Mea culpa, there is more to Chinese REE production than just Bayan Obo. Sichyaun and southern china also product some as well.

Looks like annual Chinese production in 2005 was about 200,000 tons but the finished production of purified product would probably be less than 100,000 pounds, though that is just a WAG at this point.

As for dependency...haven't a clue really.

Hi Nate,

The German Fraunhofer Institute for System and Innovation Research (ISI) has recently published a book (in German) on our growing dependance on certain raw materials for emerging technologies. ISBN 978-3-8167-7957-5, google on "Rohstoffe fuer Zukunftstechnologien" and you will find a link to a pdf-version of the book.

Amonst others they conclude that in 2030 we would need 3.82 times current world production of neodymium (Nd) for applications such as permanent magnets and laser technology. In 2006, these applications account for 55% of global annual production of Nd.