While China accounts for approximately 60 percent of global REE production, it is responsible for 90 percent of processing, a
Developing Rare Earth Processing Hubs: An Analytical Approach
Now this has partially reversed. Western commodity traders’ power, at least when it comes to certain niche metals. Germany’s near-monopoly on tungsten smelting in the 1910s has been replaced by China’s monopoly on rare earth processing today. Konkel argues that “the Pax Americana was the resolution to the interwar raw materials problem.”
Chris Miller • The "Critical Minerals" Crisis of 100 Years Ago
Given that position, China has control of the global market’s supply and demand. For example, China can undercut new supply sources by flooding the market with a mineral, lowering the price, and making the new project less attractive. China can also do the opposite by imposing sharp limits on supplies available to U.S. companies, hampering... See more
IER • A Rare Earth Mine Opens in Wyoming
mmediately after its stand-off with China, Japan’s government passed a ¥100bn ($1.2bn) supplemental budget for rare-earth supply chains. It also developed a national strategy for breaking China’s chokehold on the materials. This involved finding alternative sources of rare earths, reducing their overall use, and stockpiling them for the next... See more
Just a moment...
Moreover, creating secure critical minerals supply that enables rather than constrains U.S. manufacturing is a key objective. Doubling down on American mining might undercut American manufacturing. If U.S. mining is not cost competitive globally, any requirements on U.S. manufacturers to use domestic materials will raise their costs relative to... See more