China is top 3 in everything except...
- Thread starter Phead128
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Vini_Vidi_Vici
Junior Member
That's because China lacks a complete government monitoring system for the past few decades. Only until a year ago did the Chinese government began to look over this matter. Prior to this, China was selling rare earth metals for extremely cheap prices. The rest of the world don't produce them doesn't mean they don't have it. China only make up a portion of the world reserves. The reason they don't produce it is due to cost, not due to inability or lack of reserves, similar to cheap end goods made in China.
The Western world is super developed, they can make anything the rest of the world can make. Sometimes there might be a gap period, in case USSR cut off titanium or China cut off Tungsten and rare earth metals, but they could buildup to supply themselves very quickly.
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Germany lost mainly due to lack of resources. Their troops were the most fierce fighters, even more resilient than the Japanese. The Germans often kept on fighting even with only 30% of an unit remaining. They actually used their brains and fought well. The Japanese were brave too, but too hot headed from time to times. All they did on land when losing, was to charge at the enemy with all their soldiers, and in the sea, was to ram their planes into the American carriers. This made them lose majority of their experienced infantry and especially priceless veteran pilots.
Drifting off course, back to the Germans. They were much more cleverer than their enemies in terms of tactics and strategies. They were the creator and the most efficient in a centralized modern commanding centre.
The bottom-line is, when you are not too technologically advanced or industrially superior than your enemies (Germany Vs. USSR), resources does the talk. The same happened to Japan when they attacked Pearl Harbour.
Yes, China is the biggest steel producer in the world, but all the iron ore are imported. That doesn't mean anything.
Japan is one of the largest steel producer in the world. Does that mean anything in time of war if it's easily cut-off?
bladerunner
Banned Idiot
Vini_Vidi_Vici
Junior Member
China buys out almost all of Australia and Brazil's total production output, this is what's able to drive up the steel production so high. The problem with local Chinese iron ores is that the iron content is very low, the extraction rate out of that 2.4 billion ton is very low compared to those high quality ores from Brazil and Australia. So the number shrinks when we squeeze out the water. But those are not that important. What's important is that the production output is too exaggerated in this discussion. They did produce that many steel, but close to half, maybe even more is from foreign iron ores. What's relevant to this topic is how much China can produce in time of war.
On top of that, I have mentioned already, resources only matter when there are no extreme advantages over the enemy. But in the topic of China Vs the USN, resources doesn't mean anything. China's steel production could be 100 times that of US, but it all went into building constructions. The USN could take out the Chinese entire navy several times.
Let's stop discussing natural resources. The idea of the thread is to talk about technological and industrial capabilities, whereas national mineral reserves don't really matter. Look at Japan, they have nothing, but they make a lot of the best weapons in the world. Their naval fleet is several times larger than that of China's. Their submarine fleets are several generations ahead than that of China. Although their aeronautical industry is very behind, that is due to the leash on their neck, put on by the Americans, not because they can't do it. They almost do a good job on everything they get their hands on. They in fact make better aeronautical composite materials than most US companies. There's even rumours going on lately saying that majority of the fabrication of F35's composite materials will be done in Japan. Although it is still a rumour, it still reflect Japan's prestige in the area. As of current stage, the Japanese SDMF is still far ahead than China's. So resources doesn't mean much unless you're already truly on par with your enemy.
below_freezing
New Member
1. There's plenty of iron ore.
2. No they can't. Its not the raw materials that lack elsewhere, its the refinery technology. Separation is very tricky. The former premier corporation in rare earth refining, Molycorp, just doesn't have the ability to refine heavy rare earths, and heavy rare earths is the most profitable part of the operation.
A USCC report shows you how much technology there is in rare earths, why no one else can really do it as effectively anymore (remember, you're aiming at a moving target. Lots of countries can make a 1990 Toyota, but a 1990's Toyota won't sell, and that's why there's only 1 Toyota).
Current State of China’s Domestic Rare Earths Market
Today, China dominates almost all steps of the rare earth supply chain, from mining to the
manufacturing of permanent magnets used in high tech applications.
*
Not only does China produce
approximately 97 percent of the current world supply of rare earth elements, but it also produces 97
percent of rare earth oxides, and supplies 100 percent of rare earth refining capacity. (For more
information on the rare earth supply chain, see Appendix C.)
2. No they can't. Its not the raw materials that lack elsewhere, its the refinery technology. Separation is very tricky. The former premier corporation in rare earth refining, Molycorp, just doesn't have the ability to refine heavy rare earths, and heavy rare earths is the most profitable part of the operation.
A USCC report shows you how much technology there is in rare earths, why no one else can really do it as effectively anymore (remember, you're aiming at a moving target. Lots of countries can make a 1990 Toyota, but a 1990's Toyota won't sell, and that's why there's only 1 Toyota).
Current State of China’s Domestic Rare Earths Market
Today, China dominates almost all steps of the rare earth supply chain, from mining to the
manufacturing of permanent magnets used in high tech applications.
*
Not only does China produce
approximately 97 percent of the current world supply of rare earth elements, but it also produces 97
percent of rare earth oxides, and supplies 100 percent of rare earth refining capacity. (For more
information on the rare earth supply chain, see Appendix C.)
bladerunner
Banned Idiot
Equation
Lieutenant General
Vini_Vidi_Vici
Junior Member
China's rare earth boomed because of extreme low price caused by lack of regulation. Now because the government is tightening the regulations, the rare earths will now be shooting through the roof in terms of price. It will be a lot harder to sell those things when the price goes. The biggest consumer of rare earths is the US. They started all the rare earths applications and still remain the best at refining them.
There is indeed a lot of technology involved with rare earths, but those are done in the states and Japan. China does the early work, similar to turning iron ore into pig iron, which is not that hard.
On top of this, a lot people haven't realized that the rest of the world, especially the Western world, often don't mine their own reserves for strategic purposes. Any of you remember white tungsten reserves in China? It used to make up more than 80% of the world reserve, but due to lack of regulation and unhealthy competition between the Chinese vendors, now China only has 30% left of the original reserve.
Sometimes it's not good to be the biggest exporter in the world, it often means you lose the most.
Don't forget, even until today, the West still restricts rare earth processing technology to China. China may have the metals, but they don't know how to use it. Ever noticed the canopy glass on the F-22? That plated with rare earths.
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