mining

Campo de Montiel has rare earths to cover 33% of European demand, according to a mining company. The Board has said “no, thank you”

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Oil may be the resource that makes most of the headlines today, but the rare earthare “the cover” of the technology industry: they are decisive practically in any sector and also set the geopolitical agenda at a time of tariffs and vetoes. And if there is a country that cuts cod into rare earths (spoiler: They are neither earth nor are they rarebut 17 metals) that is China: there is no one to cough or in reserves neither in production. There was a time when The United States dominated this sectorbut that time passed away. And Europe? Well, at the moment rare earths are not produced, but we are working on it: has stepped on the accelerator at the Per Geijer superminein Kiruna (Sweden), where you could get 18% of what you need. Meanwhile, in a place in La Mancha whose name I don’t want to remember, there is who points that could obtain 2,100 tons per year of lanthanides, enough to cover 33% of European needs. There is only one little problem: the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha has said that they are not interested. And they are not alone. Campo de Montiel is a (potential) mine. Back in 2013 the Spanish company Quantum Mining put under his magnifying glass the region of Campo de Montiel, in Ciudad Real. Next to Torrenueva is that promising site that is the object of your desires: Matamulas. According to their analysis, it is full of monazite (along with bastnasite, the main rare earth ore) gray. But really loaded: the company assures that in Campo de Montiel more than 2,100 tons could be produced per year. Is that a lot or a little? According to the company, it is approximately a third of European consumption needs, although Eurostat figure in 12,900 annual tons imported by 2024, which would leave the percentage around 16% (the company does not publicly detail with what reference it calculates that third). The firm lands it with applications such as the construction of 350,000 electric cars or 10,000 wind turbines. Quantum Mining Production Estimates “We’re not interested.” A month ago Quantum Minería tried again and you already have an answer of the autonomous government: Mercedes Gómez, the Minister of Sustainable Development, explains that they are not interested in holding a competition so that tastings can be carried out at the Matamulas site. Not again: in 2013 the Board granted the mining company (and two other companies) exploitation permits, which was rejected in 2017. In 2024 came back to request permits, this time framed within the Neodimio project, again encountering a no. The EU also left them outside of their strategic projects. What Quantum wants to do. The mining plan It involves temporarily removing a half-meter layer of vegetation (mainly cereal) so that, once the process is finished, it can be reused in the restoration. Afterwards, backhoes extract two meters deep to reach the gray monazite. That material is taken to a concentration plant to be screened using physical processes, without chemical additives, so that the soil can be returned to its site later. Then the land is leveled and the crop is replaced. These works are carried out hectare by hectare, so that it does not interrupt the agricultural processes in the surroundings. According to the company, when the land is restored it can be cultivated “even in better conditions than the original ones.” Why not. Given the insistent interest of Quantum, the citizen platform ‘Yes to the Living Land‘ and other citizen activism movements once again opposed, in addition to one of the wineries in the region. A decade ago Ecologists in Action detailed that the environmental impact of this operation on the 27,500 hectares included in the project would be severe. One of the bottlenecks is water: for this operation they estimate that between 310,000 and 500,000 cubic meters of water would be needed annually during the estimated ten years of exploitation (washing and processing are two processes that consume a lot of water). In that area the water pressure is high, with droughts, reservoirs in states of emergency, overexploited aquifers and intense grassroots agricultural activity as icing on the cake. In addition, in the region there are two Special Protection Areas for Birds and it is the habitat of the lynx. In Xataka | The world’s rare earth reserves, laid out in this graph showing the brutal dominance of a single country In Xataka | Europe seeks its sovereignty in rare earths and knows how to achieve it the fast way: with a supermine in Sweden Cover | ダモリ and Karen Paredes Carabantes

Mitsubishi built a remote, car-free city in the middle of the sea with one goal: mining coal

