China's rare earth policy backs Apple into a corner

Other mines are reopening though... This from 2010

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/214938/us_rare_earth_mine_resumes_active_mining.html

Plenty of REE's

There's loads of known and exploitable REE deposits elsewhere. They were the main source prior to the 1980's/909's when China brought theirs onto the open market at a fraction of the market price. Everyone else put their mines on hold, and used the China supply instead. This China lockdown has been on the cards for a while, and as such companies have been spinning up their old mines in preparation. The Chinese deposits are certainly large and rich, but they are by no means the only ones.

Well, sorta

Yes, others are opening outside China production.

But the real point is that the quantities used in this gear are tiny. OK, terbium (green phosphor) is expensive, $5,000 a kg last time I saw.

But I would be absolutely astonished if the entire global electronics industry used more than 500 tonnes a year. More likely 50 tonnes. For example, it's also used in CFLs and the company that makes the majority of global CFL charges uses under 1 tonne a year.

Even if it's that higher number, 500 tonnes, we're still talking what, a buck or two per screen?

Rare Earth Elements

The "Rare Earths" is the name of the group, we are stuck with it for historical reasons but most of the elements are not particularly rare, they are fairly hard to separate from each other, but much easier than many other common industrial chemical processes. For a long time they were almost unused so no-one much bothered about mining and refining them, then the Chinese saw an opportunity to earn foreign currency as use started to grow and we let them take a near monopoly.

However if they get really short there are millions of tons of spoil heaps in Cornwall just waiting to be mined!

quite true

"Quite recently, sizeable amounts of indium* have been identified in ores from South Crofty (the last mine to work in Cornwall),"

They have indeed found reasonable amounts.

"and across the pasty wall the Hemerdon Mine near Plympton is about to start producing large quantities of tungsten."

I've got someone going in to see them tomorrow in fact to ask about the RE contents of their ore.

"be too surprised if some of the Cornish tips were also valuable sources of wolframite which was mined alongside tin in the 19th Century, but thrown away as being valueless and for making cassiterite hard to smelt."

Ah, no, those were all sold off to Germany in 1905-10 or so. Because the Freiberg (amazingly, where I am right now) mines were Sn W and so they had the technology to deal with mixed ores.

There are reasonable amounts of REs in the waste lakes of china clay extraction though. Plus Ta, Sc and Li. No one's quite sure if they're economic but they are there.

So all China needs to do.....

Is sell their rare earth mineral exports high enough to keep manufacturing in China, but not so high as to to make it worthwhile re-opening mines outside of China? Am I missing something?

(Original post withdrawn due to missing words)

Reasons?

"China ............ cutting back on the mining of rare minerals apparently due to environmental reasons."

Ri-ight. Just like OPEC cut back on oil production in the seventies for "environmental reasons".