Untreated seawater can produce green hydrogen – study

Staff Writer | February 9, 2023 

Seawater. (Image from Rawpixel.)

Researchers have successfully split seawater without pre-treatment to produce green hydrogen.


“We have split natural seawater into oxygen and hydrogen with nearly 100% efficiency, to produce green hydrogen by electrolysis, using a non-precious and cheap catalyst in a commercial electrolyzer,” Shizhang Qiao, who led the research at the University of Adelaide, said in a media statement.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Energy, Qiao and his co-authors explained that they used cobalt oxide with chromium oxide on its surface as a catalyst.

According to the scientists, the performance of a commercial electrolyzer with the catalysts running in seawater is close to the performance of platinum/iridium catalysts running in a feedstock of highly purified deionized water.

They also pointed out that seawater electrolysis is still in early development compared to pure water electrolysis because of electrode side reactions, and corrosion arising from the complexities of using seawater.

“It is always necessary to treat impure water to a level of water purity for conventional electrolyzers including desalination and deionization, which increases the operation and maintenance cost of the processes,” co-lead researcher Yao Zheng said. “Our work provides a solution to directly utilize seawater without pre-treatment systems and alkali addition, which shows similar performance as that of existing metal-based mature pure water electrolyzer.”

The team now plans to work on scaling up the system by using a larger electrolyzer so that it can be used in commercial processes such as hydrogen generation for fuel cells and ammonia synthesis.

General Motors competes for stake in Vale’s base metals unit
Bloomberg News | February 8, 2023 | 

Chevrolet Bolt EV charging at parking lot. Credit: Adobe Stock

General Motors Co. is competing for a stake in Brazilian mining giant Vale SA’s base metals unit, people familiar with the matter said, underscoring automakers’ desire for easy access to the materials needed for electric vehicle batteries.


Detroit-based General Motors has advanced to the next round of bidding for a minority stake in the business, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. Vale could raise more than $2 billion from a deal, according to the people.

Bloomberg News reported in November that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. were also weighing making offers for a slice of the nickel and copper operations. Deliberations are ongoing and Vale has made no final decisions about a sale, the people said.

Representatives for General Motors and Vale declined to comment.

Vale is separating the base metal assets from its iron ore operations and wants to unveil a strategic partner for the new entity in the first half of 2023, management said last year. The Rio de Janeiro-based company is making the move as a shift away from fossil fuels spurs demand for materials that are key to the manufacture of EV batteries.

Automakers have been stepping up efforts to lock in supplies of nickel and copper, including through direct deals with producers of these metals. Vale is already a direct supplier of nickel for Tesla Inc. batteries. General Motors reached its own agreement with Vale last year to buy supplies of the metal.

In January, General Motors and Lithium Americas Corp. agreed a $650 million pact to develop the largest US lithium deposit, at the Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. The deal gives General Motors exclusive access to the first phase of production, which is expected to begin in 2026 and forecast to supply as many as 1 million EVs per year.

(By Dinesh Nair and Cristiane Lucchesi, with assistance from Mariana Durao and David Welch)

Panama says talks with First Quantum making headway

Cecilia Jamasmie | February 10, 2023 | 

Cobre Panama mine, the company’s largest copper operation. (Image: First Quantum Minerals.)

Panama’s government said negotiations with First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) about agreeing on a contract governing the company’s Cobre Panama copper complex, have shown signs of progress this week.


The country’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Federico Alfaro’s comments, reported by BNamericas, is the latest development in a long-drawn-out dispute over control of one of the world’s largest new copper mines.

It is also a slight, but certain change of tone in the way Panama has addressed the issue since December last year, when President Laurentino Cortizo ordered the halt of operations at Cobre Panama following the parties’ failure to agree on the terms for a new contract.

“We have advanced,” Alfaro said after an event to inaugurate the new board of the Panamanian exporters association (APEX) in Panama City.

The minister noted the parties will continue negotiating within the framework of a free trade agreement between Canada and Panama and international arbitration rules.

“I prefer to see the glass half full (…) I believe there’s an opportunity to agree on some legal discrepancies that still remain regarding the wording of the contract. I hope the company understands that the government’s position isn’t just a whim,” Alfaro told journalists.

The main bone of contention centres on taxes and royalties the Canadian miner should pay on its concession to the government of the Central America country.

