by Matthias Rupp

Presentation in International Management - Master of Science in Energy Systems - FH Aachen, summer term 2012

Rare Earths

The Conflict

Germany‘s Strategies

- What are Rare Earths? - Resources and Consumers - Prices - Usage of Rare Earths

- Facts - Development - Reasons beyond… - Effects

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- „Rohstoffstrategie - „Allianz zur Rohstoffsicherung“ - Exploration project in Sachsen - „Ressourcen-Effizienz“

Source: http://www.spiegel.de

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What are Rare Earths?

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set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table

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Source: http://library.thinkquest.org

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Source: http://library.thinkquest.org

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set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table

fifteen lanthanides

Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodynium Promethium

Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium

Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium

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set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table

fifteen lanthanides

plus scandium and yttrium

- tend to occur in the same ore

deposits as the lanthanides - exhibit similar chemical properties

Rare earths are not „rare“ !!! (the elements occur mostly in a lot of widely scattered minerals or are mixed with other minerals. So it is hard to mine them.)

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Source: http://www.ggz.ch (2010)

Currently estimated resources [Mio. t]

Known recoverable reserves [Mio. t]

Existing planned mines

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Source: http://www.usgs.gov/

Mining 2010 Production planned

in the short term Further large deposits

China 120.000 t

India 2.700 t

Brasil 650 t

Malaysia 380 t

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Share of world mining of rare earths:

97 %

1.

2. 3.

2,1 % 0.5 %

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The 3 major importers/consumers of rare earths are

- Japan: 34.330 t

- EU: 23.013 t

- USA: 20.663 t

91 %

90 %

91 %

Share of imports from China:

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Imports of rare earths by the European Union member states

38%

24%

16%

8%

8% 2% 2% 2%

France

Austria

Netherlands

Germany

Great Britain

Spain Belgium Italy

Source: http://www. oeko.de

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Prices are risen since the last 10 years…

Source: http://www. Metal-Pages.com

Lig

ht

rare

eart

hs

Heavy r

are

eart

hs

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…and within 2011

Source: http://www. Metal-Pages.com

Lig

ht

rare

eart

hs

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Heavy r

are

eart

hs

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28% 19%

Source: http://www. oeko.de

18%

19%

9% 7%

Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodynium Promethium

Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium

Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium

Scandium Yttrum

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Glass, polishing, ceramics

- Polishing compounds

- Colouring and decolouring

agent in glass

- Stabilizer in ceramics

- Ceramic capacitors

- UV adsorption

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Metal alloys, batteries

- Alloys for steel and iron casting

- Super alloys

- Flint ignition devices

- NiMH-battery

- Fuel cell

- H2-storage

- Light weight construction

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Magnets

- Motors and generators

Wind turbines

Electric vehicles

Hybrid vehicles

- Hard Discs

- MRI

- Speakers

- Magnetic cooling

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Catalysts

- Automotive catalysts

- Catalysts in refining and

chemical processing

- Diesel additive

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Phosphors, Luminescence

- Energy efficient lighting

- LED

- LCD

- Plasma display

- Laser

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Others

- Water treatment

- Pigments

- Fertiliser

- Nuclear technology

- Defence

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Toyota Prius

Source: http://www. arizonageology.blogspot.com

26 Σ ≈ 1 kg

Yearly production of Toyota Prius in 2010: 1.1 Mio Demand for rare earth for 1 car: 1 kg Toyota‘s yearly demand for rare earths : 1.1 tons (only for model Prius!)

Source: http://www.dailystar.com

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Remember: 97% of mined production of

rare earths in 2010 came out of China!

China has a monopoly on

rare earths!

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September 2009: China announced plans to reduce its export quota by 35,000 tons per year in 2010–2015 Reasons: - conserve scarce resources - protect environment

October 2010: further reduction of quotas* for rare earth exports by 30 percent Reason: - “protect the precious metals from over- exploitation” source: www. thehill.com

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* A restriction imposed by a government on the amount or number of goods or services that may be exported within a given period

September 2009

October 2010

End 2010: China decreased first round of export quotas in 2011 for rare earths by 14,446 tons (35% decrease from the previous first round of quotas in 2010)

July 2011: China announced further export quotas for the second half of the year (total production capped at 93,800 tons)

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September 2009

October 2010

End 2010:

July 2011:

September 2011: China announced the stop in production of 3 of its 8 major rare earth mines (responsible for almost 40% of China's total rare earth production)

Begin 2012: chinese trade ministry announced to reduce rare earth exports in first half year by 10.546 tons (27% less than in 2011)

Furthermore: Reduction of rare earth exporting companies from 26 to 11

Why?

„China wants to increase the prices for rare earths

because they dropped in the 2nd half of 2011 caused by the world economic slump“

source:www.spiegel.de

Remember:

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China wants to…

…promote its own industry

…attract foreign technology companies to China

…improve its technical know how – e.g. for renewable energy technique or

electrical engineering

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Which effects does this have

on global market?

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Increase of rare earths prices

Shortage on global market

Development of industry of rare earth importing countries is handicapped or even blocked

e.g. future technologies

EU, USA and Japan called the WTO to react on China’s export restrictions China announced to fight for their strategy (Currently China accepted a defeat by WTO concerning export restrictions of Zink and Magnesium)

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…but what are exactly Germany‘s

strategies to prevent shortage of rare earths?

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Federal Government tries to contract partnership agreements with resource rich countries as - Mongolia - Kazakhstan - Chile - Peru

The deal: Raw materials for technical know how

1st step, 2012

2nd step

supports industrialization

oil, gas, gold, uranium, rare earths

5th largest raw material reserves

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Recently founded by 12 German companies, among others ThyssenKrupp, Bayer, BMW and Daimler

Goal: Setup of participations on raw material projects (mainly in European countries) to ensure the supply of german industry

Estimation: Raw materials stored in Europe have a value of about 100 billion €

Supported by the Federal Government („Roffstoffstrategie“)

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Thousands of tons rare earths stored

Already found in the 70s

Deutsche Rohstoff AG started already drilling (1st end of March)

It has to be decided, if mining will ever start requires high technical know how and expensive equipment

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Concept of the Federal Government

Goal: „Increase the efficiency of resources by market incentives, research, innovation and consulting“ (source: Federal Environment Ministry)

„Masterplan for sustainable growth“ (source: Norbert Röttgen, Federal Minister for Environment)

e.g.: Expansion of recycling economy: Imagine: Every EU-Citizen produces 17 kg electronic scrap per year (2020: 24kg) Improve recycling of the scrap

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…and what do other countries

to prevent shortage of raw

materials?

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Goal: Secure stable supply of raw materials

Key business policy: - Funding for international mineral exploration

- Loan guarantees for high-risk mineral projects

- Stockpiling

- Information gathering

Toyota: - has already ensured the whole yield of the Indian „Ganjam-project“

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Why is the view concerning „rare

earths“ only pointed on China?

Russia and the USA have also

large resources but they don‘t

mine them.

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Thank you for your

attention!

http://www.spiegel.de

http://library.thinkquest.org

http://www.ggz.ch

http://www.usgs.gov

http://www. oeko.de

http://www. Metal-Pages.com

http://www. arizonageology.blogspot.com

http://www.dailystar.com

http:// www. thehill.com

http:// www. toyota.de

http:// www. lynascorp.com

http:// www. wikipedia.com

VDI-Nachrichten

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Only main sources are listed up (e.g. every source of each small picture is not listed up)