Short-term risk of rare earth metals shortage

摘要

US manufacturers of advanced clean-energy technologies face short-term risk from China's virtual stranglehold on rare earth-element production, but increasing production in other countries will likely reduce that risk in the long term, according to a senior White House science official speaking in June. "In the longer term normal market forces will work to mitigate these risks, as other suppliers come into the market to take advantage of the higher prices and new demand," said John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.China currently controls about 95% of the $1.2 billion global market for rare earth metals. Rare earths are used in a number of military technologies, as well as wind turbines, electric-vehicle batteries and solar panels.In the short term, the US is using "trade relations and diplomacy" to increase the diversity of supply, and promoting domestic production, Holdren said. The US currently has no operating mines for rare earth minerals, but US company Molycorp is in the process of reopening a mine in Mountain Pass, California, that closed in the 1990s because of environmental regulations and competition from Chinese companies. Australia is also pursuing rare earth metals production.