superrific
Master of the ZZLverse
- Messages
- 11,422
There are a lot of misconceptions about the rare earth elements we supposedly need so badly. Let's go through the science:
1. Rare earth elements are not actually rare. There's plenty of them, and what's more, they are everywhere. I mean, not every acre of rock, but there are plenty of rare earth deposits all over the globe. Greenland's rare earth elements are small compared to the global supply.
2. The problem with rare earths is separating them from other elements in the rock. That's a refining issue, not a mining issue. And no matter where the stuff is located, the refining issue remains. That's why we don't mine rare earths in the US. It's not because it's hard to extract the rock -- anyone who can mine copper can also mine rare earths. It's that it's extremely dirty.
3. In particular, rare earths tend to hang out with uranium and radium. Those are byproducts of the refining process, and they are extremely toxic/hazardous. Especially radium. And you have to dispose of that stuff somewhere. That's what makes it so dirty (well, also it takes a lot of chemical reactions meaning lots of open pits). Now maybe the idea for Trump is to dig up the rock, extract the rare earths, and then just dump the radium wherever. That is wrong on so many levels.
4. The idea that somehow only the US has the ability to mine them is wrong and who knows where that comes from. First, anything the US can mine, anyone else can mine because the US does all mining with private companies. Those private companies can and already do contract overseas as well as domestically -- in fact, that's what the oil services sector is all about: private companies hired by foreign actors, often governments, to drill and produce the oil. Same with mining. Precious metal mining companies already operate worldwide.
5. If we want to mine rare earths out of greenland, I'm all for that if it's done right. That entails cooperation among all relevant actors. Environmental protection, investment dollars, labor force, etc. We could absolutely get it done with a treaty. The treaty would be not too difficult and we have dozens of similar treaties like that. But of course Trump never sees the joint value created by contracts and similar arrangement. His sole purpose is to screw the other side, whether it helps him or not.
Taking it actually makes the job tougher. We would be fighting the local population instead of working with it.
1. Rare earth elements are not actually rare. There's plenty of them, and what's more, they are everywhere. I mean, not every acre of rock, but there are plenty of rare earth deposits all over the globe. Greenland's rare earth elements are small compared to the global supply.
2. The problem with rare earths is separating them from other elements in the rock. That's a refining issue, not a mining issue. And no matter where the stuff is located, the refining issue remains. That's why we don't mine rare earths in the US. It's not because it's hard to extract the rock -- anyone who can mine copper can also mine rare earths. It's that it's extremely dirty.
3. In particular, rare earths tend to hang out with uranium and radium. Those are byproducts of the refining process, and they are extremely toxic/hazardous. Especially radium. And you have to dispose of that stuff somewhere. That's what makes it so dirty (well, also it takes a lot of chemical reactions meaning lots of open pits). Now maybe the idea for Trump is to dig up the rock, extract the rare earths, and then just dump the radium wherever. That is wrong on so many levels.
4. The idea that somehow only the US has the ability to mine them is wrong and who knows where that comes from. First, anything the US can mine, anyone else can mine because the US does all mining with private companies. Those private companies can and already do contract overseas as well as domestically -- in fact, that's what the oil services sector is all about: private companies hired by foreign actors, often governments, to drill and produce the oil. Same with mining. Precious metal mining companies already operate worldwide.
5. If we want to mine rare earths out of greenland, I'm all for that if it's done right. That entails cooperation among all relevant actors. Environmental protection, investment dollars, labor force, etc. We could absolutely get it done with a treaty. The treaty would be not too difficult and we have dozens of similar treaties like that. But of course Trump never sees the joint value created by contracts and similar arrangement. His sole purpose is to screw the other side, whether it helps him or not.
Taking it actually makes the job tougher. We would be fighting the local population instead of working with it.