Report: U.S. dependent on China for rare earth metals

By Business Report staff
February 7, 2011 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — The American Security Project (ASP) recently released a report titled "Rare Earth Metals and U.S. National Security," which outlines the national security risks of United States' reliance on China as the sole supplier of rare earth metals, which are essential to the nation's military and economic needs.

Emily Coppel, author of the report and research assistant at ASP, said, "Rare earth metals present a weak link in our defense supply chain. These metals are critical for national security, as they are essential for our most powerful weapons."

The U.S. was once the world's top producer and supplier of these metals, which are used widely in products, such as hybrid car motors, computer hard drives, cell phones, wind turbines and military equipment, according to the ASP website.

Contrary to their name, rare earth metals are not scarce at all. They are as common in the earth as silver. The U.S. has the world's second biggest deposit of rare earths, with "approximately 13 million metric tons of rare earth elements," mainly located in Western states such as California, Alaska and Wyoming (U.S. Geological Survey, 2010).

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