Cobalt, Critical, Strategic and Rare Earth Minerals and Metals – Page 95

Cobalt: the backstory of a technology metal – by Robin Bromby (InvestorIntel.com – March 11, 2016)

March 11, 2016

It has certainly been cobalt’s week. John Petersen has authored two imposing posts (PT 1, PT 2). Now Christopher Ecclestone has underlined the worries that should be concerning Tesla and other end-users about the possibility that the supplies of lithium and cobalt on which they are depending for their lithium-ion batteries might just not be there when they put in their orders (and he cites the fact that London Metal Exchange warehouses have just 614 tonnes of cobalt in their care).

This is a very important story for InventorIntel given that cobalt is being seen increasingly as a technology metal and a “green” one, the latter reflecting its battery applications.

There is an additional consideration: the availability of cobalt for batteries is complicated by (a) the looming shortage of the metal and (b) the competing demand for it.

NEWS RELEASE: Quebec Government’s Plan Nord, the SDBJ and the ARBJ to Support Development of Separation Technology

March 4, 2016

Highlights of the news release:

Innord to receive a total of $500,000 from the Plan Nord, the SDBJ and the ARBJ.
GéoMégA to hold 96.1% of Innord after receiving all the funds.
Management of GéoMégA to attend PDAC 2016 from March 6 to 9 at booth #2642.

Montreal, March 3, 2016 – Geomega Resources Inc. (“GéoMégA” or the “Company”) (TSX.V: GMA) announces the support of the Quebec Government, as part of the Plan Nord program (“Plan Nord”), and of the Réseau Capital Baie-James, specifically the Société de développement de la Baie-James (“SDBJ) and the Administration régionale Baie-James (“ARBJ”), by investing in the share capital of Innord Inc. (“Innord”) to develop its proprietary separation process of rare earth elements (“REE”).

With this injection of additional funds, Innord, a wholly-owned subsidiary of GéoMégA, will receive a total of $500,000 from the Fonds du Plan Nord, the SDBJ and the ARBJ.

Extracting rare-earth elements from coal could soon be economical in U.S. – by Liam Jackson (Penn State News – February 2, 2016)

February 4, 2016

http://news.psu.edu/

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The U.S. could soon decrease its dependence on importing valuable rare-earth elements that are widely used in many industries, according to a team of Penn State and U.S. Department of Energy researchers who found a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to extract these metals from coal byproducts.

Rare-earth elements are a set of seventeen metals — such as scandium, yttrium, lanthanum and cerium — necessary to produce high-tech equipment used in health care, transportation, electronics and numerous other industries.

They support more than $329 billion of economic output in North America, according to the American Chemistry Council, and the United States Geological Survey expects worldwide demand for REEs to grow more than 5 percent annually through 2020. China produces more than 85 percent of the world’s rare-earth elements, and the U.S. produces the second most at just over 6 percent, according to the USGS.

China to boost crackdown on illegal rare earth mining – by Sonali Paul and David Stanway (Reuters U.S. – February 2, 2016)

February 2, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

MELBOURNE/BEIJING, Feb 2 China plans to boost its crackdown on illegal mining of rare earths by setting up a system to certify the origin of supplies of the materials, used in everything from fighter jets to mobile phones.

Illegal Chinese output and smuggling have helped drag global rare earth prices to their lowest in around six years, hitting legitimate producers hard inside and outside China, which churns out 90 percent of the world’s supply.

“There’s a reasonable level of agitation in every part of the supply chain which is saying (the industry situation) is not good,” said Amanda Lacaze, chief executive of Australia’s Lynas Corp, the only remaining rare earths miner outside China.

Greenland rare earth mining to remain contentious due to uranium – minister – by Gwladys Fouche (Reuters U.S. – January 26, 2016)

January 27, 2016

http://www.reuters.com/

TROMSOE, NORWAY – Jan 26 Greenland’s push to extract rare earth metals will remain a contentious political issue for years to come because the mining also produces uranium as a by-product, the nation’s finance minister told Reuters.

Greenland has been opening up to foreign companies with hopes that its vast resources in metals and minerals, including rare earths, would help finance its ambition to become independent from former colonial master Denmark.

Greenland banned uranium mining decades ago due to its potential use in nuclear weapons but lifted it in 2013 and the government’s majority in parliament supports the new policy.

