XPost: comp.os.linux.misc   
   From: tnp@invalid.invalid   
      
   On 06/12/2025 02:34, c186282 wrote:   
   > But REFINING the ores is a pain in the ass. At present   
   >    China has almost all of the worlds capacity. The USA   
   >    and some EU countries are at the starting stage for   
   >    building similar facilities ... but that's going to take   
   >    a few years.   
   >   
   China was clever here. They made exporting the ores illegal and   
   subsidised production to a level that essentially rendered it   
   uncompetitive to process US ores on US soil.,   
   The point is the USA already has all it needs, but at a cost that cant   
   compete with china.   
      
   All it has to do is subsidises rare earths as a strategically important   
   industry, and re-open the neodymium  mines, After spending a year   
   pumping out the water.   
      
   >    The elements ARE kind-of 'rare' too ... not like iron   
   >    or aluminum or copper.   
      
   "Neodymium is not found naturally in metallic form or unmixed with other   
   lanthanides, and it is usually refined for general use. Neodymium is   
   fairly common—about as common as cobalt, nickel, or copper—and is widely   
   distributed in the Earth's crust" [wiki]   
      
   They merely don't occur in such high concentrations or unmixed ores.   
   IIRC they were a by product of cobalt mining.   
      
   Processing neodymium makes a great big chemical mess* too. In the USA   
   the toad lickers would be up in arms..   
      
   *sulphuric and hydrofluoric acid, and silicon tetrafluroride, Enough to   
   give the average Califiornian a heart attack just thinking about.   
      
   --   
   Climate Change: Socialism wearing a lab coat.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)