Rare Earth

[Roadhog]

I have to wonder if the reason we are in Afghanistan is because of rare earth deposits.
97 percent of the market is controlled by China who recently announced they will cut exports by 70 percent.

China's Rare Earths Monopoly | The Energy Collective

Afghanistan: Rare Earth Elements Could Beat the Taliban [Slide Show]: Scientific American

[Windwalker]

Maybe China took a lesson from the USA. I read somewhere that we're sitting on top of some of the largest oil deposits in the world, between the oil shale and the tar sands. But, instead of using up our own supplies, we've been sitting on them and look at all the oil we import.

If China mines all the rare elements and exports them, they're weakening their own future when supplies run low. I can picture mining the minerals until the mountains are all gone and the Taliban have nowhere to hide...

I also understand that we've been investing heavily in Australia because of the Lithium there. In electric cars of the future, that Lithium will be essential. The high current batteries are currently the only way they have to keep the size and weight of the batteries down and still provide the power.

China also announced that they are going to raise the tariffs on products imported from the US by 20%. Finding deposits in Afghanistan could go a long way in de-railing China's control over the world market. I'm sure it would mean an economic boom for them.

[Roadhog]

Our country passes a law banning incandescent bulbs for cfl bulbs, when they knew prices on cfl bulbs would soon leap dramatically, because of the rare earth elements used in making the bulbs. Another fine mess....

Almost all of the "green energy" is dependent on rare earth elements.

I'm just now getting interested in this, and didn't know much about these elements, until recently, when I heard of this vast discovery in Afghanistan.
It got me thinking about our involvement in country, and I'm more uneasy about our motivations there.

China wants to back off production, because this stuff is so hard on the environment to mine. We can't afford to mine what we have because of EPA, and some of our biggest deposits are too costly to mine, even without the environmental concerns.

Governments are so busy manipulating this market, they have everything so screwed up, ... I think we are in for a hell of a mess, right around the corner.

[Roadhog]

... I read somewhere that we're sitting on top of some of the largest oil deposits in the world, between the oil shale and the tar sands. But, instead of using up our own supplies, we've been sitting on them and look at all the oil we import.

DoD Makes Record Biofuel Purchase for U.S. Navy - Defense News

I just heard on the news yesterday about this deal... $26/gallon fuel.
This is more disgusting than the Solyndra deal.
The bs scandal on this deal will make anyone sick, when they learn of how our current administration used tax dollars to create a company, then buy from themselves.

[mitchno1]

there a rare bit of earth down here near Wanaka in the south island of N.Z ,shania owns it ,oh shes probably allready told you forgot you in contact with her lol

[Roadhog]

I recently won a bid on eBay, for a ball of lint from Shania's dryer... only cost me $78 USD.
I felt that was a much more rare deal.

(snif-snif mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm snif-snif ohhhhhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhhh heh)

[golfhobo]

I just "hate it" when a thread gets hijacked BEFORE I get a chance to weigh in with a serious, (if misguided) opinon! ESPECIALLY when the hijacker is the thread starter!

Don't really matter tho... I just tuned in cuz I thought it was a thread about one of my favorite bands when I was an aspriring "revolutionista!"

Nice pic of Shania! But, she ain't no "rare deal." I bet she's the REAL deal! She's actually (by her own admission) a classic "girl next door" who cleans up nice. There are actually millions (or hundreds of thousands) of girls "out there" in America who are JUST as beautiful, strong and talented. Or, so they tell me!

[Roadhog]

Hobo... Mitch cheated.
Everyone knows, I'd climb Mt. Shania ...relentlessly... if I could only find the base camp.

You're right aboot the wimmin!
I've met many who can destroy a man, without lifting a finger.

[GMAN]

I would love to see the bank accounts of those who keep making these laws about what we can and can't use. The EPA can do what they want without anyone to answer to in the government. It is ridiculous to ban light bulbs manufactured in this country that are affordable and send those jobs overseas which will cost us many times more for lightbulbs and damage the environment. I find it interesting that the party that is supposed to be so concerned about the environment are the ones who are destroying all these jobs and sending them overseas to manufacture them in a foreign country who will damage the environment.

[Mr. Ford95]

Well, supposedly our govt. passed a large spending bill the other day that stated right in it that the Dept. of Energy cannot force the CFL's on us now. It sounded like an "oops, we f-ed up in allowing this."

[MichiganDriver]

I recently won a bid on eBay, for a ball of lint from Shania's dryer... only cost me $78 USD.
I felt that was a much more rare deal.

