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Copper stockpiles held in duty-free warehouses in China, the top user, may be re-exported after surging to as much as 350,000 tons from almost none at the start of the year, according to Xi'an Maike Metal International Group.

"We can hardly find buyers for refined copper," said Luo Shengzhang, general manager of the copper department at Xi'an Maike. The company ranks among the country's three biggest importers, according to the executive. "China's got to export some copper from now and next year," Luo said in an interview.

Experts have called for a body to monitor the impact of desalination on the environment in light of the record growth the desalination industry has witnessed in the last year, with 700 new plants globally coming online that treat seawater, brackish water or river water.

MUNICH, Germany — With the development of an inverter based on silicon carbide diodes, Japanese car manufacturer Nissan aims at better efficiency at smaller form factors. The inverters will be used in hybrid drive cars as well as in all-electric vehicles and in cars powered by fuel cells.

Water Availability World Map

Lanthanum is used
to make the batteries in the Toyota Prius, and neodymium is

used for the
supermagnets in

Lanthanum is used to make the batteries in the Toyota Prius, and neodymium is
used for the supermagnets in the electric motor. Wind turbines use 1 ton of
neodymium for every megawatt of power they produce.