China announced last week that it would restrict its rare earth export quota and the news came unwelcome for the Western renewable energy industry. In Beijing, a representative of a Chinese Ministry of Commerce think tank commented: “Foreign nations do not make sense when they blame China for reducing exports. Some of them can produce rare earth themselves. Nations that own rare earth resources should take the responsibility of producing and help supply global demand.”
The Chinese government’s decision to once again regulate it’s rare earth exports seems like a worrying trend as it weakens the permanent magnet appeal factor and puts in jeopardy the efficient use of renewable energy sources as well as the use and development of modern and sustainable energy solutions such as hybrid cars. The direct implications of the Chinese governments’ restricting act can be seen on non-Chinese permanent magnet producers and their product pricing. The development in pricing can also have an indirect impact on us at The Switch. The good news is that we have combined our purchasing power with the large Chinese state-owned Dong Fang Electrical Machinery (DFEM) corporation, which has guaranteed availability of Neodymium materials for permanent magnets.
There’s no doubt about the potential and availability of rare earth metals outside China, however. Arnold Magnet Technologies, a British permanent magnet product and assembly manufacturer, made a study where they estimated the power potential of rare earth resources in nine mines located in Australia, Canada, South-Africa, Greenland and the US. The study concluded that if all available rare earth metals from only those mines were harnessed, they could be used to produce over 16 000 GW of installed power which equals 5,5 million 3MW medium-speed permanent magnet generators! Now there’s some food for thought!
Panu Kurronen, Product Manager at The Switch
