Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, said that demand for "rare earth metals" such as lithium and neodymium -- used in batteries for hybrid cars or components in wind and solar power -- was accelerating fast.

Rare earths are available in only small quantities and mined in a few locations, raising fears that global supply for a clean, high-tech economy could be exhausted swiftly as well as hampered by geopolitical disputes.

"There is both a strategic as much as an environmental or an economic rationale to rapidly look at making these metals part of a recycling economy," Steiner told reporters, insisting on the need for an economically stable green tech industry.

There is "an immense increase in demand for rare (earth) metals that are central to the green and high tech economy future ... from the electronics industry, car industry and energy industry," he said.

Industry sources said Wednesday that China has moved towards resuming exports of rare earths to Japan that were disrupted by amid a bitter territorial dispute in recent weeks.

Beijing has repeatedly denied claims it blocked the shipments of rare earths, which Japan's crucial high tech electronics and manufacturing industry rely on.

A UNEP-hosted panel of experts highlighted the concerns about rare earth or speciality metals in May, estimating that only one percent was recycled at the end of a product's life while the rest was discarded.

By comparison, the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management estimated that common metals such as steel, aluminium, copper and tin have 25 to 75 percent recycling rates, in some instances exceeding fresh raw material supplies from mining.

Steiner said that, based on current knowledge, some rare earths "may be exhausted, as with peak oil, on a time horizon of 30 to 40 years."

Officials said supplies of such rare metals were confined to a limited number of countries, including Australia, China, Venezuela, Bolivia and the United States, while extraction was complex and costly.

"What is the world doing to address the issue of recyling because these metals don't have to end up in ... in the waste dumps of the world," Steiner said.

earlier related report
China moves to resume rare earths exports to Japan
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 29, 2010 - China has moved towards resuming exports of rare earth minerals to Japan that were disrupted amid a bitter diplomatic spat, industry sources said Wednesday.

The move raised hopes for an easing of tension between Asia's two biggest economies, which have been embroiled for the past three weeks in their worst diplomatic fallout in years, sparked by a territorial dispute.

Beijing repeatedly denied claims it blocked the shipments of rare earths, a market in which it has a virtual global monopoly and which Japan's high tech firms rely on for making everything from iPods to wind turbines.

But traders in Tokyo said Beijing had slowed administrative procedures and made checks more stringent in various Chinese ports to prevent rare earth and other materials being loaded onto ships.

Meanwhile, Japanese researchers said Wednesday they had developed a hybrid vehicle motor that uses no rare earth minerals, paving the way for reducing Japan's heavy dependence on the Chinese exports, Kyodo news agency said.

Rare earth magnets have been considered indispensable for motors in gasoline-electric hybrid and electric vehicles.

But the researchers from the public New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation and Hokkaido University have developed a ferrite magnet motor with as much power output as a rare earth magnet motor, Kyodo said.

Katsuyuki Matsuo, chairman of Kan Material, which specialises in rare earth minerals trade with China, told AFP that customs had resumed procedures for exports on Tuesday.

"But inspections on all Japan-bound cargo is still being tougher than usual," he said.

Another trader who wished to remain anonymous told AFP Wednesday that previous blanket inspections on all goods were being eased.

However, "the situation differs from port to port, because it is not an official ban on exports. Rather, it is harassing behaviour."

Another added: "We haven't heard yet that shipping itself resumed. Moreover, tougher inspections on all Japan-bound cargo are still being carried out, which often take weeks and cost us a lot."

An official at Hong Kong-listed Yixing Xinwei Leeshing Rare Earth Co Ltd said they were still unable to apply for rare earth export licences to Japan Wednesday, adding that there had been no formal explanation from Chinese customs.

Japan on September 8 arrested a Chinese trawler captain near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea after his boat collided with two Japanese coastguard patrol boats.

Japan released the captain last week but a war of words has continued and China is still holding four Japanese nationals on charges that they filmed a military installation, in a case both sides insist is unrelated.

Japan's economy minister Banri Kaieda said that "in reality there is an export ban on rare earths", the Financial Times reported Wednesday.

"It's important that China stop this extremely abnormal action at the earliest possible time," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

"There's a need to put effort into developing substitute products," Kaieda said, adding that Tokyo would look to develop alternative sources of supply.

China's imposition of quotas earlier this year sent market prices soaring, prompting nations such as the United States to explore ways of reviving its own production of the key minerals.

However, an Australia-based industry source who wished to remain anonymous told AFP the export halt may be more to do with Chinese quotas nearing fulfilment.

China's quota for rare earth exports was for a total of 30,300 tonnes for 2010. According to Chinese figures, exports reached 28,500 tonnes by the end of August, leaving about 2,000 tonnes.

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