World faces hi-tech crunch as China eyes ban on rare metal exports

I read this thread and people seem to lack some imagination.

It wasn't mentioned that nanotechnology could be applied to mining technology. Miniaturized robots could be programmed to harvest specific atoms from the Earth's soil. This same technology could also be applied to other planets and moons. Of course these things would be radiation powered and programmed. They wouldn't have to be fast, just efficient and in great numbers.

reply to post by jam321


I have a newer updated thread in the works stay tuned

reply to post by Saf85


How much?Did you forget a decimal point there somewhere....Ooooh i hope this has stretched far enough to be a second line.
Fotsy

The title is kind of misleading. Rare earth metals are a special group of metals. They are not really rare, but have some special functions. I don't think they can be replaced with nano tubes etc. Totally different concept and most replies are irrelevant, IMO.

reply to post by HunkaHunka

precision-guided weapons.

That is the only thing that caught my eyes surprisingly. If it is important than the value should increase. And the state can decide the value.

reply to post by fotsyfots


Nope no missing decimal points lol, it really was that high last time I checked, seems to have come down some since, I just checked; www.letsrecycle.com...
But still £3000 per ton of scrap! (whats that about $5000 or so?).

Originally posted by HunkaHunka
Looks like China has even more cards to play than I suspected.

Yes, they don't treat their people very well, and give them very little. Because of that, they have many many resources to use now while the rest of the world has few. And, since they basically have the largest slave labor force on Earth, they can get things built and done without the need to sell every bit of useful metal they have in exchange for money to build things.

China has it all, except freedom. I'd rather be broke and American.

Originally posted by HunkaHunka
Looks like China has even more cards to play than I suspected.

Yes, they don't treat their people very well, and give them very little. Because of that, they have many many resources to use now while the rest of the world has few. And, since they basically have the largest slave labor force on Earth, they can get things built and done without the need to sell every bit of useful metal they have in exchange for money to build things.

China has it all, except freedom. I'd rather be broke and American.