New research from St. Mary’s University shows the path to green energy might be paved with fool’s gold.
Fool’s gold, or pyrite, is produced and disposed of when copper is mined from porphyry. But according to Dr. Jacob Hanley, pyrite contains platinum group metals, which are valuable producers of hydrogen fuel cells and specialized batteries.
“We are throwing metals away that could at some point help alleviate our dependence on oil and gas,” said Hanley.
Canada currently produces only about three per cent of the global supply of platinum group metals.
“It might not be something we appreciate in our lifetimes, but our children will be using these metals almost exclusively, in automobiles, for example.”
