Synthetic Diamond News

Related Metals and Minerals Industry News

• In February 2022, Element Six UK Ltd collaborated with II-VI Inc. Through this collaboration, II-VI licenses Element Six's intellectual property and necessary equipment would produce high-quality single-crystal diamonds to expand its core competency in diamond technology.
• In July 2021, Element Six UK LTD and the University of Warwick entered a partnership to develop the next generation of synthetic diamond-enabled technologies. Under this partnership, Element Six applied its renowned expertise and capabilities in advanced material solutions.

• In January 2023, Technip Energies was awarded a contract for the modernization of sulfur recovery equipment at Aramco's Riyadh Refinery as part of its long-term agreement with Aramco. In order to comply with stricter emission regulations for sulfur dioxide and to improve the performance of the existing three sulfur recovery units SRU, this contract covers the installation of three new tail gas treatment units TGT, with a recovery efficiency of more than 99.9%.
• In April 2023. Valero Energy Corp (VLO.N) initiated the manufacturing on a new coker at its 335,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery. The restart of production of the new 55,000bpd coker follows the completion of the overhaul of the 115,000-bpd AVU-147 crude distillation unit. The unit uses hydrogen to remove sulfur from gas oil, gasoline and diesel feedstocks.

• December 2022: CBMM announced a significant investment of USD 80 million to expand its niobium oxide capacity from 500 tons to 3,000 tons by 2024. Collaborating with Echion Technologies, CBMM plans to establish a niobium oxide facility at its Araxá plant in Minas Gerais, Brazil, aligning with its goal of achieving a niobium oxide capacity of 40,000 tons by 2030.
• March 2022: CBMM formed a partnership with Horwin Brasil, a manufacturer of electric motorcycles, with the aim of enhancing access to clean energy and promoting electromobility in the nation. The agreement focused on applying a lithium-ion battery with Niobium in electric two-wheel vehicles. In this partnership, CBMM invested 70 million reais in 2022 and projected sales of 500 tons of niobium oxide. The company's target is to increase niobium product sales to 50,000 tons by 2030.
• January 2022: Kymera International completed the acquisition of Telex Metals, a global supplier of tantalum, tungsten, and niobium particulates. This strategic acquisition will expand Kymera's business into tantalum and niobium materials.

• February 2023: Western Magnesium Corporation announced its plan to build a new production facility for magnesium metal with an initial annual capacity of 25,000 metric tons and a new research and development center in Nevada. With the help of this new production facility, the company aims to serve automotive, aerospace, airline, eco-friendly technology companies, and Defense Contractors through this expansion.
• July 2022: Chongqing Boao Magnesium-Aluminum Metal Manufacturing Co. Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of RSM Group/ Nanjing Yunhai Special Metals Co. Ltd) announced the completion of a high-performance magnesium-aluminum alloy and deep processing project (Phase II project) located in Pingshan Industrial Park, Chongqing City. The new production facilities could have various workshops, including a magnesium particle production workshop with a 7,200 tons/year capacity.

• July 2022: Rio Tinto unveils a USD 188 million aluminum investment plan in Canada. The company is planning to grow aluminum billets production by 202,000 metric tonnes. The firm will expand the capacity of the existing casting center at its Alma plant.
• February 2022: Emirates Global Aluminium PJSC, or EGA, plans to construct the United Arab Emirates' largest aluminum recycling facility with a capacity of 150,000 tonnes annually. The plant will turn post-consumer aluminum scrap into low-carbon aluminum billets and pre-consumer aluminum scrap from extrusion operations.

• October 2022: Rio Tinto collaborated with the government of Canada to decarbonize its operations at Rio Tinto Fer et Titane (RTFT) in Sorel-Tracy, Québec. This partnership will support the company in increasing its scandium production. The company aims to reach 12 tons of scandium oxide production per year.
• September 2022: NioCorp Developments Ltd. announced that its demonstration-scale processing plant in Quebec, Canada, is now processing ore samples from the company's Elk Creek Critical Minerals Project. The company will also demonstrate that a streamlined technique for potentially generating niobium, scandium, and titanium is technically and economically viable.

• December 2022: Aurubis has begun building a state-of-the-art recycling plant in Belgium. The new plant process will make it possible to fully recover tin from the anode sludge more quickly and extract other precious metals, such as gold and silver.
• June 2022: Malaysia Smelting Corp unit to acquire neighboring tin mining leaseholder. According to a filing MSC made with the stock exchange, the purchase transaction will take the form of 272,250 shares, or 20% of the expanded share capital of RHT.

• December 2022: Aldoro Resources granted rubidium and lithium prospective tenement near Mt Magnet in Western Australia.
• August 2021: International Lithium Corp. acquired through staking more than 14,000 hectares of claims in the vicinity of the Raleigh Lake lithium and rubidium project in Ontario, Canada, bringing the Raleigh Lake project area to just over 17,000 hectares (170 sq km).

• October 2022: Ferroglobe announced to restart of the 55,000-ton silicon metal facility in Polokwane, South Africa. The decision to renew the Polokwane facility was made as part of Ferroglobe's strategic plan to increase its capacity of silicon metal to address strong market demand. The Polokwane plant will enable the company to add lower cost and strategically located accommodation, optimizing its asset footprint and providing flexibility in managing the volatile energy markets in Europe.
• August 2022: REC Silicon and Mississippi Silicon agreement bolster the United States solar supply chain. This agreement will help Mississippi Silicon to gain a stronghold in silicon metal, especially in the solar industry.

• In March 2022, TANIOBIS GmbH invested a total of EUR 28 million (~USD 29.77 million) in augmenting facilities for the manufacture of functional tantalum powder ('the Product') at its Map Ta Phut plant in Thailand and significantly increased its production capacity for the product.
• In July 2021, Tantalex Resources Corporation announced that it entered a binding LOI with MINOR SARL to expand its land package in the prolific Manono lithium, tin, and tantalum hub with an earn-in option agreement to acquire the entirety of the dumps located on PER 13698. This brought the total resource volume on the permit between 60Mt to 80Mt, with an estimated grade ranging between 0.5 to 1% Li2O.
• In May 2021, Pilbara Minerals planned to form a joint venture with tech company Calix to examine the development of a midstream lithium chemicals refinery at the Pilgangoora lithium-tantalum operation in Western Australia.