Technology Metals

Seventeen of the 32 Technology metals in the above list are rare metals. The problem with most technology metals is that our supply of them, or more specifically our maximum rates of production of them, is dependent mostly upon our production of base metals. In the case of the rare earth metals, mined as a group, the key supply issue is the complex metallurgy of the separation of the individual rare earths from each other. In the case of lithium, a key issue is the length of time that primary concentration takes. The rare earths as a group are actually not rare, based on the definition above, though individual rare earths certainly are. The rare earths and lithium are today the subject of much discussion, because they have become the most visible technology metals. Once a minor metal becomes a technology metal, it will never again be a minor metal.