The government aims to identify by the first quarter potential mining tenements for the Philippines’s venture into rare earth elements (REE) production, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said on Wednesday.

“In fact, we have already found potential areas to explore and these areas are also close to copper-gold mines. Notably, Palawan and Nueva Vizcaya are the best places to start,” said MGB Director Leo Jasareno.

REE are the raw materials for producing electronics and other modern-day gadgets.

The MGB earlier said P20 million has been set aside for the REE venture.

The Philippines’s bid to develop REE production comes after China capped exports of the commodity more than a year ago.

Manila sought help from state-run China Geological Survey for the exploration program, but no such assistance was forthcoming after tensions between the two countries heightened because of competing claims over portions of the West Philippine Sea, believed a treasure trove of oil and gas reserves.

“So far, we have received no word from them,” Jasareno said.

China, which controls about 97 percent of the world’s rare elements, has reduced its export quota to gain control over global prices of the commodity.

Prices of the metals however have gone down over the past several months, with China’s biggest producers cutting production to halt the slide.

Also called the “metals of the future,” REE are used in the production of weapons guidance systems and other space age technologies.

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The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said the government has budgeted P20 million to look for rare earth elements starting this quarter.

 “We have already found potential areas to explore and these areas are also close to copper-gold mines, Palawan and Nueva Vizcaya are the best places to start looking for the elements ” MGB director Leo Jasareno said.

Rare earth metals are a group of elements that are used in a wide range of products, including hard disk drives and hybrid cars. Their properties, notably as light-weight magnets, make them key to the ongoing miniaturization of electronics gadgets and the growth of green technologies.

China recognized the importance of these elements decades ago and now supplies almost all the rare earth materials in the world.

The government is now looking for these metals following China’s decision to cap exports to the global market.

Earlier, Jasareno said that before the standoff on Scarborough Shoal, experts from the China Geological Survey (CGS) were expected to arrive in the country to explore for rare earth elements.

China produces nearly 95 percent of the world’s rare earth materials, a group usually classified as 17 elements and sometimes are called “21st Century gold” for their importance in such high-tech applications as laser-guided weapons and hybrid-car batteries.

Further limits on Chinese exports of rare-earth elements also threaten to raise costs for companies in an array of industries, including cellphone production, oil refining and high-technology batteries.

In December 2011, the Chinese Commerce Ministry announced an initial cut of 27 percent in its rare earth elements exports quota for 2012 as part of the crackdown on illegal mining of the rare earth oxides.

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A GOVERNMENT agency will be conducting geological survey in mountainous areas within the first quarter of 2013 to identify areas containing deposits of rare earth elements.
  
“We are in the initial phase of identifying areas containing rare earth deposits,” Mines and Geosciences Bureau Director Leo L. Jasareno said in a telephone interview yesterday. “We are not yet concerned with identifying mining tenements, we are just identifying areas with rare earth deposits,” Mr. Jasareno added.

The government has initially allotted P20 million for the project.

The Philippines wants to determine if it has enough rare earth deposits to support commercial production.

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KUALA LUMPUR: A convoy of cars carrying protesters drove across Malaysia on Monday in the latest demonstration against an Australian rare earths plant that activists claim will produce dangerous radioactive waste.

It came as demonstrators launched a hunger strike in the capital Kuala Lumpur in protest at the plant run by Lynas Corp, which began processing rare earths last month after a delay of more than a year due to strong opposition.

The Australian miner hopes the $800-million plant can help break the Chinese stranglehold on the market for rare earths, used in everything from missiles to mobile phones, but the project has been dogged by controversy from the start.

Some 100 activists in 20 cars wearing green T-shirts began their protest from the headquarters of the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, located just outside the capital Kuala Lumpur.

At least 150 cars are expected to join the convoy during the six-hour journey to the Lynas plant in eastern Pahang state, organisers said.

"It is our struggle to bring down this corrupt regime and evict Lynas from Malaysia," said activist Wong Tack, chairman of the "Himpunan Hijau" movement which is spearheading the anti-Lynas campaign.

He was referring to the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition which has backed the Lynas facility in the industrial area of Gebeng. Anti-Lynas campaigners have vowed to support the opposition in elections due by the end of June.

The protest will culminate with a rally and a candlelit vigil outside the Lynas plant, said Wong.

In central Kuala Lumpur, more than 30 people including children began a 100-hour hunger strike to oppose the Lynas refinery.

"We must protect our environment," said one participant, Tan Wen Shi, a 15-year-old student.

Residents and activists say the plant will release radioactive gases and solid waste such as radium and lead, as well as small amounts of uranium.

But Lynas has insisted that any radioactive waste would be low-level and not harmful and that it would be safely disposed of.

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