Regional focus 1922
Mao Zedong organises coal miner strike in Jiangxi province
1927
REEs are discovered in China
1958 Small-scale
production of REE concentrates begins
1980s
That, in itself, is striking enough. And from neodymium to terbium, these 17 elements are increasingly critical to a series of important technologies, in fields as varied as electric cars and stadium scoreboards. Yet, if the geological fates granted the Chinese a bounty beneath their feet, that’s far from the whole story. A rare earth mining giant it may be, after all, but the country has also been busy developing expertise in other related fields. As Politico has reported, China currently controls 85% of rare earth processing, as well as 92% of rare earth magnet production – a vital complement in military systems such as stealth aircraft and radars. With all this in mind, moreover, it should come as no surprise that China’s geopolitical rivals are rushing to catch up, with the US in particular investing in new mines and factories. However, with China reacting in kind – especially when it comes to lucrative markets in the developing world – the future of the sector remains fraught.
Inherit the earth
In the most basic sense, ‘rare earth’ minerals are a misnomer. Geologically speaking, these metals aren’t particularly unusual, even if extracting them is sometimes tricky. What can be in no doubt, however, is how crucial they are to contemporary society. “They are used,” emphasises Kristin Vekasi, “in most of the technology that makes our modern life possible.” Reflect on any number of industries and the associate professor at the University of Maine seems to have a point. Consider, for instance, the now-ubiquitous smartphone. The typical iPhone is built with eight separate REEs, from the lanthanum that gives the screen its vivid colour to the neodymium and dysprosium that make the device vibrate. It’s a similar story in other cutting-edge industries too: Elon Musk’s famous Teslas depend on several REEs for their motors.
All told, the global REEs market is predicted to hit the $9.6bn mark by 2026 – and much of that growth is being scooped up by China. In part, that can be
World Mining Frontiers /
www.nsenergybusiness.com
understood by the relative prevalence of rare earths, not least in the Middle Kingdom itself. To give one example, the Bayan Obo field in the country’s north is the biggest such deposit on the planet, with China altogether controlling 30% of all the world’s REEs. Yet, as Beijing’s dominance in processing and magnet production implies, geographical happenstance isn’t the only factor at play here. As early as the 1950s, notes Marina Yue Zhang, Chinese leaders realised the importance of rare earths. “By 1990,” continues the associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, “China [had] mastered the separation of REEs and [had] mapped a strategy of capturing and controlling the downstream production of REE-value-added products.” Naturally, that begs the question of how Beijing has managed to corner the REE market so comprehensively. The answer has much to do with the centralised style of the Chinese state. As Vekasi explains, the country worked hard to develop new state-owned mining labs, even as it pumped money into REE-focused degrees. The fruits of these investments are still apparent: in February, senior Chinese mineralogists announced they’d discovered a new REE in Guangdong province. It goes without saying, meanwhile, that as a fundamentally free-market economy, the US has traditionally found it hard to keep up. In 2002, California’s Mountain Pass mine was closed after a toxic spill and wasn’t reopened for years due to Chinese competition – even as the latter were consolidated into a handful of major firms. Together with China’s historically lax attitude towards environmentalism, it’s no wonder that US rare earth production only accounts for around 15% of the total.
Burmese pays
The consequences of this divergence have become clear alongside the rise of China as a geopolitical power. In 2010, for example, a maritime dispute in the South China Sea saw Beijing ban REE exports to Japan: a decision which caused global prices to jump
China starts large- scale production of REEs
2002 California’s
Mountain Pass mine closes after a toxic spill, doesn’t reopen for years due to Chinese competition
2010
China bans REE exports to Japan after a maritime dispute, which causes global prices to rise by over 300%
2017 – 2021
Burma exports over a $1bn worth of rare earths to China
Feb 2022 President Biden
announces plans to invest $35m in MP Materials, the US’s only rare earth mining and processing operation
June 2022 The European Raw
Materials Fund launches with an initial budget of €2bn. Mountain Pass mine reopens
2026
The global REEs market is predicted to hit the $9.6bn mark
13
corlaffra/
Shutterstock.com
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