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Most of us would have a hard time locating an Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi or Guangdong map. But many of the technological devices that make our lives easier (mobile phones, laptops and hundreds of other devices) would not exist if it were not for an unknown group of elements obtained, sometimes illicitly, in those regions of China.

The rare earths, as those elements are called, were discovered from the late eighteenth century in the form of oxidized minerals, hence they are called "lands" (at that time the English word for "mineral" was "land" ). In reality they are metals, and they are not rare, they are simply dispersed in small quantities instead of being concentrated in large deposits. A handful of soil from any garden almost always contains a pinch, perhaps a few parts per million. The scarcest of rare earths is almost 200 times more abundant than gold. But deposits large enough and with sufficient concentration to make them worth exploiting are, in fact, very rare.

The list of items containing rare earths is almost endless. The magnets made with them are more powerful than normal and weigh less. This is one of the reasons that electronic devices are getting smaller and smaller. Rare earths are also essential for various "green" technologies, such as hybrid cars and wind turbines. The battery of a single Toyota Prius contains about 10 kilos of lanthanum, and the magnet of a large wind turbine can contain 260 kilos or more of neodymium. The United States Armed Forces need rare earths to make night vision goggles, cruise missiles and other weapons.

"They are everywhere," says Karl Gschneidner, metallurgical technician at Ames Laboratory in Iowa, who has studied rare earths for more than 50 years. The red color that televisions emit, for example, is due to an element called europium. The catalytic converter of the exhaust system of cars contains cerium and lanthanum. But all this you do not know if they do not tell you. That's why nobody cared about those elements while they were easy to obtain. "

Now a lot of people are worried.  China, which satisfies 97% of the world's demand for rare earths, shook world markets in the fall of 2010 when, in the course of a diplomatic crisis, it interrupted shipments to Japan for a month. China is expected to progressively reduce exports of rare earths over the next 10 years to ensure the supply of its own rapidly expanding industry, which already consumes 60% of the national production of these minerals. The fear of a future shortage has already led to a drastic increase in prices. Dysprosium, which is used for hard drives in computers, sells for $ 467 a kilo, while eight years ago the price was $ 14.93. Last summer, the price of cerium almost quintupled. World demand will probably outstrip supply by the end of 2011, warns Mark A. Smith, president and CEO of Molycorp, a US company that last year reopened a rare earth mine in Mountain Pass, California.

"We are in a serious phase of supply reduction," says Smith. This year the demand will be between 55,000 and 60,000 tons outside China, and it is estimated that China will export 24,000 tons of material. We will survive thanks to the reserves of industry and governments, but 2011 will be a very critical year. "

The demand shows no signs of diminishing. According to forecasts, in 2015 the world industry will consume some 185,000 tons of rare earths, 50% more than in 2010. If China continues to treasure its reserves, where will the rest of the world get some elements that have become vital for technology? modern?

Although China monopolizes rare earth mining with 48% of world reserves, there are deposits in other countries: the United States has 13%, and Russia, Australia and Canada also have important deposits. Until the 1980s, the United States led the list of rare earth producers. "There was a time when we produced 20,000 tons a year, when the market was 30,000 tons," Smith says. We controlled more than 60% of the world market. »

The US domain ended in the mid-eighties. China had been developing techniques for the separation of rare earths for several decades (a complicated task because chemically they are very similar), and it broke with force in the world market. With state support, cheap labor and lax or non-existent environmental legislation, it soon displaced its competitors. The Mountain Pass mine was closed in 2002, and Baotou, a city in Inner Mongolia, became the new world capital of rare earths.

The Baotou mines contain about 80% of China's reserves, says Chen Zhanheng, director of the scientific department of the China Rare Earth Society, in Beijing. But Baotou has paid a very high price for his supremacy. In fact, some of the products that are more environmentally friendly and more technologically advanced have a rather dirty origin.

Rare earth mines often also contain radioactive elements, such as uranium and thorium. Apparently, the inhabitants of some villages near Baotou have had to be relocated because their water reserves and their crops had been contaminated with debris from the mines. Each year, the mines near Baotou produce some ten million tons of wastewater, which are largely acidic or radioactive, and most of them receive no treatment. Chen argues, however, that the Chinese government is making an effort to make this industry cleaner.

"The government has already imposed strict regulations to protect the environment and put an end to backward techniques and outdated equipment and products," Chen told me. Industries that do not apply environmental protection measures will be closed down or will have to merge with larger companies. "

It is possible that the Chinese government will finally be able to regulate the large mining industry of the rare earths around Baotou, but some smaller mines in southern China will be more difficult to control, especially since they are already operating outside the law . Violent mafia groups operate dozens of highly polluting (and lucrative) mines of rare earths in the provinces of Jiangxi and Guangdong. Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, has reported that in 2008 gangs illegally removed 20,000 tons of rare earths from the country, almost a third of the total exports of that year. If we have a smart phone or a flat screen TV, it could contain rare earth smuggled out of southern China.

"People do not understand the extent of the corruption of the system in China, where local party members help and protect criminals," says Alan Crawley, CEO of Pacific Ores Metals & Chemicals, a foreign trade company located in China. Hong Kong. Crawley speaks from experience. The Guangdong Mafia killed one of its colleagues 11 years ago.

