Rare earth elements and critical minerals
- February 1, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Rare earth elements and critical minerals
Subject :Geography
Section : Economic Geography
Context: Rare earth elements and critical minerals will be next geopolitical battleground: Economic Survey
More on the News:
- REE and CM are essential for generating renewable energy (RE). The problem is that they are produced in a few countries and processed in even fewer countries.
- A globally synchronised energy transition to non-fossil fuels might be difficult to pull off if adequate REE and CM are not available. That would leave fossil fuel-based assets stranded for many countries’ economies.
- Survey pointed out while the demand for CMs is set to increase because of the global preference and emphasis towards RE, the global CM supply chain is highly concentrated and unevenly distributed. The skewed distribution of resources poses a supply risk in the face of its enhanced demand.
- A carefully crafted multi-dimensional mineral policy would reduce our dependence and address the problems for the future. The country has resources of nickel, cobalt, molybdenum, and heavy REEs, but further exploration would be needed to evaluate the quantities of their reserves.
- There is a need to create strategic mineral reserves along the lines of strategic petroleum reserves to ensure a continuous supply of minerals. Also, policies should consider investing in internal research including technological innovation for mineral exploration and processing and the development of Recycling, Reusing, and Repurposing (R3) technologies
Rare earth Elements:
- These are a set of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table, specifically the 15 lanthanides plus scandium (Atomic Number 21) and Yttrium (Atomic Number 39).
- Lanthanide series comprises the 15 metallic chemical elements with atomic numbers 57 through 71, from lanthanum through lutetium.
- Scandium and yttrium are considered rare-earth elements because they tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties, but have different electronic and magnetic properties.
- Cerium (AN 58) is the most abundant rare earth metal.
- Their colour ranges from Shiny Silver to Iron Gray. They are soft, malleable, ductile and usually reactive, especially at elevated temperatures or when finely divided.
- Its application ranges from Civilian (smartphones, laptops, petroleum refining catalysts) to military including nuclear applications. Rare minerals that are essential to electric vehicles, wind turbines and drones.
- China has the largest reserve (37 percent), followed by Brazil and Vietnam (18 percent each), Russia (15 percent), and the remaining countries (12 percent). Deng Xiaoping said once, The Middle East has oil and China has rare earth.
- Why these elements called as RARE?
- There is no shortage of rare earths. But their extraction is difficult (Requires high skill, Capital intensive, Environmental issues).
Critical Minerals
- Critical minerals are elements that are the building blocks of essential modern-day technologies, and are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
- These minerals are now used everywhere from making mobile phones, computers to batteries, electric vehicles and green technologies like solar panels and wind turbines.
- Based on their individual needs and strategic considerations, different countries create their own lists.
- However, such lists mostly include graphite, lithium, cobalt, rare earths and silicon which is a key mineral for making computer chips, solar panels and batteries.
- Aerospace, communications and defence industries also rely on several such minerals as they are used in manufacturing fighter jets, drones, radio sets and other critical equipment.
Why is this resource critical?
- As countries around the world scale up their transition towards clean energy and digital economy, these critical resources are key to the ecosystem that fuels this change.
- Any supply shock can severely imperil the economy and strategic autonomy of a country over-dependent on others to procure critical minerals.
- But these supply risks exist due to rare availability, growing demand and complex processing value chain.
- Many times the complex supply chain can be disrupted by hostile regimes, or due to politically unstable regions.
- They are critical as the world is fast shifting from a fossil fuel-intensive to a mineral-intensive energy system.