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Nice volume should set off more alarms. GREEN close is ALWAYS fine by me: SRSR 0.178 +.008 (4.71%) Volume: 14,517,051
Fabulous SRSR Friday next...
Congrats to longs!
Thks Bone. CHINA on the cover of 7/27/09 BusinessWeek.
Related article:
"..China is aggressively securing rare metal deposits around the world. Given China’s massive consumption of rare metals, their desire to secure supply sources makes sense. The concern however is their continued acquisition would enable them to control both supply and prices thus leaving the rest of the world at their mercy!"
From: Race for Rare Metals – And China Is Winning!
by Sam Kiri
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Link:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1892/race-for-rare-metals-and-china-is-winning-1892.html
GLTU!
Europe Moves to Shore up Supplies of Critical Metals -(NIOBIUM MENTIONED AS A CRITICAL METAL)
July 23rd, 2009 ·
"On the other side of the pond, Europe appears to be coordinating efforts regarding identifying and developing strategies to counter the threat of supply disruption to critical metals such as Rare Earths...
The EU commission produced a working document summarizing the issues facing Europe and highlighting the areas near total reliance on imports for a whole range of metals, minerals and raw materials including Rare Earths and minor metals...
We understand the move is probably coming from the French nuclear industry which is rumored to be worried about global supply shortages of critical metals such as zirconium, niobium and hafnium that are key to developing the commercial power generation industry. The French appear concerned that risks to metal supply could undermine the costs for major nuclear plants, an industry in which the French are arguably world leaders."
–Stuart Burns
Link: http://agmetalminer.com/2009/07/23/europe-moves-to-shore-up-supplies-of-critical-metals/
Congrats all to another GREAT SRSR GREEN day!
Scott Keevil has strongest rare earth metal Kung-Fu....lol.
China, Japan and Norman Keevil: "..the Asian super power has recently been buying more of Teck's coal and will presumably increase its purchases under the arrangement.
Teck's dual class share structure gives voting control of the company to the family of chairman Norman Keevil and Japan's Sumitomo Metals."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/china-gives-teck-breathing-room-on-debt/article1205204/
To think, when you own a share of SRSR, it is backed by the precious metal that is in the ground. Our stock is not some ephemeral "hype" but real tangible assets.
You can't say that about some other investments now, can you?
"..the Asian super power has recently been buying more of Teck's coal and will presumably increase its purchases under the arrangement.
Teck's dual class share structure gives voting control of the company to the family of chairman Norman Keevil and Japan's Sumitomo Metals."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/china-gives-teck-breathing-room-on-debt/article1205204/
"China is fully aware of the impending doom of the dollar and they know they must dispose of their vast accumulation of dollars without creating a panic in the financial markets. Precious metal purchases are a given coupled with the purchase of natural resource inventories and resource companies...
China has announced a $600 billion infrastructure development program. Additional huge quantities of metals and minerals will be needed and consumed in the construction of this infrastructure. The US may feel that China is simply jacking the exported price of these metals and minerals to make foreign industry less competitive but again they may be missing the point.
China also recognizes that holding natural resources as a form of financial reserves is a better option for them than holding unwanted dollars."
From: They Can’t See The Forest For The Trees!
-- Posted Monday, 20 July 2009 | Digg This ArticleDigg It! | Share this article | Source: GoldSeek.com
BY MIKE HOY
link: http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1248073740.php
I love this stock. I really do.
"Judging from current trends in rare-metal supply and demand, it is all too easy to foresee a race unfolding among countries eager to acquire rare metals. There is the worry that countries with rare metal resources will turn to “rare metal nationalism,” deliberately cutting back supplies to prioritize domestic demand and further their foreign policy. Mindful of these concerns, the United States has long had a clear strategy regarding mineral resources. Elements such as rare earth metals, platinum, indium, manganese, and niobium are deemed important from both an economic and a national security standpoint, based on which the United States has established a stockpiling system, enhanced its intelligence-gathering setup, and reinforced its supply management. The future orientation of the Obama administration’s policies for securing resources is sure to be a focus of considerable attention."
From:
Securing Supplies of Rare Metals for Environmental Technology
Energy Issues and Japanese Foreign Policy
July 02, 2009
Link:http://www.tokyofoundation.org/en/articles/2009/securing-supplies-of-rare-metals-for-environmental-technology
You are right, SRSR is not a "flash in the pan"; this stock has to be viewed through the eyes of the geopolitical supply/demand landscape.
