Can China's Rare Earth Monopoly Be Broken

[ronwagn + 6,290]

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Can-Chinas-Rare-Earth-Monopoly-Be-Broken.html Seems like this should be a high priority. 

[Okie + 83]

I thought there had already been a large discovery in Japan.

https://bigthink.com/technology-innovation/japan-rare-earth

[Sebastian Meana + 278]

This is the question, what are you going to do with all the uranium and thorium? generally for each kg of rare earths you extract you get 1/2KG of Uranium and 2KG of Thorium

[BenFranklin'sSpectacles + 762]

On 7/31/2019 at 11:30 AM, Sebastian Meana said:

This is the question, what are you going to do with all the uranium and thorium? generally for each kg of rare earths you extract you get 1/2KG of Uranium and 2KG of Thorium

You burn those in nuclear reactors.  Or just put it back where you found it; it's not harming anything. 

[John Foote + 1,135]

The term rare earth is a bit of a misnomer, it's not rare at all, but it's not concentrated. The stuff is found lots of places, but you have to dig a lot dirt just to find a little. I used to go to Japan to a site that processed mostly refined ore to improve it to a grade China was incapable of achieving. China was incapable and the two companies in the world that had the recipe down were not inclined to share it. 

I recently tried to import some industrial bearings from Japan to China. Pretty basic stuff any decent machine bearing house could make. It took months to get a license. The Japanese are smarter about tech transfer we are. You essentially have to prove not a military application, and not a tech transfer, in order to import into China from Japan.