Decline of Rare Earth Metals Used In Clean Tech Might Compromise Future Innovations

The comments above are just a little disingenuous. The issue is not the rarity of the ores but the rarity of production. It takes an incredible amount of resources to set up an ore refining process and equipment. Again the issue is not the ores themselves but the refining capacity which China invested heavily in the 80’s and on. They saw the potential and invested in capacity. With the U.S. dependent on other countries to provide the necessary ores and refining capacity it didn’t need to invest heavily in refining capacity. It also didn’t foresee the need for rare earths in electronics because it outsourced most of it’s capacity to Asia. When the U.S. can outsource it’s products to a low wage country what is the worry if it gets it’s rare earths from China. Who cares. Now that it is trying to develop a “green, renewable” manufacturing capability, it now has to find a way to source material from this so called “low wage” country that also has the mines and refining for it’s domestic renewable industry. The problem is out sourcing has come back to roost and the U.S. is behind the 8 ball on this one. It now either has to develop the refining capacity in the U.S. or it has to find another way to develop it’s renewable industry. It really doesn’t make sense to develop an industry based on a limited supply of rare earths any more than it is an oil based economy. Both of these don’t make sense if the supply of basic materials for renewables is limited by capacity. It makes these renewables less economic if you have to invest billions in developing the refining capacity for this renewable industry. Think about it, we are just replacing one limiting factor for another.

Rare earth metals have properties you don’t find in other elements. Go to U.S. Geological Survey: http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/rare_earths/mcs-2009-raree.pdf;

Nearly every “green tech” devise requires some REE. Mountain Pass, CA, which was a top US mine, won’t reopen its mining until 2016 and just got $3 million in stimulus money to help it start the process of reopening (Goldman Sachs is an investor). Congress, and the states, are artificially driving up the demand by setting up alt energy quotas.

On the plus side, new refining technology was just announced that found some REEs can be recovered from TiO2 purifying.

“In 2008, rare earths were not mined in the United States; however, rare-earth concentrates previously produced at Mountain Pass, CA, were processed into lanthanum concentrate and didymium (75% neodymium, 25% praseodymium) products. Rare-earth concentrates, intermediate compounds, and individual oxides were available from stocks. The United States continued to be a major consumer, exporter, and importer of rare-earth products in 2008. The estimated value of refined rare earths imported by the United States was more than $127 million. Based on final 2007 reported data, the estimated 2007 distribution of rare earths by end use, in decreasing order, was as follows: glass polishing and ceramics, 34%; automotive catalytic converters, 30%; rare-earth phosphors for computer monitors, lighting, radar, televisions, and x-ray-intensifying film, 14%; chemicals and petroleum refining catalysts, 11%; ceramics, 3%; pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical equipment, 3%; permanent magnets, 2%; metallurgical applications and alloys, 1%; laser and scintillator crystals, 1%; and other, 1%.” Domestic consumption for rare earths in 2008 increased slightly, based on apparent consumption (derived from 9 months of trade data), although rare-earth imports and exports were estimated to be lower than in 2007. Prices were higher in 2008 than in 2007 for most rare-earth products amid increased consumption and a stable supply. Consumption increased for cerium compounds used in automotive catalytic converters and in glass additives and glass polishing compounds; rare-earth compounds used in automotive catalytic converters and many other applications; yttrium compounds used in color televisions and flat-panel displays, electronic thermometers, fiber optics, lasers, and oxygen sensors; and phosphors for color televisions, electronic thermometers, fluorescent lighting, pigments, superconductors, x-ray-intensifying screens, and other applications. Consumption was also higher for mixed rare-earth compounds and for rare-earth metals and their alloys used in armaments, base-metal alloys, lighter flints, permanent magnets, pyrophoric alloys, and superalloys. U.S. consumption, however, was substantially lower for rare-earth chlorides used in the production of fluid cracking catalysts used in oil refining. The trend is for a continued increase in the use of rare earths in many applications, especially automotive catalytic converters, permanent magnets, and rechargeable batteries for electric and hybrid vehicles.” – USGS

With all due respect to issues of scarcity, global trade imbalance, scaring and depleting the mantel we stand on for commercial gain, and chiding greedy commodity traders, the evil issue surrounding rare earth is really the cost in lives, living, land, and environmental longevity to refine it for manufacturer’s to use in their noble “green” technologies. The PBS News Hour 12/14/2009 http://tiny.cc/JxpAv

Sorry to be pedant but: nice second paragraph/sentence! Made me laugh!

Okay, so you want to know how this works?

The people that speculate on oil and gas will need something new to speculate on since this is their shiny new toy, rare earth metals.

So if they do not stir the FUD – how will they drive up the price of these raw materials.

The USA was the #1 producer of these materials, and the existing mines are slated to come back online very soon…

Both have come up and both have been debunked. The end of a cheap Chinese supply of rare earth minerals means existing mines open again including in the US with much expansion available.

russ, was it this scare or the lithium shortage scare? I haven’t seen where this one has been debunked yet.

Think you are a little late with the post – this scare has been discredited on most other sites in the last 10 days.

Honestly, you people should really learn the basics! It’s so easy to AVOID using rare earths this kind of story is totally redundant! It only serves to benefit commodity traders looking to boost the price of the rare earth stocks they have a position in.

Simply don’t use BLDC motors that use permanent magnets!!! AC Induction motors (As used in the Tesla Roadster) don’t use anything more exotic than steel, aluminium and copper, all of which are routinely recycled. That’s one of the main reasons why over 70% of electric motors used around the world are induction motors!!!