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Ooooh, this is lots of fun

The $2 Million Coal Mine That Might Hold a $37 Billion Treasure

They’ve found rare earths in the coal mine. A layer of ionic clay above and below the coal bed in fact.

Very exciting.

Except, well……there’s nothing at all to indicate this is a special coal bed. So, assume that there really are lots of rare earths here. Well then, that means lots of rare earths in many coal beds. Or, they ain’t rare.

And, well, most coal does contain some rare earths. We’ve known that for decades. The point is always “How much?”.

Ah. So about 10% of the level of other ionic clays that people are exploiting for rare earths. And, well, 10%? That might not be economic at all. Maybe, you know. Just the level of cost of getting it out might be more than the value of what is extracted. Or, alternatively, if they can extract profitably at those levels then rare earths really are not rare – because that’s not, from memory at least, an unusual content level for a coal bed. So they’re really, really, not rare.

10 thoughts on “Ooooh, this is lots of fun”

  1. Sorry, OT, but WOW

    Even Conservative Home (the home of peevish elderly crypto Lib Dems still raging about Brexit complicating their Dordogne retirement plans) is kicking Sunak’s tiny Bharat balls in virtually every comment today.

    Not even Anna Soubry fans want Cameron back. The Tories were 24 points behind before today’s Shit Shuffle, can they get down to single digits?

    Anything is possible when you offshore to India.

    NO REFUNDS, GORA! HOO HOO HOO!

  2. Steve,

    “Not even Anna Soubry fans want Cameron back.”

    But I’m guessing that Matthew Parris may now be a happy camper. Wishi has his route back to No 10 clearly marked out…..

  3. PF – But I’m guessing that Matthew Parris may now be a happy camper.

    I heard he’s camp as a row of disgraced scout masters.

    Yarp, the Tories are about to find out what it’s like being less popular than most types of cancer.

    The cure for cancer is hanging, right?

  4. Presumably Braverman was being less than accommodating over visas for Infosys as part of a trade deal Sunak is desperate to sign

  5. At what point do we stop embarrassingly trying to administer mouth to mouth to the corpse of our poor country, and start thinking about what comes next?

    Sunak, Cameron and the people they answer to know what they’re doing. The political “right” has lost all institutional power, and is stuck somewhere between anger and bargaining.

  6. From 1985 but even more true now

    https://youtu.be/mDsTTr3YrqU?si=08mYj_aS8JD62V2e

    Waterboys Old England

    “A man looks up on a yellow sky
    And the rain turns to rust in his eye
    Rumours of his health are lies
    Old england is dying
    His clothes are dirty shade of blue
    And his ancient shoes worn through
    He steals from me and he lies to you
    Old england is dying“

  7. So we’ve discovered in the past few days that:

    * Hamas supporters have more rights than you do.

    * The British government and all relevant institutions such as the press are on the side of Hamas supporters

    * White English men are not allowed to peacefully protest in England – they get the treatment US cops used to mete out to the blacks.

    * Muslims can pretty much do whatever they want and the cops will bend over backwards to not see any criminality on their part

    What do you call somebody who notices that Britain has been invaded by millions of foreigners to the detriment of its own legitimate inhabitants, and that the authorities have gone mental and passively support paedophile grooming gangs while actively supporting support child genital mutilation on the NHS?

    A culture warrior, of course. And that’s BAD.

    Like Israel, you’re not supposed to fight back.

  8. True enough Steve.

    But at least, as Tim points out, all that coal has plenty of minerals to keep the UK prosperous.

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