MINEX Forum

Tag: clean energy

  • Critical Metals Corp Launches Diamond Drilling Program at Tanbreez Rare Earth Project in Greenland

    Critical Metals Corp Launches Diamond Drilling Program at Tanbreez Rare Earth Project in Greenland

    Critical Metals Corp.  has commenced a diamond drilling program at the Tanbreez rare earth project in Greenland following its acquisition of a controlling stake in the project. The drilling aims to upgrade the resource estimates and assess the potential for increased mine throughput. The Tanbreez deposit, which hosts 28.2 million tonnes of total rare earth oxides (TREO) within 4.7 billion tonnes of material, is one of the largest known rare earth element (REE) projects globally, with more than 25% consisting of heavy rare earth elements (HREE).

    Critical Metals CEO Tony Sage emphasized the strategic importance of Tanbreez in reducing Western reliance on China for critical materials necessary for clean energy and defense sectors, enhancing national security. The company recently acquired a 42% stake in the project from geologist Gregory Barnes, who is overseeing the drilling program alongside two other rare earths experts.

    The 14-hole drilling program, totaling up to 2,200 metres, is expected to last 30 days and aims to convert the resource to US SEC standards. This initiative will assess the resource’s potential, projected lifespan, and contribute to a future feasibility study. Barnes noted the unique nature of the core samples, awaiting assay results with anticipation.

    In addition to the current program, Critical Metals will conduct percussion drilling to delineate mineralization, twin hole drilling for targeted areas, and evaluate the revised geophysical model. The company has made significant strides with pre-operational activities since receiving a key exploitation license four years ago. A substantial database of geological and geochemical information has already been compiled from 414 drill holes and more than 366,000 assays.

    Critical Metals’ stock saw a 3.0% increase on the Nasdaq, boosting the company’s market capitalization to $677.4 million.

  • Massive hydrogen reservoir discovered beneath an Albanian mine could be an untapped source of clean energy

    Massive hydrogen reservoir discovered beneath an Albanian mine could be an untapped source of clean energy

    A massive hydrogen reservoir may be lurking deep beneath a chromium mine in Albania, a new study has found.

    The reservoir sits within a portion of Earth’s crust and mantle that once lay at the bottom of the ocean and was scraped off when the tectonic plate it rode on slid beneath another plate. The crumpled slab of crust and mantle was thrust onto land between 45 million and 15 million years ago and formed a 1,900-mile-long (3,000 kilometers) rocky belt, known as an ophiolite, that extends from present-day Turkey to Slovenia.

    Ophiolites exist worldwide, and research has previously documented hydrogen gas leaking from boreholes and mines drilled into these formations. In the new study, scientists discovered the reservoir thanks to huge clouds of hydrogen gas wafting from pools of water inside the Bulqizë mine, which is located 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Tirana, Albania. Such hydrogen reservoirs could be tapped to provide carbon-free fuel, but the deep infrastructure needed to do so is lacking and the gas is inherently difficult to extract.

    “We have seen plenty of hyper alkaline springs hosted in ophiolites worldwide where hydrogen is bubbling [out],” lead study author Laurent Truche, a professor of geochemistry at Grenoble Alpes University in France, told Live Science in an email. But “what we have observed deep in the mine is another dimension,” Truche said, and “turns a draining pool inside a mine gallery into a breathtaking 30-square-meter [323 square feet] jacuzzi bubbling with almost pure hydrogen.”

    Truche and his colleagues explored the deepest levels of the Bulqizë chromium mine and recorded extreme quantities of hydrogen gas leaking from the rocks and bubbling through pools of water. Their measurements suggest that at least 220 tons (200 metric tons) of high-quality hydrogen escape from the mine every year, which is one of the largest natural hydrogen flow rates documented to date.

    Hydrogen is a highly flammable gas. The high concentrations measured inside the Bulqizë mine are thought to have sparked three explosions since 2011, killing four miners and injuring many more. “Our study will help to understand the phenomenon and to improve safety,” Truche said.

    The discovery also sheds light on the geological conditions that seal large reserves of natural hydrogen underground. Hydrogen venting from the Bulqizë mine likely accumulated in tectonic fractures between two blocks of rock deep within the ophiolite, according to the new study, which was published Thursday (Feb. 8) in the journal Science. This fault zone is estimated to be 33 feet (10 meters) wide, up to 3,300 feet (1,000 m) long and up to 16,400 feet (5,000 m) deep, and it “can easily be observed in the deepest mine galleries,” between 1,640 feet (500 m) and 3,300 feet deep, Truche said.

    “We still don’t know how this fault is sealed, but it has no visible footprint at the surface,” he added.

    As much as 55,000 tons (50,000 metric tons) of hydrogen could lurk in the reservoir beneath the mine — enough to sustain the high flow rate for 238 years, according to the study.

    Deposits of natural hydrogen are a promising source of carbon-free energy if they are extractable and sufficiently large.

    “What sets our discovery apart is the large flux of almost pure [hydrogen] gas we have observed,” the authors wrote in the study. “In the context of energy transition, our findings could substantially affect the ongoing search for new energy resources.”