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2010-09-01
Study: CEO Compensation Totaled $598 Million At The 50 Companies That Laid-Off The Most Workers

Peak Oil And The German Government - Military Study Warns Of Potentially Drastic Oil Crisis

Mystery Over Russian General Found Dead On Turkish Beach

Internet Freedom - Will Russia's Bloggers Survive Censorship Push?

Life In Baghdad's Slums - Fighting to Survive In Sadr City

Moral Bankruptcy At HSH Nordbank - Investigators Look At Frameup And Iniquity At German Bank

Study: Illegal U.S. Immigration Has Slowed Considerably

Inquest Told MI6 Employee's Body Was In Padlocked Bag

Report Claims Andy Coulson, Prime Minister's Media Adviser, Discussed Hacking Phone Calls

Ferrari Recalls 458 Italias After A Spate Of Fires

Probe Of Alyeska Pipeline Spill Uncovers Troubling Pattern

Defiant Dick Fuld Blames False Rumors And The Fed For Lehman Bros. Collapse

U.S. Toll Rising In Afghanistan, 22 Soldiers Killed Since Friday

Charity Oxfam Hit By Fatal Bomb As U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Visits Troops In Afghanistan

Gov. Schwarzenegger Tells Top California State Officials To Stop Hiring

Australian Economy Surges 1.2 Percent In Second Quarter

Police: At Least 1 Hostage Taken At Discovery Channel Headquarters

U.S. Sen. Murkowski Concedes Primary Election Race To Miller

2010-08-31
U.S. Salmonella Scare: Farm Inspections Reveal Manure, Mice And Maggots

U.S. Warns East Coast To Brace For Impact Of Hurricane Earl

Commentary: The Sarrazin Debate - Germany Is Becoming Islamophobic

Commentary: The Sarrazin Debate - Germany Is Becoming Islamophobic

Hell On Earth - The U.N. Documents Congo's Bloodbath

Baghdad On High Alert As U.S. Officially Ends Combat Mission

Mexico Seizes 'La Barbie', Drug Lord Infamous For Beheadings

Greenland's Prime Minister Lambasts Greenpeace For Raiding Arctic Oil Rig

Interview With Ex-CIA Agent Michael Scheuer - 'Only The Taliban Are Not Corrupt'

'I Did Nothing Wrong' - German Gulag Prisoners Recall Their Ordeal

Stock Investors Brace For Another Ugly September

Four Israelis Shot Dead Near Jewish Settlement On Eve Of White House Talks


Rare Earths: High-Tech Companies Face Shortages As China Hoards Metals
2009-11-05 15:39:30 (43 weeks ago)
Posted By: Intellpuke
(Read 788 times || 0 comments)

Germany is pinning its economic hopes on future-oriented industries such as solar panel manufacturing. But high-tech companies are facing shortages of essential metals as China, which dominates the world market in so-called rare earths, begins stockpiling the highly sought-after resources.

A massive gray mountain rises from the vast plains of Inner Mongolia. The artificial hill is the pride of the Chinese and the envy of the world - at least the world of commodities traders.

Workers at the Bayan Obo mine refer to the mound as "Treasure Mountain." Up to 6,000 people work at Bayan Obo, China's largest mine, which is completely inaccessible to the outside world. The Chinese authorities are intent on ensuring that no outsiders should gain access to the crater-like landscape, and for those who do somehow manage the feat, it is akin to arriving on another planet.

There is not a speck of green on the site, only the monochromatic monotony of earth and debris. Massive dump trucks rattle around the desolate landscape, looking from a distance like giant bugs. They crawl down into the open-pit mine, which is more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) deep, and later crawl back up to the surface, heavily loaded with iron. It is because of these trucks that the treasure mountain continues to grow from one day to the next.

A sign on the edge of the heap lists the 71 substances it contains: iron, of course, as well as 17 metals with hard-to-pronounce names like yttrium, dysprosium and neodymium, the so-called rare earth metals. These metals, used to manufacture high-tech products like lasers and solar panels, are coveted and expensive.

Nowhere on earth are larger amounts produced than at Bayan Obo. About 40 percent of world production comes from these mines, and the People's Republic satisfies a total of 97 percent of global demand. In other words, China controls the world market.

(story continues below)




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