The search is on for rare earth elements
That, however, doesn't end the raw materials saga. Hybrid and electric cars, along with many other "green" and high-tech gadgets, require substances called rare earth elements.
If you memorized the periodic table of the elements in high school chemistry you'll at least have heard of these 17 materials. Otherwise, their names sound like gibberish. But they – each in its own fashion – affect lighting, magnetism or structural strength in ways that make them essential in electric motors, batteries, wind turbines and energy-efficient light bulbs – and LCD televisions.
Neodymium dramatically boosts the power and cuts the weight of the magnets inside electric motors. Each Toyota Prius contains about a kilogram of the stuff.
And there's at least 10 kilograms of lanthanum in a Prius nickel metal hydride battery pack.
It's feared these and other rare earths will soon be in short supply. But, as in most aspects of the electric-vehicle business, things aren't that simple.
Rare earth elements are widespread, but usually in small quantities. At least half the handful of big, rich known deposits are in China.
About 15 years ago, China created a global glut. Taking advantage of its cheap labour and lax pollution standards, it drove prices so low that more expensive mines elsewhere ceased production.
As evidence that there's no such thing as a truly green technology, much of China's production is at small mines, under minimal or no regulation. The acids and chemicals employed to concentrate the ore and begin the process of separating out each element are often dumped, destroying water sources and agricultural land.
In any case, having cornered the market – it now controls more than 90 per cent of the world supply – China is putting on the squeeze. It has cut export quotas and increased export taxes, to ensure that there's enough to supply China's own booming industries and to raise competitors' costs.
"The Middle East has oil. China has rare earths," former premier Deng Xiaoping once said in explaining the strategy.
Adding to the crunch, Japan is trying to stockpile the material.
Analysts say it's essential for non-Chinese manufacturers to find new sources, which is why there's high excitement over recent events in, of all places, Greenland. As of Jan. 1, the Danish government relinquished control of Greenland's mineral resources, leaving a private company free to develop what it claims is the planet's biggest deposit of high-quality rare earths, in an area called Kvanefjeld.
Canada is also said to have a major deposit, near Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories.
That resource has stumbled through a series of owners and it's not certain whether it or Kvanefjeld's could be profitably developed. Even in the best case, it would be years before either goes into production.
So the outlook appears uncertain. But perhaps it doesn't matter, because there's a bigger message in the story of rare earths. China now accounts for 60 per cent of annual global consumption; Japan, 22 per cent. The American share is just nine per cent: Canada barely registers. No need to look further to see who is making – and without major change will continue to make – the world's electric cars.
Those that need rare earths have them, and their competitors face a far more daunting task than just finding their own supply.
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