Replies to post #1685 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[Tuff-Stuff]

Yes, and all the more reason for MCP to have an improved process?

[oldberkeley]

By a complete coincidence--I'm no seer--I'd been trying to learn a bit more about the rare earths since last year, then all this commotion hit.

I had a rather torturous exchange with a poster or two on another message board regarding this; they insisted that these elements most commonly existed in the soil of China! So much for our basic science education in middle and high school, but that's another topic.

I tried to explain to them that these elements are not that rare,they came from stars, they're distributed fairly evenly around the planet, they're in our backyards. The issue is the absurdly low extraction costs in China: the state takes the land; they pay a dollar an hour for labor; there's virtually no enforced safety, health or pollution controls.

Yeah they can sell it cheap!

IMO, rare earths from recycled electronics has a ton of potential. I'm trying to find a solid, publicly-traded company to perhaps invest in. Any suggestions welcome.