PLANTS, CENTERS, AND FACILITIES
Saint-Gobain Ceramics to build new NorPro manufacturing facility in New York
Saint-Gobain Ceramics, through its subsidiary Saint-Gobain NorPro, announced its intent to build a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Wheatfield, N.Y. The new facility, which will be co-located with Saint-Gobain Ceramics’ existing specialty grains and powders operations, will expand NorPro’s abilities to manufacture ceramic catalyst carriers.
Materialise launches Aerospace Competence Center in the Netherlands
Materialise, a leader in additive manufacturing software and service solutions, announced the opening of an Aerospace Competence Center in the Aerospace Innovation Hub in Delft, the Netherlands. The city is a known aerospace powerhouse in Europe, and Materialise is the first additive manufacturing company to establish its footprint in the hub.
NSF grant funds establishment of center to develop self-replicating materials
The University of Texas at Austin and collaborators at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Princeton University, and Sandia National Labs received a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to develop a Center for the Creation of Abiotic Replicating Materials and Assemblies, which will advance novel chemistries that enable self-replication in materials and polymers.
Uranium ban repeal in Greenland could revive massive rare earth project
The mining company that owns the licence to Greenland’s Kvanefjeld deposit is hopeful that a new government will repeal a ban on uranium mining after the next election, potentially reviving one of the world’s largest rare earth projects.
ACQUISITIONS AND COLLABORATIONS
Spectral Capital and Energy Tech partner to deploy advanced energy technologies
Spectral Capital, a deep quantum technology platform company, partnered with Energy Tech LLC and Essence Global LLC to deploy advanced sodium-ion energy storage and in-situ hydrogen-on-demand systems. This partnership will enable Spectral’s decentralized hybrid cloud and edge computing platforms to readily achieve 2.5–3.0 MWh power capacity.
FuelCell Energy and Idaho National Lab study hydrogen generation from nuclear power
U.S-based hydrogen production technology firm FuelCell Energy is working with Idaho National Laboratory to study how FuelCell’s solid oxide electrolysis cells can interact with advanced small modular nuclear reactors to create hydrogen.
UC San Diego a key part of new project led by General Atomics to advance fusion energy
The University of California San Diego is part of a new research partnership led by San Diego-based General Atomics that was recently awarded funding by the U.S. Department of Energy. The project, called the Target Injector Nexus for Experimental Development, aims to overcome critical obstacles in developing and scaling up inertial fusion power plants.
CarbiCrete partners with Canal Block to bring cement-free concrete to Ontario
CarbiCrete announced that NGen, Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for Advanced Manufacturing, will provide funding for the integration of CarbiCrete’s decarbonized concrete technology into a masonry plant in Port Colborne, Ontario, that is owned and operated by project partner Canal Block.
CarbonCure and MIT Masic Lab to collaborate on carbon mineralization in concrete
CarbonCure Technologies and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Masic Lab agreed to collaborate on new research to delve deeper into the science of injecting and mineralizing CO2 within concrete.
Nidec and Noveon sign five-year agreement for US-made rare earth magnets
Nidec Motor Corporation (Kyoto, Japan) and Noveon Magnetics (San Marcos, Texas) signed a five-year binding off-take agreement with the potential to supply more than 1,000 tons of total off-take of finished sintered NdFeB rare earth magnets. The magnets will support Nidec’s operations across critical industries, including automation, industrial, and defense applications.
OTHER STORIES
Stoke-on-Trent MP wants government help for ceramics industry after Royal Stafford collapse
A Stoke-on-Trent Member of Parliament has called on the government to support ceramics firms following the collapse of Royal Stafford. The Burslem-based pottery brand, which dates back to 1845, closed down with the loss of more than 80 jobs after being hit by rising energy costs and falling orders.
Korea holds critical mineral talks with three South African countries
On Feb. 5, 2025, Korea’s Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Insun held bilateral summits with Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe on cooperation in critical minerals.
ACPA unveils four initiatives to address concrete road infrastructure in 2025
At the recent World of Concrete trade show, the American Concrete Pavement Association laid out four ways it plans to support the roadbuilding industry in 2025. A key issue, according to the Association, lies in funding from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
MARKET TRENDS
Fighting in Africa’s mineral-rich DRC could affect supply of critical minerals
A rebel group claimed the capture of another mining town in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a little over a week after it took control of the region’s largest city Goma. It comes less than a year after the rebels seized Rubaya, another mining hub that harbors one of the largest deposits of coltan, a mineral used in smartphone production.
Glass for Europe advocates for reliable environmental data in new CPR rules
Glass for Europe published a position paper discussing the rules on declaring environmental characteristics of construction products under the new Construction Products Regulation.
NEW PRODUCTS
ICC releases ICC 1150 standard for 3D-printed concrete walls
The International Code Council announced the development of ICC 1150, the first-ever standard for 3D automated construction technology for 3D concrete walls.
Lumus and Schott aim to make lightweight AR glasses into mainstream products
Lumus has introduced its lightweight Z-30 Optical Engine for augmented reality glasses, featuring the Z-Lens 2D waveguide architecture with a 30-degree field of view. Lumus’ manufacturing processes are supported by big supply chain partners, including Quanta Computer Inc. and Schott.
Cleaning up critical minerals and materials production, using microwave plasma
With technology developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the company 6K is actively scaling its microwave plasma technology, which it calls UniMelt, to transform the way critical minerals are processed, creating new domestic supply chains in the process.
Author
Lisa McDonald
