Hybrid shortage: Australian rare earth project highlights problem
Rare earth guzzler.
Going down under for hybrid-loving rare earths
By 2025, as many as 50 percent of the cars sold in the US could be hybrid cars based on possible new CAFE requirements, but without new rare earth mines, or the cost-effective development of new rare earth free magnets, such plans could be impossible to achieve.
And, while a new rare earth mine in Australia will help, the new mine also demonstrates just how big is this problem.
According to the US government, China produced 120,000 metric tons of the world’s 124,000- ton supply of rare earths last year. Essentially, China supplies the world’s rare earth demand. Unfortunately, this year, China cut rare earth exports by 72 percent and caused a “ninefold” increase in prices, and the problem only gets worse according to Bloomberg.
“Even if China didn’t regulate its exports, there would still be a shortage,” Arafura Resources Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ward said in an interview yesterday. “Assuming the global economy stays in reasonable shape, supply is going to be very tight. China has been reducing quotas for the past five years.”
Fortunately, Arafura’s a new Australian rare earth mine and processing plant will help alleviate this problem, but with production planned at just 22,000 tons a year of rare earth oxides from 2013 over 20 years, this mine will have little impact on the overall rare earth supply if China maintains its new export quota.
