Originally Posted by
BRASSCATCHER
Some are holding onto the actual lcd screen. It has rare earth metals that hopefully will be refined in the future otherwise put them with your plastics.
Brasscatcher is right,
There are 4 rare earth minerals contained in LCD screens. I know people who are keeping just the screens themselves, and selling the casing and other items as scrap.
China is experiencing a serious shortage of rare earth minerals.
The Rare Earths Shortage Isn't Over Yet - Forbes
WPR Article | China's Rare Earth Metals Clampdown Drives New Trade, Mining Ties
When China started selling the rare earth minerals they mined, to the rest of the world, they did so at a price that US rare earth mining operations couldn't compete with. Now, here in the US, there are several operations just starting up, but now the EPA requirements and laws have changed, so it's going to be at least 10 years before US operations are able to ramp up and start to supply the demand again. Because rare earth minerals are so crucial to modern electronics, this affects the prices and production of the electronics that use rare earth minerals in their manufacture.
Somewhere this gap has to be filled. As the demand become more, and the supply becomes less, we are going to see a significant and important part of sourcing for rare earth minerals come from recycled material. We are not there yet, but I believe from what I have read that we will be there within the next 1-2 years.
Currently China supplies just over 90% of the rare earth minerals used in the manufacture of electronics, in the entire world. The demand increases every year, and the production of rare earth minerals is declining. It's a no brainer.
So if you have a good place to store just the screens, my suggestion would be to do so. Because they are not being refined on a large scale yet, someone somewhere is hoarding them, stockpiling for when the prices go up.
I have even been exploring the possibility of refining rare earth minerals myself, I'm not even close to being able to do so yet, and probably will not in the next few years, but it is in my future plans to seriously explore the possibilities in doing so.
Scott
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