I don’t know what ‘sands” you refer to, but if you mean monazite “sands” then the problem with processing them is the radioactive residues produced by such processing. China may be willing to deal with this problem, because it now has a use for the thorium produced, and it can always use any uranium recovered by processing monazite.

China has embarked on a large scale program to develop uranium enhanced thorium fueled nuclear reactors for civilian use-such reactors do not produce any practical weapons isotopes. These reactors by the way are called ‘thorium” reactors in the press.

At the same time China has clearly embarked on a program to remediate rare earth mining sites both in Mongolia and in Szechwan . The government has suspended all new mining ventures as well as additional operations facilities construction until 2015 in order to clean up the area, improve efficiency, and eliminate illegal mining. This means obviously that REE production will decrease, but it does not mean that CFhinese domestic demand for REEs will decrease, so I believe that China is now looking in the near term to support non-Chinese production of REEs both for its own future needs and to assure a supply of the REEs to non-Chinese export customers so as not to encourage either the suspension of the use of REEs or the substitution of them by other raw materials either not available to the Chinese or of greater cost.

The contest, if there is one, is between the two philosophies you have described. In the west we seem to think only of short term profits as a goal; in the east the long term benefits are always paramount in their thinking. If the goal is a stable prosperous economy they are right and we are wrong.

As an aside, I think it is sad that the West thinks in terms of short term economics. We are killing ourselves by not continuing to be the leader in development (in nearly every way). REEs should be relatively abundent across the US, but like oil, we are willing to sit on it without regard for how that affects us in the future.

Thanks for your time and insite into this crucial subject.

elysxtws…

As I recall a few weeks ago, an article on RMB quoted one Mr. Xu, the “Father of China’s Rare Earths” as saying that China had depleted about 35% of its total reserves, and had done so not only at a wholly unreasonable ecological cost, but also rather inefficiently, (such that a significant amount was simply lost), and now the remaining estimate of 65% was in question.

Aside from that, and given that sources like Avalon have quoted their mine to milling costs (on their website) ranging from 69-139 dollars per ton, how much more does it cost to responsibly leach/extract the REMOs (Rare Earth metal Oxides….oooh , good word, like the movie adventurer Remo Williams…I’ll patent that one) ? Add purification and transportation, what are we talking here? The current TREO concentrate is rated at about $9.00 per pound as I read it. So are we talking maybe $50 or even $100 per pound? Maybe more.
What’s your best guess for TREOs in bulk, prior to separation? Of course that depends on the percentage makeup of the various elements, but I’m just ballparking thinking we could easily be looking at a ten fold increase in prices.
And what level of markup will various companies employ if the market is in panic mode for supply?

I do not mean to imply that China’s resources and reserves of REEs are being significantly depleted. I am saying that China’s production rate capability is declining! I believe that the data on China’s resources and reserves are a state secret, and so I conclude that all statements about them are “estimates.” Exploration geology is a new “science” in China, and experienced Western exploration geologists do not have free run in China. Financial speculation based on Chinese supply data is speculation indeed.