Thieves Defy Death to Tap Metal Price Boom - Bloomberg

Thieves in the U.K. are stealing sculptures, copper cabling from railroad tracks, church roofs, bells, manhole covers and even hospital equipment as demand increases for metals on the world’s commodities markets. At least two people a month are killed trying to take copper power cables, railway scrap metal and lead from church roofs, according to London’s Metropolitan Police, which formed a special unit last month to tackle the crime. With copper prices forecast to jump this year, police said reported thefts are at a record, as are insurance claims by churches. “Britain is under attack from metal thieves,” Dyan Crowther, Network Rail Ltd.’s director of operational services, said by e-mail. “The only way to significantly reduce metal crime is to take away the illegal market.” Scrap metal is a 5 billion-pound ($7.7 billion) industry in the U.K. and the government is cracking down on the proliferation of illegal trading by requiring sellers to undergo identity checks and banning cash transactions, Home Office Minister Lord Henley said yesterday.

Five Rare Earths Crucial for Clean Energy Seen in Short Supply - Bloomberg

Limited supplies of five rare-earth minerals pose a threat to increasing use of clean-energy technologies such as wind turbines and solar panels, a U.S. Energy Department report found. The substances -- dysprosium, terbium, europium, neodymium and yttrium -- face potential shortages until 2015, according to the report, which reiterates concerns identified a year ago. The 2011 report studied 16 elements and related materials, including nickel and manganese, which are used to make batteries. The analysis of so-called critical elements began after rare-earth prices jumped following imposition of export restrictions in 2010 by China, the world’s major producer. “Diversifying the global supply chain is key,” David Sandalow, assistant secretary for policy and international affairs at the Energy Department, said today in Washington. “Developing substitutes is also key.”