rics rare earth metals 2011 · rare earth metals 1st edition, information paper this information...

Rare earth metals1st edition, information paper

This information paper describes the importance and increasingscarcity of rare earth metals – little known but highly significant torenewable energy, lighting, transportation and urban development.Examined from a point of view highly relevant to RICS members andother property professionals operating within the UK, the paper alsohighlights potential issues arising from a global shortage.

The scale of the problem is explored in the context of the increasedurbanisation of several global regions and the mounting pressureto extract these resources through mining, with considerableenvironmental implications. As chartered surveyors have a role inseeking out materials, products and technologies, developing andimplementing strategies to minimise the loss of these materials andextending their life and recovery remains vital.

Prepared with input from academics and practitioners with expertisein material processing technology, overall the information paper aimsto increase awareness of the shortage of rare earths and asks howthis might impact both on developing countries and on the widermove towards a greener urban environment. It considers the policycontext and reviews the recent emergence of concern about the issueamong key decision makers.

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RICS Practice Standards, UK

1st edition, information paper

Rare earth metals

IP 23/2011

Rare earth metals

RICS information paper

1st edition (IP 23/2011)

Published by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)

Surveyor CourtWestwood Business ParkCoventry CV4 8JEUK

www.ricsbooks.com

No responsibility for loss or damage caused to any person acting or refraining from action as a result of the material included in this publication can be accepted by the authors or RICS.

Produced by the Minerals and Waste Management Professional Group of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

ISBN 978 1 84219 715 8

© Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) September 2011. Copyright in all or part of this publication rests with RICS. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means including graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or Web distribution, without the written permission of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors or in line with the rules of an existing license.

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RARE EARTH METALS | iii

Executive summary iv

Acknowledgments vi

RICS information papers 1

1 Background 2

2 The importance of rare earth metals to the global economy 4

2.1 Demand and supply 4

2.2 Applications for the green economy 6

3 The importance of rare earth metals to chartered surveyors 8

3.1 Rare earths and the built environment 8

3.2 Construction 9

3.3 Lighting 9

3.4 Within the home and office 10

3.5 Transport 10

4 Recycling of rare earths 12

4.1 Waste and possible initiatives 12

4.2 The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive 15

5 Conclusions 17

Bibliography 19

Contents

iv | RARE EARTH METALS

‘Rare earths’ are a set of 17 minerals that have conventionally been produced as a by-product of mining for other minerals. They are increasingly seen as important to facilitating a low carbon future, particularly in the renewable energy and transportation sectors and in addressing the challenge of climate change. As global demand for these resources grows, the need to ensure that these are managed in a sustainable way will become ever more important.

As the value of these mineral resources has been recognised, and as the demand grows for them, the question of availability and security of supply has come to the fore and generated media interest. There is growing evidence that the dominant concentration of rare earths production in China may present difficulties at least in the medium term for those nations keen to achieve a greener economy. While new sources of supply may be identified in many countries, the timeframe for new mining operations to be brought to full production may extend over several years and the results may not be as beneficial as hoped. Looking ahead there will also be a growing supply of used rare earth metals (REMs) above ground that could be brought back into use and the technology around material processing is being developed. The need to use REMs in the most beneficial way will also become evident.

Increased extraction of rare earths may well be the result of growing demand and rising prices and many opportunities are now being explored. However, there is a paradox in that in order to support the move to a green economy, new mining operations may raise other issues in various parts of the world including environmental degradation, and abuse of human rights (including those of indigenous peoples), apart from the economic risks involved and the waste created. The energy usage to extract the small amount of REMs means also that a relatively high embedded carbon footprint could be associated with these operations.

The established approach to waste management tends to be focused on disposal of materials in a safe and efficient way, especially hazardous waste. Traditionally there has been little incentive

to recover resources which could be important to economic development and which might potentially be in short supply in future years.

The waste industry in many countries has been concerned with reducing quantities of waste (and in the EU finding alternatives to landfill to avoid EU punitive fines) and in recent years moving towards energy from waste solutions based on incineration. More generally, the effort to ensure material recovery and processing has often been limited with some notable exceptions, such as Japan.

The design of products often does not consider ease of recycling at end-of-life. Furthermore as end-of-life products become mixed in the waste stream, especially in e-waste, this militates against recovery.

All of this may be about to change as there is a growing recognition of the strategic importance of mineral resources, including rare earths, combined with a realisation that much material already in use will need to be recycled. In the built environment it has been suggested that it should be possible to disaggregate end-of-life buildings and that in the future assets will be bought and sold with a protocol that establishes the material content of the asset. This may have implications for future valuation practice.

As the global population rises there will be a vast new wave of urbanisation; estimates vary between hundreds and thousands of new cities being created over the next 50 years. If uncontrolled, the resource implications of this change may devastate the environment and contribute to an acceleration of climate change.

There is an opportunity to design these new places so that they minimise their planetary footprint in terms of resource consumption and integrate climate change adaptation into their planning. Intelligent cities using new technology to maximise efficiency of operations and resource efficiency can also be more sustainable. Their energy and water resource management and even food production needs could also be supported by smart technologies using rare earth metals. The effect of all this may be to drive up demand for rare

Executive summary

RARE EARTH METALS | v

earths still further. In those parts of the world where many new cities are being planned, largely in Asia, this may mean shortages of supply of rare earths for other countries trying to future proof their own societies. Rare earths may play a very important role.

This increased demand might mean more damage in the short-medium term to the environment as mining activity expands, possibly with less regulation in certain parts of the world. However, there will be benefits in furthering the research and development of new technologies and practices to improve extraction and processing of these minerals, which include a reduction of the environmental impact. This could result in a step change which in turn might mean reducing dependence on other resources that are more destructive to the environment, such as converting agricultural or forest lands to biofuel production.

Chartered surveyors should be aware of the complexities of these issues and especially the need for greater innovation in the built environment and transport and the vital role that rare earths will play in this. Specifying materials or products that can if necessary be substituted may become an important comparative tool in advising on development proposals. The move to recovering REMs from above ground sources could provide products that have a greater longevity, efficiency and favourable life cycle costing assessments.

In conclusion, developing a balanced approach to creating a sustainable future calls for more research and development into REMs and their applications, as well as the search for suitable alternatives.

vi | RARE EARTH METALS

Acknowledgments

This paper addresses an important issue of international interest at the present time, the question about the available supply of rare earth metals and the impact that their shortage might have on the capacity of many countries to adapt to meet the climate change challenge.

