Rare Earth Resources and Related Industries in Japan*

Transcription

1 Journal of MMIJ Vol.127 p (2011) 2011 The Mining and Materials Processing Institute of Japan Rare Earth Resources and Related Industries in Japan* by Tatsuo OTA 1 High-tech industries require rare earths which consists of 17 elements. There are many applications for rare earth elements. Having analyzed the United States Geological Survey s data, the world reserves of rare earths cover more than eight hundred years consumption based on total mine production of 130,000 tons in However, worldwide customers have recently suffered rising major prices and limited quantities in procurement. This is attributed to the Chinese policy of trying to control the production and export, despite the consumption increasing year by year in the world as well as in Japan. China employs a hard policy in rare earth based on their dominate market share at present, which is referred to as Chinese historical strategy. This policy was not carried out until recently, although they recognized it in In those days it was actually meaningless because many other suppliers besides China existed. This policy was based upon the fact that they have a 97% dominant share in the production of rare earth concentrates. They can supply this natural resource to all countries of the world. Considering this situation and the commodities life cycle, it is clear that new sources other than from China should be developed, as a China plus one strategy. The heavy rare earths, such as Dysprosium, Terbium and the middle rare earth Europium are absolutely required for Japanese to maintain a high level of advanced technology. The most important things for proceeding with such development projects are education and training because these projects require manpower, technology, and capital. It is easy to collect money at present if the project is attractive. This technology is maintained by manpower which requires high quality education, training and experience. KEY WORDS: Rare Earth, Magnet, Battery, Low Emission Vehicle, China 1.Elements of Rare Earth and Classification The periodic table of the elements, shown in Table 1, highlights 17 elements comprising Scanndium, Yttrium and 15 elements known as lanthanoids 1). The elements are lined up according to the atomic number displayed horizontally and the same type of electrons in the outermost shell vertically. The electron number and type of each element gives the physical and chemical properties 2). It can be said that these elements called rare earth elements are similar to each other in some physical and chemical characters because the outermost electrons are the same 1). Although there is no defined classification in rare earth, Table 2 shows common classifications of two methods. One is to classify into two categories and the other is into three categories. Solubility of potassium sulfate double salt into water is used in the case of three categories, e.g. not to solve; light rare earth, difficult to solve; middle rare earth, easy to solve; heavy rare earth 3). 2.Minerals and Deposits A theoretical percentage of rare earth contained and radio active level, γ-ray, in main minerals are shown in Table 3. The minerals of higher radioactive level are monazite and britholite. There is no defined classification in rare earth deposits. Table 4 shows comprehensive deposit types at present. Ion adsorption deposits are actually one of the residual deposits. However it is separated this time because ion adsorption deposits consist of clay of halloysite and/or kaolinite to which surface ionic rare earth elements are adhered 3). It is common that minerals include rare earth elements as ones of the composition in its crystal, but ion adsorption type is completely different from these common minerals deposits. The ion adsorption deposit contents only % of rare earth which is too small comparing to other minerals as above in Table 3. But it is very easy to separate rare earth elements from such clay 4, 5). In such ion adsorption mines ammonium sulfate solution is sprinkled from the top of the ore body and gathered at the foot. Table 5 shows typical specifications of representative rare earth mines of the world, all of these mines except China have ceased or are under development 6). There are many types of ion adsorption clays in details of which are enriched in heavy REE (Rare Earth Elements), light REE or both. *Received 17 April, 2009; accepted for publication 29 June, Automotive-Related Business Unit, Mitsubishi Corporation, 6-1, Marunouchi 2-Chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Postal Code: , JAPAN [For Correspondence] Tel: [81] , Fax: [81] , tatsuo.ota@mitsubishicorp.com 549 1

2 Tatsuo OTA Table 1 Periodic Table of the Elements. (Note) Upper:atomic number, Middle:symbol of element, Lower; name of element Table 2 Classification of Rare Earth Elements

