Free Republic

In the middle of California's Mojave Desert about an hour outside of the Las Vegas strip, business is booming -- literally -- as detonations reveal the lifeblood of America's technical security. Molycorp has begun mining again at its Mountain Pass facility after about a decade of inactivity, extracting valuable and concentrated ore that holds 15 rare earth elements, used in everything from cell phones to U.S. missile systems. In recent years, the Chinese have flooded, and thus cornered, about 97 percent of the world market of rare earth metals, and now thanks to high-tech demand and new Chinese restrictions on...

According to the new report on the world linear and torque motor market by IMS Research, the biggest threat to the market is the continuity of supply of rare-earth magnets, as the latest reports show that the Chinese Government intends to cut export quotas of rare earth material by 35% for the first half of 2011. It is widely accepted that China produces 97% of the world's rare-earth material and so controls the world market for it... It poses several questions; how are direct-drive motor manufacturers going to ensure continuity of supply of rare-earth magnetic components, and what is the...

On the outskirts of one of China’s most polluted cities, an old farmer stares despairingly out across an immense lake of bubbling toxic waste covered in black dust. He remembers it as fields of wheat and corn. (snip) Vast fortunes are being amassed here in Inner Mongolia; the region has more than 90 per cent of the world’s legal reserves of rare earth metals, and specifically neodymium, the element needed to make the magnets in the most striking of green energy producers, wind turbines.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate held hearings on a bill to jumpstart domestic production of “rare earth” minerals, in order to break China’s near-monopoly on these little known but essential raw materials... “Rare earth” refers to a collection of 17 elements from the periodic table, with Star Trek-sounding names like holmium, europium, neodymium, and thulium. They tend to be found together, and exhibit similar chemical properties that make them useful — and in many cases vital — for a whole host of high-tech applications, such as superconductors, magnets, and lasers. Rare earths are essential ingredients in many emerging “green”...

<p>Last Sunday in Prepare for Currency/Trade Wars; How Might China Respond to US Tariffs? I mentioned the possibility China might shut off exports of rare earth metals used in making glass for solar panels, motors that help propel hybrid cars like the Toyota Prius, and laser guided bombs.</p>

America Will Lose A Trade War With China Because It Desperately Needs Rare Earth Metals Vincent Fernando, CFA Sep. 29, 2010, 9:46 AM Image: www.industrialmineralscorp.com.au If there's one thing the latest political spat between Chinese and Japan has exposed, it's China's massive control of the global rare earths market. At the Money Game we've previously discussed China's near-monopoly over the rare earths used in all kinds of modern technology, including many types of U.S. military hardware. As tensions flared over Japan's detention of a Chinese ship captain, and the China's detention of Japanese soon after, Japanese companies reported that rare...

Fantastic Overview Of China And Its Death Grip On Rare Earth Metals Joe Weisenthal Jun. 3, 2010, 5:11 PM Image: U.S. Marines Yesterday the world was greeted with the news that China intends to tighten its grip over rare earth metals, the highly valuable commodities that are used in everything from defense to green tech. That China would do something like this has been fretted about for awhile, and it's why the US government sees rare earths as a matter of national security. However this plays out, we suspect the subject to get A LOT more attention going forward, so...

The pond that fills the bottom of the Mountain Pass rare-earth metal mine reflects the terraces. Digging is expected to resume by the second half of 2011 after the water is pumped out. (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)Reporting from Mountain Pass, Calif. - Fear of a shortage of rare-earth metals used in high-tech military and industrial products has spawned global efforts to reopen abandoned mines, including the formidable Mountain Pass Mine in California's Mojave Desert. Discovered in the 1940s by uranium prospectors, Mountain Pass contains an array of rare earths, including cerium and lanthanum, in concentrations almost double those...

Market impact -- THE CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY Friday, July 15, 2005 As reported by Bloomberg News, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) stocks fell following Center for Security Policy President Frank Gaffney's testimony Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee that called attention to the adverse economic and national security implications of CNOOC's $18.5 billion bid to purchase Unocal. Gaffney pointed out that the PRC's play for Unocal's energy and rare earth mineral assets is hardly a normal commercial transaction, but rather part of Beijing's long-term plan to dominate strategic energy resources, materials, minerals and technologies in order to...