RICS would like to thank the following for their contributions to this information paper:

Lead author

Stephen McKenna

Consultants to the author

Steve Haymes, Waste Expert

Professor Animesh Jha, Chair of Applied Metals, School of Process Materials Engineering, Leeds University

Suneel Kunamaneni, Sustainability and Innovation, Leeds University

Rebecca Mooney, RICS

RICS Rare Earth Metals Working Group

Michael Doran, Action Renewables

Tim Elliott, Elliott Environmental Surveyors Ltd

Andrew Fitzherbert, MTS Consultancy Ltd

Keith Leighfield

Gary Redfern, Marshalls PLC

David Sandbrook, SLR Consulting Ltd

RARE EARTH METALS | 1

This is an information paper. Information papers are intended to provide information and explanation to members of RICS on specific topics of relevance to the profession. The function of this paper is not to recommend or advise on professional procedure to be followed by surveyors.

It is, however, relevant to professional competence to the extent that a surveyor should be up to date and should have informed him or herself of information papers within a reasonable time of their coming into effect.

Members should note that when an allegation of professional negligence is made against a surveyor, the court is likely to take account of any relevant information papers published by RICS in deciding whether or not the surveyor has acted with reasonable competence.

RICS information papers

2 | RARE EARTH METALS

RICS Land Group covers five professional groups within RICS: Planning and Development, Rural, Environment, Geomatics and Minerals and Waste Management. The global environment is undoubtedly going to experience change on a significant scale in the years to come and choices need to be made to secure a robust, equitable and sustainable future for us all. This paper is published at a time when, set against many indicators of crucial importance to sustainable resource management, a ‘hockey stick’ curve is showing exponential and potentially unsustainable use of limited resources.

‘Rare earths’ are 17 metals with properties that enable development of green technologies, including wind power and electric cars but are also of wider importance being essential components of computers, mobile phones and a huge range of other products. It should be noted that other speciality metals are also of great importance to the green economy including platinum and palladium (catalytic converters), indium (solar panels) and gallium (potential replacement of indium based materials in photovoltaic cells) and, like REMs, are also of limited availability currently and often prohibitively costly to extract and process.

There are already global shortages of REMs and demand is forecast to climb by 8–11 per cent a year, driven at least in part by the growth of green technologies. These technologies tend to rely on the efficient generation and use and storage of electricity, which call for very strong magnetic fields. Neodymium and samarium-cobalt magnets are by far the strongest, most compact, permanent magnets available used in electronic vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines (two tonnes of neodymium for each wind turbine). Terbium is indispensable in the manufacture of the low-energy light bulbs which many governments are now insisting upon people using.

The earliest discovery of these curious metals was in Ytterby in Sweden (hence yttrium and ytterbium) in 1787, but they did not become significant industrially and commercially until the explosion of technology. India and Brazil were the main sources to start with, followed by South Africa, but since

the 1980s China has taken over the market with an estimated third of global rare earth deposits and an estimated 97 per cent of current global production. The US, for example, sources 94 per cent of its REMs from China. Although the USA was once a major producer outside China, today only Australia, Brazil, India and Russia produce very small amounts. There are, however, substantial deposits of rare earths around the globe which have yet to be exploited. Although REMs can be found in regions that are relatively underpopulated such as Western Australia they are also often located in sensitive environments, such as the Arctic. Rare earth metals have certain qualities that make them different; they are non-soluble, hard to dilute and degrade very slowly. Provided they can be recycled in a cost effective way they can be re-used almost indefinitely in a variety of applications. Paradoxically, if they can be re-used in this way the current limited availability might not become such a threat to the low carbon economy.

Global demand for REMs has increased from 5,000 tonnes in 1955 to 120,000 tonnes in 2009. Demand has trebled from 40,000 tonnes in the last decade alone. By 2014, if green technology thrives, it has been estimated 200,000 tonnes per annum will be needed, but this will certainly exceed production by an estimated 40,000 tonnes per annum. Estimates of world reserves have been recently asserted to be in the region of 113 million tonnes. While it is difficult to anticipate objectively whether the supply of rare earth metals can be characterised as approaching a possible crisis the effects of a shortage might be to slow down or undermine the efforts to convert many countries to a low carbon, sustainable footing.

News from China has recently indicated that in addition to reducing exports of REMs, China could even become a net importer over the next few years to support its own domestic green technology revolution.

Whatever the outcome short-term, in the interests of sustaining valuable resources there is a real need to avoid inefficient use of rare earths and other speciality metals by securing their collection and re-use, rather than relying on an uncertain

1 Background


supply. Pressures are growing (population growth, urbanisation and climate change) which will increase greenhouse gas emissions, but which will also highlight the limits to global growth and use of resources.

This information paper therefore is designed to help members understand this fast moving area as it begins to influence national and international policy. In the UK the effort to move towards a low carbon economy is dependent on speciality and rare earth metals to a significant extent and is stimulating the search for them. However, even with no significant domestic supply of REMs in the UK, the importance of REM recycling in the UK and other countries will grow.

It is hoped this paper will trigger research in a number of areas of interest to chartered surveyors, urban planners and a range of decision makers across a number of sectors and industries, as well as the policy makers. Research into material processing may have implications for the growth of the green economy and time is of the essence. Other countries and industries are already developing processes that can give the design and use of products a competitive edge. Research should enable easier recycling/re-processing (i.e. mineral beneficiation process technology, life cycle costing that takes into account the true value of rare earths as raw materials in products, policy in waste and minerals management and the growing green manufacturing sector). Research into the costs (social, economic, environmental) of extracting rare earths through mining, including the carbon cost, would also be useful, especially in comparison with the costs and benefits of recycling REMs.


Sustainable development is concerned with making better use of resources. However, some of these are not able to be replenished, notably metals, oil and gas. There is growing concern about their supply and the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 has been seen by some as evidence that growing global demand is pushing exploration into regions and environments that carry a higher risk.

The progress towards energy efficiency and greener technologies is gathering momentum. Metals as a raw material are essential for economic development – base metals like steel and aluminium, mainly for buildings and infrastructure, precious and speciality metals like palladium and indium for modern green technologies.

Improvements in design will help products and components which require common and speciality/rare earth metals not only to become more efficient and last longer but also to enable a low carbon model to be realised more rapidly. Design has a role to play in enabling end-of-life recycling and decommissioning so that the process of extracting these resources becomes easier rather than further compromising already limited resources. This is especially relevant in the case of REMs as it is increasingly important that their supply is recycled as extensively as possible.

2.1 Demand and supply

Global demand for metals including rare earths is increasing exponentially, especially in the rising economies and developing countries. There are two fundamental reasons for growth of demand: growing population and growing affluence.

