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American Resources Policy Network
Promoting the development of American mineral resources.

  • Famine, food, and Rare Earths in Asia

    By Daniel McGroarty | Posted: August 19, 2011 at 9:36 am | No comments yet

    A sad, but not surprising, news story made its way across the wires this morning.  North Korea’s Kim Jong Il has approved a swap of sorts with its northern neighbor, China. The agreement will bring Chinese fertilizer and corn to his country’s famine-ravaged Hermit Kingdom in exchange for ceding to China rights to develop North Korea’s Rare Earths deposits.  As the source commented, “It’s quite a profit for China….”

    How soon new North Korean supplies will factor into rare earths production is not known. What is clear, however, is that China continues to seek new means to leverage its existing near-monopoly over a critical metal.  How will the U.S. and the world’s industrial democracies respond?

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  • Uranium find in India to reduce dependence on imports

    By Sandra Wirtz | Posted: August 3, 2011 at 6:56 am | No comments yet
    According to news reports, India has discovered what its government claims could be the world’s largest uranium reserves in a mine due to start operating by the end of the year.  The nation’s Department of Atomic Energy recently confirmed that the Tumalapalli mine in the southern state of Andrha Pradesh holds 49,000 metric tons of uranium, but assumes that the total amount is closer to 150,000 tons.

    While international analysts question the Indian government’s claim that the mine could become the world’s largest uranium mine, the discovery is significant as India, along with nations like China and South Korea, is looking to expand its nuclear energy program.

    The deposits may be low-grade and insufficient to cover the country’s supply gap, but as we’re entering into an era of resource scarcity and global competition for the world’s mineral riches, they constitute an important step towards reducing India’s dependence on foreign resources.  U.S. policy makers should take note.
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  • China’s Rare Earths attract Japanese Manufacturer

    By Daniel McGroarty | Posted: July 1, 2011 at 10:40 am | No comments yet
    In this story hitting the East Asia news wires, Showa Denko, a leading Japanese metals fabricator, announced it will be moving its Rare Earths manufacturing facility to China. This is an alarm bell for anyone who believes the U.S. must stake a leadership claim in the green-tech sector. Coupled with decreased Chinese exports, access to [...]

  • China’s Rare Earths reserves to be exhausted by 2025?

    By Daniel McGroarty | Posted: June 17, 2011 at 10:23 am | No comments yet
    Statistics show that rare earths reserves in China are down to 27 million tons and, at current production rates, may be exhausted as early as 2025. This data underscores the urgency of the rare earths crunch we have been discussing on this blog in recent weeks.  Having produced rare earths at rates exceeding 100,000 tons [...]

  • Peruvian Elections Raise Issue of Resource Dependency for U.S.

    By ARPN Team | Posted: June 9, 2011 at 10:52 am | No comments yet
    The election victory of leftist Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala in this week’s runoff election has instilled fears of higher taxes and new restrictive policies in the mining sector.  Peru is a leading producer of precious metals, and the U.S. relies heavily on Peruvian imports of zinc, tin, gold, copper, and silver. (To see exactly [...]

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