Rare Earth Element Under Tight Grip of China 01

  China has expanded export quotas for rare earth metals, further tightening its grip on the minerals used in a number of high-tech electronics. From Friday, iron alloys containing more than 10% of rare earths will fall under the export quota, the commerce ministry said in a statement.
Rare earths are a collection of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table.bWorld manufacturers rely heavily on China for these minerals.nRare earth metals are used in high tech goods such as mobile phone handsets, hybrid car batteries, wind turbines and weapons guidance systems .
China had already cut exports by about 35% in the first half of 2011 driving up prices to record levels. It produces around 97% of rare earth metal supply.

  The Chinese government also wants to cut off what it calls illegal exports of the valuable metals.
Rare Earth Element ApplicationsRare earth elements have drawn worldwide attention in recent months, with uncertainty from the world's largest producer, China, making investors uneasy about products and industries that require these substances.
Rare earth elements are a collection of seventeen members of the periodic table, as defined by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, but the name is somewhat misleading.
Composed mostly of members of the Periodic table's lanthanide series, rare earths are similar in abundance as more familiar elements such as copper, nickel or zinc, while even the least abundant naturally occurring rare earths are 200 times more common than gold.
However, rare earth elements are only found in commercially viable amounts in several areas of the world. This situation has been compounded by Chinese production that has undercut costs of production in the US, by way of lower labor costs and less stringent environmental regulation.

   Once self-sufficient in rare earth production, sites in the US such as the Mountain Pass Mine in California's Mojave Desert operates far below capacity, according to the USGS, for these environmental and economic concerns.
With uncertainty in the global rare earth markets, it pays to know what the rare earth elements are, and what they do.
ScandiumAlthough chemists technically differentiate Scandium from the other rare earth metals, this element is present in most rare earth or uranium deposits and is only found in a handful of mines worldwide.
Scandium is a metal with a hard and silvery appearance and has a somewhat abundant on the planet, estimated to be the 50th most common element in the earth's crust. However, it is sparsely dispersed and is found mostly in trace amounts, except in regions of Scandinavia (from which it gets its name) and Madagascar where large concentrations can be found.
Scandium can be added to aluminum, creating an alloy that increases the strength of the metal in heat-affected zones, such as around welds. Applications of this alloy are found in some aerospace components Scandium alloys were used in Russian MiG 21 and MiG 29 aircraft), as well as consumer products like baseball bats, lacrosse sticks and bicycle frames.

   Scandium is also used in some hand guns (revolvers), while some molecules containing the element are used in high-intensity discharge lamps and light bulbs.
YttriumAnother transition metal, Yttrium is chemically similar to the lanthanides and is only found combined with other rare earth metals and uranium ores and is never found as a free element in nature. Despite this, Yttrium is estimated to be the 28th most abundant element in the earth's crust, about 400 times more abundant than silver.
Yttrium's primary application is in LED televisions, where yttrium oxide is combined with europium to help produce red pixels. It can also be used for increasing strength of aluminum and magnesium alloys and has been used in superconductors that must be kept at ultra-low temperatures. Yttrium also has applications in the treatment of various cancers such as lymphoma, leukemia, ovarian, pancreatic and bone cancers.