The growth in demand for rare earths especially in China (for green technologies such as a huge offshore wind turbine farm planned along the coast of at least 85GW) has led to exports of rare earths being restricted. China intends to switch to become a leading generator of renewable energy and is concerned to protect its supplies of REMs. For China REMs have been part of its long-term planning for growth, but the issue has been

focused by the demand spike in recent times across the globe for many limited resources. It is recognised that the progress towards the green economy will also add to demand.

One commentator on the issues has argued that the supply issue is one of contemporary economics not of scarcity, and says:

‘If the goal of future society is to live in a world of unlimited consumption then it will fail; it’s time to make some very long-term plans and make choices about the allocation of human intellectual as well as financial capital to ensure the best life for the most people. The problems are water, energy, and metals.’ (Jack Lifton)

Today China has 97 per cent of current production of rare earths worldwide but the recent awareness of the possible shortage of these metals and rising prices means new exploration is underway and in some cases new mining operations are planned. New mines are opening in several countries including Australia, Brazil, India, Malawi, Malaysia and Russia. Historically there was an REM mine in California but, partly perhaps as a lack of strategic foresight and also as a consequence of market competition, this mine was mothballed some years ago, only to later be re-opened.

Mining rare earths will no doubt continue to be the main source of supply in the short-term, but much of the planned exploitation that is currently underway may prove to have disappointing results. Many rare earths are found together as, being soluble, they have tended to concentrate naturally over time at the same site. In many cases rare earths are extracted as by-products of primary ore mining. The stimulus provided by price spikes encourage investors but with REMs supply cannot necessarily always respond to demand and there may be casualties in commercial terms. Having said that, the USA has large rock forming deposits and India has potentially huge deposits in Kerala state. Other supplies are thought to exist in the Arctic regions. With deposits yet to be found there are opportunities for sustainable supplies so long as the resources are not dissipated.

2 The importance of rare earth metals to the global economy


The supply side issues and more recent restrictions placed by China on exporting REMs has led to Japan undertaking extensive research into alternatives at the same time as entering into bilateral agreements with business and government elsewhere, including deals with Australia and Vietnam. India is also aware that an opportunity exists to provide supplies to Japan and other customers of REMs that are now less readily available from China. Japan has even launched a huge subsidy programme to assist manufacturers in securing supplies of rare earths. The earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan in 2011 may also trigger a more intensive review of the energy generation sector and the contribution of renewables and therefore rare earth metals.

However, there are potentially issues arising from the lack of supply. Environmental impact due to both primary extraction and processing may have severe consequences for local habitats, and potentially social tensions between populations. It should also be noted that mining operations require an enormous amount of energy, with recent research indicating around three per cent of total global energy demand is used solely to crush rock for mineral extraction. Mining operations also have a significant carbon footprint and generate potentially huge quantities of waste. There are also issues arising from radioactive slurry tailings from thorium and uranium commonly found in rare earth ores as well as the toxic acids used in refining. The amount of mining waste and its hazardous impact potentially may also be a major concern if REMs drive a new expansion of mining capacity, especially in regions where the regulatory framework may be less rigorous.

At the national and international level growing dependence on regional or economic concentrations may risk even more serious incidents. There may be scope for substitutability of specific metals in some applications but this is unlikely to be possible in all cases.

Recently published by the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) the Review of the Future Resource Risks Faced by UK Business and an Assessment of Future Viability considered rare earths applications and demonstrated how significant they will be to achieving continuing sustainable growth. The report welcomed the possible expansion of supply but did not explore the scope for recycling existing rare

earths. The merits of this against primary extraction are examined below. In the UK there is at present a possibility that the former South Crofty Mine in Cornwall could be re-opened on the grounds that some metals could now be viable for extraction.

More recently Professor Robert Watson the Government Chief Scientific Adviser at DEFRA has commented (House of Commons Science and technology committee inquiry into strategically important metals) that while the UK presently is a relatively minor user of rare earths this may change as it seeks to meet its targets in reducing carbon emissions and greenhouse gases over the next few decades). Professor Watson has noted that as the UK moves towards a low carbon economy a number of rare earth metals will become much more important, and bearing in mind China’s actions in introducing export quotas for rare earths, he encourages a wider development of sources and avoidance of potential instability in the market.

However, as noted in the UK report of the Science and Technology Committee of the House of Commons, Strategically Important Metals, published in May 2011, very little rare earth raw material is used to produce components in the UK. It is in the use of semi-finished and finished goods such as permanent magnets and other components, and the devices and systems created from them, that companies in the UK generally interact with the rare earth supply chain. Only one UK based company is a user of rare earth metals in their raw form. The same report states that the market is also affected by regulation through the European Council Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical Substances (REACH) regulations. These may need to be reviewed since some argue they impose a cost tariff and act as a disincentive to importers.

In the USA there is also concern generated by China’s export quotas although this has already stimulated reopening of the Californian mine and, looking ahead, the prospect of potential alliances between the USA and other countries, such as Canada, to secure supplies.

In the USA the Rare Earth and Critical Materials Revitalization Act of 2011 has recently been promoted (February 2011) specifically to address concerns about these critical resources. The Act directs the Department of Energy to establish a programme of research and development


aimed at advancing technology affecting rare earths throughout their life cycle, from mining to manufacturing to recycling. It includes authorisation for research to find substitutes for rare earths and to find ways to reduce their usage.

The European Commission adopted a new strategy document in February 2011 to secure and improve access to raw materials for the EU. Based on the first Communication on the Raw Materials Initiative of November 2008 this new strategy pursues and reinforces the three pillar based approach as follows:

1. Fair and sustainable supply of raw materials from international markets.

2. Fostering sustainable supply within the EU.

3. Boosting resource efficiency and promote recycling.

The strategy also covers important considerations relating to the stability and transparency of commodity prices. Significant steps taken already include identifying critical raw materials, actions in trade and development, guidelines that clarify how extraction within the EU can be compatible with Natura 2000 requirements and new research opportunities under the seventh Research Framework Programme and development of the end of waste criteria.

2.2 Applications for the green economy

The challenge of tackling greenhouse gas emissions is now a cross cutting theme that affects policy and practice globally. Climate change has to be faced and applications using rare earths could impact positively on the effectiveness of international efforts. For every 1kW/hr saving achieved through renewable energy there is a reduction in CO2 emissions of 5.05kg. Rare earths are critical to the renewable energy developments underway in the UK and elsewhere, forming key components of wind turbines for example.

