Archive for August, 2011

American Elements’ President: US strategic metals reserve needed now

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John Smith
on August 31, 2011
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Two years ago, Neodymium sold for $35 to $45 per pound. Today it is $900 per pound, so says the president of American Elements.

http://www.raremetalblog.com/2011/08/american-elements-president-us-strategic-metals-reserve-needed-now.html

If the U.S. had a strategic reserve of two years ago, we would have had a windfall of enormous proportions. The President of American Elements insists that we need to create a strategic metals reserve. Mr. Silver states that congress should immediately create this strategic reserve. It is interesting that China last year started building a strategic reserve of 100,000 tons all the while putting quotas on exports of these very materials.

Typical of the rapid increases in metal prices are the following: Lanthanum from $8.50 per kilogram to $140 per kilogram, Cerium from $9.50 to $162.

Earlier this year, President Obama launched the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP). The AMP includes $100 million to develop and deploy advanced materials. This is the time for the United States to wake up and realize that we are dependent on a country that doesn’t like us for strategic materials and components for our military operations.

Heavy Rare Earths in America

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John Smith
on August 30, 2011
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Jack Lifton one of the founders of Technology Metals Researchs web site has written an article about Heavy Rare Earths in America. This article is chock full of information about the rare earth production and its demise in America.

http://www.techmetalsresearch.com/2011/08/heavy-rare-earths-in-america-crystal-balls-brass-balls/

He identifies two companies, Rare Element Resources and Ucore Rare Metals as having high potential for producing critical quantities of  Heavy Rare Earth metals. He estimates that less than 500 tonnes  in total of magnet alloy as raw materials are imported into the USA each year for magnet fabrication, and of that amount, he seriously doubt that more than 100 tonnes is used exclusively for military production, Over 90% of the worlds Rare Earth Powder Metal are made in Asia. of the small percentage of rare earth magnets imported into the U.S., the larger percentages used in high tech civilian industry such as medical imaging. Only a small amount is used for significant military devices.

Some of the most significant information in the article relates to the lack of rare earth manufacturing in the U.S.

I.E. No rare-earth ores have been mined in North America in the 21st century

No American company, using American-developed technology, has produced pure REEs in the USA in the 21st century

No American company has made Nd-Fe-B magnets from the individual REEs in the USA since at least 2004. Electron Energy  in Lancaster, Pennsylvania has however been making Sm-Co-based REPMs and alloys for decades.

Only a small overall tonnage of REPMs are currently produced in the USA, from a rare-earth-metal base, and, critically

All of the commercially available Dy is mined in China.

This article shows the sad state of Rare Earths in the U.S. and the lack of understanding that led to the magnet production moving to China. Very few companies are currently interested in solving the problem. They are all members of the USMMA. Recharged Particles wants to join this group in bringing magnet manufacturing back to the United States.

North Korea states they have discovered 20 million Tons of Rare Earth

Published
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John Smith
on August 30, 2011
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According to North Korea’s state run news agency, they have discovered about 20 million Tons of rare earths.

http://www.commodityonline.com/news/Reclusive-North-Korea-holds-20-mln-tons-of-rare-earth-deposits-41819-3-1.html

North Korea built a rare earth processing plant at Hamhung around 1990. The North Korean exports totaled about $16 million in 2009. There have been no other reports about rare earths until this announcement on August 22, 2011. Analysts say the North Koreans are eager to dig into its rare earth elements in a fresh bid to obtain foreign currencies amid soaring prices of the minerals in the global market.

Does America Need Manufacturing?

Published
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John Smith
on August 29, 2011
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On August 24, 2011, The New York Times published an articles by John Gertner asking Does America Need Manufacturing?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/magazine/does-america-need-manufacturing.html?_r=1

The article starts with the statement that historically the federal government hasn’t invested in private businesses or specific segments of the economy. This changed  when over the last two years, the fed doled out $2.5 billion to 30 companies involved in advanced battery technology. The goal is for the U.S. produce 40% of the Lithium-ion battery capacity for the new elcttric cars. One person estimates that they will create up to 62,000 jobls in this market segment. All of this assumes that the electric car will become a major component of car sales and will most likely require help by the federal government in the form of rebates, etc. In addition, one critic stated that the industry wasn’t ready to adsorb $2+ billion and we would end up with over built capacity for the industry.