I think that when one steps back and takes a macroeconomic view of rare earth metals that they cannot but come to the conclusion that SRSR's potential is GIGANTIC.
I hope to hold onto my shares as long as possible, imo they are worth $$'s.
GLTU!
"..China is aggressively securing rare metal deposits around the world. Given China’s massive consumption of rare metals, their desire to secure supply sources makes sense. The concern however is their continued acquisition would enable them to control both supply and prices thus leaving the rest of the world at their mercy!"
From: Race for Rare Metals – And China Is Winning!
by Sam Kiri
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Link:
http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1892/race-for-rare-metals-and-china-is-winning-1892.html
I was getting goosebumps reading over those PR's again. Holy moly, SRSR's potential is awesome:
Apr 22, 2009 "With our work to date, we expect the results of our evaluation to accomplish a number of objectives, ..and;
-- Establish that the Nemegosenda mineral resources represent one of the larger mineral niobium resources in North America"
Lock and load, we're gonna be in orbit...
Five Chinese Commodity Buys You Should Worry About
Jim Letourneau Jul 08, 2009 9:50 am
Five Chinese Commodity Buys You Should Worry About
Country's strategic investments may be larger than ever.
China's appetite for commodities shows no signs of ceasing.
1. A US$13.2 to US$14.5 billion offer by China National Petroleum (SNP) for 75% of the Argentine unit of Spanish oil company Repsol YPF (REP) this week.
2. On July 3, China Investment Corporation (CIC) made a C$1.7 billion investment for 17.2% share of Canada's largest base-metal miner, Teck Resources (TCK).
3. On June 24, Sinopec (SHI) purchased Swiss oil explorer Addax (ADXTF) for US$7.2 billion. Addax had recently announced some amazing results from their TT-10 well in Kurdistan where several zones flowed rates of 10-20,000 barrels/day. Addax also has a significant presence in West Africa.
4. On a smaller scale, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) recently took over small Canadian-listed Western Prospector Group for C$31 million in order to control their uranium assets in Mongolia.
5. What will happen when the rest of the world wakes up to the fact that China has tied up significant supplies of strategic metals? The most extreme situation occurs in an obscure family of difficult to pronounce elements known as the "rare earths" (dysprosium, anyone?), in which China has a lock on nearly 100% of the world's supply. Rare earths are critical to green power, hybrid-vehicle, and defense applications.
There have been many other significant Chinese strategic investments in companies with iron ore, rare-earths, and zinc assets. While one could argue that China has done an admirable job of supplying the world with rare earths, that situation may not persist. Advanced rare-earth mines and refineries in Malaysia, Australia, and Brazil have all seen significant Chinese investment. Investments in rare-earth opportunities outside of the Chinese cartel are vulnerable to predatory pricing, which may render them uneconomic over private investors' time horizons.
If a global shortage of rare earths materializes, we will see increased government interest to secure adequate supplies and an IUM bull market.
On June 23, 2009, the US and EU filed a World Trade Organization (WTO) case against China for its export restraints on raw materials including bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon metal, silicon carbide, yellow phosphorus, and zinc.
It should be clear to any casual observer that China's going to great lengths to secure commodity supplies. Indeed, the global scale of China's coordinated commodity investments (at prices not seen since 2003) could be viewed as one of the largest strategic investments in history.
Link: http://www.minyanville.com/articles/SNP-REP-CIC-CNNC-TCK-ADXTF/index/a/23449
Congrats all to another SRSR GREEN day. I think all would agree that we are very proud of TEAM Keevil and the beginnings of greater things to come!.
Have a great WE SRSRites!
China's Economic Recovery Gathers Steam TIME Magazine
By Bill Powell / Shanghai Thursday, Jul. 16, 2009
"Imports of semifinished industrial metals in the quarter soared by more than 35%, as China's stimulus-driven infrastructure build-out gathered steam. Overall fixed-asset investment picked up 33.5% year over year, a pace that recalled the country's glory years of double-digit economic expansion. (See pictures of life on the fringes of the People's Republic.)
Much of that investment growth came from the brute force of the government, which is directing bank loans to state-owned companies, which in turn have been building everything from high-speed rail networks to new highways and bridges across China. But economists were quick to note that other sectors of the economy besides construction now seem to be joining the party."