Offshore wind turbines which, for planning permission reasons are easier to develop in the UK context, may require up to two tonnes of permanent magnets using rare earths. The resilience provided by rare earths will at least double the life of these turbines as sea water corrosion is intense and neodymium can extend the life of the structure significantly. It is very resilient to salt water corrosion and does not degrade in salt water conditions to the same extent as other minerals. Specific application of rare earths to various cutting edge technologies with implications for the future low carbon green economy (excluding nuclear applications) are identified in Table 1.


Table 1: Rare earths and some of their applications

Y Yttrium Compact and linear fluorescent lamps, LEDs, high wear resistance ceramics, magnets, lasers, shock-resistant glass, metal alloys

Sc Scandium High-density lighting, oil refining

La Lanthanum Metal alloys (including Nickel metal hydride batteries), fluid catalytic cracking, emission reduction technologies, energy conservation systems

Ce Cerium Used in glass polishing sector including multi-level electronic components, ultraviolet light filtering, rare earth phosphors in flat-screen displays, uses in petroleum cracking catalysts and auto catalysts, incandescent gas mantles

Pr Praseodymium Permanent magnets, rare earth phosphors in flat-screen displays, carbon-arc lighting, glass and enamels, metal alloys

Nd Neodymium Permanent magnets, communication systems, medical imaging, computer disk drives, glass for astronomical uses and lasers, enamels, metal alloys

Pm Promethium Portable x-rays, measuring devices

Sm Samarium Carbon-arc lighting, permanent magnets stable at high temperatures, optical lasers

Eu Europium Fluorescents and phosphors in lamps and monitors, flat-screen display screens, lasers, x-ray imaging, alloys

Gd Gadolinium Ultraviolet excitation of rare earth phosphors, compact discs, optical and magnetic detection, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Tb Terbium Permanent magnets, low-energy light bulbs, lasers, flat-screen displays, x-ray imaging, wireless devices

Dy Dysprosium Permanent magnets, infrared radiation, stainless steel alloys

Ho Holmium Lasers, ultra-powerful magnets

Er Erbium Amplifiers in fibre optic data transmission, pigments for ceramic and glass

Tm Thulium Portable x-ray machines, lasers

Yb Ytterbium Infrared lasers, high-temperature superconductors, stainless steel alloys, portable x-ray machines

Lu Lutetium Oil refining


3.1 Rare earths and the built environment

As the world enters a period in which many resources are under pressure, including those that sustain the very fabric of life, it is critical that chartered surveyors are also able to lend their expertise as to how best to access and use limited speciality resources such as rare earths. Whether the expertise is in specifying products that have a low embedded carbon, or those that score well in terms of longevity and life cycle cost, or whether the expertise will bring wider benefit to the built environment or for transportation technologies there will be a role for chartered surveyors. In addition those involved in the growing renewable energy field or in the waste and mineral extraction sectors will also have an interest in the topic and of course the environmental and sustainable resource issues are likely to be complex. The topic is potentially vast and might even extend to landfill mining, that is re-opening up landfill sites to exploit the materials therein. For further information see ‘Back to the future’ – article in the RICS Land Journal, April-May 2009.

The built environment is a very significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing carbon emission from buildings and ensuring that buildings are adaptable and resilient to climate change are crucial parts of the national and international initiatives for tackling climate change. It has been estimated that buildings in the USA account for nearly 40 per cent of the total energy consumption, including 70 per cent of the country’s electricity and 38 per cent of carbon emissions.

With a projected substantial rise in global urban population (and possibly thousands of new towns and cities to be developed to accommodate them) the need to make these new cities resource efficient will be vitally important. Occupying two per cent of the surface of the earth but consuming three quarters of natural resources currently, the future great urbanisation wave presents an unsustainable prospect.

Good urban planning to mitigate the worst impacts for example providing ‘smart’ or ‘eco cities’ will increasingly require design of managed systems for all aspects of key services whether transportation, street lighting, waste management, water supply, or energy management. Intelligent systems will depend on rare earths for a range of technology supported measures such as operation of intelligent buildings and smart energy/utility grids, design of buildings, e.g. with solar arrays on their roofs and through avoidance of urbanising surface areas where possible. Rare earths will be potentially very important in securing these advanced systems for cities to be able to adapt to climate change and resource constraints. The demand for rare earths will also surely be increased by this unprecedented growth in urban development. However, this does not even take into account the need to replace existing cities that are at severe risk of more extreme climate conditions so the impact on rare earths may be even more pronounced.

A more innovative approach to design in a resource efficient model should enable recycling to be built into the process enabling, for instance, disaggregation of materials at the end of life of a building or even a neighbourhood. It is now believed that assets should have a protocol at the start of their life that identifies not only their carbon footprint and carbon life cycle cost of the structure elements, but also details say of metals so enabling end-of-life demolition and extraction of the key materials for re-use and reprocessing. This will also avoid mixing in the waste stream which can compromise the material quality. Understanding the quantity and quality of rare earths contained within the asset may lead to market differentiation and valuation implications over time.

Promoting sustainable development, innovation and integrated solutions will be needed across building standards, urban design, planning and energy systems. In the mix of initiatives and programmes the role of the energy hierarchy and energy efficiency measures, such as insulation, is

3 The importance of rare earth metals to chartered surveyors


already very important as a key action in retro-fitting the built environment and is usually seen as pre-cursor to more significant investment such as renewable energy generation.

3.2 Construction

In the UK the built environment is dependent upon centrally supplied electricity generated largely by fossil fuels and natural gas and, together, these sources provide for our heating water, heating/comfort cooling, lighting and supplying our diverse energy for our space for work, play or living needs. The high costs of moving towards a decarbonised future means providing or adapting the infrastructure of energy systems. Combining this with retro-fitting the existing stock means long-term thinking and prioritising investment will be essential.

The sustainability agenda is concerned with sustainable use of resources as much as environmental impact or decarbonising the urban environment. Some communities may also begin to undertake their own localised ‘off-grid’ solutions wherein they generate and use their own energy. It should be remembered that a substantial loss of energy occurs through conventional transmission systems. In the UK the move towards decentralisation of decision making may encourage a move to communities taking real ownership of their waste and generating benefit from it including energy sources such as methane and hydrogen.

The renewable energy sector has also been given a fillip as a result of the introduction of the Feed in Tariff (and for larger generation over five MW capacity, ROCs) and the Renewable Heat Incentive (2011) encouraging owners of assets to make investments that will not only secure energy savings but will generate a long-term income from supplying the grid. These incentives will increase the scope for manufacturing of generating equipment and could be a catalyst for the growth of the green economy especially where owners of assets can use the products as part of a retro-fit of a building for instance but this may be at risk if rare earths affect supply and affordability.