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About 15 kilometers off the coast of Nagasaki, in the East China Sea, there is a small island that houses blocks of concrete and semi-ruined buildings, surrounded by a retaining wall that protects them from the Pacific. The island is called Hashimaalthough it is also known as “Gunkanjima”which in Japanese means “battleship island.” and its history It is fascinating and dark in equal parts.. An island that was born from coal. All infrastructure was built for one reason: coal. The mineral was detected on the seabed beneath the island around 1810, but its systematic exploitation did not begin until 1887. In 1890, the Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha company purchased the island and took control of the underwater mines. Extracting coal from the bottom of the sea was extraordinarily complicated, as the miners worked in tunnels that went up to a kilometer below the surface, with temperatures of 30 degrees and very high humidity. Between 1891 and 1974, the island produced some 15.7 million tons of coal. A decision that changed everything. Moving workers daily from Nagasaki was expensive and inefficient, which is why Mitsubishi made the decision to build an entire city on the island. In 1916, the company erected the first concrete building armed of large dimensions in the history of Japan, and it was precisely on this same island. These types of buildings were the only way for the buildings to withstand the typhoons that hit the region every autumn. A compressed city. During the following decades, Hashima grew upwards because he could not grow sideways. The island measures just 480 meters long and 160 meters wide. And yet, at its peak, in 1959, It housed 5,259 peoplemaking it the most densely populated place on the planet at that time. On that small piece of land there were apartments, schools, a hospital, shops, a cinema, public baths, a swimming pool, rooftop gardens, a pachinko parlor and even a cemetery. Of course, there were no cars, since there was neither space for them nor did it make much sense. a hidden face. Hashima’s story has, however, a deep shadow that for decades tried to ignore. From the 1930s until the end of World War II, Mitsubishi used forced labor at its facilities on the island. There, both Korean conscript civilians and Chinese prisoners of war were forced to work in extreme conditions. According to an academic article published on Tandfonline, around 1,000 Koreans were taken to Hashima between 1939 and 1945. Estimates of the death toll vary. On the one hand, in the book “Life in Gunkanjima 1952-1970: Report of the investigation into the Hashima homes”, by academic Uzō Nishiyama, the death toll is estimated at 137; other non-Japanese sources raise that figure to more than 1,300. The workers descended into the mines during extreme hours, and any resistance was punished brutally. They were not workers, they were slaves, and escape was practically impossible, since the nearest coast was more than 18 kilometers away by open swim. Abandonment. In the 1960s, oil began to displace coal as an energy source in Japan. Mines across the country were closing one after another. Hashima’s was no exception. Mitsubishi officially closed the mine in January 1974. and the residents left the island on April 20 of that same year. The exodus was so rapid that many left behind furniture, clothing, photographs and all kinds of personal belongings. In a matter of weeks, a city of more than five thousand people was turned into a ghost scene. For the next thirty years, Hashima remained closed to the public and was slowly devoured by typhoons and sea salt. movie set. In 2002, Swedish filmmaker Thomas Nordanstad visited the island accompanied by Doutoku Sakamoto, a man who had grown up there as a child, and filmed a short documentary. Years later, Nordanstad met Daniel Craig in Stockholm, while he was filming ‘The men who didn’t love women‘. He told him the story of Hashima. According to collect world, Nordanstad thought for a time that the actor wanted to buy the rights to the documentary, but that was not the case. Two years later it was released skyfall (2012). In the film, the abandoned island serves as the lair of the villain Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem. The producers traveled to Hashima to consider filming there, but concluded that the buildings were too unstable and dangerous. Therefore, they ended up building a replica at Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom. The exterior images of the island that appear in the film are the only ones shot on location. World Heritage with controversy. In 2015, the island It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, within the category “Sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution”. However, this designation came accompanied by diplomatic problems. South Korea initially objected because Japan did not recognize the use of forced labor on the island. In the end they reached an agreement: Japan agreed to include that part of the story in its materials, but they didn’t do their part. In 2021, the UNESCO Committee issued a resolution in which they expressed regret that Japan had not provided sufficient information on forced laborers. In fact, the Industrial Heritage Information Center, opened in Tokyo in 2020 to lend credibility to that narrative, was criticized for including testimonies that denied the existence of slavery conditions on the island. As of today, the debate has not yet been closed. A tourist destination with scars. Since 2009, Hashima can be visited in small groups organized from the port of Nagasaki. The tour lasts approximately one hour and is strictly delimited for safety reasons. In fact, 95% of the island remains restricted to visitors. Images | Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | The most extreme symbol of the touristification of Madrid are the TukTuk. And there is already an initiative to ban them

