The Rare Metals War: the dark side of clean energy and digital technologies

by Guillame Pitron, Bianca Jacobsohn (Translator)

Is the shift to renewable energy and digital devices going to free us from severe pollution, material shortages, and military tensions?

Rare metals are essential to electric vehicles, fighter jets, wind turbines, and solar panels, and also to our smartphones, computers, tablets, and other everyday connected objects. But consumers know very little about how they are mined and traded, or the environmental, economic, and geopolitical costs of this dependence.

This book reveals the dark side of the world that awaits us. It is an undercover tale of a technological odyssey that has promised much, and a look behind the scenes. Behind it all lurks China, which has captured the lion’s share of the ownership and processing of rare metals we now can’t do without. Drawing on six years of research across a dozen countries, this book shows that by breaking free of fossil fuels, we are in fact setting ourselves up for a new dependence—on rare metals that have become vital to our new ecological and digital society.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Technology, Economics, Environment, Politics, Business

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 10, 2018

Reviews

[meliverse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toplam 9 bölümden oluşan Nadir Metaller Savaşı yeni nesil enerji dönüşümünün perde arkasındaki ekonomik çıkarları, çevresel tahribatı ve yeni güç dengelerini ortaya koyan bir araştırma kitabı. Özellikle çevre teknolojileri, küresel ekonomi veya jeopolitik konularla ilgilenenler için temel bir kaynak niteliğinde.

Bilen bilir, nadir toprak elementleri olarak adlandırılan lityum, kobalt, neodimyum, galyum, germanium gibi metaller stratejik öneme sahiptir. Pitron, yeni çağın kaynak savaşının bu metaller (Tesla’nın bataryasında lityum, F-35 savaş uçağının radarında neodimyum, iPhone’un ekranında galyum vb.) etrafında şekilleneceğini -başladı bile- anlatıyor. “Yeşil” ya da “ileri teknoloji” olarak bilenen bu ürünlerin ardında ciddi bir jeopolitik kırılganlık yatıyor. Nadir elementler doğada tamamen tükenmiş olmasa da düşük yoğunlukta bulundukları için çıkarılmaları çevreye büyük zarar veriyor. Üstelik ekonomik olarak da masraflı. Bu nedenle birçok ülke kendi madenlerini kapatırken Çin bu alana sistemli biçimde yatırım yaptı. Dünya üretiminin yaklaşık %80’i de malumunuz onların kontrolünde. Pitron’un deyimiyle, “nadir metallerin yeni efendisi artık Pekin!". Bu durum, enerji dönüşümü ve dijitalleşme alanlarında stratejik bir bağımlılık ilişkisi doğuruyor. Avrupa ve Amerika, elektrikli araç üretiminde ilerlemek için Çin’den gelen malzemelere muhtaç. Yani insanlık fosil yakıtlardan kurtulduk derken bu sefer de madenciliğe dayalı bağımlılık içeren yeni bir sisteme merhaba diyor. Çin’in elindeki bu avantaj geleceğin enerji, savunma ve teknoloji politikalarını belirleyecek ki gündemi de epeydir meşgul ediyor.

Neyse uzatmayayım, kitabın en güçlü yanı, büyük şirketlerin "çevrecilik" söyleminin ikiyüzlülüğünü (son yıllarda greenwashing de denen) deşifre etmesi. Elektrikli otomobiller “temiz” olarak lanse edilse de bu esnada olanlardan, örneğin, Şili’de lityum madenlerinde yeraltı sularının kuruduğundan ya da Kongo’da kobalt madenlerinde çocuk işçilerin çalıştırıldığından ve benzer pek çok konuda çevreye ve insana ağır bedeller ödetildiğinden kimse bahsetmiyor… Pitron'un kulağa evhamlı gibi gelen -ancak olmayan- ve bu ikiyüzlülüğe atıfta bulunan haklı sorusu da burada kalsın “Bir zamanlar kömür ve petrolle oynanan satranç oyunu artık yenilendiğine göre bu yeni oyunda kazananlar ve kaybedenler olacak mı yine? Bu metallerin düzenli tedariğini sağlamak ekonomilere, insanlarımıza ve çevreye ne tür bedeller yükleyecek?”

[Levent Kurnaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about the dark side of China rather than the dark side of clean energy.

[Igor Veloso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whether socialist or liberal, one has to be very ideologically blind to ignore the fact green technology, or any technology, exists because someone mines resources from the earth, and the more a population uses it the more it demands of the market. To meet those demands the market has to quickly adapt, and what is available may not be what we wish for. Concessions have to be made. Green technology comes also from digging the earth’s crust and destroy certain environments. Without proper regulation the rare earth mines produce as much radioactive waste as a nuclear power plant, and turn the surrounding fields infertile. With too much regulation the market stagnates and the technology for safer, faster and less polluting mining does not evolve. On one hand grows the sentiment that resources locally mined should be used for domestic consumption, yet on the other hand grows ecological conscience and activism opposing the exploration and opening of local mines. For example, Portugal – a tungsten producer - has lithium (not a rare metal but key in green tech). We want those electric cars and those iPhones, but apparently we also prefer the cheaper labour from Africa and China, not to speak it’s their people – including child workers - dying from cancer and malnutrition. Europe and USA thrive on green politics, green policy and green tech: left-wing activists sabotage all these by calling out the past of western colonization of Africa, while China exploits the continent along with Wagner induced coups, right now, in the present; liberal activists want the state away from private companies whilst China takes over that market and gains majority in key companies; right-wing activists totally ignore foreign policy and what that entails for domestic production. Western politics are chaotic, and in the midst of it’s chaos, authoritarian and hegemonic governments in the east exploit and gain an economic and trade advantage of raw materials.

The book focuses on the biggest economic threat to the west and it’s green policies: China.

It does mention some cases of the west mismanagement of rare earth mining. Per usual involves lack of environmental responsibilities and eventual demise of the companies, putting families out of a job. If no western capital fills the gap, the Chinese buy offices in the west and move the factories to China or its periphery. The west may have lesser and lesser carbon emissions, but it is China and Africa bearing the costs. It does not excuse their lack of domestic policy towards the environment, but the global market demands them to adapt fast, and they are willing to comply. China having a very loose definition of worker and Human Rights also helps speed up the process.

