Rare earth metals
Rare earth metals is a term used to describe 17 chemical elements in the periodic table of the elements: scandium, yttrium, and the 15 lanthanides. The so-called rare earth elements are used in many technological devices.
Here's the full list of the rare earth metals, preceded by their symbols: La lanthanum, Tb terbium, Ce cerium, Dy dysprosium, Pr praseodymium, Ho holmium, Nd neodymium, Er erbium, Pm promethium, Tm thulium, Sc scandium, Sm samarium, Yb ytterbium, Eu europium, Lu lutetium, Gd gadolinium, and Y yttrium.
Certain of the rare earths are used to manufacture high performance permanent magnets used in electric motors and generators. Hence, they are considered essential for some businesses like wind turbines used in wind energy projects.
Recent stories in the news report that China has become the low cost producer and sole source of supply making it possible to limit access or possibly form a cartel. The Defense Department has announced plans to create a strategic reserve.
Rare earth deposits are quite numerous according to recent reports, and numerous penny stocks plan to develop some of these. Molycorp has a mine in California that was shut down several years ago, and that they now plan to restart. At this writing none of these companies is profitable or producing product.
According to a March, 2011, article in the Wall Steet Journal, the rare earths mine being operated by Molycorp was previously owned by Chevron. Molycorp IPOed recently. They are producing product from the old mine but are still reporting losses. Modernization to meet permitting requirements is still two years away. In August, 2015, Molycorp shut down its mine.
In 2015, the US Defense Department awarded a research contract to explore rare earth purification technology to Texas Rare Earth Technology (OTC ticker TRER) and partner K-Technologies (appears to be K-Tech of Lakeland, FL: ). The contract covers bench scale research to produce high purity ytterbium oxide and an unidentified rare earth oxide using continuous ion exchange and/or ion chromatography. TRER is a participant in the Round Top rare earths project in Hudspeth County, Texas.
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