Washington: Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. Light REEs are critical high-tech inputs as well, but they have less exotic applications like glass polishing. Rare earths provide magnetism, luminescence, and strength resistance to extreme temperatures to manufactured products. Industrial consumption of rare earths increased substantially after with the spread of consumer electronics. Today, demand comes mostly from eight market sectors Fourth section supplying magnets, phosphors and other intermediate products to other industries.
Until the late s, the glass and oil catalyst sectors were the largest consumers of REEs. Permanent magnets are metal alloys generating powerful magnetic fields without the use of an external energy source. Neodymium-iron-boron NdFeB magnets are the most popular rare earth magnets in use today, though samarium-cobalt SmCo magnets were the first to be introduced commercially and remain vital components of weapons systems and high-performance aircraft.
The trend toward increasing importance of magnets as a source of REE demand should continue, given their role in electronics and renewable energy technologies Hurst, Hurst, C. Washington: Congressional Research Service. The rare earth sector is small compared to other resource industries. Another reason is that most applications require very small amounts of REEs: a smartphone, for example, contains only a gram or so of rare earths.
Green technologies, furthermore, increasingly important as substitutes for fossil fuels, require relatively large quantities of REEs. Wind turbines contain up to 2 tons of rare earths. Though alternatives exist 5 5 Rare earth magnets themselves, for example, appeared in the s as an innovation in response to the spike in cobalt prices.
Mineral ores often contain several different REEs and separating them from one another is challenging. These difficulties increase costs and lead times for start-ups. After a mining site has been located, it can take five to ten years for operations to get underway Humphries, Humphries, M. Upstream activity begins when rare earth ores are dug out of the ground and milled into fine particles.
Rare earth-containing minerals are then extracted from the particles using separation techniques like floatation, producing rare earth concentrates. The concentrates, usually containing different types of rare earth elements, are then separated into individual rare earth oxides.
The other rare earth producers exported low-value added ores and concentrates to Japan and Western Europe. Regulators introduced export rebates and allowed poorly regulated private producers to flourish. China quickly surpassed the US in rare earth production and by the lates was the dominant producer Figure 1.
Despite the prevalence of private miners, the central government worked aggressively in the s to consolidate production in the hands of state-owned companies. Though China broke what had been a Western monopoly in the production of rare earth oxides and metals, by the mids these upstream products had become relatively minor stages in the rare earth supply chain Figure 2.
Another factor was the discovery of many new high-tech applications for rare earths, which raised the value of downstream products relative to oxides and metals. Recall that extracting rare earth ores is a polluting, low value-added activity, making it undesirable for wealthy countries to house mining and waste facilities.
Rare earth oxides and metals, furthermore, are light and have low transport costs, making it convenient, from the perspective of these countries, to outsource their production, reserving for themselves the more profitable activities of transforming metals into alloys and alloys into magnets.
This was essentially the arrangement up to , with China exporting most of its REE output to more developed countries. Downstream firms in China have made extraordinary progress since the mid s. Du and Graedel Graedel, T. The increase was particularly sharp after Figure 3. Kingsnorth Kingsnorth, D. In the s, China exported rare earth mineral concentrates. Chinese firms began exporting mixed rare earth chemical concentrates in the s, moving further up the value chain in the early s exporting separated rare earth oxides and metals.
In the late s, Chinese firms began exporting permanent magnets, phosphors and polishing powders, and in the s moved into electric motors, cell phones, computers, batteries, and liquid-crystal displays. Bangalore: National Institute of Advanced Studies. Several other large research laboratories - funded by the central government - are devoted to rare earth science and industrial applications. Tu Tu, J. These advances - along with the elimination of rare earth processing capacity abroad - thrust China into a position of technological leadership in the rare earth upstream.
State funds allocated to rare earths research increased substantially after the mids. Hurst Hurst, C. An important area of research concerns hybrid and electric vehicle technology. Rare earth policies included the strategic acquisition of foreign technology. In , two state-owned firms with close ties to Deng xiaoping purchased Magnequench, a General Motors subsidiary that invented NdFeB magnets in the mid s as a substitute for older samarium-based magnets.
Control of Magnequench was soon transferred to China Minmetals Corporation, a state-owned minerals and metals producer.
Rapid demand growth for rare earth oxides, metals, and downstream products in China Fourth Section was largely a consequence of state technological initiatives in electronics and green energy, two large industrial consumers of REEs and arguably the most important in terms of future demand.
For reasons of space, we focus on the latter sector. Driven by security-related concerns after the mids, government technology policy focused increasingly on clean energy in the s. This was sparked by the need to reduce dependence on coal-fired power plants as well as by a desire to create advantages for Chinese firms in new high-tech industries. Rare earths play an important role in this technological drive. Installed wind power capacity in China increased from 1.
London and New York: Anthem Press. Domestic manufacturers, rather than foreign companies, were the main beneficiaries of these investments. Of several wind turbine technologies now in use, permanent magnet, direct-drive generators suitable for large offshore projects are the ones most reliant on REEs, and it is precisely this segment in which Chinese manufacturers excel.
The steamer, which was modeled on Mississippi River boats, traveled between the Cascade Rapids and the lower part of Celilo Falls. In , the U.
Until the end of the eighteenth century, the Columbia River country had existed in relative isolation from disease such as smallpox, measles, whooping cough, typhoid, malaria, and cholera, which had proved so deadly to people who lacked immunities to Old World contagions.
Read More The presence of Americans to the Oregon Country in the early s led to a new legal landscape, imposed first in the Willamette Valley and then to other areas. Oregon History Project Toggle navigation. Robbins, Updated and revised by OE Staff, Related Oregon Encyclopedia Articles Loading Related Historical Records. Ben Holladay Ben Holladay was a businessman involved in the stagecoach and railroad industry in the West. Dalles of the Columbia, This roughly sketched map labeled Dalles of the Columbia, with camps of October , , depicts the area from Celilo Falls downstream to the Klickitat River.
Linn County Farm of Dr. Willamette River and Tributaries In , the U. Old World Contagions. A New Legal Landscape. As the composite makeup of the industries serviced by railroads change, intermodal transport systems become more important. Demand to haul coal is slipping. Coal is mainly shipped to electricity-generating plants. Since about , coal-fired power plants closed or have announced closings. Another proposed coal-run plants have been canceled since , according to the Sierra Club.
Because of increased antipollution standards and other cheaper and cleaner sources of fuel natural gas, solar, wind , demand for coal in United States is decreasing, but Gooden foresees a continuing need for railroads to transport coal to export markets.
What are minerals? Types of Minerals:. FUEL coal, oil and natural gas and Exploration for Mineral Resources:. Mineral exploration is shaped by geologic factors but cultural factors and other variables define the favorable areas. The factors include:. Factors to consider in the search and exploration of minerals:.
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