Mountain Pass Mine, owned and run by MolyCorp, was closed in 2002 “in a tacit admission that the US was ceding the market to China”. During its operation, between 1984 and 1993, 727,000 gallons of toxic water spilled from the mine into the Mojave National Preserve with spills exceeding 350,000 gallons in 1996 alone.
Rare earths make up a single line on the periodic table of the elements, the lanthanides, and go by names like dysproseum, lanthanum, prometheum and neodymium. Lanthanides brightens TV pictures, are used in microwave ovens and cell phones. Neodymium is used to make glass for scientific applications and is critical in the manufacture of high gauss magnets used in the production of electricity and weapons guidance systems.
Currently China controls the rare earth market and has used its monopoly as a political tool, recently restricting exports to Japan. China’s dominance is becoming more and more of a global concern
Experts said that demand has been growing about 10% a year, but there are expectations that it could accelerate over the next decade because of growing use in green technology sources like hybrid cars and wind turbines…
…Concerns about creeping Chinese domination of rare earths finally came to the forefront Thursday as Australian regulators blocked a US$220-million investment in Lynas by China Non-Ferrous Metal Mining Group Co. The proposed deal would have given the Chinese company a majority stake in Lynas.
Now, hoping to reclaim part of the rare earth market given over to China during the Bush administration, MolyCorp has has raised more than $500m and “Sumitomo Corp of Japan invested $130m in return for guaranteed supplies of rare earths for the next seven years”.
