CEOs need to accelerate their action plans to safeguard the production of commodities critical to the global population and economy as heat stress and drought risk rise around the world, according to PwC's report, Climate Risks to Nine Key Commodities: Protecting People and Prosperity, published. The report, which analysed nine …
Diamonds can be a computer's best friend, say researchers at the Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, USA. They claim that diamond coating could allow computer disk-drives to hold nearly 20 times more data than the existing drives. Hard drives can store merely four gigabytes of data. But the …
diamond - the hardest natural substance known and one of the two crystalline forms of carbon -- has a variety of uses in industry. Since the first synthesis of diamond in the laboratory in 1956 by F P Bundy and others in 1956, there have been many attempts for producing …
a recent study has revealed that iodine-deficiency is widespread in the country. It stalks not only the Himalayan region but also sub-Himalayan terai areas, riverine areas and even the coastal regions of the country. Out of more than 15 billion persons in the world at the risk of iodine deficiency …
the sea around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands cradles a rich mineral bed. Recently, scientists found metal deposits on the ocean floor off the islands. The finding might possibly lead to futuristic sea-mining, may be even for precious metals. Scientists from the National Institute of Oceanography (nio), Goa, have found …
the weathering of rocks is a natural phenomenon which leads to the enrichment of various metal ores. The process was found to be mediated by bacteria, as research conducted in northern Chile revealed. According to the findings of the study, bacteria could be mediators in copper sulphide enrichment during the …
A large proportion of China's population is physically and mentally impaired. This condition could be remedied with a simple solution. According to health ministry estimates, more than 10 million cases of mental retardation in China - including hundreds and thousands with the visible handicaps of cretinism - are a result …
DIAMONDS are formed in more ways than one. While it was believed earlier that the beautiful crystals were retrieved from deep mines of igneous or metamorphic rocks of the mantle formed under conditions of high temperature and pressure, new research reveals that there are other ways by which they are …
EVER since the first synthetic diamond process - the high-pressure catalytic - was perfected by General Electric i and De Beers in South Africa, the mat found many applications in industry. The remarkable mechanical prop diamond make it ideal for many pt Synthetic diamonds are extensively grinding and cutting tools …
CONTROVERSY surrounds the illegal mining for gems and other precious stones that has been reportedly going on in Vishakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh. According to Renuka Chowdhury, a mem@er of Parliament, the mining scandal - involving nearly Rs 700 crore and jeopardising the lives of the local tribals - has …
Foreign and national investors are being wooed in a big way to the Ivory Coast, which is overhauling its 30-year-old mining code for their benefit. The objective, according to a draft code presented before the parliament, is to make mining of gold, diamonds and other minerals as important to the …
With a growing scarcity of high-grade metal ores, industry is compelled to resort to exploiting low-grade reserves to extract valuable metals. However, low-grade metal reserves contain silica as a common impurity whose removal using traditional chemical methods of metal extraction is an expensive process. Now, an alternative method of getting …
A NATION'S track record in its race for development leans heavily on its natural resources. Ferreting out and exploiting these resources cause severe environmental wrenching. Invariably, mineral wealth, particularly in India, is found in and around forest areas harbouring tribal populations, flora and fauna and microhabitat diversity. The "environment vs …
The Kerala coast, famed for its beaches, is home to a rare form of heart disease called endo-myocardial fibrosis (EMF). And scientists who conducted a 10-year-long study on EMF now blame the disease on a mineral called monazite in the fine, white sands of Kerala. EMF belongs to a group …
The Chinese government is determined to dig deeper to extract more oil, gas, copper and other key minerals to keep up its present pace of development, says Xinhua, the official news agency. The country's ministry of geology and mineral resources is planning to survey 200 million ha of land before …
PAPUA New Guinea is the most exotic country on earth. A visitor is quite likely to be asked, "What is a nuclear family?" According to the local joke in PNG, it consists of a mum, a dad, two kids and an anthropologist. But given the worldwide interest in environment, it …