3 Rare Earth Resources and Related Industries in Japan Table 3 Minerals Containing Rare Earth and Radioactivity. Table 4 Deposits of Rare Earth. 3.Applications of Rare Earth It is said that the rare metals are the vitamin for industry, especially the rare earths. The rare earth elements are absolutely necessary for Japan to keep an advanced position in high-tech industries. There are many applications for rare earth products in high-tech advanced industries such as permanent magnets, batteries, catalyst, CMP (Chemical Mechanical Polishing) powder, LCD polishing powder, and fluorescent materials, etc. Recently many researchers have been studying new application for each rare earth element and the possibility of its substitution intensively. In addition, the cause and procedure that has allowed China to enjoy its present dominate position has been investigated. Table 6 shows the applications for each of the 17 rare earth elements and 4 composites used in Japan 7). Double circles indicate higher quantities used. Industrial products for luminescence, automobile catalysts and magnet industries use many kinds of rare earths. On the other hand, lanthanum and cerium are used in many kinds of applications. Meanwhile bastnasite in the form of powder had been used for the polishing industry for many years in the past. However it is not used 551 3

4 Tatsuo OTA Table 5 Comparison of Ore Compositions. Table 6 Application of Rare Earth. Table 7 Consumption of Rare Earth in Japan

5 Rare Earth Resources and Related Industries in Japan Table 8 Demand Quantity of Rare Earth in Japan. Table 10 Production of Rechargeable Battery in Japan. Table 9 Production of Rare Earth Magnet in Japan. at present because of radioactivity concerns. The radioactive character of rare earth minerals is one of the biggest problems in the development of new mines. 4.Consumption in Japan Continuous official data for rare earths is very limited in Japan at present, especially relating consumption. Table 7 shows results calculated with some formulas for each application 7, 8). However this data does not include nickelmetal hydride (Ni-MH) rechargeable batteries for hybrid electric vehicles. The rough consumption quantity of rare earth in the form of mischmetal (MM) was approximately 600mt or more in 2006, which should be added to these figures. There are two reasons why Ni-MH rechargeable batteries does not include the quantity of hybrid electric vehicles. One is that movements have been in recent years, and the other is that this area is proprietary information for automobile and battery manufacturers. Major high-tech industries consuming many kinds of rare earths in Japan include rechargeable batteries, rare earth magnets, low emission vehicles, panel and color televisions. The most important representative members are for magnets and batteries. Japan Society New Metals internally works up some interesting statistics about this kind of rare earth demand in Japan from 1995 onwards that shows Table 8. Table 9 shows the production data for rare earth magnets in Japan 9,10). The quantity of sintered rare earth magnets has been increasing until now, although some of their factories have been transferred overseas. The unit price of magnets of both kinds declined until Table 10 shows the battery production data in Japan 11). Rare earth are used in Ni-MH rechargeable batteries. The production of Ni-MH batteries had increased until 2000, but afterward it decreased year by year until This was caused by the transfer of factories from Japan to overseas, especially China, in Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries were first introduced into the market in 1995 and achieved the highest market share in Ni-Cd battery was decreasing year by year because of pollution problem associated with disposal. The figures of Ni-MH batteries do not include that for hybrid electric vehicles, or low emission vehicles because no exact data exists. It is said that 7-8kg of this hydrogen storage metal alloy is used in one hybrid electric vehicle. Its MM content is 30% and equal to 2kg per car. The production of such hybrid electric vehicles in 2006 was about 333,000 mostly produced in Japan. That implies about 666 tons of MM was consumed by Japanese manufacturers. Table 11 Rare Earth Import in Japan

