1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: From UFOs to psychic powers and government conspiracies. History is 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:09,119 Speaker 1: riddled with unexplained events. You can turn back now or 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: learn the stuff they don't want you to know. A 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:25,560 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. Hello, welcome back to the show. 5 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,480 Speaker 1: My name is Matt, my name is Noel. They call 6 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,520 Speaker 1: me Ben. We are joined as always with our super producer, 7 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:35,839 Speaker 1: all mission control decond Most importantly, you are you. You 8 00:00:35,920 --> 00:00:38,920 Speaker 1: are here, and that makes this the stuff they don't 9 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,920 Speaker 1: want you to know. Fellow conspiracy realist, this is a 10 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: metal episode, and not the same sort of metal as 11 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:51,479 Speaker 1: in our church burning episode, but literal metals, minerals, materials, 12 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,120 Speaker 1: all the boring stuff that made your eyes glaze over 13 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: in chemistry class um. But let's make it more impactful. 14 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: Right from the jump, think about how you're hearing today's show. 15 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,479 Speaker 1: You might be listening via your phone, maybe on a laptop, 16 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: maybe a smart device, maybe even a radio in your vehicle, 17 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: regardless of how we got to you. Thanks for listening. 18 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,479 Speaker 1: We'd also like to thank a little thing called Rare 19 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: Earth Elements for, in a very real way, of making 20 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,119 Speaker 1: this show possible, and before too long, we all might 21 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:24,839 Speaker 1: also have to thank these minerals and metals for much 22 00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: more disturbing things. But first, here are the facts. What 23 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: are rare earth metals or rare earth elements or are 24 00:01:34,360 --> 00:01:41,120 Speaker 1: ease um there. They're the big reason modern civilization exists. 25 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:46,880 Speaker 1: There are seventeen elements roughly depending on which list you 26 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:51,920 Speaker 1: look at and how they're categorized, but seventeen medals that 27 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:56,160 Speaker 1: are rare earth elements. And really, interestingly enough, guys, I 28 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 1: didn't know this, they were called Earth's back in the 29 00:01:59,440 --> 00:02:02,680 Speaker 1: day because you couldn't break them down. They're just like 30 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:06,520 Speaker 1: they're strong as Earth. They are Earth. They don't go away. 31 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: They just are earth, fire, water, heart, heart. It's like 32 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: the last last priority here, actually a monkey. I got 33 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:24,079 Speaker 1: really excited. I actually got excited about chemistry again with this. 34 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: The properties of these rare earth metals are fascinating. They 35 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: really are kind of like magical materials. They very much are, 36 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: and there are other equally important metal and mineral resources, 37 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 1: but these are ease are particularly tricky. Still, don't let 38 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: the name fool you. Rare earth metals are actually not rare. 39 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: In fact, they're they're they're kind of plentiful, depending on 40 00:02:51,639 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 1: which one you're looking at throughout Earth's crust. Like if 41 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:58,480 Speaker 1: you look at syrium, that's a that's one of these substances. 42 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:01,880 Speaker 1: It is more a bund didn't than copper. It's just 43 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: dispersed in what we could diplomatically call a challenging wave 44 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: for mining interests because you don't don't find like a 45 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: rich vein as syriam. You find exactly as part of 46 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: a as part of a combo meal that's all messed 47 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: up together, you know, like like if you were at 48 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,920 Speaker 1: Chick fil A and you've got the combo meal and 49 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: all you really wanted was the coal slaw and you 50 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: have to figure out a way to extract the coal 51 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: slaw and it's very, very expensive. It's more expensive than 52 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: getting the actual combo or like you buy thousands of 53 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 1: boxes of like breakfast cereal and the hopes that you 54 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: get the magical golden prize, you know, the the exclusive 55 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 1: Yeah sure. And and what you said been about syrium 56 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: being more plentiful, I didn't realize that these things are 57 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: more plentiful, at least most of them, than silver, platinum, gold, 58 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: all of those. They're just like hanging out. But like 59 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:56,920 Speaker 1: you said, tough to get, so tough to get. And 60 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: this is old beans for humanity. They knew about these 61 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: things for several centuries. The first one was got a lynite. 62 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: This was a This is a mineral. It's a black 63 00:04:09,760 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: looking mineral that's composed of syrium, utrium, iron, silicon, and 64 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: a few other elements, but those are the important ones. 65 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: This mineral was found back in sev seven in a 66 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,559 Speaker 1: mine at a village called yetter B or yet Theater 67 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:29,679 Speaker 1: be Sweden. And fun fact, because of that discovery, four 68 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:33,760 Speaker 1: of these rare earth elements got their name from just 69 00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 1: that little village. So go Sweden, Yeah, go Sweden. Go 70 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,720 Speaker 1: um sweets. They're good at like, you know, uh, prefab 71 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: kind of flat pack furniture, electronic music, and rare earth 72 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: minerals apparently, and ava they're Swedish, right, Oh yeah, they're 73 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: got lots of stuff. I'm just I'm being selective here, 74 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: but it is fascinating. I did not know that. And 75 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: uh yeah, it is the wise silent. Is it atrium 76 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: or is it definitely atrium atrium? I like leaning into 77 00:05:05,320 --> 00:05:11,360 Speaker 1: the y entirely because why not. It feels like the 78 00:05:11,760 --> 00:05:15,040 Speaker 1: HP Lovecraft thing, you know, totally like the sound that 79 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: you make when you're possessed by the elder elden lords 80 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,880 Speaker 1: whatever it is. Wait, let me let me give a 81 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: quick show just when we're still in in the element world. 82 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,359 Speaker 1: If you head over to your periodic table and you 83 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,480 Speaker 1: check out just the way it looks, there's a fun 84 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,880 Speaker 1: little usually kind of pink. It's pinkish purple, and it's on. 85 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:39,040 Speaker 1: If you're looking at it on the left hand side, 86 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,239 Speaker 1: you'll see l a dash l u and it's atomic 87 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:45,359 Speaker 1: numbers fifty seven to seventy one. And that's our little 88 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: grouping of elements that we're talking about, including and I 89 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: think there are two others that are just above them, 90 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: scandium and yeah, those are the lanthanid's plus scandium and 91 00:05:57,680 --> 00:06:01,720 Speaker 1: e trium. And if you are a fan of online 92 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: quizzes and obsessively learning stuff once again, want a shout 93 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:08,720 Speaker 1: out Sparkle, which has a free quiz to help you 94 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 1: memorize the all the known elements of the human periodic 95 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:17,919 Speaker 1: table in case whatever comes up. Um it gives you 96 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: ten minutes, it counts down, it doesn't. I mean, it's 97 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: easy to cheat if you want, but you know, if 98 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:27,400 Speaker 1: you can get away from elden ring long enough. And 99 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:32,920 Speaker 1: also fun fact, Sporkle is also a Swedish export. Yes, 100 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:38,640 Speaker 1: it's true. They're known for their sparkles. Uh. The this 101 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: is the question that comes up when you hear about 102 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:43,039 Speaker 1: when you hear this sort of talk about resources and 103 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:47,680 Speaker 1: elements and chemistry. First question, why do these things matter? 