The article states that 5,000,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the U.S. but the author thinks the number is vastly larger than 5,000,000. How many jobs were lost when General Motors filed bankruptcy and walked away from $250 Billion in debt. The lost jobs to subcontractors has never been discussed or even estimated. In addition, there has been no accounting for the early retirement programs that are not counted in layoffs. There is no accurate accounting for the total number of people who have failed to file for unemployment or who have given up on getting a job. These numbers are totally fictitious.

Locally, Dayton at one time had 6 GM plants, today there are none. Dayton had NCR, they now reside in Atlanta. Next question is will LexisNexis remain in Dayton or do they currently have a suitor. This is typically what has happened to the Midwest with the loss of manufacturing jobs. NAFTA is one of the main causes for the move of manufacturing out of the U.S. How many companies moved to Mexico for the cheap labor.

Magnet manufacturing and the production of magnetic powders is almost totally moved to China. This started in the late 90′s and was complete by about 2005. Now about 94% of all magnets are manufactured in China. There is a very small segment of magnet manufacturing left in the U.S., Flexmag Industries which makes rubber bonded magnets, Electron Energy Corporation manufactures Rare Earth magnets, Thomas and Skinner, and 3 other small manufacturers.

Recharged Particles is tasked to manufacture both soft and hard ferrite powders and magnets and will begin the development and production of Rare Earth and development of rare earth replacement powders and magnets. We will be adding at least 15 jobs at each site where we install recharger recycling operations at steel pickling sites. Installation at Ilmenite processing sites will add between 50 and 100 jobs.  The Installation at each site will result in a reduction in the cost of Hydrochloric Acid by between 50% and 75% as the acid is recycled. Only 2% make up acid is required.

There is no long term plans to increase jobs in the United States. Companies that still have manufacturing operations have been encouraged to move their operations off shore by such legislation as NAFTA. In addition, the administrations have done nothing to support manufacturing operations, viewing businesses as the enemy. The current economic condition in the U.S. in the result of the fact that the U.S. did not completely recover from 9/11 and has had a weak economy since that date. Coupled with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan the economy has never had a chance to regain the strength we had prior to that date. The so called high tech jobs that have been discussed will not provide enough jobs to put at least 5,000,000 back to work. The training programs are few and there is no plan to increase them. Lets see a concerted effort to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

NYT articles about chasing rare earths and foreigh companies expanding into China

Published
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John Smith
on August 25, 2011
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A colleague of mine sent a like to the following New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/business/global/chasing-rare-earths-foreign-companies-expand-in-china.html?_r=1

Wow, the NYT has realized that there is a shortage of rare earth mined in the non-Chinese world. There is no reference in the article to the fact that the Chinese have placed quotas on some materials, particularly rare earth magnets. China was ruled against by the World Trade Organization regarding their quota on specific materials in July 2011 and is now appealing the ruling. China artificially established pricing to gain access to the U.S. and world magnet market and has the U.S. in a particularly bad position militarily. The author appears totally clueless that the Rare Earth materials market was swallowed up by pricing decisions made by the Chinese government. Molycorp closed their operation in the western U.S. about 2002 and with the problems associated with material shortages is targeting having their mine in full operation sometime in 2012.  The decision to move production to China is a typical example of the greed that is shown by some companies. Walmart leads the parade!!

There is still limited production of some magnetic materials and magnets in the U.S. and in fact the USMMA http://www.usmagneticmaterials.com/ a small group of companies in the U.S. has testifies before the Natural Resources Committee in the House of Representatives and there appears to be a concerted effort to enact some legislation to rectify the growing problem. This web site also has numerous articles which show what has happened to magnets world wide since 2000 and the effects on our military. The secondary part of the movement of companies to China is the loss of jobs in the U.S. This point was also not noted by the author. I was interested to note the author mentioned that Chinese policy regarding rare earth appears to be directed by the prime minister himself.

Also there was no mention of the rare earth materials mines currently under development outside China. I made reference to these mines in an articles earlier today, Tech Met Research releases report on the Top 5 Rare Earth Mines outside China. In addition, Gareth Hatch has issued a report entitled The TMR Critical Rare Earths Report that show the vast amount of development work going on outside China. He projects that significant inroads into China’s domination of rare earths will occur by 2014.

While economic considerations have caused many companies to move to China’s cheap labor market, there has been a noticeable lack of using resources in the countries when the companies moved from. I guess it’s all about money and greed and little about humanity and pride in your own country!!!

