China Controls Rare Element Supply Used for High-Tech Gadgets

An independent rare earths analyst on Monday said that China has remained the top supplier of rare chemical elements used in making eco-friendly products such as wind mills, electric cars, and iPhones.

In a statement, US-based rare earths analyst Jack Lifton revealed that China, which has been one of the most voracious consumers of natural resources, has control of at least 95 percent of the world’s supply of rare earths, including chemical elements such as praseodymium and yttrium.

Lifton said that these elements were essential for the development of “green technologies” from high-tech devices such as the iPhones to green energy sources such as the solar panels and wind generators.With this, the Chinese government was able to control jobs creation in the region, Lifton said, adding that China will keep the supply at hand.

“We need to find ways on how the United States will again start producing these chemical elements, as we did in the past. If the government and the businesses concerned will not do that, the Chinese will be the sole country that will manufacture and distribute eco-friendly products in the world,” he added.

Lifton cited the single mine in the inner Mongolian region that produces more than half of the world’s rare oars. The rest of the supply came from small mine in China just little production from Russia, Brazil, and India.