104 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:51,040 Speaker 1: I'm already put off, you might say, because the name 105 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: is misleading. They're not actually rare, They're just inconvenient we 106 00:06:55,480 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 1: should call them inconvenient earth metals or whatever. It turns out, 107 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:06,160 Speaker 1: they are super important. They are key to current civilization 108 00:07:06,520 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: and will continue to be key to this civilization as 109 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 1: a matter of fact. Spoiler, towards the end of today's episode, 110 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,000 Speaker 1: you may ask yourself whether there is in some sense 111 00:07:18,040 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: blood on your smartphone. But for happier things, Yeah, let's 112 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: go to the U S Geological Survey. They have a 113 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: great summary of the situation. And this quotation is a 114 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: little lengthy, but I think I think it drives the 115 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,080 Speaker 1: need for these things home. Absolutely it does so. Uh. 116 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: The rare earth metals are essentially according to the US 117 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:42,680 Speaker 1: Geological Survey UM. They're often reverted as R E or E. 118 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:47,240 Speaker 1: They are necessary components of more than two hundred products 119 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: across a wide range of applications, especially high tech consumer 120 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: products such as cellular telephones, computer hard drives, electric and 121 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: hybrid vehicles, and flat screen monitors and televisions. Look around, boys, 122 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: you see any of these items in your immediate purview? 123 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: I should do without having to look around, just opening 124 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: my eyes and looking in front of me. Oh yeah, Oh, 125 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: there's there's a ton of things. L E d s 126 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: should be included in there. Uh, there's all kinds of things. 127 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: The Geological survey goes on. Significant defense applications include electronic displays, 128 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: guidance systems, lasers and radar, and so in our systems. 129 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: Although the amount of r E used in a product 130 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,880 Speaker 1: may not be a significant part of that product by weight, value, 131 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: or volume, the r E can be necessary for the 132 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: device to function. For example, magnets made of r often 133 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:39,680 Speaker 1: represent only a small fraction of the total weight. Without them, 134 00:08:39,800 --> 00:08:42,679 Speaker 1: the spindle motors and voice coils of desktops and laptops 135 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: would not be possible. So, in other words, there's just 136 00:08:45,480 --> 00:08:49,200 Speaker 1: no substitute for the damn stuff right at this point, 137 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,199 Speaker 1: And of course people are trying to figure out something 138 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:57,240 Speaker 1: that might be an alternative, but the problem is getting 139 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: those same capabilities for a comparable cost. Think of it 140 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: this way. You know, everybody knows what cars are vehicles 141 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:09,520 Speaker 1: if we're the first people to introduce you to that concept. 142 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: Awesome and also very weird. But think of a car. 143 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:18,439 Speaker 1: Wheels make up a relatively small amount of your cars 144 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,920 Speaker 1: mass and a small amount of its weight. But without them, 145 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: you your car doesn't work. It becomes a sculpture. Are 146 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 1: Ease can make up a small piece of a given 147 00:09:29,720 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: electronic or industrial device, but without that small component, the 148 00:09:35,200 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: thing is bricked. And if you like, stick with the 149 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: car comparison. Let's make it literal instead of an analogy. Neodymium, 150 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: one of the most highly prized metals, is used for 151 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,719 Speaker 1: those magnets like you described nol in motors. Lanthanum is 152 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:56,080 Speaker 1: used in electric car batteries. The average Toyota Prius has 153 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:00,400 Speaker 1: twenty five pounds of rare earth metals WUR in its 154 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:05,280 Speaker 1: hybrid engine, in every single car. And without these modern 155 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:09,920 Speaker 1: civilization not a thing. And it's weird. That's such a huge, 156 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:16,240 Speaker 1: huge issue. Humanities present and its future could hinge on 157 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: these surprisingly humble little elements. It to me, you guys, 158 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: it is like discovering extraterrestrial technology. Or something, but it 159 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:28,480 Speaker 1: was just here the whole time. But we just found 160 00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:31,040 Speaker 1: you know, that discovery where oh my god, these things 161 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: that were here the whole time could do this really 162 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:36,440 Speaker 1: special thing. Um. But it feels like, you know, I'm 163 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 1: looking at all the screens, all the flat screens that 164 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:41,760 Speaker 1: around me. It does feel like we stumbled on some 165 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:46,080 Speaker 1: magical thing that now just allows our life to continue. 166 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 1: I think about that too pretty often. You know, it's 167 00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: always the mental exercise. What would most impressive time traveler 168 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,160 Speaker 1: from the past who made it to Um, It's really 169 00:10:57,200 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: tough to guess. I think screens and technology. You one 170 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:02,600 Speaker 1: be one of the big ones, but so it airplanes 171 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: and also stuff like the availability of pepper or saffron, 172 00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:12,800 Speaker 1: you know what I mean speaking, did you guys hear 173 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 1: Sarascha isn't taking any more orders? No, not for a time. 174 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 1: It's not SATs the company that makes it, I can't 175 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:26,559 Speaker 1: remember the name, but the fung something fun fun, it's 176 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: something foods. But also it's a small operation, like I 177 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:33,320 Speaker 1: think the main plant where they make it. People that 178 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: live around there are always complaining that their eyes are burning. 179 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: Peers by the way, for for time travel impressing uh flexes. 180 00:11:42,600 --> 00:11:48,280 Speaker 1: I would also argue industrial laser would be cool. Absolutely, 181 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: are you kidding? Nice shoes might do freaking snippers man. 182 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:58,280 Speaker 1: They would be like, what, I don't trust it. It's 183 00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: devil is always a red flag and time travel movies 184 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:05,679 Speaker 1: when no one immediately murders the heretic. It's just all 185 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: of a sudden, like in their world wearing weird magic clothes. 186 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:13,960 Speaker 1: You know, they learn improv and they're like, there's tell 187 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 1: us more about your situation. So it's hohifung foods. Yes, yes, 188 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:26,200 Speaker 1: I said that was very wrong. Always sound in the 189 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: nfan m hmm. So here's the deal. This stuff and 190 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:34,559 Speaker 1: as useful as it is, as grateful as we are 191 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:37,360 Speaker 1: that the person at the mine in Sweden didn't just 192 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: throw this black rock away. It doesn't exist in a vacuum. 193 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,440 Speaker 1: It's not just nifty stuff for gadgets. It's known to 194 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:51,079 Speaker 1: be very important. It's mission critical for this species, humanity. 195 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:56,560 Speaker 1: The global landscape is changing. Back in the US and 196 00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: China were the biggest producers of these substances. China about 197 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,840 Speaker 1: thirty eight percent of everything the U s made, Australia 198 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:10,199 Speaker 1: made twelve percent, and the other seventeen percent. Came from India, Malaysia, Brazil, Canada, 199 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:14,760 Speaker 1: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand. But that has changed rapidly 200 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 1: in and it's by design, as we'll find. In two 201 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: thousand eight, China went from making thirty eight percent of 202 00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:26,160 Speaker 1: stuff to make a ent of it, and then by 203 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: two thousand eleven that number rose to seven percent. China 204 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: touches in some way even if it's not mined there. 205 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:39,319 Speaker 1: And ever since the nineties, the government of China has 206 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:44,960 Speaker 1: become increasingly protective of these substances, of these reads and 207 00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,200 Speaker 1: they limit out a smart move, and they limit how 208 00:13:48,280 --> 00:13:51,000 Speaker 1: much can be produced, and uh they've also at times 209 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: limited how much can be exported. It's a very rational move. 210 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:57,320 Speaker 1: It makes sense any government would do that if they had, 211 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:00,320 Speaker 1: you know, unless they were like being victimized by longer 212 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:03,959 Speaker 1: foreign powers as we'll see. But you can understand how 213 00:14:04,120 --> 00:14:06,959 Speaker 1: entities and other parts of the world, governments and corporations 214 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: they might not vibe with it. Well, I know, I 215 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 1: know we're gonna get into this uh later, but it's 216 00:14:11,080 --> 00:14:14,199 Speaker 1: like you'll you'll recall that in the thick of COVID 217 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: it was like really hard to get a car and 218 00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: it wasn't necessarily because of like the stuff that makes 219 00:14:20,040 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 1: the outside of the car, or like the plastics that 220 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:24,560 Speaker 1: make like the dash and stuff. It was all of 221 00:14:24,600 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: these like microprocessors and like super conduct semiconductors rather that um, 222 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:32,680 Speaker 1: you know, make up the electronics inside the car because 223 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: of supply chain issues, because of you know, this very 224 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: limited kind of monopolistic hole that that China has on 225 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:43,880 Speaker 1: these these materials. It just should be noted. Right now, 226 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:49,360 Speaker 1: we're talking about in two thousand eleven. Uh, we're gonna 227 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: get into it. But the whole world kind of smelled 228 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:57,200 Speaker 1: what the rock was cooking in China and they went, Okay, 229 00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: we need to up our game here. So those numbers 230 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:02,000 Speaker 1: have chained to now I've been The last thing I 231 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:08,920 Speaker 1: saw was put China at about production the same. It's 232 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: about eighty percent right now, and we'll get as we 233 00:15:11,840 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: get closer to the end, we'll get to some other numbers. 