• The industrial applications for this ‘element of contraries’
• Why it’s so hard to come up with production numbers
• What's the solar-selenium connection?

We take a look at the fuel of choice for the newest generation of nuclear power.

• Why is thorium better than uranium?
• Are there pure-plays for thorium?
• Keep your eyes on these technologies

• The many electronic faces of indium
• Does smuggling to Japan make a difference?
• Which companies give exposure

• Future looking bright at NEM
• Why the rare earth industry needs to ‘clean up its act’
• No magic bullet for energy efficiency in cars

In the latest installment of our Minor Metals series, we take a look at battery-powering cadmium.

• Cadmium’s changing demand picture
• The metal’s connection to solar
• The one major overlooked opportunity in cadmium

Anyone bull-riding copper this year scored pretty well. For the 34 weeks stretching from Christmas to August's end, there were only nine in which December COMEX copper closed lower. For the buy-and-hold investor, a 73% weekly winning streak takes the blue ribbon, most especially in the futures market.

Ads for cubic zirconia rings as thrifty diamond substitutes are all but passé. We delve into the shiny chemical element's other uses ...

• More abundant than copper
• The largest consumers
• Market prospects

• A draconian tax repealed
• Copper, gold, uranium and coal
• Which miners will benefit?

• China as ‘the big snowball’
• Manganese as the next molybdenum
• How to play the Three M’s