Strategic market, ecological challenge ... Understanding rare earths in 5 questions

Almost unknown until the 1970s, rare earths were today the new "black gold".From the electric car to the smartphone, including wind turbines, these metals today enter the manufacturing process of many high -tech products.

Like oil, this coveted resource is at the center of geopolitical issues, China concentrating the majority of its production.A production far from being neutral on the environmental level.

1.What are rare earths?

Rare Lands are "a category of metals that are also called the Lanthanides", explains Michel Latroche, director of research at the CNRS at the Institut de Chimie et de Matées de Paris is."In the periodic table of the elements, this corresponds to the whole series from Lanthane.There are also two others: scandium and yttrium.Which gives 17 metals in total ”.

2.Why are they sought?

Since their discovery, which has spread between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 20th century, the rare earths "were rather laboratory curiosities", says Michel Latroche.

It was from the 1970s that their exceptional physical properties were exploited, in particular their powerful magnetic power."They completely revolutionized the world of magnets," said Michel Latroche.This makes it highly requested elements in many electronic devices: speakers, medical imaging devices or hard computers of computers.

"In wind turbines, there are also several hundred kilos of rare land" in the form of permanent magnets, adds the researcher.These same magnets (facts of a neodymium-fer-bore-bore alloy) are used to optimize the performance of electric vehicle engines.

Still in electric cars, another property of rare land is used to design batteries."The Nimh batteries, for 'Nickel-metal-hydride' are made up of several kilos of rare earths, unlike the lithium-ion batteries", explains Michel Latroche.

Rare earths are also used for automotive depollution.We find it, alongside other metals, in the catalytic pots of cars."There is only Cerium which can ensure this role," says the scientist.During crude oil cracking, rare earths also intervene in the form of a catalyst.

"Another aspect of rare earths allows you to have lasers from which you can very finely adjust the wave wavelengths, and therefore the desired color," explains Michel Latroche.It is for this ability to create beautiful shades that we also find these metals in smartphones screens or televisions.

"Other applications are possible in ophthalmology, cutting, medical radiography, laser show ...", explains the scientist.In the military sector, rare earths are also popular to improve missile guide systems or sound detection capacities.Finally, rare earths are used in the form of glass polishing powder, or to capture neutrons in nuclear cycles, lists the researcher.

3.Where do we find it?

Unlike rare metals like platinum or iridium, rare earths "are not that rare as that," explains Michel Latroche."It is as abundant in the earth's crust as nickel or cobalt".In 2017, the reserves were estimated at 120 million tonnes, all rare earth oxides.

On the other hand, the deposits large enough to be economically exploitable, quite few, are scattered on the planet."About half of the reserves are in China, which is clearly advantaged in resources," notes the researcher.

China is also the world's leading producer, for geological reasons, but above all geopolitical."The extraction of rare earths is an expensive and polluting process.Until the 1990s, the United States almost had the production monopoly, then left this market to China, "he analyzed."Beijing largely subsidizes this industry, which means that no one can compete with them today".

4.Why is this market so strategic?

In twenty years, global consumption of rare land has more than doubled, according to the geological and mining research office (BRGM).In a world that is more and more focused on digital and low-carbon, there is no doubt that this trend should continue in the coming years.

On this strategic market, concentrated in the hands of a single country, prices can quickly flare.This is what happened in 2010, when China implemented very restrictive export control measures in the form of permit, taxes or quotas, which have considerably limited the supply for consumptionforeign industrial.After a complaint from the EU, the United States and Japan, the WTO forced the country to put an end to this policy around 2015.

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The psychological shock of this crisis has pushed several countries to open (or reopen) extraction sites on their territory to no longer depend on China.This is the case of the United States, which recently revived their production in the important deposit of Mountain Pass in California, which had put the key under the door in the early 2000s.Australia did the same with the Mount Weld mine.

Despite everything, the Middle Kingdom keeps first place in terms of extraction and especially in terms of transformation thanks to an industrial fabric fleshed throughout the production chain and very high profitability, notes the BRGM.Which regularly arouses new commercial standards between Beijing and Washington.

5.What is the impact of the exploitation of rare earths on the environment?

The process of extraction and refining of rare earths is extremely toxic and has direct impact on human health and the environment."It is necessary to extract the ore, treat it and separate the metals from the rare earths.For this, we use large amounts of solvents, some of which are toxic, ”recalls Michel Latroche.

"Either you are virtuous and you treat it until they become harmless, or you are less virtuous and you reject them in nature ...", he sums up.Another problem: deposits very often contain radioactive elements.

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"Traditionally lax" on the environmental level, China has decided to reshape its standards and opened the hunt for illegal mining operations, "under pressure from public opinion" and "faced with this crisis that the country cannotmore ignore, ”underlines a 2019 IFRI report.The production of a ton of rare land in Baotou, in interior Mongolia, simultaneously produces 75.000 liters of acid wastewater and a ton of radioactive residues.

"For some rare land, research is underway to find substitutes to replace them.There is also the possibility of recycling.The Japanese do it with all their Nimh batteries from their Toyota or their honda, ”says Michel Latroche.But, for the researcher, we must not be fooled, "as long as there are rare earths cheap no one will take care of substitutes!»»