Re:Rare Earths: The Next Resource Shortage?
by Animats on Monday November 30, 2015 @01:59AM
(#10648180)
This guy is several years out of date. A few years ago, in 2011, there was a rare earths shortage, made worse by export restrictions from China. Prices went way up. Then Molycorp got the old Mountain Pass, CA mine going again, with environmental controls even the Sierra Club says are OK. Now prices are back down, Molycorp is producing at a loss, and a big Australian mine is starting up.[1][2]
There's also been progress in making motor magnets with smaller amounts of rare earths, which has cut demand.[3][4]
So today we need less, there are more sources, and the technology to solve the waste problem from production is working. This is now a non-problem.
There's also been progress in making motor magnets with smaller amounts of rare earths, which has cut demand.[3][4]
So today we need less, there are more sources, and the technology to solve the waste problem from production is working. This is now a non-problem.
[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-22/rare-earth-miners-face... [2] http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkanellos/2015/06/26/three... [3] http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2012/_STORY/121120-02-e... [4] http://www.ims.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Session7a_01_M...