mining and industrial ponds

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Spain has its eyes riveted on the intense rains this week in Andalusia. According to meteorological expertsbetween 60 and 80 liters were expected, but the orography has acted as a wall causing accumulations of 180 liters, a scenario where the technology has failed by more than double in a short-term prediction. However, while the cameras focus on the water running through the streets of white towns, a much quieter and potentially devastating threat is brewing far from the media spotlight. The real technical and military concern lies in the stability of the industrial waste infrastructure in the province of Huelva and part of Seville. Over there, as detailed in the local pressis located the largest toxic waste deposit in Europe. It is a time bomb composed of mud and heavy metals that is being subjected to a water stress test without recent precedents. What has happened to the mining ponds? Before the arrival of the storm Leonardothe reaction of the authorities has been of unusual speed. Yesterday, the management of the Emergency Plan for the Risk of Floods commissioned the Military Emergency Unit (UME) to carry out an urgent analysis and assessment of the situation of these deposits. Officially, the message it’s calmsince the regional emergency service assures that the work carried out has provided “complete peace of mind” and that “no incident or probable risk” has been detected. However, the reality on the ground shows a different operational tension. Far from limiting itself to observing, the UME has taken direct action with a massive deployment: a contingent of more than 250 soldiers and 90 specialized vehicles has been mobilized to the area. According to Andalusian public televisionthe troops have installed a retaining wall using “Hesco Bastion” and heavy machinery in the Los Frailes mine, in Aznalcóllar, because the rainwater is already carrying pyrite and they are seeking to prevent it from draining into the reservoir at all costs. The war of stories. The situation has caused a mix of messages between political prudence, business demands and social alarm. The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, has been unusually explicit about the nature of the danger. As you have collected ABCthe Andalusian president has justified the military mobilization by the need for anticipation, crudely warning that these facilities are “mining ponds that could overflow with materials, some of which are toxic, especially in a very special way in the province of Huelva.” Faced with this political warning, the industry’s response has been blunt. The company Atalaya Riotinto Minera has issued a statement guaranteeing the safety of the waste deposits at the Riotinto mine. They ensure that their facilities operate normally in accordance with strict technical standards and that these exceptional situations “have been contemplated in the design and construction”, with adequate safety margins. Furthermore, the company wanted to emphasize that it maintains “full communication and coordination” with the competent authorities and the Civil Guard for continuous monitoring of the situation. At the other extreme, political voices like Izquierda Unida They warn that this is not a drill. The training indicates that the ponds, which accumulate toxic materials after decades of exploitation, enter a “potential situation of risk of breaking” due to the pressure of the water on the slopes. Its provincial coordinator has denounced the “historical inability” to maintain these soils and demands a truthful diagnosis in real time, describing the situation as a non-hypothetical risk. The ghost of ’98. The fear that runs through the spine of western Andalusia has a memory. The inevitable reference is the disaster of Aznalcóllar from 1998but the current dimensions are much larger. The main focus of the threat today is located in the Riotinto Mining Basin, in the Gossan, Cobre and Aguzadera dams. This complex stores more than 182 million cubic meters of sludge, an amount that exceeds thirty times the volume of the spill that caused the ecological catastrophe almost three decades ago. Environmental organizations provide disturbing data on current operators. They recall that the Aznalcóllar mine is now managed by a subsidiary of Grupo México, a company with a history of pond failures in its country of origin, such as the one in the Sonora River in 2014. In addition, they denounce that there were already prior warnings: in March 2025, during other intense rains, an episode of contamination occurred in the Agrio counter-reservoir due to runoff from the mine. ANDthenWhat are the forecasts? The current problem is not only the amount of water that falls, but where it falls. As meteorology experts explain“it rains in the wet.” The month of January already broke historical records with accumulations of 1,300 liters in some areas, leaving the soil, composed mainly of clay, completely saturated. The infiltration rate is zero; The ground no longer supports even one more drop. This takes us to a limit hydrological situation. The reservoirs of the province of Huelva are at 85.83% of its capacity, a figure much higher than the average of recent years. This has forced the Board to carry out preventive and controlled discharges in seven of the eight dams it manages to guarantee their safety. However, the greatest physical danger in mining ponds is technical, that is, the risk of sludge liquefaction. The experts warn that An episode of extreme rain increases the hydrostatic pressure on the retaining walls. If this occurs, the mud can lose its solid behavior and suddenly collapse the structure. There is one more threat. Beyond the mines, the Huelva orography hides another critical point: the phosphogypsum ponds in the Tinto marshes. There are 1,200 hectares that accumulate 120 million tons of industrial waste just a few kilometers from the capital. Studies add a factor of instability additional, since a “progressive sinking of the land” has been detected in this area. Added to this scenario is the opacity denounced by social groups. Ecologists in Action claims to have requested repeatedly provided information on surveillance reports on the raised walls in Riotinto and on the company’s financial guarantees … Read more

Mining Bitcoin has always been an energetic black hole. Someone wants to turn it into your home heating

