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Rare Earths seem to be at the center of a misinformation perfect storm due to a) the connection to China b) the connection to renewables c) their confusing n
by ZeroGravitas 3y ago
Rare Earths seem to be at the center of a misinformation perfect storm due to
a) the connection to China
b) the connection to renewables
c) their confusing name
And WSJ is a prime contributor to that.
Just someone I vaguely trust doing a series of blog articles by checking some sources and providing context to the Wikipedia article without an agenda would be nice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_element https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_element
Some random highlights:
> Through the 1960s until the 1980s, the Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California made the United States the leading producer.
> Searches for alternative sources in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Tanzania, Greenland, and the United States are ongoing.[68] Mines in these countries were closed when China undercut world prices in the 1990s, and it will take a few years to restart production
> Significant quantities of rare-earth oxides are found in tailings accumulated from 50 years of uranium ore, shale, and loparite mining at Sillamäe, Estonia.[104] Due to the rising prices of rare earths, extraction of these oxides has become economically viable. The country currently exports around 3,000 tonnes per year, representing around 2% of world production
> Ce and La are important as catalysts, and are used for petroleum refining and as diesel additives.
Diesel additives!