234 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: But what you'll find is the issue. It's kind of 235 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: like oil refineries, right getting the raw material is separate 236 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 1: profit stream from refining it or making it into something usable, 237 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: separating the combo meal as it were. Uh, And why 238 00:15:33,040 --> 00:15:35,240 Speaker 1: are people worried about the future here. Well, you can 239 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:40,360 Speaker 1: already guess conspiracy realists. But to put it very diplomatically, 240 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:48,760 Speaker 1: humans have never been super awesome at sharing stuff, especially resources, water, gold, land, food, animals, 241 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,280 Speaker 1: you name it. There is a possible conflict looming on 242 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: the horizon. This is an historical fact, and right now 243 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 1: there's nothing to indicate that the growing importance of rare 244 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 1: earth elements will be any different. As you listen to 245 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: today's episode, governments, your government, no matter where you live, 246 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:09,760 Speaker 1: and companies around the world, as well as some corrupt, 247 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:13,680 Speaker 1: very powerful individuals, are actively conspiring to get the best 248 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 1: seat at the table for this new gold rush, and 249 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: they are increasingly less concerned with who might get hurt 250 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 1: in the process. We're gonna pause for word from our 251 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: sponsors and will return. Here's where it gets crazy, all right, 252 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: conflict resources. Let's talk about it. Let's say the the 253 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: five of us on the show, Uh, Matt Noell myself, 254 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: Mission Control and you're listening. Let's say we're in a 255 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 1: regional conflict. We're either a government and we're fighting rebel militias, 256 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: or we're part of a rebel force and we're fighting 257 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 1: a government. Whichever side we're on, we're in it because 258 00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:04,040 Speaker 1: we're convinced we have the moral high ground. Other people 259 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: might agree with us. They might you know, want to 260 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:11,080 Speaker 1: supply us arms, they might want us like training. They 261 00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:15,119 Speaker 1: might just you know, make like viral social media post 262 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: or something. But the thing is, yeah, but the thing 263 00:17:18,080 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: is thoughts and prayers don't pay the bills. Conflict is expensive. 264 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,000 Speaker 1: We have to fund our side of the war, and 265 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: that's where we start looking for physical control of areas 266 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:33,679 Speaker 1: with lots of resources cocaine for example, or oil or 267 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 1: nowadays rare earth minerals. If we can extract these and 268 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 1: we can exercise attacks on them, no matter who we're 269 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,399 Speaker 1: hurting in the process, then we can sell them and 270 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,320 Speaker 1: we'll continue our conflict. And the people we sell them 271 00:17:48,359 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: to can use any number of like proxies and middlemen 272 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:58,879 Speaker 1: actors to give themselves legal cover, and they will almost 273 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:03,280 Speaker 1: never ask questions about where this stuff actually comes from. 274 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:08,399 Speaker 1: It's an old idea, yeah, um, our country has been 275 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 1: doing it for a long time. We learned from the 276 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:14,440 Speaker 1: best tip of the hat creep Britain. Uh just you know, 277 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:18,360 Speaker 1: moving into a place and taking the stuff to sell it, 278 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:20,520 Speaker 1: maybe back to the same people that you just took 279 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: over from the word you're looking for. It perhaps is pillaging, Yes, 280 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,240 Speaker 1: taking taking what's it's ours? It's ours. We we we 281 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:31,200 Speaker 1: got here, we like we we pushed the other people 282 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 1: out of the way. I mean, it's rightfully ours. So 283 00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,400 Speaker 1: that's that's an old thing for for many people right now. 284 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:43,760 Speaker 1: Not reading your mind, but you probably just thought of 285 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,920 Speaker 1: blood diamonds, right That is another conflict resource. That's the 286 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 1: umbrella term for these. But blood diamonds are only the 287 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:54,919 Speaker 1: most well known example in the West right now to 288 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:58,840 Speaker 1: the public. If you look at something like the mining 289 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:03,040 Speaker 1: industry and the demo aocratic Republic of Congo, you'll see 290 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:06,520 Speaker 1: that one of the big big deals there is something 291 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,480 Speaker 1: you might not think about often. It's a thing called coltan. 292 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 1: Coltan is important because it provides the element tantalum, which 293 00:19:14,119 --> 00:19:18,320 Speaker 1: is used in many mobile phones. Huge deal, uh, This 294 00:19:19,119 --> 00:19:25,800 Speaker 1: resource one financed fighting during the Second Congo War to 295 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: two thousand three. Another thing you probably didn't hear much 296 00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:32,200 Speaker 1: about on the evening news, right and you certainly didn't 297 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:35,600 Speaker 1: hear about the money that was involved and the way 298 00:19:36,000 --> 00:19:39,679 Speaker 1: the ways in which mining financed this war. It was 299 00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,399 Speaker 1: such a big deal in the Congo that control of 300 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: the minds became its own military objective. They would go 301 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:50,680 Speaker 1: out and say, hey, we need to get the mind 302 00:19:51,080 --> 00:19:56,640 Speaker 1: because the mind is profitable. And when like again back 303 00:19:56,680 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: to small things so coltan and or like, the components 304 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,639 Speaker 1: made from it control the flow of electricity and mobile phones. 305 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:09,240 Speaker 1: Without this stuff, your phone is bricked, and more and 306 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 1: more and more people are are using mobile phones. It's 307 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:15,920 Speaker 1: like the most common way to access the Internet. Some 308 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: people treat it um entirely like another part of their 309 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:25,240 Speaker 1: brain lives with them. You were probably within reaching distance 310 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 1: of your cellular device. Now. The largest reserves of this 311 00:20:30,840 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 1: cold ten stuff there in the Democratic Republic of Congo. UH. 312 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:40,439 Speaker 1: They finance sustaining civil wars on the African continent and 313 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:44,679 Speaker 1: in in the d r C. Those wars directly relate 314 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: to the profits from these substances. The trade continues today 315 00:20:49,640 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: in the east of the country. These minds are often 316 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:56,879 Speaker 1: in really remote places, really dangerous areas of the world. 317 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:02,240 Speaker 1: At this point, when it introduce International Peace Information Service 318 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:06,600 Speaker 1: or it is, it is as a delightful acronym, But 319 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,640 Speaker 1: they have some terrible news. UH. Their studies have indicated 320 00:21:10,720 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: that for years, armed groups were present at more than 321 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: fifty percent of all the mining sites in the country. 322 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:20,919 Speaker 1: And they weren't just loafing around at a lot of 323 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 1: these sites. They would force the local civilians into work. 324 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:31,360 Speaker 1: They would illegally extort them, illegally tax them, miners including children. 