From Richard Clarke
Andy Ridgway is right to draw attention to the supply of rare earth elements for use in smartphone electronics (14 February, p 35).
But the utility of these elements depends on a chemically-inert dopant carrier and heat transfer gas: helium. This element should also be included as a critical raw material.
Helium has been almost completely overlooked by policy makers outside the US. That is a mistake. Mostly co-produced with natural gas, good quality helium resources are finite. Unlike the solid rare earths, once used helium is massively diluted by the atmosphere before being lost into space. The extraordinary helium molecule deserves to be added to the European Commission’s “EU 14” list of critical materials.
Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK
