Jowi Morales Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
George³ It is now profitable enough to mine even in countries with high wage costs? Reply
yaitanes George³ said: It is now profitable enough to mine even in countries with high wage costs? not yet, but we're getting there. Then so what? it would still have to be sent to china to process. All processing tech and machineries are export controlled by china. Assuming one can get hands on those machines and tech then you still need chemical reagents which still made in china at scale. Now one just need the machines and tech to make those chemical reagents….. now has to train an army of people in rare earth tech to make those chem and operate machineries. Now where can one find 20.000 yearly rare earth tech graduates? oh china has them! oh well! p/s: good luck with getting a mining license in less than 10 years Reply
George³ yaitanes said: not yet, but we're getting there. Then so what? it would still have to be sent to china to process. All processing tech and machineries are export controlled by china. Assuming one can get hands on those machines and tech then you still need chemical reagents which still made in china at scale. Now one just need the machines and tech to make those chemical reagents….. now has to train an army of people in rare earth tech to make those chem and operate machineries. Now where can one find 20.000 yearly rare earth tech graduates? oh china has them! oh well! p/s: good luck with getting a mining license in less than 10 years I assume that countries have already mined such elements before a huge part of their production was shifted to China because of the price. So there are already discovered deposits, some of which are developed. There are facilities and specialists. There is also production of all the necessary reagents and catalysts for the process of extracting the elements from the ore. Yes, they have not worked for decades and it will take some effort to bring them back into operation, but… Reply
BFG-9000 The primary consumer product use of Yttrium nowadays is in white LED phosphors, since gas mantles and multiple rare earth type TIG tungstens (like E3, LaYZr, TriMix) aren't exactly big sellers anymore. You could even go back to radioactive Thorium for the latter two uses, as was used in the olden days. Reply
bill001g George³ said: It is now profitable enough to mine even in countries with high wage costs? The wage cost is only a tiny part of the problem. The bigger issue is all the different group lining up trying to prevent any mining. They complain about anything from some rare insect that will be wiped out or that the land has some historic native american meaning. They use their cell phones that are made with the same rare earth while they sit and protest. For whatever reason they don't care that china mines this stuff with much less regulation than the USA. If they really cared they would protest the use and sale of devices that caused all this environmental harm. It is hard to say if this is real or not. There is huge money backing this opposition. They pay for lots of expensive lawyers to file lawsuit after lawsuit to slow things down even when they know they are going to lose. Some of these protesters are also being paid. Me wearing my tin foil hat would say the larger business in china are behind this to keep their advantage. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/manufacturing/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/manufacturing/1-500-percent-price-increase-on-some-rare-earth-elements-squeezes-chipmaking-business-yttrium-surge-caused-by-trade-war-between-u-s-and-china#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.