Christmas Lunch goes with a 'pop'
The MMTA's Christmas lunch took place at the splendour of the Savile Club in London. The Savile is one of London's oldest clubs and even today maintains a detached dignity that harks back to a bygone era.
Following a tumultuous year in the minor metal ocean lunch was an island of calm and attendees enjoyed chance to discover new business opportunities among the many new members who attended for the first time.
Minormetals.com generously sponsored the wine at lunch for the second year running and for the first time there was a ‘Minor Metals Quiz’ for Bollinger champagne provided by Avon Metals.
Needless to say when free champagne was on offer the fair play normally associated with metal trading quickly disappeared as teams racked their brains and their Blackberrys for inspiration.
An enjoyable time was had by all and the quiz was won by a team called “No Name”. 
Here are the questions (answers below):
1. Which minor metal gives rubies their colour?
2. Which metal is named after the Scandinavian god of beauty and fertility?
3. What does the minor metal acronym ITO stand for?
4. The first man-made form of a nuclear reaction was made by splitting the atoms of which minor metal?
5. Which minor metal derives its name from the Arabic “Zargun” meaning “gold colour”?
6. Niobium’s name is derived from Niobe, Goddess of Tears in Greek Mythology. But who was her father and what metal is named after him?
7. What minor metal has the chemical symbol “Pr”?
8. Which minor metal is used in night-vision goggles?
9. Who first isolated pure magnesium metal?
10. Measured by mass, which element makes up 25.7% of the Earth’s crust?
11. What does the Incoterm “DEQ” stand for?
12. Which metal found medical use in “perpetual pills”?
13. Due to its toxicity levels name one minor metal that has been placed on the United Nations Environmental Programmes “Top Ten Hazardous Pollutants” list?
14. Which metal is at the heart of vitamin B12?
15. Which minor metals are also known as Wolfram and Columbium?
16. List the five minor metals with the highest melting temperatures? (5 points)
Answers:
1. Chromium
2. Vanadium
3. Indium Tin Oxide
4. Lithium
5. Zirconium
6. Tantalus, the metal tantalum
7. Praseodymium
8. Germanium
9. Humphrey Davy
10. Silicon
11. Delivered Ex-Quay
12. Antimony
13. Mercury or Cadmium
14. Cobalt
15. Wolfram is Tungsten. Columbium is Niobium.
16. Tungsten (3410 degrees centigrade), Rhenium (3180), Osmium (3045), Tantalum (2996), Molybdenum (2617).