325 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,040 Speaker 1: So miners with an E M, miners with an O 326 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:38,400 Speaker 1: work these shifts that go up to forty eight hours 327 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: around mudslides, tunnel collapses. Uh, these are fatal. Ocean is 328 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:50,199 Speaker 1: not a thing. And perhaps most horrifyingly, both sides of conflicts, 329 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: like the militia groups but the Congolese National Army as well, 330 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 1: have been known to use sexual assault violence to control 331 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,480 Speaker 1: the locals and control the minds. And this has been 332 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 1: happening since really the birth and golden age of smartphones 333 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,560 Speaker 1: that occurred, remember talking about late nineties to early two thousand's, 334 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 1: So that's that started happening then and it just continues today. 335 00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:17,080 Speaker 1: And it's horrifying to think about with the number of 336 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 1: smartphones that exist on the planet right now that are 337 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 1: being actively used and thrown away and new ones purchased 338 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,439 Speaker 1: and creative god yeah, I mean, it's such a waste, 339 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,359 Speaker 1: wasteful culture. I don't know if you guys have seen these, 340 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:31,120 Speaker 1: but there are literally machines at some grocery stores where 341 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,359 Speaker 1: you can just feed your one generation old smartphone into 342 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:36,359 Speaker 1: a slot and then I'll give you like a couple 343 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 1: of bucks for it, while presumably recycling it. I don't 344 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:42,159 Speaker 1: know exactly where that stuff goes, but they're probably just 345 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: trying to pull some of those rare minerals out of 346 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:46,639 Speaker 1: it and you know, sell them in bulk. I guess 347 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: that's that's how they're amassing it. But this really reminds 348 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,439 Speaker 1: me of like the Harkonans in um in Dune in 349 00:22:53,520 --> 00:22:56,840 Speaker 1: terms of like their use of spice mining on iraqis 350 00:22:56,920 --> 00:23:01,440 Speaker 1: to basically fund their supremacy over like the whole galaxy 351 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:04,359 Speaker 1: as much as they possibly can, like their warlords, and 352 00:23:04,400 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: they are able to fund their military through the extraction 353 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:12,879 Speaker 1: of this resource that everybody means mm hmmm. Yeah. In 354 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: some regions of the Congo, about thirty percent of school 355 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,679 Speaker 1: children have been pulled away from their daily lives and 356 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 1: forced to work in the minds. So again we see 357 00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:29,320 Speaker 1: the supply chain similar to nest Lee's activity gathering their ingredients, 358 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 1: similar to the beer's activity gathering diamonds. It's a tactic, 359 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:38,120 Speaker 1: right and it's a tactic because it's profitable and it works, 360 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:42,040 Speaker 1: and they are rarely repercussions for the dirty hands involved. 361 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,240 Speaker 1: The United States is aware of this issue, and a 362 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:49,120 Speaker 1: guy named Senator Sam Brownback back in April the two 363 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:53,720 Speaker 1: thousand nine introduce something he called the Congo Conflicts Minerals 364 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:57,280 Speaker 1: Act of two thousand nine, and it said, here, if 365 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:01,000 Speaker 1: you're an electronics company and you you work with us, 366 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: you need to verify and disclose your sources of several 367 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:10,679 Speaker 1: specific conflict resources. This legislation died in committee because it 368 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:14,639 Speaker 1: was messing with the money potentially. So brown Back, to 369 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: the senator's credit, went back and added similar language in 370 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 1: the Dodd Frank wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 371 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:27,879 Speaker 1: because without getting the weeds, that's something you can do 372 00:24:27,960 --> 00:24:30,840 Speaker 1: in Congress, and congress folk do it all the time. 373 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,439 Speaker 1: You just you want something to happen, so you add 374 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: your thing in to a totally unrelated piece of legislation. 375 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:41,640 Speaker 1: It would be like if we all decided we were 376 00:24:41,680 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 1: going to order pizza and then someone said, I'm only 377 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:50,639 Speaker 1: ordering pizza if we're also getting wantons and borshed, like 378 00:24:50,680 --> 00:24:55,680 Speaker 1: when they don't have that at the pizza place. Well, no, deal. Uh, 379 00:24:56,040 --> 00:25:00,440 Speaker 1: that's it's weird, but brown back strategy worked and this 380 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:06,239 Speaker 1: was signed into law on July. Hopefully these laws can 381 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 1: make a difference, and hopefully international organizations can continue to 382 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:14,520 Speaker 1: work around the clock to stem or mitigate the human 383 00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:19,199 Speaker 1: wave of blood and pain created by conflict mining. But 384 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:24,200 Speaker 1: it still continues today, and it's going to continue because 385 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:25,960 Speaker 1: even though it's a problem, not a lot of people 386 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,240 Speaker 1: want to think about. Uh, from us holding our phones 387 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: all the way to the heights of corporate power where 388 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 1: all these complex supply webs of middlemen create this morally 389 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: convenient plausible deniability. Everybody wants this stuff and this is 390 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,000 Speaker 1: this sounds like the point of the episode, but this 391 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,879 Speaker 1: is just one of three big points. This is one 392 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: aspect of the larger rare earth gold rush, and it 393 00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: is a gold rush, and we are part of it. 394 00:25:55,800 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: The number of people that own a smart phone it's 395 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:05,399 Speaker 1: like seven point to six billion, which is almost of 396 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:09,000 Speaker 1: the world's population. So you're involved, even if you don't 397 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: want to think about it. We are to um, but 398 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: we're probably not going to be directly involved in the 399 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: next frontier of the gold rush, just because most people 400 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:23,119 Speaker 1: couldn't survive getting to this place. We are kind of 401 00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:26,719 Speaker 1: involved because I think we mentioned this specific thing back 402 00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:31,520 Speaker 1: in an episode of Strange News, and so we're we're 403 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:33,520 Speaker 1: we're involved on the edge. We at least let some 404 00:26:33,560 --> 00:26:36,960 Speaker 1: people know about it. The new gold rush, right, the 405 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:42,080 Speaker 1: brand new frontier gold rush that is deep beneath the waves, 406 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,040 Speaker 1: around four thousand meters below the waves to be exact. 407 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:51,399 Speaker 1: Mm hmm, yeah, the newest mining Frontier. It reminds me 408 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: of a sci fi show that was on many years 409 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,160 Speaker 1: ago called um I can't remember. It was like Star 410 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:03,360 Speaker 1: tre second see us, Yes, that's it. That's the one 411 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:08,560 Speaker 1: quest TSV with with with Royce rob roy Scheider from 412 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 1: Jaws was in it. Also Jonathan Brandis, who was a 413 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: big teen heart throb at the time who tragically passed 414 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:17,000 Speaker 1: away and a really sad circumstances. But it had a 415 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,760 Speaker 1: talking dolphin um and it was very eco driven. It 416 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:23,360 Speaker 1: was all about the ecological kind of stuff. I thought 417 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:25,919 Speaker 1: you guys were talking about Sea Lab. Oh, Sea Lab. Yeah, No, 418 00:27:26,040 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: Sea Lab also great, very different kind of show, but 419 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 1: also some cold classic. Yeah. Sea Lab is a little 420 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:35,919 Speaker 1: more no Country for old man. That is gonna be 421 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:39,080 Speaker 1: great for anybody who was watching Sea lab for the 422 00:27:39,119 --> 00:27:42,959 Speaker 1: first time. Just watch the episode, keep thinking to yourself 423 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:45,159 Speaker 1: what it has in common with Bild Country for old Men, 424 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:50,520 Speaker 1: and then send us an email about the similarities. Cut cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, 425 00:27:50,520 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: cut cut cut. So let's this newest mining frontier. It's 426 00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:59,760 Speaker 1: the Pacific Ocean. It's deep in the Pacific Ocean. As 427 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: we mentioned earlier, in remote parts of the Pacific seabed. 