Tim Worstall

4 responses so far ↓

• 1 bloke in france // Jan 6, 2013 at 2:53 pm

  Oh yes it is!
  Oh no it isn’t!

  (Well it is panto season after all.)
  Happy New Year Tim, do your own research.

• 2 Thon Brocket // Jan 6, 2013 at 3:04 pm

  Dunno about industrial uses, but according to Wikipedia, it has significant lithium content, close to that of lepidolite, which is (or maybe used to be, prior to the emergence of the Bolivian salt-flat lithium deposits, I don’t know) a significant lithium ore. Perhaps worth looking at.

  Also possibly some rare-earth content, anywhere near pegmatites.

  Tim adds: Li extraction. Yup, there are three (count ‘em, three!) different programs at the local uni trying just that. Problem is cost. Li’s just not that expensive. RE content….worth having if you’re going to extract the Li, but not otherwise. There’s Cs and Rb in there too. Again, extract for Li, worth having maybe. Except markets for them so small as to not be worth doing (Rb is 4 tonnes a year globally).

  My question really is: for muscovite and a couple of other micas there are significant industrial markets (paint, plastering etc). Is there for Zinnwaldite?

• 3 Thon Brocket // Jan 6, 2013 at 5:24 pm

  Pass, sorry. If it’s been lying around weathering in a tip, you might be able to persuade it to exfoliate when heated, like vermiculite. Just a thought.

• 4 BenSix // Jan 7, 2013 at 7:51 pm

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