Energy-Critical Elements (ECEs) an emerging mining sub-sctor

Everyone by now knows about Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and the role they play in green energy technologies. Within the REE sector, there are a range of rare earth metals that are particularly crucial to clean energy production, including solar, wind, fuel cells and more.

The following is an excerpt from today's Energy & Capital newsletter by Nick Hodge, who himself is quoting from a recent report by the American Physical Society and Materials Research Society about “Energy Critical Elements”.

Here are some of the salient points:

Energy-related systems are typically materials intensive. As new technologies are widely deployed, significant quantities of the elements required to manufacture them will be needed. A shortage of these “energy-critical elements” (ECEs) could significantly inhibit the adoption of otherwise game-changing energy technologies.

This, in turn, would limit the competitiveness of U.S. industries and the domestic scientific enterprise and, eventually, diminish the quality of life in the United States.

The U.S. already relies on other countries for more than 90% of these elements. Some simply aren't abundant in the earth's crust; others aren't adequately concentrated.

A few are located in only a couple countries (like China), which makes their production and availability susceptible to manipulation.

Rhenium, for example, is rarer than gold by a factor of five. We need it for jet engines and industrial gas turbines.

Tellurium is quite rare, too. And without it, First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) couldn't make its famous thin film solar panels.

It's the high demand for these critical elements that has led to their high prices — and therefore the big market returns they've produced so far. Many more big winners are on the way from this situation.

That said, here's a list of energy critical elements and their uses as described by the report:

Gallium, germanium, indium, selenium, silver, and tellurium, all employed in advanced photovoltaic solar cells, especially thin-film photovoltaics

Dysprosium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium (all REEs), and cobalt, used in high-strength permanent magnets for many energy-related applications, such as wind turbines and hybrid automobiles

Most REEs, valued for their unusual magnetic and/or optical properties: examples include gadolinium for its unusual paramagnetic qualities and europium and terbium for their role in managing the color of fluorescent lighting; yttrium, another REE, is an important ingredient in energy-efficient solid-state lighting

Lithium and lanthanum, used in high-performance batteries

Helium, required in cryogenics, energy research, advanced nuclear reactor designs, and manufacturing in the energy sector

Platinum, palladium, and other PGEs, used as catalysts in fuel cells that may find wide applications in transportation; cerium, a REE, is also used as an auto-emissions catalyst

Rhenium, used in high performance alloys for advanced turbines


Many potential ECEs are not found in concentrations high enough to warrant extraction as a primary product, given today’s prices. Instead, these ECEs are obtained primarily as by-products during the refining process of other primary ores, especially copper, zinc, and lead. Joint production complicates attempts to ramp up output by a large factor.

Because they are relatively scarce, many ECEs are available only in low-grade ores, which necessitates the processing of tons of rock for each gram of element recovered, sometimes in ways that do unacceptable environmental damage.


Companies producing ECEs include:

Quest Rare Minerals (AMEX: QRM)

Molycorp (NYSE: MCP)

Avalon Rare Metals (AMEX: AVL)

China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources (AMEX: SHZ)


Do your research, and happy hunting!