Link to article: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1910875,00.html?xid=rss-topstories
Nice find Alan. It sure looks like SRSR has a few $$ suprises for us. I think we will get news after the report comes out and some of us will be blown away by it.
Yes, I SRSR will make many of us rich. CHINA alone wants to gobble up all the rare earth metals.
I'm holding for $$.
Good luck to us all -whatever your trading strategy is!
Race for Rare Metals – And China Is Winning!
by Sam Kiri
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The recent G8 Summit in Italy ended with one important concluding note. As President Barack Obama summarised, “For us to think we can somehow deal with some of these global challenges in the absence of major powers like China, India and Brazil seems to me wrongheaded.” A well-timed thought as it is clear that the role played by these nations in the world economy is gaining prominence.
In the resource sector, China has already made its mark not only as one of the largest consumers but also as one of the largest accumulators of commodities. Chinese policy makers have ushered in an environment in which state enterprises, as well as private companies, are seeking to secure resource supplies around the world. It was against this backdrop that China Investment Corporation (CIC), a Sovereign Wealth Fund, acquired some 17% of Teck Cominco...
These investments clearly indicate that China is aggressively securing rare metal deposits around the world. Given China’s massive consumption of rare metals, their desire to secure supply sources makes sense. The concern however is their continued acquisition would enable them to control both supply and prices thus leaving the rest of the world at their mercy!
These investments clearly indicate that China is aggressively securing rare metal deposits around the world. Given China’s massive consumption of rare metals, their desire to secure supply sources makes sense. The concern however is their continued acquisition would enable them to control both supply and prices thus leaving the rest of the world at their mercy!
According to the EU, for several years China has applied export restrictions (quotas and export duties) to key raw materials of which China is the leading extractor and exporter. Such restrictions naturally distort competition and increase global prices as some of these resources cannot be found elsewhere. While the recent complaint has only been on coke, bauxite, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon metal, silicon carbide, yellow phosphorus and zinc, this development provides a foretaste of future developments in other metal markets as well.
In addition to the traditional rare earth metals, other strategic metals such as tantalum are now assuming increasing importance. Tantalum is primarily used in the production of electronics capacitors which find their way into cell phones, DVD players, personal computers, digital cameras, gaming platforms, LCD monitors and wireless devices. It is currently produced by only a handful of suppliers. As China tightens its grip over rare metals with foreign asset purchases and export restrictions, the investment case for tantalum companies is also expected to gain recognition...
We have highlighted on many occasions the power shift to China in the resource sector and the growing need for other industrial nations to seek alternative supply sources for themselves. Once supply sources are firmly secured, China will be able to determine both material prices and their export destinations. The fact that most of these investments are by state-funded entities such as CNMC makes the situation particularly precarious. At the far end of the pessimism, it will be a situation similar to oil supplies which are controlled by a handful of countries. The race has begun to secure supplies of rare metals. Investors should be positioning themselves at the starting line and taking a look at companies with proven deposits such as CCE."
Link for entire article: http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1892/race-for-rare-metals-and-china-is-winning-1892.html
Another GREEN Day! Congrats all SRSRites
$ .117 Change: +.007 (6.36%)
Volume: 4,173,977
Niobium is on the list below as "highly critical" in this article:
EU worries about access to key raw materials
Published: Thursday 4 June 2009
European Union ministers supported plans last week to ensure industries get better access to raw materials, as competition for access to commodities such as rare metals becomes fiercer with globalisation.
Background:
In November 2008, EU Enterprise Commissioner Günter Verheugen presented a new 'integrated strategy' for raw materials (EurActiv 5/11/08).
The initiative came amid growing concerns about global resource scarcity as the environmental 'footprint' of the planet's population grows (EurActiv 29/10/08).
The European Commission's proposed strategy suggested three pillars in its policy responses to those challenges, which it sees as a threat to the competitiveness of European industry:
* Better and undistorted access to raw materials on world markets;
* Improve conditions for raw materials extraction within Europe, and;
* Reducing the EU's consumption of raw materials by increasing resource efficiency and recycling.
"The European economy is dependent on a number of energy and non-energy raw materials," read the ministers' conclusions external , adding that achieving a "resource-efficient economy should be a guiding principle for European industrial policy".
Their words came as an endorsement of a European Commission raw materials initiative, published in November last year (EurActiv 5/11/08).
