Metals / Commodities

• Japan Signs Rare Earth Deal with India

  Japan has sealed its new “friendship” in the world of rare earths by formally signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India for imports of rare earth (REE) minerals annually.The agreement signed last Friday will allow Japan to import about 4,100 tons of rare earths per year from India, probably from next spring. Once upon a time, Japan used to rely almost 100% on China for its supply of rare earth minerals, a crucial component in mobile phones, hybrid cars and missile guidance systems.The imports from India will take care of about 10 percent of Japan’s peak annual demand. A…

• Chinese Rare Earth Mining Monopoly Threatens US Defense Technology

  Technology that drives the Pentagon’s weapons program, the US auto industry and renewable energy ambitions is threatened by a lack of heavy rare earths for which China enjoys the global mining monopoly.Heavy rare earths are a class of 17 elements of a similar chemistry that are used in the production of everything from unnamed military drones, radar and navigation systems to high-performance magnets used in commercial vehicles, wind turbine technology and a host of consumer electronics.The Pentagon was caught napping in 2010, when the reality of China’s global monopoly on heavy rare earths mining hit home with Beijing’s decision to…

• Recycling Magnets to Extract the Rare Earth Metals

  The U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory is working to more effectively remove the neodymium, a rare earth element, from the mix of other materials in a magnet.  The initial results show the recycled material maintains the properties that made rare-earth magnets useful in the first use.The potential is important because rare earth prices increased ten-fold between 2009 and 2011 and supplies, primarily in China, are in question due to quotas for China’s internal use.This makes rare earth elements a recycling priority.  So far the process hasn’t been especially useful, but the Ames Lab is showing the recycling process can…

• Are Rare Earth Metal Prices About To Rise?

  Rare earth metal prices have fallen sharply since mid-2011, some declining by as much as 80% as expectations of rising supplies coincided with declining demand. More recently, prices have shown signs of stabilising. Chinese restrictions on mine output and plans to stockpile materials, coupled with the increased likelihood of problems at mines outside China may mean rare earth metal prices are about to rise. China reduced its export quota for rare earth metal’s by 27% year on year to 10.5kt for first half 2012 in an effort to stabilise prices and preserve stock. Then, in August, under scrutiny from the…

• Mining the Infinite Resources of Space

  Mining for precious metals and resources is about to go where no man has gone before—space. No man except for Bruce Willis, that is. In the 1998 blockbuster film Armageddon, Willis and a group of blue-collar, deep-core drillers are sent on a mission to destroy an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. Today, the world is facing a whole new kind of Armageddon: energy is running out. The irony is that those civilization-destroying, near-earth objects that we've been taught to fear may actually play a vital role in our ability to survive in a world where energy demand exceeds…

• Burma - Truly One of the Last Untapped Energy Frontiers, Opening for Business

  Investors, looking for sure bets, can stop reading right now.For those seeking overlooked energy "final frontiers," well, there’s now – Burma.According to the secretary of Burma's largest business federation, the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI), Myo Thet, he has been meeting with companies "every day for a year" even though "there is still rather low interest from the West. There have been some bank owners from the west and also Australia but it’s still low compared to Asian countries. We wish to see more (investment) not only from the East but also the West...…

• Can China's Monopolisation of the REE Market be Reduced?

  What does this percentage refer to? 97% That's the percentage of global production of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) controlled by the People's Republic of China. But even with a virtual monopoly, sales are sluggish in the REEs business. BEIJING (AP) — China announced a cut Tuesday in its rare earths export quota as it tries to shore up sagging prices for the exotic metals used in mobile phones and other high-tech goods. China accounts for 97 percent of rare earth output and its 2009 decision to curb exports while it builds up an industry to create products made with them…

• Commodity Prices Will Remain High and Volatile for the next 20 Years: McKinsey

  Just looking at a new article from global consultants McKinsey about the state of world commodities and the outlook looks bleak, to say the least. (Original here) “Our research shows that during the past eight years alone, (commodity prices) have undone the decline of the previous century, rising to levels not seen since the early 1900s,” according to McKinsey. “In addition, volatility is now greater than at any time since the oil-shocked 1970s because commodity prices increasingly move in lockstep. Our analysis suggests that they will remain high and volatile for at least the next 20 years if current trends…

• Peak Metal: U.S. Preparing for the Coming Shortages in Metals and Minerals

  Many if not most metals, rare earth minerals and other elements used to make everything from photovoltaic panels and cellphone displays to the permanent magnets in cutting edge new wind generators and motors will become limited in availability.  Geologists are warning of shortages and bottlenecks of some metals due to an insatiable demand for consumer products. 2010 saw China restrict the export of neodymium, which is used in wind generators and motors. The move was said to direct the supplies toward a massive wind generation project within China.  What happened was a two-tiered price for neodymium formed, one inside China…

• Afghanistan - Newly Discovered Mineralogical Treasure House (Again)

  As the U.S.-led Afghan campaign lurches into its second decade, the country’s vast untapped mineralogical resources are again emerging in the Western media, seemingly underpinning the benefits of International Security Assistance Force troops “staying the course” and defeating the insurgency, after which these resources can be tapped, both providing the administration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai with a source beyond drugs for reconstruction and Western companies who develop the reserves a handsome profit. The latest discovery is that Afghanistan is rich in rare earth elements (RREs). China currently has a near monopoly on the global production of RREs, and the…