RARE EARTH MINERALS AND 21ST CENTURY INDUSTRY

Oral Responses to Subcommittee’s Questions

Karl A. Gschneidner, Jr.*

Ames Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy and
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-3020

Good afternoon Mr. Chairman, members of the Subcommittee, ladies and gentlemen. I

am pleased to have the opportunity to present my views on the rare earth crisis, and what can be

done to alleviate this situation. My brief responses to your questions are as follows. More

detailed information will be found in my written statement.

Question 1. Rare earth science and technology at Ames Laboratory of the U.S.

Department of Energy had its beginning in World War II when Iowa State College assisted the

war effort by supplying one-third of the uranium metal (2 tons) necessary to make the first

nuclear reactor go critical at the University of Chicago in 1942. By the end of the war, 2 million

pounds of uranium and 600 thousand pounds of thorium were produced for the Manhattan

Project.

Work on the rare earths was a natural outgrowth of the war effort. Initially there was a

wide spectrum of research being carried out. This included separation, analytical, and solid state

chemistry; process, physical and mechanical metallurgy; ceramics; and condensed matter

physics. Many successes were achieved and technology was turned over to industry. But as the

science matured, programmatic changes occurred and a number of the research areas were
__________________________________
*E-mail: cagey@ameslab.gov
Phone: 515-294-7931
Revised March 11, 2010
phased out. This included separation and analytical chemistry, process and mechanical

metallurgy, and ceramics. The remaining areas are still strong but the person-power levels have

diminished. However, the establishment of the Materials Preparation Center (a DOE Basic

Energy Sciences specialized research center) has alleviated some of the degradation in the

process metallurgy area.

I would like to mention a new and exciting development – a revolutionary method of

preparing a neodymium master alloy for making the neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnet.

The cost of this master alloy is about half that of neodymium. Furthermore, it is a very green

technology with no by-products, compared to conventional processes which have by-products

which need to be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner. I have in my hand the second

neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnet which we produced using our new process in early

February 2010.

Question 2. We are well aware of the impact of the Chinese activities in the rare earth

markets as noted by other invited speakers at this House hearing. In addition to forcing the US

rare earth and permanent magnet manufacturers out of business, the country now faces a

shortage of trained scientists, engineers, and technicians, and a lack of innovations in the high

tech areas which are critical to our country’s future energy needs. A research center which

alleviates both of these problems is the best way to solve the rare earth crisis. An educational

institution which has a long and strong tradition in carrying out research on all aspects of rare

earth materials with a strong educational component would be the ideal solution. A National

Research Center on Rare Earths and Energy should be established with federal and state support,

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and supplemented by U.S. industry as the rare earth industry revitalizes. The center would

employ about 30 full time employees. This research center will be a national resource for the

rare earth science, technology and applications, and would provide support of research activities

at other institutions via subcontracts to complement the activities at the center.

The major emphasis of the center would be directed basic research, but proprietary

research paid by the organization(s) that request it would also be part of the center’s mandate.

The center would have an advisory board made up of representatives from the university,

government, industry and the general public to oversee, guide, and refocus as needed, the

research being conducted.

I would like to suggest to this House subcommittee that they consider a second national

center, the National Research Center for Magnetic Cooling. Cooling below room temperature

accounts for 15% of the total energy consumed in the USA. Magnetic refrigeration is a new

advanced, highly technical, energy efficient, green technology for cooling and climate control,

and for refrigerating and freezing (see section 6.5 in my written response). It is about 20% more

efficient, and is a green technology because it eliminates harmful greenhouse gases and reduces

energy consumption. If we were able to switch all of the cooling processes to magnetic

refrigeration at once we would reduce the nation’s energy consumption by 5%. But there are a

lot of hurdles that need to be overcome, and the USA needs to put together a strong, cohesive

effort to retain our disappearing leadership in this technology, by assembling a National

Research Center for Magnetic Cooling. Europe and China are moving rapidly in this area, and

Denmark has assembled a magnetic refrigeration national research center at Risø – so far the

only one in the world. This Center should be structured similar to what has been proposed for

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The National Research Center on Rare Earths and Energy. The question is, are we going to give

up our lead position and be a second rate country, or will we be leading the rest of the world? I

hope and pray that the answer is we are going to show the world that we are number one.

Question 3. Knowledge is exported from a research institute (university) to industry

through the transfer of intellectual property and know-how. Research findings are disseminated

as published articles in journals, presentations at conferences, in electronic media, and if exciting

enough, via news conferences and press releases assuming the new results are not patentable. If

the research has some potential commercial value, this new information should be made

available as soon as possible after filing a patent disclosure. However, before the patent is filed

one could disseminate the results to companies that might be interested by contacting them

directly to see: (1) if they are interested, (2) if they would sign a non-disclosure agreement, and

(3) if they answer yes to both (1) and (2) then the information could be disclosed to them.

A second highly effective route is the transfer of the skills and knowledge gained by

university students to their industrial employers after graduation.

Question 4. Rare earth research in the USA on mineral extraction, rare earth separation,

processing of the oxides into metallic alloys and other useful forms, substitution, and recycling is

virtually zero.

Today, some work is carried out at various DOE laboratories on rare earth and actinide

separation chemistry directed toward treating waste nuclear products and the environmental

clean-up of radioactive materials in soils. This research may be beneficial to improving rare

earth separation processes on a commercial scale.

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 Some research at various universities might be considered to be useful in finding

substitutes for a given rare earth element in a high tech application. But generally the particular

rare earth’s property is so unique it is difficult to find another element as a substitute.

The Chinese have two large research laboratories which have significant research and

development activities devoted to the above topics. They are the General Research Institute for

Nonferrous Metals in Beijing and the Baotou Research Institute of Rare Earths in Baotou, Inner

Mongolia. The former is a much larger organization than the Baotou group, but the rare earths

activity is smaller. The Baotou Research Institute of Rare Earths is the largest rare earth research

group in the world. Baotou is located about 120 miles from the large rare earth deposit in Inner

Mongolia.

Thank you for allowing me to participate in this House subcommittee hearing this

afternoon.