Rare earth elements

Tue Nov 9, 2010 1:05pm IST

REUTERS - Rare earth elements have become essential components for building smartphones, wind turbines and electric cars. Before manufacturers can use the material extracted from the ground, it must go through a complex and expensive process.

"There is a reason why the rare earths are called rare. They're not called rare because they're truly rare. They're called rare because it's very difficult to isolate these elements individually and it takes a lot of skill to do that," said Constantine Karayannopoulos, chief executive of Neo Material Technologies, a Toronto-based rare earth refining specialist.

Here is a step-by-step description of the process, followed by a list of valuable rare earths and their current prices:

* The first step is to mine the ore, usually a cabonatite or monazite, that contains the rare earths. Depending on the grade, it could take anywhere from 6 to 86 tonnes of ore to produce a single tonne of rare earth mineral.

* Next the material goes to a chemical plant for separation. This step, called "cracking," usually involves using acid or heat. The product that comes out is a rare earth concentrate, containing all 17 rare earths mixed together. Cracking can also result in byproducts like tantallum, zirconium or radioactive thorium.

* Rare earth concentrate must then go to another facility where it is separated into individual rare earths that are refined into oxides. Separation is done by atomic weight, starting with cerium, the most abundant rare earth. To get valuable dysprosium, for example, the less valuable rare earths that come before it on the periodic table must first be separated out. To get terbium, it takes more than 30 days of processing.

* Next the rare earths are treated through a process, called benefication, that produces high-value oxides, metals or magnetic powders. These products are made to the specifications of each manufacturer. An oxide made to the specifications of one customer might not suit another's needs.

* Finally, the rare earths are put into the end product, whether it is a permanent magnet for a wind turbine, or a high-efficiency lightbulb.

VALUABLE RARE EARTHS

NEODYMIUM - A light rare earth that is the main ingredient in permanent magnets, used in car motors, wind turbines, smartphones and other technology applications. It is also used in speakers, earphones, hard drives and ceramics. While neodymium is more readily available than heavy rare earths, analysts forecast a tight supply well into the future.

Current price: $80 a kilogram.

PRASEODYMIUM - Another light rare earth that is used in permanent magnets, strengthening metals, glass coloring and ceramics.

Current price: $76/kg.

DYSPROSIUM - A heavy rare earth that is used in permanent magnets, lasers and nuclear reactors.

Current price: $286/kg.

TERBIUM - A heavy rare earth used in fluorescent lights, fuel cells, permanent magnets and LCD screens.

Current price: $615/kg.

EUROPIUM - A heavy rare earth used primarily in LCD screens.

Current price: $605/kg.

(Reporting by Julie Gordon; Editing by Frank McGurty)

Financial market and commodity hype

What Is An Economic Hit Man? ~ describing what I am talking about. Market and political hypers such as Obama is just a variation of the economic hit men.
http://www.wanttoknow.info/johnperkinseconomichitman
e.g. BRIC = Economic Hit Man

No Hope : avoid the greed - fat billionaires market hype - greed is the root of all evil. 1 Tim 6 ~ The repeated bubble/crash manipulation is the tool which they use to literally rob billions and trillions from whoever listens to their hype. The trillionaire/billionaire economic and financial market hype always leads to bankruptcies as we have seen it in Europe and in the United States. Their demonic greed is sucking up 98% of the global wealth. Now, they give out Nobel Peace Prize for making wars -- no hope in this world -- as the demonic greed is prolific than ever before.

Rogers should consider that 1 out of 4 children is on food stamp, but obviously he only thinks about his greed and his children would be damned because of his greed hyping commodity price - when does the demonic greed stop. He got his money from you by hyping markets.

• Reality check: Jim Rogers impact — With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children. It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.

• Gov't Spending Is Like Tiger's Dating: Jim Rogers

  Famed investor Jim Rogers says adding more to U.S. debt to combat the economic crisis is like telling Tiger Woods the solution to his problems is getting another girlfriend. Gold Not a Bubble, Buy Silver: Rogers

Wealthy Americans? Only fooled wealthy Americans who will go bankrupt would be spending like nothing has happened like gamblers. Many around the world is brainwashed by believing what the media says using all types of advertisements and propaganda. All should recognize the greed is destroying millions and nations.

