The New Gold Rush Sustained by Cell Phones and Tvs

Did you know that the color images for cellular phones and televisions are produced by rare earth elements such as praseodymium, cerium and lanthanum? They additionally make magnets lighter, balance the colors of fluorescent lights and contribute to wind generators and the regenerative brakes of hybrid automobiles. Here’s the reason they have not been extracted in the United States, where they are prevalent, particularly at former gold and silver mine sites.
Let’s consider these “rare earth” elements in even more detail. Neodymium is a silvery metal that tarnishes in air. Despite being considered a rare element, it is existing in numerous components of the world and no more uncommon in comparison to nickel, cobalt or copper. It is very useful in our contemporary world. Here are simply a few of its usages when made into highly effective, permanent magnets, based on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neodymium) “These magnets are widely used in such products as microphones, professional loudspeakers, in-ear headphones, and computer hard disks, where low magnet mass or volume, or strong magnetic fields are required. Larger neodymium magnets are used in electric motors (for example in hybrid cars) and generators, for example aircraft and wind turbine electric generators”.
Praseodymium is used to tint glass and has magnetic, chemical, optical and electric properties. It is used in industry to filter yellow light from light sources. Cerium is used in fluorescent lights and is the most plentiful of all the rare earth elements, based on Wikipedia. “Commercial applications of cerium are numerous. They include catalysts, additives to fuel to reduce emissions and to glass and enamels to change their color. Cerium oxide is an important component of glass polishing powders and phosphors used in screens and fluorescent lamps. It is also used in the “flint” (actually ferrocerium) of lighters.”
Finally there is Lanthanum, commonly located in combination with Cerium.” Lanthanum compounds have many applications as catalysts, additives in glass, carbon lighting for studio lighting and projection, ignition elements in lighters, electron cathodes, scintillators, tig welding electrodes, and others. Lanthanum carbonate (La2(CO3)3) has actually been approved as a medicine for dealing with kidney failure.”
“The reason they haven’t been explored for in the U.S. was because as long as China was prepared to export enough rare earths to fill the demand, everything was fine — like with the oil cartels. When China began to use them as a political tool, people began to see the vulnerability to the U.S. economy to having one source of rare earth elements,” said Ian Ridley, director of the USGS Central Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center in Colorado.
Two years ago, China raised prices — in the case of Neodymium, used to make Prius electric motors stronger and lighter, from $15 a kilogram in 2009 to $500 in 2011, while Dysprosium oxide used in lasers and halide lamps went from $114 a kilogram in 2010 to $2,830 in 2011. It’s also about the time China cut off supplies to Japan, maker of the Prius, in a dispute over international fishing territory.
To read the original of this short article, visit this site
With these elements needed and so useful, the excellent news is that they are available in the United States and possibly other areas. This will provide brand-new jobs and stop the monopoly China has actually enjoyed. It appears ironic that the brand-new miners will be exploring the tailings of old mines for rocks the initial miners discarded. As the saying goes, someone’s waste is another individual’s prize. I would certainly additionally like to see a few of these digital machines reused in a protected, eco friendly way. Probably a few of these rare earth elements might additionally be reused.