The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarters Expenses?
So, instead of the shortage stimulating rare earth production around the globe, (in defiance of the greenies?), the WTO decides it has dominion over China’s resources?
The Current FReepathon Pays For The Current Quarters Expenses?
The twist here is not that the 17 rare earths are rare, but that refining them is extremely hard and extremely polluting.
The hard part is that chemically, many of them are very similar, so separating them is a major pain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element#List
“The Chinese have also used sulfuric acid refining techniques that generate 9,600 to 12,000 cubic meters of gas “laden” with flue dust concentrate, hydrofluoric acid, sulfur dioxide, and sulfuric acid to produce one ton of rare earth elements. Chinese refining processes also produce large amounts of liquid and solid waste; they estimate that after refining one ton of rare earth elements, approximately 75 cubic meters of acidic waste water and about one ton of radioactive waste residue are produced.
“China produced over 130,000 metric tons of rare earth elements in 2008. Combining this figure with the figure for waste generation estimates that production yields very large amounts of waste - 1.2 billion to 1.6 billion cubic meters of waste gases per year, and 9.8 million cubic meters of acidic waste water.”
This is why we shouldn't be gung ho for those things that require "rare" assets.
I just wanna celebrate.
THIS is why the IRS is recycling their hard drives.
To recycle the rare earth elements in the motor units of the hard drives. To fight the Chinese rare earth monopoly. And to save the planet.
So there. What’s more important, some pesky republican-led House committee...or the planet and sharing resources?
The rare earths are elements, not minerals. Remember this phrase the next time the AP lectures us on conservatives' lack of scientific acumen.
After the Japanese Tsunami is when the Chinese locked their supplies. I lost a big part of my business and cancelled the product when the price of tungsten shot up over 10 times over night. Of course. I would get it cheaper if I had my products made in a Chinese factory. Didn’t happen.
The Chinese don’t care what the WTO says. And they own 95% of the world’s supply. The greenies are the Chinese’s best friend.
For a long time, the Mountain Pass, mine in CA near the NV border, was the major world producer of rare earths. Exploration within the USA is at fever pitch with several likely prospects. Our problems lie with the government, not the private sector. EPA, etc. Is just not going to permit mine development. Period.