Rare Earth Frontiers
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RARE EARTH FRONTIERS RARE EARTH FRONTIERS From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes Julie Michelle Klinger CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON Copyright © 2017 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2017 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of Amer i ca Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Klinger, Julie Michelle, 1983– author. Title: Rare earth frontiers : from terrestrial subsoils to lunar landscapes / Julie Michelle Klinger. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2017012446 (print) | LCCN 2017014409 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501714603 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501714610 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501714580 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501714597 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Rare earth metals— Social aspects. | Rare earth metals— Political aspects. | Rare earth metals— China— Inner Mongolia. | Rare earth metals— Brazil— Amazonas. | Lunar mining. Classification: LCC TN490.A2 (ebook) | LCC TN490.A2 K56 2017 (print) | DDC 553.4/94— dc23 LC rec ord available at https : // lccn . loc . gov / 2017012446 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent pos si ble in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable- based, low- VOC inks and acid- free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine- free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further informa- tion, visit our website at cornellpress . cornell . edu. To the people of Bayan Obo, and Baotou, whose waters, soils, and bodies have borne a burden few outside of rare earth mining regions can imagine; to the people of São Gabriel da Cachoeira; to those devoting their lives to more just and sustainable regimes of rare earth production and consumption; this work is humbly dedicated to you. Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowl edgments xi Introduction: Welcome to the Rare Earth Frontier 1 1. What Are Rare Earth Ele ments? 41 2. Placing China in the World History of Discovery, Production, and Use 67 3. “Welcome to the Hometown of Rare Earths”: 1980–2010 103 4. Rude Awakenings 137 5. From the Heartland to the Head of the Dog 165 6. Extraglobal Extraction 199 Conclusion 229 Appendix: Methodologies and Approaches 243 Notes 251 References 265 Index 309 Illustrations Figure 1. Global rare earth oxide production 2 Figure 2. Research sites examined in the pres ent work, 2010–2015 2 Figure 3. Price index for selected rare earth oxides compared to copper and gold, 2003–2013 3 Figure 4. Vari ous frequently referenced periodic tables with highlighted rare earth ele ments 42–43 Figure 5. Map of global rare earth deposits identified by the United States Geo- logical Survey, 2015 64 Figure 6. Location of Baotou in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China 68 Figure 7. Location of Baotou City and Bayan Obo Mining District within Baotou Municipality 69 Figure 8. Photo from an Inner Mongolia Daily front page article on women’s committee pro gress, June 12, 1952 89 Figure 9. An editorial comic on the back page of the Inner Mongolia Daily, March 5, 1952 90 Figure 10. Photos from a special to the Inner Mongolia Daily, titled “Young Women Build Socialism!,” June 12, 1953 91 Figure 11. A life- size diorama at the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Mu- seum in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia 94 Figure 12. Satellite image of industrial geography of Baotou City and vicinity 116 Figure 13. Rare earth export quotas in tonnes, 2000–2014 131 Figure 14. Location of Araxá and Cabeça do Cachorro 167 Figure 15. Detailed map of land demarcation and princi ple ethnicities in Cabeça do Cachorro 171 Figure 16. Adaptation of two slides showing mineral deposits, key mineral reserves, and indigenous territories 174–175 Figure 17. Location of lunar KREEP, lunar landing sites, and deeded plots 203 ix Acknowl edgments The creative and often surprising ways that people get involved in a proj ect of this scope would, I suspect, be worthy of its own novel, but with these few words I wish to acknowledge those principal characters without whose support this book would not be. To Michael Watts, Nathan Sayre, Harley Shaiken, Paola Bacchetta, Richard Walker, and You- tien Hsing at the University of California, Berkeley, and to Kenneth Pomeranz, at the University of Chicago. Thank you for your kind mentorship. To those who hosted me at vari ous research institutions throughout the dura- tion of this proj ect, a special thank you to Alexandre Barbosa at the University of São Paulo Institute of Brazil Studies; to Wu Baiyi at the China Academy of Social Science Institute of Latin American Studies; to Liu