Comments on: Common Gadgets May Be Affected By Shortage Of Rare Earths

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 15:34:59 +0000

” Additionally, the Act calls for a Temporary Program for Rare Earth Materials Revitalization, authorizing the Secretary of Energy to make loan guarantees for projects including the separation and recovery of rare earth materials from ore or other sources and further downstream processing, including the preparation of oxides, metals, alloys or other forms of the materials needed for national security, economic well-being or industrial production purposes. The Act contemplates cooperation between public and private sector participants to achieve a complete rare earth materials production capability in the United States within 5 years of enactment of the Act. “

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:24:20 +0000

“While these Acts together promise to give U.S.-based rare earth producers a remarkable edge in the race to replace specialty metals now dominated by China, very few domestic projects have the qualifications of Bokan as a strategic military and technological asset,” said Jack Lifton, a leading REE expert and a party to the initial drafting of proposed RESTART legislation. “As the largest historically documented Heavy rare earth deposit in the U.S., Bokan is a counterpoint to Molycorp’s primarily Light rare earth deposit at Mountain Pass in California. Together, these two deposits, located in relative proximity to each other and on U.S. soil, have the potential of liberating the U.S. from non domestic rare earth dependencies in the near term.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Ucore-Comments-on-the-Passage-iw-2439984139.html?x=0&.v=1

Thank you for all your efforts and the shared knowledge Mr. Lifton, it is very much appreciated.

By: fran

fran — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 22:50:37 +0000

GOBUCKS–

in the USA we have excessive overlapping bureacracies wherein no single agency has ultimate, total responsibilty for this debacle[REEs] or most other commodity shortfalls[reference energies with no clear detail strategy/plan for years, except for presidential rhetoric- “energy independent”]. the USGS person was doing what they do–get and document information.

please send your next querry to “THE RESPONSIBLE AGENCY/DEPT CHIEF”. let us know who that is.

By: gobucks

gobucks — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 19:30:31 +0000

You hit the nail squarely with this one:

This lowest-cost-at-all-costs mentality is pervasive. I sent an inquiry to a guy at USGS and got back the following reply:

” I am interested to hear more about your concern over mineral production (or lack thereof) in the United States and am curious about the reason(s) for that concern. Are you concerned for national strategic reasons or for business reasons, or for some other reasons? The economic paradigm in which we work appears to be that the most efficient producer (as measured by the lowest price in the market place) is the producer that survives. This process assures that your company gets the materials that it needs at the lowest possible price. Similarly, your clients get their products at the lowest price. This is a desirable outcome. In addition, it promotes economic development in geographic areas that have mineral resources. Where is the problem? I have heard that manufacturers of military equipment seek to apply this economic paradigm not only to minerals and raw materials supplies, but also to parts and components. ”

So our own “gummint” people aren’t the least bit concerned. We can all go out of business, we can all go on food stamps (until we run out of money), we can slide into third-world status, but hey, we got our minerals at the lowest possible cost.

“Where is the problem?”