Chinese Monopolizing The Market On Rare Earths

[Mike]

Joe's post talks about the Chinese monopoly. My post is about a new process that could break that monopoly.

However ,I now see Joe's third post is the same as mine.

[Truckman]

Joe's post talks about the Chinese monopoly. My post is about a new process that could break that monopoly.

However ,I now see Joe's third post is the same as mine.

You are correct, sir, my count was off......Ben

[CactusCurt]

Ok, I used to worry about it but dont any more and heres why.

There is a domestic supply of rare earths at the mountain pass mine south of vegas just into California. We did a number of projects there over a span of about 5 years. I spent way more nights in Primm than anyone ever should

It used to belong to Unocal, then Chevron and then some Chevron (molycorp) dudes "bought" it and took it public. Waco should have access to all kinds of cool details. Some guys did alright, but creditors and shareholders didn't.

They ginned up a lot of interest and money and built a whole new mill and processing facility using the latest technology. The story was that the system was so good they would be able to re-process the old tailings which we capped under another contract (along with a large quantity of high grade ore). But they still expanded the pit significantly (the ore body declined away so was getting harder to get to) by hauling the overburden to the mill site for the MASSIVE engineered fill. I always assumed this was so they could capitalize the stripping.

Then the bottom fell out of the market ($) and they went into receivership. So there sits a brand new plant and a developed ore body. I dont know who owns it now. I would agree that the chicoms have monopoly pricing power but unless they bought it they dont own all of the resource.

The government was on top of this too. The national security argument was used to whip up the financing and if I remember right the US of A provided $250 million or so of the billion plus price tag. I cant remember if it was loan or a grant but its a shame if our investment wasnt secured. On edit: I should have added this was around the time of TARP so the $250 m amount might not have even showed up on the trusty govt waste-o-meter.

Lanthanides are used for all kinds of stuff but the only national security use i ever heard of was in stealth technology- i think as an additive to coatings. It was used in monitors and displays and more and more in the super duper magnets they need for hybrid/EV's.

When i hung up my hardhat we were tracking a couple of greenfield mines in the feasibility stage. One was in Wyoming and if you have ever been to Gillette you know they can be accommodating with their mineral development. I think there was another active one in Canada. If we ran out we could always steal theirs.

I think we could gear up production fairly quickly if the chicoms quit selling to us. Honestly i assumed this would be on page one of Trumps trade war list. Anyone know if it is? Current events dont mean that much to me anymore

[Truckman]

Welcome back, Curt...Pull up a chair and sit a spell......Ben

[CactusCurt]

Thanks Ben. I would have been here sooner but I forgot my password. Mike had to do gymnastics so I could even login

We built a cabin off the grid while i was away. Maybe I should post a pic since it would be the first time I was on topic here

[Dave Grubb]

Good to see you again Curt

Now that you are back---don't be such a stranger

[CactusCurt]

Just keeping up. Looks like we might get to see how rare they really are. If you dig in a little deeper you see that Mountain Pass ships something to China for final processing. I had never heard that.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/21...-cutoff-to-us/

[UTAH]

Excellent posts, Curt.

Welcome back.

Hunter

[wacojoe]

ChiComs rattle the cage threatening to use their monopoly bludgeon on rare earths in trade war —

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/28/chin...-minerals.html

[wacojoe]

Article outlining alternatives to China’s near monopoly of rare earths —

https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...arth-elements/

[wacojoe]

Another article on availability of non-Chinese rare earths —

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.78e5ea12d379

[wacojoe]

The mining and subsequent refining of the rare earth minerals create great difficulty with the ultimate problem of dangerously radioactive mining tailings. That is why the US no longer produces our own from domestic reserves. When our single mine was still open it sent the ore to China for processing because they do not care much about dangerous pollution.
Specifically, the tailings contain significant amounts of uranium and thorium. The disposal of this tailings is prohibitively expensive if you care about safe disposal because of the radioactive elements in them. You will recall that the Russians have used tiny amounts of thorium to poison enemies. It is 100% effective and certain, but there is a good side — thorium can be used in a very effective and much safer type of reactor than conventional uranium ones.

That is explained in the article —

https://www.americanthinker.com/arti...d_thorium.html

[CactusCurt]

That is explained in the article —

https://www.americanthinker.com/arti...d_thorium.html

The author here appears to have an agenda, but I dont know what unless its to whine.

First, Mountain Pass. Our first project there was to cap or encapsulate the old tailings. As I recall men in open cabs working on the tailings were required to wear dust masks but you were ok in a filtered cab. Also no eating, drinking, or smoking on the tails; a common requirement. Dudes like me (interested spectators) just had to wear normal PPE as you would in a building job. We did another tailings capping project a few years later, same story.

Now to the "new" mine. We were on site from the very beginning and went thru the health and safety growing pains. Ultimately the air quality on the site was determined by the state of California to be safe enough to not require respirators. Radioactivity was also tested and dosimeters were not required - low levels. This is a big deal for pregnant women so a very important determination. There were specific tasks that required respirators like the guys drilling and blasting in the pit, and I always thought the ore was the spookiest. New tailings disposal facilities were also constructed (us again); HUGE lined containment ponds (with leak detection) that cant be anywhere near capacity.

The industry has been dealing with tailings containment for decades, as has our govt. our company did tailings remediation or containment projects on places such as Rocky Flats, Rocky Mountain Arsenal (google what was done at this facility!) and at least a half dozen UMTRA projects. These are where the real bad stuff is (and places like Hanford) We also worked on dozens of mines around the west and even did a tailings project in Beeville TX.

So I'm still sticking with my opinion. This smells like politics. I should look around for some of my Mtn Pass pictures. They are pretty cool.

[wacojoe]

The author was pretty obviously hawking for thorium reactors.

[Dave Grubb]

Curt said:

The author here appears to have an agenda, but I dont know what unless its to whine.

Anything coming from the American Thinker has an agenda, which is far more important than integrity.