Posted on 06/12/2025 9:14:53 PM PDT by delta7
China controls roughly 90 percent of the rare-earth materials used in high-tech manufacturing, but the United States, Australia and Japan are exploring new sources that could end the Chinese monopoly.
The U.S. military is facing a potential crisis at the very bottom of its supply chain. Rare-earth elements have become the new oil, playing a major role in the technological advancements made in the last 50 years. Everything from GPS navigation capability, cell phones, fiber optics, computers, automobiles and missiles relies heavily on rare-earth elements for development and production. For example, according to a 2013 report from the Congressional Research Service, each F-35 Lightning II aircraft requires 920 pounds of rare-earth materials. Rare earths, including yttrium and terbium, are used for laser targeting and weapons in combat vehicles.
The "rare" in rare-earth elements is a historical misnomer; the persistence of the term reflects unfamiliarity with the elements rather than true scarcity. The U.S. Geological Survey finds the more abundant rare-earth elements are as common in concentration as other industrial metals such as chromium, nickel, tungsten or lead. Even the two least abundant rare-earth elements (thulium and lutetium) are nearly 200 times more common than gold. Where "rare" comes into play is that, in contrast with ordinary base and precious metals, rare-earth elements have little tendency to become concentrated in exploitable ore deposits. Consequently, most rare earths come from a small number of sources.
What makes rare-earth elements so unique? Among the many beneficial characteristics, rare-earth batteries offer greater energy density, better discharge characteristics and fewer environmental problems upon disposal. High-strength rare-earth magnets have allowed numerous electronic components used in appliances, audio and video equipment, computers, vehicles, communication systems and military gear to be miniaturized. Fiber-optic cables that use erbium can transmit signals over long distances because the erbium amplifies the signal.
As rare-earth elements grow in importance, they have become both carrot and stick for international political trade negotiations. In the past 20 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, China has emerged as the biggest player, controlling approximately 90 percent of the world's rare earth either through territorial control or exclusive mining rights. Additionally, China is less burdened with environmental or labor regulatory requirements that can greatly increase costs incurred in mining and manufacturing rare-earth products.
The rare-earth supply problem will have no easy solutions. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, it would take 15 years to overhaul the defense supply chain, meaning that any changes to it need considerable lead time. The American Mineral Security Act, passed in 2015, is meant to determine which minerals are critical and diversify the supply chain, according to the NATO Association of Canada. Currently, switching from present suppliers (e.g., China) would cause major disruptions to supply chains.
Rare earths are a critical part of laser- and precision-guided missile technology. Lockheed Martin Corp. is working on a small, high-power laser weapon, heavily reliant on the rare earths erbium and neodymium, that the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory wants to test in a tactical fighter aircraft by 2021.
Rare-earth elements are widely used in strong, permanent magnets that are impervious to temperature extremes. The permanent magnets are used in fin actuators (which control flight patterns in missiles) in missile guidance and control systems; disk drive motors installed in aircraft and tanks; satellite communications; and radar and sonar systems. Samarium-cobalt magnets are more resistant to demagnetization than those made from any other material. This quality-called high coercivity-means that they do not lose magnetic strength when exposed to high temperatures. That makes them the best choice for many military applications, according to Air Force Lt. Col. Justin C. Davey, in a 2011 Air War College report. Neodymium-iron-boron magnets are very strong, light and relatively low-cost. By weight, they are almost 10 times more powerful than traditional ferrite magnets. That makes them ideal for use in the tiny electronic components such as disk drives that have helped make possible decades of computer-driven innovation.
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
For most of the 20th century, the United States was largely self-sufficient, with all of its rare-earth needs being met at the Mountain Pass rare-earth mine in California. This began to shift in the 1990s as a result of several factors.
First, China entered into a number of free trade agreements with the United States and, with its lower labor costs and regulatory requirements, became a less-expensive alternative supplier. Second, China greatly expanded its electronics manufacturing infrastructure to take advantage of its rare-earth resources. Finally, problems with water supply pollution and stricter regulations at Mountain Pass forced the eventual shutdown of the plant. These factors created an opportunity for the Chinese to establish dominance in rare-earth mining and production.
Chinese efforts to monopolize rare earth do not end with domestic sources. China has aggressively pursued rare-earth mines in Africa, often exchanging infrastructure development or the sale of excess defense articles for exclusive mining rights. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, China gained rights to the country's lithium, cobalt and coltan mines. These minerals are used in electric vehicle batteries and electronics, including smartphones and laptops. In exchange, China agreed to build much-needed projects such as urban roads, highways and hospitals.
Kenya is another Chinese target. The East African nation has huge mineral potential, and its exploration efforts have picked up in the last five years with the awarding of commercial licenses in prospecting for oil, gold, coal, geothermal minerals and rare earths. In April 2019, Kenya secured $666 million from China to build a data center in a tech city (likely comprising data centers designed to facilitate internet and communications) currently under construction in Konza, about an hour from Nairobi. Other African countries in China's crosshairs include Cameroon, Angola, Tanzania and Zambia. Tanzania is of particular interest because of the presence of several military-critical rare earths, including neodymium and praseodymium, which are key components in precision-guided munition technology.
China has also become a significant new economic actor in Latin America and the Caribbean. China-Latin America trade increased from almost negligible levels in 1990 to $10 billion in 2000 and $270 billion in 2012; the largest portion of this exchange takes place between South America and China. In 2012, an $8.4 billion rare-earth deposit was discovered in Brazil. Over the past few years, China has become Brazil's undisputed top trade partner…….
I’m sure China is saving the planet from pollution.
China is not afraid the mine the minerals, they don’t have our EPA handcuffing them every step of the way.
They’re not rare. But no one wants to pay the environmental price. Trump could declare a national security exception to environmental regs, but that might carry a political price.
Chyna has been actively prosecuting asymmetrical warfare against the US for decades, including fanning (and probably supporting) the environmental & ‘climate change’ movements (among other destabilizing acts).
Producing so-called rare earth minerals domestically is not a complicated decision and I struggle to understand why it isn’t a priority (there’s a bit of sarcasm there, in consideration that the electrical grid is MORE vulnerable today than it was 20 years ago. As planned, likely).
China is holding the cards for now only because the Gaia Worshipers bitched and whined so much that they shut down the processing of rare earths in the US. As late as the 90s, the US had the largest share of that market. We could easily become more than self sufficient again. All we have to do is ignore the envirowackos and start processing our own again at scale. We have all the minerals we need - and Canada has a bunch more.
We need those minerals to build missiles and all sorts of military components for weapons to smash China with. Some nerve they have to cut us off like that!
You’re right.
“Appears to me China had been holding “ the cards””
because the US gave them to China with strict environmental rules. I get why. To recover rare earths from used cell phones and such there are countries that use the expedience of simply burning the whole mess and having children collect the toxic metals from the ashes.
Bill Clinton closed down rare earth mining in Western states.
Relying on all this technology is a mistake to begin with. Wipe all satellites and there goes all your precision and navigation. Rare Earth was a good band back in the day 🤣🤣🤣
A bullet in a gun you can count on. A fighter with a check engine light not so much.
The wife’s Volvo takes up to 90 minutes for software upgrades and you can’t drive it during upgrades, you drive it and the infotainment system shxts the bed quite often going completely blank...it’s all Google shxt.
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