One major gripe I have with this book is somewhat frequent the use of “one American expert said” or “one Chinese expert said”, but who? For transparency and legitimacy sake we have to know who makes the claims. These can mostly be found on the Notes section on the final pages of the book, but I think they would be much more useful on the body text. Maybe it’s my own problem, but I’m sticking with it.

Nonetheless I’ve been following rare earth politics for a while, it’s a subject I esteem, and I have to recommend this book. Of course, having the author in mind, the subject also has the French elites as the target audience, though I’m not sure he’s telling anything new or convincing. He mentions the French influence on the Pacific, specifically the islands/kingdoms of Wallis and Futuna, well positioned diplomatically and also abundant in rare earths. It is, however, a very brief affair. He mainly points out the immense potential of french mining prospects. Not sure how meaningful is the following match, but the places with major potential are also the ones where Emmanuel Macron has the strongest support, but we would have to also look closely at the legislative level to make conclusions.

[Richard Marney · Rating 2 out of 5]

A light-weight analysis of a profoundly important topic. The Statistical Annexes are useful, but much of the rest of the book is disjointed and even reads as a spy novel at times. Wasted reading on the whole.

[Scribe Publications]

[T]he journalist and filmmaker warns against the optimistic belief that technology is the solution … At a time when many claim to be “citizens of the world” or retreat into naive or hypocritical protectionism, Pitron’s book is an attempt to open people’s eyes to the consequences of their societal choices and lifestyles.
Green European Journal

French Writer and analyst Guillaume Pitron warns about growing reliance on rare-earth metal – which are necessary to build high-tech products … He shines a light on “the untold story” of the energy and digital transitions.
European Scientist

An expert account of a poorly understood but critical element in our economy.
Kirkus Reviews

[E]xposes the dirty underpinnings of clean technologies in a debut that raises valid questions about energy extraction.
Publishers Weekly

The Rare Metals War is Guillaume Pitron’s urgent exposé of the race for resources and an examination of its environmental and human impacts.
Dan Shaw, Happy Magazine

Global demand for rare metals is rapidly rising. Guillaume Pitron explores and exposes the geopolitical, economic, environmental, and societal impacts of securing supplies of these raw materials … The issues raised give pause to the thinking that many of the world’s problems will be solved with a rapid shift to global energy generation from renewable sources. Pitron articulately outlines the precarious status of global supply of these raw materials, and the toll to the environment and human health that their extraction and processing has caused, particularly in the worlds leading rare metal player, China … Pitron exposes a terrible legacy to rare metal production, including accounts of corruption, exploitation, environmental degradation, and toxic exposure.
Carl Spandler, Associate Professor and Director of the Australian Critical Minerals Research Centre at the University of Adelaide

Normally the sight of photovoltaic panels and wind turbines fills me with hope, but after reading this book I have my doubts … In The Rare Metals War, French investigative journalist Guillaume Pitron sounds the alarm, showing both the environmental impact and China's chokehold on the market … The Rare Metals War is a powerful and sobering exposé that will no doubt shatter the green dreams of many readers. However, we cannot continue to ignore the material reality that underlies the green revolution that politicians and environmental organisations want us to pursue. This book is a much-needed conversation starter.
Leon Vlieger, NHBS

Demand for rare metals can only increase in the move to a zero-carbon economy. The Rare Metals War by Guillaume Pitron lays out the terrifying cost … Zipping from an abandoned mine in the Mojave desert to the toxic lakes and cancer-afflicted areas of Baotou in China, Pitron weighs the awful price of refining the materials, ably blending investigative journalism with insights from science, politics and business.
Simon Ings, New Scientist

In our race to save the climate, a new book claims that we are destroying the environment and starting a new war over natural resources … He is concerned that we are escaping one trap merely to fall into another.
Harry de Quetteville, The Telegraph

He asserts the sustainable economy is a “ruse”. The capture and use of renewable, non-polluting energy relies on resources neither renewable nor non-polluting … The Rare Metals War is framed by an ecological critique of industrial production and a neocolonial critique of the world economic order.
Paul Gillen, Post Magazine

This book reveals the dark side of the world that awaits us. It is an undercover tale of a technological odyssey that has promised much, and a look behind the scenes … Drawing on six years of research across a dozen countries, this book shows that by breaking free of fossil fuels, we are in fact setting ourselves up for a new dependence ― on rare metals that have become vital to our new ecological and digital society.
BookAuthoity

Guillame Pitron’s book, The Rare Metals War, fills in some of the gaps in this green and digital technology story… He says that the environmental impact of rare earth metals “could prove far more severe than that of oil extraction” … There are stories of the detrimental effects of mining rare metals on workers and communities all over the world from Kazakhstan to France to Congo to Bolivia. Pitron suggests that an environmentally ethical approach to mining outside China is possible if the quest for financial gain is set aside.
Clare Wilkins, Socialism Today

[Zeb Kantrowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every cell phone, computer, electric car motor, specialized magnets for jet planes and satellites, contain one of the rare metals. The 17 rare-earth elements are cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), and yttrium (Y). They are often found in minerals with thorium (Th), and less commonly uranium (U).

At one time many countries including the US, Canada, and France mined their native ore for these metals. Then China (which has one of the largest known deposits) who don't care about polluting their environment, began large scale mining. They sold the elements at such low prices that they undercut all the other producers. Once all the others shut down, China just rose their rates, even higher than they had been before.

The problem is that once the other mines were shut down, they were very expensive to start up again and most ran into environmental laws that they had been grandfathered protection but now were subject to the new laws. So China pretty much has the rest of the world over a barrel. If they want and they have, shut down exports when they decide they need it for themselves and stockpile the elements so they don't run out.

Bottom line is that until the rest of the world bights the bullet and reopens the old mines China can control the production of specialize magnet and other products without having to pay any penalty.

