Rare Earth Use Grows Rarer
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Tatyana Shumsky (9/22/11)
"With prices for certain metals skyrocketing and supply interruptions threatening production, companies are scrambling to cut REE usage."
The Wall Street Journal, Tatyana Shumsky
Manufacturers of high-tech products from cellphones to jet engines rely on a steady stream of metals—some of them scarce—to make their goods. But with demand and prices for certain metals skyrocketing and supply interruptions threatening to stall production, some companies are scrambling to cut their usage.
The metals in question range from the truly rare, such as rhenium, to more abundant but hard-to-process elements such as rare-earth metals, a collective name for 17 minerals used in products like iPhones, the Toyota Prius, vacuum cleaners and energy-efficient light bulbs. . .View Full Article
Manufacturers of high-tech products from cellphones to jet engines rely on a steady stream of metals—some of them scarce—to make their goods. But with demand and prices for certain metals skyrocketing and supply interruptions threatening to stall production, some companies are scrambling to cut their usage.
The metals in question range from the truly rare, such as rhenium, to more abundant but hard-to-process elements such as rare-earth metals, a collective name for 17 minerals used in products like iPhones, the Toyota Prius, vacuum cleaners and energy-efficient light bulbs. . .View Full Article