6 Tatsuo OTA 5.Import in Japan China enjoys a 97% share of the world production of concentrate separated products, which means that the export quantity from China is almost equal to the total import quantity of the other countries. Export share from China to Japan is approximately 1/3 of the total exported from China recently. The import quantity of each year is listed in Table 11 12). Import quantity increased rapidly in For example 41,955 tons was more than 30% compared to 31,107 tons in It was supposed to be additional purchase for extra stock, considering Chinese policy of control of export quantity with export quota (license) and export tax after withdrawal of Value Added Tax rebate. Import quantity in 2007 was a little bit smaller than the previous year. It also indicates that a huge import quantity in 2006 included extra stockpile. But the imported quantity in 2009 was decreased rapidly because of the effects of subprime mortgage crisis, Lehman shock, on September 15th in 2008 previous year, which showed recovery in The share of Chinese materials in Japan had been increasing year by year until 2008, except in 2001 when the raw materials market of rare earth was affected by the collapse of the IT bubble in Price Trend in Japan The price had been stable until 2004, but its trend was changed to upward in In 2006 this trend became firmer and the prices have been rising rapidly, especially after the imposition of export tax at 10%, which began in November Export tax should be paid by exporter (China) theoretically because it is the domestic law in China. However, the additional charge was born by the importer, such as Japan, by putting extra on the usual selling price. Customers in Japan could not reject this requirement by suppliers as there is no replacing of China as a supplier. Table 12 shows the rising trend in prices 13). Neodymium (Nd), terbium (Tb) and dysprosium (Dy) are used by high quality magnet industries, especially NdFeB alloy magnets, of which each element combines over 20% Nd, 2-6% Dy, 3-5% B and the balance of Fe. In addition a very small quantity of Dy is replaced by Tb in order to get greater magnetic effect. The prices of Dy and Tb are very high because their production quantity is very limited and because their content in ores is low. It was a world wide trend that most commodity prices had been falling since their peak in summer, Rare earth prices were no exception, especially after subprime mortgage crisis and recession in the United States, although the prices of heavy rare earths have been relatively stable. However the prices have been increasing since 2 nd half in 2010 because of Chinese policy of limited export quota. 7.Reserves and Reserve Basis of The World Table 13 shows the rare earth reserves and the reserve base of the world 14), to which area data is added. China s reserves percentage for reserve base is only 30% but the percentage of the other countries is approximately 90%. Therefore there remains potential deposits exist in China. Chinese quantity of unit area on reserves and reserve base are also larger than the other countries. This means the deposit density of rare earth in China is high as well as total reserve volume. 8.Mine Production of The World The Chinese mine production share in past was lower than present, e.g. 67% in 1997, though this 67% was still too large in the world production. The Chinese share had been increasing year by year as shown in Table 14 14, 15). Mines and plants in India ceased production of heavy mineral sands, and also stopped the concentration and extraction plants. They were to be reorganized for reconstruction. This scheme has reached the final stage and the production will be restarted in ). Considering the USGS presentation of Indian production quantity of 2,700t p.a., the USGS does not seem to pay any attention as the production quantity is so small. Anyway China makes a monopoly of the production at present. 9.History of Rare Earth in China A brief History of rare earth policy in China is reviewed in Table 15. In 1978 Mr. Deng XiaoPing, the then PM of China, changed the planned economy to one of reform and openness. In 1992, after he inspected the southern China, he noted the following; We, China, have the rare earth resources similar to the oil in Middle East as strategic natural resources. 17) As of May 1st of 2002, all the foreign investment was prohibited in the rare earth upstream industry. It means that any investment in mines by foreigners in China was completely prohibited and foreigners exclusive investment in the rare earth extraction industry was prohibited too. In addition, the rebate of the Value Added Tax on rare earth oxide export was stopped as of May 1st Toll conversion of rare earth ore and its products was prohibited as of May 19th A shocking policy was announced a few days before Nov. 1st The policy was that export tax of 10% should be imposed on rare earth products and it started Nov. 1st but the import tax rate on some high quality rare earth products was decreased. This export tax has now increased 15%-25% 18). The 18th Rare Earth Conference between China & Japan was planned to be held in Japan in 2006 or However it was abandoned due to China s intentions. This conference had been held once a year since 1988, and was resumed in April 2009 in Tokyo. The agenda included engineering and technical matters in addition to the previous supply and demand ones. This may assist with a new relation between China and Japan. 10.Discussion and Conclusions The following are some factors to be considered for the reasons why the present tight situation exists in rare earth as a natural resource, as well as in the associated intermediate products BACKGROUND A) 1st Stage: Downstream manufacturers restructuring Automobile industries started M & A in 1980 s and completed in 1990 s. This movement allowed downstream 554 6

