The Critical Metals Report: Can you give us an overview of the rare earth element (REE) market today? What are the most important trends you’re following?
Jack Lifton: The REE market today is going through a shakeout. We had a bubble last year—an anomalous speculative blip—that ran REE prices to the sky. It happened just as the junior miners were coming into full bloom. At that time, I would say most of the junior REE exploration companies were overvaluing their projects something fierce. Then the market herd jumped in and ran the prices way up.
Now that the speculative bubble has burst—and I think a lot of it had to do with China repositioning itself—we’re back to earth. I would guess that of the 250–260 listed REE public companies, there’s just one that is in production: Molycorp Inc. (MCP:NYSE). All of the valuations are coming down to earth.
Between 90–95% of the remaining junior miners will be wiped out. Investors should understand there is no single REE market. There is a market for some of the individual REEs—the critical REEs. But for at least half of the REEs, production and usage are tiny and there is no “market” to speak of.
For many REEs, production exceeds demand and will for the foreseeable future. Cerium is a good example of the fact that not all rare earth demand is equivalent. When you produce dysprosium, you are always producing much more cerium than dysprosium. That doesn’t mean that there is a market for cerium. In fact, it is more correct to say that some cerium/lanthanum/neodymium deposits contain recoverable dysprosium. Saying it this way really defines the problem.
I follow four or five critical REEs that each have individual markets. One of them is neodymium, because it’s the most important REE used in permanent magnets. The others are heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), including europium, terbium, dysprosium and yttrium. The latter isn’t really an REE, but it’s associated with them. As the market corrects to reasonable prices, people are coming to understand this.
The critical REEs will maintain strong demand and associated pricing. I disagree with people who think all REE prices will collapse, because I see no significant production of REEs outside of China. Maybe Molycorp is ramping up light rare earth element (LREE) production. Today, there’s hardly any difference in the ratios of production inside and outside China compared to four years ago. I’m waiting for a producer to come on-line and make a significant difference. If both Molycorp and Lynas Corp. (LYC:ASX) were in full production by 2015, as their own projections suggest, that would bring approximately 60 thousand tons (Kt) of new production to market. Of that, only about 8 Kt would be neodymium, and none of that would be HREEs.
Annual growth projections in the REE permanent magnet market has been about 8–9%. Worldwide production of neodymium is approximately 21–25 Kt/a. Ninety percent is from China, the balance from Molycorp. If demand increases at 8% per year for three years, that’s about a 30% increase, approximately 7.5 Kt of production. Demand growth will be about the same as new mine supply and that will maintain the price of neodymium.
TCMR: What other critical rare earths are you watching?
JL: The big issue in magnets is the HREE dysprosium. There is not now, nor has there ever been, any production of dysprosium from outside of China. There are several possible significant dysprosium sources coming on-line in the next two to four years from hard-rock sources outside of China.
None of the mines are at any stage where we can predict when they will be commercially producing. Two to four years out would be the earliest any new dysprosium production could occur outside of China. Dysprosium is already in short supply. The total world production of dysprosium in the last 12 months is unlikely to have exceeded 1.4 Kt. The market will be in deficit if dysprosium usage increases due to production of REE permanent magnets. The dysprosium market is in balance at 1.4 Kt. With 8% growth in demand each year, we’re going to need about 100 tons (t) a year of additional dysprosium.
I don’t see that happening easily. Only four or five new HREE producers could be in production in the next three or four years.
Dysprosium is going be in short supply for some time and will, therefore, maintain its price. Everybody talks about how the price dropped from $2,500–1,200/kilogram (kg) of 99.9% metal. That is comical, because the peak people are using is the speculative bubble last year. The current price of dysprosium is significantly higher than the real long-term baseline. I believe it’s going to maintain its price of approximately $1,200/kg for 99.9% metal in China.
Dysprosium is the problem metal for everyone, because no hard-rock source has ever been put into production. I’m intrigued by Molycorp’s statements that it will be meeting America’s demand for dysprosium by the end of next year. Company officials estimate America’s dysprosium demand at 7 t/a, exactly what Molycorp projects to produce with 100% recovery from its deposit. That 7 t would only be for the military, which has decided it is going to need about 160 t/year of REE permanent magnet material, of which 7 t would be dysprosium. In the world market, that is insignificant. It’s an accounting error. The people at Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. (GWG:TSX.V; GWMGF:OTCQX) tell me the company’s South African mine will be in production in less than 24 months, and it will produce 34 t of dysprosium per year. This is from one of the richest REE deposits on earth. The ore ranges from 18–21% total REEs, but it doesn’t have very much of it, and it doesn’t have very much dysprosium. The 34 tons per year (t/a) is enough for internal consumption. It’s not being sold into the market. It is being transferred internally to the company’s Less Common Metals division in Great Britain, where it will be made into dysprosium-enhanced neodymium iron boron magnets.
