HIGH-TECH WORRIES. Barrick Goldstrike Mines’ Betze-Post open
pit is seen near Carlin, Nevada. Nevada, where mining existed
before statehood, has witnessed ups and downs over time but now
is experiencing a rather rare phenomenon in the mining industry.
With names like europium, scandium, and ytterbium, the bulk of
rare earth minerals are extracted from mines in China, where
lower wages and lax environmental standards make production
cheaper and easier. (Adella Harding/Elko Daily Free Press via
AP, File)
From The Asian Reporter, V29, #13 (July 1, 2019), page 10.

U.S.-China trade war sparks worries about rare
minerals
By Anita Snow
The Associated Press
PHOENIX — Rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China
have sparked worries about the 17 exotic-sounding rare earth
minerals needed for high-tech products such as robotics, drones,
and electric cars.
China recently raised tariffs to 25% on rare earth exports to
the U.S. and has threatened to halt exports altogether after the
Trump administration raised tariffs on Chinese products and
blacklisted telecommunications giant Huawei.
With names like europium, scandium, and ytterbium, the bulk
of rare earth minerals are extracted from mines in China, where
lower wages and lax environmental standards make production
cheaper and easier.
But trade experts say no one should panic over China’s
threats to stop exporting the elements to the U.S.
There is a U.S. rare minerals mine in California. And
Australia, Myanmar, Russia, and India are also top producers of
the somewhat obscure minerals. Vietnam and Brazil both have huge
rare earth reserves.
"The sky is not falling," said Mary B. Teagarden, a China
specialist, professor, and associate dean at the Thunderbird
School of Global Management in Phoenix. "There are
alternatives."
Simon Lester, associate director of the center for trade
policy studies at the Cato Institute think tank in Washington,
agreed. "Over the short term, it could be a big disruption, but
companies that want to stay in business will find a way," he
said.
Although the U.S. is among the world’s top 10 countries for
rare earths production, it’s also a major importer of the
minerals, looking to China for 80% of what it buys from other
countries, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. China last
year produced some 120,000 metric tons of rare earths, while the
United States produced 15,000 metric tons.
The United States also depends on China to separate the
minerals pulled from Mountain Pass Mine, the sole rare earths
mine in the U.S., which was bought two years ago by the
Chicago-based JHL Capital Group LLC.
"We need to develop a U.S.-based supply chain so there is no
possibility we can be threatened," said Ryan S. Corbett,
managing director of JHL Capital.
The mine’s top products are neodymium and praseodymium, or
NdPr, two elements which are used together to make the
lightweight magnets that help power electric cars and wind
turbines and are found in electronics such as laptop hard
drives.
Mountain Pass, located in San Bernardino County, California,
was once the top supplier of the world’s rare earth minerals,
but China began taking over the market in the 1990s and the U.S.
mine stopped production in 2002.
Mountain Pass later restarted production only to close again
amid a 2015 bankruptcy. Corbett said extraction resumed last
year after JHL Capital purchased the site with QVT Financial LP
of New York, which holds 30%, and Shenghe Resources Holding Co.,
Ltd. of China, a non-voting shareholder with 9.9%.
Since then, Mountain Pass has focused on achieving greater
autonomy with a $1.7 billion separation system set to go online
late next year that would allow it skip sending rare earths ore
to China for that step.
China could hurt itself in the long run by cutting off the
U.S., specialists said.
David Merriman, a rare earths analyst for Roskill commodity
research in London, said that during a similar trade flap with
China in 2011, Japan began looking to other countries including
Australia for the minerals needed to manufacture electronics.
Australian rare earths production giant Lynas Corp. Ltd.
recently announced a proposed deal with Blue Line Corp. of Texas
for a separation facility at an industrial site in Hondo, Texas.
There may be other options, too. Deposits of rare earths have
been detected in other U.S. states including Wyoming and Alaska,
as well as in several remote areas of Canada. The Interior
Department is calling for more prospecting and mining of
"critical minerals," including on public lands currently
considered off-limits, and even in oceans.
"We have to be more forward thinking," said Alexander Gysi,
an assistant professor in geology and geological engineering at
the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. "It would be better for
the U.S. to have a greater range of sources for rare earths."
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