strategic materials

Other materials stories that may be of interest

By / August 25, 2011

Check ’em out: Powerful DOE-developed X-ray technology helps develop promising new drug treatment for melanoma UK study shows radical response to volatile material prices Ford, Toyota announce telematics, hybrid collaboration…

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Rare-earths chess game intensifies with new moves in China, Washington

By / June 16, 2011

Maybe not a zugzwang yet, but rare-earth strategies are getting more complex and riskier. Credit: Wikipedia. It’s been a while since I have addressed strategic materials, but several recent developments…

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Europe says it is ramping up its strategic materials plan

By / February 4, 2011

Wednesday the European Union announced a major new “vision” for dealing with strategic commodities and raw materials. The EU published a communication that lists 14 raw materials (antimony, beryllium, cobalt,…

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They write letters . . . on the U.S.’s rare-earth defense strategy

By / February 2, 2011

(h/t to RareMetalBlog) Two U.S. senators from Alaska and a U.S. representative from Colorado are steamed about what they perceive is the Department of Defense’s lax attitude toward the strategic…

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Rare earth scramble heats up; California mine opening imminent

By / December 23, 2010

Molycorp’s Mountain Pass mine. Credit: Wikipedia Commons Apparently the DOE’s release of its first Critical Materials Strategy was one in a series of announcements about how various companies and countries…

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DOE rare earths, critical materials strategy 1.0

By / December 21, 2010

A much as I gripe about DOE’s funding delays, I do think kudos should go to the agency for making a first attempt at a crafting a modern plan for…

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Bad news for advanced ceramic & glass world: China enforcing new rare earths export restrictions

By / July 12, 2010

According to new reports in BusinessWeek and Metal-Pages, China is cutting export quotas for the rare earths and metals – required in many advanced ceramic and glass applications – by…

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Knowledge of lithium, gold, rare earths in Afghanistan known even earlier than NYT reports

By / June 14, 2010

The New York Times story starts the timeline in the 1980s: “They soon learned that the data had been collected by Soviet mining experts during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan…

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Doesn’t this actually make Bolivia more important for the U.S.?

By / June 13, 2010

From the New York Times: “An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries…

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U.S. mineral production declines 20% in 2009

By / February 16, 2010

From the perspective of the U.S.’s strategic interests, this does not bode well. The USGS today reported that the value of unprocessed non-fuel minerals dropped about $14 billion to $57…

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