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The CES 2026 that has just closed its doors has confirmed an inescapable reality: Artificial Intelligence is everywhere, even where it seems to make no sense. From electronic LEGO bricks and wearables with roll-up screens, to more questionable devices like AI hair clippers that adjust the cut dynamically or digital frames that generate art by voice using GPT Image 1.5. Among this tide of “AI even in the soup”, a proposal has emerged that breaks with that trend and has surprised by its pragmatism: is it possible to get hot by mining Bitcoins? The answer is a resounding yes, and this year technology has shown that what was once a nuisance thermal waste is now a valuable household resource. ANDl income generating water heater. The American startup Superheat captured everyone’s attention with the presentation of its Superheat H1a water heater that uses ASIC (application specific integrated circuits) chips to heat a 190-liter tank while processing Bitcoin transactions. Unlike traditional electric water heaters, the H1 has an approximate price of $2,000, placing it 30-40% above the conventional market. However, as detailed in CNETwill be able to generate about $1,000 annually in passive income, always depending on the value of Bitcoin and the difficulty of the network. The science of “thermal reuse”. To understand this phenomenon, you have to turn to basic physics. The mining process requires intensive computational calculations (proof-of-work) that generate a massive amount of heat. Traditionally, this heat was expelled into the air using fans, but companies like Superheat have turned it around: mining is now the primary function and hot water is the secondary benefit. From the user’s point of view, the experience is seamless. The manual for devices like the Heatbit Trio reveals a control system sophisticated where the user can navigate the panel like a professional: Eco Mode: Heats exclusively by mining, limiting consumption to 400W. Target Mode: Combines the mining plate with a conventional heating element to maintain the desired temperature. Air purification: These devices not only heat, but act as purifiers with HEPA filters and air quality sensors (PM 2.5). Europe at the forefront. In the old continent, the proposal focuses on design and structural integration. From Austria, the company 21energy presents the Ofen 2a minimalist design radiator made of steel and aluminum. Unlike industrial miners that emit 75 decibels, this model is around 32-35 dB, being almost inaudible to the human ear. Furthermore, with a consumption of 1000 watts, it generates up to 40 TH/s of mining power, allowing users to recover part of their electricity bill while heating rooms of up to 50 m². On the other hand, in Switzerland, the company RY3T has marked a historic milestone. The RY3T ONE system has already been installed as the main heat source in a single-family house in the canton of Sankt Gallen. According to the companythis system can be more environmentally friendly than a conventional heat pump, as it reuses a computing power necessary for the global financial network instead of requiring additional electricity exclusively to generate thermal friction. A good idea or a technological chimera? Despite the enthusiasm, a report from Interesting Engineering raises critical questions that the consumer should consider: Obsolescence: What happens when mining hardware becomes obsolete? Will the entire heater or radiator have to be replaced? Network Cost: Even though heat is “free,” electricity for Bitcoin mining is often more expensive than natural gas in many countries. Regulation: If a country decided to ban Bitcoin mining, the user’s heating system could be legally compromised. From mining coins to processing Artificial Intelligence. As this report began, AI is the main protagonist of the moment, and its evolution will continue to be talked about far beyond cryptocurrencies. Julie Xu, COO of Superheat, explained at CES that the ultimate goal is to use this network of appliances for cloud solutions and AI inference. Instead of building gigantic data centers that stress the power grid and require massive cooling, homes could house small distributed computing units. However, this future poses a new dilemma: privacy. Experts from iFixit and Consumer Reports They already warn at this CES that “you don’t want a camera in front of your refrigerator watching you all the time” or a constant internet connection on simple devices, since it makes them more expensive to repair and prone to failure. The challenge will, therefore, be to balance the profitability of heating the home with the security of our private data. Image | freepik and heatbit Xataka | The bitcoin business cools down, but some miners have found a new vein: AI fever

Mining waste is changing life in the depths of the Pacific

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More than a thousand meters below the Pacific, a turbid cloud slowly disperses. It is not pollution visible from the surface, but it could transform the ocean from its foundations. That cloud—a mix of sediment, metals, and mining waste—is the byproduct of a new global fever: the race for minerals from the seabed. A recent study published in Nature warns of a little-known risk. By extracting metals from the seabed, underwater mining releases a cloud of waste as fine as dust. This material can replace the food that millions of small organisms need to survive. They are tiny, almost invisible creatures, but without them there would be no fish, whales or marine life as we know it. A deep problem. A team from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa analyzed for the first time the effects of a test spill made during a mining operation in the Pacific. Researchers discovered that the waste generated by extracting polymetallic nodules – potato-sized rocks packed with valuable metals such as nickel, cobalt or manganese – can drown the so-called “twilight ocean”, an area that extends between 200 and 1,500 meters deep. The results are overwhelming: the particles from the mining process are between 10 and 100 times less nutritious than natural particles. “It’s like replacing food with air,” explains Michael Dowdlead author of the study. Their work shows that this waste can displace organic particles that feed zooplankton and other species that, in turn, support fish, whales and tuna. The study, carried out in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone – a vast region of the Pacific of 1.5 million square kilometers under license from the International Seabed Authority (ISA) – calculated that 65% of the species analyzed depend on particles larger than six microns, exactly those that would be replaced by mining waste. More than half of the zooplankton and 60% of the micronekton feed on them. The journey of waste. During the process, underwater mining generates a flow of water, sediment and metals that is pumped to a ship on the surface. There the valuable minerals are separated and the rest of the material – a mixture of mud and inorganic fragments – is returned to the sea. The problem is where it is returned. Some companies, such as The Metals Company (TMC), have proposed release the residue in the so-called “mesopelagic zone”, an area rich in microscopic life. According to scientists, this could cause a “cascade effect”: organisms that filter particles to feed would run out of nutrients, and the predators that depend on them—from fish to cetaceans—could migrate or starve. That is why the authors recommend that, if companies insist on mining, they at least return the sediments to the seabed, where they were extracted, even if that is more expensive and technically complex. However, from the company, which financed the study but did not intervene in its conclusions, he assured The Verge which plans to release the waste at a depth of about 2,000 meters, below the area analyzed by the researchers. According to its environmental director, Michael Clarke, the particles dissipate quickly and there is less planktonic life at those depths. The rules of the fund: the battle in the ISA. The rules of the seabed are still being written in slow motion. Regulation falls to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), the UN body in charge of managing mineral resources in international waters. Since 2014, the ISA has been working on a Mining Code that has not yet been approved. For now, it has only granted exploration licenses, but none for commercial exploitation. Meanwhile, some countries are pushing to move forward without waiting for the final code. In fact, Donald Trump has tried to bypass the international process signing an executive order that allowed US companies to be granted permits to mine the seabed. The measure has been seen by ISA Secretary General Leticia Carvalho as a “dangerous precedent that could destabilize ocean governance.” A geopolitical board in dispute. American interest is framed in the technological and trade war with China. The Asian giant controls about 70% of the global rare earth market and has multiple exploration contracts in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Faced with this dependence, the White House seeks to guarantee its own supply of strategic metals by promoting deep-sea mining and creating national reserves, but the country has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In other words, the United States not part of the ISA. Meanwhile, countries such as Norway, Japan, Papua New Guinea and China are moving forward with their projects. At the last ISA meeting, 32 nations—including Spain—requested a global moratorium to curb underwater mining until its impacts are better understood. Between two waters. The fate of the seabed is written at the same time in the laboratories and in the negotiation rooms, far from the blue silence thatwe still don’t fully understand. The little we know is that beneath that darkness await the metals of the future and perhaps also the price of extracting them. Image | Unsplash Xataka | When it seemed that the controversy over underwater mining was calming down, the discovery of black oxygen threatens to reactivate it