 

 

News Flash: 7th International Rare Earths Conference

Published
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John Smith
on August 25, 2011
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The 7th International Rare Earths Conference is scheduled for November 15 – 17th at the K0wl0on Shangri-La Hotel, Hong Kong.

http://www.metalevents.com/events/7th-international-rare-earths-conference

Roskill is the lead sponsor for this event. Of note is that some of the sponsors, Great Western Minerals Group, Molycorp, and Avalon Rare Metals are potentials threats to the Chinese juggernaut and control of the rare earth market.

A History lesson about the demise of magnet production in the U.S.

Published
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John Smith
on August 25, 2011
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Walter Benecki has a website that is chocked full of information relating to his watching the magnet industry leave the U.S.and move to China.

http://www.waltbenecki.com/index.html

Walter worked in the industry, and in fact became the President of Arnold Engineering in 1989 to 2000 while the company grew from $50 million to $140 million. Waster was responsible for developing strategic alliances with many Chinese resources and in fact led the company to move their manufacturing to China. He has many Publications and Presentations he has made since 2000 and presents a history of the death of magnet production in the U.S.

We now see the results of moving the production and raw materials development to China in that the U.S. is now at a strategic disadvantage in our military systems with China placing quotas on the most needed magnets, Neodymium-Iron-Boron. There are may newspaper articles and reports documenting our lack of magnet production in the U.S. Magnet raw materials and production is the focus of the Recharged Particles invention. We will turn a hazardous waste product, Ferrous Chloride into Hydrochloric Acid and nano sized magnetic powders.

Tech Met Research releases report on top 5 Rare Earth Mines outside China.

Published
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John Smith
on August 25, 2011
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As reported by Robert Sullivan of the Resource Investing News, Technology Metals Research founder Gareth Hatch has identified the top five rare earth mines outside China.

http://www.linkedin.com/news?viewArticle=&articleID=721589497&gid=2620948&type=member&item=67386408&articleURL=http%3A%2F%2Fresourceinvestingnews.com%2F21194-tmr-report-ranks-top-5-rare-earth-mines-outside-of-china.html&urlhash=Jy0H&goback=.gde_2620948_member_67386408

This information is contained in Gareth’s report entitled Critical Rare Earths that was referenced by this author last week. It is interesting to note that one of the mines is located in Alaska and that this mine has not been discussed extensively in other sources. Mount Weld, in Australia is recognized as the largest mine. Hatch’s co-founder, Jack Lifton, suggested in late July that Great Western Minerals groups Steenkampskraal mine will be the first non-Chinese mine to produce heavy rare earth oxides.

http://www.techmetalsresearch.com/2011/07/great-western-minerals-group-brings-non-chinese-rare-earths-sector-to-a-turning-point/

The main point is that while China has decided to throttle the world by imposing quotas on rare earth magnets, the rest of the world is rapidly gaining ground after having been inactive for years.

 

News Flash: Hitachi has jettisoned marriage with Molycorp

Published
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John Smith
on August 18, 2011
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Nikkei reports that Hitachi Metals Limited has decided not to complete a joint venture with Molycorp and will build their own magnet manufacturing facility in the U.S. Hitachi has changed its focus to hybrid vehicles and electric cars. Molycorp will still supply rare earth materials to Hitachi.

http://www.steelguru.com/metals_news/Hitachi_Metals_going_alone_in_US_rare_earth_magnet_project/220139.html

USGS Report About Wind Power

Published
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John Smith
on August 18, 2011
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USGS has a great report about Wind Power from 2010 through 2030.

http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2011/5036/

Of particular interest is that a target of 20% of all U.S. electrical power will be generated by Wind Turbines. In order to generate that much electricity will require a total of 380 metric tons of Neodymium, unless a new magnetic material is discovered or that Neodymium can be replaced by another element.

Once again, the inability of the magnet industry to spend money for development of new magnetic materials has our put our back against the wall. The DOE has a proposal to develop a replacement for Neodymium or a totally new magnetic material with magnetic properties near the current.

https://arpa-e-foa.energy.gov/#be363c9a-ef01-4b77-956a-6e31b54621cd

The author is amazed at the lack of development in new magnetic materials. The Ferrites were developed in the 1960′s and 70′s and the rare earth in the 80′s and 90′s, but there has been little or no development. Rather, the industry has rested on it’s laurels. One possible cause for this lack of new materials has been the instability in the industry which started in the 1980′s when various companies were bought up to form so-called bigger-better entities and then the Chinese buying up most of the industry in the late 1990′s and early 2000′s. Whether China has started investing in R & D to develop new materials is unknown and while there has been some indications that other countries have started looking, although it is unknown how long developing new material will take.