Robert Gates: 'We're Not Ever Leaving' Afghanistan

[Ed Jewett]

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?






China's Stronghold on Rare Earth Metals

What's Got the Pentagon So Worried?

By Ian Cooper
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
China's got the Pentagon shaking in its boots — and for good reason.
With more than 97% of the world's rare earth metals produced in China, its recent announcement of a 72% reduction in exports could screw our military...
The Pentagon is scrambling for alternatives, but they don't really have time to scramble.
Rare earth resource demand must be met.

Without these metals, technological advancements are history. The world in which we have become accustomed to living in and the way in which we work, communicate, and progress will change drastically.
And not just for the military...
All China has to do is follow through with the threat, and our world changes.
In fact without rare earth metals, some of our most important modern technologies could never exist: rechargeable batteries, electric motors, photo optics, and solar cells, just to name a few. The impact on "green" technology would be crippling...
Toyota's Prius, for example, depends on 2.2 lbs. of neodymium in the hybrid's electric motor, and 22-33 pounds of lanthanum in the car's battery pack.
Heck, your car requires about 10 pounds of rare earths: cerium, zirconium, lanthanum, and europium, for things like catalytic converters, headlight glass, and mirror finishing.
Rare earths are a vital part of high-tech medical devices, including MRIs and X-ray machines.
The U.S. government understands just how dire a situation we'll be in if our rare earth metals well suddenly dries up...
Introducing S.3521: Rare Earths Supply Technology and Resources Transformation Act of 2010 — an act acknowledging the fact that “many modern defense technologies such as radar and sonar systems, precision-guided weapons, cruise missiles, and lasers cannot be built, as designed and specified without the use of rare earths.”
This will be a companion bill to Colorado Congressman Mike Coffman's Rare Earth Supply-China Technology and Resource Transformation Act of 2010.
Both will call for the creation of a rare earths stockpile for national defense, while encouraging federal loan guarantees for companies involved in re-starting rare earth supply chains.
It's a wait-and-see situation, though. We all know how quick Congress is to act...
The situation is nothing short of a crisis
Global rare earth demand has been increasing for years; production has not.
And prices have skyrocketed because of this...

Terbium is up 70% this year. Yttrium prices have more than doubled. Gadolinium is up about 500%, if not more. Samarium is through the roof.
And demand isn't likely to wane anytime soon — which means rare earths are about to experience hyper-growth moving forward.


http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles...etals/1266