Taaffeite - a very rare stone

Taaffeite
 - pronounced TAR-fite, first discovered by Edward Taaffe when searching through a box of spinels (1945)
- a very rare beryllium magnesium aluminum oxide gemstone found today in Sri Lanka, Burma, Madagascar and Tanzania




Is it a variety of spinel?
- most certainly not, Red Taaffeite is FAR MORE RARE than red beryl (bixbite). Red beryl has an RI (refractive index) of 1.564 to 1.602 and a SG of 2.70. Taaffeite has an RI of about 1.72 to 1.78 and an SG of 3.60 to 3.61. Differentiating the two is very basic gemology. It also shows a distinct double refraction that will further help identify the difference.


How can you tell the difference?

- Spinel has zero birefringence. Taaffeite is doubly refractive. A polariscope is an inexpensive and very satisfactory instrument for the detection of double refraction. This would be first stage separation in the field since if you find a gem that looks like a spinel and is doubly refractive, then you know it is not spinel and could POSSIBLY be taaffeite.

Natural gas Penetrates 6% of Land Drilling Market

American Power Group

The Zeus conference concludes that natural gas has slowly replaced the use of diesel fuel. APG and Prometheus Energy have reported that 70 out of 1200 of Americas land based oil rigs are now powered by gas from LNG, wellheads and pipelines.
This is great news because when you drill for oil you will almost always find an abundance of natural gas above the oil. Generally in the past this gas is set on fire and released into the atmosphere....which is a waste of fossil fuels.


Thanks to American Power Group and their generators oil drilling operations can use their own gas to power the oil rig and the entire site.

The electricity to power these rigs is commonly supplied by large reciprocating engines, according to Lyle Jensen, CEO of American Power Group, a manufacturer of diesel-engine conversion kits. He explained that each rigs is commonly powered by three units, 
ranging in size from 750 hp (0.6 MW) to 1,500 hp (1.1 MW).

Read more about - APGI - Etrade News

A moment on reliable energy from American Power Group

American Power Group

Straight from the website for Dual Fuel Reliable Power at APG,

About 1,200 people live and work at the campus.
The facility has three 725 kw engines for on-site generation, giving it added security and the ability to “peak shave.” When power rates are at their peak, the facility shaves its bill by generating its own electricity.
Two of the generators run on 100 percent natural gas. The third, a diesel generator, was converted to APG’s Dual fuel. Converting to Dual fuel is cheaper than converting to 100 percent natural gas, since it does not alter the way the engine works. And Dual fuel allows the engine to use 100 percent diesel if natural gas supplies are interrupted.
“In case of emergency, we have the flexibility of using diesel to keep our emergency systems running,” says Juan Mata, plant manager of the Watchtower complex. “Dual fuel allows us to perform without interruption. We have both flexibility and security.

This may not be the absolute solution but we have an abundance of natural gas in America.

Stock symbol APGI