Posted on 08/11/2011 9:20:55 AM PDT by bananaman22
First, the bad news - China's constrained rare earth supplies will be an "irreversible trend" and prices will remain at high levels, according to Zhang Zhong, general manager of Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Co.
Zhang should know, as his concern is China’s leading rare earths producer – the Baatou mine produces more than 95 percent of China’s production, while Chinese mines currently account for 97 percent of global supplies.
The increase in global demand for rare earth metals has sent prices soaring in world markets. According to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, since January rare earth metal product prices jumped 200 percent, with the prices of some of the rarer commodities rising 500-1,900 percent. Since January China's exports grew 830 percent to $1.54 billion.
Now, the good news – despite fears of Western capitalists, Beijing apparently has no immediate plans to curtail supplies.
And finally, the interesting news.
The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on its website that it will conduct a broad audit of domestic rare earth metal producers in Inner Mongolia to check for production quota breaches. The audit’s intention is to uncover rare earth metals producers breaching existing regulations and continuing covert trading in rare earth metals. Analysts nervously track Chinese policy, as since 2003 China has reduced the amount of rare earths available for export by 40 percent, while over the past decade global demand has tripled from 40,000 to 120,000 tons.
Earlier this year China curtailed its total output of rare earth oxides to 93,800 tons, up only 5 percent from 2010 production levels and also recently raised taxes on rare earth elements for the second time, leading foreign analysts to conclude that the era of “cheap” rare earths is over. Full article at: China and Rare Earths - Monopoly for Now
The USA has these minerals. But like all our “God Given” assets, we pass...and deal with some blackmailer overseas.
I have a list that helps me identify domestic terrorists,,
1)visiting camping stores and “instructing” the owners to turn over customer lists
2)Ignoring muslims and focusing on regular Americans doing normal things,
3)universal monitoring and surveillance of citizens,
4)Impeding and supressing free speech,,
5)considering ALL food production as a “homeland security” issue,,
6)Homeland security conducting searches at a high school prom,
7)deliberately destroying our economy,,
etc etc etc..
We are becoming a police state.
Thanks to our "progressive" regulatory system, we did everything but outright ban mining for them (though the "progressive" regulations wound up becoming in fact, a de facto ban).
It would take massive deregulation and probably even loans and tax breaks, just to kick start the industry all over again.
Thanks to our “progressive” regulatory system, we did everything but outright ban mining for them (though the “progressive” regulations wound up becoming in fact, a de facto ban).
+++++++++++++
Not surprising. Do you have a good reference?
http://www.kidela.com/kidela/no-shortage-of-rules-for-rare-earth-miners-in-america
Unless you’ve got news to the contrary, we have finished refurbishing our biggest rare earth mine and it’s opening up this Summer (See: Mountain Pass mine). http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/07/04/japan-finds-rare-earth-mineral-deposits/1 also reveals a new rare earth find in Japan that increases world supply 1000 times.
Read somewhere where I think we found a large REE deposit in Nebraska? No idea how long it would take to come into production.....2, 5, more years?
Human beings usually can't see that radiation or feel its effects, but we have a relatively low tolerance for the stuff ~ so all the existing rare earth mines in the US were simply shut down while the ore processing steps were improved to remove dangerous radioactivity first.
China is doing something quite similar. Most of their operators were taking no care to protect people from the radiation danger ~ because, as it turns out, in China they don't particularly care about that one way or the other.
I think some of the big dogs do care because they don't want to eat any of it in their morning ricebowl.
Now the Japanese are different. Most of them are very concerned about radiation ~ at the same time they need rare earths ~ so while they're up to their armpits in alligators up there at the radioactive Tsunami site they'll start mining this stuff anyway.
They will continue to be very concerned.
Note: I was referring to the US in that we do have a de facto ban via regulations.
One mine (our biggest) has been fixed so that's not a problem and it's reopening.
China's de facto monopoly ENDS with the reopening WHICH IS NOW!
It's not rocket science ~ just radiation meters, badges and carefully contained crushing operations.
The Chinese limitations are coming about because of their own efforts to eliminate the problem.
Apparently none of these guys knew they had a problem ~
Japan will undoubtedly use this as an opportunity to move ahead rapidly with a brand new mining and processing operation (as will Nebraska).
From your mouth to Gods ears, I pray your right, Go get'em !!!!
[ OK ~ now, the hard part. Rare earths aren’t all that rare. Actually they are common as dirt ~ the problem arises in their origin ~ which is almost always in rocks containing concentrations of THORIUM, and thorium is a tad radioactive and as it sits there for billions of years fissiling away, it yields up certain radioactive materials that need to be REMOVED during the processing of the ore with the rare earths. ]
If we were burning Thorium the problem would solve itself.
You’d still have the problem of eliminating the radioactive byproducts SAFELY. That doesn’t go away. Ultimately you can see the makings of a vast surplus of rare earth minerals however.
Lots of these in the good ol’ USA ! (Been some talk of a big find in a remote (very) small town in Nebraska of late.) Its just our watermelons ahve more political clout than those few extant in China. >PS
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