China Raises Threat of Rare-Earths Cutoff to U.S.

[thackney]

China Raises Threat of Rare-Earths Cutoff to U.S.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/21/china-raises-threat-of-rare-earth-mineral-cutoff-to-us/

With a simple visit to an obscure factory on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping has raised the specter that China could potentially cut off supplies of critical materials needed by huge swaths of the U.S. economy, underscoring growing concerns that large-scale economic integration is boomeranging and becoming a geopolitical weapon.

With the U.S.-China trade war intensifying, Chinese state media last week began floating the idea of banning exports of rare-earth elements to the United States, one of several possible Chinese responses to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to jack up tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of Chinese goods and blacklist telecoms maker Huawei.

U.S. oil refiners rely on rare-earth imports as catalysts to turn crude oil into gasoline and jet fuel. Permanent magnets, which use four different rare-earth elements to differing degrees, pop up in everything including ear buds, wind turbines, and electric cars. And China dominates their production.

“It would affect everything—autos, renewable energy, defense, and technology,” said Ryan Castilloux, the founding director of Adamas Intelligence, a strategic metals consultancy. China supplies about 80 percent of the rare-earth elements imported by the United States, which are used in oil refining, batteries, consumer electronics, defense, and more....

[thackney]

WVU expert briefs Congressional committee on extracting rare earth elements from coal
https://www.mybuckhannon.com/wvu-expert-briefs-congressional-committee-on-extracting-rare-earth-elements-from-coal/
May 15, 2019

Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the Water Research Institute at West Virginia University’s Energy Institute, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Tuesday, May 14, on recent research advances on the development of a domestic source of rare earth elements.

RREs, the minerals that make electronic devices work, are essential to the economy and national security. Currently, the primary source of these minerals worldwide is China.

Uncertain trade relationships between the U.S. and China makes finding diversified domestic sources critical.

“WVU researchers have found REE concentrations in acid mine drainage from various Appalachian sources that exceed many of the world’s best commercial deposits,” Ziemkiewicz reported to the committee. “Where most conventional rare earth deposits are encased in hard rock and located in the remote wilderness, AMD sludge is already extracted from the host rock and easily accessible resulting in modest processing costs,” he said.

If successful, the research could lead to economic diversification and new economic development opportunities for Appalachia’s coal towns. While the coal market may fluctuate over time, acid mine drainage is constant, Ziemkiewicz added.

“Long after mining is done, the mines still generate AMD and REE. Some of the richest acid mine drainage comes from sites where mining ceased 30 years ago,” he said....

[ABX]

Time to invest in futures.

China also has the market cornered on rare earth mining in Africa and even some in South America as they have heavy investments in both. Unfortunately we don't have enough of the resources here to even mine them if we wanted (not to mention, mining those are messy and likely would never be approved.

They anticipated the need and world reliance on these a decade ago while we plan about as far ahead as a sitcom timeline.

[thackney]

..Ucore completed a preliminary economic assessment in 2012 that outlines an underground mine at Bokan Mountain that was envisioned to produce 2,500 tons of rare earth oxides per year during the first five years of full production; including an annual output of 105 tons of dysprosium oxide, 15 tons of terbium oxide, and 568 tons of yttrium oxide....

Critical Minerals Alaska – Rare Earths
https://www.miningnewsnorth.com/story/2018/03/01/in-depth/critical-minerals-alaska-rare-earths/5070.html

...While Bokan Mountain is the most advanced rare earth deposit in Alaska, it is far from the only potential geological source of these technological elements found in the state.

In fact, USGS and DGGS geologists identified a stretch of Southeast Alaska, extending 200 miles northwest from Bokan Mountain, as a great place to look for REEs.

Numerous rare earth prospects – including Doris Bay, Salmon Bay and Stone Rock – have been identified on this stretch of Southeast Alaska that is dominated by Prince of Wales Island....