26.03.2012
Rare earth: The dirty kids of the mining industry
After the export restrictions of China for the rare earths, the industrial nations are looking for alternatives.
Rare earths are usually found only in low concentration and then mixed with other ores.
China's export restrictions on the rare earths have triggered an outcry. With the European Union, the US and Japan, the main industrialized countries have moved to the World Trade Organization to sue for the usual rules in international trade.
A bottleneck in the supply of raw materials threatens the production of high-tech devices such as computers or smartphones. However, the industrialized countries have played their part in making China virtually monopolized by the metals: they have left the field to emerging markets, not least because of the enormous environmental impact of the exploitation of resources.
"Basically, the rest of the world stopped mining rare earths ten years ago," said Ian Chalmers, managing director of the Australian mining company Alkane Resources, which is trying to revive business outside of China. The US company Molycorp mothballed its Mountain Pass Mine in California, which supplied 40 percent of the world's rare earths, due to problems with wastewater disposal. After that, the world overslept that China became the Goliath of industry, criticizes the think tank Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.
Now comes the angry awakening. According to calculations of the mountain farmer Lynas, the prices on the world market since 2009 have increased sixfold and are now twice as high as in the Chinese domestic market. China supplies about 90 percent of the global demand for the rare earth elements of 17 elements. This includes terbium. This silvery-gray metal can be cut with a knife and is used to make fuel cells and ultrafast computer hard disks without moving parts (solid state disks).
Usually only in low concentration
Startled by the bottlenecks, the Federation of German Industries (BDI) is now calling for a raw materials strategy from the Federal Government. This courts potential suppliers such as Mongolia or Kazakhstan. Russia also wants to jump into the breach and invites German investors to jointly develop deposits.
But there is also a search on their own doorstep: According to its own information, Deutsche Rohstoff AG has already collected 2,2 million euros to exploit rare earths in the Saxon Ore Mountains. In the USA, Molycorp began reopening and modernizing the Mountain Pass Mine back in 2007. Alkane and Lynas have found donors who are willing to invest in the development of new deposits - provided that the environmental pollution can be brought under control.
Rare earths are usually found only in low concentration and then mixed with other ores. This makes a preparation expensive.
"Environmental standards and technology have improved significantly," emphasizes Alkane boss Chalmers. "The industry can now work much more environmentally friendly." Ronald McCoy, President of the Association of Malaysian Physicists for Social Responsibility, doubts this. His group wants to prevent a refinery for processing rare earths in Malaysia. They are not convinced by the operator Lynas' assurances that they will comply with strict requirements.
Dirty work left to emerging economies
Environmentalists accuse the rich countries of making it too easy for themselves if they leave the dirty work to the emerging countries. "Big consumers like the US, the EU and Japan should see this as a shared obligation and refrain from pointing the finger at China," says Greenpeace activist Ma Tianjie. The People's Republic closed several private mines because of the damage caused by mining and processing.
However, state environmental sinners like Baotou Rare Earth have been spared similar measures so far. The Chinese government claims that more than 20 million tonnes of toxic wastewater are produced each year in rare earth production. Environmental groups point out that the risk of cancer, genetic defects and chronic lung disease has risen in the affected regions.
For critics, environmental protection or high prices are not the main driving force behind China. They see the mine closings and export restrictions as part of an industrial policy master plan. "There are many examples of companies that rely on Chinese rare earths and have had to relocate their production facilities to China," says David Nolan, head of Hastings Rare Metals, which is expanding a rare earth mine. "From an economic point of view, this is a good result for China."
David Abraham, a freelance raw materials analyst in Jakarta, argues similarly. “Beijing uses export controls and its monopoly to build global corporations that create jobs. It develops domestic companies based on the model of the Japanese Hitachi - formerly a mining company and now an electronics and infrastructure group. "
(Reuters)