Weidong at China Academy of Science Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natu ral Resources Research; to Bi Aonan at the China Acad emy of Social Science Research Center for Chinese Borderland History and Geography; to Yang Tengyuan at the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region University; to Ingo Richter, Sabine Berking, and Stefanie Schafer of the Irmgard Coninx Stiftung at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin. With- out the ‘home away from home’ that you provided, this work could not have been accomplished. For funding, it has been an honor to have this research supported by the East Asian Career Development Professorship Award at Boston University, the Na- tional Science Foundation Gradu ate Research Fellowship Program, the Univer- sity of California, Berkeley Department of Geography, and the Irmgard Coninx Stiftung in Berlin. To those who provided the critical administrative support to keep this enter- prise running, thank you to Elaine Bidianos, Christian Estrella, and Noorjehan Khan at Boston University, and thank you to Marjorie Ensor and Natalia Von- negut at University of California, Berkeley. To my excellent research assistants, thank you to Tara Moore at Boston Uni- versity and Wang Xingchen in Inner Mongolia and Beijing for helping me track down all manner of archival sources. For typing support while I recovered from an injury to both of my arms, thanks to Jenna Hornbuckle and Nick Scheepers. For excellent graphic design work, thank you to Molly Roy. For all manner of technical support, thank you to Nick Bojda. xi xii ACKNOWL EDGMENTS To my circle of writers, thank you for your companionship and solidarity, especially Noora Lori, Jessica Stern, Manjari Miller, Saida Grundy, Ashley Farmer, Cornel Ban, Kaija Schilde, and Renata Keller. To my dear friends and fellow ge- ographers, for your camaraderie and companionship over the years, especially Shaina Potts, Zoë Friedman- Cohen, Meleiza Figueroa, Annie Shattuck, Mary Whelan, Aharon de Grassi, Anne Bitsch, and Danny Bednar. To those whose love and hospitality provided a warm respite amid the more intense periods of fieldwork, thank you. To Ward Lynds and Zhang Yazhou, my dear friends of fifteen years in Changchun. To Brendan and Angela Acord in Bei- jing, my beloved bon vivants. To Jeffrey Warner, Yang Weina, and Zhao Qiuwan in Shanghai. To Gustavo Oliveira in Brasília, and to my dear Brazilian family, whom I had the good fortune of encountering in both Brazil and China. our long con- versations, cele brations, and laughter sustain me. Renato, Dulcinea, Daniela, Guilherme, Kika, Manuela, Anahi, and most of all, José Renato Peneluppi Jr. To my intellectual godparents, mentors, and dear friends, Joshua Muldavin and Monica Varsanyi. Thank you for lighting my way and sharing so much of your lives with me, from Beijing to New York City. To my family, thank you for your love, encouragement, and zest for adven- ture. As long as I can remember, you’ve told me to go far, be brave, have fun, and do the right thing. I will always do my best to make you proud. To my dear spouse, life partner, and best friend, Nick Bojda. Thank you for every single conversation, for circling the globe with me, and for not only endur- ing long absences but cheering me through them. Your love and support mean the world to me. Portions of chapters 1 and 2 appeared in earlier form in “Historical Geogra- phy of Rare Earth Ele ments. From Discovery to the Atomic Age,” The Extractive Industries and Society 2, no. 3 (2015): 572–80. Portions of chapters 1 and 3 are reprinted from “The Environment- Security Nexus in Con temporary Rare Earth Politics,” in The Po liti cal Economy of Rare Earth Ele ments. Rising Powers and Tech- nological Change, edited by Ryan David Kiggins (New York: Macmillan, 2015), 133–55. Thank you for supporting my scholarly work. Fi nally, I am im mensely grateful for the support provided by my editor, Jim Lance, and the publishing team at Cornell University Press. Thank you for your stewardship over this proj ect. All translations in the text are my own, as are any remaining errors or short- comings. Except where indicated in the text, this book uses metric mea sure- ments. Large volumes are mea sured in tonnes, the singular of which is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. These are not to be confused with the American ton, which is a unit of mass equal to 907.2 kilograms, or 2,000 pounds. RARE EARTH FRONTIERS Introduction WELCOME TO THE RARE EARTH FRONTIER Non- availability means that resource conflict is an immediate threat with negative short- and long- term geostrategic consequences. — Rare Earth Ele ments World Report (June 21, 2012) The prob lem we face on earth is that beyond their scarcity, these ele ments are not evenly distributed throughout the world. We need to disrupt this market.