Mail & Guardian - 2 March 2012
A mineral being discarded as "waste" may well be able to provide South Africa's -- and the world's -- energy needs for the next thousand years or more. Thorium, aptly named after the Norse god of thunder, Thor, is a nuclear fuel that is four times more abundant in the Earth's crust than uranium. It was the topic of a conference in Cape Town last week, organised by the South African Institute for Mining and Metallurgy.