US under pressure to fill rare earths gap
By April Dembosky in Mountain Pass, California
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001038526
Manufacturers and politicians in the US argue for more
investment in the country’s production of rare earths, amid intensifying concern about China’s domination of supplies of the vital metals.
Demand for and prices of rare earths – a collection of 17 elements from the periodic table used to make smartphones and military radars – have rocketed in recent years.
That reflects action by China, which controls
97 per cent of rare earth supplies,
to slash exports to meet its own internal needs. In the past four months, global prices for rare earths have
doubled.
Concern among US businesses and politicians has given an increased sense of urgency to Molycorp Minerals, a Colorado-based mining company, to ready its
rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California, for full production. It will be
the only producer of rare earths in the US, and one of only two such mines
outside China.
Mike Coffman, US Congressman from Colorado, said: “
We must wean ourselves off our total dependence on China for rare earths.”
Mark Smith, Molycorp’s chief executive, said: “We’re being contacted by Fortune 100 companies who are worried about where they’re going to get their next pound of lanthanum, where they’re going to get their next pound of cerium. What they want to talk to us about is long-term, stable, secure supplies.”
One of those companies is WR Grace, a chemical company that needs cerium and lanthanum to manufacture
fluid-cracking catalysts, which help to break down heavy crude oil into gasoline. The industry is one of the largest US consumers of rare earths, Molycorp said.
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