Where are the US mines?
Although rare lands, or generally important minerals, are often offered along with semi -conductor, because industries want to do the most research, the challenges associated with bringing each of them are very different.
Unlike making modern semiconductor, which requires hundreds of millions of dollars of sophisticated machinery and building extremely complex factories, producing important minerals are not difficult. The technologies included to improve them and them are solid, and some of them have natural reserves in both the United States and Canada. But the mining industry was expelled out of the West because it does not produce high prices and it is extremely pollution.
In the past, efforts to build the main supply chain of minerals in the United States have either been slowed down or called. Launj says, rather than technical difficulties, it is higher because of the basic economic calculation. They say, “It’s like bending down to lift the nickel,” he says, meaning that the attempt is not worth it.
Since companies only need a small amount of minerals, the market is very stable for them – when the same new factory comes online, prices may fall and start to produce and improve mass. This means that if a mining company wants to open shops in the United States, it can inadvertently tank the price of the same minerals that are trying to take advantage of it.
But if China succeeds in strictly implementing its export control policies, it can only give the US government and private companies so incentive to recover the better mineral -related industry. If this happens, Launj says, opening a new major mineral operation in the United States can take about two years.
Wang says, “It is really noteworthy how China has maintained these monopolies in many important minerals for over 20 years.” But I think we are probably turning the corner, where China’s market share can be on the rise … and you are starting to see in Northern Europe, Australia, Canada, Canada, Canada, Canada.
This story originally appeared Wired dot.