[Matthew Carr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and sobering corrective to green new deal Utopianism. Pitron painstakingly reveals the environmental costs of EVs and green technologies in the countries where the metals and minerals that build these technologies are sourced. He also shows how the environmental devastation and labour exploitation that accompanies the mining of these metals are ignored, leading to a situation in which western consumers are participants of a ‘green’ technological revolution that is not as green as it seems. Pitron’s analysis was a little Sinophobic for my taste, but his book is nevertheless an essential read for understanding the new post-Paris Agreement race to acquire rare earths and other metals that are driving the 21st century’s technological shift.

[Zachary Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you read something that completely challenges your world view. This book pulls no punches. Starting from the Paris Climate Agreement’s commitment for signatories to decarbonise their entire economies. Surely this heralds a bright new future? Not necessarily.
The reality is that both the hydrocarbon economy (gas and oil) and the decarbonised electrified economy is not so much about replacing resource dependency with complete independence. Depending on where the resources we need for decarbonisation are located, we are replacing one resource for another. And those resources are called Rare Earth minerals (or more specifically metals or just generally ‘rare earths’.

Unfortunately, the clue is in the name. Rare Earths are found either in small few grams trace amounts in rocks or within other more common metals. Still more unfortunate is that the process of getting these materials out of their sources is energy intensive and needs the use of potentially polluting chemicals, especially if these processes are done without many environmental safeguards. Rare Earths are available from many different countries, although some of them like the Democratic Republic of the Congo have fraught histories. But the country to watch is China. The Chinese Government has been playing a years long game of taking over the Rare Earths global market.
Realising the future potential of Rare Earths China early on heavily pushed for opening new mines all over regions where these minerals are concentrated. This dovetailed nicely with former Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping’s long-term vision to have the country specialise in science and technology and push ahead by effort and on notable occasions by subterfuge. Now and then China has placed embargos or restrictions on the market of Rare Earths to use price fluctuations as a battering ram against Western mining sectors. Over time one Rare Earth mining company after another threw in the towel. Sandwiched between an artificially volatile market and environmental concerns from Western citizens one by one Western Rare Earth companies have moved their operations to China. The vehicle of partnership agreements have allowed China to acquire Rare Earth industry know-how. Cleverly, the Chinese have developed their Rare Earth industries downstream too, meaning that the end products are increasingly made in China. Their complete lack of concern for safe working conditions and environmental regulations was an added pull factor. The end result is that the dirty reality of Rare Earth processing that supplies Western businesses takes place out of sight and out of mind.

Overall, I found this book fascinating and quite direct. I felt there were times were the journalist showed his ego a bit, like at the start when he spoke of a hypothetical wise man appearing at the Paris Climate Summit and telling them off for their hubris. In terms of research and making itself clear though, I cannot fault this book. This book is the product of 8 years of research, so I have a lot of respect for the author going to great lengths to understand his subject matter. The author is French, so he occasionally took the time to inform the reader about France’s position in the global competition for Rare Earths. I would say that a lingering annoyance was the author’s preoccupation on how daunting the challenges are ahead of us, while being seemingly short on possible solutions. Then again some of the possible solutions he did propose were intriguing and occasionally controversial. How about moving Rare Earth mines to Western countries? Why should developing countries and the Chinese be lumbered with the full burden? It would certainly make us consider environmental safeguards more as well as the conditions of miners. And what of E recycling (of electronic devices) and recycling Rare Earths? This seems to be gaining traction in Japan (to lessen their reliance on China), but more research and development needs to happen into this. I may have some news on the local front on this before too long.

As a self-proclaimed technocrat Social Liberal, this book has given me pause for thought. I believe that the course towards digitisation and green technology is irreversible, but I believe we definitely need to consider looking both ways before we walk down this street. We need to at least have the conversation about supplying Rare Earth minerals closer to home. There is also a possibility that asteroid mining may one day help us get Rare Earths in the quantities we need, while sparing the Earth from more of our prospecting. So at least in the future, space prospecting has a green element. The carbon output produced by Rare Earth mining and processing is also a timely reminder that progress needs to be made in carbon capturing technology. In the near term though we need to keep a close eye on China. We also need to focus a lot more resources and attention on recycling Rare Earths and devices containing them. The development of a circular economy may be a scientific Holy Grail. But surely it is one worth pursuing?

[Angelinamehta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview of the geopolitical landscape for the energy transition and the role western mining needs to play. I think I will have a very busy next decade.

[Matt Beaty · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting, kind of terrifying look into the mining that is required for electronic devices and green technology. As much of a call for specific actions, Pitron is writing a book that slaps you right up side your noggin and yells "pay attention, this isn't gonna end well" (or whatever the equivalent is in French).

Our society uses a lot of rare metals, which are elements that are often found alongside iron, uranium, and some more non-rare ones. These are the little bobby pins in the messy bun of our green, high-tech supply chain. The danger is they are mined and increasingly primarily owned by singular countries.

Pitron supports bringing mining back to western nations for security, economic, and ecological reasons. The last point is a long play, where people are exposed to the true costs of their toys, so they reduce waste, fight for anti-obsolescence laws, and ecological regulations.

I really like his analogy to the whaling industry. By mindlessly consuming whale oil and allowing the whaling to go on laissez faire style, wars were fought and the whale population plummeted.

The book does not make apologies for the petroleum industry, but instead suggests to more mindfully get into green energy revolution to avert further climate change in order to avoid having to go through another crisis brought on by energy.

[Fiona Lomascolo Pujado · Rating 4 out of 5]

El suponer que por usar energía de paneles solares, molinos, o baterías eléctricas (entre muchos otros) somos más ecológicos, sostenibles y verdes es un error muy común.
Para entender el porqué de esto, hace falta adentrarse mucho más, llegando a las pequeñas piezas indispensables que crean estos productos, los metales raros.

Este libro, abre los ojos. Ayuda a entender cómo las "energías renovables" no son tan verdes como nos hacen creer.

A parte, enseña cómo el monopolio de la industria de los metales raros solo producirá problemas a nivel mundial. Ya sean económicos o sean ambientales.

Por un lado, tenemos la dependencia de China por prácticamente todos los países del mundo (ya que este es el primer país productor de metales raros). Guillaume Pitron explica perfectamente el porqué y las consecuencias de esto.

