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Rare earths processing – a potent environmental polluter

China’s rare earths refineries…… have poisoned rivers with acid and piled up radioactive waste — an environmental cost that aroused little controversy in developed, consuming nations

Malaysian protesters blame an earlier rare earths plant, shut by Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemicals in 1992, for birth defects and a high number of leukemia cases……

Environmental campaigners point to studies done in both New Jersey and China showing that thorium radiation emitted during the refining process and by plant waste can cause cancer, leukemia, birth defects and chronic lung diseases.

Pollution the big barrier to freer trade in rare earths Al Arabiya News,, 19 March 2012 Environmental campaigners point to studies done in both New Jersey and China showing that thorium radiation emitted during the refining process and by plant waste can cause cancer, leukemia, birth defects and chronic lung diseases.

Tackling pollution, not freeing up trade, is regarded as the solution to a global shortage of rare earths, the metals that are the building blocks of the 21st century. The United States, Europe and Japan have
lodged a formal trade complaint against China, the world’s monopoly
supplier of rare earths, accusing it of choking exports of the metals,
used in advanced technologies from computer screens to hybrid cars.

Industry experts say the West and Japan have a strong case to argue
before the World Trade Organization (WTO), but the same experts and
environmental groups argue that mere victory on a trade complaint will
not be enough to break China’s grip.

Instead, they say the key to ending China’s monopoly is for other
nations to help clean up one of mining’s dirtiest industries – an
industry the United States, once the world’s largest supplier, allowed
to wither many years ago.

China’s rare earths refineries, which secured their monopoly by turning out metals at extremely low prices for more than a decade, have poisoned rivers with acid and piled up radioactive waste — an environmental cost that aroused little controversy in developed, consuming nations when metal prices were low.

Now that China has squeezed exports and driven up international prices
over the past three years — a move it says is needed to clean up its
industry and conserve a dwindling resource — the West and Japan have
finally cried foul……
“There is solid evidence from China, the United States and even Malaysia, that the processing of rare earths contaminates the environment and endangers health,” said Ronald McCoy, president of Malaysian Physicians for Social Responsibility.

His group has been campaigning to stop Lynas Corp opening a rare
earths plant under construction in east Malaysia. Lynas says the
plant, which will process ore mined in Australia, will use
state-of-the-art technology and meet strict environmental rules, but
this has not satisfied protesters.

Malaysian protesters blame an earlier rare earths plant, shut by Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemicals in 1992, for birth defects and a high number of leukemia cases……
Environmental campaigners point to studies done in both New Jersey and China showing that thorium radiation emitted during the refining process and by plant waste can cause cancer, leukemia, birth defects and chronic lung diseases.

The Chinese government says the whole sector has been producing more
than 20 million tons of poisonous waste water a year, and in the major
Chinese production regions of Inner Mongolia in the northeast and
Jiangxi in the east, mining has created bubbling streams of toxic
tailings that contaminate water supplies and render farmland worthless
for decades.

Beijing has shut hundreds of small private operators accused of
neglecting health and safety standards in the quest for quick profits
– but pollution from giant state-owned producers such as Baotou Rare
Earth is just as severe.

“We believe there are legitimate environmental concerns in the issue
of rare earth mining and many actions taken on the Chinese side, like
shutting down rogue mines, are based on such concerns,” said Ma
Tianjie, a Beijing-based campaigner with Greenpeace.

“Big consumers of rare earths such as the United States, the EU and
Japan should see this as a shared responsibility and should refrain
from just pointing fingers at China.”…..
The term rare earths is something of a misnomer. The elements
themselves are not especially rare, but the ores are hard to refine.
China came to dominate the field partly because it developed the
separation capacity required to process the ores and the stomach
required to put up with the pollution.
……Chinese officials insist the country’s dominance is no longer
anything to celebrate. Despite having only a third of global reserves,
it has damaged its environment in order to supply the bulk of the
world’s rare earth needs.

They have said they are happy for other countries to “share the
burden” of production, and Beijing’s supply restrictions have already
encouraged other sources to
emerge…..http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/03/19/201667.html

March 20, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | China, environment, Uranium