Here is my 2000+ word blog post on the topic:
When most people hear "rare earth minerals," they likely picture obscure elements that are scarcely found on Earth. However, despite their name, rare earths are relatively abundant in Earth‘s crust – more so than precious metals like gold or platinum. So why are they called "rare"? This semantic mismatch stems from the 18th century when these compounds were first discovered and were difficult to extract from surrounding ore.
Today, we rely heavily on rare earth minerals to power clean energy technologies essential for transitioning away from fossil fuels. But mining these elements poses environmental hazards, putting ecology at risk. This article will unravel the science, economics and politics entwined with rare earths to help readers make sense of this complex and often misunderstood topic.
What Exactly Are Rare Earth Minerals?
Rare earth minerals are a collective term for a group of 17 metallic elements located on the periodic table. The 17 elements are:
- Scandium
- Yttrium
- Lanthanum
- Cerium
- Praseodymium
- Neodymium
- Promethium
- Samarium
- Europium
- Gadolinium
- Terbium
- Dysprosium
- Holmium
- Erbium
- Thulium
- Ytterbium
- Lutetium
You‘ll notice that most of these end with "-ium." That‘s because 15 are from the lanthanide series, a block of elements with similar properties. Despite their label, rare earth elements occur more abundantly worldwide than precious metals like gold, platinum and silver. For instance, cerium – used in catalysts, glass and ceramics – is the 28th most abundant element on Earth.
So why are they called "rare"? The term arose in the 19th century after scientists discovered these difficult-to-extract metals in uncommon oxide mixtures. Their name refers more to their rarity in concentrated forms versus total quantity.
While plentiful overall, rare earth deposits are dispersed unevenly across geographic regions. And they aren‘t found in pure element form, requiring intensive processes to separate them from surrounding minerals. This scarcity of high-density deposits is central to understanding modern supply shortages.
Unique Properties Enable Wide Applications
Rare earths boast unique magnetic, fluorescent, conducting and alloy-strengthening properties. This enables their use across technologies today:
- Magnets made with neodymium power our electronics and vehicles.
- Catalysts containing lanthanum help refine petroleum and reduce vehicle emissions.
- Phosphors coated with europium enable visual displays on our TVs and monitors.
- Fiber optics rely on erbium for optical amplification and signal transmission.
Rare earths quite literally power our modern lives. But clean energy applications highlight their indispensability looking forward.
Why Do Electric Vehicles Rely on Rare Earths?
Electric vehicles (EVs) require rare earths to construct their motors, batteries and circuitry. Specifically, neodymium and dysprosium boost the potency of magnets found in EV traction motors. And lanthanum and cerium enable nickel-metal hydride batteries common in today‘s EVs to store and discharge immense amounts of power.
Magnets – Keeping Motors Running
EVs rely on light, mighty and efficient electric traction motors instead of combustion engines. The magnets inside these motors generate tremendous torque while adding little weight. Rare earths make these powerful magnets possible through inherent magnetic properties.
In particular, neodymium‘s magnetic strength relates to its magnetic coercivity – how difficult demagnetizing it proves. When alloyed with other rare earths like dysprosium, magnets also become heat-resistant, maintaining field strength despite temperature changes. This enables them to keep converting electricity into continuous motor motion.
By fine-tuning exact proportions of neodymium, dysprosium and boron during manufacturing, automakers can optimize magnets inside EV motors for maximum power and efficiency. And as EVs grow prevalent worldwide, rare earth magnet demand intensifies in tandem.
Batteries – Powering the Motor
Since motors require electricity, automakers equip EVs with robust batteries to drive hundreds of miles per charge. Most leverage lithium-ion batteries today for their high capacity and falling prices. But many still utilize nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries featuring rare earths instead.
In these batteries, cathode materials store and release energy to power the vehicle. Automakers often infuse the cathode with lanthanum to enhance structural stability and energy density. Electrolytes also commonly contain cerium compounds to ease electrical flow. Together, these rare earth elements upgrade NiMH battery performance to meet EV energy storage needs.
