critical minerals

We have been fortunate to be able to announce several additions to the American Resources panel of experts recently, and this week is no exception:

Dr. Robert Latiff, a retired U.S Air Force Major General, is Research Professor and Director of the Intelligence and Security Research Center at George Mason University.  In May, Dr. Latiff testified before the U.S House Committee on Natural Resources’ Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources on the subject of “Domestic Minerals Supplies and Demands in a Time of Foreign Supply Disruption.”

Dr. Corby G. Anderson, a professionally registered engineer with nearly 32 years of experience in process, chemical and metallurgical engineering, engineering services, currently serves as Harrison Western Professor of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering for the Kroll Institute for Extractive Metallurgy at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Anderson was recently named a Fellow of the London-based Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

To learn more about their work, and our other panelists, visit our experts page.

Arguing that China’s near-total rare earths monopoly is only the tip of the iceberg and an indicator of what’s to come, Michael A. Barry’s most recent edition of Morning Notes (a free subscription bulletin from DiscoveryInvesting), discusses “The Coming Resource Wars.” Barry quotes our very own Daniel McGroarty, who has said:

But the Rare Earths are just one part of the larger picture of near-total U.S. dependency on a range of technology metals – a dependency deepened by the fact that the U.S. is home to known deposits of many of these materials.

Barry argues that for too long policy makers have turned a blind eye, missing critical opportunities to reduce our over-reliance on foreign non-fuel mineral resources.  While debt and budget issues dominate the political agenda in Washington these days, perhaps the fact that this dangerous and unnecessary dependency is increasingly becoming a cause of concern for investors will help get policy makers focused on what’s coming down the pike.

We’re excited to announce two new additions to our distinguished panel of experts: Emily Coppel is a policy analyst from the American Security Project. She is also the author of “Rare Earth Metals and U.S. National Security,” a report outlining the national security risks of U.S. over-reliance on China as supplier of REEs. Professor Patrick [...]

In what may become the most expensive diversified minerals takeover to-date, China and Brazil appear set to engage in a strategic battle over copper deposits in Africa, according to Bloomberg.  In line with China’s recent efforts to enlarge its footprint in Africa in its quest for natural resources, China’s Jinchuan Group is considering countering Rio de Janeiro-based Vale’s [...]

Over the 4th of July weekend, reports about a group of Japanese scientists who have discovered significant rare earth deposits on the seabed of the Pacific Ocean have made quite a splash, leading some to talk about a challenge to China’s rare earth near-total monopoly. ARPN expert Gareth Hatch cautions that while the research is [...]

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 [...]

A new piece in the New Scientist underlines the importance of strategic metals to our new economy — from tech toys like the iPad and smart phones to green-tech applications ranging from solar panels to wind turbines. The Tellurium in the title is an element critical to new solar panel applications. As New Scientist puts [...]

In less than two minutes, this short, but informative, video clip on the BBC’s website does a great job of getting to the heart of the rare earths crunch that puts the U.S. at the mercy of China. Ending our dangerously high degree of resource dependency is possible, but it all boils down to the question [...]

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 [...]

ARPN expert Lisa Reisman has a very insightful post on her website “MetalMinerTM” this week. Adding her own commentary, Reisman discusses rare earth and specialty metals lobbyist Jeff Green’s take on the current public policy debate regarding rare earth metals and critical minerals, as well as related legislation in pending in Congress.  Below is an [...]