• Americans Sour on Economy, Distrustful of Washington

  Americans remain pessimistic about the economy and have little trust in Washington's economic leadership— despite $1.5 trillion in federal spending on stimulus and bailouts, a new CNBC "Wealth in America Report" finds

• Chinese Car Market Overtakes that of US

It is a horror news for China in a long run, e.g. Jim Rogers and other mega funds jumping on China. Just like all evil, at first it looks good, but the eventual outcome is destruction. That's what the greed does to all, e.g. Europeans and the United States. The cycle of wealth destruction will be in shorter timeframe as the methods for swindling money is further developed so that it is easier to fool many using colluded trillions of funds using economy and financial markets.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/34375505

* Chinese Car Market Overtakes that of US -- China has overtaken the U.S. as the world's biggest market for automobiles, the first time any other country has bought more vehicles than the nation that produced Henry Ford, the Cadillac and the minivan.

Bernanke Fraud: Market hype scam again

Market hype scam again >> Agriculture Will Reap Big Profits: Rogers

(((((~~~ These billionaires never have enough of money hyping commodity to torture more people with high price scam when we are going through depression in reality. Over 20% of Americans are unemployed and millions are bankrupted or going through bankruptcies, but the financial hypers are still manipulating markets along with the FED fraud. Hyping commodity and gold is detrimental vicious cycle which was a part of reasons which bankrupted millions of Americans. ~~~)))))
http://www.cnbc.com/id/33214372/

The FED: they're printing so much

The Greenspan and Bernanke monetary policies are destroying the United States and millions of Americans.



He sold US & soul for money ~ re Dollar Crisis Looming — Don't Short the Market: Jim Rogers

The commodity pump and hype fleecing the mass with higher commodity prices causing high inflation or hidden inflation.

-------------------------

Dollar Crisis Looming — Don't Short the Market: Jim Rogers
| 04 Jun 2009 | 03:21 PM ET

A currency crisis is imminent, so investors should avoid shorting the market, said Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings.

"I’m afraid they're printing so much

URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/31106964/

Commodity hype is detrimental to our economy.

Commodity hype is detrimental to our economy. Jim Roger is a selfish, madden market hyper -- as evidenced by commodity bubble/burst which is one reason of many for our economic disaster as well as global economic and financial disaster. Commodity hype is detrimental to our economy. ~ 1Best

http://trend-signals.blogspot.com/2008/09/energy-independence-palin-after-lindsey.html


Jim Rogers sees oil at US$200 as world is running out of reserves

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=29774&t=1&c=33&cg=4&mset

CRB 385 S

290 S megaphone Lower TL & LT Breakout S

1Best Signals 080708

Markets rallied from pivotal supports in noted Megaphone RST formations for SPX 1240 and DOW 11120. Nasdaq 2210 and Qs 4424 are pull back targets and pivotal supports at which markets reversed. $BKX 59.38 reversed from 54 noted LT RST support. Oil 136.70 retrieved from 146 which is near LT projected target 150 shown on the VLT chart, conversely, $TRAN rallied to 4921 from 4650 support. As more solar car becomes popular, oil price will substantially fall which will also stimulate next economic growth. Trading volume was higher during the last few days with higher VIX with consolidating formations which can be seen on DOW round bottom with positive divergences on weekly and oversold daily price actions. We will likely see a bottom at this level even though earning reports are uncertain. Prior to the recent pull back, on weekly price actions, the rally from Jan-Mar 2008, were showing positive divergences while daily price actions were showing negative divergences. Now, we have positive divergences on daily and weekly. With weekly +D ZLR and megaphone formations, it is likely that we have seen the bottoms.

~~~ $BKX ~~~ 59.38 rallied 7.63% from very oversold condition. BAC/C rallied 9.3%/6%, respectively. The LT $BKX formation from megaphone RST support with hammer formation is suggesting a LT bottom as noted in previous comments.



~~ DOW 30 Components ~~ as noted on previous post, financials rallied, within DOW 30, and CVX and XOM were underperformed with only about -1%. AA sold off 3.07% however, it regained the loss after earning report in AH.


~~ Qs, SPY, DIA OEPM charts ~~ show positive signs closing above yesterday HOD, but not SPY & DIA. DIA/DOW shows bottoming formation even though we had violent intraday swings for several days.

