Could Congress pass legislation to speed up rare earth mining here in the U.S.?

According to the April issue of the Materials Research Society Bulletin, a bill may be enacted if mitigating risk of supply chain interruptions remains a priority for Congress.

Concern over the supply chain of rare earth minerals—which are not rare, but are found in small concentrations—heated up when China, which accounts for 97 percent of the world’s production, curtailed exports in 2010.

For the growing green tech industry, the 17 rare earth minerals on the periodic table are vital in the production of wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries, fuel cells, and energy-efficient lighting. They are also important in the production of dozens of other high-tech products, like computers, cell phones, and medical equipment.

China's Action Leads to WTO Claim

China’s action to curtial rare earth exports led to the European Union, Japan, and the United States to file a claim with the World Trade Organization. They said the quotas unfairly raised prices of rare earths outside China while lowering prices inside the country, as covered in an April 10 World Climate Change Reportarticle.

China said its rare earth policies are aimed at addressing environmental problems of mining and consolidating the industry to improve enforcement.

To that end China established a 155-member rare earth industry association to present a united front against the WTO claims.

Resolution of the WTO dispute could take awhile. WTO said it will form a panel in mid-May to begin dispute discussions. Also, WTO chief Pascal Lamy played down the dispute in March, telling Agence France-Presse that it was unlikely to escalate into a trade war.

Congress Introduces Rare Earth Bills

China’s trade policy has resulted in numerous bills being introduced in Congress calling for more research into finding substitutes, or ways to recycle the critical elements, or, like the most recent bill introduced, to spur domestic mining of rare earths.

As detailed in an April 19 article, the National Strategic and Critical Minerals Production Act (H.R. 4402) would basically require the Interior and Agriculture departments to coordinate permitting work and limit total review time to 30 months.

In testimony before the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources April 26 on H.R. 4402, Hal Quinn, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, said it can take up to 10 years or more to obtain mining permits, compared to Canada and Australia, where permits can generally be obtained in two years, while subject to similar environmental requirements.

Even if the bill gains support in Congress, its passage looks bleak according to govtrack.us, which said it only has a 2 percent chance of being enacted. Overall, only 4 percent of all House bills in 2009–2010 were enacted, according to govtrack.

Where are Deposits of Rare Earth Elements?

For now, there’s only one U.S. rare earth mining operation—in Mountain Pass, Calif. It is owned by Molycorp.

According to a USGS report, the mine was discovered in 1949 for its uranium, and as many past mining discoveries, was also found to have significant deposits of rare earth elements.

Mountain Pass was opened as a rare earth mine in 1952, but closed by 2002 when it was unable to compete with China’s low labor costs and less stringent environmental protection requirements.

However, Molycorp restarted mining operations in Mountain Pass in 2011. The company also announced April 9 that its “proven and probable reserves” of rare earth minerals have increased by 36 percent.

Other than Mountain Pass, USGS said exploration efforts surged in 2011 and investment and interest increased dramatically. The areas of interest include North American Bear Lodge in Wyoming, Diamond Creek in Idaho, Elk Creek in Nebraska, and Lemhi Pass in Idaho-Montana.

Also of note, USGS said “undiscovered resources are thought to be very large relative to expected demand.” One such resource of heavy rare earth elements (more expensive because of their scarcity) is thought to possibly exist, or inferred, from deposits of phosphorites, which can contain relatively high concentrations of lanthanide (rare earth) minerals, in Florida’s Phosphate district in central Florida.

In addition to China, Canada, Australia, Brazil, India, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are believed to have significant sources of rare earth deposits. Also, USGS has confirmed that Afghanistan has soil rich in rare earth minerals.

What Does it Take Mine Rare Earth Elements?

According to USGS, it can take up to a half a billion dollars or more in capital requirements just for pre-mining activities alone (prospecting, exploration, process development, feasibility studies, permitting, construction, and commissioning).

U.S. reserves and inferred deposits of rare earth resources are huge—1.5 million tons compared to domestic consumption of 10,200 tons in 2007. However, USGS said that based on available data, the number of deposits that can be mined economically cannot be determined. Only data from Mountain Pass are sufficient to meet criteria for sizable, minable reserves.

 New Frontiers for Rare Earth Mining?
According to an article published in Nature Geoscience last year, ocean sediments contain high concentrations of rare earth minerals, especially yttrium—which is crucial for green-energy technologies—at numerous sites throughout the eastern South and central North Pacific Ocean.

However, just how practical it is to mine rare earth elements from the ocean floor is not known.

But why worry about practicality? As reported in the Los Angeles Times April 24, Planetary Resources, Inc., has a plan to mine asteroids near Earth for rare earth minerals and precious metals.

Wealthy investors, like Google CEO Larry Page and director James Cameron, are backing the plan, which includes using robots to prospect asteroids and collect rare earth minerals within the next decade.

However, Peter Diamandis, the company’s co-founder and co-chairman said the technology to retrieve the minerals and bring them back to Earth has yet to be developed.