Lithium
What Are Technology Metals?
So, just what are “technology metals’? As a relatively new term, coined by Jack Lifton in 2007 and now widely used in the industry, there are probably a number of alternative definitions out there. Here at TMR, we say that the technology metals are those generally-rare metals that are essential for the production of ‘high tech’ devices and engineered systems, such as:
- The mass production of miniaturized electronics and associated devices;
- Advanced weapons systems and platforms for national defense;
- The generation of electricity using ‘alternative’ sources such as solar panels and wind turbines;
- The storage of electricity using cells and batteries.
There are of course numerous other uses and applications of these metals.
Almost all technology metals are byproducts of the production of base metals, with the exception of the rare earth metals, as a group, and lithium.
Prior to World War II, there were many metals for which there were no practical uses. They were literally laboratory curiosities available only in small quantities, obtained at high costs in both time and money. For this reason, they were called the ‘minor metals’; they simply had no major uses in contrast to the base metals and even to the precious metals. It didn’t matter how abundant a metal actually was in nature; if it had no practical uses it simply wouldn’t be produced. Nickel, for example, was a ‘minor metal’ before the commercial development of stainless steel in 1919, when economical methods of mass producing and using stainless steel were undertaken in earnest. Nickel after that rapidly became a high volume production metal.
In the first few years of the 20th Century, malleable tungsten was developed at General Electric and it rapidly displaced all other materials for use as filaments in incandescent light bulbs. Tungsten production increased, and shortly thereafter tungsten steels were developed and used, at first for military armor and armor piercing projectiles. Tungsten carbide for cutting tools soon after that revolutionized precision machining, just in time to make mass produced engines a reality. Tungsten, a minor metal in 1900, became by 1918 an important industrial metal, and had the designation ‘technology metal’ existed in 1918, tungsten would surely have been recognized as such at that point.
As an example of a more well-known metal transitioning from ‘minor’ to ‘major’ status, look at the late 19th Century minor metal aluminum, which was used to cap the Washington Monument in 1886, as a symbol of America’s wealth. Aluminum was then more expensive than gold. Keep in mind that only a lunatic or a visionary would have predicted in 1886, that common people would cook with aluminum pots and pans less than a century later, and that even in 1919 the idea of nickel stainless steel kitchen appliances for the masses would have been considered fantasy nonsense.
World War II transformed a sleepy academic discipline, the study of the physical properties of all of the metals, into modern metallurgy with its emphasis on developing end uses for metals based not just on their properties as structural materials but even more important, on their newly categorized electrical, electronic, and magnetic properties for use in technology.
Fifty years ago, it was unclear which, if any of the then minor metals would be most useful for practical mass producible technologies. We were then only just discovering and, actually, determining which of the electronic and magnetic properties of the chemical elements were important to our civilization’s needs and desires. Prior to World War I, only the structural, decorative, simple electrical transmission and storage, and monetary metals were well known even to the metallurgists of the day. The last naturally occurring metal to be discovered was rhenium and that was only in 1924. What no one knew between the wars was that it would be important to know which, if any, of the little used minor metals could in fact be produced in significant volume at a significant yearly rate of production. There was no need for any such information, certainly not in academia, where most of these studies would be then undertaken. The equation was simple; no use equals no demand and therefore no attempt to supply in quantity.
World War II was the single most important driver for the transformation of the minor metals into the technology metals. Economics as a limitation to innovation was put aside and national security became the only driver for the development of the technologies for jet and rocket engines, radio and radar, electronic computing, and super weapons.
A glittering galaxy of physicists and innovative engineers, perhaps a once in a thousand years gathering of intellects, told the chemical engineers who specialized in metallurgy, which metals they critically needed in abundance and the world’s governments told all of them not to consider economics in their quest to produce them. The chemical engineers then began systematically to learn how to find, refine, and mass produce the formerly minor metals, now desperately needed for war technology. Among others this lead to the production for the first time, in every case, of large quantities of previously never-before-seen ultra pure silicon and germanium, as well as high purity gallium and indium, uranium and thorium, and mixed, and some individually separated, rare earth metals and, just after the war, of lithium.