The UK Government report Powering our Lives: Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment (2008) noted that:

‘If the full range of options for future decarbonisation is to remain available existing ‘lock-ins’ need to be disrupted. Investment patterns need to be shifted in a more low carbon direction both in energy systems and in the built environment.’

The report identified a range of strategies that can be used to develop the built environment in ways that can improve the resilience of energy systems, including:

• building design to reduce energy consumption, including insulation, smart metering, use of ICT

• encouraging district heating and cooling in and beyond the development and encouraging landscaping to manage solar gain in buildings, and

• using multiple energy sources and distribution routes to increase efficiency of energy systems.

As renewable energy is a means of disrupting ‘lock ins’, the potential impact of a shortage of particular rare earths could well prejudice some of the moves to a low carbon society. A side effect might be that as the costs of products that use rare earth metals increases it limits the ability of communities to take action themselves, thereby reinforcing dependence on the main grid or on corporate providers. Rare earths contribution to new renewable energy formats, helping to reduce dependence on major energy distribution networks and supporting the innovation of design in the built environment and transport, will therefore link through to planning new urban layouts and retro-fitting of buildings and systems.

3.3 Lighting

Lighting is a very significant user of electricity in the UK representing about 20 per cent of the total UK energy usage or 66TWh of electricity – 48TWh in the commercial sector and 18TWh in homes.

DEFRA’s Market Transformation Programme in 2006 showed that commercial lighting is dominated by fluorescent technologies, except in the leisure and retail markets where more incandescent lamps are used. The domestic market was still dominated by incandescent lamps although fluorescent lamps were making a significant impact on energy efficiency. Under EU regulations traditional incandescent light bulbs are being phased out by


2012. Customers will only be offered low-energy fluorescent bulbs by 2011.

However, fluorescent lamps include mercury, a very toxic chemical, and although most lamps use less than 10mg of mercury the toxicity is such that the mercury from one fluorescent tube can contaminate 30,000 litres of water beyond a safe standard for drinking. These lamps are also quite large and use significant quantities of glass, metal, fluorescent chemicals and polymeric carrier material leading to about 7,000 tonnes of waste material from fluorescent lamps every year (2006 figures). The amount of mercury used in these lamps has been reducing and are about five per cent compared with those used in 1976.

While solid state lighting, i.e. semi-conductor light emitting diodes (LEDs, organic LEDs or polymer light emitting diodes) is more expensive initially it offers phenomenal energy saving and is very durable. Its life cycle cost compares very favourably with conventional fluorescent lamps. It also has the added advantage that it does not include mercury but does contain other compounds in very small quantities representing a smaller hazardous waste risk. This is likely to decrease as such lighting is longer lasting and uses less material. Surveys indicate that whole life ownership costs of LED lights will be lower than those of incandescent lamps.

To date while it is known that rare earth oxides could be of benefit in the lighting sector there has been little development work undertaken. It is known that the benefits can include increased durability and energy savings, a key component of the green economy in the UK. As many UK companies are involved in manufacturing lighting there could also be a competitive advantage especially in the area of coloured lighting using a combination of solid state lighting technologies and rare earths. In France, the Rhodia company has developed a process for recovery of rare earths from used low energy light bulbs. This original process for recycling of luminescent powders (which currently go to landfill) should generate environmental and economic prospects at the pan European level. It is anticipated this process will be operational by 2012.

This is a fast developing area and surveyors should maintain their knowledge of product development for applications in both transport and the built

environment. As LEDs have become more efficient it should be noted that too much light emission from a single source point may be uncomfortable. It may be preferable to aim for lower lumen outputs at lower wattages, especially in residential areas and within the home and office environment.

3.4 Within the home and office

The use of electronic devices, especially in mobile phones and computers, is dependent on rare earths. The UN Environmental Programme has produced a report on metal recycling rates which states the viability of environmentally friendly green technologies will increasingly depend on improvements in the recycling rates of speciality metals such as lithium. The use of appropriate recycling technology is vital to ensuring that rare materials are extracted and not lost during the process.

Intelligent devices using motion detectors to turn systems off and on will be important to buildings in the future and these may require elements of rare earths. The notion of “smart” design being a precursor to “sustainable” particularly resonates with the built environment. Glass ceramic tiles can enhance reflectivity and are being used in Japanese railway stations to conserve energy (back-lit tiles). There may be greater efficiency and cost savings generated in built environment schemes where a system is co-ordinated (e.g. district heating for an apartment complex) rather than in individual installations. Central heating system providers have also been offering systems commercially that use rare earth magnets to flush out deposits in the system.

Photovoltaics are now being integrated into structures through a range of products including wall cladding and roofing tiles. These arrays all contain rare earth metals within the design and should have a long life as a consequence.

3.5 Transport

The automotive sector has identified rare earths (magnets) and lithium (for batteries), as being of critical importance. When neodymium was discovered in 1984 it was realised that many products could benefit. Developed simultaneously in the USA by General Motors and in Japan by Sumitomo, magnets using neodymium, iron and


boron for drive systems in cars were produced. In turn this reduced significantly the weight of magnets and other components in automotive vehicles, making vehicles more fuel efficient as weight was reduced.

Reducing the weight of vehicles and improving fuel efficiency of internal combustion engines may make conventional vehicles comparable to other types, such as the electric car. Rare earths are likely to be crucial to all types of vehicle and the Toyota Prius hybrid contains 30kg of rare earth metals. Catalytic converters achieve reduction in CO2 emissions but again rare earths, such as cerium oxide, one of the more common REMs, could improve the reduction in emissions still further.


4.1 Waste and possible initiatives

In 2011 RICS made a submission to the government’s Science and Technology Committee Inquiry into Strategic Metals, stating:

‘Abundant quantities of REMs already exist ‘above ground’ in the form of obsolete consumer technology, with an estimated 30 million computers and laptops containing these metals currently lying unused in the UK. RICS would like to see a comprehensive recycling programme introduced to meet demand, and safeguard the future of renewable energy. The growing shortage of Rare Earth Metals could very soon have a considerable impact on the future of renewable energy. Many current green technologies are wholly reliant on these elements. A policy similar to the EU’s WEEE Directive on electronic equipment recovery is urgently needed, as failure to act could mean that future green energy projects become economically unfeasible.

The UK does not have a secure domestic source of these critical materials. For this very reason, we should be investigating how to recover what has already been harvested and is lying unused or being discarded as waste. These metals are extremely difficult to isolate and mine, yet we are allowing them to be disposed of after just one use. While such abundant quantities of these metals available above ground in the form of obsolete technologies, we should not be pursuing costly extraction processes of virgin materials.’