EU industries, and particularly those active in telecoms, aerospace and other hi-tech sectors, are facing fierce competition for natural resources from emerging economies, the Commission pointed out.
China and India are increasingly using raw materials from Africa and Latin America, which are home to some of Earth's largest reserves of minerals and metals.
'Raw materials diplomacy'
"A strong and unforeseen surge in demand, essentially driven by strong growth in emerging economies, led to a tripling of metal prices between 2002 and 2008," the Commission underlined in its initiative. "In particular, China accounted for more than 50% of the growth in world consumption of industrial metals between 2002 and 2005."
"Reducing energy consumption and the use of raw materials, removing trade barriers to improve the supply of raw materials, improving energy- and resources-efficiency and achieving a greater use of renewable energy sources and secondary raw materials should be the guiding principles for European industry," the ministers said in their conclusions.
The ministers called for "raw materials diplomacy," inviting the Commission to "reinforce the dialogue with all relevant third countries and raise the issue in all appropriate trade and other fora".
Critical list of raw materials
They also invited the Commission to finalise a preliminary list of critical raw materials in view of a final agreement "before the end of 2009".
High-tech materials are increasingly at the basis of innovative "green techs", associated with renewable energy and reduction of greenhouse gases, the Commission pointed out in its November assessment.
Raw materials considered as "potentially critical" for 'high tech' sectors and the economies of developed countries, include niobium, platinum and titanium, the Commission said in its preliminary assessment (see Annex of Commission raw materials initiative).
Platinum and palladium, for instance, are used in the fuel cells that power hydrogen cars, while sillicon, gallium and silver are used in solar cells. Cu-Indium-Gallium-Selenium (CIGS) alloys are used in "thin-film" photovoltaic technology for solar cells. Indium is used to manufacture microprocessors and the next generation of ultra-small RFID chips, which can be embedded in all sorts of consumer products.
A 2008 report by the US National Research Council listed five non-energy raw materials considered as being "highly critical": indium, manganese, niobium, rare earths and the platinum group metals.
A French study identified short to medium-term risks to their supply of a number of materials: antimony, chromite, cobalt, germanium, gallium, indium, lithium, magnesium, molybdenum, platinum, palladium, rhodium, rare earths, rhenium, titanium and tungsten.
The Commission said the list could be expanded to take in five more materials (chromite, manganese, niobium, tantalum and vanadium) targeted by the US report and Japanese stockpiling policy, "and for which there is a high degree of concentration of producing countries".
EU ministers said it considers the Commission's list of critical raw materials as "a preliminary selection" and invited the Council and the Commission "to come back to this with a view to agreeing this list before the end of 2009".
LINK: http://www.euractiv.com/en/sustainability/eu-worries-access-key-raw-materials/article-182860
America's New Energy Dependency: China's Metals
A clean-energy economy needs rare-earth metals to succeed. China has a near monopoly
By Kent Garber
Posted July 1, 2009
"In 2007, a standoff unfolded between China and several American companies, including W.R. Grace, a major supplier of oil refining products. China was threatening to withhold supplies that keep refiners in business.
A worried State Department intervened. By then, W.R. Grace had only a three-month supply of the special metals
it needs for its refining products. Because the metals come almost exclusively from China, if the government had not acted, sources say, oil refineries could have been forced to shut down, possibly triggering shortages across the country.
The metals W.R. Grace needed belong to a group known as "rare earths." They are the backbone of the Information Age and, potentially, the clean energy future. They are in iPods, Blackberrys, and plasma TVs. They are powerful and compact; they are exceedingly efficient. In many cases, there are no substitutes. On the periodic table, they have their own section, 17 metals in all, reflecting their unique atomic structure.
Fifty years ago, the world's economy was built on steel, aluminum, and iron. Today, rare-earth metals are reshaping it. But they are not easy to acquire, not anymore. In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States was the world's leading producer. Today, China provides nearly 97 percent of the world's supply. It has a near monopoly, and it is cutting exports."
Link: http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2009/07/01/americas-new-energy-dependency-chinas-metals.html
GREEN is sooo nice: SRSR 0.11 +.007 (6.80%)
Volume: 8,020,378
SRSR #1 on DD Machine
China tightens rules on rare earth exports
US and European countries complain to WTO
by Lu Feng 7/13/2009
China currently produces 95% of the world’s rare earth supply
CHINA has started to tighten the exportation of its rare earth resources, claiming that current cheap prices could result in the loss of all of its resources within the next 20 years.
