Why should we care? Well, besides the loss of some 490 jobs in that remote section off I-15, it means that raw materials used in such every-day devices as your flat screen TV, cell phone, catalytic converter, and rechargeable batteries will now rely exclusively on the whims of mines in China.
More importantly, many industries rely on rare earths for computer memory; DVDs, rechargeable batteries, fluorescent lighting and much more will be impacted. The “Green Energy” jobs in the wind turbine industry need rare earths. Even our nation’s military uses rare earth in night-vision goggles, precision-guided weapons, communications equipment, GPS equipment, batteries, and other defense electronics. They are key ingredients for making the very hard alloys used in armored vehicles and projectiles that shatter upon impact.
Yes, that’s right, while rare earths are abundant in the US, Canada, and Australia, as well as Russia, Brazil, India and a few south Asian countries; China overwhelmingly controls the market … and the prices.
The ore containing rare earth elements was discovered in the 1940s, mining for the ore only began in earnest at Mountain Pass in 1952. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the Mountain Pass mine was reported to be the dominant source of rare earth metals in the world. In 2002, the EPA closed the mine for “environmental” reasons. Molycorp got a mine permit in 2004, but mining didn’t resume until they obtained 1.5 billion dollar investment in 2012.
If you were a regular traveler on I-15 to and from Las Vegas, you probably watched the mountain of tailings to the north grow the last few years.
It is hard to compete with Chinese operations that don’t have to comply with environmental regulations. Molycorp filed chapter 11 bankruptcy in June of this year, saying they simply could not produce the metals profitably while being undercut by China.
Well, in a capitalist society, competition is the name of the game. An entity that can turn out a product for a lower price will nearly always dominate. Now inject government regulation into the equation and you no longer have a level playing field. I would not dare imply that capitalism or even, in this instance, environmental regulation is wrong. I’m just saying that every player deserves a fair shot. Monopolistic practices by environmentally unregulated Chinese mines cannot be in the best interest of this nation.
It is ironic that we depend on communist China for minerals essential to national defense and much of our lifestyles – especially since there is an abundance of these minerals right under our own feet. Maybe next we could have our bombers and bombs built in Syria and Afghanistan. Wouldn’t that be a fine idea?