428 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 1: There are trillions of these little like potato size nodules 429 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:15,000 Speaker 1: of rare earth elements, and there there's enough of them 430 00:28:15,000 --> 00:28:18,479 Speaker 1: there to really play apart and power in the world, 431 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: as long as someone can figure out how to get 432 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:24,560 Speaker 1: get down there, more than two miles below the surface 433 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: and bring them back up. Gee, guys, I don't see 434 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,600 Speaker 1: any potential fall out from this kind of operation at all. 435 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:35,120 Speaker 1: Do you zero percent? What could go wrong if we, uh, 436 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: if we make first contact with a lot of these 437 00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: places in the world's least explored, most remote, and most 438 00:28:41,800 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 1: poorly understood regions. Well, yeah, most delicately ecologically balanced. We 439 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:51,520 Speaker 1: just need we'll just get claws and it'll just grab 440 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:53,719 Speaker 1: all the stuff on the ocean floor. Just whatever it 441 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:55,960 Speaker 1: is doesn't matter as long as the nodules are picked 442 00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:57,800 Speaker 1: up and then we'll just return it to the surface. 443 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,320 Speaker 1: It'll be fine, but we'll do that a lot, and 444 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: then we'll post environmentally conscious means on Instagram for our 445 00:29:05,720 --> 00:29:09,000 Speaker 1: mining companies, so people know our our thoughts and prayers 446 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,959 Speaker 1: are there. You know. Uh, these this thing like okay, 447 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:18,920 Speaker 1: just like the earlier mineral in Sweden, this was discovered 448 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 1: a long time ago, back in eighty five. Ship saw 449 00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 1: this stuff and they really think much of it. And 450 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:31,040 Speaker 1: it wasn't until pretty recently that humanity has made the 451 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:36,880 Speaker 1: breakthroughs and underwater robotics that make large scale mining possible, 452 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 1: if not advisable, because there are a lot of people 453 00:29:41,240 --> 00:29:43,920 Speaker 1: against it, as you can imagine messing with things you 454 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:48,680 Speaker 1: don't understand classic human being. But oh brother, people want 455 00:29:48,720 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: to slice in that undersea pi. Yeah, this is very 456 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: much to me like the what is it the asteroid 457 00:29:56,000 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 1: mining that we recently discussed. Everybody kind of sees that 458 00:30:01,200 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: as a potential news source of these kinds of minerals. 459 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: Now we're just going down instead of up, I suppose. 460 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 1: So let's let's jump to some reporting from the Guardian. 461 00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 1: This uh journalist Rupert meet any A t E and 462 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:19,840 Speaker 1: he wrote an article looking at the Deep Sea Mining 463 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:24,520 Speaker 1: Summit which occurred in two specifically at the Hilton London 464 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 1: Hotel in the Canary Wharf district. And it's really interesting 465 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: because the summit itself, you pay money to go and 466 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:38,200 Speaker 1: you know, visit the summit here what people are talking about, 467 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,960 Speaker 1: meet other people in mining and you had to pay 468 00:30:42,200 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: what was it been almost twelve hundred pounds just to 469 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:51,240 Speaker 1: go and hang out at the event. Yes, they're already 470 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 1: making money. And uh the delegates are like representatives of 471 00:30:56,760 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: environmental concerns, but also a lot of banks, also lot 472 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 1: of mining interest startups, established mining giants. Like mining is 473 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:11,440 Speaker 1: a huge industry and it's a very powerful industry. The 474 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:15,680 Speaker 1: organization just to be guests fair, do our due diligence. 475 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:20,360 Speaker 1: They made some pragmatic points in their advertisements and ruper 476 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:24,760 Speaker 1: neat points is how too, they say, particularly the psychotomy quote. 477 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,720 Speaker 1: As we move into an era of mining the deep 478 00:31:27,760 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 1: ocean floor, the world's most remote environment, mining companies are 479 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:36,560 Speaker 1: working on overcoming the perceived challenges, and developing island nations 480 00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: are watching with interest as the demand for base metals 481 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,280 Speaker 1: and minerals surges ever beyond what our land is able 482 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 1: to provide new technological and technical developments are helping to 483 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:52,480 Speaker 1: drive forward this new industry. Cue the cue the trumpets, 484 00:31:52,840 --> 00:31:55,560 Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Play the play the marching music. 485 00:31:55,640 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: We're off to the underwater races. Everybody's tests. That's why 486 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,760 Speaker 1: I remember the story because it was a two year 487 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,520 Speaker 1: rule they got recently triggered back in April. I think 488 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: we're around that time where the island nations. What was 489 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 1: it they had two years to do something. Oh man, 490 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:17,040 Speaker 1: I'm I can't remember it exactly. It was. Okay, So 491 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:23,800 Speaker 1: last year in June, as we record this, the Pacific 492 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 1: island nation of Naru triggered the two year rule. The 493 00:32:29,160 --> 00:32:33,560 Speaker 1: two year rule gives the International Seabed Authority or ISSA, 494 00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:41,080 Speaker 1: two years to finalize regulations governing this nascent, controversial, and 495 00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,800 Speaker 1: growing deep sea mining industry. So the clock is ticking. 496 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:49,320 Speaker 1: The deadline is July of next year. To get our 497 00:32:49,520 --> 00:32:52,480 Speaker 1: you know, our safe words are boundaries, are dues, and 498 00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:58,120 Speaker 1: don't alt together before the drills start. Uh. There are 499 00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: a lot of people are against this, I mean Pacific. 500 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,040 Speaker 1: Several Pacific nations are saying, you know, they've seen what 501 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:08,200 Speaker 1: happened to African nations in the past. And Latin America, 502 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: and they're saying, hey, we don't want to be um 503 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:16,480 Speaker 1: robbed of our natural resources, or at least we want 504 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:19,640 Speaker 1: to be compensated in some way. And then other folks, 505 00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:23,480 Speaker 1: including like Sir David Attenborough, are saying, no, just don't 506 00:33:23,480 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: do it. You don't know what's down there. Stop. Where 507 00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:32,120 Speaker 1: will I make my documentaries? Well, if the oceans are pillaged, 508 00:33:32,960 --> 00:33:35,080 Speaker 1: well I have to make at least ten more before 509 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: I turned two hundred. Well, the environmentalist response really does 510 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:41,240 Speaker 1: ring true. And I think that's what we focused on 511 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:45,120 Speaker 1: in our episode, just that every time we humanity, whether 512 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: it's through some new tech where a human can actually 513 00:33:48,960 --> 00:33:51,480 Speaker 1: get in them craft and get all the way down 514 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: to the bottom there again four thousand meters below sea level, 515 00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,320 Speaker 1: or even we're just sending a robot of some sort 516 00:34:00,520 --> 00:34:03,080 Speaker 1: to go down there, every time we do it we 517 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: discover new species because we don't go there very often 518 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 1: and it's a huge f in place. So you know, 519 00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,759 Speaker 1: you can just imagine that if we just go down 520 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:17,000 Speaker 1: there to take the stuff up from the surface, then 521 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:20,640 Speaker 1: we're gonna kill a lot of things, things that we 522 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:23,680 Speaker 1: don't even know there are there. Yeah, but isn't that 523 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:25,920 Speaker 1: the point though, Like I mean, yeah, people like you 524 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,720 Speaker 1: and I and Davy Attenborough we care about those things. 