GW said in his presentation that Tivan will have to educate...

GW said in his presentation that Tivan will have to educate Australia about Fluorite.
He is not wrong. Even the Department of Industry, Science and Technology stuffed it up.

Firstly the nomenclature is confused and confusing.
* Fluorine is the element. Symbol F. Atomic number 9. Fluorine exists as a diatomic molecule and has the formulae F₂. It does not occur in nature.
The Department of Industry, Science and Resources incorrectly listed Fluorine as being one of the new critical minerals.
* Fluorite is the most common mineral source for Fluorine. Name Calcium Fluoride. Formulae CaF₂. Fluorite is ~47% Fluorine by weight.
Fluorite is the mineral the Department should have nominated as the new critical mineral.
This is what Tivan is mining at Speewah.
* Felspar (also spelt Feldspar) is the American name for Fluorite. Name Calcium Fluoride. Formulae CaF₂.
Industry practice has established three grades of fluorspar: (courtesy of Benchmark)

· acid grade (containing more than 97 percent calcium fluoride),

· ceramic grade (85 to 95percent calcium fluoride) and

· metallurgical grade(normally 60 to 85 percent calcium fluoride).

Tivan aims to produce acid grade calcium fluoride at Speewah.

* Fluoride is the salt of fluorine. Symbol F^-. It is added to our water supply to prevent tooth decay.

Hydrofluoric Acid is way more powerful than Hydrochloric or Sulfuric Acid.
It is used, amongst other things, to convert Uranium to Uranium Hexafluoride - a gas. Yellowcake is 99.27% Uranium 238 and only 0.72% Uranium 255. Isotopes cannot be separated chemically. But once uranium is in gaseous form the isotopes can be separated using a battery of centrifuges. (Part of Oppenheimer's legacy.) Hydrofluoric acid is powerful stuff.

One statistic that GW missed yesterday (again courtesy of Benchmark) is that for every kilogram of Lithium that is used in a Lithium Ion battery, somewhere between five and ten kilograms of Fluorspar (Fluorite) is required. This is where the huge demand for Fluorite is coming from.