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Monday, October 22, 2012

7 Key Rare Earths and Stategic Minerals


Molybdenum: Corrosion-resistant and able to withstand extreme temperatures, this super-strong metal is used in everything from aircraft parts, railways, nuclear power plants, skyscrapers, and automobiles to stainless steel products in homes all over the world. Its growing popularity led the London Metal Exchange to add it their list of traded commodities in 2008. And it's such a crucial ingredient of India and China's rapid urbanization that consumption is expected to double by 2020.


Lithium: One of the most crucial metals in the world, lithium is used in medicines, ceramics and glass, and now powers laptops, iPhones, and electric cars. Prices have already tripled over just the last decade. The Techno-economic Research Unit Group sees demand more than doubling by 2020, while the U.S. Department of Energy estimates demand for large lithium batteries soaring from 10,000 metric tonnes per year... to over 500,000 by 2050.  


Zinc: It's the fourth most widely-used metal today — and for many good reasons. One reason is its role in strengthening steels for the construction of buildings, homes ,and businesses. And although China already consumes 59% more zinc than Europe, Japan, and the U.S. combined, it still can’t get enough as its demand continues outpacing production. Consulting firm Beijing Antaike even projects a shortage of 100,000 tons by 2013 and 150,000 tons by 2014.  


Cobalt: Surging demand for smartphones, iPads, super-alloys and high-speed steel around the world has shot this metal up 600% since 2002, with supply still trailing demand by 47%. And it’s only getting started, as cobalt is also an essential ingredient in many lithium-ion batteries set to power the electric car revolution, with Credit Suisse estimating hybrid electric vehicle sales surging 1,525% by 2020. No wonder this metal is considered so strategic that the U.S., EU, Japan, and the Netherlands now require it for stockpile.  


Copper: It's sleeping right now... but make no mistake, the red metal is destined for a massive rebound as huge swaths of China's rural population continues flooding to the cities, creating a huge demand for any and everything powered by electricity. Heck, China alone is expected to triple its copper consumption by 2020, according to London’s CRU Group. Then there's India, set to leapfrog over the U.S., Korea, Japan, and Germany to become the world’s second-largest copper consumer. In fact, Chile's own copper commission, COCHILCO, estimates that in the next ten years, Indian demand for copper will grow from 600,000 tons to 3.4 million tons annually.  


 Nickel: One of the most sought-after metals in the world, it has literally thousands of uses in everything from stainless steel to rechargeable batteries, special alloys, gas turbines, electric guitar strings, and so much more. Not only that, the U.S. government considers nickel to be so crucial that the Treasury can recall 5-cent coins at any time for military purposes... Demand just keeps growing and growing. Right now, China is quietly buying stakes in junior miners to lock in supplies  and is expected to account for 40% of global nickel consumption by 2015, up from just 12% in 2004.  


Vanadium: It's the "plastic" of the 21st century: a super-light, super-strong metal that's about to take center stage in the renewable energy and electric car era. Adding just 0.09% of vanadium to steel increases its strength by 100%  while decreasing weight and energy consumption by 30% — making it ideal for use in buildings, bridges, cars, cranes, pipelines, ships, and engines. In fact, when Subaru added it to the lithium batteries in its G4e Concept cars, total travel distance from a single charge soared from 40km to 200 km. No wonder China plans to double vanadium output in three to five years, just to meet surging domestic demand...




Source: Energy and Capital

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