To this end, several Chinese government bodies including the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Land and Resources, and the Ministry of Commerce (MoC), have adopted measures such as reducing exportation quotation: this year, only 20 companies have been granted an export licence (compared with 200 a year ago). On top of this comes a 10% export tariff on rare-earth metals, terbium oxide, and dysprosium oxide, and a raise on export tariff for rare-earth ore products from 10% to 15%.
China currently produces 95% of the world’s rare earth supply, and has seen its reserve drop from 88% of the world’s total 20 years ago to 52% in 2008. According to the MoC, uncontrolled competition and over-exportation has made the country’s rare earth resources lose their due value – for example in 2005 the exportation price for rare earths was 64% lower than in 1990.
“At the current speed, in another 20-30 years, China will become a country with small rare earth reserves or without reserves at all,” says Zhou Hongyu, deputy director of Hubei provincial people’s congress. “By that time we’ll have to buy rare earth from foreign countries.”
The recent moves drew complaints from the US and the European Union, who on 23 June called jointly for intervention from the World Trade Organization..
Rare earth metals are a collection of 17 different metals that occur within the same ore deposits, and are indispensable raw materials in producing semi-conductors, special steels, high-temperature alloys, and sophisticated weapons. Viewed as strategic resources, the US and Japan are currently importing large quanities from China, and stockpiling them.
http://www.tcetoday.com/tcetoday/NewsDetail.aspx?nid=11909
Wow, feel the love on the SRSR board today: Gin and flowers, lol.
CONGRATS and high 5's all around for another GREEN day and HOY!!!
SRSR $ 0.085 Change: +.0071 (9.11%)
Volume: 3,526,763
"Sarissa's 100 percent owned Nemegosenda niobium property..."
100% owned has a nice ring to it.
Fabulous Friday Folks. SRSR's PR is amazing; all the points are converging and lining up for this one to blast off.
GLTUA!
WOW, what a GREAT PR. I'm catching up on posts, great post Ripper; I agree the REPORT is going to be fantastic and the confidence of TEAM KEEVIL just oozes out from the PR.
Member mark for you, amigo.
WOW, what a GREAT PR. I'm catching up on posts, great post Ripper; I agree the REPORT is going to be fantastic and the confidence of TEAM KEEVIL just ozzes out from the PR.
Member mark for you, amigo.
Finally Congress Starts to Look At Rare Earths
July 8th, 2009 · Metal Miner
"Monday, we reported on China’s rationale behind their export restrictions on raw materials. As a result of that post, we received an email from a reader who forwarded us this story about China’s strategy to control the world’s supply of “rare earths,” the metals needed to fuel “clean energy.” We highly recommend that anybody in the oil refining, clean tech and high tech industries read this article."
Link: http://agmetalminer.com/2009/07/08/finally-congress-starts-to-look-at-rare-earths/
Perhaps the US DOD will purchase SRSR before CHINA does.
#5 DD Machine
"China already controls 95% of global production of rare earth materials..."
SRSR is VERY VALUABLE; the CHINESE want Rare Earth Metals:
China is gobbling up Australian Mine interests:
Regulator Move Creates Concerns About Chinese Stake in Lynas
7/8/09:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124702729245710253.html
"A rush of Chinese investments in Australia's key mining sector, most notably Aluminum Corp. of China's now defunct US$19.5 billion alliance plan with Rio Tinto Ltd., has sparked concern among some Australian politicians.
In comments interpreted to be directed at Chinese buyers, a senior FIRB official last month said Australia's preference was for foreign entities to take minority stakes in local companies rather than seek control."
SRSR's WORLD CLASS DEPOSITS are EXTREMELY valuable and IN DEMAND right now.
Yes. Congrats all SRSRites; GREEN 0.074 Up0.0040 +5.71% 2,286,063
SRSR is holding up very well; DOW is RED 144 pts.
Very well put; SRSR -an INSURANCE POLICY, college fund, and of course for those w/ millions of shares, paradise gained.
All aboard...chuga..chuga
Precisely! From what I read I can't help but to be very impressed that a similar scenario is shaping up. Countries are demanding REE's and our Sarissa has a WORLD CLASS deposit and is is LOADED with rare earth metals...
I wish the US would pay Scott ( and the shareholders) handsomely to grab these RARE metals...why should CHINA have all the fun? lol.