After the hot part of World War II ended, a 50 year long Cold War immediately ensued, during which the postwar uneconomic overproduction of minor metals for the new technologies continued, and the increasingly surplus production was diverted to high volume civilian consumer uses, spun off from technologies developed for the military on a cost plus basis. This was the seeding of our modern ‘Age of Technology.’ Its original economics were synthetic; the critical materials for modern technologies were being produced from operations and sources the development of which had been fully subsidized, in an unprecedented open-ended hand out by the war economy, both cold and hot.
So, at the same time, today, that we have become totally dependent on the technology metals for the mass production of necessary consumer goods such as miniaturized electronics, large scale television and cinema displays, electronic data processing, and personal communications,. i.e., our way of life, we are also critically dependent on technology metals for our national security in the form of secure communications, weapons guidance, surveillance, and battlefield superiority. The problem is that the bulk of the technology metals is now used for civilian production and the military instead of catalyzing the supply and taking a priority position, is now simply another customer.
In the table below we list those metals that we define as ‘rare’, by defining rare as ‘produced annually in a quantity of 25,000 metric tonnes or less.’ Only the most obscure of these rare metals, such as the rare earths holmium, ytterbium, and lutetium, can still be defined as minor metals, because even today they only have minor uses since they are and will remain too rare ever to be available in sufficient quantity for mass production of a technology.
| Metal | Production [tonnes] |
|---|---|
| Cobalt | 62,000 |
| Uranium | 35,332 |
| Lanthanum | 32,860 |
| Silver | 21,332 |
| Neodymium | 19,096 |
| Cadmium | 18,000 |
| Lithium | 18,000 |
| Yttrium | 8,900 |
| Bismuth | 7,300 |
| Praseodymium | 6,150 |
| Gold | 2,350 |
| Dysprosium | 2,000 |
| Selenium | 1,500 |
| Samarium | 1,364 |
| Zirconium | 1,230 |
| Gadolinium | 744 |
| Indium | 600 |
| Terbium | 450 |
| Europium | 272 |
| Palladium | 195 |
| Platinum | 178 |
| Germanium | 140 |
| Gallium | 78 |
| Rhenium | 52 |
| Rhodium | 30 |
| Hafnium | 25 |
| Tantalum | 0 |
| Erbium | UNKNOWN |
| Holmium | UNKNOWN |
| Lutetium | UNKNOWN |
| Scandium | UNKNOWN |
| Tellurium | UNKNOWN |
| Thorium | UNKNOWN |
| Thulium | UNKNOWN |
| Ytterbium | UNKNOWN |
The technology metals are almost all rare metals, and they are almost all produced as byproducts of base or common metals.
The problem with the technology metals is that our supply of them, or more specifically our maximum rates of production of them, is critically dependent mostly upon our production of base metals. In the case of the rare earth metals, mined as a group, the key supply issue is the complex metallurgy of the separation of the individual rare earths from each other; for the case of lithium, a key issue is the length of time that primary concentration takes. The rare earths as a group are actually not rare, based on the admittedly arbitrary definition above, though individual rare earths certainly are.
The rare earths and lithium are today the subject of much discussion, because they have become the most visible technology metals. The definition of a rare metal is somewhat fluid; a few of today’s rare metals may not always be so. Lithium, for example, is on the cusp of being struck from the list of rare metals, because of its use in electrical storage. But it has turned out that once a minor metal becomes a technology metal, it will never again be a minor metal.
Source: http://www.techmetalsresearch.com/what-are-technology-metals/
Chromium, are Nations Hoarding Natural Resources?