Two large hard-rock sources of dysprosium I think will be coming on-line, when the metallurgy, separation capability and permits get worked out. These are Ucore Rare Metals Inc. (UCU:TSX.V; UURAF:OTCQX) at Bokan Mountain in Alaska and Tasman Metals Ltd. (TSM:TSX.V; TAS:NYSE.A; TASXF:OTCPK; T61:FSE) in Sweden. These deposits are being developed to produce 3,900 t/a and a little less than 6,000 t/a, respectively. Bokan would produce 120 t and Tasman 350 t of dysprosium per year at those levels. These are the first two major hard-rock REE deposits that look like they’re going into production.
There are other deposits that are less well known and could be sleepers. One is Lynas’ Duncan deposit in Australia. When put into production, it could be a major dysprosium source. The other is the Rare Element Resources Ltd.’s (RES:TSX; REE:NYSE.A) deposit at Bear Lodge, Wyoming, which could be a significant hard-rock source of dysprosium ultimately with a longer mine life than and at least as large a production as Ucore.
There’s also significant dysprosium at Hastings Rare Metals Ltd. (HAS:ASX) and Northern Minerals (NTU:ASX) in Australia, but these are quite early. No matter what we do right now, we’re going to be short of dysprosium for at least the rest of this decade, if not permanently. If dysprosium supply limitations are not addressed, growth in the use of REE permanent magnet devices for rapid heating and cooling environments will be affected.
TCMR: What other new technologies are increasing REE demand?
JL: In addition to magnets, phosphors in color displays use REEs—in this case europium, terbium and yttrium. The U.S. has a little bit of europium. The Molycorp deposit has approximately 0.1%. Rare Element Resources’ Bear Lodge deposit in Wyoming has 0.6%.
Terbium and europium come mainly from China. However, all of the dysprosium hard-rock deposits show significant terbium. If Ucore at Bokan Mountain were producing 120 t of dysprosium per year, it would also be producing around 20 t of terbium and significant amounts of yttrium. Rare Element Resources’ second deposit at Bear Lodge is also a potential source of significant amounts of terbium and yttrium. The same situation applies in Tasman’s deposit at Nora Karr, now under development, and in the two Australian companies mentioned above, although they are in early stages of development.
World terbium production is only a couple hundred tons. So, 20 t is a significant increase. Compact fluorescent lamps use terbium in the phosphors. It’s so important to the lighting makers in Europe, and its largest scrap refiner, Umicore Group (UMI:BRU) of Belgium, is in a joint venture with the Rhodia Group (RHA:NYSE), which is now reactivating its plant at La Rochelle, France. Rhodia is now a division of Belgium’s Solvay (SOLB:BE), which, as Rhodia, operates two joint-ventured rare earths refineries in China. The Rhodia plant in La Rochelle was built approximately 40 years ago and was one of the first solvent extraction plants in the world purpose-built to separate the rare earths, the other being the plant at Mountain Pass, California, built by the original Molycorp.
Rhodia is reactivating that plant to recover terbium and associated REEs from consumer compact fluorescent lighting scrap. Today, Europe has no active mines or sources of HREEs. The political pressure to establish local security of supply is higher there than in the U.S., where General Electric, for example, seems to have given up and moved lighting manufacturing operations to China. Europe has Philips and Siemens still manufacturing in Europe and trying to be competitive in their domestic markets.
TCMR: That is an example of REE recycling. What kind of percentage of the market could reuse supply?
JL: Not very much. I have no idea what their scrap reservoir in Europe is or how much is accessible. The Rhodia plant has around a 4 Kt/a capacity. There aren’t that many HREEs in Europe in the scrap reservoir, so I suspect that Rhodia will want to enhance its feedstock volume through buying HREE concentrates, for which non-Chinese miners have no other non-Chinese home. If Rhodia dedicates La Rochelle to HREE separation, it will be the largest solvent exchange plant so dedicated outside of China and would represent sufficient capacity to refine the entire annual production of HREEs other than yttrium.