Por otro lado, el problema de la deslocalización. Un tema MUY importante pero no lo suficientemente tratado. Muy resumidamente, sin ir más lejos cómo los países Europeos se limpian las manos haciendo ver que son sostenibles, conscientes y tienen preocupación por el cambio climático. Pero mientras tienen a los productores de estos metales indispensables deslocalizados en China, mayoritariamente, sin ningún tipo de regulación y precaución, contaminando.

Sin duda un libro que me ha marcado.

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was a pretty eye opening book what it means to move to green technologies and more electrical systems. It comes with a price, environmental and political. It is yet uncertain whether we could even mine enough rate earth metals to meet our best future needs. Let alone the carbon emissions, pollution, and land degradation caused by doing this. There have been players, like China, that have long seen the world's need for rare earth metals that now control the market through monopolies of mining, production, and more.

Oh boy. Glad I read this. Still trying to wrap my head around what it all means. Other than a radically new way of moving forward is needed that does not rely on concepts like progress, innovation, profit, control.

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sobering exposé, The Rare Metals War reveals the material cost of our utopian dreams of green energy and digital technology. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2021...

[Alan Eyre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Massive respect to anyone who writes a book, but the hyperbole and factually incorrect statements rife in this book made me wary of believing much of it. Coming off reading Vaclav Smil it made me realize even more the need to support one’s contentions w actual facts.

[Ed Bosworth · Rating 1 out of 5]

the ivermectin of green economic debate

This is an awful book. A mess of sensationalist conspiracy theories with explicitly racism thrown in. It should not be read by anyone interested in a rational debate about green economics or how we manage the transition to net zero.

[Carlos Garcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Qué buen libro, creo que nadie se dió cuenta que China nos tomó la delantera en muchas cosas, en especial en toda la parte de minerales raros que son los empleados para casi todas las nuevas tecnologías (electrónicas y energías renovables), así que se hicieron los dueños del mundo…

[Adrian Serna Tamez · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's very hard to keep up with a book's credibility after you find a factual error at the beginning of the book.

[George Siehl · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author builds a strong case for the importance of the increasingly important rare earth metals.
These natural resources are crucial to advanced technologies underpinning the optimistic dreams for a green energy future, and for the ever-broadening role of digital technology. Electric vehicles, wind turbines, military weapons and equipment are highly dependent upon the high capacity batteries made from the metals. The bottom line is that not only are these metals scarce, they are highly polluting to mine and process. Also, China holds the vast majority of the supply domestically and is working to gain access and control of sources around the globe.

There are many interesting issues raised in this book. These include technology trends, political dealings, efforts by many nation states to ensure access to reserves abroad and at home, and comparison with earlier natural resource depletion issues. The book should rank higher than three stars, but the writing is not as tight and conclusive as one would hope for. The reader is left to infer the message of some of the explanations. Nonetheless, the book provides a useful point of entry to a resource supply issue which will rapidly become more critical. The discussion extends to the search for new sources of supply beneath the sea and in space.

The book is recommended for general readers, particularly those with environmental concerns or an interest in international relations. Those with more extensive backgrounds in the field may find the bibliography, references, and appendices useful, as well.

[Bryn Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pros were a much more universal perspective on this subject rather than it being limited to the US and Chinese interests, as well as interesting details on rare metal extraction, refining and consumption.

Cons were the writing wasn't very engaging (possibly due to the translation rather than the original text) and the focus jumped sporadically around digital and green tech before getting into the "war" part of the book. A tighter focus would've been better. 2.5 stars.

[Hannes Berselius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful read! Really makes you understand how little one knows about the works and how it works. However, a bit too critic of the Western world, discarding e.g. ESG in favor of China destroying its environment through mining. On the other hand, the criticism is rooted in truth and raises many issues about the green economy being dependent on someone else doing the dirty work.

[Fatih Volkan Özel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her ne kadar Fransız milliyetçiliğini işlesede çıkarılacak bir çok ders var. Enerji geçişinin kirli yüzünü, sermaye transferlerini ve en önemlisi ekolojik felaketlerin cevresel etkilerini çarpıcı şekilde kanitlari ile hazırlanmış bir basvuru kitabı niteliğinde.

[Jas · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Nada mudará radicalmente enquanto não experienciarmos por nós mesmos a totalidade do custo da felicidade a que nos habituámos. Uma mina responsável que se localize entre nós será sempre melhor do que uma mina irresponsável noutro lugar.’

dificil de concebir uma tal realidade, mas é mesmo isso o problema. é que estamos alienados dessa realidade que está a acontecer em outro local. para os nossos próprios benefícios e estilos de vida. a hipocrisia e cegueira (ou o desvio intencional, perpetuado pela média obviamente) ocidental. e isto para mim, resume perfeitamente o conflito ambiental e social resultante da transição energética e supostamente “verde”.

‘Uma revolução industrial, técnica, social, só tem sentido se for acompanhada de uma revolução das nossas consciências.’

[Praneesh K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mining nationalism

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

- La mejor energía es la que no se consume.
- No tenemos problemas de materias raras, tenemos problemas de materia gris.

