rare earths

In an ongoing reaction to China’s restrictive mineral policies, countries are expanding their efforts to look for alternative supplies of sought-after commodities. Case in point is Japan, which in recent months has inked cooperative agreements with a number of other nations including India and Vietnam. Its most recent effort is focused on what is better known as a primary vacation destination for some – Jamaica.

According to the Associated Press, a team of Japanese researchers has found what they consider highly viable concentrations of Rare Earth Elements in Jamaica’s red mud. Nippon Light Metal Company Limited, the Tokyp-based aluminum company to commission the research, has “put up US $3 million for a pilot project that could result in Jamaica earning billions in foreign exchange.”

As the Jamaica Observer reports, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) has given “tentative support” to the pilot project, which was announced by Jamaica’s government last week.

As the global race for resources heats up and we’re seeing new players entering the stage, it is encouraging to see at least parts of the United States government take steps towards addressing our mineral resource supply challenges, as the Department of Energy with the launch of its new critical materials research hub. With the second term of the Obama Administration beginning this week, we’ll hopefully see a more forceful and coherent approach to this issue, which has yet to receive the attention it deserves.

In his latest column for Real Clear World, American Resources Principal Daniel McGroarty zeros in on China’s dominance of the Rare Earths market. Invoking lopsided production numbers – in spite of international efforts to develop Rare Earths outside of China, China’s supply monopoly still hovers at 95 percent – McGroarty likens China’s REE control to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) powerful position in the oil market.

As for the national security implications of the United States’ (unnecessary) reliance on foreign – and in many cases Chinese – mineral imports, McGroarty points out that according to the Congressional Research Service, REEs are “critical to five functional areas that collectively encompass every major war-fighting capability used to project power via ground, sea, air and space,” adding that they are just “one example of several dozen rare metals U.S. weapons designers use to create the “killer apps” of the modern military.”

Says McGroarty:

“In a different century and a different conflict, Lenin quipped that capitalists would sell his Bolsheviks ‘the rope to hang them with.’ Is it our strategy in the 21st Century to expect the world’s rising power to sell us the resources we may confront them with on the battlefields of tomorrow?”

In the post-fiscal cliff world, this would be a good question for U.S. policymakers to ponder.

Below is part two of American Resources’ three-part 2012 retrospective. Check out part one here. Traditionally, the New Year is the time when people reflect on the past twelve months and formulate resolutions for the months ahead. As the first hours of 2013 have been dominated by the drama the Fiscal Cliff, our Federal lawmakers [...]

In its Energy Study 2012, the German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA) emphasizes the importance of using domestic raw materials against the backdrop of increased price volatility and supply risk. As summarized by the German daily Handelsblatt, the agency’s core message is as follows (rough translation): Supply shortages are likely to occur not due to due [...]

As they are a hot commodity right now, talking about Rare Earths Elements is en vogue these days. As fascinating as they are, the terminology associated with this group of minerals composed of the fifteen lanthanoid elements plus Scandium and Yttrium remains confusing to many. To clarify things, American Resources expert and Technology Metals Research [...]

This week, the San Francisco Chronicle zeroed in on Rare Earths. Pointing to the “cultural necessity” of REEs – columnist Brooks Mencher calls them “as critical to the Age of Technology as cement and steel were to the Age of Industry” – the article discusses the relevance of Rare Earths against the backdrop of China’s [...]

You wouldn’t necessarily expect to find Tungsten and Fluorspar mentioned in the same sentence as “Rare Earth Metals.” With its traditional applications in ballistics, the former is historically known as a “war metal,” while the latter has been an important component for chemical applications. And in spite of the fact that Tungsten makes the top [...]

As the Canadian daily Chronicle Herald reports, the U.S. Department of Defense is conducting a study of Canadian mining company Ucore’s rare earth-rich Bokan Mountain property in southeast Alaska. Under the auspices of the Defense Logistics Agency, the study will “focus on the possible development of Bokan Mountain to meet defence department requirements for an [...]

As the usage of specialty or “tech metals” grows with their ever-diversifying utilities, so do related supply issues. One of the most popular and most frequently mentioned options to address such challenges is recycling. However, a Forbes Magazine piece points out that as Barbara Reck, research scientist at Yale University’s Center for Industrial Ecology, School [...]

Two years after China’s Rare Earths embargo on Japan and subsequent supply shortages put the until-then largely obscure group of critical minerals on the map, tensions between the two countries are reaching new heights, with the specter of war looming. At the heart of the current tensions lies a territorial “tug-of-war” over five tiny – [...]