Updates to this story
China’s Deng Xiaoping - pictured when a student in France, nice suit - was once quoted as saying: “The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths”. These rare earth elements have become increasingly important since the days of the late Chinese leader - to the point where scientists say they are now virtually indispensable.
The scarce elements are vital for all kinds of technologies, and especially in the world of IT. International concern has been growing over the monopoly held in this area by China, which produces well over 90 percent of the world’s supply of rare earth elements, and its tightening of export quotas.
Japan is one of the world’s biggest importers of rare earths and is very keen to reduce its dependency on China. Reports today said Tokyo had come up with a raft of new measures to do just that. According to Nikkei.net, the Japanese government has unveiled a range of ways to help firms secure a stable supply of rare earth metals.
Those listed included helping speed up the development of technology to create alternative materials, such as cerium, used in polishing glass for hard-disk drives. Another measure involved helping domestic companies to acquire concession rights to mines in other parts of the world, including Vietnam and Kazakhstan.
It was also reported by Nikkei.net that the Japanese government was looking to step up co-operation in areas like infrastructure building, personnel training and industrial promotion “to strengthen relationships with resource-rich countries”.
In addition, Education Minister Yoshiaki Takagi wanted to start looking at exploration in the sea off Japan, where rare earths are believed to be abundant.
Paul Strange, professor of physics at the University of Kent, said he understood that Japan was planning to build up a stockpile of rare earth minerals because of recent interruptions and threats to its supply from China and described today’s news as “a very prudent measure for Japan to take”.
Professor Strange told TechEye: “Rare earths are virtually indispensable in the modern world. Rare earth materials include the strongest magnets known and they are found in every car and a huge number of electronic devices, particularly associated with information storage.
“On top of that they are very likely to have applications in new electronics, and in green technologies such as catalytic converters and rechargeable battery materials.
“If Japan is stockpiling them it means they see a future for themselves in these technologies. It will certainly give them an advantage over other countries to have a plentiful supply of these materials.
“Not only will this enable them to become global leaders in a number of fields, but many countries who don't have direct access to these materials will be unable to compete in these markets and so may become dependent on Japan.
“This is likely to extend Japan's political influence in the long term as well as boost its economy.”
According to Professor Strange, who is part of a research group at the university looking at the fundamental properties of rare earths with a view to suggesting “exciting and novel” applications of them, the main rare earths for the IT sector include Gadolinium and Neodymium. Gadolinium is used for making compact discs and computer memory while Neodymium is a component of computer hard drives.
Professor Strange added: “I am sure that the demand for, and price of, rare earths is going to rise and so this is likely to become an increasingly profitable business. With this in mind I would certainly recommend that countries with such deposits build up their extraction facilities as soon as they can.
“The UK can't do anything directly as we don't have any rare earth deposits in our territory.
“The best we could do would be for a British company to go into partnership with an Australian or American one to accelerate extraction of their deposits.”
Tibet? You give the North American Indians, the South American Indians, the Abros, the. ...the .... then come back and we'll talk. Mongolia, Manchuria? Hey, hows about throwing in the whole sheebang and cutting the chase for a qikdraw MaGraw. Any takers or perhaps saviours is the proper word.
Greed is a culture, it has no race nor nationality. Got it yet or the letter stamped across your forehead comes first. Dumbos-cum-Stupidos. The Chinese, like the Japanese, like the Anglos, like the Latinos, the Indians, and the Chosen Few, especially these jokers because they are not what they seemed .... are as greedy as any partial human/animal, and all because they have yet to realised why they exist/the true purpose of their existence.
Start grabbing and when the sky turns dark during the midday and it floods in the Sahara, you'll still be shovelling for that paydirt ... and, “More”, pretty please. The only limit to greed is its own fear - and vice-versa. Human misbehaviour has no monoploy based on race, creed, nationality and so forth. All know that, so why regurgitatingly yak, the yakity, yak on the same thing? Because you do not know what or why you were born for. Yous gottas do sump’fink, anythingsss. To be the living-[but-]dead and not to be the truly living. Those marked across the forehead with the word, "More", and often excused as, "Makin' a living", or, "He's doing eet too". Sure, but how about you? Nevah !!!??
The way to begin curtailing human misbehaviour is to enable them to realised, meaning to gauge, measure and to connect-with, the reality as to how they are really constructed, their true infrastructure, and what, why, or who, is/are pulling their strings. Without realising the reality of one’s reality, “choice” is but a word, not a reality. Why else do people self-destruct. No? Name one, whom you know, is not self-destructive, whilst remembering that in order to destroy others, you have to damage yourself first and to welcome/initiate/interact with those who will damage you, is as good as hara-kiri. Correct or still going back to …. “Others”. Within Reality, there is no such thing as “Others”, there are only those who has yet to realised themselves, oka their true self, firstly and lastly.