Incredible Minerals Today

Diatomaceous earth is truly incredible. Every day we find a new use or application for our DE. This week, UC Riverside engineering professors announced that they're using DE as a source of silica for electric car battery anodes. Hello, Elon Musk and Mr. Panasonic!

Most people who believe in the electric car revolution would agree with this statement: “Batteries that power electric vehicles are expensive and need to be frequently charged, which causes anxiety for consumers and negatively impacts the sale of these vehicles. To improve the adoption of electric vehicles, we need much better batteries.”

 Those are the words of Mihri Ozkan, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California – Riverside’s Bourns College of Engineering. He and his colleague Cengiz Ozkan, a professor of mechanical engineering at UCR, have recently published a paper in the journal Scientific Reports entitled “Carbon-Coated, Diatomite-Derived Nanosilicon as a High Rate Capable Li-ion Battery Anode.”  Mihri Ozkan says, “We believe diatomaceous earth, which is abundant and inexpensive, could be another sustainable source of silicon for battery anodes.”

 Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite

183 years ago today, the famous chemist Alfred Nobel was born in Sweden. You probably know his name because of the Nobel Prize, the highly respected award that is given in the fields of peace, literature, chemistry, economics, physics and medicine. But Nobel is also well-known for something else – dynamite. The material that Nobel mixed with nitroglycerin to form dynamite was diatomaceous earth!

So what's it going to be tonight? The Cubs & Dodgers showdown or the presidential debate? It's all about playoff baseball at my house, just to keep the peace.  Did you know that the matchup between John Lackey and Julio Urías is one of the largest age gaps between opposing starters during a postseason game (17 years, 294 days)? Hardly anybody predicted it would happen this way, but the Dodgers are carrying a lot of momentum with last night's victory. There are a lot of Cubs, Dodgers and Indians fans here at EP Minerals, along with several disgruntled San Francisco Giants' fans (the Dodgers' arch enemy)--leading to quite a bit of smack talk.

It's National Fossil Day and what better way to celebrate than to learn about the amazing fossils found at one of EP Minerals' diatomaceous earth mines. 10-20 million years ago, Northern Nevada was covered by a freshwater lake that was full of stickleback fish - small spiny-rayed fish that lived during the Miocene Epoch. Recently, EP Minerals hosted a group of 40 Nevada teachers at our diatomaceous earth mine quarry to fossil hunt as part of the Nevada Mining Association's Teacher Education program. The program is designed to encourage teachers to incorporate more mining education, geology and Nevada mineral history into their classrooms. Here's a look at the teacher's group at the DE mine and some of their "treasure"-- 10 million year old stickleback fish fossils. 

Cheers! It’s Oktoberfest! Let’s drink up some knowledge about beer, wine and diatomaceous earth (DE) filter aid!

EP Minerals has been named a finalist for the Leader in Sustainability Award by the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) in EDAWN’s annual Existing Industry Awards. EDAWN holds the annual awards to honor companies that have brought jobs to Northern Nevada and also have demonstrated excellence in other key areas.

 CelaPool low dust swim pool filter aid creates a sparkling clear and clean pool

It's still summer! Or at least it feels like it in many parts of the US. We're trying to get as much swim pool time in as we can before the weather turns. That means you'll need more of EP Minerals' CelaPool^™, the revolutionary new low dust diatomaceous earth (DE) filter aid for the swimming pool industry. CelaPool is an exclusive patent-pending product that contains EP Minerals’ Celatom DE, the number one choice of swim pool professionals. CelaPool is a unique low dust formulation, making for easy handling and less mess. See the CelaPool video here: New Low Dust CelaPool

Exceptional purity and consistent quality are the hallmarks of EP Minerals’ PurifiDE^TM diatomaceous earth (DE) based filter aids. PurifiDE products are used for the production (bioprocessing) of life-saving drugs from donated human plasma, and blood, and in the preparation of the most exquisite whiskeys, sakes, and green teas.

Beer drinkers across the nation are celebrating today - it's National Beer Lovers Day!

There are more than 4,200 breweries in the United States today ranging in size from industry giants to brew pubs and microbreweries. It’s a great time to remember that the most experienced brewers in the world today use all-natural diatomaceous earth (DE) filter systems to get the finest beer quality, taste and clarity. 

 EP Minerals' Global Technical Services Director Larry Galberd uses Floor Dry Absorbent to clean up fuel spills at the racetrack

EP Minerals’ Global Technical Services Director Larry Galberd leads a double life. By day, Larry could be anywhere in the world helping EP Minerals’ filtration customers optimize their filtration processes and solve problems. By night and on weekends (and any other chance he gets) Larry is driving hell bent for leather at 140 mph for his Blew-By-You race car team in the ChumpCar Racing Series. Larry and his team are “sponsored” (I use that term loosely) by EP Minerals’ Floor Dry absorbent, the #1 automobile oil spill cleanup product that can be found at all the major auto supply stores today.

Here’s a recap of Larry’s latest racing adventures. Go Larry! And keep promoting Floor Dry!