7 Rare Earth Resources and Related Industries in Japan Table 12 Trend of Price of Rare Earth Metals in Japan

8 Tatsuo OTA Table 13 Rare Earth Reserves and Reserve Base of the World. Table 14 Rare Earth Production of the World. Table 15 History of Rare Earth Policy in China. manufacturers to get substantial bargaining powers that caused a rapid decrease of raw materials price. B) 2nd Stage: Upstream manufacturers restructuring Natural resources industries started M & A in 2000 and completed in 2006, e.g. BHP-Billiton in This 2nd stage was an oligopoly similar to other international cartel situations in natural resources industries. As a result, natural resources prices went up rapidly. However, that does not imply easy development of new sources any time soon. C) Present stage; Midstream manufacturers restructuring Just started but not finished, e.g. Arcelor-Mittal, JFE Steel, and Nippon Steel s alliance both domestically and internationally. Midstream manufacturers means intermediate products manufacturers such as steel makers, device makers, and so on. They have been suffered from the higher purchase price of raw materials from suppliers and the lower selling price of their products to users. Now this midstream industry just started M & A. In Japan the merger of Hitachi Metals and NEOMAX was performed in the magnet industry in NEW TRENDS Based on the conditions above, the following new trends are expected in Japan; 556 8

9 Rare Earth Resources and Related Industries in Japan A) Collaboration of Japanese government and private organization has been executed more rapidly and deeply, e.g. 3-R, Substitute R&D and new mine development. As to mine development, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) is now researching new deposits of rare earth which does not include radioactive material, e.g. apatite deposit containing heavy rare earth. Ferrous rich manganese ore deposits also containing heavy rare earth without radio-active materials 19). Recently AIST agreed with the Council for Geoscience of South Africa to develop a ferrous rich manganese ore deposit in South Africa. B) Technology of decreasing consumption quantity of Dy and Tb, which is essential for the NdFeB alloy magnets, is now under development by Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. 20), Intermetallics Co., Ltd. and Osaka University for example. The development seems to have already succeeded in the laboratory of Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd. Shin-Etsu has now started a study of its commercial application. C) New applications are developed in biology and medical areas, although the volume is not so large, e.g. MRI probe 21), scission and manipulation of DNA 22) FUTURE PROBLEMS A) Detailed statistical data of RE in Japan; Exact data of rare earth is very difficult compared to other items. For example China uses 23 HS codes for trading, but only 7 codes in Japan 23). B) Judgment of commodity life; Only 16 years have passed since lithium ion rechargeable batteries were introduced into the market. MRI, for example, rare earth magnets was expected to expand at first stage but uses superconductors at present. As to polishing, cerium oxide took over from hematite for use in glass polishing in After that the new float method of glass making did not use cerium. High quality glass production followed the float method, which required cerium usage again. Following that, a new pressed glass method was developed and consumption of cerium was decreased 24). At present cerium is required