04.20.12
iKit and China — rare earths as essential materials
Reader Chuck points to an article on the Apple needing three things China offers that the US does not — much cheaper labor, escape from environmental regulations and … rare earths as necessary materials in iPad manufacturing.
Even the latter is no particular surprise. Months ago DD blog went into a bit of detail over the abandonment of rare earth mining in the US.
Rare earth elements aren’t particularly rare. And they are strategic minerals. However, mining is labor intensive and messy, and it doesn’t fit short term American corporate business interests.
Not enough profit could be made instantly. So it was abandoned.
And the blog discusses it, along with a comprehensive government report on the subject here.
I succinctly dubbed it another example of US Epic Fail.
From iFixit, on iPads and rare earth elements:
But there’s another important reason why Apple and other manufacturers have their heels stuck in Chinese mud. iPad manufacturing, like the manufacturing of other electronics, requires a significant amount of rare earth elements, the 17 difficult-to-mine elements used in all kinds of green technology …
Why is all this rare earth consumption a problem? China currently controls 95-97% of the world’s supply of rare earths and has repeatedly cut export quotas, sending already-high prices skyrocketing. Fearing dependence on China for rare earths, two companies—Molycorp in California and Lynas Corp in Australia—plan to begin mining rare earths this year …
None of this is new. Although iKit was mentioned specifically, the present and future uses of rare earth elements were discussed in the original series of posts. And the government report on rare earths as strategic materials specifically addressed the fact that abandonment of mining has contributed to the creation of a significant national handicap.
Once the US actually led the world in rare earth mining. But that was like, so boring.
This graph, from a National Science Foundation report, shows how the US totally abandoned rare earth mining just as its value and digging skyrocketed everywhere else it was done.
It was, what they call in the economic parlance, an abandonment of a value chain.
For what?
U S A! U S A! We’re number 15. We’re number 15. Or maybe lower.