First Quantum said on Monday that Panama’s maritime authority had taken “several actions to obstruct operations” at the company’s Punta Rincon shipping terminal. These measures included, according to the Vancouver-based miner, “conducting extraordinary and unusual” inspections and instructing maritime pilots “not to provide service to vessels.”

Copper shipments from Cobre Panama. (Image courtesy of Cobre Panama.)

What seems to concern the company the most is an order that forces it to stop the loading of copper concentrates until it produces a third-party assessment confirming its scales have been properly balanced.

The miner, which said it submitted the proof on Feb. 3, warned it would have to shut down the massive operation by mid-February because of limited storage capacity.
Largest Central America copper mine

Cobre Panama remains in operations, though First Quantum is expected to submit a plan to put the mine under care and maintenance.

Minister Alfaro says the company has been running the mine without a contract since 2017, when the country’s Supreme Court ruled the accord governing the copper mine was unconstitutional and annulled it.

First Quantum chief executive officer, Tristan Pascall, has repeatedly said the Panamanian government had previously assured the company that the contract remained valid despite the court’s decision.

First Quantum is one of the world’s top copper miners and Canada’s largest producer of the metal. It churned out 816,000 tonnes of copper in 2021, its highest ever, thanks mainly to record output at Cobre Panama.

The Cobre Panama mine complex, located about 120 km west of Panama City and 20 km from the Atlantic coast, contributes 3.5% of the Central American country’s gross domestic product, according to government figures.

The asset is estimated to hold 3.1 billion tonnes in proven and probable reserves and at full capacity can produce more than 300,000 tonnes of copper per year, or about 1.5% of global production of the metal.

First Quantum suspends loading operations at Cobre Panamá port

MINING.COM Staff Writer | February 6, 2023 |

Cobre Panama. (Image courtesy of Minera Panama).

First Quantum (TSX: FM) said on Monday its subsidiary Minera Panama, the operator of the Cobre Panama copper mine, has suspended concentrate loading operations at the Cobre Panamá port.


According to the company, a resolution was issued by the Panamá Maritime Authority and requires the suspension of concentrate loading operations at the Cobre Panamá port until evidence is provided that the process of certification of the calibration of the scales by an accredited company has been initiated

The miner added that it might become necessary to shut down Cobre Panama if the concentrate is not shipped by mid-February, due to limited storage capacity on site.

First Quantum Minerals and the Panamanian government have been disputing how much tax the Canadian miner should pay on its concession for the Central American country’s only major copper mine.

In December, the Panamanian chapter of Transparency International (TI) issued a communiqué denouncing what the organization deems as a lack of clarity in the negotiations between the government of President Laurentino Cortizo and Minera Panamá.

In 2021, Cobre Panama represented more than half of First Quantum’s earnings before interest, tax depreciation and amortization. It also accounts for about 3.5% of Panama’s gross domestic product.

The asset is estimated to hold 3.1 billion tonnes in proven and probable reserves and at full capacity can produce more than 300,000 tonnes of copper per year, or about 1.5% of global production of the metal.

First Quantum said that its subsidiary initiated the certification process by submitting the required proof to an accredited company on February 3.

(With files from Reuters)

2022 was record year for central bank gold buying, WGC confirms

Staff Writer | February 8, 2023 |

Gold bullion. (Image by National Bank Of Ukraine, Flickr).

Two years on from dropping to its lowest level in a decade, central bank demand for gold has rebounded strongly, with net purchases rising by 1,136 tonnes valued at some $70 billion in 2022, the World Gold Council (WGC) said on Tuesday.


Correcting some of the historic data from its annual Gold Demand Trends report, the WGC confirmed that this level of purchase was indeed the most in any year dating back to 1950, and the 13th consecutive year of net inflows.

As disclosed earlier, central bank purchases in the fourth quarter were 417 tonnes, which almost matched the entire 2021 totals (450 tonnes). Like the third quarter, the final quarter of the year was a combination of reported purchases and a substantial estimate for unreported buying.

As a result, total gold buying in the second half of 2022 totalled 862 tonnes.


This data underline a shift in attitudes to gold since the 1990s and 2000s, when central banks, particularly those in Western Europe that own a lot of bullion, sold hundreds of tonnes a year.

