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While China Girds its Rare Earth Loins, Canada is Quietly Staking its Claim on the Territory
Tuesday, January 7, 2014 0:06
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While China girds its Rare Earth Loins, Canada is quietly staking its claim to being a global leader in a growing multibillion-dollar industry largely unknown to most Canadians but deemed by the government as “critical” to the country’s economy.
Canadian extractive companies, in collaboration with the federal government and other groups, have launched more than 200 exploration projects targeting what are called rare earth elements (REE).
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These potentially lucrative rare earths — which include the 15 lanthanide metals on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium — are increasingly sought after by several major industries for manufacturing their products.
The rare earth elements are split into “light” or “heavy” depending on their atomic number. Rare earths, especially the “heavy” ones, are considered to be critical for manufacturing new technology, clean energy, aerospace, automotive, defence and many other industrial products because of their luminous, magnetic, catalytic and other characteristics.
For example, the materials have become imperative for wind turbines, hybrid and electric cars, cellphones, laptops
, LCD screens, medical imaging equipment, rechargeable batteries and many other products.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/national/Canada+looking+break+into+critical+rare+earth+elements/9355568/story.html
