Our government needs a law pronto to spend on building factories here and mining here over night for RRE and many military parts made in China.
We have zero time to waste.
If China starts a war this will get beyond us easily if the war drags on.
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I wrote one of my Senators.
Suggest other write their senators for military industrial funding instead of depending on China for anything.
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RREs are not that common the US. There are a few deposits, but China undercuts the cost in order to stop US commercial production.
https://www.mining.com/usa-rare-earth-to-produce-nearly-half….
https://www.usgs.gov/centers/national-minerals-information-c…
Found in the US (even in small amounts):
These elements include: Scandium, Yttrium, Lanathanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Holmium, Dysprosium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium.
I see two are missing: Tantalum and columbium/neobium (two names for one element). Neodymium is a different element.
In the late 1990s to 2001, there was a worldwide shortage of tantalum due to the boom in electronics manufacturing. Mega-demand for tantalum capacitors drove the shortage. Columbium/neobium were readily available (no big demand and it is usually found in combination with tantalum). In 2000-2001, scientists figured out how to use columbium/neobium instead of tantalum and get the same/better outcome. Pre-2000, the price of tantalum was about $75/lb. During the shortage, prices hit $7k/lb. After the shift to the new capacitors, tantalum dropped back to about $75/lb. Prices have gone up a lot starting in 2012 or so. Prices in the $250-$550 range. Currently about mid-$300s/lb.
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I know there are two RRE that are important in the Mountain Pass mine.
The issue is processing. We need that as a larger priority.