There are 62 metals in the periodic table of elements (https://www.ptable.com/). Recently, a research group reported on the supply situation for all these metals. Takeaways from this report include these:
-“Many of the metals traditionally used in manufacturing …are pretty abundant and are generally widespread geographically.”
-“…Some metals that have become deployed for technology only in the last 10 or 20 years are available almost entirely as byproducts. You can’t mine specifically for them; they often exist in small quantities and are used for specialty purposes. And they don’t have any decent substitutes.”
Many rare earth elements are in this group. We had a short article on rare earth elements in our April 17 newsletter. Click here to read this article.
-“According to the researchers, [supply] criticality depends not only on geological abundance. Other important factors include the potential for finding effective alternatives in production processes, the degree to which ore deposits are geopolitically concentrated, and state of mining technology, regulatory oversight, geopolitical initiatives, regional instabilities, and economic policies.”
This paper has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and you can see a summary here.