Turkey top envoy goes to Niger in bid to secure uranium supplies
The trip comes after Niger’s military government withdrew mining rights from Canadian and French companies to develop uranium deposits.
Canadian mining mogul Robert Friedland has a new vision: to make of South Africa’s platinum-rich Limpopo province what California has been for high-tech innovation and development. In other words, he wants to create a “Platinum Valley.”
Speaking to members of the Canada-Southern Africa Chamber of Business last week, the serial mega-mine developer said the increasing world’s population, most of them likely to live in medium to big cities, will demand technologies that help them keep their water and air clean.
Because of this, as Miningweekly reports, he believes hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars are about to change the global platinum landscape forever.
Friedland, chairman and founder of Ivanhoe Capital Corporation and executive chairman and founder of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN), said that next month Japan-based automaker Toyota will unveil the world’s first commercially available hydrogen fuel cell-powered automobile, which creates no emissions, but “uses copious amounts of platinum,” he was quoted as saying by Northern Life.
“The Chinese, meanwhile, are spending $100 billion a year building high-speed trains and recently unveiled the fastest train the world. Operating by magnetic levitation, it travels 581 km/hr,” he added.
And Friedland believes these upcoming events will be game changers for South Africa.
Limpopo’s rich mineral deposits include the platinum group metals, iron ore, coking coal, diamonds, and copper. It also holds important mineral reserves of gold, emeralds, magnetite, silicon, and mica, among others. Mining contributes to over a fifth of the provincial economy.
Image: Aerial view of Limpopo. By the U.S. federal government, via Wikimedia Commons.
2 Comments
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interesting. is he holed up in some high priced hotel in the world somewhere? not sure he has walked any of the cities of the world with more than 1 million people? the majority of the populations at the moment cant even afford gas for their present cars, and gas stations impossible to find in most developed countries of the world largest cities, great idea, but mercedes smart cars everywhere at the moment and cheap, precious metals may have one more run to new levels BUT the current levels cant support real corporate miners with profits, so its the new $300 level for gold and platinum is stagnant also….plus, spraying down miners who refuse to work for slave wages at enormous depths suggests the mines in SA have a limited life span remaining
Dr GJ Sharpe
I find Mr Friedland’s comments alluding to Silicon Valley very ironic, when the Platinum mining industry could be considered to be technically and technological “backward”. For example, using the less than optimal explosive for a particular job for 30 years isn’t a particularly good idea as I highlighted here by a rigorous scientific study
sites.google.com/site/bluedogsci/blasting-blog/case-studies
Neither is using explosives in highly inefficient ways to extract Platinum in any context.
Mr Friedland, “Silicon Valley” means innovation and it means advancement.
The mining textbooks have not changed in 30 years, despite enormous advances in explosives engineering and rock mechanics outside of the mining world. Why?
Imagine if the textbooks on computing had not changed in 30 years.
Or if the automobiles of today were much the same as 1980’s models.
Just as unsafe, just as polluting, just as inefficient.
The silicon chip was a simple idea which changed the world.
Here’s the beginnings of a simple idea to change the mining world, freely given
sites.google.com/site/bluedogsci/blasting/innovations
I hope you will have the vision to see it.