Mother Jones: Your Prius' Deepest, Darkest Secret (Rare Earths) [View All]

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http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/10/rare-earths-prius-molycorp

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Your Prius' Deepest, Darkest Secret

—By Kiera Butler | Mon Nov. 14, 2011 2:30 AM PST

So you're considering buying a hybrid car. Or maybe you already have. Good for you! You're saving a bundle on gas and reducing your environmental footprint at the same time. But fuel isn't the only natural resource that your car requires. Its motor also contains a small amount of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium">neodymium, one of 17 elements listed at the very bottom of the periodic table. Known as the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element">rare earths, these minerals are key to all kinds of green technology: Neodymium magnets turn wind turbines. Cerium helps reduce tailpipe emissions. Yttrium can form phosphors that make light in LED displays and compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Hybrid and electric cars often contain as many as eight different rare earths.

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For the last few decades, China controlled the world's market for rare earths, producing about 97 percent of the global supply. But in late 2010, China http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-28/china-cuts-first-round-rare-earth-export-quotas-by-11-correct-.html">cut its exports by 35 percent in order to keep the valuable metals for its own manufacturers. The prices of rare earths rose almost immediately. Fearing a shortage, US legislators sprang into action. This past April, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) introduced a http://coffman.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=436&Itemid=10">bill that would kick-start a domestic rare-earths renaissance in the United States.


A few rare-earths mines are slated to open in the United States in the next few years, the most hyped of which is a facility called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Pass_rare_earth_mine">Mountain Pass in California's Mojave Desert. (It's actually been around off and on since the '50s, but a company called http://www.molycorp.com/">Molycorp has given it a major makeover.) When it's running at full capacity, Mountain Pass will be the largest rare-earths mine in the world, producing upwards of 40,000 tons of the stuff every year.

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But no matter how quickly new mines open, the United States won't be able to produce enough rare earths on its own—it's thought that North America contains only 15 percent of the world's supply. A recent Congressional Research Service report (https://motherjones.com/files/crs_rare_earths_report_0.pdf">PDF) recommended that the US seek reliable sources in other countries.

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