Highly recommend... reading this research paper on, Noble Gases.
Just how much Noble Gas is present in,
common atmosphere air ?
The noble gases are present in the atmosphere in very small amounts: Percentage of
argon is 0.934% and that of neon and helium is 0.0018% and 0.00052% respectively. https://www.vedantu.com/question-answer/which-noble-gas-is-most-abundant-in-atmospheric-class-9-chemistry-cbse-5f836c58781fe74044e9e406 Air or Seawater ( second opinion ) Air has low
84Kr/
36Ar and
130Xe/
36Ar ratios (0.0207 and 0.000113, respectively).
Seawater has higher ratios than air (0.0403 and 0.000455), consistent with air-seawater partitioning (Holland and Ballentine, 2006, Patterson et al., 1990, Pepin and Porcelli, 2002, Potter and Clynne, 1978). MORBs have even higher
84Kr/
36Ar and
130Xe/
36Ar ratios than seawater (0.0564 and 0.00103)
How much could be present in, Serpentine + Olivines ? The main candidates for the third component are subducted sediments, altered oceanic crust (amphibolite), and altered oceanic lithospheric mantle
(serpentinite).
Measurements of noble gases in oceanic sediments (Matsuda and Nagao, 1986, Staudacher and Allgre, 1988) show that they have Kr/Ar and Xe/Ar ratios greater than MORB (Fig. 1). The MORB source has thus been modeled as a mixture of seawater and oceanic sediments, with sediments
carrying 13% of the gases (Ballentine and Holland, 2008).
Link - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0012821X19303401 Shaw project has the... Olivine,
Serpentine and
Sediments benieth.
As one can read above... There is far less percentage of Nobel gases in air or seawater / oceans.
While... upto 13 % in ocean sediments / silicates.
13% creates a favorble - vantage.
providing the noble gases are present.
Simple test would - resolve the unknown.
How is Argon Gas made ? Argon is extracted industrially by the fractional distillation of liquid air in a cryogenic air separation unit; a process that separates liquid nitrogen, which boils at 77.3 K, from argon, which boils at 87.3 K, and liquid oxygen, which boils at 90.2 K. Sounds pretty, expensive.
Cryogenics...quite pricey.
AN IDEAL ? It is said.... silicates require a good 12% ph before they become
soluble.
Note - Ocean water does have natural solubilized, silica.
Grinding silicates into a
nano mesh could be the resolve.
Then submerging this nano serpentines / Sediments into
highly concentrated saline water...
=
might liberate the noble gases into, salt water solution. =
steam distillation separation to further separate. Jun 28, 2018 At a pH > 12 or so then the silica will react and dissolve
(but it will no longer be silica). Nano-silica - soluble in ethanol And... there are research papers on...
nano silica reaction with water
creating, hydrogen. In the research paper... It discusses how the noble gases are presumed trapped
in the silicates, ocean sediment from volcanic eruption.
Noble gas presence is known, but not sure if the gases are
surficially atop the silica or magnesium, or trapped in silicate,
or, within the lattice structures.
Regardless...of where it resides... The main objective would be trying to liberate the gases
in a cost efficient way.
NCP, should pull a few serpentine + sediment cores
test to see if they host noble gases. Currently, xenon gas is the propellant of choice in electric thrusters. However, xenon is rare, making up less than 1 part per 10 million in Earth's atmosphere. It is also expensive, at about $3,000 per 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram). Presently, end users are seeing helium prices between
$30-$50 per liter or more. Pure argon gas costs $5 a kilo. Liquid nitrogen and carbon dioxide will cover most of the rest of the applications and are much cheaper. Neon from air is much more expensive at $300 a kilo. Krypton is very expensive.
In today's market, the average price of pure krypton gas is
between $0.40 and $0.65 per liter Who would've thunk ? If you're gonna mine, why not
mine the gases too.
If by chance Shaw does harbor noble gases...
what a pleasant surprise it would be.
Shaw Project - 17.5 km strike. Lots of Serpentine, Olivine, Silicate, Sediments, Magnesium, Magnetite.
Yes...research paper mentions the magnetite too.
Few ideas...
I'll zip it for now.
Here's hoping the junior puts it in 5th gear... Begin with...
apply phase 1 higher bulk concentrate percentages to Wellgreen's 436 million tonnes. They had no issues with silicates.
Phase 2 literaly destroyed the recoveries seen in
2023 metal payables. Not to mention the nasty practical entitlement.
Cheers...