I was reasing an investment report, that was talking about the commercial importance of the “rare earth” elements (lanthanum,hafnium,etc.)-which are used to make high power magnets optical components, etc. It seems that China is considering banning the export of these metals. Now comes word thatb there are major deposits of this stuff in greenland.
My question: can China really monopolize these materials? And, wouldn’t this provide incentives to lokk elsewhere for other sources?
I saw that story, my reaction was the usual one, someone is trying to hype the price of a commodity or shares in an exploration company.
It also got me thinking that when commodities get pricey, people tend to find a cheaper alternative - a Chinese electric auto company using ferrite batteries rather cancels the lithium hype.
Despite the name, “Rare earths” are not rare at all. So I can’t see a ban from China having any major effect.
They tried, but failed, according to this recent article in the Economist.
A Newsweek article on the subject. (That Economist article really only talks about the attempt to corner iron ore btw)
Part of why I prefer the Chinese battery companies (like CBAK) for investment over say A123.
Here’s another article, this time from the New York Times. When other countries became aware of China’s interest in these minerals (and its threat to stop exports), they began to expand exploration of alternative sources. And the Australian government prevented a Chinese company from taking a controlling interest in a mine under development there.
In addition to China, there are commercially viable deposits of gadolinite-Ce and gadolinite-Y (the two closely related minerals that are lanthanide ores, the hyphenated tags indicating whether they are richer in cerium or yttrium) at two locations in Sweden, one in Switzerland, one in Namibia, and over a dozen in the US, including Arizona (3 mines), Colorado (at least 8 mines), Virginia (one quarry), and apparently Texas (no extraction shown on the chart I consulted but gadolinite specimens shown as being from there).
Indeed others are now investing in developing “rare earth” resources, but as that article points out
and these next ten years are highly significant ones for a potential infrastructure build out of wind turbines, EVs, etc etc etc.
For the next decade anyway they will be able to wield the control of this resource to force companies to locate their actual factories in China and to give favored treatment to homegrown industries. A monopoly? No. Overwhelming control over? Yup.
Don’t most of these things come from Florida beach sand?
You may be thinking of quarters and dimes found by metal detectors. Common mistake.
“Swedish mining company LKAB said it found a deposit in the Kiruna area of Sweden, above the Arctic Circle, that contains more than 1 million tons of rare-earth elements.”
Beware of news releases from mining companies. They like to hype discoveries for stock price purposes.
I find it interesting that not all that much has changed in the last 13 years. China isn’t quite as dominant as it was, but that’s about all you can say.
The amount claimed found is about 5 years of China’s annual production. But…
“If we look at how other permit processes have worked within our industry, it will be at least 10-15 years before we can actually begin mining and deliver raw materials to the market,” Mostrom said.
“Rare earths” is a misnomer: They can be found pretty much anywhere on the planet. They’re only “rare” in so far as the concentrations are low (higher in some places than others, but still low compared to most mineral resources). Since they can be mined almost anywhere, in practice they end up being mined where the cost of labor is low. I.e., in China.