“What about a commodity like gold?” Langford asked.
She frowned, thinking. “Gold is less a commodity than it is money. And there is a lot of mining going on in South America. But no, I doubt that’s the answer, either.”
Griffith squinted. “Are you sure?”
“No, I’m not sure,” Lokke shrugged. “But gold is extremely dense and heavy, and those crates are relatively large. If they were filled with gold, there would be no way two men could carry it. Unless, of course, the quantities inside were much smaller than the crates, or if the men were twelve feet tall.”
Langford’s lip curled in his familiar way. “So either smaller amounts or it’s something else.”
“I think it’s something else. Why put small amounts of gold in larger crates? It would be a waste of space, especially on a relatively small ship. Besides, there’s a bigger problem. Mining gold, or even silver, for that matter, requires refining to get it into smaller blocks for shipping. But a refinery requires a lot of space and energy. Not something you would see in the jungle or on a mountain. It’s not practical.”
“So we rule out gold.”
“Yes,” she nodded. “Silver and platinum too.”
“Well, we know they’re doing something.” Miller said. “They took up some earth movers, and they’ve been bringing something down ever since.”
“Earth movers?” Lokke asked, with a raised brow. “I didn’t catch that part.”
Langford chimed in. “Yes, a few of them, as far we can determine.”
“Hmm…” The men could see Kathryn Lokke lean back, thinking. She remained quiet for a long time before speaking up. “There is something that comes to mind. Something that might be far more strategic than gold. REEs.”
“What’s an REE?”
“Rare earth elements,” Lokke explained, leaning forward again. She was surprised at their confused looks.
Langford looked at the others then back to the screen. “Fill us in.”
“Rare earth elements, or REEs, are a group of seventeen specific elements on the periodic table which have become the equivalent of a modern day gold rush. These elements have very special properties that make them extremely valuable in a variety of modern technologies, especially technologies with military applications: things from lasers, to fiber optics, to missile guidance systems. These elements are also essential to many technological advances that make our modern way of life possible.”
Griffith spoke up. “So they’re rare.”
“Actually, no,” Lokke answered. “They’re quite plentiful. In fact, cerium for example, is the twenty-fifth most abundant element on the planet. What’s rare about them is not their existence: it’s their concentrations. You see, REEs are common, but in deposits that are quite dispersed, which means uneconomical for mining. However, as modern technologies have advanced, rare earth mining has become more economically feasible; so much so that they’ve become a very important piece of political leverage, especially to China.”
Langford suddenly remembered. “You’re talking about China’s export ban.”
“Exactly. China has been absorbing rare earth mines for decades. So much that they ended up cornering the market by the early 2000s. No one cared because China, the world’s largest exporter, sold them to the rest of the world as they did with many other commodities. But…” Lokke said. “That changed in 2009.”
Bartman frowned. “What happened in 2009?”
“China stopped exporting them,” Langford answered. “Or should we say, they restricted them.”
“Right,” said Lokke. “In a big way. Suddenly the folly of allowing China to become the primary owner of rare earth metals became clear. Dozens of uneconomic rare earth projects, which had been abandoned around the world, were instantly in the spotlight again. Today, nearly all first world countries are desperately searching for rare earth deposits and trying to establish new mines.”
Langford watched Lokke on the monitor. He could see the wheels in her head turning. “So you’re saying the Chinese may have found a deposit in Guyana?”
Kathryn Lokke rubbed her finger gingerly back and forth across her lips. “Maybe. Or maybe they found ‘The Deposit.’”
“I thought you said they were all over the world?”
“They are. But there’s something else. One of the early researchers of rare earths in the 1800s was a man named Delafontaine. I think Matt was his first name, or maybe Marc. Anyway, he studied them for over forty years and even developed a new form of spectroscopy. He also wrote a lot of papers on the subject. One of which was an idea on what he called “The Deposit.” Remember, rare earths are common. In fact, many of them exist together, but always in varying densities. In other words, some deposits are denser than others. In several cases dating back to the early twentieth century, they found deposits that had surprisingly low concentrations. What Delafontaine posited was that based simply on arithmetic, or perhaps chance, there was probably another deposit somewhere out there of unusually high density. One that would be ‘off the charts’ compared to what’s already been found. To him, it was mathematically inevitable.”
“And was it ever found?”
Lokke shook her head. “No. But considering how dependent the world is on technology today, if the deposit did exist and was found, the strategic and economic value of it could be incalculable.”
Everyone quietly stared back at the frozen video frame on the monitor, or more specifically, at the crates being transferred.
“Are you suggesting this is what the Chinese found in Guyana? ‘The Deposit?’”
“I’m simply pointing out a possibility. One that is remote at best. Although I will say, rare earth searches are being conducted everywhere. In many respects, the geography of our continents is now pretty well mapped, all except one: South America. And most of South America is completely covered in dense jungle. So, if Delafontaine’s deposit did exist, South America would be the one place that could still hide it.”
24
“Okay,” Langford pressed his fingers together in front of his face. “If this is true….if the Chinese found a special rare earth deposit, then what are in those crates of theirs?”
“Rocks.”
“Rocks?”
Lokke nodded. “Most likely. Rocks that would look common to the average person, but to an expert they would be covered with signs of very dense and rare element content.”
Griffith spoke up. “Would they need any special equipment or facilities? What about a refinery?”
“Possibly not. Rare earths do require an extraction process, but if the concentrations were really dense, you might only need basic equipment. Equipment like bulldozers or land movers. You could get them out quickly and worry about extraction and refinement later.” Lokke noted the looks on the men’s faces. “Remember, this is just a theory. The Chinese could very well be after something else, but a big rare earth find would fill a lot of the holes.”
“Okay,” said Miller. “Let’s step back. Maybe the Chinese discovered a big deposit and maybe they didn’t. If they didn’t, what else could it be? We’ve already ruled out gold and other precious metals, plus agricultural possibilities. What else could be that valuable to them?”
“Maybe they found the Lost Ark,” smiled Griffith. The others around the table chuckled.
Langford stopped and thought for a moment. “Is that possible?”