Posted on 06/18/2025 10:22:10 PM PDT by delta7
China has discovered a massive 1-million-ton thorium deposit valued at $178 billion that could potentially power the nation for the next 60,000 years. Thorium is a radioactive metal found in the Earth’s crust that is three times as common as uranium. One ton of thorium can produce as much energy as 200 tons of uranium or 3.5 million tons of coal.
“For generations, nations have fought wars over oil and gas—yet we’ve had a clean energy solution beneath our feet all along,” one Chinese scientist commented. Thorium is praised as a less toxic alternative as the radioactive waste it produces loses its toxicity within a few hundred years, compared to uranium-235, which could take thousands of years to neutralize. Reactors powered by thorium do not produce greenhouse gases. Thorium could be converted to nuclear fuel that can power molten salt reactors, heavy water reactors, high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, and more.
India is currently at the forefront of thorium-based nuclear technology and has several multi-billion-dollar projects underway. Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) fueled by uranium generate plutonium. That plutonium is then used by Deploy Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) to create fissile material such as uranium-233. The final stage employs the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) and other thorium-based fuels that are designed to operate on thorium-plutonium and thorium-uranium-233 mixed oxide fuels.
It is believed that India is currently in possession of 846,477 tons of thorium, with some agencies suggested the figure could be as high as 1 million. Before the discovery in China, India held about 30% of global thorium. The nation is on the path to achieve 100 GW of nuclear capacity by 2047. China is now on par with India in terms of thorium holdings.
China relied on Russia and Kazakhstan for uranium imports, purchasing around 16,390 tons or $2.32 billion in natural uranium in 2024. China’s strategy was to source one-third of its uranium domestically, but this discovery will change everything once mining is underway.
China has been phasing out coal and already has plans to be self-sufficient in energy by 2035. Thorium itself is not fissile and cannot be used in nuclear weapons directly, as many are wondering. Yet, uranium-233 certainly can be used in nuclear weapons. The US produced nearly 2 tons of uranium-233 during the Cold War and tested the theory.
India and China now have the ability to become the world’s leading nuclear-powered nations.
IBTG, ….Fetch.
I knew I should have taken Mandarin in H.S.
I knew I should have taken Mandarin in H.S.
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The world’s wealth is moving from the West to the East.
Largely absurd. China imports about 12 million barrels per day of oil. Energy self-sufficient by 2037 is just silly.
The US has substantial thorium reserves of our own, and thorium is relatively plentiful in the crust.
The real problem is that the leftists held nuclear reactor construction back in the US for four decades. US nuclear plant companies had to go to China to build plants. We are playing catch up in all sectors - not least of which because some idiot peanut farmer sent a ‘message’ to the rest of the world and banned reprocessing, which then led to the waste crisis that nobody else on the planet has and all the other justifications to ban nuclear power plants since.
“China Outfoxes USA Again: SGE Bold Move Drains U.S. Vaults, Rewrites Global Gold Game.
The Shanghai Gold Exchange’s (SGE) aggressive push to internationalize its physically settled contracts—coupled with COMEX’s reliance on paper trading—is poised to accelerate the hemorrhage of bullion from Western vaults, destabilizing a system already teetering on speculative excess. As China finalizes plans to establish overseas delivery warehouses and expand yuan-priced benchmarks, the structural flaws of Western gold markets are being laid bare.
The Paper Gold MirageCOMEX, the dominant U.S. futures exchange, operates largely on paper contracts, with less than 1% of trades requiring physical delivery. This system relies on rehypothecation—reusing the same gold bars as collateral for multiple trades—to sustain liquidity. But this illusion of abundance is crumbling. COMEX warehouses now hold a record 43.3 million ounces of gold, yet these stocks mask a critical vulnerability: they serve as collateral for trillions in derivatives, not as accessible inventory.
The Physical Gold DrainIn contrast, the SGE mandates physical settlement for 94% of its trades, creating relentless demand for tangible metal. Chinese buyers, including the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), have exploited price differentials for years, buying discounted London or COMEX gold and selling it at a premium in Shanghai. Now, with SGE’s planned overseas warehouses, this arbitrage will intensify. Gold shipped to these facilities—strategically placed in global hubs—will be permanently locked into China’s ecosystem due to SGE rules barring re-entry of withdrawn bars without remelting.
