The following Ambrose Evans-Pritchard article has been sent to me a zillion or so times, so I’ll share it:
A draft report by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has called for a total ban on foreign shipments of terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, thulium, and lutetium. Other metals such as neodymium, europium, cerium, and lanthanum will be restricted to a combined export quota of 35,000 tonnes a year, far below global needs.
China mines over 95pc of the world’s rare earth minerals, mostly in Inner Mongolia. The move to hoard reserves is the clearest sign to date that the global struggle for diminishing resources is shifting into a new phase. Countries may find it hard to obtain key materials at any price.
This is what happens pretty much anywhere when countries’ domestic markets grow, so it isn’t a total surprise. It is, however, a reminder that people need to read past the opening null character in the phrase "rare earths" when considering building mass-market products around scarce materials.
More here.
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