I seem to recall someone mentioning at some point in the last month that they read an article about adding chromium or chromite to food, and it being a potential new source of demand. Forgive me if I rolled my eyes at the time.

Interesting article here:

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/12/20/carcinogen-found-in-31-of-35-cities-water-supply/?hpt=T2

It appears that many people may be getting more than enough chromium in their drinking water, and probably don't need to take it as part of a multi-vitamin.

(Please note that the previous comments are tongue-in-cheek).

Anyway, it is important for people to remember that there are differences between various chrome-XXX substances.

Chromium is an element, something all by itself. Atomic symbol Cr.

Chromite is an oxide compound. For instance, FeCr2O4 is iron chromite, but there are other possibilities with chromium in the oxide.

Chromate is a salt, loosely speaking. There are all kinds of different chromates, which are compounds with Chromium plus other elements.

The chromite is the key focus for the Ring Of Fire, because of its use in the steel industry. The chromite concentrate is used in the production of ferrochromium, which in turn is used to make stainless steel.

I thought I'd throw a few trivia bits out to keep everyone amused while the markets are quiet.