Chromium is a topic that you rarely hear about, but in today´s environment of uncertainty and the, ¨Great Worldwide Resource Grab¨, chromium gets more attention. Recently we have the EU and USA going into Libya (oil, lithium), Iraq (oil), Afghanistan (oil pipeline, rare earths), West Africa (cobalt, tungsten, oil, gold, timber and many more). Let us not forget China and the contracts that they are signing all over the world for their natural resource needs. This all makes for some very interesting times for nations and investors alike. Rare industrial metals are no different. Chromium has been in the news so it is time to explain its uses and background.
Chromium was discovered by Louis Vauqelin in 1797. Chromium is a blue-white metal with great corrosion resistance. It has the symbol Cr with an atomic number of 24. Chromium can be polished to form a very shiny surface and is used to plate other metals to form a protective layer.
The main use of chromium is in the production of steel where it is used as a hardener, corrosion resister and helps fight decolorization. Iron and chromium form Stainless Steel which is strong and has a high resistance to heat and decomposition. The two form one of the most versatile and durable metals known in the world. Stainless steel contains approximately 10% chromium. Chromium is also used in paints, coloring in glass, and as a plating agent.
According to the USGS the top producers are South Africa, Kazakhstan and India. South Africa produces almost 50% of all chrome ore. The three countries account for 80% of all chrome ore mined. Approximately 95% of all known reserves are located in Kazakhstan and the southern tip of Africa to include Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The background of chromium is interesting, but today we have a hot topic. India is thinking about a ban on exportation of chrome ore. This is after news out of South Africa that the, ¨National Union of Mineworkers¨, called for restrictions of chrome ore exports to China. It has been speculated that China has been stockpiling chrome ore in order to control future prices. Does this sound familiar? We currently have to deal with the manipulation of the rare earths and rare industrial metals by China. As of October 2011 India and South Africa have not followed through with the plans. The next few weeks and months will be quite interesting, we are seeing an increase in the need for chromium, with a possible decrease in available supply.
Today our world is full of uncertainty. Every day brings us news of something amazing. Governments are under pressure, people are suffering, companies are folding, wonderful inventions, worldwide internet connectivity, and resources are becoming scarce. I have learned that in times like this you can either complain or build a grand future. Many fortunes were made during the US Great Depression. We are living through a worldwide recession, when we come out on the other side natural resources will be needed like never before. Where are you putting your money and future?
By: Randy Hilarski - The Rare Metals Guy
How to Invest in Rare Earths
Exchange-traded funds are jumping on the bandwagon to invest in rare earths and other strategic metals, mainly by investing in companies that mine and use the materials. There are risks for ETF investors to weigh.
Oil, Gold…Rare Earths?
As ETFs focus on some less-known materials, there are risks to weigh
The raw-materials rally that has driven investors to load up on gold, crude and wheat is also sparking interest in funds tied to relatively obscure commodities such as lithium, uranium and rare earths.
Investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into a handful of exchange-traded funds linked to those materials over the past year or so. But betting on these kinds of industrial building blocks presents some unusual challenges and risks.
Trying to replicate the price swings in underlying materials through an ETF is challenging because there are typically no futures markets for these substances, as there are for more commonplace materials. Holding the physical goods is often impractical as well. As a result, many funds instead concentrate rare-earth and other exotic-metals plays on related stocks, which can rise or fall independently of the commodities.
The fortunes of some of these materials—and the companies that work with them—can change suddenly. After Japan’s nuclear disaster in March, two ETFs that hold uranium-related stocks plunged amid a clouded outlook for nuclear energy and haven’t recovered to date. In addition, uncertainty about the global economy has caused prices of some rare earths to fall by double-digits in percentage terms in recent months, according to market participants.
Investors who accept the risks are generally buying into a thesis that’s been applied to a broad range of commodities in recent years—that rapid economic growth in emerging markets is pushing up demand and suppliers are struggling to keep up. Indeed, some basic commodities have leaped in price, but some of the biggest increases are related to lesser-known materials.
While oil costs a little more than twice what it did at the low point in 2009, for instance, the price of neodymium—one of a group of rare-earth elements used in high-tech products and advanced weaponry—was recently up 23-fold over a similar period, according to American Elements, a Los Angeles manufacturer that uses rare earths.
