Nebraska mine find to challenge China’s dominance of vital rare minerals

[BlueStateSaint]

Coach live near this?  How 'bout you, Dutch?

Nebraska mine find to challenge China’s dominance of vital rare minerals

Elements coveted for high-tech uses

By Claire Courchane
-
The Washington Times
Updated: 10:58 a.m. on Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Elk Creek, Neb. (population 112), may not be so tiny much longer. Reports suggest that the southeastern Nebraska hamlet may be sitting on the world’s largest untapped deposit of “rare earth” minerals, which have proved to be indispensable to a slew of high-tech and military applications such as laser pointers, stadium lighting, electric car batteries and sophisticated missile-guidance systems.

Canada-based Quantum Rare Earths Developments Corp. last week received preliminary results from test drilling in the area, showing “significant” proportions of “rare earth” minerals and niobium.

The only people more excited than Quantum? The residents of Elk Creek, where nearly one in seven people live under the poverty line, but whose economy has been booming ever since the company showed up late last year to start laying the groundwork for a possible mining bonanza.

“It’s been a very, very positive experience for our community,” said state Sen. Lavon Heidemann, an Elk Creek farmer. “When Quantum came in here, they put money in the local community. And any time you have money flowing in a small town, that’s a positive.”

The potential mining operation, the first in the U.S. in a decade, could have an international impact as well. U.S. officials and lawmakers in Congress have been eager to break the near monopoly on global production of the 17 rare-earth elements in China, which has shown its willingness to use its power in the market for political ends.

Sounds like a money-making opportunity, as in the support of the mining operation . . . !

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/2/rush-for-rare-earth-may-create-nebraska-boomtown/

[franksolich]

I'd never heard of Elk Creek, Nebraska.....even though it's in the same county as Cook, Nebraska, where I spent many of my evenings in college drinking at the bar there.

That's way down in the southeastern part of Nebraska, far from both dutch508 and myself, about where the TwilightGardener primitive from Skins's island lives.

[BlueStateSaint]

I'd never heard of Elk Creek, Nebraska.....even though it's in the same county as Cook, Nebraska, where I spent many of my evenings in college drinking at the bar there.

That's way down in the southeastern part of Nebraska, far from both dutch508 and myself, about where the TwilightGardener primitive from Skins's island lives.

So, then, there should be a whole slew of bouncy stories from that primitive soon . . . .

[thundley4]

And the EPA will be shutting down operations in 3-2-1.......

[DumbAss Tanker]

And the EPA will be shutting down operations in 3-2-1.......

Exactly what went through my mind...I'm sure even now the Regional Director is on the horn with DC, trying to figure out how to crush the life out of it.

[Airwolf]

EPA And probably some of the local farmers too. They have been trying to stop the pipeline from Canada from running through Nebraska because they fear oil spills and whatnot even though the Alaska pipline has had maybe one or two leaks and they were made man and never resulted in anything serious.

[JohnnyReb]

We have a gold mine near here...they've been drilling and testing for several years now....can't get a mining permit because of EPA and out of state environmentalist suing. Who knew you could go broke sitting on a gold mine.

[NHSparky]

And the EPA will be shutting down operations in 3-2-1.......

True dat.  My father worked on a project at a Cerium mine in California (Mountain Pass, just off I-15 to be exact) which NEVER started up.

That was 14 years ago.