Rare Earth : " A Hidden Treasure beneath the Earth Surface"

Hi,

These pictures and my title doesn’t go hand in hand, isnt it ??? But ,I am sure it must have generated a curiosity. Not sure which has fascinated the reader more ,the picture or the tittle ;) I leave that to you.

So, today let’s begin the write up by a small story that actually took place with me and which fascinated me to take up this article.

It was a hot summer afternoon, when I had a proxy class with one of the senior most classes . To my fascination, I saw 4 students leaping towards the blackboard with the keen interest to solve the Periodic Table. They rubbed the board but never gave up. They gave a sigh of relief the moment they could solve the table. But, what drew my attention was that the last two rows of LANTHANIDES was written and they paid no attention to it . So, I asked them ,” why we don’t take it into account?” Prompt came the reply , Maam ,we dont read that. So the bell rang and I returned to my Faculty but that statement kept lingering on my mind . I came home and started understanding but being a humanities student, I understood nothing of the Periodic Table. But, in the process of studying about it , I came across a topic which I read few years back for my UPSC preparation and it was this concept of Rare Earth.

Now, let’s connect the dots of the Periodic Table and the Concept of Rare Earth.

Ooops !!! Did it just flew over your head ??? Now ,let’s move to the real stuff. I have written two elements SCANDIUM and YTTRIUM these two elements when added up to the First row of 15 LANTHANIDES of the second line makes up a combination of Rare Earth .

Now, to tickle your brain and give you goosebumps, let me tell you how these elements determines our normal life . Every single gadget including the one you saw in the first picture runs on the combination of Rare Earth i.e SCANDIUM and YTTRIUM. Today , the definition of luxury stands with our identification of material gadgets but no gadgets can function unless and until it has a combination of the above two elements. Let me give you a brief about this element:

SCANDIUM:

It is one of the rarest elements. It costs around 270 billion dollar per gram. So, you can assume that, how expensive it is ! It is derived from Scandinavian term and was first coined by LARS FREDRIK NILSON and PER TEODOR CLEVE. It is a high intensity lighting and mercury vapour lamps .

YTTRIUM :

Now let me introduce you to YTTRIUM ! It cost around 75dollar per ounce and used for Colour in Television... so basically without it ,we go back to black and white days ;) . It was named after YTTERBY ,SWEDAN and by JOHAN GADOLIN.

So, basically did you understand how these two elements govern our life .

Now let’s try to know ,where do we find them . They are found beneath the earth and it is called rare because they are spread evenly throughout the world and are very difficult to isolate from other minerals . Some of the countries which have them are –

• China – 44 M

• Australia- 22 M

• India – 6.9 M

• USA- 1.4 M

• Vietnam – 22 M

• Russia- 12 M

• Brazil - 3.4 M

China produces 95% of Global Reserves of Rare Earth and has 1/3rd of World Trade. So, basically in lieu of the recent covid times , when USA had outlined imposing sanctions on China. China has waged a trade diplomacy against USA by the virtue of its abundance of Rare Earth because 80% of rare earth is imported from China to USA.

So ,basically by the virtue of such high concentration of Rare Earth. China has became a Manufacturing Hub. No smart device in the world can today operate without the existence of rare earth starting from Aeroplanes to Computers to Laptop or our lifelines Smart Phones.

So, you understand how vital it is for our survival and China has 95% of World deposit. So next time, if you see the tag “ Made in China,” don’ jump the guns because almost everything who is smart operates on these elements. China, being the leader of the rare earth manufactures the smart devices with their help and has become the leading hub for the market.Even human brain is smart and is constantly refined by studying and acquiring knowledge,isnt it ???

Chinese Premier Deng Xiaoping once said -----

Now, did you remember me mentioning about our own country,India which too has Rare Earth and has the 5th largest stock in the world. But, where do we stand in this respect ---

India understood the importance of Rare Earth back in 1950 and went to establish the INDIAN RARE EARTH LIMITED in BOMBAY.

India has a hidden treasure and if it is extracted has the potential to become one of the leading Exporter and subsequently dominate the trade war in the world . On the domestic front, if it is developed effectively, it can generate Capital Employment upto 16 Billion dollar and a Foreign Exchange of 6 Billion dollars. It can generate Domestic Supply Chain of 12 Billion dollar. Wow !!! Noteworthy!!! But, do you know where it is found in India. Well !!! I will name the place while you can locate the places for yourselves .

• North East India.

• Kerala.

• Odisha etc.

But, inspite of such high concentration of rare earth in India, why is it not so developed???? Did I manage to generate your curiosity???

Let’s introspect the factors that cause the drawback. India had very well understood the importance of Rare Earth Elements way back in 1950 but due lack of political will ,it got halted and there was a stumbling block . But in 2011 and 2012 , Japan and India decided to jointly work towards the extraction of Rare Earth Elements. Japan depended on India basically due to their internal differences with the land of the Dragon.. M

This was going to be one major deal that benefited both Japan and India.

So, in this context, we had a Joint Partnership with Japanese Firm Toyota Tsusho and accordingly TOYOTA RARE EARTH INDIA was developed in Andhra Pradesh.

Another milestone was in the year 2014 , Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and India's PM Narendra Modi , was to sign a historic deal in this regard.

Both the countries agreed to extract 2000 to 2300 tonnes ( roughly around 15%) of Japanese need. Further, both the countries decided to take a leap in the future by deciding to explore the energy supplies of the countries of Afghanistan, Kazakhstan etc.

So, inspite of such leap why is people so ignorant about the existence of a component which dictates and defines our smart living .

The major reason is –

• Delay in Environmental Clearance .

• License in Extraction Production.

• Red Tapism.

• Lack of Political Will.

So, basically with this blog, I attempted to capture your imagination with the elements of rare earth which is so essential for our smart world. If everything is running in the tip of our fingers , it is something which is a hidden boon beneath the earth who is secretly defining our lives in the most sophisticated manner.

Why don’t we discover a fun fact ----

North Korea has a deposit of 6 trillion dollar of Rare Earth as outlined by South Korean Ministry.

Now, it is my humble attempt to draw your attention to the definition of smart living and if it has generated interest in you , why don’t you let me know in the Comment Section :)

Bye for now ... will be back soon with another interesting story...

Love

Sukriti .

Sources of the Cartoon – Google and knowledge from upsc books , news, articles and journals .

Note- the four students mentioned in the blog are ....

Shreya

Aritra

Aveek

Anish

Special Thanks to Lipika Nath ( Dept. Of Chemistry, IIT Guwahati)