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Rare Metals Investment vs. shrinking dollar: ""If you follow the strategic-thinking Chinese, they are buying less U.S. Treasuries and buying more corporations, commodities, base-metals, mines, rare earth elements, gold, and yes – crude oil.""
From: Time to Develop Strategic Investment Game Plan
by: Jeffrey Saut July 07, 2009 | about: HSC / NIHD
Link: http://seekingalpha.com/article/147305-time-to-develop-strategic-investment-game-plan
BTW, good morning all my fellow SRSRians
Great DD! Very cool.
I agree with you. What we have in SRSR is HUGE. RARE EARTH METALS are the hot topic; governments are concerned about their own dwindling reserves for future strategic reasons:
China’s Political Battle to Buy Strategic Interests Around The Globe
(Posted 7/6/09)
"China is in the midst of something just short of a global buying spree of crude reserves, metal and mining companies, tech concerns, and manufacturing operations. It would be easy to say that the effort will lose its momentum when the economy of the world’s most populous nation hits a wall as the Japanese did in the 1990s. China’s central government and the nation’s huge consumer base may allow the country to avoid that fate, even if its massive export base is temporarily damaged by the global recession. Japanese interests temporarily had the capital to make purchases of assets all over the world in the 1980s, but the island country never had the capacity to match the buying power of China’s middle class or the astonishing amount of capital that China has built up in its treasury after years of budget surpluses. China may even be able to pass through a recession without entering a prolonged downturn and the stagflation that crippled Japan for the better part of a decade. China has the access to raw materials within its borders and inexpensive rural labor which Japan never had. It also has a central government which largely controls the use of massive amounts of the country’s capital."
http://247wallst.com/2009/07/06/china%E2%80%99s-political-battle-to-buy-strategic-interests-around-the-globe/
I plan to hold a base of SRSR for some time.
Hang on: "The very basic question is 'Are we going to trade dependence on Mideast oil for Chinese rare earths?' " says Jeff Green, a lobbyist who specializes in metals. "I think the answer is 'Probably.' "
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2009/07/01/americas-new-energy-dependency-chinas-metals.html
"China is the Saudi Arabia of Rare Earths"
Link:http://dailyreckoning.com/nothing-rare-about-chinese-rare-earths/
.."And if you think that the Chinese are bluffing, then it becomes hard to explain why although “China has quietly become the world’s leading gold producer”, it is also a fact that “most of that production never leaves China’s borders, but goes instead to the national reserves as a hedge against its currency holdings.”
This is where it becomes interesting, as “China, by the simple expedient of defending its own interest, accomplishes much for the gold mining industry as a whole. By posing as a gold buyer of last resort, ready, willing and able to scoop up any sizable offer, China may have very well put a floor under the market price”!
"And it is not just gold, as Junior Mogambo Ranger (JMR) James R. sent an article titled “Chinese Strategic Plans; Control of the Supply of Rare Earth Metals” from the Contrarian Investor’s Journal.
The article says, “Rare earths are the 15 elements within the lanthanide series of the periodic table, plus the elements yttrium and scandium. The best known are lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, praseodymium, gadolinium, europium and samarium”, which I gotta tell ya, I never heard of any of them, but they have all kinds of important, specialized, strategic uses and blah, blah, blah, none of which I understand, and I would not be telling you about them now except that I am intrigued by the sentence “China is the largest producer of rare earths. In fact, it is said that China is the Saudi Arabia of rare earths.” Hmmm!"
...and our chart is a thing of beauty!
The word on SRSR is getting out; wait until our REPORT hits the newswires, then the fun begins!
WOW! Great chart Ont! I think the REAL FIREWORKS will be starting very soon for SRSR.
Looking forward to a great day...
Nice consolidation. SRSR is a GEM. Hang onto your hats...
Good presentation on Niobium, SRSR is in the sweet spot.
Thanks for sharing your find.
I like Scott Keevil's answer: "If the National Instrument 43-101 was completed and results were good on the Niobium property, he believed many larger mining firms would be interested in some kind of deal and would not rule out TECK COMINCO (TCK).He is confident that the new testing on this Niobium property would be in line with previous results."
Congrats all to another great GREEN day:
SRSR $ .079 Change: +.003 (3.95%)
Volume: 7,219,135
SRSR's PERFECT STORM about to hit= Worldwide REE Demand, Report Coming, Asian interest, Awareness building.
Here's to a great day, week, month, year(s)!
GLTUA
I hope someone has that scary Rally Monkey on deck...lol
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 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
Congrats all around...GREEN SRSR
$ 0.0589 Change: +.0079 (15.49%)
Volume: 4,527,830
"GOLD has worked down from Alexander's time... When something holds good for two thousand years I do not believe it can be so because of prejudice or mistaken theory."
Bernard M. Baruch 1870-1965, American Financier
Very good outline/time line of events.
SRSR $.051 Change: 0.0025 (5.15%)
Volume: 2,586,035
Great day all!
Looking forward to next week....
lol. Good one. C'mon,,,feed da sharks...
GLTU
GM. SRSR is Looking very strong!
Thanks! Go SYNJ
:)
Congrats to all today. I am enjoying the optimism by most here on SYNJ.
What a difference a day makes!
-Maybe we can dust off that Rally Monkey, eh? lol.
GLTUA!
Sounds like you have a great person in your life to share your thoughts with. That is a a true gold mine. I think many of us can identify with your honest roller=coaster feelings.
thanks for sharing, person mark for you!
BTW, once a PR comes out we will be good to go...patience..
A score of 100+ sounds good to me, looking forward to some great $ gains here.