A Step Removed
Van Eck Global last year launched Market Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals. What qualifies as a “strategic” metal is “a little subjective,” says marketing director Edward Lopez. But instead of buying the metals, the fund buys shares in companies that get at least half their revenues—or have that potential—from rare earths or materials such as titanium and tungsten.
Despite their name, rare earths are common in the Earth’s crust. But about 90% of rare-earth supplies currently comes from China, which has started to limit exports, saying it needs the materials at home. Likewise, foreign investors face restrictions on holding shares of major Chinese rare-earth producers, Mr. Lopez says.
Mining companies in the U.S. and elsewhere are trying to ramp up production to replace lost supplies. Investing in such companies carries distinct risks, Mr. Lopez says, including the hurdles of moving from planning to production and the possibility that the market for the materials may shift in the meantime. But the Van Eck fund includes among its top holdings Molycorp Inc., in Greenwood Village, Colo., and Australia-based Lynas Corp., companies that are developing rare-earth mines in the U.S. and Australia, respectively.
Shares of the Van Eck fund are down 21% since it was launched last October, and down 36% this year through Sept. 30. The fund at the end of August had $346 million in assets, according to National Stock Exchange, a data provider and stock exchange.
Liking Lithium
Lithium is another metal that has attracted widespread interest, because of the vital role it plays in powering a proliferating array of consumer electronics, including cellphones and laptops. But, as with other such elements, it’s impractical to invest in lithium directly. It’s an often volatile material and insuring a large stock could “take so much away from the return that it wouldn’t be practical,” says Bruno del Ama, chief executive of Global X, an ETF provider.
The company’s Global X Lithium, launched in July 2010, invests in shares of companies that mine lithium and in makers of products that use lithium, such as lithium-ion batteries.
The fund’s largest single holding is Sociedad Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, a Chilean company that produces plant nutrients and iodine as well as lithium. Shares in the company made up 23% of the fund’s holdings as of Sept. 30.
The fund had $128 million in assets at the end of August, including inflows this year of $24 million, according to National Stock Exchange.
Mr. del Ama says buying stocks can give investors a boost because miners can make money even if prices for the material stay flat. “If on top of that, the price of the commodity goes up…you get a leveraged impact on the return,” he says.
Shares in the lithium fund have fallen 16.2% since the 2010 launch, and are down 41% this year through Sept. 30. Average lithium prices in 2011 through July were 2% below average prices last year, according to TRU Group Inc., a consultancy that specializes in lithium.
Uranium Plays
The recent fate of two uranium-linked funds—Global X Uranium and Market Vectors Uranium+Nuclear Energy—shows that the “leveraged play works both ways,” as Mr. del Ama puts it.
After the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, uranium prices plunged amid concern the incident would undercut support for nuclear power. In early September, weekly prices for the thinly traded fuel were 23% lower than they were on March 7, before the disaster, according to Ux Consulting Co. LLC.
But shares in Global X’s uranium fund, which focuses on uranium mining, have fallen even harder, losing more than half their value since March 10, the day before the Japanese disaster. The Market Vectors fund, which invests in both miners and other firms that work on nuclear energy, has fared somewhat better over that same period, falling 33% through Sept. 30.
By LIAM PLEVEN
Mr. Pleven is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal in New York. Email him at [email protected]
Critical Minerals, Elements, Metals, Materials
In this article I am going to take a look at three reports covering what the US and Europe consider critical or strategic minerals and materials.
In its first Critical Materials Strategy, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) focused on materials used in four clean energy technologies:
- wind turbines: permanent magnets
- electric vehicles: permanent magnets & advanced batteries
- solar cells: thin film semi conductors
- energy efficient lighting: phosphors
The DOE says they selected these particular components for two reasons:
- Deployment of the clean energy technologies that use them is projected to increase, perhaps significantly, in the short, medium and long term
- Each uses significant quantities of rare earth metals or other key materials
In its report the DOE provided data for nine rare earth elements: yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, terbium and dysprosium as well as indium, gallium, tellurium, cobalt and lithium.
