Britain on the offensive in race with China for crucial rare-earth minerals

[JacksinPA]

Britain on the offensive in race with China for crucial rare-earth minerals

The UK is in a global race to secure the rare-earth elements that are crucial for fighter jets, wind turbines and electric cars amid fears that China could weaponise its monopoly of them. Security agencies are concerned that there will be increased competition for scarce natural resources and that B

www.thetimes.co.uk

The UK is in a global race to secure the rare-earth elements that are crucial for fighter jets, wind turbines and electric cars amid fears that China could weaponise its monopoly of them.

Security agencies are concerned that there will be increased competition for scarce natural resources and that Beijing’s control of supplies could be used as leverage in any disputes.

China dominates the world’s production of rare-earth elements, described as “industrial gold” because they are vital to the defence and technology industries and yet are difficult to extract and process. The majority of rare-earth elements used by UK industries have been processed in China, according to experts, who warned that this reliance could make national security supply chains and the economy vulnerable.

The integrated [paytwall]
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While we have reserves of the rare earth elements, China has a pretty strong lock on their supply. They are essential for many military & automotive applications.

 

[Exquisitor]

Britain on the offensive in race with China for crucial rare-earth minerals

The UK is in a global race to secure the rare-earth elements that are crucial for fighter jets, wind turbines and electric cars amid fears that China could weaponise its monopoly of them. Security agencies are concerned that there will be increased competition for scarce natural resources and that B

www.thetimes.co.uk

The UK is in a global race to secure the rare-earth elements that are crucial for fighter jets, wind turbines and electric cars amid fears that China could weaponise its monopoly of them.

Security agencies are concerned that there will be increased competition for scarce natural resources and that Beijing’s control of supplies could be used as leverage in any disputes.

China dominates the world’s production of rare-earth elements, described as “industrial gold” because they are vital to the defence and technology industries and yet are difficult to extract and process. The majority of rare-earth elements used by UK industries have been processed in China, according to experts, who warned that this reliance could make national security supply chains and the economy vulnerable.

The integrated [paytwall]
=====================================================================
While we have reserves of the rare earth elements, China has a pretty strong lock on their supply. They are essential for many military & automotive applications.

It's all going to start running out.

 

[JacksinPA]

It's all going to start running out.

Interestingly the Japanese discovered a small island in the South China Sea that is heavy with rare earth elements. Funny that it has vanished from maps since its discovery. See: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/12/japan-rare-earths-huge-deposit-of-metals-found-in-pacific.html
A massive, ‘semi-infinite’ trove of rare-earth metals has been found in Japan

This doesn't sound like it will run out any time soon.

Among many other things, rare earth elements give you the tiny motors that operate your car windows & such.

 

[Lord Tammerlain]

There are lots of rare earth elements out there, just in low concentrations. Add in the fact to process them is costly and creates a lot of waste

 

[JacksinPA]

There are lots of rare earth elements out there, just in low concentrations. Add in the fact to process them is costly and creates a lot of waste

The difficulty separating rare earths is that they all have similar chemistry due to the fact that their bonding orbitals are all similar, making them all chemically similar. I worked for a company that had a re separation plant involving 'batteries' but I haven't looked into its details.

 

[Glitch]

Britain on the offensive in race with China for crucial rare-earth minerals

The UK is in a global race to secure the rare-earth elements that are crucial for fighter jets, wind turbines and electric cars amid fears that China could weaponise its monopoly of them. Security agencies are concerned that there will be increased competition for scarce natural resources and that B

www.thetimes.co.uk

The UK is in a global race to secure the rare-earth elements that are crucial for fighter jets, wind turbines and electric cars amid fears that China could weaponise its monopoly of them.

Security agencies are concerned that there will be increased competition for scarce natural resources and that Beijing’s control of supplies could be used as leverage in any disputes.

China dominates the world’s production of rare-earth elements, described as “industrial gold” because they are vital to the defence and technology industries and yet are difficult to extract and process. The majority of rare-earth elements used by UK industries have been processed in China, according to experts, who warned that this reliance could make national security supply chains and the economy vulnerable.

The integrated [paytwall]
=====================================================================
While we have reserves of the rare earth elements, China has a pretty strong lock on their supply. They are essential for many military & automotive applications.

We have lots of heavy rare-earth-elements (REE) in southern Alaska. However, they remain largely undeveloped because they are other resources that are easily to mine and process.

Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has a REE mine on Bokan Mountain, near Ketchikan. Geochemical results from trenching have mineralized intercepts ranging from 4.66 to 23.62 feet and grading from 0.328% to 2.13% total rare-earth oxides and heavy rare-earth oxides (Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium, and Yttrium) from 24.6% to 67.0% of the total rare-earth oxides.

Source: Alaska's Mineral Industry 2010 - Special Report

According to a calculation completed in 2019, the Dotson Ridge deposit on Bokan Mountain has 4.79 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.6% (31,722 metric tons) rare earth oxides, 460 parts per million (2,205 metric tons) niobium; 1,880 ppm (9,001 metric tons) zirconium; 48 ppm (231 metric tons) beryllium; 37 ppm (178 metric tons) hafnium; 0.37% (17,715 metric tons) titanium dioxide; and 97 ppm (464 metric tons) vanadium.

Ucore is expecting to begin production by the end of 2023.

The US also gets 100% of its REE from foreign sources, 80% from China, even though the US has lots of undeveloped REE resources.

 

[JacksinPA]

We have lots of heavy rare-earth-elements (REE) in southern Alaska. However, they remain largely undeveloped because they are other resources that are easily to mine and process.

Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has a REE mine on Bokan Mountain, near Ketchikan. Geochemical results from trenching have mineralized intercepts ranging from 4.66 to 23.62 feet and grading from 0.328% to 2.13% total rare-earth oxides and heavy rare-earth oxides (Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium, and Yttrium) from 24.6% to 67.0% of the total rare-earth oxides.

Source: Alaska's Mineral Industry 2010 - Special Report

According to a calculation completed in 2019, the Dotson Ridge deposit on Bokan Mountain has 4.79 million metric tons of indicated resource averaging 0.6% (31,722 metric tons) rare earth oxides, 460 parts per million (2,205 metric tons) niobium; 1,880 ppm (9,001 metric tons) zirconium; 48 ppm (231 metric tons) beryllium; 37 ppm (178 metric tons) hafnium; 0.37% (17,715 metric tons) titanium dioxide; and 97 ppm (464 metric tons) vanadium.

Ucore is expecting to begin production by the end of 2023.

The US also gets 100% of its REE from foreign sources, 80% from China, even though the US has lots of undeveloped REE resources.

Nice post. Very complete & accurate.

I bought a gadolinium permanent magnet. Strongest kind. Warnings about not taking it on an aircraft. I used it when I was collecting gold coins. Ferromagnetism in a gold coin is an indication that it's fake.

 

[Peter]

Semi-infinite?
That doesn't make sense.