[Lloyd Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some time now we have been hearing about the rush to secure resources of rare metals and this book lays out the main themes and describes what has been happening over the last 25 years or so. Guillaume Pitron is a lawyer turned writer so is not really a specialist in this area but has been doing his own personal research and spoken to a lot of people. He throws around an exhausting collection of statistics such as “purifying a single tonne of rare earths requires using over 30,000 cubic metres of water”. Which sounds pretty shocking but not so much when you realise how little of these rare earths are actually needed in alloys etc. Also there is a fair dose of repetition ...for example with rare earth magnets and China securing more or less a monopoly on these magnets. The techniques used by the Chinese ...such as demanding joint ventures and thereby gaining the technology is exactly the same as Americans have used for years...eg in securing access to the Australian developed spectrophotometer technology.....Just buy the company. Or better still buy a licence and then not pay ..and challenge the licensor to sue ...knowing that you have deeper pockets and the US legal system. Nevertheless it’s an interesting book. I think he raises all the right sort of questions. I don’t like his answers very much ...seems very weak to me. But there is nothing like a high price for a resource to drive innovation and the search for new resources.
I’ve extracted a few vignettes from the book, below. These resonated with me:
“Extracting and refining rare metals is highly polluting, and recycling them has proved a disappointment. Information and communication technologies actually produce 50 per cent more greenhouse gases than air transport! It’s an especially vicious circle. [Seems to ignore the fact that these technologies are an important part of air transport].
According to one study, meeting the demand for electric vehicle batteries alone by 2035 will require opening almost 400 new mines around the world (ninety-seven for natural graphite, seventy-four for lithium, and seventy-two for nickel).....I write and investigate not for the energy transition to be constrained, but rather for it to be accelerated,
It takes 20 tonnes of material extracted from the earth every year to satisfy the needs of just one European. This is incompatible with sustainable lifestyles.
One positive is the adoption in 2022 of the European Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, to be phased in from 1 January 2024. Under the directive, certain companies are required to supplement their traditional accounting with an environmental and human-impact assessment of their corporate activities. The upsurge in interest [by students] in the geopolitics of lithium, nickel, and rare earths stands in stark opposition to the relative indifference shown by our political leaders on the subject.
.....From the 1970s, we turned our sights to the superb magnetic, catalytic, and optical properties of a cluster of lesser-known rare metals found in terrestrial rocks in infinitesimal amounts. Some of the members of this large family sport the most exotic names: rare earths, vanadium, germanium, platinoids, tungsten, antimony, beryllium, fluorine, rhenium, tantalum, niobium, to name but a few. Together, these rare metals form a coherent subset of some thirty raw materials with a shared characteristic:
Eight and a half tonnes of rock need to be purified to produce a kilogram of vanadium; sixteen tonnes for a kilogram of cerium;......(wind turbines, solar panels, and electric cars) are packed with rare metals to produce decarbonised energy......In the space of ten years, wind energy has increased seven-fold, and solar power by forty-four. In 2020, renewable energy already accounted for nearly 15 per cent of world final energy consumption. More modest energy consumption will naturally stave off global tensions around the ownership of fossil-fuel sources, create green jobs in leading industrial sectors, and make Western countries serious energy contenders once again.
Where and how are we going to procure the rare metals without which this treaty will fail?
Arguably, the Middle Kingdom holds a near monopoly over a profusion of rare metals without which low-carbon and digital energies cannot exist.
Changing our energy model already means doubling rare metal production approximately every fifteen years......At this rate, over the next thirty years we will need to mine more mineral ores than humans have extracted over the last 70,000 years.
Neodymium and gallium are, respectively, 1,400 and 3,000 times less abundant than iron.
This makes these rare metals expensive: in 2022, 1 kilogram of gallium was worth around US $ 350, or nearly 3,000 times more expensive than iron.....Magnets have made it possible to manufacture billions of engines, both big and small, capable of executing certain repetitive movements...It is estimated that the world will need ten to twelve times as many magnets by 2030 for electric vehicles alone.....It is not surprising that electric engines will soon replace conventional engines.
These metals have become indispensable to new information and communication technologies for their semiconducting properties that regulate the flow of electricity in digital devices....Between the ages of antiquity and the Renaissance, human beings consumed no more than seven metals; this increased to a dozen metals over the twentieth century; to twenty from the 1970s onwards; and then to almost all eighty-six metals on Mendeleev’s periodic table of elements......Forecasts by the International Energy Agency indicate that by 2040, demand for rare earths could be multiplied by seven, nickel by nineteen, cobalt by twenty-one, graphite by twenty-five, and lithium by forty-two, compared with 2020 needs.
The biggest quantity of rare earths is extracted from the bowels of Jiangxi.....Needy miners have entrenched themselves in the folds of the mountain’s most inhospitable terrains.
Their activities are feeding a colossal Chinese black market for minerals that, once processed, are exported worldwide.....Barely reported is the fact that mining rare metals also produces pollution, and to such an extent that China has stopped counting contamination events.
For a process known as ‘refining’, there is nothing refined about it. It involves crushing rock, and then using a concoction of chemical reagents such as sulphuric and nitric acid. ‘It’s a long and highly repetitive process,’ explains a French specialist. ‘It takes loads of different procedures to obtain a rare-earth concentrate close to 100 per cent purity.’ That’s not all: purifying a single tonne of rare earths requires using over 30,000 cubic metres of water.
The rare-earth companies ‘that have polluted our environment’. ...‘The Chinese people have sacrificed their environment to supply the entire planet with rare earths,’ Vivian Wu, a recognised Chinese expert in rare metals, tells us. ‘Ultimately, the price of developing our industry is just too high.’....Today, China is the leading producer of thirty-three of the fifty-one mineral resources that are vital to our economies,
The environmental cost is exorbitant, inhumane, and outrageous....Over 10 per cent of its arable land is contaminated by heavy metals, and 80 per cent of its groundwater is unfit for consumption.....The pollution caused by rare metals is not limited to China. It concerns all producing countries, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which in 2022 supplied nearly 70 per cent of the planet’s cobalt,
The message of this overview of the environmental impacts of extracting rare metals from the Earth is clear: we need to be far more sceptical about how green technologies are manufactured. Before they are even brought into service,
UCLA researchers reached the conclusion that the large-scale manufacture of electric vehicles is more energy-intensive than that of conventional cars....The cumulative [lifetime] emissions of an electric vehicle are around 13 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.....[less than half] that of [petrol] counterpart. ....A study from Uni of Florence looks at the impact of electric and combustion-powered cars based on more diverse ecological criteria such as the acidification of ecosystems, particle-emissions, human toxicity, and the depletion of resources. The electric car has a greater negative impact than its combustion-powered counterpart in all four
But digital technology requires vast quantities of metals. Every year, the electronics industry consumes 6 per cent of the global demand for gold (around 300 tonnes), and 20 per cent of the global demand for silver (around 7,000 tonnes).
One example says it all: ‘Manufacturing one 2-gram chip alone produces 32 kilograms of waste’—a 1: 16,000 ratio between the end-product and the resulting waste....And this is only the manufacture of digital devices. Operating electric grids will, of course, generate additional digital activity
