China and the Geopolitics of Rare Earths


Book Description

Resource competition, mineral scarcity, and economic statecraft -- What are rare earths? -- Salt and oil : strategic parallels -- How China came to dominate the rare earth industry




Critical Materials Strategy


Book Description

This report examines the role of rare earth metals and other materials in the clean energy economy. It was prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) based on data collected and research performed during 2010. In the report, DoE describes plans to: (1) develop its first integrated research agenda addressing critical materials, building on three technical workshops convened by the DoE during November and December 2010; (2) strengthen its capacity for information-gathering on this topic; and (3) work closely with international partners, including Japan and Europe, to reduce vulnerability to supply disruptions and address critical material needs. Charts and tables. This is a print on demand report.




Rare Earth Elements and China's Dominance of the Global Market


Book Description

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, grade: -, -, language: English, abstract: Almost twenty years after Deng Xiaoping stated: 'There is oil in the Middle East, but there is rare earth in China, ' the country controls the REE global supply almost solely. Recent Chinese policies of raising taxes and cutting export quotas combined with its temporary ban on REE exports led not only to steadily increasing prices. Most notably it created uncertainty among companies producing outside Chine whether they will be able to get sufficient amounts of REE in the future and how much this is going to cost. Because it will take several years until Western mining capacities meet Western companies' demand, some manufacturers in need of REE have already started to relocate their factories to China. Beijing claims that their policies are dedicated to tackle environmental problems which have been caused by mining REE. However, taken into account that Beijing policies also require Chinese partners for foreign companies that operate within China, Western companies that relocate their facilities may risk handing over knowledge to future competitors. Aware of the consequences that Beijing's new fondness for environmental issues brings, governments and companies especially in Japan, the U.S. and Europe try to find ways to decrease their dependencies. This report examines factors that led to China's dominance on the REE market today and presents some counteractions which governments and companies in Japan, the U.S. and Europe have introduced to mitigate this situation. The two principal findings of this report are: first, because Western mining companies will need time to meet their companies' demand, the current situation is going to sustain for at least a few more years to come; and second, although China runs the risk of selling off its REE resources abroad which it needs for its own economy at home, it may benefit from the technology trans




Rare Earth Frontiers


Book Description

"Rare Earth Frontiers is a timely text. As Klinger notes, rare earths are neither rare nor technically earths, but they are still widely believed to be both. Although her approach focuses on the human, or cultural, geography of rare earths mining, she does not ignore the geological occurrence of these mineral types, both on Earth and on the moon.... This volume is excellently organized, insightfully written, and extensively sourced."―Choice Drawing on ethnographic, archival, and interview data gathered in local languages and offering possible solutions to the problems it documents, this book examines the production of the rare earth frontier as a place, a concept, and a zone of contestation, sacrifice, and transformation. Rare Earth Frontiers is a work of human geography that serves to demystify the powerful elements that make possible the miniaturization of electronics, green energy and medical technologies, and essential telecommunications and defense systems. Julie Michelle Klinger draws attention to the fact that the rare earths we rely on most are as common as copper or lead, and this means the implications of their extraction are global. Klinger excavates the rich historical origins and ongoing ramifications of the quest to mine rare earths in ever more impossible places. Klinger writes about the devastating damage to lives and the environment caused by the exploitation of rare earths. She demonstrates in human terms how scarcity myths have been conscripted into diverse geopolitical campaigns that use rare earth mining as a pretext to capture spaces that have historically fallen beyond the grasp of centralized power. These include legally and logistically forbidding locations in the Amazon, Greenland, and Afghanistan, and on the Moon.




The Rare Earth Elements


Book Description

This book deals with the rare earth elements (REE), which are a series of 17 transition metals: scandium, yttrium and the lanthanide series of elements (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium and lutetium). They are relatively unknown to the wider public, despite their numerous applications and their critical role in many high-tech applications, such as high-temperature superconductors, phosphors (for energy-saving lamps, flat-screen monitors and flat-screen televisions), rechargeable batteries (household and automotive), very strong permanent magnets (used for instance in wind turbines and hard-disk drives), or even in a medical MRI application. This book describes the history of their discovery, the major REE ore minerals and the major ore deposits that are presently being exploited (or are planned to be exploited in the very near future), the physical and chemical properties of REEs, the mineral processing of REE concentrates and their extractive metallurgy, the applications of these elements, their economic aspects and the influential economical role of China, and finally the recycling of the REE, which is an emerging field.




