TOKYO — Honda said Wednesday it will start recycling rare earth elements and other key materials in hybrid auto batteries this year — a key innovation in the Japanese automaker’s effort to be green.
Japan is dependent on imports, mostly from China, for the elements, which are essential for making high-tech products, but a steady supply has been periodically threatened over political disputes with China.
Beijing, meanwhile, has defended its export curbs on rare earth elements as an environmental measure and rejected a World Trade Organization challenge by the United States, Europe and Japan. China has about 30 percent of rare earth element deposits but accounts for more than 90 percent of production.
Honda officials said the company was targeting September or October to begin its recycling of rare earth elements. They said it would be a first for the auto industry.
Honda President Takanobu Ito acknowledged uncertainty about the future of Japan’s energy policy, which has been thrown into doubt by the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear crisis set off by the earthquake and tsunami last year.
“In the long term, we hope to move to renewable energy sources that won’t harm the environment,” he said at headquarters in Tokyo.
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Molycorp shares jump on China’s denial it interfered with rare earth prices • Shares of Greenwood Village-based Molycorp rose more than 8 percent Wednesday after China denied it was interfering with rare-earth prices, saying increases reflected higher customs costs and demands by foreign companies for better-quality products. China, which exports most of the world’s rare earth supplies, also challenged foreign estimates of its resources, saying it has just 23 percent of world totals, not the 36 percent that the U.S. has estimated.
China’s state economic planners are considering ways to reshape the country’s program of stockpiling strategic materials and could include metals such as rare earths in the program, according to sources. The lingering uncertainty around Chinese exports sent Molycorp’s shares up nearly 9 percent to close at $22.43 on the New York Stock Exchange. Molycorp is in the process of modernizing and reopening the Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California, which is expected to come online later this year.
China produces more than 90 percent of the world’s supply of rare earths, essential for everything from smartphones to LED screens.Reuters
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