California mine may benefit from Chinese rare earth metal "hoarding"
China's decision to begin
It will still take a while before before the neodymium (used in windmills and hybrid motors) and lanthanum (used in nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries) starts flowing again. The pit is currently covered in so much rock and water that it will require a couple years to get going in earnest. Molycorp seems to be making good use of the intervening time, having recently signed a joint venture deal with Arnold Magnetic Technologies Corp to make magnets and perfecting an extraction process they say will double the amount of metal they can remove from the bastnaesite ore. While the mine should eventually be able to supply most of the world's needs, other companies are exploring rare earth mining opportunities in Canada and Australia.
[Source: Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
john perry 2:17PM (9/08/2009)
How long will it be before Obama's environmental czar places restrictions on the mine making it to expensive to operate?
Obama forces us to purchase oil from Muslim terrorist so why should he allow the mining of rare earth metals when it could be imported from other countries.
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John Pelletier 2:58PM (9/08/2009)
really? really? its all Obama's fault eh, who were the last people in office? oh that's right former oil men...
really now, Obama is making us buy oil, pretty sure that was Bush for not giving a shite about cafe standards or environmental regulations... but who am I to look at history.
and if you are so concerned how about you ditch that pickup with the confederate flag and gun rack for for a bicycle, if you really want to stick it to the oil men terrorists.
wow the recrazies for Beck are out in force of late it seems.
anyway this is good to know actually, should also help reduce import costs and secure the resource, hopefully environmental considerations are taken into account and it does not just become one huge mess of slurry...
Sanders 3:01PM (9/08/2009)
I'm sorry, which President and his family has connections to a certain Middle Eastern oil producing country and its royal family? Go back to your AM radio conspiracies.
photo.harris 3:04PM (9/08/2009)
John, wake up dude. Any restrictions place on the mine will be for the benefit of the surrounding community. plus if the mining company acts in an environmentally responsible way, they have nothing to fear.
Excuse us for not loving America enough to rape her.
I guess it really is the GOP vs. God's green earth.
DasBoese 3:25PM (9/08/2009)
Yeah... I feel sorry for you Americans, living in such a terribly oppressive country where your president, personally, can force you to use as much dirty muslim terrorist oil as possible, or else his robot army will come to demolish your house and kill your grandparents!
But regarding your question, as far as I know California's environmental regulations are just about the strictest in the entire US, right? I think your federal government really can't do shit, even if they wanted to, which is of course laughable.
Chris M 9:17PM (9/08/2009)
"Obama's Envirommental Czar" doesn't have a say in it, as California has its own EPA and sets its own regulations.
The President doesn't have a say in where the Oil companies buy their oil, that decision is made by the Oil companies.
Well, that's two more dittohead oddities shot down by reality.
Shock Me 3:54PM (9/08/2009)
As long as the mining company pays their protection money to Sacremento and Washington D.C. than everythang be everythang and the cost will just be passed on while the Reds rake it in from elsewhere in the world.
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Stan Peterson 4:15PM (9/08/2009)
China reservations about rare earth minerals only really hurts Toyota. Toyota uses permanent magnet motors that need neodymium, and Lanthanum for their semi-obsolescent Ni-Mh batteries. Most automakers are developing AC motors and LI-Ion batteries neither of which have that extensive a demand of REM. I'm sure that Toyota will redesign its motors and power electronics to do the same, so in the long run it won't matter.
Its called substitution; something that apparently few think of doing. Instead they always plan on sharing the misery, through rationing. It seems they aspire to have everyone assemble into queues like in their late dystopia heavens since dissolved in 1989.
FYI . The previous Administration managed to finally get a substantial amount of US territory on-shore and off-shore available for lease, by not renewing the moratorium that Green loons had passed, . To date, Obama has leased exactly none of the acreage, and his greens promise they never will. So is he guy who has family connections to a Middle East Royal Family?
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Chris M 9:29PM (9/08/2009)
Well, how many "offshore oil leases" did the Bush Jr. administration open up in 8 years in office? Exactly the same number that the Obama administration has done in 8 months!
You see, those offshore areas aren't leased by the Federal government, they are controlled by the states that border them. Texas and Louisiana, with oil based economies, have leased out their offshore areas extensively, but Florida and California rely much more heavily on pristine beaches to lure tourists dollars, so no new offshore drilling there. The remaining states don't have much if any offshore oil reserves, so they don't really matter.
BTW, California is the 2nd biggest producer of oil in the US (Texas is #1) and has the 3rd largest remaining reserves after Texas and Alaska. So California is producing more oil than Louisiana, even without any new offshore drilling.
Jeez, is it always this easy to knock down dittohead lunacy?
DasBoese 4:18PM (9/08/2009)
I think the decision had to do more with the increasing demand of rare earths for consumer electronics (eg LED lighting, hard drives) and industrial applications (eg PV, windmills, servo motors) than hybrid/electric vehicles.
NiMH isn't at all relevant to upcoming BEVs, and will be obsolete in most hybrids within the next decade or so as well. Use of permanent-magnet motors in hybrids will probably continue for some time, though in BEVs they'll likely be used mainly as servo motors. As a side note, the replacement of harddisks by solid-state devices is already looming on the horizon, so that's a sector that will sharply decline in demand in the future as well.
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roger 9:11AM (9/09/2009)
The Perm (German Co) motor in my Zero-X is a permanent magnet motor using neodymium for the magnets, and is really amazingly powerful for its small size. The controller is small as well. Likely there will be other cool inventions using these magnets and lithium batts.
BTW, here is a video a professional friend did of me and my Zero-X in Granada (if you like sightseeing)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OpoODrm46M
I did a rough calculation on the reserves at Mountain Pass, and at full production they have enough for about 80 years or so.
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UWcowboy 5:23PM (10/08/2009)
I noticed that this mine is a strip mine in the CA mountains--reminds me of the strip mines in West VA that will now be shut down because the EPA (under this administration) will not renew their permits. Too bad WVA miners--we're just showing our compassion for you and your families.
My environmental whacko friends see pictures of open pit mines like this and they just go crazy. I was on a flight to LA with one of these people and as we looked out the window at the Arizona desert, he was aghast at what he thought was the largest strip mine in the world. I informed him that what he was looking at was the Grand Canyon.
Regarding drilling off the Gulf Coast of Florida, isn't it nice that we are getting out of the way of the Cubans and Chinese who have plans to drill as close as 50 miles from our coast. You can bet that the technology they use will not be up to American drilling standards. Hurricane-proof like our platforms off the Louisana coast? Don't bet on it.
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