First rare earth processing facility
outside of China to be built in Texas
Fox Business,
by
Julia Limitone
Original Article
Posted By: MissMolly,
6/1/2019 4:06:17 AM
Rare earth elements are used every day. They are metals that are used in everything from cell phones to cars, televisions, military jet engines and medical devices.
However, the tit-for-tat trade Opens a New Window. war between the U.S. and China, Opens a New Window. may present a challenge to the industry which heavily relies on China. The retaliatory tariffs from China on $60 billion worth U.S. goods goes into effect this weekend.
Blue Line Corp., a chemical company based in Texas, is the first and only company outside of China that can process small batches of rare earth. They just partnered with Australian rare earths mining company
The Chinese think they are holding the cards on this one but if they challenge us they just might find that we will fight and win. If one plant can be built 100 can be built and others will jump into the game to make money that is the way of the world. COmmunists don't seem to get that whole competition part. We geared up for WWII in a matter of months. Challenging a free people is not the smartest thing to do. We are innovative and hard working and we will beat you every time. And we have a President who believes we can do just about anything we put our minds to. Not that manufacturing or mining could ever come back.....oh wait....
We have become energy independent and we can and actually should become rare earth independent to. This is not only about China and trade, this is about our national security. So China may just be doing us a favor by waking us up to our own vulnerability.
66 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
watashiyo 6/1/2019 4:42:05 AM (No. 88174)
Doorknob Hussein's EPA policy was preventing the chemical company from mining for Rare Earth Metals.
Hope President Trump's EPA will change all that.
33 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Philipsonh 6/1/2019 5:56:29 AM (No. 88186)
I knew early on, after reading the first few articles about China restricting rare Earth metals, that they had made a critical error. If there is an opportunity to make money, Capitalist societies will jump right on the bandwagon. The Americas have vast supplies of these minerals just waiting to be commercialized and Corporations that have the knowhow and the finances. I am surprised that China has fallen into this trap.
33 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
caddyjak 6/1/2019 6:48:48 AM (No. 88201)
Somebody got paid to keep the U.S. out of the Rare Earth Game! Now if only Hillary doesn't try to sell our vast supply to the Russians.
34 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Hermit_Crab 6/1/2019 7:26:57 AM (No. 88230)
It's a good start!
Now open up the mines and start building more mills / processing plants.
There are more rare earth deposits in the USA than most people think. There are at least three thorium deposits in the mountain behind my house, and a Yttrium, Cerium, Lanthanum deposit an hour drive away, that was in the development process when the EPA and Sierra Club destroyed the industry in the USA a couple decades ago.
28 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
jsulman 6/1/2019 8:19:33 AM (No. 88262)
The article says processing facility. Does that mean they will be actually mining the stuff or taking what has already been extracted from somewhere else and doing something with it?
0 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Paperpuncher 6/1/2019 8:46:06 AM (No. 88275)
#6 They are talking about processing minerals that are mined elsewhere. At the moment I guess mining in Australia. However, as another poster mentioned there are deposits in The U.S. but, EPA has blocked mining of these minerals here. If that part of it is fixed it may be possible we would be non-dependent on outside sources. Good Idea.
19 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 6/1/2019 9:47:28 AM (No. 88328)
Always wondered what happened to that band......... what?..... nevermind....
14 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 6/1/2019 11:41:26 AM (No. 88448)
And since the world is a free market, regardless of what political dogma pontificates, wait for Russia and Africa to fill the void left by cheap China. Before next year there will be a glut of REM on the market and China will be left with a deficit all due to their "great leader's:" miscalculation. It sure sucks to be him.
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
LC Chihuahua 6/1/2019 11:43:07 AM (No. 88451)
It never made sense that so many of these businesses were being created elsewhere instead of the United States. Especially in countries that are hostile to us. One look at government spending will tell you we need to grow our revenue base. That means new businesses, grow existing businesses, and create more jobs. it speaks volumes how much the left (especially the Democrats, but the Republicans are guilty too) screwed up our economic policy in favor of all things PC. Trump is correcting that.