525 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,360 Speaker 1: We we we realize that adds a richness to life 526 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:34,520 Speaker 1: and life on earth and all of that stuff, and 527 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,040 Speaker 1: we love nature documentaries. But do you think that the 528 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,720 Speaker 1: leaders of these conglomo companies that are banking on getting 529 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:45,000 Speaker 1: the stuff care at all? Even a little? Any representation 530 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: of caring about the environment is all optics, It's all 531 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,520 Speaker 1: in service of some pr line. I don't think they 532 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: care at all. If it was up to them, they'd 533 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:55,800 Speaker 1: kill every single living creature on earth to get to 534 00:34:55,880 --> 00:35:02,040 Speaker 1: their stuff. I don't know, because rationalization and is something 535 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:05,759 Speaker 1: that humans are very very good at, and it's unrelated 536 00:35:05,840 --> 00:35:09,319 Speaker 1: to intelligence really, I mean, it's not like it's not 537 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:12,399 Speaker 1: like being intelligent makes people be honest with themselves. They 538 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,480 Speaker 1: just get better at lying to themselves pretty often. It's 539 00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:19,319 Speaker 1: mental parkour. But uh, I know that there are a 540 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:21,759 Speaker 1: lot of signals from these groups that say, hey, we 541 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:25,880 Speaker 1: want to work on the right environmental regulations. But because 542 00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:28,480 Speaker 1: people haven't done something like this before, they don't know 543 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:32,839 Speaker 1: what those regulations really should be. And a big part 544 00:35:32,880 --> 00:35:37,080 Speaker 1: of how China jumped ahead in the Rare Earth Game, 545 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:42,080 Speaker 1: hinged on their ability to keep production costs low by 546 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:47,440 Speaker 1: not giving two farts about the environment. I'm trying to 547 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,520 Speaker 1: curse less on the show. But they didn't have to 548 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:56,480 Speaker 1: worry about the same expensive regulations. And people are saying, um, 549 00:35:56,520 --> 00:35:59,799 Speaker 1: you know, and and scientists and experts are reacting to 550 00:35:59,840 --> 00:36:03,960 Speaker 1: the two In the same year. One partially in reaction 551 00:36:04,000 --> 00:36:07,439 Speaker 1: to this, more than three hundred and fifty scientists from 552 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:11,320 Speaker 1: forty four different countries signed a petition saying, hey, we 553 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:16,280 Speaker 1: gotta stop. We shouldn't mine in the deep sea until 554 00:36:16,440 --> 00:36:21,279 Speaker 1: quote sufficient and robust scientific information has been obtained. Here's 555 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:24,520 Speaker 1: where we go to Luisa Cassan, who is who is 556 00:36:24,560 --> 00:36:26,920 Speaker 1: working with green Peace at the time. She said the 557 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,920 Speaker 1: industry running the conference is crooked. She said the banks 558 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,640 Speaker 1: who are talking about investing in this are clearly just 559 00:36:34,680 --> 00:36:39,560 Speaker 1: looking for a quick profit. Consequences be damned. She said, 560 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,560 Speaker 1: This destructive new industry wants to rip up an ecosystem 561 00:36:42,640 --> 00:36:45,120 Speaker 1: we're only just starting to understand there ain't mean to 562 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:47,600 Speaker 1: make a quick profit while our oceans and the billions 563 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:50,880 Speaker 1: of people relying on them bear the costs. Also important 564 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,800 Speaker 1: to know activists for places like green peace point out 565 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:58,440 Speaker 1: that the maritime ecosystem is already like on the verge 566 00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 1: of collapse. You know what I mean, if you like seafood, 567 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:04,040 Speaker 1: maybe eat them now. I don't know, I don't know 568 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:12,040 Speaker 1: what to do, but because yeah, yeah, just stop eating anything, 569 00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:20,439 Speaker 1: Just stop eating anything. Yeah. Right. Uh. And you know what, though, 570 00:37:21,160 --> 00:37:24,960 Speaker 1: they all make great points, and this is probably going 571 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,920 Speaker 1: to happen one way or another. The United Nations, as 572 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:32,040 Speaker 1: sort of parent company, doesn't have a bunch of real 573 00:37:32,160 --> 00:37:36,920 Speaker 1: enforcement powers, and in a money driven society, money being 574 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:39,759 Speaker 1: the dominant religion of this age, the money is just 575 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:42,719 Speaker 1: too good. The need from the materials is just too great. 576 00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,400 Speaker 1: To paraphrase Douglas Adams, so long to the Pacific. Thanks 577 00:37:46,400 --> 00:37:50,600 Speaker 1: for all the fish, beautiful, beautiful. I mean, it is 578 00:37:50,600 --> 00:37:54,520 Speaker 1: going to happen. And I don't care who you are. 579 00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,279 Speaker 1: If you if you hold that view, you probably like 580 00:37:57,440 --> 00:38:01,000 Speaker 1: your smartphone. You you know, even if you know that 581 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:03,239 Speaker 1: this is a bad idea to get the rare earth 582 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:07,080 Speaker 1: elements from that specific place, you know that we need them. 583 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:09,480 Speaker 1: Like It's exactly what we're saying here. The need is 584 00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,680 Speaker 1: too great. We're not Humanity isn't gonna change its way 585 00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: and just say, okay, guys, no more smartphones, no more Internet, 586 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:20,160 Speaker 1: no more hybrid cars, no more Tesla's. We're done with 587 00:38:20,200 --> 00:38:23,000 Speaker 1: that stuff now because we can't afford it. As a species, 588 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:27,280 Speaker 1: we're not particularly great at making sacrifices once we've already 589 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:30,839 Speaker 1: like gone down a particular road. I think we had 590 00:38:30,880 --> 00:38:33,319 Speaker 1: a great Mr. Show quote a couple of episodes ago. 591 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,640 Speaker 1: I'm gonna do another one. Uh it's a a wealthy 592 00:38:36,680 --> 00:38:39,560 Speaker 1: executive talking about what might happen if the company collapse, 593 00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:40,840 Speaker 1: and he says, I swear to God, if I have 594 00:38:40,880 --> 00:38:44,560 Speaker 1: to go from being super richness rich, I'll kill myself. Uh. 595 00:38:44,760 --> 00:38:46,560 Speaker 1: We we just that's how we think. Like, once you've 596 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,279 Speaker 1: gone down that road of like luxury or even like 597 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:53,600 Speaker 1: basic stuff, you know, having you know, the ability to 598 00:38:53,600 --> 00:38:56,760 Speaker 1: to you know, doodle around your smartphone with apps and 599 00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:59,680 Speaker 1: play games and stuff in text, it's really hard to 600 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:01,520 Speaker 1: put that genie back in the bottle, even with the 601 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:04,080 Speaker 1: best intentions, because we've kind of trained ourselves to feel 602 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:06,880 Speaker 1: like we're owated in some way. And this still doesn't 603 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:12,760 Speaker 1: cover the extent of corruption, contamination and conspiracy orbiting those 604 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:16,600 Speaker 1: neat little gadgets hot in your hands and all the 605 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:21,160 Speaker 1: crazy crazy stuff people will do to manufacture and to 606 00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,560 Speaker 1: sell them to you at a profit. And pause for 607 00:39:24,719 --> 00:39:27,359 Speaker 1: quick word from our sponsor, and then we'll return with 608 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:31,560 Speaker 1: a third big piece of the conspiracy puzzle. When it 609 00:39:31,560 --> 00:39:42,080 Speaker 1: comes to rare earth elements. We've returned. Um. If you 610 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:44,160 Speaker 1: are a fan of hip hop, I'm sure you heard 611 00:39:44,360 --> 00:39:47,799 Speaker 1: the song Detroit Versus Everybody with a lodge of legendary 612 00:39:47,920 --> 00:39:51,279 Speaker 1: Detroit m ces. Check out the song. Tell us what 613 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:54,440 Speaker 1: you think. Uh, this part of the show should be 614 00:39:54,480 --> 00:39:58,080 Speaker 1: called China Versus Everybody is As we mentioned right now, 615 00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:03,040 Speaker 1: China controls the vast majority party of rare earths, as 616 00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:06,560 Speaker 1: the Swedish originally called them. They've raised the price of 617 00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 1: some of these elements by as much as one thousand 618 00:40:09,080 --> 00:40:12,640 Speaker 1: percent in recent years. Also, there was a fishing dispute 619 00:40:12,640 --> 00:40:16,640 Speaker 1: also with Japan a few years back, and China retaliated 620 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:21,080 Speaker 1: by cutting off exports of these substances, and this gave 621 00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,920 Speaker 1: them a lot of clout and helped them resolve the issue. Uh. 622 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:28,440 Speaker 1: The worry about China having control over this high demand 623 00:40:28,520 --> 00:40:32,360 Speaker 1: resource type has sent the US into an emergency mode 624 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:36,640 Speaker 1: that continues today. That this wasn't China freestyling. This plan 625 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:39,440 Speaker 1: was decades in the making, and it was an accurate, 626 00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:43,080 Speaker 1: brilliant prediction on the part of Chinese analysts based on 627 00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,719 Speaker 1: a couple of factors. First, the sort of mining crazy expensive, 628 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:50,280 Speaker 1: especially if you care about the environment. To China wanted 629 00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:53,360 Speaker 1: to create a situation where at the lowest cost of production, 630 00:40:54,040 --> 00:40:58,359 Speaker 1: super good vertical integration, and a lot of industry subsidies. 631 00:40:58,680 --> 00:41:01,480 Speaker 1: And then they rolled out their plan. They wanted to 632 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:05,240 Speaker 1: control the entirety of the supply chain so much as possible. 633 00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:09,520 Speaker 1: They wanted to capture Western intellectual property r i P. 634 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:13,080 Speaker 1: And they wanted to embed the materials that they touched 635 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:17,960 Speaker 1: into US commercial and defense systems. They were super successful. 636 00:41:18,280 --> 00:41:22,440 Speaker 1: China dominates the market. It minds fifty of the world's 637 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:30,880 Speaker 1: rare earth minerals today, and perhaps more importantly, it processes Yeah, 638 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:32,839 Speaker 1: so let's just break some of those numbers down even further, 639 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:39,279 Speaker 1: just to the actual elements themselves. In China produced of 640 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:45,600 Speaker 1: all gallium and of all silicon and of arsenic important. 641 00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:48,320 Speaker 1: It's up there with the old lace. How was about 642 00:41:48,120 --> 00:41:52,320 Speaker 1: to get out of my head? So? Uh, These Chinese 643 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:59,080 Speaker 1: firms also control of global cobalt refining. They also control 644 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:03,480 Speaker 1: have of the d RC Democratic Republic of the Congo 645 00:42:03,560 --> 00:42:08,319 Speaker 1: is cobalt mining that's of global production. Round about. This 646 00:42:08,440 --> 00:42:13,400 Speaker 1: means that the majority of rare earth elements mind outside 647 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,919 Speaker 1: of China are going to end up there anyway. They're 648 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:20,680 Speaker 1: shipped over for processing into high value metals and magnets 649 00:42:20,680 --> 00:42:23,640 Speaker 1: and alloys. And over time, the i p that the 650 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:28,520 Speaker 1: Chinese government and state supported companies acquired, often from Western companies, 651 00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:32,839 Speaker 1: meant that they were increasingly less reliant on those other 652 00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:37,200 Speaker 1: countries manufacturing processes. And this leads to what dings shall 653 00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:42,520 Speaker 1: Pain called, uh, something kind of poetic. In response to 654 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:46,839 Speaker 1: a question about this, Deng said, the Middle East has 655 00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:51,120 Speaker 1: its oil, China has rare earths, and it's not hyperpole. 