Having understood the increasing importance and application of rare earth metals to the low carbon economy and built environment, the realisation that only around one per cent of all high tech metals are being recycled, with the rest discarded and thrown away at the end of a product’s life, is of international concern. Unless future end-of-life recycling rates are dramatically stepped up these critical, speciality and rare earth metals could become essentially unavailable for use in modern technology.

Another key factor is that increasingly metals are ‘above ground’ contained within buildings and infrastructure and in appliances such as mobile phones and personal computers. This represents an extraordinary resource for sustainable development not only in terms of supplies, but also the opportunity for reducing energy demand while curbing pollution including rising greenhouse gas emissions. So, in the challenge to sustain limited resources, avert the threat of climate change and develop a green economy, recycling of both common, specialty metals and rare earths is becoming a much greater priority.

The report published by DEFRA, Review of the Future Resource Risks Faced by UK Business and an Assessment of Future Viability (December 2010) highlighted the importance of rare earths across several sectors, identified potential shortages and also noted that industries should examine the scope for recycling. Lithium, for example, used in electric vehicle batteries, has a long-term supply which is dependent on Bolivia developing its own resources. Scarcity/high price issues in this metal may limit the future scope for its use in electric vehicles.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said:

‘Boosting end-of-life recycling rates not only offers a path to enhancing those supplies and keeping metal prices down, but can also generate new kinds of employment while ensuring the longevity of the mines and the stocks found in nature.’

Steiner has also said that, based on current knowledge, some rare earths ‘may be exhausted, as with peak oil, on a time horizon of 30 to 40 years’.

For many technology or specialist metals like indium and rhodium, it is estimated that more than 80 per cent of all such metals ever extracted from natural resources have been mined in the past three decades. Recycling of metals moderates dependencies on natural resources which are often concentrated in insecure regions. It also ensures sustainable access to potentially scarce metals and creates jobs and income for people all over the world.

4 Recycling of rare earths


Mostly steel, copper and aluminium are the metals sought for recycling but these are often hybridised by smelting and thus true recycling is often compromised. Data concerning recycling is limited and in only a few metals are recycling rates above 50 per cent. Iron is one of these and as a further illustration it only requires 25 per cent of the energy to recycle iron as it does to extract virgin iron ore. The lifetime of copper in buildings is 25 to 40 years whereas in PCs and mobile phones, the lifetime of the metal is less than five years.

In the case of more specialty metals recycling rates are very low. For palladium current global mine production is about 220 tonnes/year with high regional concentration. Its main applications are automotive catalysts and electronics. Its current end-of-life recycling rates are as follows:

• industrial applications: 80–90%

• automotive: 50–55%

• electronics: 5–10%

Less than ten per cent of consumer mobile phones are recycled in an appropriate way. Materials process technology is being developed to assist in recycling these valued metals and there are some embryonic developments in this area.

The metal indium is used for LCD glass, lead free solders, semi-conductors/LED, photo-voltaics and lighting systems. Growth of demand is expected to be strong over the next few years, currently around 1200 tonnes per annum. Its supply is crucial as it is just a by-product from mining for zinc ores and is found in low concentrations. The recycling rate is below one per cent.

It has been estimated that electronic products currently in Japanese waste streams could contain up to 300,000 tons of rare earths, the equivalent of about ten years of imports.

As far as the built environment is concerned several rare earths are significant for products that will be used in achieving greener buildings and systems. However, it is known that while it is costly to reprocess or recycle rare earths it is still more desirable to do this than to simply rely on extracting the ore though mining in the first place. It is also more energy efficient to mine some ores rather than others as shown in Table 2. It should be noted here that while these figures are somewhat out of date the differentials remain the same so that

iron requires 10 per cent of the energy to extract metal from ore compared to aluminium.

Table 2: Typical total energy requirements for the production of metal from ore

Metal GJ tonne-1

Al 220–250

Cu 95–110

Fe 25–30

Pb 20–25

Ni 140–150

Sn 145–155

Zn 60–70

Source – Bodsworth 1994

According to UN Environmental Programme, through better collection systems and recycling infrastructure, especially in developing countries, millions, if not billions, of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions could be saved, while also generating potentially significant numbers of green jobs. This is because recycling metals is between two and ten times more energy efficient than smelting the metals from virgin ores.

While additional mining capacity is likely it could take some years for these facilities to become operational and, especially in the case of rare earth metals, is a costly and environmentally degrading process producing huge quantities of waste. As an example, mining one hundred tonnes of ore might produce as little as 0.5 tonnes of rare earths. This compares with a minimum of 20 tonnes derived from reprocessing.

Recycling is going to be increasingly important as enhanced separation of rare earths from a mixed resource can yield better results than primary extraction and at comparable cost in terms both of economics and environment. Titanium dioxide is the fourth most common mineral in the world and wherever there is TiO2, rare earth metals can also be found. Research has demonstrated that many rare earths are located in clusters often close to titanium oxides and there is a ready source of these oxides in ‘white goods’. In addition one tonne of titanium oxide produced by a ‘mineral beneficiation process’ will generate by-products and refining


these will, in turn, potentially generate as much as 40–50 per cent rare earths. Recycling is also a useful source of supply of rare earths and can be extracted from a range of end-of-life products.

In the UK there is no infrastructure in place to recover rare earths specifically, but the growing demand and inevitable price spikes may increase the need for proper arrangements to be created to cater for this national need. One spin off might be the catalyst of expansion in the ‘green’ manufacturing sector. Permanent magnets will be a vital component of the growth in this sector and also in the automotive area where the push to new generation hybrid/electric/fuel cell vehicles and other innovative systems is increasing.

In the UK a pilot recycling operation is being trialled using lower grade titanium based minerals and results are yet unknown. Rare earths are being extracted, but there are also wastes produced from the process. However, quantities can be reduced by technological development of processes. There is also huge potential for chromium extraction through processing.

Analsis of the costs of mining ores compared with recycling and recovery of metals shows that recycling and re-use is a comparatively favourable option, although the cost of cleaning up increases as wastes are made capable of being returned to the techno-sphere and bio-sphere. In the context of REMs there is a growing case for recycling that is even more persuasive when comparing upfront costs of extraction against the lifecycle costs of material processing for recovery of these valuable materials. Design has a huge role to play not only to ensure that maximum energy efficiency can be achieved but also to making products that have a greater longevity so they can be re-used in the future with minimal recovery costs. Rare earths are known to extend the life of products such as magnets but this could also apply to a range of other applications and products.