~~~

Nice rally from oversold market condition with some comments from various fed and bank officials. Oil price certainly helped markets and B.P. comments are helpful, but I think that developing solar energy is better than wind energy as solar energy is a new technology while wind energy is still using evolved old technology, i.e. electricity.

Commodity bubble

Commodity bubble Testimony of Michael W. Masters before the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Commodity price is manipulated by speculators ( Index Speculator Demand Is Driving Prices Higher ).



This is my view in agreement with Masters' as I commented during the last few years, i.e. price is manipulated by speculators (Index Speculator Demand Is Driving Prices Higher ).

You have asked the question “Are Institutional Investors contributing to food and energy
price inflation?” And my unequivocal answer is “YES.”

Bill Gross on Commodity
After his analysis on high inflation, he is recommending to buy commodity based assets, i.e. another bandwagon rider.

Commodity/inflation vicious cycle

As noted during the week of 2/18, hyping commodity price is exacerbating inflation. The stagflation debate started during the week of the late commodity hype. Even though Bernanke thinks that we will not have stagflation, the vicious cycle will be feeding into the market price actions as we have seen it during the last two weeks as oversold markets could not bounce off from the major supports.

Whether Bernanke is playing politics now as TS Paulson did with his comment on strong $USD, we will know; however, he has not lost his credibility except with "helicopter Bernanke".

Hopefully, we will see a stop to vicious cycle of feeding inflation through commodity price hype.

Bernanke Speech and DOW p/c ratio

Bernanke Speech at 1 pm tomorrow:

DOW p/c ratio is very negative and looks like expecting burning hell ? That is not looking good. Maybe Bernanke will say something horrible to market.

I think of this,
http://beautifulbible.blogspot.com/2008/01/5.html

Like this, so anything can happen.

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=25857126

Let's hope that market reacts positive.
Good luck

Bullish on Oil in 2008?

I noted that money is looking for a place in 2008 and market is bullish on commodity as we hear that a stream of market commentators are marching down WS pounding on commodity. The excuse is "Global economy demand" which is a reasonable excuse. We need to focus on developing efficient alternative energy source such as solar energy.



Oil Prices: They're Actually Going To Go Down?
Posted By:Bob Pisani

Oil has everyone ajar on Wall Street, but today Stratfor--a respected global geopolitical consultant--has put out a thought-provoking piece arguing that oil prices are likely to go DOWN, not up, in the coming months. A massive reduction in global demand due to a softer global economy? No, though that is the usual suspect the oil bears argue.

Instead, Stratfor says that lower geopolitical risk will be the factor that brings oil off its highs. Stratfor looks at some of the biggest producers in the world--Nigeria, Venezuela, the Persian Gulf, and Iraq, and sees a higher probability of calmer waters. Consider:

1) "The disruptions in Nigeria in 2006 and 2007 were all about determining who would become the next president (and thus gain control over the oil). That contest is now over and many of the forces who were disrupting crude flows have succeeded in getting into the new inner circle. No one in Nigeria now has a vested interest in seriously disrupting output. "

2) "Venezuela has seen its oil output drop by roughly a million barrels per day since Hugo Chavez became president a decade ago. While this decline is not over, it is no longer a surprise, and Venezuela's relative importance to the global energy picture is now roughly half of what it was ten years ago. There are few surprises that Chavez can throw at energy markets that do not also threaten his hold on power."

3) "The Arab states of the Persian Gulf are more tightly aligned to the United States than ever, and their security forces are more than capable of preventing small scale attacks by local militants from harming oil exports."

4) "Ultimately the Iraq conflict will burn until Washington and Tehran have a meeting of the minds. The November U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which asserted that Iran lacks a nuclear weapons program, was a gesture of good faith from the United States to Iran, one that has sparked a series of public talks over the future of Iraq. Such a detente would bleed away--in fact, is bleeding away--much of the violence within Iraq. A calmer Iraq is one that can finally invest in energy infrastructure, and an Iran that is on better terms with the United States is one that is not pumping in the shadow of a war scare."