re the boyz rough play, the below read is mostly correct until nearing the end
the article notes that there are work-arounds and counter-measures etc to rare earth chokehold
all true,
except for the colour and detailing, that the japanese solution of rare earth from 6000 ft seabed is 40 years away from commercialisation (iow., too deep and too distant in time), and usa nationalisation of usa / australian rare earth is 20 years away from efficacy, and neither approach can do much to ready silicon valley for tomorrow's sudden event should the worst come to pass
am wondering, what would sudden cratering of silicon valley do to the macro economy?
is it any wonder trump decided to target cars instead, all from ostensible allies.
there certainly would be no need for car tariffs in case of true trade war w/ china, as there would be no cars made, along w/ airplanes, rockets, trains, computers, ... led light bulbs ... iow, just about everything
the 2009 china embargo of japan referenced bin the article resulted in japanese release of the fishing boat captain w/i a matter hours pending paperwork. rare earth is not rare, but its production is a monopoly, and the brains needed for processing all speak the same language
and
elmat preciously believes core-comrade xi needs to worry about reality-hosting trump tweets :0)
sofrep.com
China’s weapons of war: rare earth minerals
By
Although the United States dominated the mining of rare earth elements in the 1960s through the 1980s, it is now mostly reliant on imports from China for such commodities. This should be a troubling national security situation for the U.S.
Despite their name, many of the 17 elements that compose the recognized category known as rare earths — the lanthanides on the periodic table, plus yttrium and scandium — are relatively common in the Earth’s crust. These exotic elements aren’t typically concentrated in large deposits however, making extraction difficult.
The real trade commodity that China could use to cripple the U.S. if a trade war comes to pass, isn’t oil or agricultural goods, but rare earths. China controls the world’s production and distribution of rare earths. It produces more than 97 percent of them and holds the world in its hand when it comes to the future of almost anything high tech.
What are they?
They make the things we take for granted, from the small motors in automobiles to the wind turbines that are revolutionizing the production of electricity, many times more efficient. For example, rare earths increase a conventional magnet’s power by at least fivefold. They are the new oil.
Rare earths are also at work in cell phones and computers. Fighter jets and smart weapons, like cruise missiles, rely on them. In national defense, there is no substitute and no other supply source available.
5 of the tops defense uses for rare earths
1. Guidance and Control Systems
Modern-day smart weapons rely on sophisticated motors and actuators to steer them toward their targets. To accomplish this feat, these missiles and bombs incorporate rare earth elements such as terbium, dysprosium, samarium, praseodymium and neodymium. These are necessary for high-performance guidance systems. Neodymium is used in NIB (neodymium, iron and boron) super magnets, and samarium-cobalt magnets resist corrosion and can operate at high temperatures. The bulk of the world’s production of neodymium comes from China, although central Turkey also maintains the largest proven reserve of elemental boron in the world. China also imposed strict strategic materials controls on rare earth elements including neodymium as well in 2010, causing the price of neodymium to peak at $500 per kilogram in mid-2011.
2. Electronic Warfare
Many modern defense electronics systems require a portable high-capacity power source, or the ability to use high-energy storage and amplification. These include storage batteries and electronic jamming devices (known as ECM pods) used in the field, as well as more exotic defensive systems in development, such as microwave-generating Area Denial Systems and Electromagnetic Railguns. Yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) is a key material used in electronic countermeasures for what are known as dispersive delay lines and microwave filters. These filters are robust and guarantee a high signal-to-jamming ratio and are an essential component of electronic warfare systems. The United States currently has no production of yttrium, and the Department of Defense projected a 93-ton shortfall of yttrium for military requirements in 2013. China accounts for 95 percent of rare earth production worldwide, and yttrium is found in ores such as fergusonite and monazite.
3. Electric Motors
As Tesla ramps up production on its promised electric car, expect the demand for rare earth super magnets to rise. The military is also expected to become a major consumer, as the need for the next generation of electric motors grows. These motors feature compact and powerful magnets, and require such rare earth elements as terbium, dysprosium, samarium, praseodymium, and neodymium. Systems such as the CMPS (Common Modular Power System) Future Combat vehicle, and the U.S. Navy’s Zumwalt DDG 1000 guided missile destroyer will also require rare earths in the next generation of electric motors, as will Hub Mounted Electric Traction Drives and Integrated Starter generators currently under development. China is by far the largest producer of samarium at 120,000 tons per year, versus U.S. production of only 5,000 tons. China also controls the market in the other elements needed for electric motors; a GAO report from 2010 noted that China produces 75 percent of the world’s neodymium iron boron magnets, and 60 percent of the world’s samarium cobalt magnets.
4. Targeting and Weapons Systems
Modern-day weapons systems rely on high-powered lasers for targeting and acquisition. These include air- and vehicle-based laser systems, and such exotic weapons platforms as the SaberShot Photonic Disruptor, and the Humvee-mounted Laser Avenger used to counter Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). These rely on rare earth elements such as yttrium, europium and terbium to achieve high-powered energy resolution and amplification. And Europium has been used for years in the red phosphors of computer monitors and television screens.
