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Honda mining for rare earths.

Discussion in 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt-Fuel News' started by massparanoia, Apr 17, 2012.

  1. massparanoia

    massparanoia Active Member

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    Honda is going to begin "mining" junkyards to salvage rare earths. Probably the smartest thing I have read in a while, and it makes you wonder why the Japanese car manufacturers are way ahead of us.

    Honda to Salvage and Recycle Rare Earth Metals | Hybrid Cars
     
    #1 massparanoia, Apr 17, 2012
  2. Rebound

    Rebound Senior Member

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    What's happened is that China undercut rare earth pricing for five years, do the other mines shut down. Now they're refusing to ship the raw materials to Japan, forcing them to instead buy finished goods from China. Unlike stupid American manufacturers, the Japanese have no intention of giving away their manufacturing and engineering secrets to China, so Honda now has to use recycling to find the materials they need.
     
    #2 Rebound, Apr 21, 2012
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