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Rare Earth Deposit Discovered In US
s31523 writes "With China having 97% of the market share of rare earth elements, many countries are nervous about being able to get supplies of key elements needed for high tech gear. Quantum Rare Earths Developments Corp. has reported they have discovered a potential huge source of rare earth elements, right in the middle of the U.S. While the USGS reports that the U.S. has an estimated 13 million metric tonnes available for mining (about 1/3 of China's reserves), finding another regular source is crucial to global stability. The potential yield of the deposit, found in Nebraska, could be the world's largest source for Niobium and other rare earth elements. Could this be the next gold rush?"
We already knew that the USA had large deposits of rare earth elements.
It is just cheaper to buy them from China than to mine and process what is available domestically.
"You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
At stewarding its own resources, preferring instead to buy resources from other countries that do not have the level of regulation we have. We have plenty of oil, gas, rate earth metals etc... we just don't go after it.
That sounds like stewarding them well to me. What would be so great about digging up today resources that can be left for tomorrow, given that they can be cost effectively obtained elsewhere for now?
Can we refine them here and export the waste to China for 'disposal,' or do we only get to ignore the environmental problem if they produce the waste themselves?
So Nebraska has something worthwhile! That is news!
With the price of corn these days, I'd say they have something else that's worthwhile.
At stewarding its own resources, preferring instead to buy resources from other countries that do not have the level of regulation we have. We have plenty of oil, gas, rate earth metals etc... we just don't go after it.
That sounds like stewarding them well to me. What would be so great about digging up today resources that can be left for tomorrow, given that they can be cost effectively obtained elsewhere for now?
Bingo! Leaving it in the ground (or, better, undiscovered) until later represents future income. Dollar saved, dollar earned, and all that.
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
You misspelled bubble.
...are buing more lobbyists, congressmess, and getting ready to deregulate something. They aren't sure yet, but if the U.S. is going ot mine resources, there has to be something worth getting profit from.
Seriously? Being pro-environment does not automatically make somebody anti-business or anti-mining. Just like being pro-choice doesn't automatically mean you think people should have abortions. Or being a Christian doesn't automatically mean you hate non-Christians.
If you see protestors, and disagreee with them, by all means go ahead and rail against them. But this just reads like paranoia. I'm sure a safe, environmentally controlled mining operation would be welcomed by most. And some extremeist on both sides will always disagree. That's called freedom of dissent. That's one of the things Americans fight and die for. Get used to it.
We should harness the collective knee-jerk energy of the US as an alternative fuel source. Hell, the energy people spend daily looking over their shoulder for the next bogeyman could power Times Square for a week.
The troubling part is that western Nebraska is over the Ogallala aquifer that supplies water to much of the plains states. I shudder to think what would happen if it got contaminated with rare-earths.
I doubt you mean the rare earth materials themselves. It's the purification process that creates most of the nasties.
Interesting short piece about mining and purification of rare earths. Summary: Mining and primary concentration need to happen on site for economic reasons. However, it's the secondary purification steps that have most of the nasties. After it's been refined to a level of around 50% purity then it's economically viable to transport that material reasonably long distances for final smelting.
Thus, one could have a single rare earth refining plant, closely monitored and supported by numerous mines. If done correctly, that might mitigate a significant part of the environmental concerns. (If I'm reading the article correctly).
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Why don't you go there since they have the level of environmental regulations you like? Breathe in that thick city air and let that foul black river "water" slowly slide down your throat. Taste the unregulated capitalism. Mmmmmm...
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
More like dollar saved, 2,000 earned since as global supplies go down, the value goes up.
the US has plenty of cash, we just need to raise taxes and jump start actual economic activity instead of letting the wealthy further concentrate the fruits of everyone's labor into their pockets
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
Yes, put the money in the hands of government so that it can efficiently spend it on bureaucracy.
Let the government spend it on the care,feeding, and education of illegal aliens while ignoring the needs of people who are and have come here legally.
Lets keep giving government workers raises, while non-government workers pay is cut or eliminated. And lets give the members of congress, and their staffs raises, because that way we can't squander our money.
Lets give the new San Diego State University president $400,000 ($100,000 over the previous) a year job while raising tuition for students because there is not enough money in the budget.
Fight Spammers!
These are not minor problems - they are building a plant that handles 90C slightly-radioactive acid-abrasive slurry on a reclaimed swamp out of regular concrete, with no moisture barrier between the ground and the concrete, with cracks and voids in the walls of the already inadequate concrete, and connecting these tanks with pipes made out of regular non-corrosion resistant steel. The moisture from the ground is going to crumble the concrete, the slurry is going to eat through the pipes, and then go right into the ground. Not good.
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry