The 17 REMS are actually abundant but not found in large concentrations
Nicholas LePan, 2021, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rare-earth-elements-where-in-the-world-are-they/, Rare Earth Elements: Where in the World Are They?
REEs, also called rare earth metals or rare earth oxides, or lanthanides, are a set of 17 silvery-white soft heavy metals.
The 17 rare earth elements are: lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu), scandium (Sc), and yttrium (Y).
Scandium and yttrium are not part of the lanthanide family, but end users include them because they occur in the same mineral deposits as the lanthanides and have similar chemical properties.
The term “rare earth” is a misnomer as rare earth metals are actually abundant in the Earth’s crust. However, they are rarely found in large, concentrated deposits on their own, but rather among other elements instead.
Magnets in REMS critical to low carbon technologies (wind, hybrid and electric vehicles), portable electronics, F-35s, nuclear submarines
Nicholas LePan, 2021, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rare-earth-elements-where-in-the-world-are-they/, Rare Earth Elements: Where in the World Are They?
Most rare earth elements find their uses as catalysts and magnets in traditional and low-carbon technologies. Other important uses of rare earth elements are in the production of special metal alloys, glass, and high-performance electronics. Alloys of neodymium (Nd) and samarium (Sm) can be used to create strong magnets that withstand high temperatures, making them ideal for a wide variety of mission critical electronics and defense applications. End-use % of 2019 Rare Earth Demand Permanent Magnets 38% Catalysts 23% Glass Polishing Powder and Additives 13% Metallurgy and Alloys 8% Battery Alloys 9% Ceramics, Pigments and Glazes 5% Phosphors 3% Other 4%Source The strongest known magnet is an alloy of neodymium with iron and boron. Adding other REEs such as dysprosium and praseodymium can change the performance and properties of magnets. Hybrid and electric vehicle engines, generators in wind turbines, hard disks, portable electronics and cell phones require these magnets and elements. This role in technology makes their mining and refinement a point of concern for many nations. For example, one megawatt of wind energy capacity requires 171 kg of rare earths, a single U.S. F-35 fighter jet requires about 427 kg of rare earths, and a Virginia-class nuclear submarine uses nearly 4.2 tonnes.
China percentages
Nicholas LePan, 2021, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rare-earth-elements-where-in-the-world-are-they/, Rare Earth Elements: Where in the World Are They?
This tight control of the supply of these important metals has the world searching for their own supplies. With the start of mining operations in other countries, China’s share of global production has fallen from 92% in 2010 to 58%< in 2020. However, China has a strong foothold in the supply chain and produced 85% of the world’s refined rare earths in 2020.
China has a monopoly on refining the minerals, even though some exist in the US
Stew Magnuson, 9-7,m 21, National Defense, U.S. Startups Seek to Claw Back China’s Share of ‘Technology Minerals’ Market (Updated), https://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2021/9/7/us-startups-seek-to-claw-back-chinas-share-of-technology-minerals-market
The Mountain Pass mine has existed for some 60 years and is the only one of its kind currently in operation. It’s renowned for its high concentration of rare earth elements, sometimes called the “technology minerals.” The elements that occupy 17 spots on the periodic table are categorized as “strategic minerals” by the U.S. government and therefore considered vital for national defense. Along with smartphones, they are used in fiber-optic cables, medical devices and high-performance magnets, which are needed in a host of machines, including jet fighters, wind turbines — and most importantly on the commercial side — electric vehicle engines. “From an economic security perspective and defense perspective, magnets are very, very important to national security,” Rosenthal said. The problem is that China has a near monopoly on the complex process of separating 16 of the 17 elements currently used in these technologies from the source material and refining them to a point where they can be made into useful metals and materials.
The Biden administration’s 100-day review, “Building Resilient Supply Chains, Revitalizing American Manufacturing and Fostering Broad-Based Growth,” released in June, devoted an entire section on strategic and critical materials and minerals, including its thoughts on rare earths. “The United States imports substantially greater quantities of rare earth elements in value-added products. … Implicit in this trade phenomenon is the gradual decline in value-creation, innovation, research and human capital development,” it stated. That imbalance with China will only increase with the expected growth of green energy technology such as electric vehicles and wind turbines, the review added. “Rare earths” are a misnomer and are not that rare. China does have an abundance of them, but they are also found in concentrations high enough to mine in several U.S. states and other nations throughout the world. They are further divided into two categories, light and heavy, with the heavier ones considered more difficult to refine and thus, more valuable. MP Materials — along with three other companies interviewed — are seeking to exploit the abundance of rare earths found in the United States and to end China’s monopoly on their refinement and return some of the market share back to the United States. Separating the elements from the host rock and further refining them to the point where they are separate from each other is a complex process requiring several steps. Rosenthal explained that the boulders being fed into the grinder may look the same, but they’re not being selected by happenstance. Every day, geologists drill holes in the mine, mark them with GPS coordinates, and use X-ray fluorescence on the samples to determine the rare earth element content — specifically which and how much of the 17 elements are in that part of the mine. The result is a daily “recipe” to determine a blend.
For example, the Mountain Pass mine’s rare earth content is almost 50 percent composed of cerium (Ce), which is used in glass making and polishing. While abundant, it is not where the company sees future profits. Neodymium (Nd), dysprosium (Dy) and samarium (Sm) — three of the four elements that can make high-performance magnets — are now viewed as the biggest money makers. The company that previously ran the mine focused its business on cerium, which Rosenthal considers one of the main reasons it ceased operations after three years.
Rosenthal moved on to a building where the pebbles that emerged from the giant grinder are further crushed into sub-100-micron particles. Those are fed into towering vats of water and further separated from each other. A chemical process removes the waste while the rare earths float to the top. Yet, at this point, the rare earths are still not refined enough for them to be used to serve as technology “building blocks.” The final step involves heat — described as a slow-roasting process — that delivers the purity required. That is all done in China. The raw material resulting from the second step is packed into giant white bags and moved to the foot of the mountain. MP Materials has aspirations to not only refine these crucial elements at Mountain Pass, but to make high-intensity magnets as well. Extracting the most valuable rare earth elements as efficiently and cheaply as possible is the road to profitability, Rosenthal said.
The raw material resulting from the second step is packed into giant white bags and moved to the foot of the mountain. MP Materials has aspirations to not only refine these crucial elements at Mountain Pass, but to make high-intensity magnets as well. Contractors near the mine were at work building the new facility where light rare earth elements will be refined to the point where they can be used in manufacturing. In December, MP Materials earned a $10 million Defense Department grant to help it build a $200 million refinement facility for light rare earths. The company broke ground on the building in 2021 and expects it to be operational by 2022. As is the case for many technologies, the U.S. military market for rare earths is crucial, but would not be large enough to sustain a domestic industry. Magnets are used in every electric system that moves. But the ones needed to spin a radar, for example, are not the everyday magnets found on refrigerators. Neodymium magnets, for example, are prized by the consumer market for their strength and low costs. The military and its contractors will eventually benefit from the commercial demand for magnets and the other elements needed for other systems by no longer having to depend on China, Rosenthal said. Meanwhile, flatbed trucks hauled the giant white bags of raw material to the western edge of the facility where they were lined up waiting for shipment. Next stop, the port of Long Beach, California, then China. Rosenthal acknowledged the irony. But until there is some domestic refinement capability, MP Materials has no choice but to send the raw material to China, he said. The publicly traded company would not be profitable and currently employing 200 workers if it had to wait for the refinement facility to come online. The bags would be sitting ready to go nowhere.