Q & A: Rare Earth Elements

What is rare earth elements?

First found by Lieutenant Carl Axel Arrhenius in 1787, at a quarry in the village of Ytterby, Sweden and it's developed from there where overtime a set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the fifteen lanthanoids plus scandium and yttrium also considered as rare earth elements since they tend exhibit similar chemical properties as lanthanoids. In other words, rare earth having is 68 parts per million about as common as copper.

Rare earth distribution:

Although well over 90 percent of the minerals are produced in China, they are found in many places around the world, and, in spite of their name, are actually abundant in the earth's crust! Elsewhere, rare earth can be found from Mountain Pass mine in California, Nolans Project in Central Australia, the remote Hoidas Lake project in northern Canada, the Mount Weld project in Australia and northwestern Lai Châu Province, Vietnam.

There are several sites under consideration for mining such as Thor Lake in the Northwest Territories, various locations in Vietnam and a site in southeast Nebraska in the US, where Quantum Rare Earth Development, a Canadian company, is currently conducting test drilling and economic feasibility studies toward opening a niobium mine. Additionally, a large deposit of rare earth minerals was recently discovered in Kvanefjeld in southern Greenland and not to forget in Kuantan, Pahang, MALAYSIA!

So what is the function of rare earth?

Some of the elements such (neodymium and dysprosium) are used to make magnets that help generate torque in the motors of electric and hybrid cars and convert torque into electricity in large wind turbines (We thought hybrid car produces clean energy! Apparently...!!). Some are used to make green phosphors for flat-panel TVs, lasers, and high-efficiency fluorescent lamps. "You wouldn't have a laptop without these powerful magnets," source said. "It would have to weigh four to five times heavier."

The biggest exporter?

As I said before, China is the biggest exporter with 95% monopoly. On September last year, China has temporarily blocked exports of these materials to Japan alarming the risk of supply disruption in the short term. Worldwide demand for rare earth elements was 125,000 tons in 2010 and is expected to rise to 225,000 tons by 2015. With worldwide demand for the materials exploding, Mountain Pass has restarted it's mining last December after was shut down in 2002 due to severe environmental problems.

Buyers?

Obviously, most of the buyers are car producers because rare earth elements are lighter and smaller for their high end technologies.

Cost and profit?

Rare earth elements are not traded as gold or silver but they are mostly sold in private market, which makes their prices difficult to monitor and track. Nevertheless, prices are published periodically on websites such as mineralprices.com. With the lack of supply and high in demands, the prices for some rare earths have gone up more than 700% in the last 45 days! They are reality.

The danger? Impact?

How can we forgot the impact and danger that happened in Bukit Merah Mine. Eight leukemia cases within 5 years in a community of 11,000 have been reported. What else, birth defects, clean up cost up to total of US$100 million! Severe environmental effects! Radioactive contaminated every where! Another case in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, where much of the world's rare earth supply is refined, has suffered major environmental damage! I was wondering can we trust that they will properly handling all these radioactive materials. Only a small leakage to water source can cost you even a human life.

Current technology and alternative to rare earth?

Stronger, lighter magnets could enter the market in the next few years, making more efficient car engines and wind turbines possible. Researchers are now working on new types of nanostructured magnets that would use smaller amounts of rare-earth metals than standard magnets. Nevertheless, it's not clear if the new magnets will get to market before the demand for rare-earth metals exceeds the supply. One example, Tesla Motor uses electromagnets rather than permanent rare-earth magnets. But such motors are larger and heavier than ones that use rare-earth magnets (My imagination is now running back through all those heavy cellphone in the 90's)!"The cost volatility going into the rare-earth permanent magnets was a concern," says JB Straubel, Tesla's chief technology officer. BMW's Mini E electric vehicle uses induction motors, and Tesla is supplying its drive trains to Toyota's upcoming electric RAV 4. Given the volatility of rare-earth supplies, and the advantages induction motors offer in high performance applications, "It makes sense for car companies to give serious thought to using induction motors," says Wally Rippel, senior scientist at AC Propulsion.


Should we have it in Pahang?

NO!

Companies? Board of director?

LYNAS. Who is going to be in the BOD? That is for you to think!

Chioww.....