Another: EU worries about access to key raw materials
Published: Thursday 4 June 2009
European Union ministers supported plans last week to ensure industries get better access to raw materials, as competition for access to commodities such as rare metals becomes fiercer with globalisation.
Background:
In November 2008, EU Enterprise Commissioner Günter Verheugen presented a new 'integrated strategy' for raw materials (EurActiv 5/11/08).
The initiative came amid growing concerns about global resource scarcity as the environmental 'footprint' of the planet's population grows (EurActiv 29/10/08).
The European Commission's proposed strategy suggested three pillars in its policy responses to those challenges, which it sees as a threat to the competitiveness of European industry:
* Better and undistorted access to raw materials on world markets;
* Improve conditions for raw materials extraction within Europe, and;
* Reducing the EU's consumption of raw materials by increasing resource efficiency and recycling.
A new strategy, to be fleshed out later this year, should aim to lower the consumption of primary natural resources by increasing resource efficiency and recycling, EU industry ministers agreed after a meeting last week (28 May).
"The European economy is dependent on a number of energy and non-energy raw materials," read the ministers' conclusionsPdf external , adding that achieving a "resource-efficient economy should be a guiding principle for European industrial policy".
Their words came as an endorsement of a European Commission raw materials initiative, published in November last year (EurActiv 5/11/08).
EU industries, and particularly those active in telecoms, aerospace and other hi-tech sectors, are facing fierce competition for natural resources from emerging economies, the Commission pointed out.
China and India are increasingly using raw materials from Africa and Latin America, which are home to some of Earth's largest reserves of minerals and metals.
'Raw materials diplomacy'
"A strong and unforeseen surge in demand, essentially driven by strong growth in emerging economies, led to a tripling of metal prices between 2002 and 2008," the Commission underlined in its initiative. "In particular, China accounted for more than 50% of the growth in world consumption of industrial metals between 2002 and 2005."
"Reducing energy consumption and the use of raw materials, removing trade barriers to improve the supply of raw materials, improving energy- and resources-efficiency and achieving a greater use of renewable energy sources and secondary raw materials should be the guiding principles for European industry," the ministers said in their conclusions.
The ministers called for "raw materials diplomacy," inviting the Commission to "reinforce the dialogue with all relevant third countries and raise the issue in all appropriate trade and other fora".
Critical list of raw materials
They also invited the Commission to finalise a preliminary list of critical raw materials in view of a final agreement "before the end of 2009".
High-tech materials are increasingly at the basis of innovative "green techs", associated with renewable energy and reduction of greenhouse gases, the Commission pointed out in its November assessment.
Raw materials considered as "potentially critical" for 'high tech' sectors and the economies of developed countries, include niobium, platinum and titanium, the Commission said in its preliminary assessment (see Annex of Commission raw materials initiativePdf external ).
Platinum and palladium, for instance, are used in the fuel cells that power hydrogen cars, while sillicon, gallium and silver are used in solar cells. Cu-Indium-Gallium-Selenium (CIGS) alloys are used in "thin-film" photovoltaic technology for solar cells. Indium is used to manufacture microprocessors and the next generation of ultra-small RFID chips, which can be embedded in all sorts of consumer products.
A 2008 report by the US National Research Council listed five non-energy raw materials considered as being "highly critical": indium, manganese, niobium, rare earths and the platinum group metals.
A French study identified short to medium-term risks to their supply of a number of materials: antimony, chromite, cobalt, germanium, gallium, indium, lithium, magnesium, molybdenum, platinum, palladium, rhodium, rare earths, rhenium, titanium and tungsten.
The Commission said the list could be expanded to take in five more materials (chromite, manganese, niobium, tantalum and vanadium) targeted by the US report and Japanese stockpiling policy, "and for which there is a high degree of concentration of producing countries".
EU ministers said it considers the Commission's list of critical raw materials as "a preliminary selection" and invited the Council and the Commission "to come back to this with a view to agreeing this list before the end of 2009".
Link: http://www.euractiv.com/en/sustainability/eu-worries-access-key-raw-materials/article-182860
China's precious metal reserves threatened
By Hu Yang (chinadaily.com.cn)
2009-07-06 19:46
"China's precious metal reserves are shrinking at an alarming rate. Over-exploitation and cut-throat competition in exportation, on the other hand, have driven prices considerably low in the international market."
Link to full article: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-07/06/content_8384580.htm