Minerals, Critical Minerals, and the U.S. Economy (2008) / Chapter Skim
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2 Minerals and Materials Uses in the United States
2 Minerals and Materials Uses in the United States
Pages 39-70
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From page 39... ...
Estimates suggest that current lifestyles in the United States require per capita annual consumption of more than 25,000 pounds (11.3 metric tons) of new nonfuel minerals to make the things that we use every day (MII, 2007a)
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From page 40... ...
Recent international media atten tion to the very rapid rates of economic and industrial growth particularly in China and India, relative to Europe, North America, and Japan, indicates that the emerging economies and their global influence are also gaining public interest. Nonfuel minerals factor directly into this situation as key inputs to continued industrialization and manufacturing output for emerging economies, as these nations satisfy both their own, growing domestic consumer needs and the large international demand for their exported products.
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From page 41... ...
to the selection or development of new automobile designs. China's growing mineral demand also affects emerging materials and technologies, such as those requiring rare earth elements (REs)
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From page 42... ...
That is, users demand minerals for the chemical and physical properties they and the elements extracted from them provide. Copper, for example, provides electrical conductivity.
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From page 43... ...
. The unique properties of elements and the minerals in which they are found allow some minerals to be used directly on extraction from the Earth, or after relatively limited processing, whereas others must undergo extensive transformation and processing to produce metals, metal alloys, inorganic metal compounds, electronic materials, manufactured parts, and construction materials.
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From page 44... ...
light weight, conductivity, durability, or corrosion resistance. Minerals that can be extracted and used after relatively limited processing include sand, gravel, dimension stone, agricultural limestone, and clays (Box 2.2)
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From page 45... ...
or precious metals (silver, gold, palladium, platinum, osmium)
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From page 46... ...
, used in the construction of streets, highways, and parking lots. Ready-mix concrete is also used in the construction of residential and nonresidential buildings, bridges, dams, and water and sewage treatment plants.
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From page 47... ...
While the permitted reserves will last an average of 17 years, 4 of the 31 aggregate study areas -- North San Francisco Bay, Sacramento County, Fresno County, and northern Tulare County -- are projected to have less than 10 years of permitted aggregate resources remaining. The California Geological Survey has expressed concern that California will increasingly experience shortages in the future.
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From page 48... ...
. Some minerals that are particularly strategic to the defense sector include some of the rare earths (REs)
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From page 49... ...
The committee addresses some of the mineral needs of the defense sector briefly in Box 2.3 and refers the reader to the more detailed treatment of the defense sector and strategic minerals in the report of the National Research Council (NRC) Committee on Assessing the Need for a Defense Stockpile (NRC, 2007)
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From page 50... ...
. The desire for increased strength with decreased weight encouraged the development and use of various steel alloys containing a variety of important minerals including molybdenum, chromium, nickel, and manganese, in addition to vanadium.
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From page 51... ...
Zinc 22/10 Galvanizer; strengthens in metal alloys (die cast parts and galvanized metal) Manganese 17/8 Hardens as metal alloy Chromium 15/7 Corrosion resistance and hardness as metal alloy Nickel 9/4 Strength at elevated temperature and corrosion resistance as metal alloy Magnesium 4.5/2 Alloying element with other metals such as aluminum Sulfur 2/0.9 Strengthens rubber tires Molybdenum 1/4.5 Strength and toughness as metal alloy Vanadium <1/<0.45 Strengthens, hardens, lighter weight as metal alloy Platinum 0.05-0.10 troy Catalytic properties (catalytic converters)
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From page 52... ...
, as well as larger quantities of other metals such as cobalt, nickel, and/or lithium with electrochemical and thermal properties that make them important as components (electrodes) of the rechargeable battery system for hybrid vehicles (either lithium ion or nickel-metal hydride batteries)
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From page 53... ...
Catalytic converters will not operate without cerium and lanthanum, for which no substitutes are known. One of the REs, neodymium, also plays a significant role as a component in high-strength magnets, important to the automotive industry as a major part of power windows.
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From page 54... ...
. Because of its much lower density compared to earlier alloy materials, titanium has become a preferred material for a number of gas turbine components, lending a significant reduction in weight.
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From page 55... ...
