China’s influence over the global rare earth metals (REM) markets has come under increased international scrutiny following recent measures by the Chinese Government aimed at strengthening control over its fragmented REM industry.
China currently accounts for 36 percent of REM reserves and 97 percent of worldwide production. These metals, comprised of 17 rare elements, each possess unique chemical and physical properties. They are considered critical to a host of high-tech applications from consumer electronics to missiles and other military applications.
Clean technology applications are also heavily reliant on REMs with elements like neodymium, lanthanum, and dysprosium fundamental to the production of hybrid and full-electric vehicles in addition to the critical components utilized in wind and tidal turbines.
Beijing has articulated several reasons for this sudden push. Illegal mining and smuggling has been a dominant feature of the Chinese REM industry in recent years, accounting for 20,000 tonnes or one-third of China’s total REM exports in 2008. According to Beijing, unregulated and excessive REM production above given quotas have contributed to an undervalued global REM market which has failed to reflect the true commercial value of these metals. Chinese officials have additionally invoked concerns surrounding China’s burgeoning domestic REM demand in addition to the history of environmental damage resulting from unregulated industry practices.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has subsequently sought to consolidate the industry by reducing export quotas and imposing strict new standards and regulations upon domestic refineries. In July Beijing announced that it would cut REM export quotas by 72 percent for the second half of 2010 while shipments will be capped at 7,976 tonnes, down from 28,417 tons for the same period in 2009.
At the same time, Beijing also plans to stockpile 300,000 tonnes of REM concentrates by 2013 as a means of further ensuring its own future supplies. China’s attempts to acquire greater control over REM are likely to present clear consequences for a wide range of these prominent global clean tech applications.
According to Reuters, global sales of hybrid electric cars are forecast to reach 3 million units in 2015 with a total REM requirement of 33,000 tonnes.
However, China has recently reduced its quota of rare earth element exports, sending countries such as the U.S. and Japan into a panic. Due in part to its control over most of the world’s rare earth element supply, China’s own cleantech industry is booming. In order for other countries to stay in the game, rather than handing over almost all production of electronics and cleantech products over to China, they must find ways to loosen China’s stronghold over these materials.
Drill, baby, drill or resource recovery?
One solution that many countries are pursuing is local mining. But while there are other sources of rare earth element ores, such as in the United States, Canada, and Australia, more test drilling and economic feasibility studies must be conducted before mining can begin. Even then, it may take years before any of these mines would be ready for production. The bureaucracy involved in obtaining the proper permits in the U.S. and the valid protection of endangered species that have also made utility-scale PV installations and transmission lines a not-so-simple endeavor are also obstacles to domestic mining of rare earth elements.
Another possible solution to this problem is to recover these elements from the waste created in the manufacturing process. As a leading exporter of the world’s electronics, and major consumer of rare earth elements, Japan has begun to develop various recovery methods, ranging from chemical to biotechnological processes. Teams from the University of Tokyo and Osaka Prefecture University, and from Hitachi in the private sector, have succeeded in metal separation and recovery. However, these processes are not more cost-effective than importing from China, even at higher import rates. The work and research taking place in Japan is important, but has not yet proven to be a viable replacement for Chinese imports. In order to reduce dependency on China, more efficient recovery methods must be developed.
One way to recover rare earth metals that is being developed in the U.S. is through the proven wastewater treatment method of flash vacuum distillation, which separates clean water from pollutants in a controlled atmosphere chamber. With this technology, industrial wastewater can be treated, while recovering valuable rare earth elements.
Rare earth and transition metal salts can be concentrated effectively using this wastewater treatment method because they have extremely high vaporization temperatures, typically in the thousands of degrees Fahrenheit. Flash vacuum distillation systems typically operate at temperatures of 120 degrees to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, therefore ensuring that rare earth elements are not damaged or vaporized. The applied vacuum depresses the boiling point of the liquid to be treated, and under these negative pressure conditions, water boils at 120 degrees Fahrenheit, thereby leaving behind the metals in the distillation bottoms. Wastewater containing rare earth metals can therefore be concentrated by a factor of 50 to 100. In most cases, the highly concentrated solution can then be recycled back into the refining process. The distillated water collected from the distillation process is of high purity and can also be recycled back into the process.