Strategic WeaponizationChina’s move to internationalize SGE deliveries isn’t merely commercial—it’s geopolitical. By incentivizing foreign traders to settle in yuan and store gold in SGE-affiliated vaults, Beijing is redirecting global bullion flows away from Western financial centers. The PBoC’s covert purchases of London gold (600 tonnes in 2024 alone) exemplify this strategy: siphon physical metal, then leverage scarcity to undermine dollar-centric pricing.
The Looming ReckoningAs SGE’s infrastructure expands, Western vaults face a double bind: paper claims on gold will increasingly exceed retrievable supply, while physical stockpiles migrate east. When holders of COMEX futures or ETFs demand delivery—as seen during March’s tariff-driven frenzy—the system risks a cascading failure. China’s playbook is clear: drain the West’s gold, then watch its paper edifice collapse under the weight of its own fiction.
The era of gold’s financialization is ending. The SGE’s rise signals a brutal new reality: in a world prioritizing physical possession, paper promises are worthless.”
https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/precious-metals/article-851117
I wasn’t familiar with thorium reactors so I just did a quick search and found that, while a handful of research reactors have been built using thorium, as of yet, no large scale commercial reactor using thorium has been built. I’m not sure why that’s the case and whether or not there are some design challenges that still need to be overcome to make such plants commercially viable.
>>Largely absurd. China imports about 12 million barrels per day of oil. Energy self-sufficient by 2037 is just silly.
On the other hand, at the rate their population is declining, who knows?
I call B.S. . With natural Thorium it has to be converted into Uranium-233. Natural Uranium has only a fraction of the U-235 a reactor needs, but U-238 can be converted into Plutonium 239 which can be used in a reactor. Seeing the 'depleted' U-238 used for artillery shells is a pet peeve of mine.
The US has a single mine with 600,000 tons proven, and an estimated 1.8 million tons within the claim. Thorium is common, and global reserves massive. And if Thorium ever catches on and creates significant demand, more will be found.
We brought down our foreign consumption of oil about that fast.
"In the Earth's crust, thorium is much more abundant: with an abundance of 8.1 g/ton, it is one of the most abundant of the heavy elements, almost as abundant as lead (13 g/ton) and more abundant than tin (2.1 g/ton). [...] it is the 37th most abundant element in the Earth's crust with an abundance of 12 parts per million." -WikipediaGiven the fact that Thorium is no more difficult to extract than, say, lead or tin, and given that it is about as common as lead and tin, the "price" of Thorium should be comparable to that of lead and tin.
Regards,
that’s not all they are doing..
Thorium reactor designs have long been possible, and there are several under construction - one reason why thorium has not been used before now was because it didn’t lend itself to nuclear weapons production, so many nations were uninterested in it.
The blame goes to that cotton pickin you know what Henry Kissinger. Nixon should have never went to China.
Thanks for the info.
Yes, calling them "Thorium Reactors" is misleading at best. No reactor design uses naturally occurring thorium-232 (Th-232) as fuel. Th-232 must first be converted to uranium-233 (U-233) by absorbing a neutron which converts the Th-232 into Th-233. Th-233 then decays by beta (electron) decay into protactinium-233 (Pa-233), which then decays into U-233 which is fissile and can be used to fuel a nuclear reactor. However the U-233 must be chemically separated from the Th-232, Pa-233, and various fission products created in the breeding cycle. Apparently "Thorium Reactor" is a less scary term than "Uranium Reactor."
As noted in the article, some thorn-uranium cycle reactor designs have been built on a laboratory scale, but were found to be uneconomic compared to uranium-238 (U-238) -- plutonium-239 (Pu-239) fast breeder fuel cycle.
In the 1980s President Carter halted development of fast breeder reactor development because "plutonium" was really scary. We may need to rethink the Th-232 -- U-233 fuel cycle, but it is mot the panacea it is portrayed by its supporters and will require more research and development to produce a viable commercial reactor design.
Thorium is plentiful, all over the world.
Scientists estimate that the Earth Thorium deposits contain more energy than all deposits crude, coal, natural gas, uranium, etc. together.
For historical reasons, this resource was known for a while, but never really explored.
Now, it is finally taking over, but, sadly, in India and China!?
As much as I hate solar cells and windmills, Thorium is something we need to work on!
There is something not right about this story. First there is a lot of thorium on earth. And second, mining it has radioactive issues. China can have lots of it. But so do others. Expect China to make its country glow by misuse of this element as it is mined. Lots of Chinese will likely die of radiation sickness.
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