Since the financial crisis of 2008-09, European banks have stopped selling (gold), and a growing number of emerging economies such as Russia, Turkey and India have bought.

“This is a continuation of a trend,” said WGC analyst Krishan Gopaul. “You can see those drivers feeding into what happened last year. You had on the geopolitical front and the macroeconomic front a lot of uncertainty and volatility.”

Buying dipped during the coronavirus pandemic but accelerated in the second half of 2022, with central banks purchasing 862 tonnes between July and December, according to the WGC.

Banks including those of Turkey, China, Egypt and Qatar said they bought gold last year. But around two-thirds of the gold bought by central banks last year was not reported publicly, the WGC said.

Banks that have not regularly published information about changes in their gold stockpiles include those in China and Russia.

However, the “central bank buying (in 2023) is unlikely to match 2022 levels,” the WGC added.

“Lower total reserves may constrain the capacity to add to existing allocations. But lagged reporting by some central banks means that we need to apply a high degree of uncertainty to our expectations, predominantly to the upside.”

The central bank purchases took total gold global gold demand last year to 4,741 tonnes, up 18% from 2021 and the highest for any year since 2011.

(With files from Reuters)

South Africa’s century-old gold refiner runs at 75% as mines dim
Bloomberg News | February 3, 2023 | 

South Africa’s largest gold refiner is operating below capacity as output from local mines dwindles and supplies from elsewhere on the continent are scooped up by unaccredited rivals.


The 102 year-old Rand Refinery Ltd. in the east of Johannesburg — the only African refiner accredited with the London Bullion Market Association — is running at about 75% of capacity, said Chief Executive Officer Praveen Baijnath. While it still processes the output of its biggest shareholders — AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. Harmony Gold Mining Co. and Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. — about half of the continent’s gold, from artisanal and small-scale miners, goes to smaller unaccredited refiners.

“Our capacity is not fully utilized,” Baijnath said in an interview. “So should there be an increase in deliveries, we would be able to step up.”

That surplus capacity partly stems from the demise of South Africa’s gold industry, where output peaked decades ago. The plant was originally built to end the practice of shipping crude bullion to London from the vast Witwatersrand basin, the source of half the gold produced on earth. Now power outages are crippling the nation’s economy and threatening to hasten the end of those operations, the CEO said.

Rand Refinery also sources gold from Ghana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania — the continent’s top producers — but much larger flows are ending up with smaller smelters that have sprung up across Africa. The plant aims to stay competitive by investing in new technology and improving the logistics of hauling gold dore from across Africa, including sometimes using charter flights, Baijnath said.

There’s currently no market pressure to curtail the refinery’s operations further, said Baijnath.

So far, the LBMA’s minimum output requirements and stringent rules around responsible sourcing have precluded other African refineries from gaining accreditation. That hasn’t prevented them from finding markets for their bullion in Dubai and some European countries, Baijnath said.

Many of those unaccredited plants are in South Africa, where illegal mining has long been a problem. The proliferation of some of those refiners could in turn be spurring gold smuggling across the continent, he said.

(By Felix Njini, with assistance from Eddie Spence)

Russians bought record number of gold bars in 2022, data shows
Reuters | February 3, 2023 | 

Russia’s sovereign gold stockpile is the fifth-biggest in the world. (Image from Vladimir Putin’s website)

Russians bought an all-time record number of gold bars in 2022, finance ministry data showed on Friday, as tax cuts on precious metals encouraged people to stock up on bullion as a safe asset.


Moscow scrapped its 20% VAT on physical gold trades for individuals last March in a bid to draw people away from using the US dollar as a safe haven.

It also exempted people from paying income tax on profits gained from selling gold bars, further boosting demand for the metal.

According to the data, Russians bought over 50 tonnes of gold bars in 2022, ten times more than the year before. The most sought after were 1 kilogram bars which accounted for about 60% of those sold.

The figures are not yet final and only cover the period ending November 2022, the finance ministry told Reuters.

State-controlled VTB Bank said it sold 33.8 tonnes of gold bars to customers in 2022, with clients holding 50 billion roubles ($711 million) worth of the metal.

“Gold was a good protective financial solution last year,” said Yevgeny Beresnev from VTB’s investment products department.

“Customers shifted funds into this instrument in order to diversify their assets and make a profit when long-term planning.”

