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The United States says it will take "unprecedented actions" to ensure the supply of strategic elements and rare earths, as China mulls possible export controls for materials that are critical to modern technology.
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In December 2017, Trump called on the Department of Commerce and other US agencies to develop new sources of critical materials to reduce vulnerabilities to supply disruptions, especially from foreign sources.The US report calls for improving supplies "through investment and trade with America's allies," while streamlining the issuance of permits for mining in the United States, including on federal lands.
It also lists a plan to improve mapping and data collection to promote domestic exploration.
And to think only a few short decades ago we were going to war for oil...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday June 06 2019, @03:36AM (6 children)
1: China mines rare earths cheaply
2: Rare earth mines in the west close down due to not being profitable.
3: Your Mr. Trump starts a trade war (which is good, and easy to win)
4: Shit! Everyone realises how important rare earths are! Shit! Panic!
5: Spend a whole boatload of taxpayer's money on setting up rare earth mines. Quick!
6: There's good money to be made here, privatise the mines.
7: China mines rare earths cheaply
8: Rare earth mines in the west close down due to not being profitable.
etc...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 06 2019, @06:52AM
etc... stops right around when the USD == RMB.
(Score: 3, Informative) by FatPhil on Thursday June 06 2019, @08:28AM (1 child)
1) you fucked up mining historically so bad that a lot of the old deposits can no longer be mined, mostly a whole host of safety concerns (it's often impossible to reopen a closed mine, as we Brits know to our chagrin, thanks Thatcher! (And ultimately, thanks the Chicago school, who brainwashed her into her wrongthink without her even knowing it.))
2) you passed some laws pertaining to radioactive materials that make mining many rare earth deposits effectively illegal (this radioactivity is part of (1) - the radioactive pollution was one of the safety concerns) as rare earths are found in the same kinds of places where you find rich Thorium (etc.) deposits.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday June 06 2019, @12:58PM
Old mines may be more expensive to reopen than virgin territory, but anything is possible with sufficient technology and money.
I recall during the tantalum shortage something about a car dealership somewhere that was built on an old mine that had used tantalum as a processing agent (back when tantalum was worth far less than whatever was being mined at the time...) seems like the ground around those old mines was "severely contaminated" with tantalum, which was its own problem, but when the value of tantalum spiked up it became another kind of problem as bandits were digging out the "contaminated" earth from underneath the buildings at night causing their foundations to collapse.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Thursday June 06 2019, @12:54PM (1 child)
When the fun was winding down in Afghanistan, I recall a "biggest rare earths deposits in the world" story going around about Afghanistan sounding like a possible justification for "stabilizing the region" some more, but it didn't play as well in the New York Times as WMD did...
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/06/24/7408365/
(Score: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Thursday June 06 2019, @03:20PM
Somebody mentioned recently Japan had found a rich REE deposit on the seabed. Here's an older story [nature.com] on it.
Dunno if it's easier to mine than the American deposits are, but at least it's not under the control of the Chinese.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by legont on Thursday June 06 2019, @08:10PM
Just to fix your rant a little, California rare earth ores are currently sent to China for processing.
In general, there is almost unlimited supply in the US and Canada, but we decided to outsource the work. It is, mostly, the result of the green goal. Save the planet, you know...
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.