Rhodia is looking for HREE feedstock. Molycorp or even Lynas could be producing a small amount of HREEs, which they are not going to refine because their plants are not set up to process these minor constituents of their feedstock. Those minor constituents could be refined by a company with that specific capability. Rhodia could buy all those smaller REE feedstocks to get enough stuff to run a fairly large plant economically. It just makes sense. Rhodia’s La Rochelle plant is the only active REE recycling facility outside China that I know about, and the only one I know of in the Western world with the capability to separate HREEs.
TCMR: You mentioned how the market reacted quickly to REE prices going straight up in bubble fashion and then coming right back down. The government moves a lot slower. Is there government support for development of domestic sources of REEs in the U.S.?
JL: The U.S. government seems to ignore industrial needs. The military seems quite content with Molycorp, because it has decided that it is going to have its small neodymium and dysprosium requirement met by Molycorp.
The latest government REE news is that the Department of Energy has just started a program to find domestic alternatives to REEs and reduce REE demand. It is a $120 million program. I had the misfortune to read this document. It’s incredible how people think innovation and success can be legislated. Thomas Edison need not apply.
TCMR: You visited Lynas’ new plant in Malaysia last week. What’s the situation there?
JL: The Lynas plant has two phases to build 11,000 t/a of refining capacity for LREEs. Phase 1 is complete and phase 2 is half complete. If the company had a license to import ore, it would be in production. Executives told me that delivering the initial ore and getting up to full capacity of phase 1 would take between six weeks and six months. The company has never imported any ore from Australia as of this point. However, there is sufficient material ready from the mine to supply the plant for two years at full capacity.
The political issue in Malaysia is getting the license. The opposition says that this plant is a health danger. I was part of an international inspection team that the government asked to take a look at it.
TCMR: Is the opposition most concerned with health and environmental issues related to the chemical processes, or to the radioactivity in the ore? Or is something else holding up the permit?
JL: The opposition to the plants says that this will be the Fukushima of Malaysia, a potential radioactive disaster. The plant is really a big chemical plant, and nothing more. It’s easy to twist words. The opposition says the plant would produce as much as 50 t of thorium per year. Sitting on 50 t of thorium could be lethal. However, the 50 t is dispersed in tens of thousands of tons of other material, so you would need a very large rear-end to sit on it.
I don’t want to comment on Malaysian politics, but it’s interesting to me that one of the fellows in our inspection group is a very prominent person in decommissioning nuclear reactors. His position is that the issue here is background radiation—nothing more. His calculations show at full production it would very difficult to detect any change in the background radiation between when the plant was there and when the plant wasn’t there. He didn’t think it was an issue.
The opposition to the plant doesn’t understand that chemical plants present a unique kind of safety issue and that this plant is not a nuclear reactor—not even close. But in the public perception, it is a big deal. Why is it that California, which is enormously environmentally conscious and very anti-mining, doesn’t seem to worry about Mountain Pass, which has just as much thorium? The CEO of Molycorp recently said publicly that his company is going to process monazite to recover HREEs. Monazite is usually thorium rich and radioactive. Regardless of Lynas’ thorium levels, it’s not a big safety issue and it can be handled. The Lynas facility is without doubt the most modern solvent exchange plant in the world. It is first class.
TCMR: Isn’t Lynas producing mostly LREEs? Will this contribute to surplus or pricing weakness in the LREE markets?
JL: Lynas says it has pre-sold its output. Company executives were very up front with us about what the plant will be producing, but they didn’t tell us who their customers were. They did say they had long-term contracts. Overall, the actual amount of supply could exceed demand. But that doesn’t mean that a low-cost producer can’t sell and make money. It’s my understanding that Lynas has sold its output for phase 1.
TCMR: One company that you have watched in the past was Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp. (QRE:TSX.V; BR3:FSE; QREDF:OTCBB) and the niobium prospect it has in Nebraska. Are you still watching it?
JL: Yes. The United States imports twice as many distinct materials as it did 20 years ago. I think the U.S. was self-sufficient in something like 25 elements 25 years ago, and now it’s much less because the country shifted to outsourcing raw material production.
