This Nebraska Village ...Largest Untapped Deposit Of Rare Earth Minerals

Business Insider ^ | 10/27/11 | Vincent Trivett

[Pontiac]

A tiny town in Nebraska might be where the US wakes up from its decade-long hiatus from mining rare earth elements.

Snip

China has a firm hold on the 17 elements classified as 'rare earth' elements. China currently accounts for 97% of all rare earth element production in the world.

After a 2010 diplomatic dispute, China showed that they are perfectly capable and willing to cut off the supply of rare earths when they first officially, then unofficially banned exports to Japan. Without rare earths, the specialized high-tech instruments that Japan exports can't be made. The Toyota Prius, for example, requires about ten pounds of Lanthanum to manufacture. The boom in smartphones have spurred demand, and prices of these commodities have spiked dramatically.

[Pontiac]

Question is will Obama use the EPA to kill or delay mining this treasure for his Chinese campaign contributors. Another option he may pursue is making sure his Chinese masters buy up the rights to the mining site.

[knarf]

From Life's Little Mysteries

"China and the U.S. have some of the largest rare earth mineral deposits, but other deposits exist in countries such as Australia, Brazil, India, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand, according to the USGS.

Mining is just the first step. Extracting the individual rare earth metals from the raw ore requires thousands of stainless steel tanks holding many chemical solutions, according to Jim Hedrick, a former USGS rare earth specialist. The overall refining process converts ore into oxides, and then converts the oxides into refined metals.

Only China currently has the equipment to refine rare earth metals from start to finish, and it supplies as much as 97 percent of the world's rare earth oxides. Opening one mine and building a separation plant might cost anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion"

[Fresh Wind]

Either way, you can count on King Barry and his EPA to screw America.

[Pontiac]

Opening one mine and building a separation plant might cost anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion"

Chump change to Obama he can just pull it out of his stash.

Now that would be worth some stimulus money. A much better investment than Solyndra. It has a much better chance of making a profit. There is a real market for rare earth metals.

[txhurl]

We have a deposit like this right up the road underwater in Lake Buchanan.

[knarf]

March 11, 2011 report

[Ken522]

Thanks for posting the article, Knarf. Apparently there are many “rare earth” deposits throughout the world but we are limited by the cost of developed extraction techniques.

[knarf]

Perhaps this is a subject to pitch to the presidential candidates.

Drill baby, drill has become hackneyed from trivial overusage (imo) and permits have been approved, so it is no longer a "hot" issue.

But in this fast and furious world (pun intended), rare earth may be the gold standard of the future.

I think it would be a subject to throw at Newt.

[Arrowhead1952]

We have a deposit like this right up the road underwater in Lake Buchanan.

If this drought keeps up, Texas may be able to mine those minerals.

[John123]

Opening one mine and building a separation plant might cost anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion

Which is equivalent to the cost of subsidizing one bankrupt solar company.

[Melchior]

There is a very significan deposit of rare earths located on a perfect site in southern Alaska that is owned by a Canadian corporation. It seems that it has taken forever to obtain the needed permits to begin mining. It seems that our government seems determined to roadblock all mining in the US if at all possible.

[jmcenanly]

There is probably a small fish or amphibian, heretofore unknown to science, who makes its home in this area and no other.