($1 = 70.30 roubles)

(By Darya Korsunskaya, Elena Fabrichnaya and Caleb Davis; Editing by Christina Fincher)

Permitting solutions for mining in British Columbia ‘a priority’, says gov’t

Amanda Stutt | February 3, 2023 |

The KSM Project in northwestern British Columbia.

 (Image: CNW Group/Seabridge Gold.)

Mineral explorers in British Columbia set a new spending record in 2022, hitting C$740.4 million ($555.7m), Premier David Eby told the crowd at last week’s AME Roundup conference in Vancouver, where nearly 6,000 geoscientists, prospectors, financiers, investors, Indigenous partners, suppliers, and government representatives from 39 countries gathered.


The previous record was set a decade ago at C$681 million ($511m) and 2021 saw C$660 million ($495m) in exploration spending. The rise was underpinned by an 84% increase in copper exploration budgets, Premier Eby said, with the province’s ‘Golden Triangle’ in the northwest receiving most of the attention.

In all, there are eight new mines or mine expansions in the pipeline in BC worth a total investment of C$6.6 billion ($4.9bn).

BC Premier David Eby at AME Roundup in Vancouver in January. Image by Henry Lazenby.

The most advanced project is Ascot Resources’ (TSX:AOT) Premier Gold mine, located in northwestern in the province’s northwest on Nisga’a Nation treaty land. Ascot raised C$200 million to finance its construction, now underway.

The Nisg̱a’a Nation and the Tahltan Nation announced last Thursday that they have joined together in a new partnership that will optimize the Nisga’a and Tahltan’s participation at the massive Seabridge KSM project, currently the third largest ranked copper project in the world, with nearly 25 million tonnes of copper in reserves.

With Canada aiming to become a bigger player on the world stage in terms of critical minerals supply, and with the mining permitting process in the province known for its lengthy delays, in response to questions sent to the premier’s office, Eby’s spokesperson Timothy Chu outlined the province’s plans.

MDC: What role does the Premier see the province playing in Canada’s push to become a bigger supplier of critical minerals?

PO: BC has a deep history in mining and exploration and mining and exploration continues to be a foundation of the province’s economy. BC has the potential to further grow the sector to provide more of the critical minerals and metals needed for the growth of emerging technologies, such as electric cars and wind turbines that the world will need to fight climate change.

The Province is committed to developing a strategy that aligns with the Federal strategy while advancing BC priorities that will build on foundational geoscience work.

MDC: Can you expand on comments about intending to bring the same ‘one-stop approach’ to processing natural resource projects permits as the Housing/Forestry strategy?

PO: While housing has been prioritized in the adoption of the ‘one-stop approach,’ permitting solutions for natural resource developments across the sector are also priority.

We are working towards legislation and policy shifts, systems changes and more supports for statutory decision makers, such as additional resources and training. Best practices are achieved through the single window approach we’ve rolled out for housing-related authorizations [and] are expected to be scalable and broadly applicable across the entire natural resources sector.

It’s important to keep in mind that housing is a requirement for industries to attract the skilled workforce they need. Accelerating our provincial efforts on housing helps industry.

Also, as the Premier stated in his speech, many of the same people working on housing applications at the Ministry of Environment, for example, are also the ones tasked with assessments for new mines. With a “one-stop shop approach” for housing and additional staff, it will ease the pressure on a clogged system.


MDC: How many staff will be allocated to address the backlog in mining?

PO: The Province has taken significant steps to ensure the process of permitting is efficient. We have dedicated C$18 million over three years to support permitting and Environmental Assessment reviews, including funding 13 new regional permitting positions. We know we have more work to do, and that a smooth environmental assessment process with our federal counterparts is crucial.

MDC: Plan to engage more with First Nations governments to bring them on board with resource projects?

PO: We all want our natural resources sector to support reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, environmental sustainability, and economic benefits.

One of the priorities for the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship is to create a new vision for land and resource management with First Nations that will help us make decisions together about how we use the land to benefit all British Columbians.

There are several areas around the province where we are working in close collaboration with First Nations to improve stewardship through the Collaborative Indigenous Stewardship Forums and through Modernized Land Use Planning.

Collaborative Indigenous Stewardship Forums are a partnership with First Nations to build trusted data that can be used to improve management and planning for water, land and natural resources.