Europe needs tungsten for its electrical future. A Swedish mining company knows where to find it: Ourense

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In the parish of Pentes, in the Ourense municipality of A Gudiña, the excavators have already begun to remove earth. There, on a slope where until recently only the mountain wind could be heard, the Swedish mining company Eurobattery Minerals AB has launched the work to extract tungsten – also known as tungsten –, a strategic metal for the European energy and technological transition. Galicia thus joins the small group of regions on the continent with active exploitation of this critical mineral. A strategic mine for Europe. The company, through its Galician subsidiary Tungsten San Juan, has launched its San Juan project while preparing its application for the second call for Strategic Projects under the European Regulation of Critical Raw Materials (CRMA), to open in January 2026. The first earthworks and the construction of a service warehouse are already visible in the area, as confirmed by the Vigo Lighthouse. When it is at full capacity, this will be the second active exploitation of tungsten in Spain, along with that of Barruecopardoin Salamanca. More in depth. The San Juan project will be an open pit mine with a goal that goes beyond local production: to provide European tungsten to the continent’s new industrial ecosystem. The company has begun improving infrastructure and constructing a pilot plant with gravimetric technology, while estimating reserves of 60,000 tons of ore with a grade of 1.3% WO₃. These are modest figures on a global scale, but significant for a Europe that seeks to reduce its dependence on Chinese imports of this critical metal. It has not been a short road. The procedures began in 2016 with geological studies, surveys and the construction of accesses, all under the supervision of the Xunta de Galicia. “Our goal is to produce tungsten responsibly and efficiently within Europe,” explains Agne Ahleniusgeneral director of Tungsten San Juan and former head of the Barruecopardo mine. “With this project, Galicia and Spain reinforce their role in the European supply chain of critical raw materials.” The metal that supports the energy transition. Few materials concentrate as much strategic value as tungsten. Its density, its resistance and its very high melting point make it a key resource for modern industry: from wind turbines to defense, including semiconductors and electric cars. But behind its technical brilliance there is a global conflict. China controls more than 80% of production and, in recent months, it has further limited its exports. The result: skyrocketing prices, uncertainty in the markets and a new reminder of how dependent Europe continues to be. To break this cycle, Brussels has launched the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), a plan to guarantee access to critical minerals within European territory. According to the European Commissionthese initiatives not only seek economic stability: they also aim to reinforce the industrial autonomy of the continent and reduce its vulnerability to geopolitical tensions. Spain, a mining window. The start of the San Juan project is not an isolated event. It is part of a larger movement: the rediscovery of Spain’s mining potential. The country has projects of copper, tungsten, vanadium, graphite and cobalt, in addition to new deposits of rare earths in Estremadura and Gran Canaria. The European Union has set clear goals. It wants to stop depending on third countries for its supply of raw materials, and the new Critical Raw Materials Regulation (CRMA) mark the way: By 2030, at least 10% of critical minerals must be extracted within Europe, 40% processed on EU soil and 15% from recycling. Furthermore, no external country may concentrate more than 65% of the supply. On this map, Spain appears as a key piece: with Galicia, Castilla y León, Andalusia and Extremadura at the forefront, the country could become one of the gateways to the new European green reindustrialization. European autonomy is in Galicia. The roar of the excavators in A Gudiña not only marks the beginning of a new mine, but also the symbol of a change of era. Europe wants to leave decades of dependence behind and build a more sovereign and sustainable industry. From a Galician hillside, a small tungsten mine has become part of that strategy. What begins in Pentes may be, deep down, one more piece of the new energy and technological map of Europe. Image | Unsplash Xataka | The price of silver is exploding to levels not seen since 1980. The reason: we need too much