Five of the rare earth metals, dysprosium, neodymium, terbium, europium and yttrium as well as indium, were assessed as most critical in the short term. The DOE defines “criticality” as a measure that combines importance to the clean energy economy and risk of supply disruption.
Securing Materials for Emerging Technologies
A Report by the APS Panel on Public Affairs and the Materials Research Society coined the term “energy-critical element” (ECE) to describe a class of chemical elements that currently appear critical to one or more new, energy related technologies.
“Energy-related systems are typically materials intensive. As new technologies are widely deployed, significant quantities of the elements required to manufacture them will be needed. However, many of these unfamiliar elements are not presently mined, refined, or traded in large quantities, and, as a result, their availability might be constrained by many complex factors. A shortage of these energy-critical elements (ECEs) could significantly inhibit the adoption of otherwise game-changing energy technologies. This, in turn, would limit the competitiveness of U.S. industries and the domestic scientific enterprise and, eventually, diminish the quality of life in the United States.”
According to the APS and MRS report several factors can contribute to limiting the domestic availability of an ECE:
The element may not be abundant in the earth’s crust or might not be concentrated by geological processes
An element might only occur in a few economic deposits worldwide, production might be dominated by and, therefore, subject to manipulation by one or more countries â the United States already relies on other countries for more than 90% of most of the ECEs identified in the report
Many ECEs have, up to this point, been produced in relatively small quantities as by-products of primary metals mining and refining. Joint production complicates attempts to ramp up output by a large factor.
Because they are relatively scarce, extraction of ECEs often involves processing large amounts of material, sometimes in ways that do unacceptable environmental damage
The time required for production and utilization to adapt to fluctuations in price and availability of ECEs is long, making planning and investment difficult
This report was limited to elements that have the potential for major impact on energy systems and for which a significantly increased demand might strain supply, causing price increases or unavailability, thereby discouraging the use of some new technologies.
The focus of the report was on energy technologies with the potential for large-scale deployment so the elements they listed are energy critical:
- Gallium, germanium, indium, selenium, silver, and tellurium employed in advanced photovoltaic solar cells, especially thin film photovoltaics.
- Dysprosium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium and cobalt used in high-strength permanent magnets for many energy related applications, such as wind turbines and hybrid automobiles.
- Gadolinium (most REEs made this list) for its unusual paramagnetic qualities and europium and terbium for their role in managing the color of fluorescent lighting. Yttrium, another REE, is an important ingredient in energy-efficient solid-state lighting.
- Lithium and lanthanum, used in high performance batteries.
- Helium, required in cryogenics, energy research, advanced nuclear reactor designs, and manufacturing in the energy sector.
- Platinum, palladium, and other PGEs, used as catalysts in fuel cells that may find wide applications in transportation. Cerium, a REE, is also used as an auto-emissions catalyst.
- Rhenium, used in high performance alloys for advanced turbines.
The third report I looked at, “Critical Raw Materials for the EU” listed 14 raw materials which are deemed critical to the European Union (EU): antimony, beryllium, cobalt, fluorspar, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, magnesium, niobium, platinum group metals, rare earths, tantalum and tungsten.
Raw materials are an essential part of both high tech products and every-day consumer products, such as mobile phones, thin layer photovoltaics, Lithium-ion batteries, fibre optic cable, synthetic fuels, among others. But their availability is increasingly under pressure according to a report published today by an expert group chaired by the European Commission. In this first ever overview on the state of access to raw materials in the EU, the experts label a selection of 14 raw materials as “critical” out of 41 minerals and metals analyzed. The growing demand for raw materials is driven by the growth of developing economies and new emerging technologies.