GLTU!
Go Nessie, GO SRSR!
Great chart!
Behind Oil's Surprising Surge - Businessweek June 10,2009
OPEC production cuts and hedge fund money have lifted oil prices. And fears about a falling dollar could push them higher
By Stanley Reed: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_25/b4136031531310.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_top+story
ROTFL. Good one Howard :)
Here ya go: 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
Great day all SRSR people! Better make sure that Rally Monkey is ready to go for next week :)
Everyone should read your post. Excellent! Person mark 4 U.
Go SYNJ!
Very GREEN day:(SYNJ) .0034 +.0008 (30.77%)
Volume: 381,598,482
nice! GLTA
SRSR $ 0.04 +.0001(0.25%) Vol: 3,286,572
Strong day for SRSR, imo. People are holding onto their shares.
-I am holding all of mine too; it will be a nice day when the report comes out as well as the subsequent news..
GLTUA
Nice summary, thanks!
EU to compile list of critical raw materials by end '09
London 05 June 2009
"..an article on the commission’s news website, Euractiv.com, named titanium, niobium and platinum as “potentially critical”""
The European Commission is analysing a list of 20 different substances including minor metals that could prove critical for trade on the continent, it said as it confirmed it will finalise the list by the end of the year. The commission’s decision to compile the list follows concerns in Brussels about Europe’s competitiveness in the market for some minor metals amid growing Chinese and Indian consumption. “We are analysing a list of 20 different substances, including minor metals, to see if access to them may be seen as critical,” a representative for the enterprise and industry directorate told MB. Although he declined to reveal the metals concerned, an article on the commission’s news website, Euractiv.com, named titanium, niobium and platinum as “potentially critical”, while chromite, vanadium, tantalum and manganese were also named as possible additions. The commission noted the importance of silicon, gallium, selenium and indium for new technologies including copper-indium-gallium-selenium (Cigs) solar cells. According to...
Copyright © Metal Bulletin Ltd. All rights reserved.
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.
More on this topic:
ListLinksDossier: Sustainable Consumption & Production
ListNews: Brussels eyes natural reserves in raw materials scramble
Other related news:
* Stakeholders fear EU will miss 'sustainability boat'
* Commission wants to scrap 'throw-away' culture
* Retailers, food industry in sustainability pledge
* Business backs sustainability as 'innovation catalyst'
* EU to consider CO2 labelling for products
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".
Yes. Nice consolidation. Boom time coming, imo.
Rare Earth Element Cos Could See Next Bull Market Run
VANCOUVER -(Dow Jones)- Two TSX Venture-listed rare earth companies are enjoying strong gains Monday - an otherwise quiet day on the Toronto Stock Exchange as U.S. markets are closed for Memorial Day.
Commerce Resources Corp. (CCE.V) and Rare Element Resources Ltd. (RES.V) are up 32% and 37% respectively, in part because two well-regarded market watchers are talking up a niche resource sector that's largely unknown to the everyday investor.
Investment-letter writers James Dines, who writes the Dines Letter, and John Kaiser, who writes the Bottom-Fish Online report, say rare earth elements are increasingly important to global markets.
Dines, who has declared himself a big-time "investor bug" of various nascent markets in the past, said last Friday that rare earth elements could be the next major surprise bull market.
Why? Rare earth elements, which go by names such as thulium and lanthanum, are used in numerous electronic applications as well as superconductors, super-magnets, refining catalysts and hybrid-car components.
The two other rare metals one needs to know about are tantalum and niobium. Tantalum is widely used in the electronics industry. Niobium is used in steels and superalloys.
The actual amount of these elements that go into producing, say, hybrid cars is small but necessary. Supply is therefore vital to producers that need these rare elements in their products.
Kaiser agrees, saying the value of rare earth element miners will be increasingly strategic as demand for product outstrips global supply.
Enter Commerce Resources, a late-stage tantalum and niobium explorer, and Rare Element Resources, which has a key rare earth project in Wyoming.
As Kaiser says, the strategic worth of what they're sitting on in the ground is becoming as valuable as the elements themselves.
He used a recent example: state-owned China Nonferrous Metal Mining Group (CNMC) took a majority stake in Lynas Corp. (LYC.AU) this month, giving the Australian rare earth miner US$366 million in funding. While Lynas has offtake agreements to Japanese, European and U.S. clients lasting for the next five years, its rare earth supply could last some 30 years. CNMC has now secured and therefore controls the future supply from one of the richest rare earth deposits in the world, Kaiser said.
That includes tantalum and niobium.
This is all the more important because the U.S. Defence Logistics Agency stopped selling into the tantalum market in 2008. Australia's Talisman, the world's leading supplier of tantalum, has ceased production indefinitely, citing the adverse effect of the black market supply as well as intense pricing pressure.
Black-market production in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo is, by some estimates, supplying the world with some 30% of its required supply.
As both Commerce Resources and Rare Element Resources move toward production, their leverage on global producers increases, observers say.
"Commerce Resources is in a fascinating global position; the window for tantalum has opened wide," said David Hodge, president of Commerce Resources. "We are becoming part of the supply solution on a global basis; no matter what the studies say in terms of the price of extraction, the industry will say yes."
Commerce Resources is hoping to start open-pit production in 2010.
In Toronto, Commerce Resources is up 10 Canadian cents to 40 Canadian cents on 621,000 shares. Rare Element Resources is up 35 Canadian cents to C$1.30 on 633,000 shares.
Monday May 25th, 2009 / 21h15
By Brian Truscott
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Link: http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/rare-earth-element-cos-could-see-next-bull-market-run-673590
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