Consumerism 'doomed', investment forum told, page 1

More happy news for all you doom-n-gloom buffs out there...

I found this article interesting because it focuses on the pivotal role of rare-earth metals (something far too few grasp) in both present and future technology. It also posits stiff competition between China and the West without being either extremely China-bullish or China-bearish. Balanced predictions along these lines are hard to come by. In other words, it presents a scenario where everyone loses...happy days are here again...

Western governments may not realise it yet, but consumerism as we know it is doomed and resource war with China inevitable, the world’s biggest fund managers were told yesterday.

The unsettling message, which focuses on the potentially destabilising shortfall of the rare “technology metals” used in everything from mobile phones to guided missiles, was issued in Tokyo yesterday at the close of one of Asia’s largest annual investment forums.

Jack Lifton, an expert in rare earth metals, said that many of the green ambitions of governments around the world — particularly ones involving wind farms and other high-tech responses to climate change — would be thwarted by upstream supply issues.

Particularly troubling, he said, is an impending inflection point that may arrive within the next couple of years when China becomes a net importer of rare earth ores.

At the moment, China dominates the global supply of rare earth metals, a group of 15 consecutive lanthanide elements whose properties make them critical to dozens of technologies on which the modern Western consumer is heavily dependent.

Investors who had spent the early part of the week being told by speakers at the CLSA forum how to play the great Chinese consumerism boom were sobered by revelations of the fragile state of rare earth metal supply.

China’s 90 per cent dominance of world supply was created through a conscious political decision in Beijing more than two decades ago to be to rare earth metals what Saudi Arabia was to oil.

More at source
business.timesonline.co.uk...

[edit on 3/5/10 by silent thunder]

reply to post by silent thunder

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At the moment, China dominates the global supply of rare earth metals

Assuming, of course, that the entire global distribution of rare earth metals are found only on the surface of the planet, and only on the continents.

A few key notes from Robert Ballard's TED speech;

I believe in just enriching the economy. And we're leaving so much on the table, 72 percent of the planet. And as I will point out later in the presentation, 50 percent of the United States of America lies beneath the sea. 50 percent of our country that we own, have all legal jurisdiction, have all rights to do whatever we want, lies beneath the sea and we have better maps of Mars than that 50 percent. Why?

This is what a real one looks like on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. What you're looking at is an incredible pipe organ of chemicals coming out of the ocean. Everything you see in this picture is commercial grade -- copper, lead, silver, zinc and gold. So the Easter Bunny has put things in the ocean floor, and you have massive heavy metal deposits that we're making in this mountain range.

And my final question, my final question -- why are we not looking at moving out onto the sea? Why do we have programs to build habitation on Mars, and we have programs to look at colonizing the moon, but we do not have a program looking at how we colonize our own planet? And the technology is at hand.

Full Speech



Some of these companies are already up and running, working closely with scientists and engineers to develop efficient ore retrieval methods & technologies while minimizing environmental impact. Currently, active "black smokers" are not considered for mining due to their relatively young age making for poor mineral & ore deposits, the intense heat of hydrothermal vents being prohibitively damaging to equipment, and concern for the blooms of ecology which thrive around them. Dormant/Inactive smokers are much harder to find, but they are much more profitable, though their ecosystems (if they are prolific) are poorly researched.

Nautilus Minerals Inc.

Nautilus is perhaps the most prominent and active figure in the deep-sea mining industry to date, but they do have competition. Current technology does not allow for extraction at quantities necessary to make DSM a viable alternative to land-based mining, so exploration and oceanographic research are priorities currently. However, the difficulties facing DSM efforts are not insurmountable in any regard - and I think you'll end up finding that investment and expansion of mining the ocean floor will become the preferred resolution to the problem of resource scarcity rather than wars of attrition over depleting land-based mining operations. Why resolve to having to kill each other over the matter when an alternate course would allow both economies to become even further enriched and prosperous?

reply to post by Lasheic

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Very interesting, thanks for the post.

I hope they find or extract more R.E. metals somehow, and soon, because otherwise, in two or three years at the latest the world will start to feel the "bite" of this current lack.

Not to worry...Goldman Sachs hopes to save the day with their privately held subsidiary Molycorp Minerals...and a few taxpayer contributions of course. But hey , it's a matter of national security. A subtle twist on the too "big to fail" taxpayer funded bailouts of 08 ?


Why Did Goldman Get A $3 Million Gov't Gift For "National Security"


Apparently congress wasn't aware that public companies like Avalon Rare Metals are developing massive deposits in the Northwest Territories with the potential to supply the REE market for the next hundred years.

Any of you guys that trade exploration co's probably know that trend spotter Jim Dines was early into REE on this cycle. Criticized in some circles for being a tad arrogant , the man is definitely smart , attuned , often prescient. If you don't believe me...just ask him

The master talks his book: REE

I doubt the REE market is anywhere near exhaustion at this point (GS is an efficient bubble-blower) , but when the vampire squid has its tenticles entwined in a given sector: Caveat Emptor


Related: Goldman's Mining Subsidiary Using China Fears To Get Taxpayer Money

[edit on 5-3-2010 by OBE1]

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