rare earths

Buried in a piece at Mining.com about South Korea and Bolivia’s joint-venture to develop the latter nation’s significant lithium reserves – critical to lithium-ion batteries used in cell phones, laptops and electric cars – is this comment from Argentinean officials:

Argentina is promoting the idea of an OPEC-like cartel for itself, Bolivia and Chile – which together control 85% of the world’s reserves of lithium – to manage prices and limit overproduction.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there are 4 million tons of known lithium in the U.S., but only one U.S. company is presently involved in pulling them from of the ground.

Currently, 120,000 tons of lithium are extracted worldwide. As Mining.com notes:

If electric cars achieve a 5% penetration rate by 2020, an additional 60,000 tons of lithium will be needed to fill the demand.

That’s a 50 percent increase in supply. We’ve seen how the real OPEC affects petroleum-based transportation. Will we really want to substitute a “lithium OPEC” for the electric-car era?

In today’s globalized world, it doesn’t take a seat at the decision-making table for one nation to influence another’s domestic policies – a near-monopoly on critical mineral resources will do.  A case in point is India, which, after a seven-year hiatus, is expanding its indigenous Rare Earth Element (REE) production over growing concerns that China may be taking advantage of its rare earths dominance.

Not only is an Indian government panel preparing a strategy paper emphasizing the need for domestic exploration of REE’s (according to a Mineweb.com story), but the country is also reportedly funding a rare earths plant to the tune of 1.4 billion rupees ($32 million USD).

Acknowledging that resource dependency issues stretch beyond rare earths, the Indian public policy debate is zeroing in on the broader critical minerals supply issues.  In light of “the proliferation of trade-distorting measures by emerging economies such as China,” which according to one Indian expert also applies to copper, aluminum, nickel, molybdenum, manganese, magnesium, tungsten, and indium; analysts lament the curtailment of domestic production and call for policy measures to secure supply of these strategic minerals.

As U.S. lawmakers return to Capitol Hill following the August District Work Period, they, too, would be well advised to shift their attention to the global race for resources. That means prioritizing policy measures to alleviate our unnecessary dependence on foreign critical minerals, and turning our focus toward the mineral riches beneath our own soil.

The New York Times’ Keith Bradshear has taken a closer look at foreign manufacturers moving their production sites into China in an effort to mitigate reduced access to and increased cost for REEs – a development we covered on our blog here and here. The article underscores that rather than acting out of environmental concerns, [...]

American Resources expert and Technology Metals Research co-founder, Gareth Hatch, has released a new study that highlights the implications of the supply and demand over rare earths elements. Hatch’s research also delves into how the United States can mitigate the current REE shortage. The Critical Rare Earths Report features detailed evaluations of the supply challenges and qualitative rankings [...]

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 [...]

Another example of what happens when one country dominates supply of a resource, California-based phosphor maker Intematix, relying on rare earths to produce phosphors used for fluorescent light bulbs and white LEDs, has decided to move some of its manufacturing to China.  The news comes on the heels of Japanese metals fabricator Showa Denko announcing [...]

As reported by Resourceful Earth, two Alaska mining projects may begin production ahead of schedule thanks to priority permits granted by the U.S. Forest Service.  The agency approved exploratory drilling permits for Ucore Rare Metals Inc.’s Bokan Mountain site in Southeast Alaska, which is expected to develop rare earths as well as potentially high grade [...]

Making national headlines this week, the Elk Creek, Neb. rare earths and niobium prospecting site (we’ve talked about it here and here) may finally be getting the attention it deserves.  The Northwest Mining Association also recently covered this topic on their blog at TheMoreYouDig.com.  With all of this newfound attention, however, comes the larger issue [...]

If you’ve had to replace a light bulb in your home lately, then you have may have noticed that the price for lighting has gone up significantly. The reason behind the price hike is two-fold: 1) recent legislation that passed, mandating the phasing out of the light bulb as we know it, and 2) the current [...]

On the heels of the discovery of a significant rare earths find in Madagascar announced by Mumbai-based Varun Industries earlier this month, the Indian government has been quick to lock up a purchase agreement with the Madagascar unit of the company, Varun Energy Corp.  According to the memorandum of understanding, Varun Energy Corp. will sell [...]