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| Science & Technology |
| Inside China's secret toxic unobtainium mine (Green tech's dirty little secrets) |
| 2010-01-13 |
| Ok...I'll bite: Maybe this is why the Chicoms hate Rantburg Last week it was reported that China - which has a global monopoly on the production of rare-earth metals - is now threatening to cut off vital supplies to the West. A shortage would jeopardise the manufacturing and development of green technologies such as wind turbines and low-energy lightbulbs. RICHARD JONES is the first Western journalist to visit the rare-earth mines in Inner Mongolia to discover why China is unwilling to give up its precious elements... It looks like a scene from an apocalyptic science-fiction movie. High on the frozen plains of Inner Mongolia, giant trucks rumble across the floor of a lunar-like crater so vast that it looks as if it might have been gouged out by a meteorite. As we peer down at the eerie spectacle from the crater's edge, a security guard behind us barks out in Mandarin: 'Explosives! Move away!' Seconds later, a deafening crack rings out and part of a 660ft high rock face is brought crashing down. When the dust settles, 170-ton dumper trucks close in to scoop up the rocks. They are taken to refineries where rare-earth metals - known in the mining industry as 'unobtainiums' because they are so scarce - will be extracted using boiling acid and other toxic chemicals. This two-mile-wide crater in one of the most remote corners of China is the secretive Baiyun Obo mine. It's the world's biggest mine and the largest single source of rare-earths, the metallic elements that are driving the global revolution in green technology. The rare-earths blasted out of rocks here feed more than 77 per cent of global demand for elements such as terbium, which power low-energy lightbulbs; neodymium, which powers wind turbines; and lanthanum, which powers the batteries of hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius. They are also used in mobile phones, computers, iPods, LCD screens, washing machines, digital cameras and X-ray machines, as well as missile guidance systems and even space rockets. Industries reliant on the rare-earths are estimated to be worth an astonishing £3trillion, or five per cent of global GDP. I was the first Western journalist to set foot inside the mine. What I saw at Baiyun Obo and the poisoned refineries it feeds raises disturbing questions about the future we are buying into - and who will control it. A brave worker agreed to smuggle me past tight security and the police patrolling the perimeter in four-wheel-drive vehicles to show me around the site which is run by the state-controlled Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Company. On the crater floor, Terex dumper trucks, the largest in China, towered over us as they shifted 168 tons of rare-earth rock. It's a 24-hour-a-day operation. Front line: A worker's clothes are peppered with holes burned by the acid used by refineries to extract the rare-earths from the rocks. The rocks are full of rare-earth metals combined with iron ore, and the rare-earths are extracted as a supplementary process to the iron-ore extraction, making it the most productive source of rare-earths on the planet. It is a source upon which the Western world has become dependent. In 2008, China supplied 139,000 tons worldwide, 97 per cent of the world's total rare-earth production. The architect of modern China, Deng Xiaoping, realised the significance of the elements lurking in the arid wastes of Inner Mongolia almost 20 years ago when he said: 'There is oil in the Middle East but there is rare-earth in China.' His pride is shared by mine worker Shang Liqing, who drove me to a vantage point overlooking the huge main mine. 'This isn't just the rare-earth home town of China but of the entire world,' he said. more at the link |
| Posted by:logi_cal |
| #8 My understanding of rare earth metals is that they're not that rare, but the process of extraction generates a lot of pollutants that seep into the groundwater. China is trying to limit exports in order to limit the damage to the Chinese environment. The reason we're buying this stuff from China is because they can mine on the cheap, since pollution controls are non-existent. Done the American way (with pollution controls), the cost of these metals would increase significantly. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2010-01-13 23:58 |
| #7 So is it Green Technology because the mess is in somebody else's back yard? Of course it is. While I admit I like the idea of a lot of the newer technologies out there I also realize that like RAH said "There is no such thing as a free lunch" |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2010-01-13 17:58 |
| #6 So is it Green Technology because the mess is in somebody else's back yard? |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-01-13 13:26 |
| #5 In 2021, there is going to be a close pass to Earth of an asteroid called "4660 Nereus". Right then it will be easier to get to than even the Moon. Then four years later it will make another pass close by Earth. This is important because it is likely as much as 3% assorted metals. If we could land a mining robot there, it could mine the heck out of the asteroid, then bundle great quantities of ore for shipment to a space station ore processor. This would refine it to maybe 90% metal, which is good enough to send up a cargo ship to retrieve, if the metal is mostly platinum group and rare earths. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-01-13 12:30 |
| #4 It is the most polluted hell-hole on the planet. Amen, brother. My sister got a job teaching English there in 1994, got so sick from the bad air she had to return within 6 months, it took her 18 months to recuperate. She can't be the only Westerner who has noticed this. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-01-13 12:05 |
| #3 35 + years ago I did my senior thesis on pollution in the USSR. Just like now the greenies in the US (aka my mother-in-law) were sceaming about how bad capitalists are. I researched the heck out of the topic with the help of my Russian ex-pat prof who translated loads of local things with me and found that Communism by definition (look up free good) cannot value nature. China is just carrying on in the same way for all the same reasons. It is the most polluted hell-hole on the planet. All the water-melons should be swapped for an equal number on normal Chinese folks. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2010-01-13 11:47 |
| #2 |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2010-01-13 11:28 |
| #1 I hear the moon is comprised of unobtainiums. |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2010-01-13 11:19 |