(snif-snif mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm snif-snif ohhhhhhhhaaaaaaahhhhhhh heh)

That's a real nice pic of Shania there Roadhog. Yup, no problems with that at all.

[MichiganDriver]

Well, supposedly our govt. passed a large spending bill the other day that stated right in it that the Dept. of Energy cannot force the CFL's on us now. It sounded like an "oops, we f-ed up in allowing this."

Now will THAT make you guys happy? lol For one minute? Two? Yeah, I'm a dreamer.

[Roadhog]

I don't know why we aren't hearing much about this in the news, other than I have to think it's political to protect the "green energy movement."

All of the green technology depends on REM, and there is a huge shortage, with China in control.
This is going to become a big story, whether the Obama administration likes it or not.

I think within the next few years we are going to be talking about a possible military conflict with China over natural resources, oil being the top of the list of course, but REM's are going to figure into our economic survival.

I'm sure China would likely win in that scenario, because we've allowed ourselves to become so indebted to them.
They hold the power in any negotiations over natural resources, with just the threat of selling off our debt.

[MichiganDriver]

I don't know why we aren't hearing much about this in the news, other than I have to think it's political to protect the "green energy movement."

All of the green technology depends on REM, and there is a huge shortage, with China in control.
This is going to become a big story, whether the Obama administration likes it or not.

I think within the next few years we are going to be talking about a possible military conflict with China over natural resources, oil being the top of the list of course, but REM's are going to figure into our economic survival.

I'm sure China would likely win in that scenario, because we've allowed ourselves to become so indebted to them.
They hold the power in any negotiations over natural resources, with just the threat of selling off our debt.

This story has never made sense to me. It just doesn't strike the truth chord. There's something weird about it. There are US companies that mine REMs and the last I checked their stocks weren't even doing that well. It's one of those "any day now it's going to take off" niches. My memory is fuzzy but iirc Molycorp is one of the bigger US REM mining companies. Their stock isn't taking off. It just doesn't look like anyone's hoarding anything to me. Here's a link:

Molycorp, Inc Common Stock $0.0 Stock Chart | MCP Interactive Chart - Yahoo! Finance

Oh, it's us that has the power over China due to the money we owe them. We can screw them in 100 different ways and they know it. Inflation anyone?

[Roadhog]

Now will THAT make you guys happy? lol For one minute? Two? Yeah, I'm a dreamer.

looks like you got your 2 minutes... hahahahahaha

[Roadhog]

This story has never made sense to me. It just doesn't strike the truth chord. There's something weird about it. There are US companies that mine REMs and the last I checked their stocks weren't even doing that well. It's one of those "any day now it's going to take off" niches. My memory is fuzzy but iirc Molycorp is one of the bigger US REM mining companies. Their stock isn't taking off. It just doesn't look like anyone's hoarding anything to me.

That's all speculative, they are not producing much if anything right now, and we'll just have to see.
Our tax dollars are being spent by the hundreds of millions right now, hoping to come up with alternatives...that is how screwed we are.

I'm basically just getting into this subject, and I do feel this is going to be of major concern, and that is the gist, from the stuff I'm reading...so far.

[MichiganDriver]

Our tax dollars are being spent by the hundreds of millions right now, hoping to come up with alternatives...that is how screwed we are.

Progress is a bad thing? I thought moving from caves to houses and campfires to coal and then oil and then natural gas heating was a natural progression like evolution. And along with that we went from horse and buggy to cars and now NYC doesn't have mountains of horse poop to deal with.

Now we should stand up and say that the days of progress are behind us? Isn't that like saying our best days are behind us? We're better than that in my view.

[Mr. Ford95]

Here's the link to the CFL news Roadie:Congress' bill may slow switch to efficient light bulbs

It's intended to be a slowing measure for now until these rules can be reviewed it seems.

[Roadhog]

Thanks Mr.Ford,

I hope we rethink everything we are doing right now with our green energy policy.
We've spent billions in an industry, where we don't even have the resources to play... that was a risk we should not have taken.
Even like the case with Solyndra, we put over 1/2 billion into a business that was doom to failure, before it was even built.

Now we're trying to fix the problem, so it seems, by now hoping to invent alternatives to REM's.
Japan is doing likewise, as their economic future is in the balance because of this as well.

[Roadhog]

Progress is a bad thing? I thought moving from caves to houses and campfires to coal and then oil and then natural gas heating was a natural progression like evolution. And along with that we went from horse and buggy to cars and now NYC doesn't have mountains of horse poop to deal with.

Now we should stand up and say that the days of progress are behind us? Isn't that like saying our best days are behind us? We're better than that in my view.

Come on MD, I never gave you the impression I'm all against progress.