by Matthias Rupp Presentation in International Management - Master of Science in Energy Systems - FH Aachen, summer term 2012
Rare Earths - What are Rare Earths? - Resources and Consumers - Prices - Usage of Rare Earths The Conflict - Facts - Development - Reasons beyond - Effects Germany s Strategies - Rohstoffstrategie - Allianz zur Rohstoffsicherung - Exploration project in Sachsen - Ressourcen-Effizienz 2
Source: http://www.spiegel.de 3
What are Rare Earths? 4
set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table 5
Source: http://library.thinkquest.org 6
Source: http://library.thinkquest.org 7
set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table fifteen lanthanides Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodynium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium 8
set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium - tend to occur in the same ore deposits as the lanthanides - exhibit similar chemical properties Rare earths are not rare!!! (the elements occur mostly in a lot of widely scattered minerals or are mixed with other minerals. So it is hard to mine them.) 9
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Currently estimated resources [Mio. t] Known recoverable reserves [Mio. t] Existing planned mines Source: http://www.ggz.ch (2010) 11
Brasil 650 t China 120.000 t India 2.700 t Malaysia 380 t Mining 2010 Production planned in the short term Further large deposits Source: http://www.usgs.gov/ 12
Share of world mining of rare earths: 1. 2. 97 % 3. 2,1 % 0.5 % 13
The 3 major importers/consumers of rare earths are - Japan: 34.330 t - EU: 23.013 t - USA: 20.663 t Share of imports from China: 91 % 90 % 91 % 14
Imports of rare earths by the European Union member states Spain Belgium Great Britain 8% 2% 2% 2% Italy Germany 8% 38% France Netherlands 16% 24% Austria Source: http://www. oeko.de 15
Heavy rare earths Light rare earths Prices are risen since the last 10 years Source: http://www. Metal-Pages.com 16
Heavy rare earths Light rare earths and within 2011 Source: http://www. Metal-Pages.com 17
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9% 7% 18% 19% 19% 28% Source: http://www. oeko.de Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodynium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Scandium Yttrum 19
Glass, polishing, ceramics - Polishing compounds - Colouring and decolouring agent in glass - Stabilizer in ceramics - Ceramic capacitors - UV adsorption 20
Metal alloys, batteries - Alloys for steel and iron casting - Super alloys - Flint ignition devices - NiMH-battery - Fuel cell - H 2 -storage - Light weight construction 21
Magnets - Motors and generators Wind turbines Electric vehicles Hybrid vehicles - Hard Discs - MRI - Speakers - Magnetic cooling 22
Catalysts - Automotive catalysts - Catalysts in refining and chemical processing - Diesel additive 23
Phosphors, Luminescence - Energy efficient lighting - LED - LCD - Plasma display - Laser 24
Others - Water treatment - Pigments - Fertiliser - Nuclear technology - Defence 25
Toyota Prius Yearly production of Toyota Prius in 2010: Demand for rare earth for 1 car: 1.1 Mio 1 kg Toyota s yearly demand for rare earths : (only for model Prius!) 1.1 tons Source: http://www. arizonageology.blogspot.com Σ 1 kg 26
Source: http://www.dailystar.com 27
Remember: 97% of mined production of rare earths in 2010 came out of China! China has a monopoly on rare earths! 28
September 2009: China announced plans to reduce its export quota by 35,000 tons per year in 2010 2015 Reasons: - conserve scarce resources - protect environment October 2010: further reduction of quotas* for rare earth exports by 30 percent Reason: - protect the precious metals from overexploitation source: www. thehill.com * A restriction imposed by a government on the amount or number of goods or services that may be exported within a given period 29
September 2009 October 2010 End 2010: China decreased first round of export quotas in 2011 for rare earths by 14,446 tons (35% decrease from the previous first round of quotas in 2010) July 2011: China announced further export quotas for the second half of the year (total production capped at 93,800 tons) 30
September 2009 China wants to increase the prices for rare earths End 2010: because they dropped in the 2 nd half of 2011 caused by July 2011: the world economic slump September 2011: China source:www.spiegel.de announced the stop in production of 3 of its 8 major rare earth mines (responsible for almost 40% of China's total rare earth production) Remember: Begin 2012: chinese trade ministry announced to reduce rare earth exports in first half year by 10.546 tons (27% less than in 2011) Furthermore: Reduction of rare earth exporting companies from 26 to 11 October 2010 Why? 31
China wants to promote its own industry attract foreign technology companies to China improve its technical know how e.g. for renewable energy technique or electrical engineering 32
Which effects does this have on global market? 33
Increase of rare earths prices Shortage on global market Development of industry of rare earth importing countries is handicapped or even blocked e.g. future technologies EU, USA and Japan called the WTO to react on China s export restrictions China announced to fight for their strategy (Currently China accepted a defeat by WTO concerning export restrictions of Zink and Magnesium) 34
but what are exactly Germany s strategies to prevent shortage of rare earths? 35
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Federal Government tries to contract partnership agreements with resource rich countries as - Mongolia - Kazakhstan - Chile - Peru 1 st step, 2012 2 nd step The deal: Raw materials for technical know how oil, gas, gold, uranium, rare earths 5 th largest raw material reserves supports industrialization 37
Recently founded by 12 German companies, among others ThyssenKrupp, Bayer, BMW and Daimler Goal: Setup of participations on raw material projects (mainly in European countries) to ensure the supply of german industry Estimation: Raw materials stored in Europe have a value of about 100 billion Supported by the Federal Government ( Roffstoffstrategie ) 38
Thousands of tons rare earths stored Already found in the 70s Deutsche Rohstoff AG started already drilling (1 st end of March) It has to be decided, if mining will ever start requires high technical know how and expensive equipment 39
Concept of the Federal Government Goal: Increase the efficiency of resources by market incentives, research, innovation and consulting (source: Federal Environment Ministry) Masterplan for sustainable growth (source: Norbert Röttgen, Federal Minister for Environment) e.g.: Expansion of recycling economy: Imagine: Every EU-Citizen produces 17 kg electronic scrap per year (2020: 24kg) Improve recycling of the scrap 40
and what do other countries to prevent shortage of raw materials? 41
Goal: Secure stable supply of raw materials Key business policy: - Funding for international mineral exploration - Loan guarantees for high-risk mineral projects - Stockpiling - Information gathering Toyota: - has already ensured the whole yield of the Indian Ganjam-project 42
Why is the view concerning rare earths only pointed on China? Russia and the USA have also large resources but they don t mine them. 43
Thank you for your attention! 44
http://www.spiegel.de http://library.thinkquest.org http://www.ggz.ch http://www.usgs.gov http://www. oeko.de http://www. Metal-Pages.com http://www. arizonageology.blogspot.com http://www.dailystar.com http:// www. thehill.com http:// www. toyota.de http:// www. lynascorp.com http:// www. wikipedia.com VDI-Nachrichten Only main sources are listed up (e.g. every source of each small picture is not listed up) 45