Our picks: Rare Earth elements (RREs)Ending China’s Rare-Mineral Monopoly | The New Gold Rush | Appalachian Rare Earth Elements, and more

Chinese Stranglehold on Rare Earths Forces U.K. into Secret Talks with Allies  (Emma Gatten, The Telegraph)
Britain is grappling to secure supplies of the minerals, used in motors of electric cars and in wind turbines, to power green revolution.

Rare Earth Separation Planned in England  (Alex Scott, C&EN)
Pensana, a UK firm with a rare earth metal mine in Angola, is seeking funding for a $125 million rare earth metal separation facility in England’s Saltend Chemicals Park. Pensana aims to separate 12,500 metric tons (t) per year of rare earth oxides, initially sourced from the Angola mine. Production would include 4,500 t per year of magnet metal rare earth oxides, including neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, for applications such as electric vehicles and wind turbines.

We Can End China’s Rare-Mineral Monopoly  (Ed Conway, The Times)
By becoming a world leader in processing, Britain could be at the front of the tech revolution.

Is There a Shortage of Lithium-Ion Batteries?  (Emily Newton, Global Trade Magazine)
The wider availability of electric vehicles has played a major role in getting more people interested in them. However, analysts warn that a lack of lithium-ion batteries could stifle the surge in electric vehicle adoption.

The New Gold Rush: How Britain’s Mines Will Be Central to Ending Our Reliance on China  (Emma Gatten, The Telegraph)
Explorations for lithium in Cornwall and the Northeast could prove vital to help power the Government’s green revolution.

Pensana Rare Earths to Establish Sustainable Supply of Critical Rare Earths  (Jessica Casey, Global Mining Review)
Pensana Plc has announced the company has adopted a business plan to seek to establish, subject to funding, a world-class, independent and sustainable supply chain of the rare earth metals vital for electric vehicle, wind turbine and other strategic industries. 

U.S. Faces Uphill Climb to Rival China’s Rare-Earth Magnet Industry  (Alistair MacDonald, Wall Street Journal)
West lags China on both supply and processing of materials key to electric cars and wind turbines

The Future of Appalachian Coal and Rare Earth Elements  (Hazard Herald)
When it comes to Appalachian coal, it might be appropriate to borrow from that often-misquoted phrase from Mark Twain, “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Today the world scrambles for supplies of rare earth elements, elements which are critical in the components of high technology devices, including smart phones, digital cameras, computer hard discs, flat screen televisions, computer monitors, electronic displays, and yes, even electric vehicles, wind power and other green technologies of the future.
Today, the United States imports most of its rare earth elements from China. In 2018, it was estimated that the cost of imports of rare earth elements in total dollars was relatively low, approximately $160 million dollars. However, the cost of imported products manufactured in China from rare earth elements was estimated at approximately $2 trillion dollars.