For the critical raw materials, their high supply risk is mainly due to the fact that a high share of the worldwide production mainly comes from a handful of countries, for example:
China: Rare Earths Elements (REE)
Russia, South Africa: Platinum Group Elements (PGE)
Democratic Republic of Congo: Cobalt
All four of the following critical materials appear on each list:
- Rare Earth Elements (REE)
- Cobalt
- Platinum Group Elements (PGE)
- Lithium
The key issues in regards to critical metals are:
- Finite resources
- Chinese market dominance in many sectors
- Long lead times for mine development
- Resource nationalism/country risk
- High project development cost
- Relentless demand for high tech consumer products
- Ongoing material use research
- Low substitutability
- Environmental crackdowns
- Low recycling rates
- Lack of intellectual knowledge and operational expertise in the west
Certainly the rare earth elements, the platinum group of elements and lithium are going to continue receiving investor attention, they are absolutely vital to the continuance of our modern lifestyle. But there are two metals increasingly on my radar screen, one is on all three above critical metals lists and the other soon will be when/if production increases, and in this authors opinion, that’s very possible.
Cobalt
A critical or strategic material is a commodity whose lack of availability during a national emergency would seriously affect the economic, industrial, and defensive capability of a country.
The French Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minires rates high tech metals as critical, or not, based on three criteria:
- Possibility (or not) of substitution
- Irreplaceable functionality
- Potential supply risks
Many countries classify cobalt as a critical or a strategic metal.
The US is the world’s largest consumer of cobalt and the US also considers cobalt a strategic metal. The US has no domestic production, the United States is 100% dependent on imports for its supply of primary cobalt, currently about 15% of U.S. cobalt consumption is from recycled scrap, resulting in a net import reliance of 85%.
Although cobalt is one of the 30 most abundant elements within the earthâs crust itâs low concentration (.002%) means itâs usually produced as a by-product â cobalt is mainly obtained as a by-product of copper and nickel mining activities.
Scandium
Scandium is a soft, light metal that might have applications in the aerospace industry. With a cost approaching $300 per gram scandium is too expensive for widespread use. Scandium is a byproduct from the extraction of other elements, uranium mining, nickel and cobalt laterite mines and is sold as scandium oxide.
The absence of reliable, secure, stable and long term production has limited commercial applications of scandium in most countries. This is despite a comprehensive body of research and a large number of patents which identify significant benefits for the use of scandium over other elements.
Particularly promising are the properties of :
- Stabilizing zirconia: Scandia stabilized zirconia has a growing market demand for use as a high efficiency electrolyte in solid oxide fuel cells
- Scandium-aluminum alloys will be important in the manufacture of fuel cells
- Strengthening aluminum alloys (0.5% scandium) that could replace entire fleets with much cheaper, lighter and stronger aircraft
- Alloys of scandium and aluminum are used in some kinds of athletic equipment, such as aluminum baseball bats, bicycle frames and lacrosse sticks
- Scandium iodide (ScI3) is added to mercury vapor lamps so that they will emit light that closely resembles sunlight
Conclusion
The REEs, PGEs, Lithium and Cobalt are all truly critical to the functioning of our modern society. It’s easy to see why they are classified as critical or strategic. Scandium will increasingly find its way into our everyday lives and undoubtedly take its place on the various critical metal lists.
Access to raw materials at competitive prices has become essential to the functioning of all industrialized economies. Cobalt is one of those raw materials, so too will be Scandium.
Are these two critical metals on your radar screen?
If not, maybe they should be.
Richard Mills - Ahead of the Herd | July 14, 2011
Recent Posts
- EU Feels Pressure of China’s Rare Earths Supply Pinch
- JRC Report Reveals Five Rare Earth Metals Show High Scarcity Risk
- What Are Technology Metals?
- China Now Controls the Solar Industry
- Industry Urges U.S. to Rebuild Rare Earth Supply Chain
- Rare metals supply a low-carbon question
- Euro Crisis Hits Northwest Cobalt Mine
- Silver Set To Reach New Highs
- Gold Tops $1,800 in N.Y. as Europe Crisis Spurs Investor Demand
- Zirconium and tantalum under the spotlight
