The Unexpected Tech

A Visit to the Only American Mine for Rare Earth Metals

Molycorp is the only US company that produces the rare earth metals used in devices ranging from wind turbines and electric vehicles to missile-guidance systems and compact fluorescent lightbulbs. There are seventeen rare earth elements, including praseodymium (used to makephotographic filters), neodymium (used to make permanent magnets in hard drives and other electronics), and europium (used to make fluorescent light bulbs and TV screens).

Rare earths are used in a wide variety of electronics and clean energy technology. Somewhat counterintuitively, rare earths are not rare in the earth’s crust; however, they tend to be dispersed in tiny quantities throughout the crust. They’re often located within minerals such as bastnaesite and monazite, which makes them difficult and expensive to mine.

At one point, the majority of the world’s rare earths were mined at the Mountain Pass facility. Then, in 1998, Molycorp halted chemical processing at the mine following an environmental disaster;radioactive wastewater flooded the nearby Ivanpah Dry Lake. At the same time, China was dramatically increasing its rare earth production.