Sandvik invests $24 million in plant to make titanium and nickel powder for 3D printing

[ASM International, February 25, 2018] Sandvik, Sweden, announces that it will invest about $24.5 million in a new plant for manufacturing titanium and nickel fine metal powders within Sandvik Materials Technology. The investment will complement the existing powder offering and strengthen Sandvik’s position in the rapidly growing markets for metal powder and metal additive manufacturing. Sandvik has an industry leading position already today in the production and sale of fine metal powders. Stainless steel, nickel-base, and cobalt-chromium alloys are manufactured in the United Kingdom and Sweden. Powders are sold across Europe, North America, and Asia through the Osprey brand.
 

 

The demand for metal powder for additive manufacturing is expected to increase significantly in the coming years. Titanium and nickel alloys are key growth areas in the field of additive manufacturing, accounting for a significant portion of the metal powder market.

“This investment is an enabler for future growth and means that we are expanding our metal powder offering to include virtually all alloy groups of relevance today. In addition, it will also support the overall additive manufacturing business at Sandvik”, says Annika Roos, Head of product area Powder at Sandvik Materials Technology.

“The metal powder segment and the additive manufacturing business are of increasingly strategic importance to us,” says Göran Björkman, President of Sandvik Materials Technology.

The facility will be located in Sandviken, Sweden, near the in-house titanium raw material supply and the center for additive manufacturing. It is expected to be operational during 2020.

www.sandvik.com

2D fab enters collaboration agreement with technology leader in the energy storage market segment

2D fab enters collaboration agreement with technology leader in the energy storage market segment

2D fab AB produces graphene and develops customer products using graphene. Our focus is on products that best utilize the inherent mechanical strength of graphene, such as bulletproof plastics, and/or its unique conductivity, both thermal and electrical conductivity. We see very large future volumes of graphene in both of these areas, and we have already had good cooperation within the polymer area. It is therefore very pleasing that we have now found an innovative industrial partner in thermal conductivity. 

 

 

The collaboration agreement is well in line with our ambition to become one of Europe's largest manufacturers of graphene. As part of the agreement, we will also evaluate different strategies for production and delivery scale up. The agreement also gives us the opportunity to build relationships with an important and potentially very large customer, and we see it as a stepping stone to the market for products with extreme conductivity capabilities. The agreement is ongoing, with customs tollgates every 6 months and we anticipate reporting of the first positive results within six months.

Leading Edge Materials Intersects High Tantalum and Lithium Grades at Bergby, Sweden

Vancouver, Canada – Leading Edge Materials Corp. ("Leading Edge Materials") or ("the Company") (TSXV:LEM) (OTCQB: LEMIF) is pleased to report the final set of results from the second program of drilling completed at the Company's 100% owned Bergby lithium project in Sweden. Drilling intersected regular high lithium grades, and was notable for significantly increased tantalum grades in comparison to prior drill holes.

Key Results:

• BBY17025 intersected 5.1m @ 361ppm Ta2OM5 (tantalum oxide) from 25.1m depth
• BBY17026 intersected 2.8m @ 297ppm Ta2OM5 from 49.2m depth
• BBY17030 intersected 5.4m @ 1.60% Li2O, 155ppm Ta2OM5 from 25.0m depth
• BBY17031 intersected 4.5m @ 1.31% Li2O, 164ppm Ta2OM5 from 71.5m depth
• BBY17033 intersected 3.0m @ 1.33% Li2O, from 52.8m depth

Holes BBY17025 to BBY17029 were drilled along the strike of the pegmatite to the north of previous drilling, up to 800m from the discovery zone (hole BBY17029). Where pegmatite was intersected in this northern area, it was notable for a lower lithium grade and a significant increase in the tantalum grade, suggesting a different style of LCT pegmatite (lithium-cesium-tantalum) was intersected. Pegmatite was not intersected in holes BBY17027 to BBY17029, which may indicate a steeper dip than anticipated from nearby lithium mineralized outcrop.

The Bergby project lies in central Sweden, 25km north of the town of Gavle, and is secured by three exploration permits for a total of 1903Ha. The site is close to infrastructure, with major roads, rail and power supply passing immediately adjacent to the claim boundaries. [LINK]

Holes BBY1030 to BBY17033 tested down dip from prior drilling, and all except for BBY17032 intersected high grades of lithium mineralization consistent with previous intersections. Mineralization remains open in a down dip direction over at least 600m of strike.

Bergby has now been tested by a total of 1525m of drilling in 33 drillholes to a maximum depth of 131.1m over an approximate 1500m strike length. Drillhole locations and results are provided in Tables 1 and 2 and presented as Figure 1. The true thickness of mineralized intervals is interpreted to be approximately 90% of the sampled thickness.

Blair Way, President and CEO, stated "These final results from the second program of drilling at Bergby have again delivered the strong encouragement of high lithium and tantalum grades over more than 1km of strike. The grade variation is typical of LCT pegmatite fields, and has highlighted that there may be much more to find under the thin glacial soil cover. Bergby remains a new lithium discovery at a very shallow depth, and we are now preparing a sample for metallurgical testwork to further advance the project."

Bergby lies in central Sweden, 25km north of the town of Gävle, secured by three exploration licenses that cover a total of 1,903 Ha. The site is close to infrastructure, with major roads, rail and power supply passing immediately adjacent to the claim boundaries. The potential for low cost and rapid development is significantly enhanced by the presence of a deep-water port only 5km from the site.

The qualified person for the Company's exploration projects, Mark Saxon, Director of Leading Edge Materials, a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy has reviewed and verified the contents of this release.

On behalf of the Board,

"Blair Way
Blair Way, President & CEO

For further information, contact: 1.604.685.9316 or
info@leadingedgematerials.com

www.leadingedgematerials.com