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

  • Resource Wars: India to challenge China with rare earths find in Madagascar?

    By Sandra Wirtz | Posted: July 20, 2011 at 6:45 am | No comments yet

    While a rare earths find on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean has misleadingly been heralded as a solution to China’s near-total rare earths monopoly (to find out why this claim is misleading, click here), a second rare earths discovery earlier this month was barely noticed, in spite of its greater potential to challenge China:

    Indian-based Varun Group announced it had found 266.8 million metric tonnes of rare earths with an estimated mining life of 40 to 50 years in the Republic of Madagascar.  According to media reports, Varun Group is already in talks with possible Indian and international partners to develop the deposits.

    Probably the most resource-hungry nation aside from China, India has been stepping up its global efforts to meet growing demand for critical metals and minerals by its burgeoning industries and growing population. For the sake of our own strategic and economic future, the United States can’t afford not to take appropriate and swift action to ensure our steady supply of critical resources – beginning with developing the mineral riches we’re blessed to have beneath our own soil.

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  • American Resources Expert Column: Mineral riches ‘LoST’ at sea

    By Sandra Wirtz | Posted: July 19, 2011 at 6:12 am | No comments yet

    Citing a lack of technological and economic feasibility, experts, including American Resources expert Gareth Hatch, recently dispelled a myth created by some journalists that the solution to China’s stranglehold on rare earths lies in a REE discovery below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.  However, technical issues are just part of the story.

    Our very own Daniel McGroarty explains in his latest column for Real Clear World that because the United Nations’ Law of the Sea Treaty (LoST) would govern any deep-sea mining projects, the technical challenge is “bean-bag compared to the bureaucratic gauntlet of obtaining permission to drill in the world’s open oceans.”

    McGroarty questions the nature of the LoST:

    All of which raises the question: Is Law of the Sea Treaty, as critics contend, a nefarious global socialist experiment conferring on the UN the power to control and redistribute a vast swath of the world’s resource wealth, or an impenetrable bureaucratic shield to ensure no one ever extracts so much as an ounce of kilogram of that wealth?

    Curious about McGroarty’s answer?  Read it here, and find out “Why the World’s Mineral Wealth is LoST at Sea.”

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  • What makes it whirl? The commonalities of vacuums and geopolitics

    By Sandra Wirtz | Posted: July 14, 2011 at 12:15 pm | 1 comment
    As you vacuum your house, you’re probably not thinking too much about the United States’ over-reliance on foreign mineral resources.  Here’s why maybe you should: Ever wonder what makes your Dyson DC 31 handheld vacuum cleaner whirl? You may be surprised to hear that the answer is rare earths. Five times faster than a racing [...]

  • Investors fear looming resource wars

    By Sandra Wirtz | Posted: July 12, 2011 at 12:22 pm | No comments yet
    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 [...]

  • American Resources panel welcomes two new experts

    By Sandra Wirtz | Posted: July 11, 2011 at 12:57 pm | No comments yet
    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 [...]

  • ARPN Expert: New Rare Earths Find Impressive, But No Silver Bullet To Supply Crunch

    By Sandra Wirtz | Posted: July 5, 2011 at 9:11 am | No comments yet
    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 [...]

  • 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 [...]

  • What the Auto Industry, Rare Earth Elements have in Common

    By Daniel McGroarty | Posted: June 29, 2011 at 2:28 pm | 2 comments
    In a June 27 piece from Business Insider, Jim Powell, a technology and strategic metals analyst with Laurentian Bank Securities, attempts to clear up the confusion over the future supply and demand of critical metals. His interview with The Critical Metals Report highlights the struggle between China and the rest of the world over Rare [...]

  • Are you ready to party like it’s 1940?

    By Sandra Wirtz | Posted: June 27, 2011 at 1:51 pm | No comments yet
    If you’re looking for a good reason why the United States needs to develop its own mineral resources, especially rare earths, Nebraska University geologist Matt Joeckel hits the nail on the head: We could go without this stuff if we cared to go back to maybe a 1940s level of technology. Joeckel, who also works [...]

  • Video: the BBC asks, “But Will They Dig?”

    By Daniel McGroarty | Posted: June 20, 2011 at 4:26 pm | No comments yet
    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 [...]

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