USMMA China's Rare Earth Expor

Recent Chinese Government Actions Restrict聽Key聽Raw Materials For Clean Energy

WASHINGTON -- The United States Magnetic Materials Association (鈥淯SMMA鈥?, a trade association representing domestic high performance magnet producers and suppliers, today warned of impending shortages of rare earth materials needed to support domestic manufacturing in support of emerging green technologies like wind generation, hybrid vehicles, and new battery development, high-tech consumer products like mobile phones, PDAs, MP3s, and national security and defense systems.

Late last week, China, the world鈥檚 largest rare earths producer, announced new plans to cut rare earth export quotas by 72 percent for the second half of the year. According to China鈥檚 Ministry of Commerce, Replica Audemars Piguet Watches foreign shipments will be capped at 7,976 metric tons, down from 28,417 tons for the same period last year.

鈥淭his news from China should serve as a huge red flag for U.S. government officials studying this issue,鈥?said USMMA President Ed Richardson, Vice President of USMMA founding partner Thomas & Skinner. 鈥淭his further validates claims by the USMMA that immediate action must be taken to free the United States from its complete foreign dependence on these increasingly important natural resources. If the United States is to become a leader in clean energy technology, it needs a reliable domestic rare earths supply chain.鈥?

USMMA has endorsed legislation introduced earlier this year in the House (H.R. 4866) and Senate (S. 3521) 鈥?the Rare Earth Supply-Chain Technology and Resource Transformation (RESTART) Act of 2010 鈥?that would reestablish competitive domestic rare earths mineral production, processing, refining, purification, and metals production industries to support the growth of green job technology and manufacturing as well as the nation鈥檚 defense industry.

The legislation would create a 鈥渨hole-of-government鈥?approach involving the U.S. Departments of Commerce, Energy, State, and Defense, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and Office of Science and Technology Policy within the Executive Office of the President . The RESTART IWC Portuguese Automatic Black Watch Act builds upon several elements of USMMA鈥檚 platform for resolving the Rare Earth Elements (REE) supply crisis, a serious threat to the United States鈥?economic and national security.

Today, the United States is totally dependent on foreign sources for rare earth materials. Currently, China provides over 97% of the world鈥檚 rare earth raw materials and dominates the world鈥檚 rare earth refining, alloying and manufacturing.

Presently, there is one United States rare earth mine and processing facility (which is not mining), a major United States Geological Survey-validated deposit of rare earths in Idaho, two small alloying facilities and one significant rare earth magnet producer, making the nation鈥檚 supply-chain for critical renewable energy and defense systems nearly non-existent and leaving the United States dangerously vulnerable to potentially unreliable foreign nations.

USMMA believes that urgent and collective action is needed by the federal government in oReplica Watches
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