(July 6, 2011 at 6:36 pm)Moros Synackaon Wrote:(July 5, 2011 at 2:05 pm)Chuck Wrote: There is nothing rare about rare earth metals. it's a misnomer. The only thing limiting supplies is they tend to be either costly, or dirty to extract. The chinese accepted the dirty route, as a result, they more or less became the world's only supplier. The Japanese are freaking out because the Chinese embargoed the Japanese over a territorial dispute, and the Japanese suddenly discovered the Chinese can shutdown most of Japanese electronics industry by denying them raw material and the Japanese have nowhere else to turn for the stuff, hence the interest in pulling the stuff off of the sea floor.
Which is moronic given the existence of plenty of rare earths mines all over the world, where the environmental impact and methodologies are well established, as opposed to mining shit from the oceans...
The again, this is the Japanese were talking about -- the same fuckers who insist they do whale hunting for 'scientific reasons' while dumping the meat on the market. Double talk all the way.
The only methodology that's been established around the world is to shut the mines down and buy the stuff from the Chinese. Japan has negligible reserve of it's own. So it wants a means to obtain it's own independent supply.
Regarding whales, I find the conceit that one culture's sentimental, posturing attachment must become all other cultures' inviolable dictate substantially more offensive than japan killing a moderate number of whales under false pretenses. The SeaShepard crowd is about as disgusting as those who eat cows in their own countries but wants to outlaw the eating of dogs in other countries merely because they've anthropomorphized their own fido with spa treatments and paw manicures.