Modernized land use plans increase predictability and clarity on the land base for economic opportunities, ensure protection of environmental and cultural values, and provide direction related to changing socio-economic conditions and climate change considerations.

Colombian president reiterates negative to allowing gold mining in the Andes mountains

Valentina Ruiz Leotaud | February 4, 2023 | 

Gustavo Petro in the Santander paramo on February 3, 2023. 

(Image by Presidencia de Colombia, Instagram.)

During a meeting with páramo communities in the north-central Santander department, Colombian President Gustavo Petro reiterated his negative to allowing large-scale gold mining in the Páramo de Santurbán, a protected area of the Andes mountains.


Petro’s words alluded to the Soto Norte project presented by the Sociedad Minera de Santander (Minesa), a company owned by the government of Abu Dhabi through its investment arm Mubadala Investment Company. The proposal was shelved in 2020 by Colombia’s National Authority of Environmental Licences (ANLA in Spanish), under the argument that there were too many unanswered questions in Soto Norte’s environmental impact assessment and follow-up documentation submitted by Minesa.

One of the main issues with the EIA was related to the possibility that the gigantic tunnels needed for the mine could affect the quality and amount of water flowing from the páramo to the city of Bucaramanga’s metropolitan aqueduct, which supplies fresh water to about 2 million people.

This is because, if approved, the project would be surrounded by – although technically it would be outside of – a protected area covered with subalpine forests above the continuous tree line but below the permanent snow mark, where water is naturally stored during the rainy season and released during the dry season.

“The issue is the flow of the water, not the border of the páramo,” Petro said. “It is irrelevant for the city of Bucaramanga if the large gold mine is established above or below the páramo’s border if the water is affected anyway.”

The town hall with the páramo communities took place following a January blockade carried out by Santander’s farmers and small business owners, who were protesting the possibility of displacement due to the new boundaries proposed by the legislative power in the Santurbán area when the $1.2 billion Soto Norte project was first presented.

After noting that when he was a senator he said that such an idea was a “trap,” Petro told the people gathered last Friday, adding that Santurbán and its water belong to them.

“After hearing from you that there is an ongoing displacement process, or the risk or threat of displacement of farmers in the area, people who have always lived there, it becomes clear to me that wherever big mining sets up shop, people end up displaced,” the president said. “I will not allow displacements in the Colombian páramos.”

Plants inspire scientists to recover minerals, metals from wastewater

Staff Writer | February 5, 2023 | 

Plants at a Syncrude reclaimed mine site. (Reference image by Syncrude, Flickr.)

Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) are drawing inspiration from plants to develop new techniques to separate and extract valuable minerals, metals and nutrients from resource-rich wastewater.


In a paper published in the journal New Phytologist, the researchers explain that they are adapting plant ‘membrane separation mechanisms’ so they can be embedded in new wastewater recycling solutions.

In their view, the technology could benefit a range of industries such as agriculture, aquaculture, desalination, battery recycling and mining. It could also help companies rethink their approach to how they deal with waste by creating a way to extract value from wastewater.

The paper notes that it is estimated that global wastewater contains three million metric tons of phosphorus, 16.6 million metric tons of nitrogen and 6.3 million metric tons of potassium. The recovery of these nutrients from wastewater could offset 13.4% of global agricultural demand for these resources.

The ammonia and hydrogen molecules, among others, that are embedded in wastewater could provide electricity to 158 million households.

“The world’s wastewater contains a jumbled mess of resources that are incredibly valuable, but only in their pure form. A big challenge researchers face is figuring out how to efficiently extract these valuable minerals, metals and nutrients while retaining their purity,” ANU plant scientist associate professor, Caitlin Byrt, said in a media statement. “The Australian mining industry for example creates more than 500 million tons of waste per year, and these wastes are rich in resources like copper, lithium and iron. But at the moment, liquid waste is just a problem; it can’t be dumped and it can’t be used. It’s just waste unless each resource can be separated out in a pure form.”
Separating the good from the bad

Byrt and her colleagues investigated the specialized molecular mechanisms that help plants recognize and separate different metal, mineral and nutrient molecules contained in soil, allowing them to sort the good from the bad—a basic biological process necessary for their growth and development.