Jaén revives his mining past for energy transition

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Spain reappears on the board of critical minerals In full geopolitical struggle Between the United States and China. The Government has published in the BOE The definitive admission of the “Menipe” research permit, which will allow the Australian company Osmond Resources – through its local subsidiary Green Mineral Resources SL – to explore strategic resources in the province of Jaén. Opening the way. The project Orion EU Critical Minerals Project It will cover a total 756 grids (228 km²) among the municipalities of Aldeaquemada, Santisteban del Puerto, Castellar and Montizón. According to the company itselfthe work will focus on a fossilized paleoplace with high heavy mineral content. Surface trials would have revealed “unusually high” concentrations: more than 15% in rutilo and about 10% in Circón, in addition to significant levels of rare earths (neodymium, proseodimium and disposium), essential elements to manufacture permanent magnets used in wind turbines, electric cars and batteries. A long process. It is not to arrive and kiss the saint. According to the technical memory of the PI “Orion”, the investigation is conceived as a three -year plan divided into progressive phases. During the first exercise it is planned to collect historical information, develop geological cartography at 1: 10,000 scale, perform aerial geophysical prospects and take between 80 and 90 samples in streams, in addition to running up to five surveys with witness in areas such as Avellanar. In a second stage, the works will focus on surface geophysics – electrical and magnetotheluric toomography – on the development of a hydrogeological model and on another ten additional polls. Finally, a technical-economic evaluation of the set of results is made, with the possibility of extension if the deadlines were insufficient. The technical document describes mineralized layers between 0.3 and 4 meters (average of 2.5 m), rich in zircon, rutilo, ilmenite and monacite. Besides, According to Osmond Resourcesthe first drilling program includes 15 polls in Avellanar and other objective zones. The company claims to have a listing machine ready and plans to incorporate more teams in October of this year, When the risk of fire goes down. Very quoted materials. The minerals under investigation are in the European list of critical and strategic raw materials. Rare earths such as neodymium or disposium are essential to manufacture permanent magnets used in wind turbines, electric cars and batteries. Rutilo is used in pigments and alloys. The zircon and hafnio have applications in ceramics and nuclear reactors. According to the European Commissionthe new Critical RAW Materials Act set by 2030 that at least 10% of critical subjects are extracted in community territory, 40% are processed in the EU and 25% is recycledwith the aim of reducing the dependence of a single country supplier to a maximum of 65%. Within that framework, projects such as Jaén fit fully into the industrial autonomy strategy of the block. An hUb Mining in boom? The chosen area is not new to mining. The region of Linares – La Carolina was, During the nineteenth and twentieth centuriesone of the most important leading districts in Europe. In the 50s and 60s even Torio and Uranium were sought, without success. Today, that past resurfaces with new protagonists. In addition, Jaén’s case is not isolated. The community concentrates near the 90% of the value of national metal mining and is reactivating dozens of research permits. Even, In Xatakawe have talked about “El Dorado Andaluz”, a region where the global demand for strategic metals and the European bet for new supply chains are crossed. It is not an exploitation license. For the moment. The current permit only authorizes investigation and the Board opened a period of public allegations in the Environmental Processing of Pi “Orion”and it is foreseeable that objections linked to water and biodiversity arise. In Jaén, social sensitivity towards energy projects has already been evident: the massive installation of solar plants has reached courts To stop different photovoltaic projects. Experience in other territories also invites caution. In Matamulas (Ciudad Real), the strong neighborhood and environmental response paralyzed rare earth despite the high geological potential. Jaén can investigate. If the polls confirm the potential and if the project exceeds environmental and social tests, Andalusia could become the European test bank for a new mining of critical minerals. Time will say if Jaén goes from being a line in the BOE to a key actor in Europe’s mineral autonomy. Image | Unspash and Unspash Xataka | Atacama Salar is the key on which the electric car industry pivot. And is starting to dry

Mining companies believed to have found a treasure in Ciudad Real. Until the Iberian lynx appeared