Rare Earth Elements


Book Description

Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) What are Rare Earth Elements (REE)?; (3) Major End Uses and Applications: Demand for REE; The Application of REE in National Defense; (4) Rare Earth Resources and Production Potential; Supply Chain Issues; Role of China; (5) Rare Earth Legislation in the 111th Congress: H.R. 4866, and S. 3521, the Rare Earths Supply-Chain Technology and Resources Transformation Act of 2010; H.R. 5136, the FY 2011 Nat. Defense Authorization Act; P.L. 111-84, the FY 2010 Nat. Defense Authorization Act; (6) Possible Policy Options: Authorize and Appropriate Funding for a USGS Assessment; Support and Encourage Greater Exploration for REE; Challenge China on Its Export Policy; Establish a Stockpile. Illustrations.




The Geopolitics of the Global Energy Transition


Book Description

The world is currently undergoing an historic energy transition, driven by increasingly stringent decarbonisation policies and rapid advances in low-carbon technologies. The large-scale shift to low-carbon energy is disrupting the global energy system, impacting whole economies, and changing the political dynamics within and between countries. This open access book, written by leading energy scholars, examines the economic and geopolitical implications of the global energy transition, from both regional and thematic perspectives. The first part of the book addresses the geopolitical implications in the world’s main energy-producing and energy-consuming regions, while the second presents in-depth case studies on selected issues, ranging from the geopolitics of renewable energy, to the mineral foundations of the global energy transformation, to governance issues in connection with the changing global energy order. Given its scope, the book will appeal to researchers in energy, climate change and international relations, as well as to professionals working in the energy industry.




The Rare Metals War


Book Description

The resources race is on. Powering our digital lives and green technologies are some of the Earth’s most precious metals — but they are running out. And what will happen when they do? The green-tech revolution has been lauded as the silver bullet to a new world. One that is at last free of oil, pollution, shortages, and cross-border tensions. Drawing on six years of research across a dozen countries, this book cuts across conventional green thinking to probe the hidden, dark side of green technology. By breaking free of fossil fuels, we are in fact setting ourselves up for a new dependence — on rare metals such as cobalt, gold, and palladium. They are essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar panels, our smartphones, computers, tablets, and other everyday connected objects. China has captured the lion’s share of the rare metals industry, but consumers know very little about how they are mined and traded, or their environmental, economic, and geopolitical costs. The Rare Metals War is a vital exposé of the ticking time-bomb that lies beneath our new technological order. It uncovers the reality of our lavish and ambitious environmental quest that involves risks as formidable as those it seeks to resolve.




Critical Materials


Book Description

A high percentage of many raw and semi-finished materials critical to U.S. manufacturing are imported. China is the controlling producer of 11 of these materials and has instituted export restrictions that have led to two-tier pricing, creating pressure to move manufacturing to China. This report suggests the need for actions to mitigate the impact of such market distortions on the global manufacturing sector.




Assessing and Strengthening the Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base and Supply Chain Resiliency of the United States - Report to President Trump


Book Description

This excellent report was released in October 2018. America's manufacturing and defense industrial base ("the industrial base") supports economic prosperity and global competitiveness, and arms the military with capabilities to defend the nation. Currently, the industrial base faces an unprecedented set of challenges: sequestration and uncertainty of government spending; the decline of critical markets and suppliers; unintended consequences of U.S. Government acquisition behavior; aggressive industrial policies of competitor nations; and the loss of vital skills in the domestic workforce. Combined, these challenges - or macro forces - erode the capabilities of the manufacturing and defense industrial base and threaten the Department of Defense's (DoD) ability to be ready for the "fight tonight," and to retool for great power competition. The following report explains the macro forces impacting the industrial base, identifies primary categories of risk, illustrates impacts within sectors, and provides recommendations for mitigation.I. Executive Summary * II. Introduction * III. Methodology * IV. An Overview of America's Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base * V. Five Macro Forces Driving Risk into America's Industrial Base * VI. Ten Risk Archetypes Threatening America's Manufacturing and Defense Industrial Base * VII. A Blueprint for Action * Appendix One: Executive Order 13806 * Appendix Two: Sector Summaries * Appendix Three: Contributing U.S. Government Agencies * Appendix Four: U.S. Government Sources * Appendix Five: Industry Listening Sessions * Appendix Six: Agreements with Foreign GovernmentsTo provide for our national security, America's manufacturing and defense industrial base must be secure, robust, resilient, and ready. To ensure taxpayer dollars are frugally and wisely spent, the defense industrial base must be cost-effective, cost-efficient, highly productive, and not unduly subsidized. In the event of contingencies, the industrial base must possess sufficient surge capabilities. Above all, America's manufacturing and defense industrial base must support economic prosperity, be globally competitive, and have the capabilities and capacity to rapidly innovate and arm our military with the lethality and dominance necessary to prevail in any conflict.All facets of the manufacturing and defense industrial base are currently under threat, at a time when strategic competitors and revisionist powers appear to be growing in strength and capability.