Posted on 11/22/2020 7:12:19 AM PST by SeekAndFind
One of China's most significant advantages in the race to dominate future hi-tech industrial production, among just about everything else, is its chokehold on "rare earth materials" (REM). These are materials -- and the raw minerals from which they are extracted and processed -- vital to the manufacture, for instance, of advanced weapons, fossil-free alternative energy systems, communication devices, computer products, and microelectronic networks.
It is an area in which China has already established dominance . The Chinese Communist Party's near monopoly on most of these 17 rare earth materials is by now a US national security vulnerability of enormous strategic importance. China's October 13 decision to curtail the export of these vitally needed rare earth materials should serve as an urgent warning to the US to seriously begin developing an independent supply chain of these materials.
The good news is that the Trump Administration had the foresight in 2017 to issue an Executive Order to begin the process of decoupling the US from its dependency on the Communist Chinese regime for REM. This Executive Order was followed up in early October by a Presidential declaration of a national emergency in mining, in an apparent effort to establish a US domestic REM stockpile for military requirements. China's announced intent to ban the export of strategic REM to foreign countries could spur the US quickly and fully to implement President Trump's directive to establish an independent REM supply chain. The Defense Department has not acted with the sense of urgency demanded by the President. In short, the DOD is dragging its feet. Consequently, if US-China relations plummet to the point where conflict appears imminent, America's military would be disadvantaged should the Chinese decide to sever exports of REM to the US.
Presently, the US Air Force's most advanced fighter jet, the F-35, requires about 1,000 pounds of rare earth materials, most of which are presently acquired from China. The US is also dependent on China for REM required for laser guidance missiles, other advanced weapons systems and space satellites.
Many US quality-of-life domestic products -- many medical devices, such as scanners, electric automobiles, and fluorescent lighting -- also rely on the availability of the Chinese REM.
To decouple, the US could establish new supply lines with countries that have unexploited deposits of REM. These include Australia, Afghanistan, India, Russia, Brazil and countries in Central Asia. The US also could capitalize on its considerable undersea technological expertise to extract REM deposits from the ocean floor. US allies, such as NATO nations, could invest in independent REM supply lines as well as create stockpiles of REM to lessen their own vulnerability regarding China,
The US, to nurture a national and internationally competitive industry, could also borrow a tactic from China by subsidizing domestic companies to invest in REM extraction and processing enterprises. Current REM sites in the US that have the potential to expand rapidly, particularly if the government provides financial and tax-free incentives, include Elk Creek Mine in Nebraska, Bokan Mine in Alaska, and Bear Lodge Mine in Wyoming. Presently, the most profitable REM site in the US is Mountain Pass Mine in California. Potentially, the most valuable US site is an area in West Texas which contains 16 of the 17 known rare earth materials.
Some of these REM and their related end products include:
Barite - fracking process for natural gas extraction
Cerium - camera lenses for telescopes
Dysprosium - magnets in electric vehicles and wind turbines
Erbium - nuclear power plant rods
Europium - lasers
Gallium - semiconductors
Lanthanum - specialized lighting
Lithium - batteries
Praseodymium - jet airplane engines
Promethium - batteries for nuclear powered systems
Yttrium - laser-guided missiles and bombs.
In addition to these REM, there are other critical materials that the US no longer produces. Consequently, industries are forced to import these items. An additional benefit is that the natural gas extracted by fracking helps to keep the US energy independent. Graphite, a necessary ingredient for smartphone batteries, is another critical substance.
If the US were to decide that breaking China's monopolistic stranglehold on most of these materials was a national priority, Washington could also build REM processing plants and supply chains. Not only would these investments provide jobs, but also only then could the US proceed to transform these critical REM oxides into metallic alloys from which end products are created.
If the US remains dependent on China for REM, there may come a time when America might be forced to sacrifice a foreign policy interest -- a dilemma experienced by Japan, also heavily dependent on China for REM. When China and Japan became involved in a maritime fishing dispute, Beijing cut off shipments of REM to its neighbor. The dispute was settled only when Tokyo pleaded with China to resume the export of REM and the Japanese Coast Guard in the East China Sea released the captain of a Chinese trawler that had been fishing in disputed waters. The US would do well to avoid a similar predicament by quickly decoupling its economy from dependency on China for rare earth materials -- and if possible, from everything else.