Increased efficiency, lower costs
Wastewater treatment solutions can also be used to make existing chemically based metal recovery systems more efficient and less costly. In a case study conducted on an Oregon-based rare earth recovery facility, it was found that flash vacuum distillation was able to optimize the metal recovery process, as the chemical solution used in the recovery process was recaptured and used again, thus limiting the facility’s waste and increasing the lifespan of necessary materials. The new wastewater treatment system used much less water and energy than the company’s previous method of treatment, successfully recycling the chemical solvent back into the rare earth element recovery process.
COMMENTARY: I thought my previous article on the Peak Oil Crisis was a shocker, but now I find that there is a shortage of rare metals or elements, and that fucking China controls 97% of the production of these metals.
Thanks to WikiPedia, here's a list of the 17 rare metals, including the atomic symbol, name, etymology and industrial uses for each metal:
| Z |
Symbol |
Name |
Etymology |
Selected Industrial Usages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | Sc | Scandium | from Latin Scandia(Scandinavia), where the first rare earth ore was discovered. | Light Aluminium-scandium alloy for aerospace components, additive in Mercury-vapor lamps. |
| 39 | Y | Yttrium | for the village of Ytterby, Sweden, where the first rare earth ore was discovered. | Yttrium-aluminum garnet (YAG) laser, YBCO high-temperature superconductors, yttrium iron garnet (YIG) microwave filters.[4] |
| 57 | La | Lanthanum | from the Greek "lanthanein", meaning to be hidden. | High refractive index glass, flint, hydrogen storage, battery-electrodes,camera lenses, fluid catalytic cracking catalyst for oil refineries |
| 58 | Ce | Cerium | for the dwarf planet Ceres. | Chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powder, yellow colors in glass and ceramics, catalyst for self-cleaning ovens, fluid catalytic cracking catalyst for oil refineries |
| 59 | Pr | Praseodymium | from the Greek "prasios", meaning leek-green, and "didymos", meaning twin. | Rare-earth magnets, lasers, core material for carbon arc lighting, colourant inglasses and enamels, additive in Didymium glass used in welding goggles,[4]ferrocerium firesteel (flint) products. |
| 60 | Nd | Neodymium | from the Greek "neos", meaning new, and "didymos", meaning twin. | Rare-earth magnets, lasers, violet colors in glass and ceramics, ceramic capacitors |
| 61 | Pm | Promethium | for the Titan Prometheus, who brought fire to mortals. | Nuclear batteries |
| 62 | Sm | Samarium | for Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets, who discovered the rare earth ore samarskite. | Rare-earth magnets, lasers, neutron capture, masers |
| 63 | Eu | Europium | for the continent of Europe. | Red and blue phosphors, lasers, mercury-vapor lamps, NMR relaxation agent |
| 64 | Gd | Gadolinium | for Johan Gadolin (1760–1852), to honor his investigation of rare earths. | Rare-earth magnets, high refractive index glass or garnets, lasers, x-ray tubes, computer memories, neutron capture, MRI contrast agent, NMRrelaxation agent |
| 65 | Tb | Terbium | for the village of Ytterby, Sweden. | Green phosphors, lasers, fluorescent lamps |
| 66 | Dy | Dysprosium | from the Greek "dysprositos", meaning hard to get. | Rare-earth magnets, lasers |
| 67 | Ho | Holmium | for Stockholm (in Latin, "Holmia"), native city of one of its discoverers. | Lasers |
| 68 | Er | Erbium | for the village of Ytterby, Sweden. | Lasers, vanadium steel |
| 69 | Tm | Thulium | for the mythological northern land of Thule. | Portable X-ray machines |
| 70 | Yb | Ytterbium | for the village of Ytterby, Sweden. | Infrared lasers, chemical reducing agent |
| 71 | Lu | Lutetium | for Lutetia, the city which later became Paris. | PET Scan detectors, high refractive index glass |
So why is China cutting back exportation of these rare metals? Forbes wrote an excellent piece that sheds some light on China's motives for reducing exports of rare metals. According to Forbes, China has a sinister plan to force foreign countries that currently depend on their rare metals, to move their production plants to China and partner with Chinese companies who can then export the finished products, further increasing the trade imbalances. Basically, they want to develop their own manufacturing capabilities. and eventually dominate in just about every major industry that depends on these rare earth metals, namely consumer electronics, automotive and military hardware.