656 00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:54,839 Speaker 1: Uh it's a little poetic, but it's a real thing. 657 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:58,560 Speaker 1: And the US knew about this hustle since pretty much 658 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:01,759 Speaker 1: day one at for they just didn't do anything about it. 659 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:04,399 Speaker 1: I don't I don't think they knew what a big 660 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:07,960 Speaker 1: issue it would become. Do you think China did? Oh? Yeah, 661 00:43:08,080 --> 00:43:10,920 Speaker 1: for sure. I mean, well, because you know, it was 662 00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:15,719 Speaker 1: obviously like the stuff was important for many products. But 663 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,719 Speaker 1: I wouldn't you say that it's the smartphone revolution like 664 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,279 Speaker 1: the iPhone, the whole lego that and then insane number 665 00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,200 Speaker 1: that you just put out Ben that maybe really really 666 00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:27,160 Speaker 1: pushed it over the line in terms of like how 667 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:31,800 Speaker 1: necessary these things are. Yeah, that's a huge part. Semiconductors, 668 00:43:31,960 --> 00:43:34,880 Speaker 1: as you mentioned earlier, that's a huge part. Well, bombs 669 00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:37,120 Speaker 1: and the way to make bombs land where they're supposed 670 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:41,239 Speaker 1: to land. Uh, you need semiconductors, electric vehicles. It's a 671 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:43,839 Speaker 1: big part. Part of the rollout for e vs has 672 00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:47,520 Speaker 1: been stymy by these supply chain issues. I just I 673 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:50,480 Speaker 1: just wonder how U S could have been so shortsighted. Well, 674 00:43:50,719 --> 00:43:53,440 Speaker 1: here's the other thing. A lot, let's say, of the 675 00:43:53,520 --> 00:43:57,759 Speaker 1: economically viable deposits of rare earth minerals exist. They just 676 00:43:57,800 --> 00:44:00,960 Speaker 1: happen to exist on land that is controlled by the 677 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:04,239 Speaker 1: country of China and the you know, the borders that 678 00:44:04,400 --> 00:44:07,080 Speaker 1: create China. They just happen. They just happen to be there. 679 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:10,200 Speaker 1: So it's also a bit of luck, I guess in 680 00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:13,600 Speaker 1: a way, um all working together at the same time 681 00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:16,480 Speaker 1: of the factors you guys mentioned, and the US closed 682 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:20,400 Speaker 1: down a lot of minds due to those environmental concerns. 683 00:44:20,480 --> 00:44:23,520 Speaker 1: In fact, we're talking about this a little bit too. 684 00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:29,000 Speaker 1: We'll hold it for US solutions. But let's let's get 685 00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:33,359 Speaker 1: there in a second. Uh. For years now, the US 686 00:44:33,400 --> 00:44:36,439 Speaker 1: has been thinking about how to respond to this. After 687 00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:39,759 Speaker 1: initially seating control and closing down their own stuff, they 688 00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:44,440 Speaker 1: might resurrect domestic minds. All those old like forty nine 689 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:47,320 Speaker 1: are gold mines that are out decaying in the West. 690 00:44:48,040 --> 00:44:50,600 Speaker 1: It turns out if they have anything worthwhile in them 691 00:44:50,640 --> 00:44:54,160 Speaker 1: that's not gold because the original prospectors weren't looking for that, 692 00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:56,480 Speaker 1: then they're gonna open them again. They're gonna try to 693 00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:01,279 Speaker 1: and let's hope that first one works out, because the 694 00:45:01,320 --> 00:45:05,400 Speaker 1: other possibilities are not things you would want to consider 695 00:45:05,520 --> 00:45:12,400 Speaker 1: lightly yes, and might haunted. Yeah, you know, prospectors past 696 00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:17,800 Speaker 1: yet there soon they could be leaders in the afterlife 697 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:24,440 Speaker 1: semiconductor industry. Uh. Look, these things power America's advanced military. 698 00:45:24,480 --> 00:45:29,480 Speaker 1: It's digital economy, vehicle smartphones, radar, fighter jets like the 699 00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:33,279 Speaker 1: F thirty five, name it. These chips are essential for 700 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:37,160 Speaker 1: US national security, and once you cut past the headlines, 701 00:45:37,719 --> 00:45:40,640 Speaker 1: this deficit is one of the main reasons the US 702 00:45:40,719 --> 00:45:43,440 Speaker 1: has not gone full nuclear in a trade war with 703 00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:48,800 Speaker 1: China just yet. It's because they're entirely reliant on imports 704 00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:53,440 Speaker 1: for the supply of rare earth minerals. Number two supplier 705 00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:56,400 Speaker 1: of rare earth material to the U S is Estonia 706 00:45:56,640 --> 00:45:59,760 Speaker 1: at about six percent. Number one is China at about 707 00:45:59,760 --> 00:46:02,719 Speaker 1: seven in the eight percent, it's a distance second. Well, 708 00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:04,920 Speaker 1: and you remember we did an episode a long time 709 00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:11,920 Speaker 1: ago on Chinese interests in UH mineral minds in Africa. 710 00:46:12,120 --> 00:46:14,640 Speaker 1: Remember that we talked about how, oh yeah, that's a 711 00:46:14,640 --> 00:46:19,360 Speaker 1: little weird. China's really going hard extracting minerals from Africa. 712 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,000 Speaker 1: We know there's resources extraction, we understand that, but it 713 00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:24,279 Speaker 1: was it really was part of this bigger game that 714 00:46:24,400 --> 00:46:26,680 Speaker 1: was happening that we could kind of see at the 715 00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:29,319 Speaker 1: time when we were talking about that, because gosh, that 716 00:46:29,400 --> 00:46:35,200 Speaker 1: was probably maybe when we were looking into that. And 717 00:46:35,280 --> 00:46:37,880 Speaker 1: now you can really see that this is a major 718 00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:41,200 Speaker 1: part of China's foreign policy, right at least what in 719 00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:45,279 Speaker 1: what their interests are in Africa. Yeah, yeah, because the 720 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:49,200 Speaker 1: thing about an authoritarian, centralized government is that it can 721 00:46:49,239 --> 00:46:52,399 Speaker 1: more easily enact long term plans, you know what I mean, 722 00:46:52,560 --> 00:46:55,920 Speaker 1: without those plans being up for political debate every two 723 00:46:55,960 --> 00:47:01,319 Speaker 1: to four years. So it's it's true. Uh, and Uncle 724 00:47:01,360 --> 00:47:03,799 Speaker 1: Sam is aware of this, and they've been making increasingly 725 00:47:03,840 --> 00:47:06,680 Speaker 1: focused and I would argue at times desperate overtures to 726 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:10,680 Speaker 1: African mining interests. It's an uphill battle, though, because China's 727 00:47:10,719 --> 00:47:16,279 Speaker 1: foreign policy on the continent is formidable, and it's got 728 00:47:16,280 --> 00:47:18,160 Speaker 1: a hell of a head start in this part of 729 00:47:18,200 --> 00:47:20,879 Speaker 1: the great game. In this particular chapter, we talked about 730 00:47:20,880 --> 00:47:25,480 Speaker 1: the Belton Road initiative, which from a purely objective infrastructure 731 00:47:26,000 --> 00:47:29,800 Speaker 1: perspective is amazing. But they also give scads of friendly 732 00:47:29,840 --> 00:47:34,839 Speaker 1: infrastructure loans to these countries with serious strings attached. And 733 00:47:35,400 --> 00:47:40,759 Speaker 1: African governments, of course, look, most people obviously are extraordinarily intelligent. 734 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:44,560 Speaker 1: The people who are leaders of these governments and of 735 00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:47,880 Speaker 1: these countries, they are well aware of previous experiences with 736 00:47:48,000 --> 00:47:51,799 Speaker 1: US companies and they're not super jazzed about it, nor 737 00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:54,520 Speaker 1: should they be. So all of those factors combined to 738 00:47:54,600 --> 00:47:57,520 Speaker 1: make China the clear leader on the continent for now, 739 00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:00,759 Speaker 1: and that's why the Department and DEFEN is trying to 740 00:48:00,760 --> 00:48:03,600 Speaker 1: throw money at the problem. They're hoping they can waive 741 00:48:03,719 --> 00:48:07,239 Speaker 1: some money over and make you magically disappear. The d 742 00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:09,720 Speaker 1: O D is planning to provide thirty five million dollars 743 00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:12,719 Speaker 1: in fundings for a rare earth processing plant in the 744 00:48:12,760 --> 00:48:16,359 Speaker 1: Mountain Pass mine in California, and the d o E 745 00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:18,760 Speaker 1: of the Department of Energy will fund a one hundred 746 00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:22,560 Speaker 1: and forty million dollar demonstration project to process rare earth's 747 00:48:22,840 --> 00:48:27,239 Speaker 1: at other critical minerals from coal ash, which is you know, 748 00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:30,120 Speaker 1: kind of killing two birds with one stone, uh, toxic 749 00:48:30,160 --> 00:48:32,880 Speaker 1: stone UM. The d o E has another three billion 750 00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:37,960 Speaker 1: dollar investment in refining green metals such as lithium, cobalt, 751 00:48:38,239 --> 00:48:42,799 Speaker 1: and nickel, which you're absolutely critical for de carbonization UM. 752 00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:46,000 Speaker 1: And there's also a lot of talk about subsidizing domestic 753 00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:52,960 Speaker 1: mining interests or even nationalizing them. That's interesting prospect. Just 754 00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:55,720 Speaker 1: to go back to that Mountain Pass mine, that's the 755 00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:57,200 Speaker 1: one that I was thinking about the top. We were 756 00:48:57,200 --> 00:49:00,360 Speaker 1: talking about how the numbers have changed because of the 757 00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:04,360 Speaker 1: last time I looked at it, in that single mind 758 00:49:04,560 --> 00:49:10,320 Speaker 1: in California was providing like fifteen six of the world's 759 00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:16,840 Speaker 1: like the global production of rare earth elements. Pretty crazy, yeah, yeah, 760 00:49:16,960 --> 00:49:22,320 Speaker 1: And you know, the for for conservationists, this is clearly 761 00:49:22,360 --> 00:49:25,720 Speaker 1: a victory to shut down minds like this, Right, you're 762 00:49:25,719 --> 00:49:30,400 Speaker 1: helping preserve the world for your those who come after. 