No respite for rare earths

• Autores: Industrial Minerals
• Localización: Industrial Minerals, ISSN 0019-8544, Nº. 588, 2016 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Noviembre)
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The rare earths boom benefitted and ultimately suffered from the added spice of political sensitivity over supply concentration in China, the ascendance of rare earths-consuming green energy applications and some well publicised investment scams in which fraudsters coldcalled members of the public in the UK and the US offering to sell "buckets" of the minerals as a financial speculation.

    "A lot of companies want to keep their hand in the rare earths game, for if and when the up-cycle comes round again," one Canada-based analyst, who preferred not to be named, told IM. "Lots have done the same with lithium, graphite and vanadium - in many cases this has paid off. Every dog has its day".

    "Rare earths prices appear to have hit bottom," wrote KC Chang, a Toronto, Canada-based senior economist at IHS Global Insight. "[We] forecast prices to rise slowly over the next 24 months. The current demand environment remains quiet, but production cutbacks and industry consolidation limits further downside price risk," Chang continued. "Stronger demand, accompanied with inventory restocking, could quickly tighten markets and send prices higher in 2017".