The manufacturers in the energy and digital transition are increasingly partial to alloys......As the name suggests, alloys need to be ‘dealloyed’ to be recycled....Clearly, recycling an alloy is anything but straightforward.
Recycling rates are still very low for the vast majority of metals, such as lithium and rare earths (between 0 and 10 per cent), which are essential for electric transport.
The conclusion? The volumes of recycled metals will still fall structurally short of demand. There is no discussion by the author of the role of growth in populations driving consumption but it clearly is a major factor]. The overwhelming majority of recycling companies are obliged to process e-waste in the countries of its collection......To date, 186 countries and the European Union are parties to the convention, but a handful of countries—including the United States—have refused to ratify it.
A report by the World Bank states that ‘a green technology future is materially intensive and, if not properly managed, could bely the efforts … of meeting climate and related Sustainable Development Goals’
To accelerate the shift of mining production from West to East, China used—and continues to use—formidable cunning that is captured in just one word: dumping. It engaged in trade dumping by slashing production costs; [He clearly doesn’t understand the term “dumping” as used by the World Trade Organisation, which is: selling internationally at a lower price than domestically and causing harm to the importing country]..... and environmental dumping because, ‘production costs do not factor in the cost of repairing the environmental damage’.
Europe, which accounted for more than 60 per cent of global mining production in the mid-nineteenth century, now accounts for no more than 3 per cent
In short, the Western world honours the ‘cargo cult’ founded not too long ago in the Pacific Islands.
Above all, we need the capacity to separate, refine and recycle raw materials, which are also too often concentrated in China.’.....Myriad countries applying a specialist mining strategy have also acquired majority, if not monopolistic, positions...[So it’s not ALL China?] The Democratic Republic of the Congo produces 63 per cent of the world’s cobalt; South Africa supplies 71 per cent of the world’s platinum, 93 per cent of its iridium, 81 per cent of its rhodium, and 94 per cent of its ruthenium; and Brazil mines 92 per cent of the world’s niobium....Russia alone controls 40 per cent of the world’s palladium supply, and Turkey 48 per cent of the world’s borate supply.
After gas, oil and then grain were wielded as weapons, it was inevitable that China would weaponise its metals. And so, in September 2010, it launched an embargo on rare earths
A surge of nationalism over mining resources is sweeping across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and is increasingly weakening Western positions.
Rare earth magnets..... have become indispensable in all products equipped with electric motors, reputed to be pollution-free’ Our poor assessment of China’s competitive streak, without a doubt precipitated the transfer of labour, work units, and, most importantly, technologies to China.
Added to this is the pipedream of manufacturing fading into the background in favour of a service economy. The focus should be on knowledge and the immense added value it generates.....Grey matter was more valued and therefore given more support, to the
By orchestrating the transfer of magnet factories, the Chinese accelerated the migration of the entire downstream industry—the businesses that use magnets—to the Baotou free zone. ‘Now they’ve moved onto producing electric cars, phosphors, and wind turbine components.....China is erecting a completely independent and integrated industry, starting with the foul mines in which begrimed labourers toil, to state-of-the-art factories employing high-flying engineers. Our reliance on China—previously limited to raw materials—now includes the technologies of the energy and digital transition
From 2014, all of Indonesia’s mineral resources—from sand to nickel, and diamonds to gold—were no longer exported in raw form. As explained by Indonesian authorities, ‘The minerals we don’t sell now will be sold tomorrow as finished products.’
. A recent report by the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy, reports that China has taken the lead in thirty-seven of the forty-four cutting-edge technology sectors analysed, including fifth-and sixth-generation communication technologies (5G and 6G), electric batteries, and nuclear energy. Between 2018 and 2023, China will have manufactured an estimated 13 million electric vehicles, while Germany, the second-biggest EV manufacturer, will have manufactured 4.4 million, and the US 4.1 million.
Belligerents strike not only on land, but in the air, in space, in cyberspace, and through media channels by seeking to wipe out the enemy’s communication channels, control images, rewrite history, and manipulate opinions
The premise of the Sixteen-Character Policy [for China to acquire dual use technology] was pragmatic: given the difficulty in procuring war technologies due to the US arms embargo, China would buy foreign companies whose know-how in civil applications could be repurposed for more hostile ends.
Given their lack of interest in rare earths—and critical metals overall—over the last few decades, the US intelligence services, which are responsible for overseeing these issues, have a lot of ground to make
At a symposium held at Le Bourget in 2015, a handful of experts predicted that by 2040 we will need to mine three times more rare earths, five times more tellurium, 12 times more cobalt, and 16 times more lithium than today.......‘For an equivalent installed capacity, solar and wind facilities require up to 15 times more concrete, 90 times more aluminium, and 50 times more iron, copper, and glass than fossil fuels or nuclear energy.....[But no fuel over the working lifetime]. Over the next generation, we will consume more metals and minerals than in the last 70,000 years, or the 500 generations before us. Our eight billion contemporaries will absorb more mineral resources than the 117 billion humans who have walked the Earth to date.
‘Cobalt will be the next metal shortage,’ predicted one electric battery-cell expert. ‘No one saw this coming, and time is running out.’ (China alone consumes nearly 80 per cent of rare-earth oxides produced globally.)....It also imports metals produced elsewhere: cobalt from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 80 per cent of which is exported unprocessed to be refined in China; nickel, 35 per cent of which is refined by China;......‘3.3 trillion US dollars will need to be invested in extraction and refining projects by 2030, but today just half of that amount has been invested’.
The most prized location of all is Africa—home to 30 per cent of the world’s mineral reserves. From its bauxite mining projects in Guinea and Ghana, lithium projects in Zimbabwe and Namibia, and buying up future graphite production in Mozambican and Tanzanian mines, at last count, Chinese-backed or-owned companies hold stakes in 15 of the 19 cobalt mines in the country, the world’s leading producer of the resource.
The circularity of the global economy dropped to 8.6 per cent in 2020, and stood at 7.2 per cent in 2023........On 3 July 2023: after several Western countries imposed restrictions on the export of electronic-chip technology to China, China announced that from the following month, the export of gallium and germanium—two critical metals for the manufacture of microprocessors and fibre-optic technologies, and of which it is the world’s leading producer—would be subject to government approval.
Presented in 2023, the European Union’s Critical Minerals Act states that by 2030, 10 per cent of Europe’s critical resource needs must be met by mines operating in the continent’s own subsoil.
The head of The Metals Company (Canada), Gerard Barron, has very openly stated that there is enough cobalt and nickel in seafloor polymetallic nodules to power the batteries of around 4.8 billion electric cars. .......But the ecological challenges are as unprecedented as they are poorly understood. Outer space isn’t out of bounds either. This is despite the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which clearly states that the space beyond the ozone layer is the common property of humanity.
In 2021, the media picked up on a potato-shaped asteroid, dubbed ‘16 Psyche’, containing iron, nickel, and gold with a total estimated value of $ 10,000 million trillion—more than the global economy.
So what’s my overall take on the book. I think it’s important. Thorough. Reasonably balanced ...though a bit “shock-horror” kind of reporting and anti-China. Draws attention to an important issue....4.5 stars from me.

