability
A very important topic to be considered when purchasing a product is the material’s useful life.
And here we highlight this topic not only because of the financial costs, but also because of the excessive disposal of materials that we cannot reuse, which directly harms the environment.
Wooden boxes are not very efficient in contact with insects and when they are subjected to sun and weather, which can lead to high product turnover, improper disposal and high costs with the storage of core samples.
Ergonomics and work safety
Boxes made of wood are usually very heavy. To its original weight we must add the weight of the core samples that will be stored inside, which can jeopardize the health and safety of the employees that handle these materials.
The norms related to ergonomics were created so that the collaborators are subjected to fewer risks in the work environment and are comfortable to perform their activities.
In addition, we should point out that some dangerous animals such as snakes, spiders, and scorpions can “hide” in wood, posing great risk to the staff.
Paying attention to the health and safety of employees, cost reduction, and legality of your enterprise can be the key to develop a serious and consolidated company in the market.
We are the Core Case. Where there is quality mining, we are present!
Lithium was discovered in 1818 and is a light metal, commonly found in magma rocks, not occurring freely in nature, as it is a very rare ore. It is worth mentioning that an important Brazilian personality, José Bonifácio de Silva Andrada, discovered 2 lithium minerals, describing, and naming the spodumene and petalite.
According to S&P Global, the demand for lithium should reach 2 million tons by 2030 and in this scenario, Brazil could be one of the main producing countries as it concentrates most of the world’s lithium reserves in Latin America.
This element has even been called the ” 21st century’s white gold” due to the energy matrix transition that the world is going through, it can be used in several renewable energy sources, which should be adopted by most countries in the years to come, being its main use in batteries for electric vehicles. To learn more about lithium, read this content to the end!
Mining in Brazil
In 2008, only 3 countries had 85% of all the lithium ever found until that year in the world, the demand for this ore has started to increase a lot in the last years, due to the energy transition that will happen for cleaner energy sources. In 2020, according to the USGS, Brazil was the fifth largest lithium producer, reaching 1900 tons, Chile reached 18,000 tons, being second and Australia was first reaching 40,000 tons.
Some research suggests that the demand for lithium will increase up to six times by 2050. According to the general director of the SGB-CPRM, today Brazil’s representation in the world production of lithium is only 1.5%, and may reach 5% in about 10 years, even with this increasing global production.
Although this representation is low, there are data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) published in 2021 that place the country as the seventh in the world to have a greater amount of lithium in its territory. Today it is estimated that 95,000 tons could be exploited with current technologies and laws, in the total available reserves, counting what is currently inaccessible, is estimated at 470,000 tons.
Currently, only two companies produce lithium in Brazil, Companhia Brasileira de Lítio (CBL) and AMG Brasil, and there are a number of companies with projects in progress. Among them is Sigma Lithium, which should start selling ore by the end of 2022 and has invested R$ 2.3 billion in its ventures in the country.
The Jequitinhonha Valley, in Minas Gerais, concentrates most of the known reserves in Brazil, and the extraction of this ore is carried out in small and medium sized quarries. It is important to note that, increasingly, there is an effort by the Ministry of Mines and Energy to map other regions with potential for lithium production and exploration.
New studies for lithium in Brazil
The SGB-CPRM did a first survey in the Jequitinhonha Valley, northeastern Minas Gerais, where the state’s main lithium mining companies are located, the second phase of the project is being completed and is studying occurrences in the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba, and a third phase should be started to verify occurrences in the state of Ceará.
The purpose of these campaigns is to understand more about the Borborema Pegmatite Province, located between the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba, and to learn more about the areas already mined, in addition to discovering new deposits.
It is worth mentioning that the time between discovering the lithium in a place and starting production can take up to ten years, because there are some challenges, among them, adding value to the ore that Brazil has not yet mastered, and this is one of the areas where investment will be made.
It grabbed attention from several industries, especially the automotive industry, which is interested in mining lithium because it is crucial to use it in electric vehicles, since, lithium is required to manufacture a battery for this type of vehicles.
Lithium and clean energy
Currently 70% of the world’s lithium is already used for the production of batteries, and a leap in the Brazilian production is expected by 2025, as this demand are increasing, and even more electric vehicles are expected to be running in the country. Tesla, a world leading company in this industry, revealed that almost half of the vehicles it produced in the first half of this year were equipped with iron-lithium phosphate batteries.
In addition to batteries for electric vehicles, it is also used for solar energy, wind power, and nuclear energy reactors. The U.S. Department of Energy considers lithium as one of the 16 key strategic raw materials for energy transition.
Decree allowing the trade of Lithium in Brazil
On July 06, 2022, the Decree no. 11.120 was published in the Brazilian Official Gazette (DOU), promoting the opening and implementation of the Brazilian lithium market. This decree allows foreign trade operations of lithium minerals and ores and their derivatives and has the objective of positioning Brazil as one of the main countries for lithium mining.
Source: Metais BR (https://www.metaisbr.com/wp-content/uploads/Produto-Litium.jpg)
Due to this flexibility, they expect more than 7,000 direct jobs in lithium mining to be created, reaching a total of 84,000 direct and indirect jobs in its production chain. Therefore, lithium will be increasingly strategic not only for the country, and throughout the world in years to come.
