Most Read Mining Articles of 2021

The results are in. This year’s most-read Advancing Mining blog articles lined up almost the same as the previous years’ most read mining articles…with special kudos to the top article which received almost 70,000 views this year. Because these articles have been around awhile, they have gathered many readers. That’s why this year we are listing below the top 10 most read articles that were written this year. Here they are:

Why Mining Platinum Group Metals Can Be Fraught with Difficulty. Mineable PGM deposits are very rare and much less productive than those containing many common metals. Production of PGMs in some areas decreased by as much as 11% compared with that of 2019 owing to temporary lockdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as increased labor costs, increased costs for electricity, an unreliable supply of electricity, and challenges related to deep-level mining. Discover how XRF technology can help in the mining process.
You Can Now Get a Degree in Space Mining and Start Mining the Moon. The Colorado School of Mines, a public research university focused on science and engineering, announced this past year that they will now be offering an advanced degree in Space Resources for students to get a flavor of what is to come in the future of both mining and space exploration.
Cobalt Mining from a Surprising New Source. Scientists found that Geobacter are able to extract cobalt from rust without letting it penetrate their cells and kill them. Learn more about other, non-traditional types of mining — like biomining, bitcoin mining, urban mining, and space mining.
Using Soil Sampling with XRF Analysis for Greenfield Exploration. This article talked about a video that explained a greenfield exploration soil sampling program aimed to develop drill targets from discovery holes. It outlined how rapid geochemical analysis from sampling programs enable mining operations to increase discovery success rates, identify drill targets quickly, make on-site decisions about whether to stop or continue drilling, and decide where to focus on the grid.
Conducting Retroactive Positive Material Identification to Prevent Failures related to Corrosion in the Oil & Gas Industry. Learn how pipeline age and material are significant risk indicators. Pipelines constructed of cast and wrought iron, as well as bare steel, are among the oldest energy pipelines constructed in the United States and pose the highest-risk due to the degrading nature of iron alloys, the age of the pipelines, and pipe joints design.
A New Periodic Table? Some scientists are proposing the periodic table elements be re-arranged using a single linear sequence with the smallest change in properties between each successive pair. They would like to assign to each element a Mendeleev Number (MN) defined in terms of fundamental properties of the elements, which should then be possible to calculate for all elements at all conditions. They believe this method will make it possible to predict which simple compounds will have similar characteristics, helping to identify new materials with useful properties.
Gallium Has Become Critical. Gallium is used to manufacture integrated circuits and optoelectronic devices, which include laser diodes, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photodetectors and solar cells. Different forms of gallium produced are used in microwave and infrared circuits, semiconductors and blue and violet LEDs, Blu-ray technology, mobile phones and pressure sensors for touch switches. Learn why mining it is difficult.
How to Improve Mining and Mineral Operations? Here’s a Guide. Discover some technologies that can aid in the mineral workflow, including exploration, beneficiation, air monitoring, and material handling.
When It Comes to Gold Mining, Check First! Land status is perhaps the most important item confronting the would-be miner or prospector — and oftentimes the most frustrating. Find out what you need to know.
Did You Search for Info on Niton Analyzers, Mining Drill Reports, or XRF Technology? Mining companies usually do some drilling of rock and then sample the core of the rock during their exploration phase. Special drills are used to extract cylindrical pieces of subsurface material and then bring the material to the surface for examination. Learn about the portable XRF mining instrument that is used to pre-screen laboratory samples, identify drill targets quickly, reduce re-mobilization costs, and get an accurate drill report to the capital markets as fast as possible.

Whether you are interested in gold mining, soil sampling, drill reports, mineral operations, PMI, the periodic table and its many elements, or many other topics, when it comes to advancing mining, you’ll find something valuable to learn on our blog. Read the above top ten and subscribe so you won’t miss any in the new year.