[Seneka Najmłodszy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Wojna o metale rzadkie" traktuje na temat niezwykle ważnego i nieznanego powszechnie problemu dostępu państw prowadzących "rewolucję energetyczną" do złóż niezbędnych metali. Nie można jej zarzucić niczego zarówno pod względem pisarskim, jak i "rzeczowym", gdyż nawet człowiek nieznający się na temacie jest w stanie zauważyć, że zawarte w książce twierdzenia są dobrze udokumentowane. Krótko mówiąc, książka jest z pewnością warta przeczytania przez każdego i myślę, że poruszana w niej problematyka może wkrótce stać się bardzo głośna.

[Pedro L. Fragoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ce livre, c’est la définition, la démonstration, la preuve d’un concept : le livre important. Dans le contexte de notre époque, celui-ci se hisse tout en haut de la pile par sa pertinence fondamentale pour comprendre le trou que nous avons nous-mêmes creusé. En gros, nous avons confié tout notre avenir aux mains expertes du gouvernement chinois — et celui-ci commence très sérieusement à exploiter le pouvoir qu’on lui a transféré.

Qu’on ne s’y trompe pas, je trouve ça presque réjouissant, à vrai dire : l’Occident deviendra rapidement incapable de produire des matériaux de guerre à grande échelle (et espérons que la dissuasion nucléaire reste suffisamment hors de portée pour demeurer inutile), alors qui sait — peut-être que la paix nous sera imposée à tous. Inch’Allah !

Bref, je crois n’avoir que très rarement, voire jamais, été aussi révolté par l’irresponsabilité criminelle de nos élites politiques, et par les arrangements dans cette grande farce qu’est l’« économie de marché libérale » occidentale. Ce livre ouvre les yeux — violemment.

Les coûts environnementaux des technologies vertes de demain y sont aussi exposés avec une clarté et une rigueur remarquables.

Ce livre est un triomphe. Il a été écrit il y a déjà sept ans. Misérablement, il aurait tout aussi bien pu paraître aujourd’hui. La tête collective de l’Occident est profondément enfouie dans le sable — ou plus probablement ailleurs. En route vers un avenir radieux, les amis.

Ce panorama des impacts environnementaux de l’extraction des métaux rares nous astreint, d’un coup, à poser un regard beaucoup plus sceptique sur le processus de fabrication des technologies vertes. Avant même leur mise en service, un panneau solaire, une éolienne, une voiture électrique ou une lampe à basse consommation portent le péché originel de leur déplorable bilan énergétique et environnemental. C’est bien le coût écologique de l’ensemble du cycle de vie des green tech qu’il nous faut mesurer – un coût qui a été précisément calculé.

Certaines technologies vertes sur lesquelles se fonde notre idéal de sobriété énergétique nécessitent en réalité, pour leur fabrication, davantage de matières premières que des technologies plus anciennes. « Un futur fondé sur les technologies vertes suppose la consommation de beaucoup de matières, relève un rapport de la Banque mondiale, et, faute d’une gestion adéquate, celui-ci pourrait ruiner […] les objectifs de développement durable 52. » À nier cette réalité, nous pourrions bien parvenir au résultat inverse à celui recherché par l’accord de Paris sur le climat, voire nous retrouver à court de ressources exploitables, puisqu’un monde à 7,5 milliards d’individus va consommer, au cours des trois prochaines décennies, davantage de métaux que les cinq cents générations qui nous ont précédés.

Enfin, le recyclage des métaux rares dont dépend notre monde plus vert n’est pas aussi écologique qu’on le dit. Son bilan environnemental risque même de s’alourdir à mesure que nos sociétés produiront des alliages plus variés, composés d’un nombre plus élevé de matières, dans des proportions toujours plus importantes. Les industriels de la transition énergétique et numérique vont dès lors devoir affronter une contradiction fondamentale : leur quête d’un monde plus durable pourrait, en pratique, fortement limiter l’émergence de nouveaux modèles de consommation plus sobres, fondés sur les principes de l’économie circulaire. Et les générations futures diront peut-être de nous : « Nos ancêtres du XXIe siècle ? Ah oui ! ce sont ces types qui ont sorti les métaux rares d’un trou pour les remettre dans un autre trou. »

Au XXIe siècle et à l’autre bout du monde, nos sociétés, quoique rationnelles et matérialistes, se livrent à un culte semblable. Le génie de la logistique est parvenu à nous débarrasser d’une peur qui a obsédé nos ancêtres pendant 70 000 ans : la peur de manquer. Mais tout a un coût. Car cette planétarisation des chaînes d’approvisionnement nous donne d’une main (les produits de consommation) ce qu’elle nous retire de l’autre (la culture de leur provenance). Nous avons gagné en pouvoir d’achat ce que nous avons perdu en savoir d’achat. Voilà pourquoi 16 millions d’adultes américains sont toujours persuadés que le lait chocolaté provient de vaches marron 52.
    Mais le grand ensommeillement de l’Occident n’a pas fait que des malheureux ! En organisant le transfert de la production des métaux rares, nous avons fait bien plus que léguer le fardeau du pétrole du XXIe siècle aux forçats de la mondialisation ; nous avons confié à de potentiels rivaux un précieux monopole.

