There is a considerable dependence at present for Rare Earth Elements (REEs) on China at present. Given that it supplies more than 95% of the world’s needs that is hardly surprising. However the dependence on China may be on the decline as many nations struggle to develop their own resources to diminish the hold of the Chinese monopoly on these rare elements.
Gareth P. Hatch of Illinois-based Technology Metals Research LLC has written a report called Critical Rare Earths in which he tries to answer some questions about how the rest of the world will be able to fill the gaping supply and demand gap in rare earth elements.
The 76 page report say that in the last few years there has been an explosion in the number of new rare-earth exploration and development projects around the world. Technology Metals was tracking 381 projects outside China and India, under development by 244 companies in 36 countries.
The group of 17 rare elements includes europium, which is used to produce the red color in televisions says the report. Europium sold for $720 per kg at the start of 2011 and has since risen to $6,300 per kg. Gareth P. Harth predicts that China’s share of the world market of europium will drop to 76 percent in two years and 37 percent in six years.
The report which is authored by Harth says that the China’s share of the world market of europium will drop to 76 percent in two years and 37 percent in six years. It deals with other rare earth metals and predicts a similar story for most of the elements.