Barriers to and uncertainties in understanding and quantifying global critical mineral and element supply.

The critical minerals and elements are natural substances that are essential to modern life but have insecure supply. This lack of a secure supply clashes with the increasing importance of these elements, especially given their use in technologies needed to reduce global CO emissions and mitigate against anthropogenic climate change. In this contribution we review the by-product nature of the critical minerals and elements and the inherant uncertainties in reported critical mineral and element annual production as well as the relationships between these commodities and main-product metals and associated concentrates.

Mining in Papua New Guinea: A complex story of trends, impacts and governance.

Mining is often portrayed as a contributor to sustainable development, especially so in developing countries such as Papua New Guinea (PNG). Since 1970, several large mines have been developed in PNG (e.g.

Global platinum group element resources, reserves and mining - A critical assessment.

The platinum group elements (PGEs) are used in many technologies and products in modern society, especially auto-catalysts, chemical process catalysts and specialty alloys, yet supply is dominated by South Africa. This leads PGEs to be assessed as 'critical metals', signalling concern about the likelihood and consequences of social, environmental and economic impacts from disruptions to supply. In order to better understand the global PGE situation, this paper presents a comprehensive global assessment of PGE reserves and resources and the key mining trends which can affect supply.

Transurethral prostate resection for urinary retention: does age affect outcome?

Background: Patients presenting in urinary retention secondary to prostatic obstruction are offered transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) to free them from long-term catheterization. Short-term success is well understood, but there is scarce data about effect of age on outcome, quality of life and catheter-free rates.

Methods: One hundred consecutive patients who presented in urinary retention and underwent TURP were identified.

The reasons for cancellation of urological surgery: a retrospective analysis.

Aim: To identify preventable reasons for surgery being cancelled and to identify steps which may minimise their occurrence.

Method: All cancellations of surgery in the Department of Urology, Christchurch Hospital between the dates 31 March 2008 and 11 March 2011 were retrospectively identified from minutes of the Department's weekly audit meetings. These were then assigned reasons for cancellation according to those devised by the Veterans Health Administration system1.