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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
bygreytree ( 7124971 ) writes:
"Beijing's export halt is notable because China has a stranglehold on global supplies of rare earths [...]"
Is this still correct ?
I thought we knew years ago that China was trying to shut us out of rare earths and would use them to blackmail us and we were preparing replacement sources?
What happened?
bygreytree ( 7124971 ) writes:
2013:
"Rare-earth mineral substitutes could defeat Chinese stranglehold"
https://archive.ph/61ILW
byErrol backfiring ( 1280012 ) writes:
I think the word here is could. Mining those minerals is not without environment risks and the Chinese are cheaper, if only because they mined them first. I don't think we wanted to defeat the Chinese stranglehold that much.
byHiThere ( 15173 ) writes:
They didn't mine them first. They're cheaper because taking over that business was an economic decision made by the government...and stably adhered to.
"Rare Earths" aren't rare, but they're hard to separate. I suspect that China is planning to convert it's "rare earth" production into "more valuable product" production, and sell those products at a markup...and possibly only to friends. But the cost of that supply chain will keep everyone without strong government support out, as China could flood the market at low prices if it chose to.
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byRockDoctor ( 15477 ) writes:
I suspect that China is planning to convert it's "rare earth" production into "more valuable product" production, and sell those products at a markup...and possibly only to friends.
This has been their published policy for ... more years than I can remember. (As a geologist, I probably pay more attention to mined goods than most people.)
Why sell REEs (at whatever level of refinement) at $10,000/tonne profit, when you can sell products using those REEs at $100,000/tonne profit?
As for substitutes ... you need the right number of protons in the nucleus, to generate the right electron energy levels to have magnetically active electrons at one energy band, while other electrons are at bonding energy levels. That means substitution by transmutation. You can do it - that's how you got plutonium for your nuclear weapons. But it's not going to be either cheap, or environmentally friendly.
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byHiThere ( 15173 ) writes:
There are usually more ways to do a substitute than just exact replacement (for which you are obviously correct). Remember, the first lasers (well, masers) required an extremely cold ruby as the emitter...but these days there are lots of "substitutes".
OTOH, developing those substitutes would require a LOT of creative research and development with no predictable return.
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