For example, we stopped producing manganese domestically because our ore isn’t as rich as ore from West Africa. We have a lot of ore, but it is lower grade. As a country, we are rethinking whether outsourcing raw material production is a good idea. Another example is niobium; it would be a very good idea to have a domestic niobium source like the one in Nebraska. A niobium deposit is often associated with REEs. Having the two together in one deposit lowers the overall cost. It doesn’t matter what mineral or metal you’re talking about, the low-cost producer with the lowest breakeven will be the winner, even at the lowest point in the economic cycle.
Another factor is availability. We saw what happened when China squeezed availability. The whole REE industry is suddenly running around like Chicken Little. The sky is falling. That’s why we need somebody in Nebraska producing niobium.
TCMR: In retrospect, was it China squeezing availability, or was it speculative, free market price behavior?
JL: I’m talking over the last five years. Last year was speculative. Over the long-term, when China coughed, we caught a cold, because we had moved all of our production overseas. Remember, Molycorp was the world’s largest REE mine in 1984. It produced 60% of the world’s output. And so how do we go from there to zero? It was easy. We just didn’t bother to think about the future. Everything was this week’s cost. Everything is unintended consequences—except that they’re very foreseeable.
I remember when this was happening. I said, “What are we going to do if China’s demand exceeds its domestic supply, or the Chinese decide they don’t want to do this anymore?” I was told that it would never happen. Well, it just seems to have happened. We need domestic supplies—of everything.
TCMR: Is that the message you are trying to deliver about REE supply and demand?
JL: We need to keep government out of this, and we need private equity to finance it. If people stop worrying about tomorrow’s returns, and start looking at strategic investments, we’d all be a lot better off. Government’s not capable of doing that. It is just not smart enough. Private equity can do it because there is profit involved. But as long as we are thinking short-term, our problems will persist.
Strategic planning, along the lines of what the Chinese are doing, is the winning method of moving an economy forward.
TCMR: Thank you so much for your time, we look forward to speaking with you again.
Jack Lifton has more than 50 years of experience in the global OEM automotive, heavy equipment, electrical, electronic, mining, smelting and refining industries. His background includes sourcing, manufacturing and sales of platinum group metal products, rare earth compounds and ceramic specialties used to make catalytic converters, oxygen sensors, batteries and fuel cells. Lifton is knowledgeable in locating and analyzing new and recycled supplies of “minor metals,” including tellurium, selenium, indium, gallium, silicon, germanium, molybdenum, tungsten, manganese, chromium and the rare earth metals. He is a senior fellow of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security.
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DISCLOSURE:
1) Alec Gimurtu of The Critical Metals Report conducted this interview. He personally and/or his family own shares of the following companies mentioned in this interview: None.
2) The following companies mentioned in this article are sponsors of The Critical Metals Report: Quantum Rare Earth Developments Corp., Rare Element Resources Ltd., Ucore Rare Metals Inc. and Tasman Metals Ltd. Interviews are edited for clarity.
3) Jack Lifton: I personally and/or my family own shares of the following companies mentioned in this interview: Great Western Minerals Group. I personally and/or my family were not paid by any of the companies mentioned in this interview. I was not paid by Streetwise Reports for participating in this story.
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FAQs
What are the top 5 rare earth elements in the world? ›
They identified Neodymium (Nd), Europium (Eu), Terbium (Tb), Dysprosium (Dy) and Yttrium (Y) as critical rare earths (CREE) for both the short and long term.
What is the most important rare earth element? ›One of them is neodymium, because it's the most important REE used in permanent magnets. The others are heavy rare earth elements (HREEs), including europium, terbium, dysprosium and yttrium. The latter isn't really an REE, but it's associated with them.
What are the rarest rare earth elements? ›The rarest stable metal is tantalum. The rarest metal on earth is actually francium, but because this unstable element has a half life of a mere 22 minutes, it has no practical use.
Which country makes 95% of the world's rare earth minerals? ›However, China accounts for over 95 percent of the world's production of rare earths. Therefore, having control of these elements puts China at a powerful position. It is estimated the world has 99 million tonnes of rare earth reserve deposits.
Why does China have so much rare earth elements? ›As China's mining capacity expanded, rare earth producers in other countries began to shift their production to China to take advantage of the country's low labor costs and weak environmental regulations.
How many rare earth elements are there? ›The rare earths are a relatively abundant group of 17 elements composed of scandium, yttrium, and the lanthanides.
How many total rare earth elements are there? ›The rare earth elements (REEs) are a group of 16 chemical elements appearing in the periodic table consisting of the 15 lanthanides (lanthanum to lutetium) plus yttrium.