While rarer moving forward, NiMH batteries still dominate cheaper EV models today – especially hybrid EVs not reliant wholly on battery power. So rare earth inclusion remains essential for budget and sustainability-focused consumers.
Electronics – Controlling it All
Finally, rare earths assist the electronic control systems coordinating EV motors, batteries and supplementary vehicle parts. For instance, terbium fine-tunes electrical conductivity across control system circuit boards. And europium-coated phosphors generate the red light illuminating driver dashboard displays.
In summary, rare earths crept into essentially every layer of the modern EV model – from electricity storage to motor function all the way through to passenger experience. Reducing dependence on them necessitates seismic shifts in how EVs fundamentally operate today.
The Cost of China‘s Rare Earth Dominance
Given this widespread integration, why would automakers even consider moving away from rare earths in EVs? Geopolitics holds the answer. Since the 1980s, China cultivated policies and infrastructure centered on monopolizing the global rare earth supply chain. Fast forward to today and China produces roughly 80% of the world‘s rare earths while controlling about 60% of raw reserves.
This manifests in two costly ways for countries importing Chinese rare earths: heightened trade instability and product shortages. For instance, strained China-Japan relations in 2010 saw China halt rare earth exports to its neighbor, causing prices worldwide to skyrocket overnight. And factories accustomed to abundant rare earth supply battled to keep up with orders as China reportedly throttled exports again against Western countries in 2019.
Make no mistake – China wields rare earth dominance strategically on the global stage. Some analysts even consider these disruptive Chinese export reductions de facto embargoes.
"This is not the first time China has used rare earths as a political tool," said Dr. Eugene Gholz, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. "It helps sustain high prices for Chinese producers while pushing China‘s rivals to spend time and money looking for alternative sources."
Securing alternative rare earth sources proves essential – but easier said than done when China maintains a true stranglehold on mine production. Still, these shortages equally hurt downstream industries within China relying on rare earth imports from Chinese mining companies. And supply crunches may open doors for new mining ventures and technologies worldwide – slowly decentralizing this long-centralized market.
"China shot itself in the foot by triggering this global response," Gholz said. "Ten years from now the rare earth industry will probably be more diversified because of China‘s behavior today."
This diversification can‘t come soon enough for EV automakers wrestling with unreliable supply chains. And developments across the industry indicate shifts already underway.
Alternatives Emerge as Environmental Costs Mount
The very mining processes required to extract rare earths from the ground also trigger environmental damage worldwide. Experts agree boosting supply outside China requires more responsible and sustainable methods going forward.
Costs to Local Environments
Extracting rare earths brings significant harm to local soils, air and water. To access ore deposits themselves, companies must remove vegetation, blast bedrock and altogether reshape land formations. Processing ore further requires toxic acids and chemicals like sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid which can pervade nearby environments.
Wastewater containing acids, radioactive tailings and residual rare earth chloride mixtures then enters watersheds or sits abandoned in "tailings dam" reservoirs. If dams overflow or retaining walls fail, surrounding communities pay the steep price. Just ask Brumadinho, Brazil residents after the 2019 tailings dam disaster triggered by rare earth mining giant Vale S.A.
Ultimately, toxic runoff and improper waste disposal accompanies all rare earth mining to some degree. And communities proximate to mines disproportionately shoulder higher cancer, respiratory illness and infant mortality rates as a result.
China‘s "Cancer Villages" Epitomize Lax Regulation Risks
Perhaps no clearer catastrophe exemplifies the environmental hazards of mismanaged rare earth mining than China‘s infamous "cancer villages" near the mining town Baotou. A dense cluster of villages surrounding a mammoth tailings lake, cancer rates soared for residents inhaling toxic fumes and ingesting contaminated water on a daily basis.