763 00:49:31,000 --> 00:49:34,600 Speaker 1: But how does that match up against the tremendous profits 764 00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:37,719 Speaker 1: and the tremendous need for these electronics that people are 765 00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:42,640 Speaker 1: so you know, so into these days. Ah, you have to. 766 00:49:42,920 --> 00:49:47,920 Speaker 1: And plus a lot of people in the US across 767 00:49:48,120 --> 00:49:54,040 Speaker 1: political spheres don't like the big N word nationalization That 768 00:49:54,520 --> 00:50:00,239 Speaker 1: has kind of shades of communist ideology right to too 769 00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:03,480 Speaker 1: many people in the US. So will any of these 770 00:50:03,520 --> 00:50:06,440 Speaker 1: strategies be enough? Though? If one or all of them happen. 771 00:50:07,480 --> 00:50:09,520 Speaker 1: Uh if again, if you live in the US, you 772 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:13,760 Speaker 1: better hope. So the situation still looks brim I mean, sure, 773 00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:16,839 Speaker 1: you could say China is taking a golden goose opportunity 774 00:50:16,880 --> 00:50:19,279 Speaker 1: and running with it, but they're not just doing it 775 00:50:19,320 --> 00:50:22,239 Speaker 1: to be jerks. Remember we said demand for these and 776 00:50:22,280 --> 00:50:26,839 Speaker 1: related materials is skyrocketing everywhere China is no exception. Their 777 00:50:26,880 --> 00:50:30,680 Speaker 1: demand is skyrocketing too, domestically, and that means logically, at 778 00:50:30,719 --> 00:50:35,239 Speaker 1: some point China will theoretically have to limited exports, not 779 00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:39,600 Speaker 1: to hurt others, but to maintain its own growth. And um, 780 00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:43,719 Speaker 1: we've talked a little bit about how the government approaches 781 00:50:44,719 --> 00:50:48,279 Speaker 1: the concept of human rights. Right, they're thinking less about 782 00:50:48,280 --> 00:50:50,880 Speaker 1: civil rights and more about what they call economic rights. 783 00:50:51,080 --> 00:50:54,920 Speaker 1: So the legitimacy of the government continues to depend upon 784 00:50:55,440 --> 00:50:59,840 Speaker 1: this con like continuing year over your growth, it keeps 785 00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:04,120 Speaker 1: the pitchforks and the torches in the closets. So all 786 00:51:04,200 --> 00:51:08,839 Speaker 1: this means that unless the situation fundamentally changes, something has 787 00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:12,799 Speaker 1: to give. This is untenable. What does it all mean though, 788 00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:16,600 Speaker 1: if you take it all together, it means African countries 789 00:51:16,680 --> 00:51:20,800 Speaker 1: continue to be subjected to resource extraction, same song, just 790 00:51:21,000 --> 00:51:27,400 Speaker 1: different different part of the course. Geopolitical manufacturing pressures indicate 791 00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:31,680 Speaker 1: that deep sea mining will become inevitable. It will probably happen. 792 00:51:32,520 --> 00:51:35,440 Speaker 1: These materials may not get a lot of coverage on 793 00:51:35,480 --> 00:51:39,520 Speaker 1: your average evening news program, but that also might change 794 00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:43,920 Speaker 1: as they become increasing flashpoints for talks of trade wars, 795 00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:47,799 Speaker 1: maybe even hot wars. But at this point in hot 796 00:51:47,800 --> 00:51:50,640 Speaker 1: war between China and the US is unlikely based on 797 00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:54,640 Speaker 1: this situation. I hate to say, you guys, but that 798 00:51:54,680 --> 00:51:57,440 Speaker 1: doesn't mean there's not a war in the cards. It 799 00:51:57,520 --> 00:52:00,560 Speaker 1: just means that the powder caag would likely be something else, 800 00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:04,879 Speaker 1: And even if it was a war over rare earth resources, 801 00:52:05,239 --> 00:52:07,880 Speaker 1: it would almost certainly be advertised as something else to 802 00:52:08,000 --> 00:52:12,399 Speaker 1: US voters. Right, you don't want to people. People want 803 00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:14,600 Speaker 1: to have smartphones, but they don't want to think I'm 804 00:52:14,680 --> 00:52:17,799 Speaker 1: supporting a war so I can keep paying playing you know, 805 00:52:18,000 --> 00:52:22,600 Speaker 1: Best fiends great game. By the way, I'm actual million 806 00:52:22,680 --> 00:52:25,120 Speaker 1: to peg ol Blast lately. That's a fun one too 807 00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:28,279 Speaker 1: in Royal Match. But now it's no laughing matter. I mean, 808 00:52:28,280 --> 00:52:30,360 Speaker 1: you know, this isn't the same as like deep sea fishing. 809 00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:34,279 Speaker 1: This is deep sea mining. This is absolutely destructive to 810 00:52:34,640 --> 00:52:37,480 Speaker 1: all of these ecosystems that we barely understand, and it's 811 00:52:37,520 --> 00:52:39,279 Speaker 1: sort of like a common thing that people just do. 812 00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:41,680 Speaker 1: It's like, oh, there's a thing, let's go get it. Wait, 813 00:52:41,719 --> 00:52:46,360 Speaker 1: what ramifications the future? It's fine, just go in. Yeah. Well, 814 00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:49,200 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, to your point, Ben, when we're 815 00:52:49,239 --> 00:52:51,120 Speaker 1: not going to hear about it, I think we will 816 00:52:51,440 --> 00:52:56,920 Speaker 1: when this industry's version of deepwater Horizon occurs, you know, 817 00:52:57,480 --> 00:53:02,000 Speaker 1: there's gonna be some major disaster. We be an environmental 818 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:05,560 Speaker 1: disaster at its heart, but oh the whole, the whole, 819 00:53:05,840 --> 00:53:08,719 Speaker 1: you know, mission is destroyed. Basically all of the infrastructure 820 00:53:08,880 --> 00:53:13,040 Speaker 1: got destroyed in this accident, um and then there really 821 00:53:13,080 --> 00:53:17,239 Speaker 1: won't be anymore whatever rare insert rare earth element here 822 00:53:17,719 --> 00:53:20,680 Speaker 1: on the planet. Because some little thing went wrong. But 823 00:53:20,719 --> 00:53:24,239 Speaker 1: it's also like companies like that don't pivot or start 824 00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:27,719 Speaker 1: making promises, you know, to be greener or to be 825 00:53:27,719 --> 00:53:30,920 Speaker 1: better stewards of the environment until something like that happens, 826 00:53:31,120 --> 00:53:33,440 Speaker 1: because then it becomes like a clean up game of 827 00:53:33,480 --> 00:53:36,640 Speaker 1: like protecting their image and being made to seem like 828 00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:39,439 Speaker 1: better stewards of the environment, even though they're the ones 829 00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:41,680 Speaker 1: in there that have wrecked it in the first place. 830 00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:46,440 Speaker 1: It's a pattern that's just really depressing. Yeah, greenwashing. I 831 00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:49,680 Speaker 1: want to give a special shout out uh to something 832 00:53:49,719 --> 00:53:52,440 Speaker 1: that I hope happens. There's a great sci fi horror 833 00:53:52,440 --> 00:53:57,799 Speaker 1: film called Underwater came out. It's one of the best 834 00:53:57,880 --> 00:54:02,279 Speaker 1: recent lovecraft films I've seen. Um Also, Color Out of 835 00:54:02,280 --> 00:54:05,839 Speaker 1: Space is great, but this one's underwater. Check it out. 836 00:54:05,680 --> 00:54:09,839 Speaker 1: Let us know. It's like a flooded town, coastal town 837 00:54:10,000 --> 00:54:15,840 Speaker 1: or is it actually underwater? Vincent is quite good. Yes, 838 00:54:16,120 --> 00:54:18,960 Speaker 1: it's a group of workers at a deep sea drilling 839 00:54:19,080 --> 00:54:23,400 Speaker 1: facility at the bottom of the ocean and about their hygiens. 840 00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:27,480 Speaker 1: So believe it at that. Let us know what you think. 841 00:54:27,480 --> 00:54:29,879 Speaker 1: I'm glad you liked it to know. And either way 842 00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:32,719 Speaker 1: you look at this not just the deep sea aspect, 843 00:54:33,400 --> 00:54:37,840 Speaker 1: not just the geopolitical tensions, not just the deaths of 844 00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:43,840 Speaker 1: so many innocent people in the minds. Mining overall is 845 00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:48,560 Speaker 1: hugely important, and it's dirty, and in many ways it's 846 00:54:48,680 --> 00:54:53,160 Speaker 1: vital to what you listening today consider to be civilization, 847 00:54:53,719 --> 00:54:55,759 Speaker 1: and a lot of it functions in the background, and 848 00:54:55,760 --> 00:54:59,200 Speaker 1: that is by design. The next time you pick up 849 00:54:59,200 --> 00:55:02,600 Speaker 1: a phone or see any number of nifty gadgets around 850 00:55:02,640 --> 00:55:06,360 Speaker 1: your house, remember when it comes to rare earth elements, 851 00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:09,279 Speaker 1: there's definitely some stuff they don't want you to know. 852 00:55:09,880 --> 00:55:12,400 Speaker 1: And you can find us online because you already got him, right, 853 00:55:12,400 --> 00:55:14,719 Speaker 1: You already got the rarer stuff right, Oh yeah, you 854 00:55:14,840 --> 00:55:17,400 Speaker 1: definitely do uh and send us more as it is. 855 00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:20,280 Speaker 1: More of your thoughts, your ideas, your concerns, your questions. 856 00:55:20,600 --> 00:55:22,399 Speaker 1: We want to hear all of them. You can find 857 00:55:22,480 --> 00:55:26,360 Speaker 1: us on the internet. We are conspiracy stuff on Facebook, Twitter, 858 00:55:26,440 --> 00:55:30,600 Speaker 1: and YouTube. Lots of new YouTube content coming out every week. 859 00:55:30,719 --> 00:55:33,799 Speaker 1: Check those out. You can also find us on Instagram, 860 00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:36,480 Speaker 1: which we have really put a lot more um interesting 861 00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:40,200 Speaker 1: content into of late as well, some memes, reels, all 862 00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:42,160 Speaker 1: that good stuff. So please go give us a follow 863 00:55:42,200 --> 00:55:44,560 Speaker 1: if you haven't already, you can find that a conspiracy 864 00:55:44,600 --> 00:55:47,720 Speaker 1: stuff show. But wait, there's more. Yes, you can also 865 00:55:47,840 --> 00:55:51,480 Speaker 1: call our number one eight three three st d w 866 00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:55,720 Speaker 1: y t K when you call in to the voicemail system. 867 00:55:55,719 --> 00:55:58,600 Speaker 1: It is a voicemail system. Give yourself a cool nickname. 868 00:55:58,640 --> 00:56:00,719 Speaker 1: We don't care what it is. Make us laugh. That's 869 00:56:00,719 --> 00:56:03,600 Speaker 1: the best. You've got three minutes. Say whatever you'd like. 870 00:56:03,760 --> 00:56:06,040 Speaker 1: Please include in there whether or not we can use 871 00:56:06,160 --> 00:56:09,680 Speaker 1: your voice and name on the air. If you've got 872 00:56:09,719 --> 00:56:11,920 Speaker 1: more to say than can fit in those three minutes, 873 00:56:12,000 --> 00:56:14,720 Speaker 1: why not instead send us a good old fashioned email. 874 00:56:15,040 --> 00:56:37,520 Speaker 1: We are conspiracy at iHeart radio dot com. Stuff they 875 00:56:37,520 --> 00:56:39,400 Speaker 1: don't want you to know is a production of I 876 00:56:39,560 --> 00:56:42,680 Speaker 1: heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 877 00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:45,719 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 878 00:56:45,760 --> 00:56:46,640 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.