5. Communications
An often-overlooked facet of military infrastructure, communications are essential to providing military commanders with an overall picture of the battlefield. These now incorporate numerous rare earth elements, including europium, lutetium, lanthanum, yttrium and neodymium. Terbium is also used in naval sonar systems, and rare earth elements are also used in radiation and chemical detection systems such as the Multipurpose Integrated Chemical Agent Alarm. Rare earth permanent magnets are used in waveguide tubes that amplify microwaves and are incorporated on radar systems and satellites. Line of sight laser communications are also finding applications as well due to their faster transmission speeds, and Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers and signal repeaters can transmit large amounts of data quickly over a vast area.
(attribution for the above section belongs to Dave Dickinson)
China in control
In June of 2017, an investor group that allegedly has ties to the Chinese government purchased the rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California that was one of the final remaining assets of the now bankrupt Molycorp Inc. The mine is one of the very few not already controlled by China.
Michael Silver, chief executive of American Elements Corp., an American advanced materials manufacturer met with President Trump in the Fall of 2017 to discuss the issue — telling the President “By buying up Mountain Pass, the Chinese have locked up the only operating rare earth mining operation outside of China.”
The U.S. was once the world’s largest producer of such metals but in recent decades has lost out to China, where the rare earth minerals are plentiful, and companies are not burdened by environmental and labor regulation. By 1999, more than 90 percent of the rare earth materials used by U.S. industry came from deposits in China. Today, China produces 97 percent of rare earth elements used globally.
Last year, there were no rare earth materials mined in the U.S., according to the Department of the Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey. The U.S. imports between $120 million and $160 million worth of rare earths a year, around 9 percent of total global demand for the minerals.
The 2015 bankruptcy of Molycorp, which owned the Mountain Pass rare earth mine, was responsible for shutting down U.S. production. That followed from a sharp decline in prices of rare earth as China kept up its massive production, flooding the market. This global excess supply pushed the price of some rare earths below their cost of production, making the mining and processing uneconomical outside of China.
Now China is using its control of the market to cajole companies to manufacture in China and that puts any efforts to restore manufacturing in America at risk.
What can the U.S. do about it?
According to Mr. Silver — in a word — nationalize.
“We need to assure high-tech manufacturers that it is safe to locate plants in the U.S. At this point, the only place you can site a plant is China because of their control over the minerals,” Silver said.
Under Silver’s plan, the mine would become one of the U.S. government’s national labs. The best-known of these research facilities run by the Department of Energy is the famous Los Alamos National Laboratory. Nationalizing the mine would guarantee that manufacturers wouldn’t lose access to the rare-earth minerals if China decided to restrict their import.
“One you guarantee access to the minerals, where’s the best place to site your plant? The U.S. because of quality labor, our academics, our know how,” Silver said.
Nationalizing the mine would not stop China’s ability to set price globally. But government ownership would allow the mine to continue operating even if it were unprofitable. That, in turn, would allow the U.S. to continue to employ rare earth scientists domestically and develop new rare earth technologies. Under the U.S. Constitution, the government can take ownership of the property through the power of eminent domain so long as property owners receive appropriate compensation.
But Japan might also be a key player in the near future
In January 2013, a deep-sea research vessel from Japan obtained seven samples of mud collected two to four meters below the seafloor at 5,600 to 5,800 meters in depth, near Japan’s Minami-Tori-shima Island, also known as Marcus Island, within Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Analyzing the mud revealed that it contained extreme concentrations of rare earth minerals. Continued research since then has led to an announcement this week that the region contains more than 16 million tons of rare earth minerals. These elements are needed to build high-tech products ranging from mobile phones to electric vehicles.
This find is being described as a “semi-infinity” supply of rare earth minerals, enough to supply all of Japan’s needs for well over a century. However, getting at the resources will be an issue, since they’re almost four miles underwater.
China is not going to like it, any of it
In 2009, there was a brief clash between China and Japan in the East China Sea, and China decided to punish Japan and get revenge by ending shipments to Japan of rare earth minerals. This was a significant blow for Japanese manufacturing, since Japan needed these minerals for the manufacture of their high-tech products, and Japan was dependent on being supplied by China.
It became clear to the Japanese that they would need to find an alternate supply of rare earth minerals, and that is what motivated the deep-sea research project that made the initial discovery in 2013, leading to the “semi-infinite” supply of rare earths announced this week.
The new supply of rare earths has to be described as a defeat for China, because once Japan is successful in mining this new supply, China will be unable to use rare earths as a weapon of war.
Featured image: “The Kingdome of China”, one of the first English-language maps of China. Note generally correct outline of the Ming China, with many provinces labeled. “Xuntien alias Quinzay” more or less corresponds to Beijing (the name Shuntian Prefecture was indeed in use). However, north of China proper, John Speed had also placed “Cathaya, the Chief Kingdome of Great Cam”, with the capital Cambalu ( Khanbaliq – i.e., in fact, the same Beijing). This kind of duplication was common on the maps of the period, as geographers had not apparently yet fully identified Marco Polo’s Cathay with the China then known to Europeans, and Cambalu with Beijing. | [Public Domain] via Wikimedia Commons. |
