Image via WikipediaWhether or not, anyone actually pay attention to this part of our economy, it is something that most poeple should be pay attention to. Supply and demand and prices go higher world wide. Thie elements here in the U.S. are far more than we need. So why do we just sit on it all?An interesting artilce from Motorcitytimes. Click the link below to see the full story.
http://motorcitytimes.com/mct/2011/03/rare-earth-materials-and-the-incompetence-of-debbie-stabenow-d-mi
The United States has the worlds third largest reserve of rare earth elements. Considering the importance of these materials to our economy and the ever-increasing demand for them, you would think extracting, processing and exporting rare earth materials would be priority within the United States. If you thought that, you would be wrong.China currently supplies 95% of the worlds rare earth materials. Predictably, China is openly reducing the export of these materials and since the United States no longer mines or processes our own rare earth materials, we are now at the mercy of China for our supply of these vital materials.
motorcitytimes.com November 20th, 2010
China will issue a second batch of rare earth export quotas later this year, but the total volume for 2011 has yet to be decided, the China Securities Journal said, citing Chinese commerce minister Chen Deming.This reduction in the supply rare earth materials is a severe problems within our economy since they are an integral part of modern manufacturing. Demand for rare earth materials has sky-rocketed over the last 20 years and will only increase in the future.
Chen said the decision on how much would be adjusted compared to last year was now in the “last stage of research.”
China announced at the end of last year that it would cut quotas for the first half of the year by 35 percent, saying rampant and unregulated production over the last few years had caused significant environmental problems.
No comments:
Post a Comment