Wil McCarthy - The Technetium Rush

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The Technetium Rush

by Wil McCarthy

Materials can have many uses, some of which are talked about more openly than

others....

* * * *

Bangalore Daily News, 26 July 2011

Byline: Hemant S. Tripathi

Fact: The element technetium is produced in minute quantities by red giant

stars so far away that the light they’re emitting now will someday shine on your

grandchildren’s grandchildren. For our purposes here, that’s far enough not to

matter. Closer to home, the element is sometimes generated by the collision of

molybdenum atoms and “heavy hydrogen” from the sun, or by the natural decay of

uranium. These are freak occurrences, though; aside from the transuranics (which

are about as stable as a life of crime), technetium is the rarest element in the natural

universe and forms no known minerals.

Fact: Of the thirty-two possible crystal classes, only one—the gyroidal

isometric—had, until recently, never been found in the mineral world. Is it mankind

that abhors a vacuum?

Fact: On March 20, 2008, Delhi University-trained geologist Rakesh “Rocky”

Solanki, on an apparently routine survey of the alluvial clays north of Bhilwara,

Rajasthan, found a deposit of fluorescent orange crystals that he couldn’t identify,

and so brought back to his Jaipur office for examination. Later named Tc solankite,

the crystals were hard, translucent, vaguely lustrous and—considering their gyroidal

structure and 20 percent technetium composition—quickly valued at $5,000 per

gram. This is 300 times the price of platinum and twice that of clear uncut diamonds,

so we’re talking about serious money here. Let’s be clear about that.

Since the material had apparently washed down from the nearby Arvalli

Mountains sometime in the past thousand years, Solanki’s discovery touched off,

almost immediately—the greatest land rush since the Canadian diamond wars of the

1990s. But can we really believe Solanki’s gambling debts, criminal connections, and

curious patterns of stock and land ownership have nothing to do with his sudden

good fortune?

Hey, no one’s on trial here; the guy may be as innocent as a bride. Or, this

may be one of the most sordid chapters in the oft-opprobrious history of mineral

science. Place your bets and let’s get moving; this rag doesn’t pay me by the hour.

* * * *

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Wil McCarthy - The Technetium Rush

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