From iPads to Tomahawk Missiles For a long time after the Second World War, these metals were under-exploited. They were considered to be mere byproducts of the refining process of other metals and were used by metallurgists as “mischmetal” (an alloy or lanthanum, cerium and neodymium) for the purification of cast irons and steels, or incorporated in alloys such as those used for making flint. Around the 1980s, major developments in information, military, space and “sustainable development” technologies opened up new applications for the specific properties of these metals that we now live with – most often without knowing. Do you drive a hybrid vehicle? Toyota’s Prius model requires several tons of rare earths
Riotinto mines, Spain. Source: Miguel Roa Guzmán
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every year (mostly lanthanum) for the production of its batteries alone. The magnets used in a single 3 megawatt wind turbine, require hundreds of kilos of dysprosium. No iPods work without neodymium and no TVs without yttrium. You want to drive cleaner? It will cost 40 grams of cerium for each catalytic converter… There is no need to pursue this inventory to see that today rare metals flood our most popular products. Taking notice perhaps a little late of the importance of these elements for the continuity of an economic model still founded on growth, the European Union published a report in June 2010 bringing to light the strategic significance of these resources beyond their uses in our everyday consumption. In the United States, the Defense and Energy departments emphasized the importance of secure and abundant access to rare earths for the preservation of the country’s research and development (R&D) capacities and military superiority. In 2010, a General
Accountability Office (GAO) report – “Rare Earth Materials in the Defense Supply Chain” – underlined rare metals’ critical role in the weapon systems. In February 2011, the United States Magnetic Materials Association (USMMA) called on the U.S. government to create a strategic reserve of rare metals. More recently, a report in April 2012 by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) – “Rare Earth Elements in National Defense: Background, Oversight Issues, and Options for Congress” – presented a series of recommendations to Congress after having enumerated an exhaustive list of weapons whose dependence on rare earths was critical. The propulsion systems for the new class of hybrids DDG51 destroyers requires neodymium for the magnets of its electric motors, dysprosium is indispensable for the stealth systems on drones and fighter jets, Tomahawk cruise missiles, Aegis Spy-1 radars, “smart bombs”... the list is long and the conclusion is clear: more rare metals, more weapons.