China mining slowdown may jack up hardware prices

The cost of high-tech products is set to rise dramatically as a result of a lack of suppliers as China moves to consolidate rare earth mining operations, according to a report published on Tuesday.

The report published by The Information Network — which conducts market research for the the semiconductor, computing and telecommunications industry — says that the price of technology will continue to rise until non-Chinese rare earth mines are producing the vital materials. "We estimate that the Chinese held 90.0% of capacity of rare earth oxides with 103,300 tons, but its share will drop to 67.2% in 2014 based on output of new mines coming on stream," noted Robert Castellano, president, The Information Network, in the report.

The terms rare earth refers to a collection of 17 chemical elements, — which include Dysprosium, Lanthanum, Cerium and Europium — that play a key role in the production of many high-tech products such as computer memory, DVD's, rechargeable batteries and mobile phones, as well as military equipment.

For more on this story, read Rare earth embargo to set electronics prices soaring on ZDNet UK.