Undermining China's Monopoly on Rare Earth Elements

[Modbert]

Undermining China's Monopoly on Rare Earth Elements - Technology Review

In the ongoing saga of the Rare Earth Metal Monopoly by China:

Molycorp has secured the permits and funding needed to restart production at a mine in Mountain Pass, California, that would become the first U.S. source of rare earth elements in more than a decade. The mine is one of the world's richest deposits of these elements, which are critical for making components found in a wide range of technologies. On Tuesday, the company announced that it will partner with Hitachi Metals of Japan to turn materials from the mine into high-strength magnets, which are vital in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and many other products.

China currently has a lock on the market for rare earth materials: in 2009 it provided 95 percent of the world's supply, or 120,000 tons. This concentration of supply has become a major issue in recent months, particularly after China temporarily blocked exports of these materials to Japan in September. A Critical Materials Strategy document issued by the U.S. Department of Energy last week points to the "risk of supply disruption" in the short term. Worldwide demand for rare earth elements was 125,000 tons in 2010 and is expected to rise to 225,000 tons by 2015.

The mine is a 50-acre open pit about 50 miles outside Las Vegas, surrounded by a stark landscape of red-brown mountains, Joshua trees, and the occasional cactus. Molycorp has begun draining groundwater that seeps into the bottom of the pit and removing areas of rock called "overburden" to expose a layer of bastnäsite, a mineral rich in rare earth elements. Expansion of operations will push the mine from a depth of 500 feet to 1,000 feet in the coming years.

This is excellent news to hear and hopefully similar action will be taken in the future. At this point, companies seem to be willing to take the risk of China once again flooding the market considering the potential profit at stake as well as demand.

 

[Revere]

The only thing standing in the way is the EPA.

 

[Modbert]

The only thing standing in the way is the EPA.

Link?

 

[Revere]

And their cohorts in the Sierra Club.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50842820-76/utah-national-coal-mining.html.csp

Environmentalists hate mining. They will never stand for the US competing with China in that regard.

 

[Revere]

US EPA Acts to Control Mercury From Gold Mines | CommonDreams.org

 

[Modbert]

US EPA Acts to Control Mercury From Gold Mines | CommonDreams.org

And their cohorts in the Sierra Club.

Groups ask court to halt Alton strip mining | The Salt Lake Tribune

Environmentalists hate mining. They will never stand for the US competing with China in that regard.

Neither of these things have a thing to do with the rare earth metal situation. So do you have anything legitimate to add to the discussion or just going to ramble on about how evil the EPA is?

 

[Revere]

Sorry, you can't shill for your goofy ass green movement and expect the US to be competitive globally in metals mining, too.

Environmentalists hate all mining.

 

[Modbert]

Sorry, you can't shill for your goofy ass green movement and expect the US to be competitive globally in metals mining, too.

Environmentalists hate all mining.

So I'll take that as a no. Thanks for playing.

 

[william the wie]

I'm not as dogmatic as Revere but I would expect some flak from the state of California and the
EPA because Obama has to get his base on board for 2012. I don't know if it will be a serious effort to derail the mining or "Gee, I tried." from the state and federal administrations but at a minimum a gun camera wargame will be staged over the reopening of this mine.

 

[westwall]

This is actually pretty good news. One of the unfortunate byproducts of the California Desert Conservation Act was to place off limits for mining, another rich rare earth site in the Iron Mountains that was added to Death Valley National Park.

Rare earths are used in a whole bunch of high technology industries and without them you have nothing.

 

[uscitizen]

Well if we had not outsourced our rare earth materals to China in the first place....

 

[Toro]

This mine was shut down by the EPA a decade ago. It is one of the largest mine's on earth, if I recall correctly. Shutting down that mine is one reason why China dominates rare earth metals today. These metals really aren't all that rare, but if you can't mine them out of the ground, then the deposits aren't useful.

 

[loosecannon]

They aren't rare but they seldom occur in ore concentrations and volumes that make mining them profitable at today's prices.

We will be mining our landfills within 20 years. You can count on it.

 

[westwall]

They aren't rare but they seldom occur in ore concentrations and volumes that make mining them profitable at today's prices.

We will be mining our landfills within 20 years. You can count on it.

There is much truth in this comment.

 

[Modbert]

They aren't rare but they seldom occur in ore concentrations and volumes that make mining them profitable at today's prices.

We will be mining our landfills within 20 years. You can count on it.

Was going to comment on this earlier but the site went down.

The reason (other than necessity) that companies are willing to get involved in the rare earth metal market again despite the risk of China flooding the market again is due to the prices being so high. The other problem is that finding a rare earth metal mine that has a high enough volume to mine. At a certain point, it is not profitable for a company to be mining in areas that do have small deposits.

Hitachi Leads Rare Earth Recycling Efforts as China Cuts Access to Supply - Bloomberg

The mine that is being talked in the original article:

Flooding the Market

Molycorp raised $394 million in an initial share sale in July to reopen the mine. It was closed in 2002 as China output flooded the market and drove down prices. The company will export half of its rare earth metal shipments to Japan in 2010, the Nikkei newspaper reported today, citing an interview with Chief Executive Officer Mark Smith.

Japan is stepping up to undermine the Chinese rare earth monopoly, the U.S needs to do more as well.

 

[william the wie]

Quite true. And rare earths are also needed in higher temperature super conductors for better energy generation and conservation.