The world is now trying to find other sources of supply. The development of rare earth mines in the United States, Australia, Russia and other countries could reduce the business of smugglers. According to Chen, the current dominance of the market by China is not convenient in the long term for China itself. "The situation is unsustainable," he says, "both for the rare earth sector in China and for the global high-technology industry."

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A la majoria de nosaltres ens costaria situar en un mapa Mongòlia Interior, Jiangxi o Guangdong. Però molts dels dispositius tecnològics que fan la nostra vida més fàcil (telèfons mòbils, ordinadors portàtils i centenars d'aparells més) no existirien si no fos per un desconegut grup d'elements obtinguts, de vegades de forma il·lícita, en aquestes regions de la Xina.

Les terres rares, com es denomina a aquests elements, van ser descobertes a partir de finals del segle XVIII en forma de minerals oxidats, per aquest motiu se'ls cridi «terres» (en aquella època la paraula anglesa per «mineral» era «terra» ). En realitat són metalls, i no són rars, simplement estan dispersos en petites quantitats en lloc de trobar-se concentrats en grans dipòsits. Un grapat de terra de qualsevol jardí gairebé sempre conté un pessic, potser unes poques parts per milió. La més escassa de les terres rares és gairebé 200 vegades més abundant que l'or. Però els jaciments prou grans i amb la concentració suficient com perquè valgui la pena explotar-són, en efecte, molt rars.

La llista d'articles que contenen terres rares és gairebé interminable. Els imants fabricats amb elles són més potents que els normals i pesen menys. Aquesta és una de les raons que els aparells electrònics siguin cada vegada més petits. Les terres rares també són essencials per a diverses tecnologies «verds», com la dels cotxes híbrids i les turbines eòliques. La bateria d'un sol Toyota Prius conté uns 10 quilos de lantani, i l'imant d'una turbina eòlica gran pot contenir 260 quilos o més de neodimi. Les Forces Armades d'Estats Units necessiten terres rares per fabricar ulleres de visió nocturna, míssils de creuer i altres armes.

«Estan a tot arreu -diu Karl Gschneidner, tècnic metal·lúrgic del Laboratori Ames, a Iowa, que ha estudiat les terres rares durant més de 50 anys-. El color vermell que emeten els televisors, per exemple, es deu a un element anomenat europi. El convertidor catalític del sistema d'escapament dels cotxes conté ceri i lantà. Però tot això no ho saps si no t'ho diuen. Per això ningú es preocupava per aquests elements mentre eren fàcils d'obtenir. »

Ara molta gent està preocupada. Xina, que satisfà el 97% de la demanda mundial de terres rares, va sacsejar els mercats mundials a la tardor de 2010 quan, en el transcurs d'una crisi diplomàtica, va interrompre durant un mes els enviaments al Japó. Es preveu que durant els propers 10 anys la Xina redueixi progressivament les exportacions de terres rares per assegurar el proveïment de la seva pròpia indústria, en ràpida expansió, que ja consumeix el 60% de la producció nacional d'aquests minerals. La por a una futura escassetat ja ha provocat un dràstic augment dels preus. El disprosi, que s'usa per als discos durs dels ordinadors, es ven a 467 dòlars el quilo, mentre que fa vuit anys el preu era de 14,93 dòlars. L'estiu passat, el preu del ceri gairebé es va quintuplicar. La demanda mundial probablement superarà l'oferta abans de la fi de 2011, adverteix Mark A. Smith, president i director general de Molycorp, empresa nord-americana que l'any passat va reobrir una mina de terres rares a Mountain Pass, Califòrnia.

«Estem en una fase greu de reducció de l'oferta -diu Smith. Aquest any la demanda serà d'entre 55.000 i 60.000 tones fora de la Xina, i es calcula que la Xina exportarà 24.000 tones de material. Sobreviurem gràcies a les reserves de la indústria i dels governs, però 2011 serà un any molt crític. »

La demanda no mostra signes de disminuir. Segons les previsions, el 2015 la indústria mundial consumirà unes 185.000 tones de terres rares, un 50% més que el 2010. Si la Xina segueix atresorant les seves reserves, on aconseguirà la resta del món uns elements que han arribat a ser vitals per a la tecnologia moderna?

Encara que la Xina monopolitza la mineria de les terres rares amb el 48% de les reserves mundials, hi ha jaciments en altres països: Estats Units té el 13%, i Rússia, Austràlia i el Canadà també posseeixen dipòsits importants. Fins a la dècada de 1980, Estats Units liderava la llista de productors de terres rares. «Hi va haver un temps en què produíem 20.000 tones a l'any, quan el mercat era de 30.000 tones -diu Smith. Controlàvem més del 60% del mercat mundial. »

El domini nord-americà va acabar a mitjans dels anys vuitanta. Xina portava diverses dècades desenvolupant tècniques per a la separació de les terres rares (una tasca complicada perquè químicament són molt similars), i va irrompre amb força en el mercat mundial. Amb suport estatal, mà d'obra barata i una legislació mediambiental laxa o inexistent, aviat va desplaçar als seus competidors. La mina de Mountain Pass va ser clausurada el 2002, i Baotou, una ciutat de Mongòlia Interior, es va convertir en la nova capital mundial de les terres rares. Les mines de Baotou contenen al voltant del