Mais, un jour, des représentants d’une espèce en voie de disparition sous les latitudes occidentales, les géologues, sont venus nous casser les pieds. Ils nous ont posé des piles de rapports chiffrés sur les bras et nous ont mis devant une réalité déplaisante, irritante : devenue productrice prépondérante de certains métaux rares, la Chine avait désormais l’opportunité inédite d’en refuser l’exportation vers les États qui en avaient le plus besoin.

Un an après les événements, les industriels japonais n’en croient toujours pas un mot. À deux mille kilomètres de la Cité interdite, le Shinkansen (TGV japonais), parti de la gare de Tokyo, contourne longuement le mont Fuji, dont la silhouette conique se découpe sur le ciel automnal. Quatre heures plus tard, Osaka, troisième agglomération du pays, dévoile ses tentacules en bordure du Pacifique. C’est là que Kunihiro Fujujita, un importateur de métaux rares, livre sa version des événements depuis les entrepôts de son usine. « La Chine a toujours mis en œuvre une stratégie consistant à utiliser ses ressources naturelles comme un moyen de pression politique », assure-t-il.
    Costume sombre et casque de chantier sur la tête, le voilà qui s’approche d’un achalandage d’yttrium, une terre rare utilisée dans l’électronique de précision et dont, en septembre 2010, les commandes ne purent soudain plus être honorées. « L’industrie nippone était en état de panique », admet-il. Les terres rares sont les « vitamines » de son industrie high-tech, tellement indispensables à l’archipel que « même une femme de ménage sait de quoi il s’agit » 19. Le banal incident maritime se transformait dès lors en catastrophe pour Tokyo.

M. Kendall somma Lockheed Martin de trouver une solution. En attendant, pas question de remplacer les aimants un à un. La supériorité technologique de la première armée du monde et de nombreux alliés occidentaux était en jeu, alors que la Chine et la Russie développaient leurs propres avions de combat furtifs. Acculé par le temps, soumis à de fortes contraintes budgétaires et jugeant fictif le risque que les Chinois aient farci les composants de technologies malignes, M. Kendall trancha : le blocus imposé par la loi de 1973 ne s’appliquerait pas à certains aimants de terres rares usinés par le groupe chinois ChengDu Magnetic Material Science & Technology Co, qui devint dès lors le fournisseur officiel du F-35 33.
    Les États-Unis ne pouvant pas se passer des aimants chinois, Anthony Marchese signale que le Pentagone persiste, aujourd’hui encore, à réitérer la dispense. Il ajoute : « Les industriels du F-35 continuent à acheter des terres rares en Chine. Point final. »

Cette multiplication des mines devrait logiquement abolir le monopole acquis par la Chine sur les terres rares. Pékin est-il prêt à ce sacrifice ? Oui et non. Le Parti communiste veut le beurre et l’argent du beurre. Il entend partager le fardeau des mines tout en conservant son hégémonie sur le marché des minerais stratégiques. Et, pour cela, il a mis au point un plan ingénieux.
    De Londres à Toronto, de Singapour à Johannesburg, pas un symposium sur les métaux rares ne se tient sans qu’une lancinante question accapare les débats : « À quoi joue la Chine ? » Après avoir flirté avec les sommets au lendemain de l’embargo de 2010, les cours des terres rares se sont effondrés 40. Et cela sans raison apparente, puisque la tension entre l’offre et la demande demeure forte. Aux yeux de nombreux observateurs, Pékin manipulerait les cours à la baisse. « Les Chinois font absolument ce qu’ils veulent sur le marché des terres rares 41 », déplore Christopher Ecclestone. Ils peuvent décider de stocker ou au contraire de casser les prix en rouvrant les robinets. Pour les minières non chinoises, concevoir des modèles économiques viables sur le long terme avec cet acteur majeur qui organise l’instabilité est un casse-tête. Comment échapper à la banqueroute lorsque le prix du minerai est cinq à dix fois plus bas que les prévisions initiales ?
    Dès lors, la grande majorité des projets alternatifs nés au lendemain de l’embargo sont fragilisés. La mine californienne de Molycorp, qui avait un temps repris ses activités, a fait faillite. Celle de Lynas, en Australie, tourne au ralenti. Elle est portée à bout de bras par le Japon, décidé à ne plus manger dans la main de son ennemi juré. Au Canada, des bataillons entiers de compagnies minières ont mis la clé sous la porte. Les licences d’exploitation, autrefois négociées à prix d’or, ne valent plus que quelques centaines de dollars.
    « La stratégie chinoise n’est pas de faire mourir tous ces projets, mais de les faire stagner, précise Chris Ecclestone. Pékin attend, puis fera main basse sur toutes ces gisements pour trois fois rien 42. » Tandis que Pékin pense le long terme, les Occidentaux sont à nouveau piégés par leur logique court-termiste. L’appât du gain, catalyseur d’un renouveau minier, pourrait ne pas résister au manège chinois. Les terres rares ont beau être l’une des clés de la résilience du capitalisme, leur exploitation nécessiterait d’en défier la logique. Mais serons-nous capables d’apprendre de nos erreurs ?
    Quand la Chine ne sape pas les fondements capitalistiques des mines alternatives, elle intervient diplomatiquement pour les torpiller. (...)

[Frédéric Bonin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting primer on rare earths with lots of information on the geopolitics of renewable energy. The version of this book I read is a French to English translation that wasn’t the best. Probably would have been better in the original version. In terms of content, it was a bit light in information, very France-centric and with a lot of unnamed sources. 3 of 5 stars as a review.

[Brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye opening examination of the minerals underpinning renewable energy sources. Makes apparent our (necessary) dependence on mining companies and China. The author took their time establishing the overarching thesis, but once fully outlined at the conclusion of the book I had come around to the premise.

[Onur Avcı · Rating 4 out of 5]

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