Source:CleanTechnicaThe term “rare earth element” has a specific meaning to scientists. Most people focus on the word “rare” and assume it means the 17 so-called rare earth elements are just that — rare. In fact, some of them are more abundant than copper.What makes them rare often has more to do with the relatively few places around the world where they can be found and the difficulty of separating them from other elements in commercially viable quantities. In today’s world, political considerations can also impact the availability of rare earth elements.For instance, much of...
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2019
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Source:Science DailyCompanies and governments worldwide are anxiously watching the fate of a sprawling industrial facility 30 kilometers north of this city on the east coast of peninsular Malaysia.The 100-hectare Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) produces 10% of the world's output of rare earth oxides (REOs), minerals needed in technologies including mobile phones, hard drives, surgical lasers, and cruise missiles. Lynas, an Australian company, imports concentrated ores from mines in Australia and refines them in Malaysia, where costs are lower; it sells REOs—which include cerium ...
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2019
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Source:NewsDailyEditor's Note: At Stratfor, we use geopolitics to understand the constraints and advantages that geography confers on a country and the political, technological and economic decisions it compels. The exercise, taken to its logical conclusion, can extend all the way down to an atomic level. This occasional series examines the ele...
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2019
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Source:The term “rare earth element” has a specific meaning to scientists. Most people focus on the word “rare” and assume it means the 17 so-called rare earth elements are just that — rare. In fact, some of them are more abundant than copper. What makes them rare often has more to do with the relatively few places around the world where they can be found and the difficulty of separating them from other elements in commercially viable quantities. In today’s world, political considerations can also impact the availability of rare earth elements.For instance, much of the ...
Release time:
2019
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04
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12
viewed:4