TreeHugger reports on the state of rare earth elements:
Held inside practically every electronic device are rare earth metals. They’re a group of 17 elements that are needed to make your cell phone function, your computer run, your music player play. As billions of these devices are made, the planet’s stores of rare earth metals are being used up, and China, which provides over 90% of the world’s rare earth supplies, warns that it is running low.
The article wonders is urban mining is ahead.
I thought we just discovered a lot of it in Afganistan?
Yup.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=afghanistan-rare-earth-elements-could-beat-taliban
IMHO, even if the discovery in Afghanistan wasn’t a reality, do you really think the China “shortage” is real? “Oh, we’re running low, must charge more for rare earth minerals”. THIS coming from a country that manipulates it’s economy and bombards us with cheaply made products…Pllleeeaaase!