“Resources such as boron, iron, lithium and phosphorus are used in battery technologies and plants are masters at separating these types of resources,” Byrt said.

Ammonia, a compound used to create fertilizer and an essential material in crop production, is another key resource scientists are looking to extract from liquid waste solutions.

“Fertilizer costs are going through the roof, which puts a lot of pressure on Australian farmers to be able to afford these higher prices and yet we’re wasting huge proportions of these molecules and that’s causing environmental problems,” Byrt pointed out. “Ammonia is also a critical storage molecule for hydrogen fuels. So, as we continue to develop hydrogen fuel industries, there will be an increase in demand for ammonia for use as a storage molecule, because that’s how the hydrogen fuel industry will be able to transport the stored hydrogen around and ultimately use it as a potential fuel source for fuelling cars and other technologies.”

For the researcher, advances in precision separation technology could also offer security to flood- and drought-prone communities by providing them with portable, secure and reliable access to clean drinking water in the face of worsening weather events as a result of climate change.

“Clean water and the security of nutrient resources underpin agricultural productivity. Development of technologies to sustainably manage these resources is essential for food security in Australia and globally,” she said.

Australian startup Recharge to buy failed Britishvolt

Cecilia Jamasmie | February 6, 2023 | 

Britishvolt was working on a 10,000-tonnes-per-year capacity battery recycling plant in England. (Image courtesy of Britishvolt. )

Australian startup Recharge Industries, which is building a lithium ion cell factory at home, is set to buy Britishvolt, a UK company that collapsed last month after struggling to fund a major electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling plant in northern England.


Cited by administrator EY as the preferred bidder for the takeover, Recharge Industries has put together an aggressive package that also revives plans to build the failed British firm’s £3.8bn ($4.7bn) plant and cover the target-company’s debts of £120 million ($145m).

Recharge, which counts with the financial backing of New York-based investment firm Scale Facilitation, will simultaneously work on Britishvolt’s planned facility, while also pursuing pre-existing plans to build a plant in Geelong, a former car manufacturing hub in Australia.

“We’re thrilled to be progressing with our proposed bid for Britishvolt and can’t wait to get started making a reality of our plans to build the UK’s first gigafactory,” David Collard, CEO of Scale Facilitation and founder of Recharge, said in an emailed statement.

The £2.6 billion ($3.5bn) battery plant Britishvolt wanted to build has been considered key to the prospects for the UK automotive sector, which is moving away from internal combustion engines towards zero-emissions EVs.

Recharge industries, founded in 2021, didn’t specify how it plans to fund the construction of the UK factory, though Collard stated he had received commitment letters from a number of funders.

“It is not surprising that Britishvolt has attracted a number of potential buyers, but perhaps a little surprising it has not gone to one of a number of British bidders,” Jordan Roberts, analyst at Fastmarkets NewGen, told MINING.COM.

“Recharge’s intentions for the Britishvolt business have not been detailed, but its US ownership and location in Australia, may finally provide the missing pieces of the jigsaw (capital, raw material supply and customers) to get the project off the ground,” Roberts noted.

Cutting off China’s dominance

Europe’s car industry needs to meet tighter carbon-dioxide emissions targets that take effect next year or face billions of dollars in fines if they exceed them.

Global battery supply is dominated by manufacturers in China, Japan and South Korea, but Europe and the US are racing to catch up.

By recycling batteries, the UK will secure some local supply of lithium and cobalt, and also reduce the amount of the metals the country needs to import to make EVs.

The EU Battery Regulation proposes that from 2030, all new batteries must contain 4% nickel, 12% cobalt and 4% lithium, by weight, from recycled materials, with higher targets from 2035.

In addition to battery research and production via Recharge Industries, Scale Facilitation also invests in medical technology and artificial intelligence.

Recharge’s buyout deal should be completed within the next seven days, EY said.

New device converts wave energy into electricity to power tsunami, hurricane sensors
Staff Writer | February 6, 2023 | 

Waves. (Reference image by Erland De Vienne, Wikimedia Commons.)

Researchers at the US’ Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are working on the development of a new cylindrical triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG)—a small powerhouse that converts wave energy into electricity to power devices at sea.


The goal behind the new device is to permanently keep the charge of sensors used to monitor tsunamis, hurricanes, and maritime weather, as changing those batteries when they run out requires significant effort and resources.

