[ExI] not that rare earth (part 2 of at least 2)

[spike at rainier66.com]

>… Just one F-35 fighter jet contains about 900 pounds of rare earth metals, and an ultra modern Virginia-class attack submarine needs 9,200 pounds. 

 

 

I have been trying to find the source which claims there are over 400 kg of rare earth elements in an F18.  This report from 2016 is as close as I can get, which doesn’t contain the number but quotes another referenced report, which is classified:

 

https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-16-161.pdf

 

Neodymium is up from 51 bucks a kg to 68 per kg now.  So… an F18 would have (if the report is correct (and all of that is neodymium) about 30k in neodymium, for a 60 million dollar plane, up from 22k.  An addition 8k in materials.

 

Samarium went up by more than a factor of 100!  To a current price of… 11 bucks per kg.  If all of the F18’s rare earth requirements are in samarium, that adds up to over 4k per plane, up almost all of that 4k.  Swoon how shall we cope?

 

Don’t worry, we shall cope.

 

This source shows the big runup and rundown happened in 2022, which wouldn’t involve trade tariffs:

 

https://www.dailymetalprice.com/metalpricecharts.php?c=nd <https://www.dailymetalprice.com/metalpricecharts.php?c=nd&u=kg&d=0#google_vignette> &u=kg&d=0#google_vignette

 

I see where Mountain Pass had been shut down, but reopened in 2017.  I also noticed the date of that report, looking at the feasibility of scavenging rare earths from retired fighter planes and submarines.  Note that the F18 is over 40 years old now, and plenty of the planes are being retired as the design is phased out.

 

Submarines and surface ships: plenty of those being retired on a regular basis.  Those look to be far more plausible as a scrap metal source, since they are already recycled anyway.

 

spike

 

From: John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> 



 

>…Even the phone in your pocket would be larger and heavier than it is now without rare earth metals.  
 

John I find that notion most implausible.  A phone has a very small speaker which would contain magnets.  The battery might contain traces.  But I can’t imagine either of those would have significant impact on either size or weight.

 

spke

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