London Commodity Markets - India to sign rare earth metals pact with Japan

Manmohan Singh

(Times of India) NEW DELHI: Rare earth metals is the next big thing. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to sign an inter-governmental agreement with Japan if he travels to Tokyo in November. The umbrella pact is expected to start in earnest joint development of rare earths metals in India. Also as a strategic move, it brings Japan even closer to India, becoming what Singh calls a "transformational" relationship. Japan's internal politics and its election schedules, have, as a result, become a matter of deep interest in the Indian government. The only thing that could delay a PM trip is an election in Japan.But notwithstanding frequent political changes in Japan, Singh has insisted on meeting every Japanese leader because he believes the Japan relationship to be bigger than the current party in power.

London Commodity Markets rare earth metal spotlight

Indian diplomats at the recent ambassador's conference here in September were given elaborate briefings on the DMIC — an iconic Japanese investment project that could have massive long-term benefits for India. It's the new El Dorado for Indian diplomats practicing economic diplomacy, they were told.
Rare earth metals is an opportune marriage of economic and strategic imperatives. India, which has 3.1 million tonnes of rare earth metals, has one of the world's largest reserves.
But in 2004, Indian Rare Earths Ltd, a DAE enterprise, stopped production of rare earth metals because China swept away the market: India was producing REEs for $10 a kg, while China was doing it for $1.50. However, China's decision in 2010 to curb the exports of rare earth metals, particularly to Japan, severely affected Japan's hi-tech manufacturing industry.
Rare earth metals are almost indispensable for touch-screen phones, flat screen TVs, hybrid cars, laser and microwave equipment, fighter jets, cutting edge medical and cancer devices.

Of late, China and Japan have been facing off over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands, and in heated exchanges Bejiing has threatened sanctions against Tokyo.
The Chinese action proved to be a windfall opportunity for India. A steering committee by secretary mines in 2010 started the process of bringing India back as a major global supplier of REE/ECEs.
It enabled India to re-enter the rare-earth metals industry.
The Indo-US nuclear deal also helped to open access to some of the new-age technologies that New Delhi might need. A third reason for India's renewed interest in rare earth metals and energy critical metals stems from the fact that India wants to get into hi-tech manufacturing.
Japan hot footed it to India. Earlier this year, India decided to start a new plant to extract rare earth metals and ECEs from monazite from the beach sands of Odisha, which is expected to be commissioned in December. IREL and Japan's Toyota Tsusho are setting up a second 12,000-tonne monazite processing plant. These plants are expected to produce high-purity RE oxides, including neodymium, used in permanent magnets.
In Odisha, the REEs to be produced include lanthanum for hydrogen battery electrodes; and cerium used in catalytic converters etc.
Suddenly, Malaysia, Australia, Kazakhstan even the US are beginning to manufacture REEs and ECEs. A US-sponsored geological study of Afghanistan found it to be fairly rich in these metals. Rare earths is no longer rare, but it might be difficult for all these countries to replicate China's enviable supply chain system. However, India is a beneficiary of a Japanese government decision to plough in $1.3 billion to fund alternative sources for rare earth metals, as well as look for subsidies for rare earth metals.
China's market control activities, therefore, have had only a limited effect.

About Rare Earth Metals 

Rare earth metals is aterm for 17 elements which include:

Scandium.

• Scandium, which is added to aluminum, is used in fighter jets, baseball bats, bicycle frames.
• Yttrium is used in LED televisions and for treatment of cancers like lymphoma, leukemia, ovarian, pancreatic and bone cancers.
• Lanthanum is used in hybrid cars, electronic vacuum tubes, camera and telescope lenses.
• c is used in catalytic converters and often added to diesel fuels. Cerium is also used in the manufacture of glass, magnets and carbon-arc lighting used by film industry.
• Neodymium are magnets made with neodymium, and are known to be among the strongest permanent magnets that are currently known, with the ability to lift around 1,000 times more its own weight.
• Europium is widely used as a phosphor in LED televisions, computer screens and florescent lamps. The element is also used in screening for genetic diseases, such as Down Syndrome.
• Gadolinium is used in nuclear reactors as both a shield and a secondary emergency shutdown mechanism in certain types of reactors; MRI imaging, marine propulsion systems and X-ray systems.
• Terbium is used in fuel cells, naval sonar systems and in colour TV tubes.
• Holmium is used in powerful magnets as well as nuclear control rods, microwave equipment and medical devices, such as lasers for eye treatment.

Source: Original article written by Indrani Baghi of The Times of India

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