Lever or Two-edged Sword?

That is one of the reasons I invested in "GREAT WESTERN MINERALS " which is a NA company exploiting rare-earth metals. It should eventually be a good investment once the market is comes back.

If we don't support the local companies, we will eventually pay greatly for our dependence.

This applies to resources and transformation. It might be cheaper to process the resources in Asia but we will eventually run out of the skills to do it ourself and then what...

If China tries to play too hard with their monopoly, everyone else will just look for other alternatives.

China is a good source for nickel but the other Malaysian countries are also producing nickel and their market will increase to stabalize China's hold on the market.

Oh yes how informed you must be as last time I looked at "other Malaysian countries" there was only one Malaysia , god look at the globe before informing us with your "local bar" stories fool !

Whether I'm right or wrong on what I said, you just made a jackass out of yourself.

Just for the record you are wrong.

Top Producers are of nickel

1. Russia

2. Canada

3. Australia

oh, and FYI, Nickel isn't a rare earth metal.

Here are a few that are:

Neodymium (used in making those great magnets)

Samarium (used in another type of magnet)

Promethium

yttrium

Cerium

Lanthanium

Unobtanium

Supraunobtainium.

I could be wrong about the last two.

Thank you for your information.

I didn't say anything about it being rare.

What I do know is that nickel is the price driver for Stainless Steel which I do work with.

The price of nickel also fluctuates along with the price of oil.

We have received our stainless steel from Asia.

Whether I'm right or wrong in my statements, I enjoy being corrected when my information is faulty. I just don't deserve comments such as that from "Guest."

This discussion is about rare earth metals. You are responding in the discussion, one can naturally assume your are responding to the discussion. Otherwise why not start talking about Portuguese Water Dogs or Long Leaf Pines, perhaps? The discussion is about rare earth metal... take a rare moment and be honest that your comment was too.

It is okay to be wrong, as long as you can admit it and adjust accordingly.

Yes I understand.

I missed the point of the topic. To me Marcot's statement was kind of vague and felt I was adding to it.

You are 100% correct, that comment from the 'guest' was completely uncalled for and should be ignored. That person did indeed make a jackass of theirself, even if they are anonamous.

My understanding is that a considerable amount of rare earths are also present in sand mining and are usually not extracted because it isn't worth it.

If China tries to jack up the price of rare earths, the large amounts sitting in sands around the world will quickly be mined and the price will stabilize.

I'm sure the Chinese are well aware of this and will be cautious as to how far they push their advantage.

A similar situation exists with tungsten. I know of some good quality tungsten deposits which are not being mined because the Chinese oversupplied the world market and forced the price down.