Does the US have rare earth minerals? ›Currently, the only U.S. rare earths mining and processing facility is the Mountain Pass mine in California's Mojave Desert. Operated by MP Materials, the mine accounts for close to 16 percent of the world's rare earths production.
What are rare earth elements and why are they important? ›The rare earths are 17 metallic elements, located in the middle of the periodic table (atomic numbers 21, 39, and 57–71). These metals have unusual fluorescent, conductive, and magnetic properties—which make them very useful when alloyed, or mixed, in small quantities with more common metals such as iron.
Where are all the rare earth elements? ›China is the world's largest producer of REEs, accounting for almost 60% of global annual production, estimated at 140,000 tonnes for 2020. Most of the remaining 40% is shared between the United States, Burma (Myanmar), Australia and Madagascar. China remains virtually the only producer of the valued heavy REEs.
Which country has about 98% of the rare earth elements? ›
Over the past several decades, China has built up and cemented its dominance in global rare earths, and at its peak the country accounted for almost 98% of the world's raw rare earths production.
Which US company owns rare earth mines? ›MP Materials Corp. Stellar Q2 2022 earnings, owns the only rare earth mine and processing facility in the U.S.
Who controls 90% of rare earth metals? ›As of today, China accounts for 63 percent of the world's rare earth mining, 85 percent of rare earth processing, and 92 percent of rare earth magnet production.
Who owns most rare earth minerals? ›Concerningly, production of these rare earth minerals has remained concentrated. China has a dominant hold on the market—with 60% of global production and 85% of processing capacity.
What are the 5 elements of existence? ›According to the five elements theory, everything in nature is made up of five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space. This is intended as an explanation of the complexity of nature and all matter by breaking it down into simpler substances.
What are the 5 basic element? ›All matter is composed of five basic elements — panchamahabhutas — which inhere the properties of earth (pritvi), water (jala), fire (tejas), wind (vayu) and space (akasha). The subtlest is space and grossest is earth with every perceptive sense.
What is 5 element theory? ›The theory of five elements holds that all things in the natural world are derived from wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Life bears the basic properties of all five elements and maintains a harmonious balance through the activities of constant inter-promotion and inter-restraint.
Which country is the largest producer of rare earth metals? ›As of 2021, China produced more than half of the total global rare earth mine production.
What country controls 97% of the rare earth elements? ›However, China accounts for over 95 percent of the world's production of rare earths. Therefore, having control of these elements puts China at a powerful position. It is estimated the world has 99 million tonnes of rare earth reserve deposits.
What country produces 97% of the world supply of rare earth elements? ›China controls nearly all of the world's processing facilities, with even REEs taken from the ground in other countries being sent there for refining.
What are the types of rare earth elements? ›
Rare Earths are a group of 15 elements in the periodic table known as the Lanthanide series. Rare earths are categorised into light elements (lanthanum to samarium) and heavy elements (europium to lutetium).
What are the names of the rare earths? ›The 17 rare earth elements are: lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb), lutetium (Lu), scandium (Sc), and yttrium (Y).
What is the 2nd rarest element? ›The second rarest naturally occurring element is Francium, Atomic number 87.
Are we running out of rare earth elements? ›Rare earth elements may be in short supply but they are not rare. Even the rarest, thulium, is more than 100 times more common than gold. But only a few countries – such as the US, Australia and Brazil – contain deposits substantial enough to mine.
What is the rarest earth mineral? ›The rarest mineral on Earth is kyawthuite. Only one crystal, found in the Mogok region of Myanmar, is known to exist. Caltech's mineral database (opens in new tab) describes it as a small (1.61-karat) deep orange gemstone that the International Mineralogical Association (opens in new tab) officially recognized in 2015.
What minerals is the US rich in? ›In 2019, the country was the 4th world producer of gold; 5th largest world producer of copper; 5th worldwide producer of platinum; 10th worldwide producer of silver; 2nd largest world producer of rhenium; 2nd largest world producer of sulfur; 3rd largest world producer of phosphate; 3rd largest world producer of ...
What mineral does China control? ›Copper: China controls largest share of production by a small margin. Copper is the most widely used mineral not only in clean energy technologies but also in traditional industries. The market is well-established and not very concentrated.
What rare earth metals are used in batteries? ›Lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite are crucial to battery performance, longevity and energy density. Rare earth elements are essential for permanent magnets that are vital for wind turbines and EV motors.
