I have always been a great fan of bollywood movies which are simply nonsense .Few days ago I came across one such superhero movie. At climax villain says “ Main duniya pe raaj karana chahata hoon” and laughs hysterically. I was certainly loving it, yet a thought crossed my mind. When the first human transformed himself from a monkey 2.5 million years ago, He never knew what would be like ‘ruling a world’ neither he possessed a secret desire of it.
However as the times of Stone Age and good natured human beings have passed. We have seen human race competing over the top spot and Power has essentially been the weapon. Different forms of power have evolved, and they were substantial for the period to which they belong.
When Cecily born mafias ruled the American countryside Muscle power was in effect. Later on as Mafias knew the need of an hour was sophistication, they turned into white collared businessman eventually giving the charge to money power. As the industries started to evolve the power shifted towards Information to survive. Since then we are in the same era of information. What has been the essential pillar of this information era is technology. Prominent feature of all these eras has been ‘Technology’ which remained intact and kept evolving even though power shifted from one type to other. Now it has become even more significant contributor towards growth and evolution.
Various aspects of technology can be discussed yet I would like to focus on particular area that is ‘Metals’ and especially ‘Rare-earth metals’. Not only because they are my first love but also they would be the messiah or savior of all the technologies who are in desperate need of evolution but can’t find alternative resources.
So what are ‘rare-earths’? And why are they so important?
Rare earth metals are some of the metals which lie deep in periodic table and as the name suggests they are rare. But not because of their availability, infact rare earth metals are most abundantly available, even more than iron or nickel. However rare earth metals have much less tendency to become concentrated in exploitable ore deposits. Consequently, most of the world’s supply comes from only a few sources.
High-technology and environmental applications of the rare earth elements have grown dramatically in diversity and importance over the past four decades. As many of these applications are highly specific, in that substitutes for the REM are inferior or unknown, the REM have acquired a level of technological significance much greater than expected from their relative obscurity.
REMs are now extensively used in Catalysts, Automobiles, Lasers, Magnetic and Optical applications. Ceramics are being embedded with these for property enhancement. Nuclear and defence applications are also utilising these elements more and more. . Few years ago, executives at Toyota would have said “REMs? Huh?..I thought they were for missiles?” now they manufacture their hybrid cars using the same materials.
REMs are revolutionary concept especially in Automobile industry and in Defense.New technology of Hybrid which is talk of town utilises mix breed of Yttrium and gadolinium to fulfil its requirement. Several REM are essential constituents of automotive pollution-control catalytic converters. Use of REM magnets reduces the weight of automobiles. Widespread adoption of new energy-efficient fluorescent lamps could reduce emission from Automobiles to 1/3 of current; this is particularly important considering hazards of global warming.
Conventional Ni-Cd batteries would be eventually replaced by lanthanum batteries which would guarantee high performance and longer life. REMs have become increasingly important in defence applications, including jet fighter engines and other aircraft components, missile guidance systems, underwater mine detection, antimissile defence, and space-based satellite power and communication systems.
If these are so essential for technological progress then what is the current scenario? And where does the India stand? Answer is not much pleasing.
For many years, India was the world’s largest producer of these rare minerals, mined from coastal sand. But that leadership is long gone. India now is largely a coal and iron ore mining country, regulated by rules that are more than 50 years old. Most of the blame for this condition is of course on the high-end politics and ignorance. Ignorance in this case, may prove to be disastrous if India doesn’t revise its policies about REMs. Vision 2020 or whatever you call it surely won’t be possible without this technology. REMs would be ubiquitously used in near future and this new change has to be incorporated in India’s Metallurgical Vision. If we ignore the REMs now, then it would be hard to catch up later. Currently India manufactures barely 3% of world production.
Currently, most of the REM manufacturing is done by small firms which follow very few safety guidelines and are less sophisticated in their work. Even though India has huge areas where REMs are abundant, large scale production of REMs in India is not encouraged.
Mean while, USA has been exhausted of its reserves in the 90s.USAs huge fleet of missiles and heavy armoured technology justifies this fact. In 1960s large share of REMs was dominated by African countries, such as republic of Congo, Lucrative value of these materials and inherent uneasiness in Congo triggered civil wars, however now those countries contribute only 1 % to world production.
Recent winner in REMs has been China. China dominates the world REM market with share up to 95%.USA imports all the REM it needs from china, in a sense being hugely dependent on china. Recently China announced that it will limit the export of its rare earth metals used in superconductors, hybrid cars and other high-tech devices, in order to increase prices and conserve its reserves. It has imposed controls in Inner Mongolia, which has about 75 percent of China's rare earths, in order to stimulate the industry. It has raise tax rates on exports from 4 % to staggering 60 %. So in a way as China is strategically building its Forex reserves in dollars it has also wisely understood the similar significance of REMs. This raises particular concerns for USA and other countries as they are largely dependent on China for REMs.
Keeping the political strategy apart, this may prove to be a boon for Indian REM industry if it is fully functional and streamlined. Toyota Motor Corp. is set to import rare-earth metals from India and Vietnam, a move that will give the auto giant independent sources of these key materials for the production of its hybrid cars. Currently, Toyota sources 90 percent of its requirement of rare-earth elements from China, but following stricter export restrictions in the mainland, the car maker is looking elsewhere. Similarly, others would turn to India as demand swells.
However, if India has to become a significant player in tomorrow’s technologies, it needs to draw up special rules for rare earths. These rules should rather provide encouragement to industries and not deter them as they have been doing for years. Rare?..Maybe, but rare earths are essential.
Incessant Mind