How Apple Profits From A System That Abuses Children — And Why It’s So Hard To Stop – by Damon Beres (Huffington Post – January 20, 2016)

January 21, 2016

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

There may not be a simple solution, but something has to change. A new report from Amnesty International suggests that companies including Apple, Samsung and Sony are profiting from child labor in Africa — and no one should be surprised.

It’s been public knowledge for years that electronics are stuffed with minerals that come from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a war-torn place rich in must-have materials that are rarely found elsewhere. Less well-known, however, is how these sometimes blood-soaked metals move from the DRC into the supply chains of some of the world’s richest and most powerful tech companies.

While these companies carry considerable influence and are aware of the controversy surrounding their supply chains, a number of complicating factors make it difficult — if not impossible — for them to solve the problem of child labor.

Congo cobalt mined by children may be in your mobile phone – Amnesty – by Aaron Ross (Reuters U.K. – January 19, 2016)

January 19, 2016

http://uk.reuters.com/

KINSHASA – Cobalt used in batteries for phones, laptops and electric vehicles could come from mines in Democratic Republic of Congo that use child labour, an Amnesty International report said on Tuesday.

Working with campaign group African Resources Watch (Afrewatch), Amnesty accused technology giants including Apple, Samsung SDI and Sony of lax oversight of the supply of cobalt from mines in Congo to smelters and on to battery-makers.

As a result, consumer products sold across the globe could contain traces of the metal produced each year by informal Congolese mines without companies knowing, the report said.

Lithium, graphite and potash to shine in 2016 as battery storage, electric car demand grows along with food – by Babs McHugh (Australian Broadcasting Corporation – January 13, 2016)

May 13, 2016January 14, 2016

http://www.abc.net.au/

The price of lithium has surged on the back of growing global demand for high-tech devices, storage batteries and electric cars.

Lithium Australia recently took advantage of the positive sentiment by completing a $6.55 million share placement during one of the worst weeks in trading history.

It is a stark contrast to a major price drop in key bulk mineral commodities like coal and iron ore. Managing director Adrian Griffin says the demand for lithium will only grow, especially for lithium-ion batteries.

“I think we’re talking about a paradigm shift in the way people think about power,” Mr Griffin said.

How the iron ore rout is helping rare earth prices – by Frik Els (Mining.com – January 13, 2016)

January 14, 2016

http://www.mining.com/

In order to crack down on illegal mining, pollution and modernize the country’s mostly low-tech industry China consolidated its rare earth industry under six large organizations in 2014.

By far China and the world’s leading rare earth producer is China North Rare Earth Group Co (formerly Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech Co).

CNRE’s giant mine in Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia near Baotou City, produces more than the rest of world’s rare earths mines combined and does so as a byproduct of iron ore mining. The 470 million tonne iron deposit was discovered in 1927 and REEs a decade later. According to some estimates Bayan Obo boasts 70% of the world’s proven REE reserves at more than 40 million tonnes.

Lifton on Kingsnorth and the global rare earth market – by Jack Lifton (InvestorIntel.com – November 30, 2015)

November 30, 2015

http://investorintel.com/

My colleague, Professor Dudley Kingsnorth, now of Curtin University in Perth, Australia, is arguably the world’s most experienced; up-to-date; and knowledgeable expert in the global rare earths’ markets. To me therefore his keynote address to the Roskill Conference on Rare Earths, two weeks ago in Singapore, was a definitive analysis of the current situation in the global rare earths’ markets.

I believe that he and I are very much in agreement on most of the issues in those markets, and on how we got to where we are today. Prof Kingsnorth and I were, I think, both a bit surprised, although he to a lesser extent than I, that we agreed on which non-Chinese rare earth juniors were the best and were most likely to succeed. Both of us heartily agreed that the other had finally come to his senses on that topic.

I think that in order to have a discussion about the global rare earths’ markets we need first to determine exactly what or which problem(s) we are trying to investigate and understand.

The No Breakfast Fallacy: Why the Club of Rome was wrong about us running out of resources – by Tim Worstall (The Adam Smith Institute – 2015)

November 30, 2015

http://www.adamsmith.org/

1. Introduction

The scene is an early morning current affairs radio show. Very important people talk to the nation here. Evan Humphries (for it is he): “Mr. Worstall, why is it that your new report shows that soon all will be dead?”

