Our picks: Rare Earth elements (REE)Countering China’s Rare-Earth Monopoly | Canada’s First REE Producer | REE & the New Race to the Moon, and more
· Pentagon Takes Steps to Counter China’s Rare-Earth Monopoly
· £10m Boost for U.K. Battery Materials
· Vital Metals on Track to Become First REE Producer in Canada
· Vital Has Its Finger on the Pulse of Rare Earths Supply Security
· Japan Eyes Recycling Rare Metals to Reduce Reliance on China, Others
· Rare Earth Quandary: China Has U.S. by the Throat
· China Tightens Rules on Rare Earths Amid Global Race
· British Firm Cracks Electric Car Motor Conundrum
· The New Race to the Moon: the Artemis Alliance vs. the Sino-Russian Axis
· China Rare Earths Extend Surge on Worries over Myanmar Supply, Inspection Threat
Pentagon Takes Steps to Counter China’s Rare-Earth Monopoly (Bloomberg)
Recent reports that China might ban exports of rare-earth refining technologies set off another round of worries about its near-stranglehold over the minerals critical to modern technology. It’s a threat US president Joe Biden’s administration needs to take seriously.
China’s leverage over the US is real. Rare earths — a family of 17 elements with similar chemical properties — are integral to all manner of 21st-century products, from iPhones to electric vehicles to wind turbines. They are especially crucial to advanced weapons systems: a single F-35 fighter jet requires more than 400kg of the stuff; a Virginia-class submarine 10 times as much.
While rare earths aren’t especially rare — deposits are found all over the world, including in the US — state-led industrial policies have helped Chinese companies gobble up market share since the mid-1980s. China now accounts for two thirds of the world’s rare-earth mining, 85% of refining and 90% of production. By contrast, the U.S. has one operating mine and no commercial-scale processing capacity; it imports 80% of its rare-earth compounds and metals from China.
£10m Boost for U.K. Battery Materials (Nick Flaherty, EE News Europe)
The UK government is pumping £30m (€35m) into battery and electric vehicle materials research with a range of projects that includes sourcing lithium in Cornwall.
Vital Metals on Track to Become First REE Producer in Canada (Daniel Brightmore, Mining Global)
Australia’s Vital Metals set to commence mining operations at the Nechalacho rare earths project in the Northwest Territories
Vital Has Its Finger on the Pulse of Rare Earths Supply Security (Bevis Yeo, Stockhead)
Rare earths supply security continues to be a concern for countries outside of China given their importance in the production of high tech products such as electric vehicles and military equipment.
Little wonder then that one of the topics discussed during recent meetings between the US, Japan, India and Australia – the informal alliance known as the Quad – was on how to guarantee supplies of critical minerals.