A Biden administration will continue to help them strengthen that stranglehold ... just as Clinton and Obama did.
The Space Force can venture into other galaxies and find that these materials aren’t so rare.
That’s the plot of Transformers: Energon
They can take Lithium off the list. Not Rare and the only reason we’d buy it from China is because they used slave labor to mine it so it’s cheaper.
All the Lithium the US will ever need is in the US/Mexico/Canada.
RE: All the Lithium the US will ever need is in the US/Mexico/Canada.
Sure, but will the REAL powers behind the Biden Administration allow it? ( I’m looking at Bernie and AOC ).
“A Biden administration will continue to help them strengthen that stranglehold ... just as Clinton and Obama did.”
Fact!
Rare Earths are actually not rare. They are spread across the world, but in small amounts relative to everything else.
That means they are energy, land and up until recently, pollution intensive. Its why China controls them all. They simply kept producing, while the rest of the western world abandoned production.
Lefties will drive any and all producers away. Is it any wonder why the last mine in the USA was in - California?
“A Biden administration will continue to help them strengthen that stranglehold ... just as Clinton and Obama did.”
Our largest rare Earths manufacturer, Magnaquench, was sold to the Chinese under George W’s term.
When all the Democrats go to hard labor and reeducation camps, we can get all that we need for free. (It's called sarcasm, or maybe is it wishful thinking. Anyway, it is only important for me to know when I speak crazy.)
Mining Company Determined to Restore U.S. Rare Earth Supply Chain (Updated) Nov. 20, 2020
That is the root of it. The environmental movement in the West has its roots in Communism (Ironically, because Communist countries unfailingly devastate and destroy the environment in far worse and more universal ways than any Western country.)
The environmental devastation in many Eastern Bloc countries along with the Soviet Union and today, China, makes our environmental abuses pale in comparison.
The Left has found that environmentalism, when coupled with activist judges who legislate from the bench, is a potent combination that conservatives simply didn’t pay attention to until we woke up one day that a communist foe has effectively monopolized our supply chains and will use it against us as a weapon whenever they feel the need, as we would rightfully use against them if we felt the need.
A bad situation, no doubt. We do need to revive this aspect of our industry here, as we do have many of the things needed, but the environmental movement has made them nearly impossible to exploit.
Looks like a very good recycling project.
It’s being done.
didn’t Trump do an EO on mining/metals about two months ago?
Actually the US has two great reservoirs of rare earth ores. One is an active open pit mine in California, and the other one is undeveloped and underneath a man made lake in Texas, but was well surveyed before it was flooded.
Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine, CA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Pass_mine
Barringer Hill, under Lake Buchanan, TX
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barringer_Hill
Rare earth minerals are also obtained as a by product of the mining of anthracite coal.
The downside to this, and why China is dominant in rare earths, is because processing rare earth minerals is *filthy*. Several important ones are chemically similar, which requires very toxic chemicals to separate.
China mines and processes its rare earths in barren deserts so doesn’t give a hoot about pollution.
Side note: some of the places it mines, like the colored hills, are spectacular. Here is an actual picture, the colors are true to life.
Jimmah Cahtah nailed the small (100,00 tons/yr or less) coal mining companies.
Talkin’ ‘bout your China Joe
(talkin’ ‘bout your china joe)
Whoa, oh (whoa, oh) China Joe
- Doobie Brothers 1973
” The environmental movement in the West has its roots in Communism (Ironically, because Communist countries unfailingly devastate and destroy the environment in far worse and more universal ways than any Western country.)”
AND...
The very same group that demands shutting down any extraction of minerals from the earth, sea or sky.
They also demand, that you purchase an electric vehicle driven by rare earth magnets and powered by exotic batteries.
All requiring superconductor based power generation and transmission.
To get any traction, they're going to have to publish coloring books explaining to millennials, that their cell phones will be taken away.
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