But Pensana said moves by China to keep rare earth prices low has made refining in the UK uneconomic without significant government backing, whereas the US is offering the sector more support.
i’ve heard talk that it would be completely unfeasable for the US to ever upgrade its rare earth refining infra to a level where they could compete with the prices that China offers for it’s refined products. i haven’t researched this claim (which admittedly i heard from a Hasanabi video), so i wonder if it’s true at all?
It’s very much true. It would take decades of concerted effort for the US just to catch up to where China is now: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/9470989
I think a very important thing to understand about the current industrial situation is the complexity. Like back in WW2 the Soviets rapidly grew in industrial capacity as did others during the war, and while its not impossible to do that in some areas even today certain industries are so complex that theres no way to just blitz it. Like a smart phone isnt a car. You need dozens of highly complex supply chains to make so many different teeny tiny parts and until you have all of them theres no market for any of them. The only way to do it in any feasible timeframe would be to start at the top end, and import the parts and assemble them domestically. Then slowly over decades build out the lower and lower levels of the supply chain.
Refining rare earths isnt the same thing as melting steel. Steel requires resources and scale which sure isnt childsplay but is way easier to pull off than the insane purity you need for processing rare earths just to get a tiny amount.
Plus theres the human element. The volume of expertise for something like this in the US just doesn’t compare to China in the slightest. They’ll probably try to import expertise too, but idk who in their right mind is gonna move to the US right now.
idk who in their right mind is gonna move to the US right now.
That (Hyundai?) plant having all its South Korean employees being dragged out and imprisoned under inhumane conditions was…one heck of a self own; literally no idea what they were thinking
no idea what they were thinking
reactionaries don’t think…react
Yep, all those “bring manufacturing/refining back to America” initiatives are effectively just handouts to few well connected capitalists. Everyone will forget about them in a year or two, but the money will stay in their pockets (see the Biden Infrastructure Bill).
I think it’s highly likely.
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UKEuropean Right wing: Hey you know whose fault this is? Migrants and refugees!These people have a few screws loose and I’m the supposed to be the crazy one?
