Comments on: More on Rare Earth Metals: Are They the New Oil?

By: tapra1

tapra1 — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:28:23 +0000

components in these technologies: magnets, batteries, PV thin films and phosphors, and at 14 rare earth elements or other key materials such as lithium used in them:Tech Expo

By: Franco

Franco — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:39:47 +0000

That transition of rare earth mining and refining operations from the U.S. to China reflects the typical development story: when a developing economy becomes able to do the same-quality work (or near to it) at a lower cost than the developed economy, that comparative advantage shifts.

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By: William Smith

William Smith — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 07:52:17 +0000

In most cases, environmental studies are conducted once it has finished drilling the surface and pre-feasibility studies. The secret to planning a successful green mining operation is to begin working in the environment prior to surface disturbance takes place

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By: Pierre

Pierre — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:28:57 +0000

‘ Rare earth metals are key to global efforts to switch to cleaner energy — from batteries in hybrid cars to magnets in wind turbines. Mining and processing the metals causes environmental damage that China, the biggest producer, is no longer willing to bear.

China’s rare earth industry each year produces more than five times the amount of waste gas, including deadly fluorine and sulfur dioxide, than the total flared annually by all miners and oil refiners in the U.S. Alongside that 13 billion cubic meters of gas is 25 million tons of wastewater laced with cancer-causing heavy metals such as cadmium, Xu Xu, chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters, said at a Beijing conference on Dec. 28.’ (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-05/china-rare-earths-leave-toxic-trail-to-toyota-prius-vestas-wind-turbines.html)

By: asky

asky — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 17:01:14 +0000

Actually, there are a lot of asteroids that periodically come into the vicinity of Earth, are would be much easier to reach. But yes, asteroids, here we come… for all the rare earth riches that we believe they hold.

By: TheOne

TheOne — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:16:19 +0000

Asteroid Belt, here we come.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 20:52:18 +0000

It’s not only rare earth, I think the ‘true’ costs of many input resources (including oil and coal and uranium) have been severely distorted (underpriced) for the ‘good’ of industrialized nations for many years. It’s about time for a ‘change’.

By: FutureofUSChinaTrade

FutureofUSChinaTrade — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:52:20 +0000

China’s clamping down on its rare earth mineral exports (or, now, making them more expensive) is problematic for the U.S. for two important reasons: 1) though China does not have the majority of the world’s remaining stores of raw rare earth minerals (it has about 30%), it currently produces about 97% of the world’s rare earth; and 2) rare earth mining and refining operations in the U.S. largely shut down over the last decades as mining and refining operations in China were so much less expensive (and environmental regulations more lax).

Yes, that means job losses for workers in the more developed economy, but those short-term losses can be fixed by retraining those workers to higher-productivity jobs (productivity boosts are what keep advanced economies like America’s growing, after all). And it also means that consumers buy the goods we have come to love for much less – in this case cell phones and computers (and the kind of green technology that is likely the wave of the future).

Of course, when China imposes export taxes, restricts supply, or engages in other market-distorting tactics, it makes sense why users of rare earth minerals are concerned. So that begs the question, in an increasingly flat global world, where the natural movement is toward comparative advantage (produce and export what you’re best at, import the rest), does it ever make sense to resist that movement in order to maintain at least some domestic supply of critical goods?

http://futureofuschinatrade.com/article/us-china-rare-earth-mineral-fracas

By: JamesDavis

JamesDavis — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 14:49:01 +0000

If you can stay away from rare earth metals, it is a good idea to do so because what are you going to do when the rare earth metals run out and you have destroyed half the planet getting to them.

By: Paul RED

Paul RED — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 13:50:42 +0000

US actually has the largest deposits of rare earths, however due to environment complaint they were shut down long time ago.