Rare earth elements or rare earth metals are giving most nations nightmares. The alarm over China's decision to cut down on shipments of these critical metals has spread globally as countries scramble to find alternative supplies by developing new mines around the world. China dominates the production of these metals with a 97% share in the global market.
Amongst those impacted include Japanese companies who have faced major cuts in the import of rare earth elements from China since July. A bilateral spat over a ship collision in the disputed waters in the East China Sea last month has made the situation even more critical for Japan. Japan is currently the world's largest importer of these rare earth elements.
A table listing the seventeen rare earth elements, their atomic number and symbol, and their main usages is provided here.
|
Symbol
|
Name
|
Selected Usages
|
|
Sc
|
Scandium
|
Aluminium-scandium alloy
|
|
Y
|
Yttrium
|
YAG garnet, YBCO high-temperature superconductors
|
|
La
|
Lanthanum
|
High refractive index glass, flint, hydrogen storage, battery-electrodes, camera lenses, fluid catalytic cracking catalyst for oil refineries
|
|
Ce
|
Cerium
|
Chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powder, yellow colors in glass and ceramics, catalyst for self-cleaning ovens fluid catalytic cracking catalyst for oil refineries, etc.
|
|
Pr
|
Praseodymium
|
Rare-earth magnets, lasers, green colors in glass and ceramics, flint
|
|
Nd
|
Neodymium
|
Rare-earth magnets, lasers, violet colors in glass and ceramics, ceramic capacitors
|
|
Pm
|
Promethium
|
Nuclear batteries
|
|
Sm
|
Samarium
|
Rare-earth magnets, lasers, neutron capture, masers
|
|
Eu
|
Europium
|
Red and blue phosphors, lasers, mercury-vapor lamps
|
|
Gd
|
Gadolinium
|
Rare-earth magnets, high refractive index glass or garnets, lasers, x-ray tubes, computer memories, neutron capture
|
|
Tb
|
Terbium
|
Green phosphors, lasers, fluorescent lamps
|
|
Dy
|
Dysprosium
|
Rare-earth magnets, lasers
|
|
Ho
|
Holmium
|
Laser
|
|
Er
|
Erbium
|
Lasers, vanadium steel
|
|
Tm
|
Thulium
|
Portable X-ray machines
|
|
Yb
|
Ytterbium
|
Infrared lasers, chemical reducing agent
|
|
Lu
|
Lutetium
|
|
Japan has received a ray of hope from Germany which has offered to help it get access to these elements. The German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle has said that he would be interested in joint efforts to explore for new resources of the minerals with Japan.
In the U.S. new legislation has been passed to support the discovery and development of new rare earth sites inside the U.S. in an effort to reduce the dependence on China for the materials. A potential rare earth mineral shortage may be devastating to several electronics related companies.