America’s dependence upon China for rare earths critical to high gauss magnets and many ingredients used in the production of every day items like cell phones and computers has been an issue I have written about several times before. The Department of Defense is certainly concerned because Chinese made magnets are present in every weapons guidance system, every fighter jet, every modern day communication and as we get more and more in debt to China, obviously it is a strategic concern. So Molycorp is trying to raise $500M to reopen Mountain Pass Mine in California.
A lot is riding on Molycorp’s success. If the mine can be restarted and Molycorp is able to lower costs of production enough to maintain competitive, it will be the only rare earth oxide operation in the Western hemisphere. And it has a decent chance, since existing infrastructure is already in place and Molycorp said in the IPO filing that it has improved the technology used in production to reduce water and energy use. And Molycorp intends to buy a company that already has the technology to produce rare earth metals and alloys in the U.S. and secure a joint venture agreement with magnet manufacturer. This means Molycorp would be able to mine the ore , separate out the rare earth minerals and then turn them into usable products.
The U.S. military and cleantech industry are certainly paying attention. Rare earths are crucial to defense and weapons systems.
Rare earth magnets are used extensively in wind turbine generators and electric cars and for this reason my conpany, Rogue River Wind, hope to use some patentable magnet topologies that enable us to extract high gauss ratings from good old fashioned ferrites if supply becomes tight.