One Chinese government report acknowledged "it is more dangerous than smelting facilities and iron foundries…Acid leaks could damage health." Yet in spite of this, regulators allowed dumping to continue for years, prioritizing national industrial demands over local citizen welfare.
"These cancer villages showcase the human expense of tight regulatory laxity concerning rare earth mining," said Dr. Gwen Ottinger, an assistant professor and researcher of environmental justice at Drexel University. "When global demand is high but environmental oversight is low, marginalized communities often pay the environmental costs."
Industry Efforts Emerging to Curtail Damage
However, Ottinger notes growing acknowledgement in China and abroad around better managing the unwanted side effects of rare earth extraction. Some initiatives like the U.S. Department of Energy‘s Critical Materials Institute now work toward developing greener technologies and chemicals for refining rare earth ore. Other companies like Australian rare earth mining firm Lynas directly filter wastewater output and store residual solids to curb environmental contamination at their Malaysian refining facility.
Automakers themselves also shoulder responsibility for diversifying rare earth dependence long term through alternative motor technologies. For instance, Tesla now equips Chinese-manufactured Model 3 vehicles with motors free of rare earth magnets altogether. And BMW already unveiled prototype eDrive electric motors using no rare earth metals. Steps like this inch the auto industry toward viable alternatives – even if commercial readiness remains years down the line.
"It‘s a complex dance," Ottinger said. "Supply diversification helps. So can recycling existing rare earths in electronics. But ultimately, we need appropriate environmental regulation paired with emerging technologies if rare earth extraction should ramp up outside China." If not, communities worldwide stand vulnerable to the same "cancer village" phenomena environmentalists now work so diligently to dismantle now throughout regions of China.
Navigating the Helter-Skelter of Rare Earths Looking Forward
The era of rare earth reliance cleaves the technology industry into two factions. On one hand exist companies now deeply embedded in long supply chains where rare earth inclusion enables competitive offerings to begin with. Rare earth permanence allows their products to be lighter, smaller, more powerful and ultimately irresistible for consumers today.
But on the other hand lie policymakers concerned with concentration risk from China‘s rare earth monopoly – not to mention ethical companies actively working to avoid minerals mined through unjust environmental sacrifice worldwide. And this latter camp slowly gathers momentum through chemistry breakthroughs and mineral alternatives creeping onto the market.
The auto industry typifies this identity crisis around rare earths most extremely. Can debuting automakers afford dropping rare earths altogether when the species of EV today practically assumes their inclusion to function? Then again, can stalwarts like Toyota and Panasonic cling to ethics or public relations incentives promising automobile electrification without harm worldwide? Reality likely necessitates change across segments, countries and rare earth applications to ever overcome this impasse entirely.
And Jeffrey Wilson, Research Director at Perth USAsia Centre in Australia, says change is indeed coming – just not overnight.
"This transformation will not be instant or easy," Wilson said. "But it is now underway."
The Way Forward
Rare earths underwent quite the public image crisis since their initial discovery centuries ago. And what‘s scarce isn‘t neodymium or scandium themselves, but rather the political will to address environmental and health externalities now inherent with modern rare earth extraction.
Allowing China‘s monopoly and loose regulation to continue damages the world two-fold through heightened supply instability and intensified local pollution. Still, countermeasures gain momentum every day. Industry attempts trend toward finding substitutes, advancing recycling methods and improving processing technologies to maintain the global digital economy while keeping toxic opportunities for local contamination at bay.
Yes, the situation remains imperfect. For certain technologies, rare earth inclusion inches too close to necessary instead of simply convenient. But a willingness to solve and innovate persists across sectors. After all, who said progress or scientific understanding everfollowed a straight line from problem to resolution?
Twists and turns stay inevitable when amalgamating human health interests with energy goals for an entire mobility industry in flux. As countries balance energy transitions with supply security concerns, rare earths probably feel fated for more such helter-skelter in the public discourse before reaching stabilization. But great potential exists in today‘s state of flux, if countries and companies play their cards right.