China is well aware that other countries will respond by reopening vacant mines and producing their own rare metals, but they also know that those rare metals will be much more costly, could take years to mine, and the amount of rare metals produced will still be insufficient to meet local needs. You talk about a racket. That's evil shit, people.
So just how expensive are these rare earth metals. Below are the quoted prices as of February 1, 2011 on the Shanghai Metals Market and you can use the currency covertor to calculate their cost in U.S. dollars.
Chinese RMB Currency Converter
| Products | Standard | Origin | Prices | DD/MM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rare Earth Carbonate | REO 42.0-45.0% | China | 22000-23000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Lanthanum Oxides | La2O3/TREO 99.0-99.9% | China | 28000-30000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Cerium Oxides | CeO2/TREO 99.0-99.5% | China | 34500-36500 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Neodymium Oxides | Nd2O3/TREO 99.0-99.9% | China | 300000-320000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Praseodymium Oxides | Pr6O11/TREO 99.0-99.5% | China | 245000-255000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Terbium Oxides | 99.9-99.99% | China | 2900-3100 (RMB/kg) | 01/02 |
| Dysprosium Oxides | 99.5-99.9% | China | 1750-1900 (RMB/kg) | 01/02 |
| Europium Oxides | 99.9-99.99% | China | 3050-3150 (RMB/kg) | 01/02 |
| Yttrium Oxides | 99.99-99.999% | China | 49000-52000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Praseodymium-Neodymium Oxides | (Nd2O3+Pr6O11)/TREO≥75.0% | China | 240000-255000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Samarium Oxides | ≥99.5% | China | 18000-19000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Lanthanum Metal | La/TREM≥99.0% | China | 51000-53000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Praseodymium Metal | Pr/TREM 96.0-99.0% | China | 310000-330000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Neodymium Metal | Nd/TREM 99.0-99.9% | China | 380000-390000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Cerium Metal | Ce/TREM≥99.0% | China | 50000-54000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Terbium Metal | ≥99.9% | China | 3750-4000 (RMB/kg) | 01/02 |
| Dysprosium Metal | ≥99% | China | 2200-2300 (RMB/kg) | 01/02 |
| Praseodymium-Neodymium Alloys | Pr≥20-25% | China | 310000-330000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Praseodymium-Neodymium-Dysprosium Alloys | ≥99% | China | 280000-290000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Yttrium Metal | Y/TREM 99.9-99.95% | China | 280-330 (RMB/kg) | 01/02 |
| Misch Metal | TREM≥99.0% Nd/TREM≥10% | China | 58000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Misch Metal | TREM≥99.0% Nd/TREM≥15% | China | 60000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Battery Grade Misch Metal | TREM≥99.0% Nd/TREM≥15% | China | 84000-86000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Lanthanum-Rich Metal | La/TREM≥50.0% TREM≥98.5% | China | 48000-52000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Cerium-Rich Metal | Ce/TREM≥65.0% TREM≥98.5% | China | 45000-48000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
| Dy-Fe Alloys | ≥99.5% | China | 1850000-1950000 (RMB/mt) | 01/02 |
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