Larger versions of this generator could also be used to power ocean observation and communications systems, including acoustic and satellite telemetry.

“TENGs are low cost, lightweight, and can efficiently convert slow, uniform or random waves into power—making them particularly well-suited to powering devices in the open ocean where monitoring and access are challenging and costly,” said Daniel Deng, a PNNL laboratory fellow and co-developer of the new device.

Deng and his team took a novel approach to advance cylindrical TENGs for use on the open ocean. Their patent-pending frequency-multiplied cylindrical triboelectric nanogenerator (FMC-TENG) uses carefully placed magnets to convert energy more efficiently than other cylindrical TENGs and better transform slow, uniform waves into electricity.

So far, the prototype FMC-TENG has been able to produce enough electricity to power an acoustic transmitter—a type of sensor often included on ocean observing platforms that can be used for communications. This is about the same amount of electricity it takes to power an LED lightbulb.

“We’re developing the FMC-TENG to power everything from ocean observing platforms with multiple sensors to satellite communications, all using the power of the ocean,” Deng said.

How it works

The triboelectric effect – the same effect researchers leverage in the FMC-TENG to produce power – is similar to what people experience when shocked by static electricity. A cylindrical TENG is made up of two nested cylinders with the inner cylinder rotating freely.

Between the two cylinders are strips of artificial fur, aluminum electrodes, and a material similar to Teflon called fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP). As the TENG rolls along the surface of an ocean wave, the artificial fur and aluminum electrodes on one cylinder rub against the FEP material on the other cylinder, creating static electricity that can be converted into power.

The more a cylindrical TENG moves, the more energy it generates. That’s why fast, frequent waves can generate more energy than the slower, more uniform waves of the open ocean.

To come up with a TENG that could power electronics in the open ocean, Deng and his colleagues set out to increase the amount of wave energy converted into electricity in the FMC-TENG. Turns out, the key was to temporarily stop the FMC-TENG’s inner cylinder from moving.

In the FMC-TENG, the team positioned magnets to stop the inner cylinder in the device from rotating until it reached the crest of a wave, allowing it to build up more and more potential energy. Nearing the crest of the wave, the magnets release and the internal cylinder starts rolling down the wave very quickly. The faster movement produces electricity more efficiently, generating more energy from a slower wave.
A wave energy converter for the open ocean

Currently, the FMC-TENG prototype can produce enough power to run small electronics, like temperature sensors and acoustic transmitters.

As the team iterates on their design for commercial use, the FMC-TENG is expected to produce enough power to run an entire open ocean monitoring platform comprised of multiple sensors and satellite communications. In addition to this, the FMC-TENG is lightweight and can be used in both free-floating devices and moored platforms.

Burkina Faso junta to strengthen control over mining sector
Bloomberg News | February 6, 2023 | 10:39 am Intelligence Africa Gold

Tools utilized by gold digger in Burkina faso. Credit: Adobe Stock

Burkina Faso’s military rulers are seeking to process more of its gold locally to ensure control over the country’s main source of revenue following a drop in output.


Production sank 15% last year as the government battled a sprawling Islamist insurgency, with attacks increasingly targeting the mining industry. The West African nation, which exports the vast majority of its gold, is now looking to build a refinery to boost the value it gets from mining the commodity.

“The refinery is necessary,” Interim President Ibrahim Traore said in an interview with state broadcaster Radiodiffusion Television du Burkina. It’s among proposed changes to the sector that “we need to see to imperatively.”

Traore seized power in September in the second coup in six months, promising to step up the fight against the militants that control almost half the country’s territory. Russia’s Nordgold halted operations at the Taparko concession in April, saying workers’ lives were in danger. In August, gunmen killed six in an attack on a convoy returning from Endeavour Mining Corp.’s Boungou mine.

The government aims to increase security so that shuttered mines can reopen, Traore said. A review of the mining code will be ready soon, he said, adding that the treatment of mining waste is also a “very important” issue.

Gold accounted for 37% of Burkina Faso’s total exports in 2020. Output was estimated at 58 tons last year, down from 68 tons a year earlier.

A fifth of mining royalties collected by the state and 1% of mining-company revenues go into a government-managed fund that finances development projects in local mining communities and elsewhere.

(By Katarina Hoije and Simon Gongo)