Al: aluminum; HTS: high tensile steel; Mg: magnesium; Ti: titanium; MMC: metal matrix composites. SOURCE: Adapted from Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, 1996.
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From page 56... ...
Miniaturization, energy efficiency, and increased processing or operating speed are some of the product performance goals that have driven research to optimize the properties of minerals or mineral products to meet new performance specifications. On the basis of weight, steel and plastics are the two dominant materials used in electronic products.
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From page 57... ...
illustrate the increase in the number of minerals or their derivatives used in chip manufacturing as technological advances have captured increasingly more specialized mineral properties. The result is a dynamic view of mineral products through time and a view of the global perspective needed by computer chip manufacturers to secure the raw materials for chip production.
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From page 58... ...
In the 1980s, computer chips were made with a palette of twelve minerals or their elemental components. A decade later, 16 elements were employed.
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From page 59... ...
The rapid growth in use of indium tin oxide to produce liquid crystal displays has partly fueled the price increase of indium in this 4-year period. Stable or falling prices for cadmium, selenium, and gallium over the same period have contributed positively to their use in the manufacture of PV wafers.
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From page 60... ...
Nickel-metal hydride batteries have a slightly lower energy density compared to lithium ion batteries but are currently the most commonly used battery in hybrid electric vehicles. Nickel hydroxide forms the cathode of the battery, while the anode is composed of a metallic compound of REs (particularly lanthanum and cerium)
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From page 61... ...
There is now considerable international pressure to eliminate lead from solders as well. This latter case is a good example of how a critical mineral can seriously affect performance; considerable effort has been expended in finding suit 61
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From page 62... ...
MINERALS, CRITICAL MINERALS, AND the u.s. ECONOMY 35,000 Agricultural chemicals Pressure-treated wood 30,000 Glass Other 25,000 Nonferrous alloys and electronics METRIC TONS 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0 75 80 85 90 95 00 03 19 19 19 19 19 20 20 FIGURE 2.3 End uses of arsenic from 1975 through 2003.
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From page 63... ...
Geological Survey (USGS) suggest that the value added to the gross domestic product (GDP)
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From page 64... ...
(ESTIMATED VALUES IN 2006) Imports: $5.9 billion Exports: $6.3 billion Net exports: $0.4 billion MINERAL MATERIALS DOMESTIC MINERAL RAW PROCESSED MATERIALS FROM MINING DOMESTICALLY COPPER ORE, IRON ORE, ALUMINUM, BRICK, SAND AND GRAVEL, CEMENT, COPPER, VALUE ADDED TO STONE, ETC.
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From page 65... ...
An additional 1.5 million people were employed in the durable good manufacturing part of the mineral sector in 2005. Although it is difficult to estimate the partial, but important, direct fiscal or employment contributions of either petroleum products or minerals to the construction, plastics, transportation, automotive, aerospace, electronic, or general energy sectors, some estimates place that total contribution at approximately $2 trillion in value added to the GDP by industries that consume processed mineral materials (USGS, 2007a)
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From page 66... ...
? The types of possible effects include impacts on the following: • Domestic production of minerals: opportunities may arise for in creased domestic production of the mineral whose supply has been restricted, unless the supply restriction is caused by disruption at domestic production facilities; increased domestic production might incorporate previously uneconomic primary or secondary production.
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From page 67... ...
Over time, substitution of one mineral for another has occurred as technologies evolve. Substitution is easier in some situations than others (e.g., substituting for arsenic, as opposed to finding a replacement for PGMs in catalytic converters)
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From page 68... ...
Specifically the committee has found the following: • Most common products in the domestic economy owe their func tion and form to various minerals and mineral products; • The importance of various minerals in these products has changed over time with changing technology; • The "dynamism" of mineral importance through time means that mineral criticality at a given moment is a snapshot, rather than an enduring constant; and • Direct domestic impacts on individual consumers, and the extrac tive and manufacturing sectors supplying those products, can be estimated if a restriction in supply of a critical mineral occurs.
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From page 69... ...
Golden, Colo.: Mineral Information Institute. Available online at http://www.mii.org/pdfs/2007_mii_Baby_Info.pdf (ac cessed June 28, 2007)
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From page 70... ...
Presentation to Committee on Critical Mineral Impacts on the U.S. Economy.
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