1990s, Chinese-based mining companies began developing rare-earths operations, and other mines around the world simply could not compete, due to the lower cost of operations at the Chinese mines and processing facilities. As a result, Chinese-based companies wound up controlling more than 90% of the market by the late 1990s, and prices remained relatively steady.

However, in 2010, China cut its export quotas for rare earth exports, and rare earth prices skyrocketed. Furthermore, a territorial dispute with Japan led China to halt exports to that country for two months, proving its control over rare earths could also be a weapon in any sort of international dispute. Speculators hoarded rare earth minerals, sending prices soaring. Seeing that the Chinese government was actively using its control over the rare earths market to get what it wanted, new rare earth production facilities were started in the U.S., Australia, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, and other countries.

A potential trade war between China and the U.S., a net importer of rare earths, combined with an expected rise in demand for rare earths over the next few years, could contribute to rising rare earth prices.

When prices of rare earths spiked in the past, manufacturers were able to get their engineers to reduce the requirements for rare earths in some products, such as reducing or eliminating the use of europium and terbium in fluorescent lighting products, says Pierre Neatby, vice president of sales and marketing with Avalon Advanced Materials, Inc., a Canadian mineral development company with three mining projects expected to enter commercialization, including rare earth elements tantalum, niobium and zirconium.

A new red phosphor that uses Manganese4+ (Mn4+) activated fluo-

RARE-EARTH ELEMENTS are spe- cial minerals used in a wide variety of consumer and industrial products. Though they have exotic-sounding names, such as neodymium, scandium, and dysprosium, they are abundant right here on Earth. They are considered rare, however, because they appear in very small concentrations.

In addition, the process used to separate them from the rocks in which they occur is extremely difficult, because the elements have the same ionic charge and are similar in size. Typical separation and purification processes often require thousands of extraction and purification stages to be carried out. As such, there is a significant premium attached to these materials, and several market and geopolitical forces may cause them to escalate in value.

Rare earths are metallic elements, and therefore contain unique properties, including high heat resistance, strong magnetism, high electrical conductivity, and high luster. These specific properties make them well suited for use in a variety of products, including cellphones, batteries, loudspeakers, lights, magnets, and even wind turbines. In addition, they are often key elements used in the creation of components used in everyday objects, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), fiber optics, compact fluorescent lights, and are used as catalysts, phosphors, and polishing compounds for air pollution control, illuminated screens on electronic devices, and the polishing of optical-quality glass.

Some of the rare-earth metals (and their atomic weights) that are commonly used in electronics include lanthanum ( 57), cerium ( 58), neodymium ( 60), samarium ( 62), europium ( 63), terbium ( 65), and dysprosium ( 66).

The demand for rare earths is ex-
pected to increase over the next several
years, driven by an increase in the use
and production of items that are manu-
factured using rare earths. For exam-
ple, in 1998, cellular telephones, which
have batteries that require rare earth
elements, were used by just 5.3% of the
global population, according to Inter-
national Telecommunications Indus-
try data. By 2017, the penetration rate
of cellphones worldwide had reached
103.4% (exceeding 100% due to owner-
ship of multiple devices).
Other products, such as electric vehi-
cles and wind turbines, were just in the
prototype phase two decades ago, but
have since seen significant commercial
deployment, with positive demand fore-
cast over the next several decades. As a
result, demand for rare earth elements
is likely to grow over time; combined
with a relatively limited base of suppli-
ers, rising demand could drive up the
cost of rare earths for manufacturers,
both in the U.S. and around the globe.

As recently as 30 years ago, rare earths were mined and processed in various countries around the world, including the U.S. However, in the early

Electronics Need
Rare Earths

Demand is expected to spike over the next few years, leading to higher prices and international trade issues.

Society | DOI: 10.1145/3303847 Keith Kirkpatrick

In the 1990s, mining
companies in China
began focusing on
rare earths; mines
in other countries
could not compete
with low-cost
Chinese mining
and processing.