Worstall: “Evan, it’s 7 am. Currently there is food in the fridges of the nation for breakfast. But in two hours time that will be eaten, gone, there will be no more. Therefore everyone will die because NO BREAKFAST.” Sorry, might I just rerecord that?

Worstall: “Evan, mineral reserves are disappearing at an alarming rate. Official figures show that within 30 years most of them will be used up and there are no more reserves. Industrial civilisation will crash, billions die, because NO MINERALS.”

The Next Resource Shortage? – by David S. Abraham (New York Times – November 20, 2015)

November 20, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/

WHEN world leaders gather in Paris later this month to forge an agreement on climate change, they will discuss ways to use less fossil fuel, expand energy-efficient technologies and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Yet even as our leaders are pushing us to use fewer resources, their vision will force us to use more.

Though energy from the sun and wind appears boundless, the resources needed to turn it into power are not. And as we move away from oil, gas and coal, there is increasing demand for the rare metals that are at the heart of green technology. In the process, we are trading one resource dependency for another, and unleashing a new set of economic and environmental ramifications.

These rare metals — a group of roughly 50 that includes indium, rare earths and gallium — are produced in small quantities, often several thousands of tons annually or less;

Cuts in China’s rare earth output not enough to revive hard-hit market – by Eric Onstad (Reuters U.S. – November 6, 2015)

November 6, 2015

http://www.reuters.com/

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) – An output cut by six top rare-earth producers in China has spurred a modest rise in prices and is helping to steady a hard-hit market, but a continued glut of illegal output will likely cap any rebound.

Prices of 17 rare-earth elements used in high-tech sectors such as electronics, defence and renewable energy have been sliding over the past four years, hit by heavy oversupply.

Last month, the country’s top producer China Northern Rare Earth High Tech Corp and five other main suppliers said that due to weak prices, they would produce around 10 percent less than their 2015 government-set output targets.

China is the world’s dominant producer of rare earths, accounting for 90 percent of global supplies. “The cuts caused a short-term bump (in prices), but the real problem is that it’s only a small drop in the ocean,” said David Merriman, senior analyst at consultancy Roskill Information Services in London.

Japan Gambles on Rare Earth Elements in Kazakhstan – by John C. K. Daly (Silk Road Reporters – November 3, 2015)

November 3, 2015

http://www.silkroadreporters.com/

In the past year, China, India, Japan, and the U.S. have all “rediscovered” Central Asia. While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry lectures the five “Stans” on human rights and democracy, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe all focused on the more prosaic issues of increasing bilateral trade and seeking investment opportunities.

In Kazakhstan, Abe, accompanied by 50 high-level company executives, scored a deal that will benefit Japan’s high technology sector as well as lessen its dependency on China, with whom relations have been fraying. Japan is the world’s largest importer of rare earth elements (REEs).

Minister of Investment and Development Asset Issekeshev met Nipponese Oil, Gas, and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) executives during Abe’s visit. The Ministry subsequently issued a statement noting, “JOGMEC and Kazgeologiia National Geological Exploration Company are expecting to start exploration works in spring 2016, primarily in territories rich in yttrium in Karaganda and Kostanai regions.”

The threats to America’s minerals – by William Perry Pendley (Washington Times – November 1, 2015)

November 2, 2015

http://www.washingtontimes.com/

Death by a thousand paper cuts

William Perry Pendley, a lawyer, is president of Mountain States Legal Foundation in Denver and author of “Sagebrush Rebel: Reagan’s Battle with Environmental Extremists and Why It Matters Today” (Regnery, 2013).
Much has been written about the impossibility of developing America’s rich natural resources given the opposition of the Obama administration, radical environmentalists and actively empathetic judges; it has been a horror show for oil pipelines, energy on federal lands and coal anywhere.

What happens, however, when the minerals at issue are deemed critical to national defense, key to green technology innovation and crucial to contesting Chinese combativeness and therefore: the stars align, the White House gives its support and environmental groups eschew the courthouse? Sadly, as an essential rare earth elements mine in Wyoming reveals: death by a thousand bureaucratic paper cuts.

In 1980, Congressman Jim Santini, Nevada Democrat, warned of America’s risky reliance for strategic and critical minerals on foreign sources, primarily Africa. Gov. Ronald Reagan, in his 1977 radio address, decried a “campaign” by the Soviet Union and Cuba “to achieve strategic dominance over Africa with all its mineral riches.”