| Posted on August 23, 2010 at 2:27 PM | 
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A number of news stories have emerged recently about the supply of essential raw materials and the possible future lack thereof....
The Independent ran a cover story (if indeed it is true) that China is attempting to deliberately restrict export of Rare Earth Elements such as neodymium. China controls 97% of the world’s supply and the REEs are essential in the creation of electronic items and renewable energy technologies such as low energy lightbulbs, wind turbines and hybrid car batteries. China is allowing companies to buy the material as normal but not for export ensuring that they can only be used in the manufacturing process within China and thereby ensuring that the jobs and revenues generated by the use of the materials remain within its boundaries. REEs are responsible for 5% of global GDP (£3trillion!) and as a result, the world is scrambling to find alternative supplies.
Further worrying news concerns helium, an essentially non-renewable gas harvested from radioactive decay in rocks. The world’s largest store of helium is held at a disused airfield in Texas and is to be sold off (cheaply) by 2015, thereby diluting the price of this valuable resource. Once it’s gone, the cost will go up by 10000 times! Helium is used in a variety of medical applications as a coolant and it might be all gone by 2030.
The Independent ran a cover story (if indeed it is true) that China is attempting to deliberately restrict export of Rare Earth Elements such as neodymium. China controls 97% of the world’s supply and the REEs are essential in the creation of electronic items and renewable energy technologies such as low energy lightbulbs, wind turbines and hybrid car batteries. China is allowing companies to buy the material as normal but not for export ensuring that they can only be used in the manufacturing process within China and thereby ensuring that the jobs and revenues generated by the use of the materials remain within its boundaries. REEs are responsible for 5% of global GDP (£3trillion!) and as a result, the world is scrambling to find alternative supplies.
Further worrying news concerns helium, an essentially non-renewable gas harvested from radioactive decay in rocks. The world’s largest store of helium is held at a disused airfield in Texas and is to be sold off (cheaply) by 2015, thereby diluting the price of this valuable resource. Once it’s gone, the cost will go up by 10000 times! Helium is used in a variety of medical applications as a coolant and it might be all gone by 2030.
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