I became interested in the so-called rare earths after talking to a friend who gave me a quick course on the subject. Traces of these metals are everywhere, but there are only a few places on the planet that have high enough content to be called “ore” and justify mining. He also told me China has the richest deposits of the metals, and they also have less interest in the environmental impact of the mining. (All of that of course brings to mind the metal “unobtanium” being mined on the planet Pandora in the movie Avatar.)

Rare earths enable a long list of products to perform to the standards we take for granted. Smart phones, military night vision goggles, and cruise missiles (naming only a sample) wouldn’t work without them. Batteries for hybrid cars and wind turbines require large amounts.  The one mine in the U.S. that produced these metals was closed in 2002 under pressure from environmentalists, and the Chinese became the only significant source. The Chinese have announced they were restricting exports to levels that were not capable to meet demand, but kindly offered to build factories to build all of the products that used the metals. That created enough concern that the California Mountain Home mine has been reopened after pledging to operate with “zero effluents.”

There is an excellent article in National Geographic titled “The Secret Ingredients of Everything” by Nick Mann on the subject. You can read the entire article at the link, but I’ll provide my summary. The Prius battery has 20 pounds of lanthanum and the magnet in a large wind turbine has more than 500 pounds of neodymium. The red color on our televisions is from europium, and catalytic converters on our cars contain cerium and lanthanum. The dysprosium used in making computer hard drives was selling for $212/pound when the article was written.  Demand for these “ingredients” shows no signs of abating. In 2015 the world’s industries are forecast to consume an estimated 185,000 tons of rare earths, 50 percent more than the total for 2010. With China holding tightly to its reserves, where will the rest of the world get the elements that have become so vital to modern technology? (Russia, Australia, and Canada also have exploitable deposits.)

China is struggling with the environmental impact from the lucrative mining of rare earths (once again bringing to mind the Avatar story). The Chinese are reportedly working to reduce the impact form the large mines around Baotou, but violent criminal gangs are operating dozens of illegal mines without any regard for environmental impact. “If you own a smart phone or a flat-screen television, it may contain contraband rare earths from southern China.”

It seems unlikely that there will be enough of many of the rare earths to meet the world demand, especially with China imposing restrictions on exports. Recycling of older cell phones, etc. is becoming increasingly attractive.