Chinese Monopolizing The Market On Rare Earths

[wacojoe]

which are 17 minerals vital in producing things you use every day, and which are so polluting to produce no one else wants to do so...

https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/12...y-china-trade/

[wacojoe]

Honda is introducing a work-around to get away from the gouging of the Cjinese with rare-earth metals used in electric vehicles —

http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars...r-without-hea/

[wacojoe]

Interprising young scientists at Rutgers have devised a plan to extract some of the minerals that the Chinese have hitherto obtained as their monopoly with the vexing reality of a possible stranglehold on vital resources for the modern world.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/sci...arth-elements/

I had posted on discovery of vast resources of the metals on the deep ocean floor previously in the thread below, but this possible new process of plentiful synthetic phosphogypsum would be much more accessible.

http://www.crackerbarrelphilosophers...ght=rare+earth

[Dave Grubb]

This is not a recent issue.

It is also the proper place for governments to develop and execute strategic plans. We would be well served to spend time and energy in those directions rather than the childish "goals" that currently occupy our time and talents.

[Billy_Rightwing]

ECO wackos won't let us cut down even dead trees, so will they lets us dig anything?

[Honda]

Thanks for posting this WJ I too think this is an important factor to keep an eye on. I wouldn't be dismissive about it at all.

[wacojoe]

Currently the Chinese have a wire tied around our technological nuts and could jerk it at any time.

[Dave Grubb]

Currently the Chinese have a wire tied around our technological nuts and could jerk it at any time.

You are exactly right---and WE helped put the wire in place

[wacojoe]

You are exactly right---and WE helped put the wire in place

How did we do that?

[Truckman]

How did we do that?

My guess is by submitting to the law of supply and demand......Ben

[Dave Grubb]

How did we do that?

In the same way we have done it across a wide range of commerce. Endeavors like manufacturing, mining, refining (not oil) et al became an unnecessarily and troublesome burden here. That "burden" was caused by over regulation, "disinterested" management, labor issues----and most of all a long history of under capitalization of these domestic businesses which rendered them non-competitive.

The option to offshore these ugly and demanding aspects of the business and simply concentrate on the far more glamorous areas of sales and marketing sealed the deal---ship it offshore.

We did that over and over again---and senior management loved it---they got far more time on the golf course, no need to argue with labor unions and no need to reinvest---capital went from king to serfdom. The equipment could rust, the plants fall down and all was good, at least until they began to feel the tug of that wire on their nuts---now many are having a revelation---life offshore isn't what it was cracked up to be.

Why---cost savings aren't what they expected, the logistic issues are unrelenting and the quality is variable and commonly dismal---other than that they are golden

[wacojoe]

I thought the main problem was that we, the U.S., did not have the raw reserves of the obtainable rare earths to be mined that exist in China and Mongolia. This latest method seeks to recover with new methods a few of those rare earth metals from hitherto unrecognized sources of waste phosphates. Am I wrong? If I am not, I see no fault pointing at us. No fault pointing at the Chinese either for that matter. They are merely taking natural advantage of a resource we might have a chance of ameliorating.

[Dave Grubb]

I thought the main problem was that we, the U.S., did not have the raw reserves of the obtainable rare earths to be mined that exist in China and Mongolia. This latest method seeks to recover with new methods a few of those rare earth metals from hitherto unrecognized sources of waste phosphates. Am I wrong? If I am not, I see no fault pointing at us. No fault pointing at the Chinese either for that matter. They are merely taking natural advantage of a resource we might have a chance of ameliorating.

I don't blame the Chinese in most of these issues--they simply took advantage of an opportunity we were all too happy to provide to them

As for the rare earth elements, the issue in most cases is the difficulty in permitting any type of mining. That difficulty comes in two ways, first the regulatory hurdles---which in comparison are not insurmountable--but also the NIMBY armies! Our courts have unlimited willingness to listen to every whine and cry from even the most uninformed citizenry imaginable. This is a major deterrent. There is no way to estimate the cost and time frame to successfully permit these sites. Who in their right mind will begin to sink money into such a project with no insurance that they will ever prevail or if they do--when?

Turn it over to the Chinese or some other offshore entity and save the time, effort and expense of doing it yourself. Without our Government taking a part in the "process" this is not likely to change.

[Mike]

Maybe the Chinese won't be in such control much longer:

The researchers used these natural acids along with a bio-acid mixture, or biolixiviant, to extract six rare-earth elements from synthetic phosphogypsum. The results, published in The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics, showedthat “the biolixiviant was more efficient at rare earth element extraction than gluconic acid and phosphoric acid but less efficient than sulfuric acid.”
Phosphogypsum is a waste by-product of phosphoric acid production. A Futurity article about the study states that “Each year, the U.S. mines an estimated 250 million tons of phosphate rock to produce phosphoric acid for fertilizers.” That’s a huge supply of phosphogypsum, representing roughly 100,000 tons of rare-earth elements ready for extraction. Currently, about 126,000 tons of REEs are produced worldwide. Tapping this resource at home would catapult U.S. production closer to China levels, which now account for 90 percent of the market share.

SOURCE

[Truckman]

Maybe the Chinese won't be in such control much longer:

SOURCE

Hmmm, looks remarkably like Joe's original post...But I've been known to be wrong before......Ben