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In a video that is has viralized By networks you can see how two lynxes are disputing the territory to headers, a habitual practice between these felines. He Reelrecorded in Ciudad Real, shows how felines are returning to their natural habitat. In a turn of events, these animals have managed to stop attempts to extraction a company: giving them a legal header. The exploitation. The “Neodimio Project” is an initiative of the Quantum mining company that seeks gray monacita in the province of Ciudad Real. From this rare land the neodymium is extracted, used in magnets of electric cars and wind turbines. The mining company has shown interest in exploring areas near Valdepeñas, Santa Cruz de Mudela and Torrenueva, areas to overcome the cat, According to the avant -garde. Maybe there are no lynx … But there are people living in those areas that oppose mining. The “yes to the living land” platform has asked the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, to oppose the Rare Earth’s mining project, According to Cadena Ser. From the organization they have explained that it could have a devastating impact on local biodiversity and endanger the ecological corridors that the lynxs have begun to recover. They do not stop in your search. Quantum’s story with Ciudad Real It has been more than a decade. After the failure of the “Matamulas” project, the company tries to return to the load. But time does not play in its favor: the citizen opposition has grown, water resources are increasingly scarce and the rural economic model (based on wine, oil and tourism) fears are affected. The controversy has also intensified for a complaint of the Seprona, which accuses the company of having done work without permission on a plot of Torrenueva, According to Castilla-La Mancha Media. Legal header The Iberian lynx, in its reintroduction process in the region, has played a decisive role in this conflict. Although rare earth mining is seen as an economic opportunity in the context of the energy transition, efforts to preserve fauna and biodiversity have led to stop these projects. As have explained at the vanguardthe lynx is no longer just a conservation symbol, but an argument of weight in legal reports and protests. Its presence in areas such as the Montiel field has become an obstacle to mining companies that seek to exploit these natural resources. It is not the only place. Although Ciudad Real is emerging as the area with the most potential for rare earths in Spain, it is not the only one. In different areas of the country we can find, as Galicia, Gran Canaria, Almería, Estremaduraamong other places. The fan that has been opened is very wide, but these deposits have in common not only the element, but their extraction seems to be complex. For its part, the European Commission has not included the Quantum project in your list of strategic initiativeswhich means that it does not have the support of Brussels to continue its development. Recovering spaces. The lynx has become a defender of its territory, interfering with projects that threaten their home. The struggle for the future of Ciudad Real is between the protection of biodiversity and the progress of mining, a dispute that reflects the dilemma between the need for natural resources and the conservation of ecosystems. Image | Pexels and Diego Delso Xataka | The rare earth war has arrived in Spain. And it is in Ciudad Real where mining and ecology are confronted

In 2019 we discovered some fungi capable of metabolizing gold. There are already those who want to make it the key to space mining

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The story Start more than five years ago In Boddington, south of the Australian city of Perth. Over there, Between murderous animals and gold mines, a team of researchers from the Australian Csiro discovered something truly rare: that certain fungus strains Fusarium oxysporum Not only could they extract gold from its surroundings and integrate it into their structure, but in doing so they managed to spread faster than the rest. It seemed a curiosity without more, but in recent years the situation has begun to change. But, a moment, why is something so “weird”? Good question. After all, we know of good ink that fungi “play an essential role in degradation and recycling of all types of organic material (Like leaves or bark), but also in the cycle of certain metals such as aluminum, iron, manganese and calcium. “Why would it be different with gold? Because, as Tsing Bohu explained, a researcher in charge of the project, “Gold is so inactive (chemically speaking) that this type of interactions is unusual and surprising, he had to see him to believe it.” And he saw it. In fact, lo published in Nature Communications. It was the first solid evidence that fungi could have a relevant role in the gold cycle in the earth’s crust. The “mushroom” of golden eggs. Quickly the mining industry put his eyes on the investigation. Especially right there, in Australia. The continent island is the second largest gold producer in the world, but The consensus among analysts It is that without new deposits the production was going to fall (and much) in a short time. Initially, the industry thought that CSIRO’s investigation could serve to locate these new deposits. As we explained years agoin Australia it is relatively common to do prospects in forests of the Aucaliptos family or near termites because they have a close relationship with the precious metal. Why not analyze the land in search of those strains of Fusarium oxysporum? But there is one more possibility. As Eduardo Bazo explained to Eugenio Fernández In a very interesting interviewin recent years there have appeared companies that work on what we could call “Metabolic mining“That is, in using organisms to extract gold. “And what do you want that?” You could ask. “Isn’t it easier to identify where gold is and extract with industrial methods?” Yes, here on earth, yes. But these companies look a little further: in space mining. For years we have talked about the existence of huge mineral deposits in the solar system and, for almost the same, We have fantasized to be able to exploit them. The problem is that, Beyond the current technological limitationsS, to the danger of normal mining, is added the fact that we talk about processing metal in space. But and if we use ‘metabolic mining’? The idea of ​​sending modified strains of these fungi (or other microorganisms) that They will process the mineral for useverything would become easier. I don’t know if more viable, but simpler. It is much less rare than it seems (this type of approaches we use to innumerable products that we usually use), however to take it to the world of mining seems a little more complex by pure efficiency. However, that’s ‘now’. While I write (and while The era of cheap materials ends) Several research groups They are cultivating all kinds of microorganisms with the idea of ​​being able to grow gold sooner rather than later. Image | Dominik Vanyi | Jaap Straydo In Xataka | The next richest person in the world will come from space: the future millionaire of space mining

