Rare Earth Minerals For Green Tech Put U.S. In Foreign Hands
Green technology has created a modern-day “gold rush” in the
worldwide search for rare earth minerals.  As the “green energy”
movement continues, there is some indication that rare earth
minerals necessary for the production of green technologies are
going the route of controversy in the geopolitical sphere.  At a
meeting of the U.S. Geological Society (USGS) attended by
politicians and political policymakers of all sorts, Professor
Roderick Eggert of the Colorado School of Mines sought to
explain the extreme rarity of minerals needed for green
technology. The consequence of pushing green technology is that
the U.S. is subject to the exportation policies of countries
such as China which have rich stores of rare earth metals.  The
USGS uses the example of China’s exhibition of a stranglehold on
neodymium, a substance used in wind generators, when it
restricted export of the substance last year. The result was a
much lower neodymium price in China th