THE RARE METALS WAR

An expert account of a poorly understood but critical element in our economy.

Most readers will agree with French journalist Pitron that China is this century’s rising power, but it may be news that it’s the world’s leading producer of 28 vital mineral resources. Some are well known and precious (platinum, palladium, germanium); others are “rare earth metals,” 17 obscure elements with names such as cerium, dysprosium, and yttrium. Taken together, their yearly production is 0.01% that of steel, but they possess dazzling magnetic properties, making them essential in computers, cellphones, rechargeable batteries, and catalytic converters. China produces 95% of rare earth metals. Western leaders have been expressing alarm at the dependence on China for strategic metals, but efforts to self-produce have accomplished little. Pitron delivers a gripping, detailed, and discouraging explanation. During most of the 20th century, American rare metal mines led the world but produced immense chemical and radioactive pollution. The mines were in constant trouble with the EPA. Then, in the 1990s, China offered to sell ore cheaply (actually at a loss). Because American entrepreneurs realized that Chinese labor was cheap and skilled and not subject to environmental regulation, over time, large numbers of high-tech firms moved operations across the Pacific. China once sold Apple the rare metals that make up the iPhone; today, it manufactures the device. China leads the world in renewable technology production—solar panels, wind turbines, electric-vehicle batteries, etc. This not only requires mining, which is not renewable, but leads to massive pollution. Furthermore, experts calculate that the mining, manufacturing, fueling, and operation of clean energy products generates more, not less, greenhouse gas. “Put simply,” writes the author, “clean energy is a dirty affair. Yet we feign ignorance because we refuse to take stock of the end-to-end production cycle of wind turbines and solar panels.”

A well-rendered explanation of further bad news on the clean energy front.