A Looming Rare Earth Shortage Threatens Critical Tech

15 pointsposted 15 hours ago
by JeanKage
(spectrum.ieee.org)

10 Comments

thot_experiment

12 hours ago

I'm pretty sure this is just an economic problem right? It has long been convenient to exploit countries that have low wages and make little effort to price in the negative externalities of extracting these resources. It's not like the imperial core doesn't have the minerals, we're just currently not getting them out of the ground.

defrost

12 hours ago

"Looming" and "Threatens" are emotive words.

From a standard exploration / production boom / bust mineral resource supply / demand PoV this is commonplace forward looking anticipation being weighed against the upfront capital costs of processing infrastructure investment.

RobotToaster

11 hours ago

Oh dear, did someone start a pointless trade war with the main source of essential minerals you need?

ggm

14 hours ago

US fed investment in Australian rare earth mines was announced this year. I'm unsure if it's more than loan guarantees and a purchase agreement. There was discussion of a floor price but it focussed on the distorting qualities.

dwd

13 hours ago

The one to watch is Iluka who received a AUD 1.65b loan from the Australian Government to build the Eneabba rare earth plant, currently to come online in 2027. Their stockpile is xenotime and monazite and Yytrium and Erbium are a priority for processing.

https://www.iluka.com/products-markets/rare-earth-products/

Not sure about Lynas and whether they have access to those rare earths from an alternate source to feed into their plant. The Mt Weld mine is carbonatite and mostly LRE rather than the Yytrium and Erbium heavy xenotime/monazite Iluka have stockpiled.

deepsun

14 hours ago

I remember on my youth same thing said about oil.

briansm

12 hours ago

Me too, and I'm now grateful to have been proven wrong.

But then again I certainly wouldn't want to be the youth of today and expect the same outcome.

pjc50

12 hours ago

Just keep watching the US and Chinese petroleum reserves tick downwards. I'm sure it's fine.

cyanydeez

11 hours ago

Even if its fine, global warming will wipe the floor with rebuilds that just accelerate the uselessness of its value.

nubinetwork

11 hours ago

I remember them being said to be rare, hence the name rare earth minerals... /shrug