SPIEGEL ONLINE
- May 18, 2012
With the planned Nabucco natural gas pipeline in southern Europe hitting snag after snag, Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is considering the construction of a second Baltic Sea pipeline to go with the just-finished Nord Stream. With unconventional natural gas from the US flooding the market, however, the strategy is not without risk. By Frank Dohmen and Alexander Jung more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- May 07, 2012
Berlin is opposed to plans to use the controversial fracking process to extract natural gas in Germany, SPIEGEL has learned. Government ministers are "very skeptical" about the technology, which environmentalists claim can pollute groundwater. more...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- May 02, 2012
Essential for building electric car batteries and solar technology, lithium is a raw material of the future. Now a German firm is searching for deposits of the valuable resource in the country's Ore Mountains. Geologists believe that some 1.5 billion dollars' worth of the light metal lies underground. By Christoph Seidler more...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- November 09, 2011
Germany's bituminous coal mines are soon to lose their subsidies. But one Ruhr Valley company is looking to transform its mines into sources of renewable energy. Along the way, they could solve one of Germany's largest challenges as it attempts to switch over to green energy. By Frank Dohmen and Barbara Schmid more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- November 02, 2011
With rare earths in short supply the world over, Chancellor Angela Merkel has jumped in to help German industry search for more. The hope is to secure supplies well into the future -- and break the Chinese monopoly. By SPIEGEL Staff
more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- October 14, 2011
Chancellor Angela Merkel has signed a commodities deal with Mongolia during her visit to the Central Asian country. The agreement is intended to secure access to much-needed raw materials for German industry. But commentators point out that it will take more than just a piece of paper to win the scramble for rare earths. more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- August 29, 2011
The area around the Transylvanian village of Rosia Montana in Romania has been mined for some 2,000 years. But it still contains the largest gold and silver reserves in Europe. Despite widespread opposition, the site may soon succumb to open-pit gold mines. more...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- August 03, 2011
In a SPIEGEL interview, ThyssenKrup CEO Heinrich Hiesinger discusses his plans to radically restructure the steelmaking firm. He says the traditional German company is deeply concerned about the European debt and currency crisis as well as Chancellor Angela Merkel's expensive plans for an energy revolution. more... [ Forum ]
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- July 14, 2011
Germans want to end nuclear power and turn to renewable energy, but they keep buying SUVs. Global carbon emissions and oil consumption have risen sharply over the last two environmentally conscious decades -- and the trends will continue, as long as Westerners keep discovering new "needs." An essay by Harald Welzer more...
SPIEGEL ONLINE
- June 15, 2011
The demand for special metals used in the manufacture of electronics is booming, but a few countries control much of the world's supply. Germany is looking to reduce its reliance on imports by exploiting the metal that is thrown away in trash. Urban mining could become big business. By Alexander Jung more... [ Forum ]