Core Case has developed plastic products and solutions for shipping and packing diamond drill core samples. They are produced in 100% recycled and recyclable plastic, with an ergonomic shape, light and easy to transport, and also more durable.
If you or your company work in this industry, be like the largest mining and drilling companies, use Core Case products and ensure the quality of your samples.
Also known as the gold of the 21st century, Rare Earth Elements are widely used in high-tech equipment such as catalysts, solar cells, magnets, batteries, and lasers.
Because of this, government agencies in several countries have started to encourage the development of the production chain of this mineral commodity.
In Brazil, one of these initiatives is the National Mining Plan 2030, strategic tool to guide medium and long term policies that can contribute to the mineral sector being a foundation for the sustainable development of the Country.
Let’s learn a little more about these elements?
What are the Rare Earth Elements?
The Rare Earth Elements are a group of seventeen elements, fifteen of which belong to the lanthanide group [elements with atomic number (Z) between 57 and 71, i.e. from lanthanum – La to lutetium – Lu], which are joined by scandium (Z = 21) and yttrium (Z = 39), included because they have physical-chemical properties similar to the REEs.
Yttrium, Lanthanum and Neodymium. Source: Rocio et al. (2012).
REE do not occur as free metals in the earth’s crust, due to their behavior
The geochemical concentrations occur as a mixture of various REEs in minerals. These elements are found as components of accessory minerals, in the form of inclusions, filling fractures in other minerals and/or as replacement elements in the mineral.
The geochemical similarity of all the REEs allows for substitution between them in the structure crystalline mineral. This results in their wide distribution in the earth’s crust and the formation of minerals composed of several of the REE.
Despite these similarities in geochemical properties, the metallurgical, chemical, catalytic, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties vary subtly from one element to another.
REE minerals can be easily exploited, such as monazite from placer deposits. The separation of REEs from other elements is relatively easy, however their separation into individual oxides and/or metals are complex and expensive processes due to the small differences in their chemical behaviors.
Applications of Rare Earth Elements
REE are considered strategic elements because of their wide application in high-tech products. Its importance in modern industry is due to its numerous applications in metallurgy, wind and nuclear power, the oil industry, mining, and agriculture, among others.
Check out some applications of the Rare Earth Elements:
NdFeB alloy – to produce super magnets, widely used in electric cars, power systems, and high-speed trains;
Europium – on computer and television screens;
Lutetium, cerium, scandium, lanthanum and neodymium – separation of components of Petroleum;
Lanthanum – solar energy;
Tulio – X-Ray devices.
World Rare Earth Market
Brazil was one of the largest producers of monazite (rare earth phosphate, uranium and thorium) until the middle of the last century, replaced by the US in the 1980s, which came to dominate the market.
Starting in 1984, China began producing REEs, sharing the world market with the US, and from 1990 on, gradually began to dominate the market.
Brazil currently has the world’s third largest known reserve of rare earths, but this wealth is not exploited due to the cost of extraction and separation technology, which forces the country to import these elements to use as raw material in the industries.
The world’s largest known reserves of REE are located in China, Vietnam, Brazil, Russia, and India, respectively.
Country
Reserves (Million tons – Mt)
China
44
Vietnam
22
Brazil
21
Russia
12
India
6.9
The world’s largest reserves of REE. Source: U.S.GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 2022
Regarding production, China continues to stand out and produced about 140 Mt in 2020.
It is worth mentioning that there is a worldwide effort to develop the production chain of
REE in view of its importance in high-tech productsand clean energy.
According to Fernando Landgraf (Escola Politécnica USP), the world market for rare earths is relatively small in financial terms, moving about $5 billion per year.
The viability of REE extraction projects depends on important points to be highlighted, such as: small market, high production costs, technological and environmental issues.
Rare Earth Deposits in Brazil
The known deposits and occurrences in the country are distributed nationwide. The most economically important are associated with the alkaline carbonate complexes, mainly of the Igneous Province of Alto do Paranaíba.
REE deposits occur in naturally rich rocks influenced by rock-forming processes, such as magmatic enrichment by hydrothermal fluids, magmatic segregation and/or redistribution and concentration by superficial processes.
Walters et al. (2010) proposes the simplified division of REE deposits into two main categories:
primary – associated with igneous rocks and hydrothermal processes;
secondary – formed by concentration through sedimentary and weathering processes.
The table below shows the Brazilian REE deposits and their classifications.
Classification of the Brazilian REE deposits. Source: Walters et al. (2010).
Challenges of rare earth elements production in Brazil
The Brazilian potential for RRE is great. Today, the country has the second largest reserve world with 21 Mt of mineable reserves of rare earth oxides (REO).
This scenario, however, does not put Brazil at an advantage in relation to the other countries, since there is a need for strong investment in the development of the technological routes of each deposit. This is because each mineralization requires routes appropriate to the type of ore in order to be economically viable, as they are expensive, low yielding and highly polluting processes.
Despite the growth in consumption of clean energy products and electric cars, which use REO in their manufacture, the demand for this mineral good will not show a significant increase in order to make the different projects that are underway in theworld.
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