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US TO BUILD $120M RARE EARTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE
The US Department of Energy is giving $120m (£75m) to set up a new research centre charged with developing new methods of rare earth production.
Rare earths are 17 chemically similar elements crucial to
making many hi-tech products, such as phones and PCs. The
Critical Materials Institute will be located in Ames, Iowa.
The US wants to reduce its dependency on China, which
produces more than 95% of the world’s rare earth elements, and
address local shortages. According to the US Geological Survey,
there may be deposits of rare earths in 14 US states. Besides
being used for hi-tech gadgets, the elements are also crucial for
manufacturing low-carbon resources such as wind turbines, solar
panels and electric cars, said David Danielson, the US assistant
secretary for renewable energy
Rare earth elements are also used for military applications,
such as advanced optics technologies, radar and radiation
detection equipment, and advanced communications systems,
according to a 2011 research report by the US Government
Accountability Office. From the 1960s until the 1980s, the
Mountain Pass mine in California made the US the world leader
in rare earth production, but it was later closed, largely due to
competition with the elements imported from China.
At the moment, the regulations surrounding rare earths
mining in the US are very strict, an expert on the materials
from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden told the
BBC. “The Mountain Pass mine was [also] closed down for
environmental reasons,” said Prof Ekberg.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20986437.11.01.2013. Adaptado)
O termo besides em – Besides being used for hi-tech
gadgets, the elements are also crucial for manufacturing
low-carbon resources such as wind turbines… – implica