DBA – Operating At Capacity
We’re busy. We’re busy here at DBA Silencing. Our departments utilize sophisticated tracking systems to keep tabs on the parts that we’re in the process of manufacturing but we also have some old-fashioned bulletin boards where we post orders, and those boards are presently overflowing. We’ve welcomed half a dozen new team members in recent months, and we have more hiring to do. In some ways, the order wave we’re experiencing is counterintuitive. A lot of the mining truck parts we produce are for customers in the United States, and the prevailing wisdom was that the recent imposition of tariffs would lead to declining demand for DBA components. Thankfully, the opposite has been true!
And why do we continue to operate at full throttle in spite of the trade war currently disrupting global supply chains? Well, we can only speculate, but we do believe that there are a number of factors at play. Chief among them may be the proprietary nature of DBA’s most popular mining truck parts. As we’ve mentioned in other posts, we make top-notch air intake units and coolant components but most people in the mining world know us for our industry-leading exhaust system technology. Only DBA Silencing encases exhaust parts in rigid composite shells. {If you’re interested in the many benefits of our unique approach to heat management, you may wish to peruse our piece “Exhaust Blankets vs. Composite Shells“.}
The order surge we’re currently managing may also be driven, in part, by our ongoing innovation. Although they haven’t yet been added to our website or our catalogue, DBA now offers a new type of ladder for mining trucks, and a number of companies like our design so much that they’ve been equipping entire fleets with these units. Additional information on these ladders can be found in our article “Mining Truck Parts From Top To Bottom”.
Of course, the excellence of our products is only a part of the story. DBA is an OEM supplier for Liebherr Mining Equipment and it appears that Liebherr, and other firms like it, are ramping up production of mobile assets such as mining trucks. While we can’t be certain what’s behind these increases, we theorize that rare earth elements may be an important piece of the puzzle. In this blog post, we’ll talk a bit about rare earth elements and why recent developments on the REE front may be impacting us here at DBA Silencing.
Rare Earth Elements – The Basics
Rare earth elements are a group of 17 chemically similar metals that include the 15 lanthanides on the periodic table, plus scandium and yttrium. Despite their name, rare earths are relatively abundant in the Earth’s crust, but they aren’t typically found in concentrations that make them economically viable to mine. These elements are essential to modern technology due to their unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties.
REEs are critical components in a wide range of high-tech and clean energy products. Neodymium and dysprosium, for example, are used in powerful magnets found in wind turbines and electric vehicle motors. Europium and terbium are vital for the production of color displays in smartphones and televisions. Lanthanum is used in camera lenses and hybrid car batteries, while cerium is key for catalytic converters.
Rare Earth Elements – Latest News
The REE sector has been a hot topic of late, and the industry is experiencing significant shifts due to geopolitical tensions and strategic policy decisions.
China, which dominates the global REE market, has implemented export restrictions on several rare earth elements, including dysprosium, terbium, and yttrium. These measures have raised concerns among U.S. officials and industries reliant on these materials for defence, electronics, and clean energy technologies. This clamp-down occurred in response to tariffs imposed by the U.S., highlighting vulnerabilities in the American supply chain and prompting discussion of alternative sources and strategic stockpiles.
A number of countries have, in response to these restrictions, initiated actions designs to reduce global reliance on Chinese REE output. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, for instance, announced a $1.2 billion plan to create a national strategic reserve of critical minerals, including rare earths. This endeavour aims to bolster Australia’s manufacturing sector and support allied nations.
Canada, meanwhile, is intensifying its efforts to become a planetary leader in the REE field, aiming to reduce dependence on foreign sources and bolster domestic production. The federal government has committed millions of dollars to supporting exploration across the country, targeting new mineral discoveries and the development of mining sites, particularly in Indigenous, northern, and remote communities. In Saskatchewan, the province has launched a rare earth processing facility {through the Saskatchewan Research Council} which is expected to produce 400 tonnes of neodymium-praseodymium annually, a quantity sufficient to power 500,000 electric vehicles.
Increased Demand For Mining Truck Parts
Rare earth elements feature, as mentioned above, similar properties. This means that, during the refining stages of their production, they must be chemically separated from one another using techniques such as solvent extraction and ion exchange. While this type of processing is more complicated than what we see with many other materials, REE ore is obtained in the first place using traditional mining methods. And so the math on this checks out. Increased demand for rare earth elements equals more mine sites. More mine sites equals more mining trucks. More mining trucks equals more mining truck parts. More mining truck parts equals more orders on the bulletins boards in the offices of DBA Silencing.
Conclusion
We’re going flat out here at DBA Silencing and it’s possible that this state of affairs is the result of heightened international awareness of the importance of rare earth elements. If you happen to be a customer of ours, and you’re thinking of placing an order for some mining truck parts, please do give us as much lead time as possible. We’re not saying we won’t drop everything in order to get you what you need if you have a truck down, but it won’t be quite as easy to do that as it is when things are slower. We are, as always, available anytime at 1-800-661-5886.