As long as we are planning a mine, might as well see what it is going to be used for, maybe even spot an area where demand for the metal may excelerate, weèll see as the price is quite volatile lately and the rumour of the impending global meltdown has affected price perception, but I digress:
Background |
Zinc is a material that has gone through substantial changes in the way that it is used and in the way that it is perceived, both by specialists and by the general public. The broad categories of end use remain much the same, i.e. coatings to protect iron and steel, brass, zinc alloy castings, sheet for building applications and a range of chemical applications. However, within these broad areas there are major differences in process and product which have given a new lease of life to what could otherwise have become a rather boring traditional material. Zinc Coatings on SteelOne of the biggest uses of zinc is in making protective coatings for steel. The development of the wide range of zinc coatings arose from two happy accidents of chemistry, the relatively slow and predictable rate of atmospheric corrosion of zinc compared with steel, and the relative positions of zinc and iron in the electrochemical series. Zinc will corrode preferentially to give cathodic protection to iron when both are in contact in an aqueous medium. This is used to good effect to protect immersed structures such as ships’ hulls, drilling rigs and pipelines. It also means that any bare areas in a zinc coating on steel, caused by damage or operations such as cutting or drilling, are still protected by the surrounding zinc.Taken together, these two factors provide the basis of a unique corrosion protection system which uses some 4 million tonnes of zinc annually to protect around 100 million tonnes of steel. This represents almost half the total world consumption of zinc. |
