President Trump could lessen the rare Earths problem, atleast I think so...

You know how President Trump revitalized American steel? Why can't the President issue a national emergency with rare earths and take the Chinese's trump card off the table or at least lessen the blow. If he opened up all the closed mines then maybe the disaster of China monopolizing them won't be so bad once they do that. I am sure they will eventually so why isn't something to stop or lessen the blow happening?

I may be missing something... idk it just seems dumb to wait for the inevitable when we could at least try to get ahead of it.

I know mining them pollutes a lot but the alternative is China with all the cards and the stock market will drop a lot.

Tell me why I am wrong because I must be missing something.

a reply to: watchandwait410

The absence of rare earths is what you're missing. You can't mine what isn't there.

a reply to: Peeple

The U.S. has none?

… we are screwed.

a reply to: watchandwait410

Well some 1,16% or so. Not worth the effort.

originally posted by: watchandwait410
a reply to: Peeple

The U.S. has none?

… we are screwed.

We have a small amount, mostly in California mountains.

India might be another good source but it is very underdeveloped and takes time to start mining it. There is a reason China has a monopoly and the world/US has been silly to depend on it to this level.

a reply to: watchandwait410

Japan has a lot of them.....

a reply to: watchandwait410

It's too expensive to mine.

We built the SR71 out of Russian titanium during the Cold War...
How do you suppose that happened?

Once coal was quite valuable and industry forged ahead. Then petroleum replaced that. Then renewable energy. Likewise, there was a time transistors were all important. We now have chips you need optical devices to see them. Rare earth will be taken over by a new chingawhalie/wigit and a new era will emerge. Then the value of rare earth will plummet.

originally posted by: manuelram16

Japan has a lot of them.....

And we've recently seen what appears to be a very successful visit amid much goodwill by POTUS to Japan. I would say this topic has probably been discussed.

That’s exactly why we’re still in Afghanistan . Rich in minerals and no pesky environmental regulations to worry about .

While the war continues to rage in nearly every corner of Afghanistan, one issue barely investigated is the rush to mine valuable Afghan resources. I’ve been reporting on this subject since 2012, visiting Afghanistan twice for research, and the situation has never been so dire; massive contracts are being signed with little transparency or concern about the negative consequences for civilians. With $1–3 trillion of resources estimated to be under the ground, from rare-earth minerals to lithium and copper, the rush is on.

It’s there for the taking.

A Chinese company was going to process the tailings off our iron mine here, then properly refill the iron mine with the leftovers. But they backed out, the tailings have lots of rare earth metals in them, but I guess the problem stemmed with liability issues. They would have had to make a big environmental deposit or something to do the job. The Iron mine did not care, it would save them some money. I am not sure what happened for sure, but the deal went bust. The iron mining company has no desire to start doing rare earth, they stick to what they do.

The old copper tailings west of here supposedly contain a lot of rare earths too. Big piles of the rocks exist up there.

There is no shortage of rare earths in areas of the USA, but it is expensive to remove and seperate them, high initial investment is needed. I am not sure of the environmental impact of removal of the rare earths, I know sulfides are not permitted around the great lakes. We do need to be concerned about environmental impact when we sit right between two great lakes here.

originally posted by: watchandwait410
a reply to: Peeple

The U.S. has none?

… we are screwed.

Just annex Canada, I can point you to tons of lithium and other rare earth metals :-)

Cheers - Dave

originally posted by: Plotus
Once coal was quite valuable and industry forged ahead. Then petroleum replaced that. Then renewable energy. Likewise, there was a time transistors were all important. We now have chips you need optical devices to see them. Rare earth will be taken over by a new chingawhalie/wigit and a new era will emerge. Then the value of rare earth will plummet.

I wouldn't be so certain about this. We are talking about ELEMENTS, not devices so much. Limiting elements is one of the most difficult things to overcome which is why colonizing space is so difficult, because there is a lack of needed elements - at least in their needed quantities and/or proper form.

There are ways to create new "devices" that might not require the same elements or the same quantity - much like catalytic converters can use different elements to do the same thing and they are working on one that doesn't require precious metals, which would make them a fraction of the cost, but currently there is no replacement that would work within the conditions where the PGM's work.

I think the US needs to invest in Africa, mainly in stabalizing the DRC and in return work out some fair deal to mine their rare earths. Falling behind in Africa will have major ramifications in the years to come, and the policies of colonial Europe will make these efforts more difficult and unfortunately I think they will need to see a greater evil before they realize the more recent relationships with America were much more beneficial and acceptable than they thought at the time.

a reply to: rickymouse

The Chinese invested the wealth of their state to efficiently mine every element from any type of mine, which is one of the ways they amass so much rem. They are rarely in any concentrated amount, but exist everywhere in low density. The key is to extract every last piece elemental dust from as much or from any mine. This is the key to beating g China, but the investment and business model required is not compatible with our way of business. It would essentially require state sponsorship for the good of the nation, not in the name of private profit.

Without this willingness to adapt, we could lose the 21st Century.