Most recycling is actually ‘downcycling’ that reduces the quality of material over time. Taking steel as an example, high quality high carbon, high tensile steel is often melted down, mixing with other elements and reducing the recycled steel’s quality:

‘More high quality steel may be added to make the hybrid strong enough for its next use, but it will not have the material properties to make

new cars again. Meanwhile the rare metals, such as copper, manganese, and chromium, and the paints, plastics, and other components that had value for industry in a new unmixed, high quality, state are lost. Currently there is no technology to separate the polymer and paint coatings from automotive metal before it is processed; therefore even if a car were designed for disassembly, it is not technically feasible to “close the loop” for its high quality steel.’ (Braungart and McDonough)

Using a cradle-to-cradle approach to return products to manufacturers at the end of their useful life is an effective means of managing scarce resources efficiently.

There is growing evidence to show that the recycling of metals could help reduce environmental pressures (GHG emissions, water and land consumption, waste) and pressure on biodiversity. The general trend is one of technological advance, but processing is energy intensive and slow. Increases in processing rates using less energy must be a key objective, while processing (recycling) is also crucial to securing the sustainable supply of rare earth metals.

Although energy from waste is often seen as a good thing, in reality it usually means incineration, and many are critical of processes that do not allow materials to be recycled to the techno-sphere where they can be retained in closed-loop technical cycles as nutrients for industry. While second-hand steel might not often be specified on new projects, the reprocessing of steel should provide bona fide quality on a comparative basis. When decommissioning a building at the end of its life it ought to be possible to strip out the metals and rare earths in the component parts, but this requires careful design to enable cost effective separation and material processing.

To some extent current fiscal incentives are beginning to bite. Due to the high price of recycled metals, and the cost advantage in avoiding landfill (landfill tax is now £56/tonne) for all building materials, demolition contractors are becoming increasingly experienced in recycling. In excess of 90 per cent recycling/recovery can be achieved with only hazardous or contaminated wastes being sent to landfill.

Waste schemes do now include provision of a material recycling facility which extract metals and other valuable recyclates from municipal waste


prior to incineration; this should be encouraged for all waste treatment projects.

Hydrogen combined with methane provides a better burn and this could be extracted from waste plants and from landfill sites, to be stored and used as fuel in the processing and recycling of rare earths. Another source of energy supply might be a solar concentrator, more efficient than solar farms as these can be used as a power source in production. There is an opportunity for industrial symbiosis to occur here as a plank of the green economy, a closed-loop system.

While solar farms can be a source of energy they are usually more effective in supplying facilities close by, as there is a significant energy loss incurred in transmission. In locations suited to off grid scenarios a range of renewables might be used as fuel source.

In addition, landfill mining may become an attractive option. Subject to the cost of environmental control issues, ‘mining’ operations might become viable for the extraction and reprocessing of valuable materials including rare earths at old landfill sites. Where white goods and historic WEEE have been deposited, there could be real benefits.

In an age of austerity, waste will have even more value. Burning hydrogen with methane will provide electricity that will achieve feed in tariff benefits and can also be used as fuel to process rare earth metals.

4.2 The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive

The original 2003 WEEE Directive committed the European Commission to submit a report to the European Parliament and European Council within five years, along with proposals for revisions to the original Directive. The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2006 (as amended) (the Regulations),The UK Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations 2006 (as amended), implement the main provisions of the EC’s WEEE Directive.

The WEEE Directive is one of a small number of European Directives that implement the principle of ‘extended producer responsibility’. Under this principle, producers are required to take financial

responsibility for the environmental impact of the products that they place on the market, specifically when those products become waste. It seeks to reduce the amount of such waste going to landfill by encouraging separate collection and subsequent treatment, re-use, recovery, recycling and environmentally sound disposal.

Although fridges and freezers are treated and a high percentage of large domestic appliances (e.g. cookers, washing machines, etc) are recycled, the majority of items – especially televisions and small items of WEEE – have traditionally been landfilled without treatment. The scope of the Directive covers a wide range of products intended for household and/or commercial use that are dependent on electrical currents or electromagnetic fields to work properly. The broad aim of the Directive is to address the environmental impacts of unwanted electrical and electronic equipment at end of life disposal.

Typical e-waste, like circuit boards, contains a spectrum of metals like copper, tin, cobalt, gold, silver, indium, palladium, platinum, etc. Due to its complexity e-waste presents a really challenging task for recycling technologies. Appropriate recycling of e-waste promises parallel recovery of several interesting and valuable metals. Recycling rare earths from e-waste is especially challenging as these metals are only slowly building up in the waste stream, now that demand is growing fast for a variety of applications. As recently as 2009 recycling of rare earths was identified more as an aspiration than a reality, but is now underway in a limited manner. However, it should also be noted that a considerable flow of e-waste leaves developed countries in an unauthorised trade essentially dumping toxic waste materials in parts of the world least able to recycle or address the environmental and public health risk. Insufficient enforcement combined with a lack of investment in materials process research will enable this trade to survive.

There is a real need to develop policy to avoid the inefficient use of critical materials, first by preventing wholesale extraction and employment, and then by ensuring their collection and re-use, that a closed-loop production cycle (or something close to it) is created. Broadening the scope of legislation, such as the WEEE Directive and developing new waste policies, could go some way to achieving this.


Submissions to the UK Inquiry into Strategically Important Metals (House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report, May 2011) supported a general consensus that the European Community Directive on WEEE, which currently requires that consumer goods manufacturers take responsibility for the disposal of devices at the end of their useful lives, should be expanded to cover industrial and commercial goods and appliances too.

The report of this committee noted that the metal recycling industry in the UK is recycling 90 per cent by weight of collected waste and that substantial quantities of platinum, rhodium, palladium, gold and silver are being recovered, mainly from recovered waste electrical and electronic equipment. The committee was concerned that some strategic metals, which are often in products in small quantities, are likely to be lost in the 10 per cent not being recycled.

In addition, addressing design is now seen as responsible to ensure a cradle-to-cradle approach and it is now being argued that product designers need to work with materials scientists and engineers to design hi-tech products that can be easily dismantled, in order to enable rare-metal-rich components to be recovered, re-used or recycled.

It should be noted that The WEEE Advisory Body was abolished on 30 September 2010 as part of the wider programme announced by the government to reduce the number of non-departmental public bodies.


It is clear that the ‘green economy’ will rely upon rare earths, whose supply and availability may be limited in future years. The prices of rare earths may follow other precious or speciality metals and recent evidence suggests that this is so – palladium has been increasingly bought and sold by gold dealers.

Rare earths are metals that can be re-used almost indefinitely if treated in the right way. Neodymium, as an example, is a key rare earth that is being used in magnets in offshore wind turbines and is considerably resilient even to salt water corrosion. There are many reasons for recycling and it is possible to achieve very good results in terms of tonnage compared with mining, so as prices rise the incentive to find and re-use rare earths will grow.