Working mining is still deadly in Spain

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Gray day for Spanish mining. Bit before nine In the morning the Cerredo mine, in southern Asturias, registered an explosion that has left five deaths and four serious injuries. The first hypotheses point to Grisú gasbut beyond (dramatic) balance of victims or what have been the concrete causes of the tragedy, what happened in Asturias reminds us of something: in the middle of 2025 mining continues to support one of the Worst data of labor mortality of the country if the size of its workforce is taken into account. The big question is: how is it possible? What happened? That Spanish mining starts April. First thing in the morning the Cerredo mine, in the Council of Degaña, to the south of Asturias, registered an accident that resulted in five dead and four injured, two with serious burns and a third with a craniocerebral trauma. Two other workers have resulted unharmed. All the deceased are from the neighboring province of León and, according to The data that has been publishing the Government Delegation in Asturias, were between 32 and 54 years. Click on the image to go to Tweet. What was the cause? The counselor of Ecological Transition of Asturias, Belamina Díaz, He has warned “It will take time to find out the causes”, but that does not mean that hypotheses are already handled. The main one is that the explosion that ended the life of the five miners and wounded another four is related to A Bag of Grisúa gas that is generated in the Hulla mines, is mainly composed of methane (more than 90%) and becomes flammable when mixing with the air, which can lead to violent deflagrations. “We are going to wait to see what has happened”, He pointed out This morning Belarmina Díaz while the Police and Ministry personnel inspected the area. The Government delegate, Adriana Lastra, has even gone further to regret That “again” El Grisú advises “a bars.” Two of the employees who were in the area managed to leave unharmed after The explosion of a machine with which they worked several meters deep, at the third level of the mine. Is it something new? If it is confirmed that the accident is related to Grisú, no. In October 2013 An escape from the same gas almost 700 meters deep cost the life of six miners who were slaughtered in the Pozo Emilio del Valle, in Pola de Gordón, León. On that occasion the Grisú Bag opened without any explosion, but the escape was so “sudden”, according to explained the company itselfthat the workers could not place the masks or flee. The Grisú was also behind the one that is still considered the worst mining accident of Asturias, the one suffered in Nicolasa in August 1995. On that occasion the gas caused a violent explosion that took the life of 14 people ahead. Even more dramatic was the deflagration that hit a mine from northern Turkey in October 2022leaving a balance of more than 40 dead and a trail of injured. On other occasions the victims cause them landslides of tunnels and entrapments, as already happened in Degaña A decade ago. Activity Total accidents Incidence index (mortals) Extractive industries 6 27.67 Transport and storage 138 12.60 Energy supply 4 10.01 Agriculture, Livestock, Silviculture and Fisheries 69 9.73 Construction 135 9.61 Are accidents common? Events such as Cerredo serve to remember a sad reality of Spanish mining: their High accident rate. Not in absolute terms, but if we talk about the relative mortality rate, which relates the incidence of accidents with fatal victims and the number of workers. In that case, extractive industries leave the worst result, much higher than that registered by other sectors, such as transport, storage or electricity supply. What supposes that in data? The balance of provisional labor accidents of 2024 published by the Ministry of Labor show a clear example. Last year the extractive industries left a balance of 1,220 accidents throughout the working day that left six dead. They are not many if compared to the 41,132 claims and 138 deaths registered in the transport and storage sector, but the photo changes if the “incidence index” is analyzed, which also takes into account the number of employees. After all, in 2021 there were less than 30,000 workers in the extractive industry, in front of more than 700,000 in transport and storage, according to the statista portal. If this factor is taken into account, mining presents the worst mortality rate, with an incidence of 27.67 per 100,000 employees. Far from 12.6 of transport. At the general level, only construction exceeds the incidence of accidents of the extractive industries, although in its case the mortality index is much lower: in 2024 it stood at 9.61. Has it always been like this? In general, mining takes time with a level of incidence of high fatal accidents, although the data can range from one exercise to another depending on the number of events. After all, that in the sector there are much less people than in transport, construction or storage assumes that a misfortune like that occurred this morning in Asturias alters the curve. The country has examined The historical series since 2006 and the conclusion is clear: although the rate with which mining closed 2024 (27.7) is higher than that of other sectors is far from those that the guild supported years ago. In 2023 that incidence was 45.4 and in 2013 it even reached 52.19 dead per 100,000 employed. The reason is the accident recorded in the Emilio del Valle well, a sinister that resulted in half a dozen deaths. What are the causes? A question similar to that was asked A few years ago A group of researchers from the Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) University, especially if you take into account the drop in activity in mining and the application of measures aimed precisely to prevent accidents. One of the keys they found was the lack of generational relief in … Read more

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