for polishing of flat panel, LCD, PDP and Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP), as such the required quantity in semiconductor industry is large 25). C) How to proceed and manage new projects; Projects require money, manpower and technology. Money is sufficient at present, but manpower and technology are lacking in upstream treatment of rare earths at present. This is due to the rare earth market being depressed for a long period of time. Manpower requires high quality education, training and experience. Additionally, a project manager requires passion for accomplishing a big great achievement. References 1) T. Masui: 14 th Rare earth Summer School, (2006), ) K. Tamao, H. Sakurai and H. Fukuyama: Shyukihyo, (Newton, Tokyo, 2007), pp ) S. Ishihara and H. Murakami: Chishitsu News, 609(2005), ) S. Ishihara and H. Murakami: Chishitsu News, 624(2006), ) A. Shibayama, Y. Tanamachi and S. Nakamura: Journal of MMIJ,123 (2007), ) C. Sinton: Study of the rare earth resources and markets for the Mt. Weld, (BCC Research, 2006). 7) T. Ota: Rare earth resources and related industries (in Japanese), (Metal Economics Research Institute of Japan, 2007). 8) T. Urai: Chugoku rare earth sanngyono gennjoto doko oyobi nihon rare earth sangyoeno eikyo (in Japanese), (Metal Economics Research Institute of Japan, 2005). 9) Japan Electronics & Information Technology Industries Association: Statistics, (2010). 10) N. Ishigaki and H. Yamamoto: Magnetics Japan, 3(2008), ) Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry: Statistics, (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). 12) Ministry of Finance: Statistics, (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). 13) Arum Publishing Co.: Industrial Rare Metals, (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). 14) USGS (United States Geological Survey): Mineral Commodity Summaries, (2008), pp ) USGS(United States Geological Survey): Mineral Commodity Summaries, (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010). 16) Arum Publishing Co.: Rare Metal News, 2355 (2008), 8. 17) Inner Mongolia Science and Technology Agency High-tech Industrial Zone Web-site: We, China, have the rare earth resources similar to the oil in Middle East (in Chinese), (2008), pp ) Research in China: China Rare earth Industry Report, (2008), pp ) Advanced Industrial Science and Technology: News, Press Release, (2007). 20) T. Minowa: Kinzoku, 77 (2007), ) M. Y. Katayama: Rare Earths, 50 (2007), ) J. Sumaoka, T. Hirano and M. Komiyama: Rare Earths, 50 (2007), ) T. Ota: BM news, 40 (2008), ) Japan Society of New Metals: Rare Earths, (1988), pp ) Gin-ya Adachi: An Overview of Functions and Applications of Rare Earths, (Shiemu Shuppan, Tokyo2006), pp レアアース資源と日本の産業 * 太田辰夫 1 ハイテク産業に欠かせないレアアースは 17 元素からなっており多くの用途がある 米国地質調査所のデータによればレアアースは 2010 年の鉱石生産量である 130,000 トン ( レアアース酸化物換算 ) で割れば 800 年以上の充分な埋蔵量があることとなる しかしながら最近世界のレアアース顧客はその価格上昇と原料手当てに苦しんで来た これは年々日本と同様に世界で消費量が増加しているにもかかわらず, 生産と輸出を管理しようとする中国の政策に起因している 中国は現在の支配的なシェアーを基に 中国の歴史的戦略 とも呼ばれる強固な政策を取って来た この戦略は 1992 年に中国では認識はされたものの最近まで発動されなかった その理由は当時は中国以外の他供給者がいて発動しても無意味であったからである しかしこの政策は今や世界精鉱生産量の 97% と言う支配的な中国のシェアーと中国が世界の全ての国にレアアース資源を供給出来ることに基き効果的に運営されている これらのことや商品のライフサイクルを勘案すると チャイナプラスワン として中国以外の新しいソースの開発が必要なことは言うまでもない 特にレアアース元素の中でも重希土ではジスプロシウム, テルビウムと中希土ではユウロピウムが重要である プロジェクトは人, もの, 金とよく言われるが, それらプロジェクトを推進するにあたり最も必要なことは教育である 現在資金はそのプロジェクトが良ければ直ぐに集めることが出来る 技術は人によって支えられているものであり, その人には高度な教育が欠かせない *2009 年 4 月 17 日受付 2011 年 6 月 29 日受理 1. 正会員三菱商事 ( 株 ) 自動車関連ユニット部長代理キーワード : レアアース, 希土類, 磁石, 電池, 低公害車, 中国 557 9