9 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Ken M. 6/1/2019 12:00:17 PM (No. 88474)
There's one here, just south of Las Vegas, that's been in operation since the 60s. It's gone through some tough times recently (company bankruptcies, etc.), but as others have posted, we've got the capability AND we have the raw materials.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Pass_rare_earth_mine
6 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
DVC 6/1/2019 12:43:57 PM (No. 88524)
The last rare earth mine, run by MolyCorp in the mountains in California was shut down by EPA pressures
and very low prices from the Chinese about 6 -10 years ago. It was clear at the time by many commentators
and technical observers, yours truly included, that this was a very bad idea and that China WOULD, once they
had the market controlled, use these critical elements as a lever to harm us politically, militarily and economically.
China is THE ENEMY. Never waver, never be distracted, never be fooled. They hate us, they want us destroyed
and are working every single day, all day, to that end.
This is very good news. And new mines for rare earth elements need to be opened preferably inside the USA to ensure
that they are safe from external issues and international politics. And, in many ways, the EPA is the enemy, also.
7 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
DVC 6/1/2019 12:48:44 PM (No. 88529)
Thank you very much, #11. I had not seen the latest on that mine. From the Wikipedia article, new info since I last heard in
about 2015 or 2016.
"In August 2015, it was reported that the mine was to be shut down.
On August 31, 2016, Molycorp Inc. emerged from bankruptcy as Neo Performance Materials, leaving behind the mine as Molycorp Minerals LLC in its own separate Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As of January 2016, its shares were traded OTC under the symbol MCPIQ.
Affiliates of two U.S. investment fund advisors, JHL Capital Group LLC and QVT Financial LP and Shenghe Resources Holding Co., a Chinese minority shareholder, acquired Mountain Pass in July 2017 with the goal of reviving America’s rare earth industry.[10] The venture does business under the name MP Materials (www.mpmaterials.com).[11] MP Materials resumed mining and refining operations in January 2018.[12] "
This is very good news. EPA was costing them a fortune and the Chinese were intentionally selling at low prices with the intent of
driving US companies out of business, just like almost happened here.
5 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
dman 6/1/2019 1:20:39 PM (No. 88566)
Bingo, #11. While perhaps not as extensive as those in China, there are rare earth mines in the US that once, and can once again, supply our needs to break Chinese control.
If necessary, nationalize them for security reasons. If there can be a cost-effective way of extracting rare earth minerals from discarded electronic equipment, then that should be researched. Can these elements be found in space? Can more available and viable substitutes be found? Pursue all options.
2 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Omen55 6/1/2019 5:12:19 PM (No. 88691)
Hey, Chicoms.
Remember when OPEC had that Oil strangle hold on US?
Have you checked out American Oil production lately?
Worked out great for them.
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Dodge Boy 6/1/2019 6:15:11 PM (No. 88735)
A friend of mine works at the Mountain Pass mine. The mine will be fine and will be producing plenty of rare earth minerals. Xi, how you like THOSE apples?
2 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 6/1/2019 7:24:16 PM (No. 88770)
It is about time I learned about Rare Earth elements. I am grateful for this information and where it leads. This science was not formerly on my radar scope. Interesting to me was the way the elements received their names! Mythology I know of!
0 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
DVC 6/2/2019 12:59:41 AM (No. 88888)
#18, one of the most common ones being used for an obvious use is neodymium. It can be used in an alloy
to make absolutely incredibly strong permanent magnets. The first neodymium magnets I ever saw and handled
were about 2x1" by 1/2 " thick. Two of them stuck together so you COULD NOT pull them apart. By using max
effort, you could slide them and as one slide off the other get them apart. If you tried to then bring them together you
could get a really nasty blood blister if it pinched you as it uncontrollably slammed back together. I have to guess
that the force between them directly was maybe 100-125 lbs. Amazing magnets. Necessary in extremely tiny voice
coils (speakers, headphones, alarms) and in the heads on computer hard drives. Lots more applications, too, of other
rare earth elements.
1 person likes this.
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