Rare Earths and You
Rare Earths and You
As of late, Rare Earth Elements (REEs) have come into focus in the media. What are REEs all about and how do they affect you?
From Curiosity…
The group of rare earth elements, also known as lanthanides, comprise 14 elements, including cerium and neodymium. They were discovered by chemists in the late 18th to early 20th centuries in a variety of ores. Despite their name, the rare earth elements really are not all that "rare." However, they are widely dispersed in nature with few known deposits that would allow any dedicated mining.
…to Practical Use…
Up until the mid 19th century, rare earths were just a chemical curiosity without much practical use. Then in 1885, the Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach (1858-1929) invented the cerium-containing “Glühstrumpf” (gas mantle) for kerosene-burning lanterns and, in 1903, the cerium-based flint. Both are still widely used today, the flint in such things as cigarette lighters, and the gas mantle in Coleman-type lanterns for camping. A few other uses for the REE elements were in optical glasses for special purposes, for example a neodymium-based glass with a high UV absorbance. The latter is still the material of choice for goggles used by high altitude mountaineers climbing Mt. Everest and other hills to prevent overexposure from high-energy ultraviolet rays. But by and large, there were relatively few uses for REEs, and therefore no great demand for these elements by industry.
…to Vital Material
It all changed in 1982, when research by General Motors Corp. and Sumitomo Special Metals discovered the neodymium boron iron magnet with the composition Nd2Fe14B. This material has a magnetic energy density far above that of any other known material. When you see modern magnets, either in the shape of little buttons, or flexible as "fridge magnets" and the like, they mostly contain this alloy. In fact modern society could hardly work any more without these powerful magnets. They are used in all kinds of electric motors and generators, and in many electronic devices, from loud speakers to computers. Wind turbines are said to be a major consumer by virtue of their electric generators.
Nature and Politics
As nature has it, most of the presently known and minable deposits are located in China. In the past, China has been exporting much of its production and so satisfied the world demand for REEs. Recently China announced that it would only export a fraction of its previous sales in the future. This new situation has created intense interest in finding other minable ore bodies in other parts of the world and in research with the intent to find potential substitutes for these magnets.
And how will all that affect you? At least for the foreseeable future, prices will rise for the magnets and products incorporating them, such as wind turbines and their output, that is already highly overpriced electricity.
Copyright © 2011, Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser