05/19/09 Baltimore, Maryland “Rare earths are more a Chinese thing than oil is an OPEC thing,” begins Byron King today. (Rare earths are hard-to-pronounce metals and minerals that, while in small supply, are found in seemingly every high-tech gadget around the world).
“The Chinese are running 95% of world output, and virtually all of the final refining and smelting… the U.S. left the biz about 10 years ago, and Japanese left it about four years ago.
“Rare earths are critical to all future ‘green’ energy, especially with things like permanent magnets for windmills (not to mention the rare earths that go into those ‘efficient’ light bulbs.) Every large windmill, for example, requires about 560 pounds of a rare earth called neodymium, for the permanent magnet within the turbine system. There’s no substitute for neodymium. People have gone through the entire periodic chart, and only neodymium will work in large permanent magnets.
“The U.S. has NO locale for manufacturing permanent magnets. None. Zilch.”
“The West had better get serious about rare earths or we’re forfeiting the key industries of the 21st century to China.”
Ian Mathias
Ian Mathias is the managing editor of Agora Financial’s Income Franchise, where he writes and researches about retirement, dividend and fixed income investing. Much of his work is featured in The Daily Reckoning and Lifetime Income Report – Agora Financial’s flagship income investing advisory.
Previously, Ian managed The 5 Min. Forecast, a fun, fast-paced daily look into the future of global markets and macroeconomics. He’s also worked in public relations, where media outlets like Forbes, AP, Yahoo! and MSN Money have syndicated his writing. If he’s not at work, you’ll probably find Ian on a bicycle, racing up and down the “mountains” of Baltimore County. Ian has a BA from Loyola University in Maryland.
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Good point. And ironic that in order to be energy-independent of certain countries, we in the US end up dependent on China for our alternative wind energy.
Unless the US invests in some of the emerging REE producers in Australia like Arafura Resources and Lynas Corporation. But they better hurry up and China is probably going to get 25% of Arafura and is trying to obtain a 51% controlling stake in Lynas.
The Deep Sands project located In Utah owned by Great Western Minerals and Titan Mining Group is sitting on enough Neobynium and lithium and other REE to meet the free world’s needs for the forseeable future. Unfortunately Great Western seems to be under financed. Molycorp was unable to come to an agreement to buy them out.