In addition, much of the material may already have been put into the techno-sphere and could be recycled for re-use. Much of the above ground supply of rare earths is in the e-waste sector and at present there is little recovery of these metals.

It is known that the illegal dumping of e-waste from the developed world to West Africa and other locations is carried out on a large scale as a means of avoiding recycling costs. This is a disincentive to investment in recovering rare earths and other materials which otherwise enter the environment as a potentially hazardous waste stream. Greater enforcement to prevent this toxic illegal export trade should also further stimulate well-managed and sustainable recycling practices.

The UK is one of the countries that has limited access to primary sources of rare earths and should invest in recycling. This could become an income stream for communities and local waste authorities. Demonstration projects are already deriving rare earths from waste products. Landfill sites might also be considered for landfill mining to extract rare earths from white goods and historic WEEE.

The comparison of rare earth reprocessing with mining ores is favourable on environmental grounds, on energy expenditure and greenhouse

gas emissions, and on tonnages produced per tonne of primary ore. Life cycle costing should be used to demonstrate the overall costs of different rare earth component products; for example, new polymer/glass photo-voltaic cladding systems. New products may also emerge in the urban environment involving LED lighting, renewables and insulation and transportation.

Chartered surveyors need to influence change in the development of policy and practice affecting a wide range of processes and products, specifying those whose green credentials are sound and where these can be supplied from well-managed sources whether in the processing of used rare earths or from extraction. Recycling can make up a significant proportion of future supply.

The UK Inquiry into Strategic Metals has now reported and has covered a lot of concerns about a wide range of critical metals of which rare earths are only one group. There is concern that the green low carbon economy could be jeopardised by a shortage of these metals. In addition, the reality is that cradle-to-cradle thinking is necessary to ensure design takes disaggregation into account; to reduce losses of these metals during product life is one way of minimising the need to find primary sources.

In the few cases where product components are recovered, the processes used to dismantle and to acquire these components from the waste stream are far less sophisticated than the processes used to create the products in the first place. Product designers therefore need incentives to design their products with recovery and reusability in mind. Local expertise in materials science and engineering is also required wherever manufacturing is going to occur, in order to support the supply chain properly.

Much of the work in Europe on product end-of-life issues has focused almost entirely on environmental issues; more work needs to be done to expand the discussion to sustainability and economic considerations – and the social value of all such activities.

5 Conclusions


Chartered surveyors are in a pivotal position to influence the way this topic is considered. The knowledge of the built environment of what makes sustainable successful places, as well as the implications of a shortage of rare earths, should encourage innovative thinking and influence policy directions. If shortages of REMs grow and impact the low carbon economy then the drive towards identifying substitutes will also be stimulated. The search for primary extraction opportunities may prove costly when environmental and regulatory constraints are taken into account.

As global population rises there will be a vast new wave of urbanisation over the next 50 years. If unplanned, the resource implications of this change may devastate the environment and contribute to an acceleration of climate change. There is an opportunity to design these new places so that they minimise their planetary footprint in terms of resource consumption and to integrate climate change adaptation into their planning.

Intelligent cities using new technology to maximise efficiency of operations and resource efficiency would also be more sustainable. Their energy and water resource management, and even food production needs, could also be supported by smart technologies using rare earth metals. The effect of all this may be to drive up demand for rare earths still further. In those parts of the world where many new cities are being established or expanded, largely in Asia, this may mean shortages of supply of rare earths for other countries trying to future proof their own societies.

This increased demand might mean more damage in the short-medium term to the environment

as mining activity expands, possibly with less regulation in certain parts of the world. However, there will be benefits in progressing the research and development of new technologies and practices to improve the extraction and processing of these minerals which could, in turn, mean reducing dependence on other resources that are more destructive to the environment; such as, converting agricultural or forest lands to biofuel production. The potential adverse impact on renewable energy production arising from a shortage of REMs, might also stimulate further moves towards the growth of hydrogen production and storage; an important alternative fuel contributor for a low carbon future.

Chartered surveyors should be aware of the complexities of these issues and especially the need for greater innovation in the built environment and transport sectors and an awareness of the vital role that rare earths will play in this. Specifying materials or products that can, if necessary, be substituted may become an important comparative tool in advising on development proposals. The move to recovering REMs from above ground sources could provide products that have a greater longevity, efficiency and favourable life cycle costing assessments.

In conclusion, creating a more sustainable future should necessitate more research and development into REMs and their applications, as it is increasingly apparent that substitution and recycling are necessary steps in using rare earth resources as effectively and sustainably as possible.


Bodsworth, C. Extraction & Refining of Metals, CRC Press, 1994

Braungart, M. and McDonough, W. Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things, North Point Press, 2002

DEFRA, Review of the Future Resource Risks Faced by UK Business and an Assessment of Future Viability, December 2010

European Commission, Critical Raw Materials for the EU, July 2010

House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, Strategically Important Metals, May 2011

Lifton, J. The Supply Issue for All Metals, article in Technology Metals Research, LLC, 2010

Mooney, R. Back to the future, article in RICS Land Journal, April–May 2009; pp. 20–21

Mooney, R. Future shock, article in RICS Land Journal, November–December 2010; pp. 14–15, 19

Stefan, B. Sustainable Resource Management, Greenleaf Publishing, 2009

The Government Office for Science. Foresight Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment Project, Final Project Report, 2008

Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), Securing the Future – the role of resource efficiency, November 2010

Bibliography

Rare earth metals1st edition, information paper

This information paper describes the importance and increasingscarcity of rare earth metals – little known but highly significant torenewable energy, lighting, transportation and urban development.Examined from a point of view highly relevant to RICS members andother property professionals operating within the UK, the paper alsohighlights potential issues arising from a global shortage.

The scale of the problem is explored in the context of the increasedurbanisation of several global regions and the mounting pressureto extract these resources through mining, with considerableenvironmental implications. As chartered surveyors have a role inseeking out materials, products and technologies, developing andimplementing strategies to minimise the loss of these materials andextending their life and recovery remains vital.

Prepared with input from academics and practitioners with expertisein material processing technology, overall the information paper aimsto increase awareness of the shortage of rare earths and asks howthis might impact both on developing countries and on the widermove towards a greener urban environment. It considers the policycontext and reviews the recent emergence of concern about the issueamong key decision makers.

rics.org/standards rics.org/standards

RICS Practice Standards, UK

1st edition, information paper

Rare earth metals

IP 23/2011

rics rare earth metals 2011 · rare earth metals 1st edition, information paper this information...

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