What are three interesting facts about the rare earth elements? ›- Rare earths are superior magnets. In 2021, permanent magnets accounted for the largest share of global rare earth consumption. ...
- Rare earths helped create colour TV. ...
- Rare earths are fluorescent crime fighters. ...
- Our green future depends on rare earths.
Astatine is the rarest naturally occurring element.
What are 3 uses for rare earth metals? ›
Rare-earth elements (REEs) are used in the components of many devices used daily in our modern society, such as: the screens of smart phones, computers, and flat panel televisions; the motors of computer drives; batteries of hybrid and electric cars; and new generation light bulbs.
Is lithium a rare earth metal? ›A lot of these warnings have been incorrectly categorized under “EVs and rare earth metals.” Though neither lithium nor cobalt are rare earth metals, and rare earth metals aren't nearly as rare as precious metals like gold, platinum, and palladium, there are important issues surrounding the production of lithium-ion ...
How much rare earth metals are left? ›According to estimates, the total worldwide reserves of rare earths amount to approximately 120 million metric tons. Most of these reserves are located within China, estimated at some 44 million metric tons. After China, the major rare earth countries based on reserve volume are Vietnam, Brazil, and Russia.
What country has the most precious metals? ›China: The world's No. 1 metals consumer holds more than half of the known global reserves of 9 of the 14 most critical raw materials.
What is the best rare earth stock? ›- MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Company Profile. ...
- Energy Fuels (NYSEAMERICAN:UUUU,TSX:EFR) ...
- NioCorp Developments (TSX:NB) ...
- Mkango Resources (TSXV:MKA) ...
- Aclara Resources (TSX:ARA) ...
- Lynas Rare Earths (ASX:LYC) ...
- Iluka Resources (ASX:ILU) ...
- Arafura Resources (ASX:ARU)
In the United States, landowners possess both surface and mineral rights unless they choose to sell the mineral rights to someone else. Once mineral rights have been sold, the original owner retains only the rights to the land surface, while the second party may exploit the underground resources in any way they choose.
What is the largest rare earth mine in the US? ›The Mountain Pass Mine, owned by MP Materials, is an open-pit mine of rare-earth elements on the south flank of the Clark Mountain Range in California, 53 miles (85 km) southwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Does China's have monopoly on rare earth metals? ›In the complete rare earth metals production market, China controls about 90 percent. Currently, China's increasing hold on the market has been most notable in the critical material and tech metal markets.
Where does China get its rare earth metals? ›The Bayan Obo deposit in Inner Mongolia, northern China – containing 40 million tonnes of rare earth reserves – is the world's largest deposit. The mine has been in production since 1957 and currently accounts for more than 70% of China's light REE production.
What is the stock symbol for USA rare earth? ›ARRNF:USOTC US. American Rare Earths Ltd.
What is the number 1 element on earth? ›
Hydrogen – the number 1 element.
Does the US mine any rare earth elements? ›The 400-foot pit, nestled in the foothills of California's Clark Mountain Range, is home to the only rare earths mine in the United States.
Are there 128 elements? ›In real-life science, element 128 has yet to be discovered. A placeholder name based on its number, "unbioctium", has been suggested to document the possible existence of this substance.
Which element is very important to life? ›Scientists believe that about 25 of the known elements are essential to life. Just four of these – carbon (C), oxygen (O), hydrogen (H) and nitrogen (N) – make up about 96% of the human body.
What is the powerful element in the universe? ›Energy is the most powerful element because it can't be created or destroyed. And it is pretty much all the elemental powers combined and has no weaknesses.
Who owns USA rare earth? ›USA Rare Earth, based in Tampa, Florida, was founded in 2019 by Pini Althaus. Thomas Schneberger was recently named as the company's new CEO.
Will there be a 119th element? ›Fusion requires several milligrams of the target element, and producing enough einsteinium (element 99) to make element 119 is impossible with today's technology.
Which element is more precious? ›Palladium is the most expensive of the four major precious metals – gold, silver and platinum being the others. It is rarer than platinum, and is used in larger quantities for catalytic converters.
What are the 7 elements of nature? ›The seven element theory included all elements on earth: plants, warm energy, soil, mineral, water, cold energy, and air. This theory introduced each element's material, property, characteristics, function, relationship to each other, and relationship with life and organs.