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"RE elemets mining/refining is ~80% China dominated, even US and other producers mined ores go to China for refinement." If this is a problem now then tough. D
by hilbert42 1y ago
"RE elemets mining/refining is ~80% China dominated, even US and other producers mined ores go to China for refinement."
If this is a problem now then tough. Decades ago this would have been seen as a major strategic/security issue.
One can have little sympathy when security is deliberately traded away for a few dollars extra profit.
BTW, rare earths aren't exactly rare and the US has enough chemical knowhow how to refine them. Sorry, any shortage is of the US's own making.
- lucketone 1y agoTechnically RE are abudant, what makes them “rare” is that extraction is costly, capital intensive and environmentally unfriendly.
- hilbert42 1y agoGold and platinum group elements are far less abundant than REs and "extraction is costly, capital intensive and environmentally unfriendly", and yet we still engage in mining and refining them. We've now reached the point where the strategic and economic importance of REs is enough to overcome those impediments/objections. As I mentioned earlier, this was very predictable at least 15 years ago. It's not lack of foresight but rather lack of political will—thus there's been no cogent or effective forward planning policy in place.