While the press has been ringing bells from the rooftops about a find of Indium in Corning, the reality of the matter is that the novelty is in the location, a dead mine in a dead mining town, rather than the Indium find itself.
The indium concentration is between 90g and 100g per ton, according to reports. See related story on Indium mining here.
The EU has been living under the burden of the REACH (Registration, Evaluation & Authorisation of Chemicals) system since 2008.
REACH provides legislation for the production, use and transportation of all chemical substances within and imported into the EU. The Classification & Labelling of all substances is part of the Globally Harmonised System (GHS), which is applicable to virtually all materials and is a UN initiative.
So far, Mineral Ores and Concentrates have not had to be registered under REACH, as they have been defined as not chemically altered from the natural state. Notwithstanding this definition, from 1st December 2010, Ores and Concentrates will be subject to Classification & Labelling under EU law. The EU has established ECHA, the European Chemicals Agency, to administer the system and there are legal and financial consequences of the legislation for mining companies operating within Europe, or importing ores and concentrates into Europe.
The Minor Metals Trade Association (MMTA) has warned a UK government select committee that the REACH regulations are having a “highly destructive” impact on the European minor metals market. The group warned that “de facto import tariffs” are “destroying the industry for strategic raw materials in Europe” in written evidence submitted to the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee. “Reach legislation adds bureaucratic costs to every strategically important metal produced or imported into Europe in quantities of over one tonne per year,” the MMTA said. “REACH, unintentionally, has been a highly destructive regulation…”
As a result of the EU REACH regulations, the real question is not whether 90 grams of Indium per 1,000,000 grams of mine extract will launch the Cornish into a new iPod Renaissance, but whether they will have to fill the empty crevices in those iPods with some of the 999,910 grams of dirt laced with low concentrations of minerals subject to REACH, in order to enjoy each 90 grams of Indium supported Renaissance.
