Even efforts in West Virginia to extract rareearthminerals—a critical industry sector currently dominated by the CCP—cannot access capital due to the banks’ “woke” policies, he said.
It also a resumption in the continuing decline of the American manufacturing sector and a loss of independence for critical machinery and resources, from medical supplies to rareearthminerals.
Is such a policy in America’s interests—or China’s?
Heavy rareearths—which are not scarce, but are scattered among other mineral deposits—are generally extracted by pumping toxic chemicals into the earth.
Rareearths are an obscure group of 17 minerals found in applications such as precision-guided missiles, smart bombs, and military jets, and there are no known substitutes for them.
RareEarths
China produces over 70 percent of the world’s rareearths, as the result of its cheap labor, lax environmental regulations, and rich deposits—about 35 percent of the world’s rareearth deposits are in China.
Core functions could include:
Trade and investment agreements that diversify supply chains in semiconductors, rare-earth processing, batteries, and critical minerals, reducing vulnerability to Chinese coercion.
It also has world-leading reserves of critical minerals and rareearths that are in demand for clean energy equipment, mobile phones, laptops, medical equipment and defence technology.
President Donald Trump has continued to speak of Greenland joining the United States, emphasizing the territory’s vital security importance in competition with Russia and China, as well as its potential as a source of rareearths and other valuable minerals—resources
“Later this week, I will also take historic action to dramatically expand production of critical minerals and rareearths here in [the] USA,” Trump will say.
This includes $35 million from the Department of Defense for a heavy rareearth element separation facility operated by MP Materials, owner of the country’s only rareearth mine in Mountain Pass, California.
-based rareearth supply chain," said Anthony Marchese, CEO of Texas Mineral Resources, which is developing the Round Top mine in Texas with USA RareEarth.
The minerals deal, first announced by Trump in February, would grant the United States a share of revenues from Ukraine’s rareearths, hydrocarbons, oil, and natural gas in exchange for continued security assistance.
By contrast, the United States has excluded Chinese-manufactured medicines and rare-earthminerals, which are critical for making electronic devices, from its tariff list on Chinese imports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow is open to partnering with the United States on joint resource exploration and extraction, including rareearths, and has no objections to a potential U.S.–Ukraine minerals deal.
Rareearthminerals essential to the production of solar panels, wind turbines, and EV batteries include lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and graphite, among others.
This has had the effect of locking away vast quantities of rareearth elements and other critical minerals that could be utilized in environmentally friendly ways.
(AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
"We have been working on the development of the national battery strategy because we hold the bulk of the world's resources in critical minerals and rareearths, yet we do very little value-add creating energy storage systems,
–China talks have been ongoing since Beijing imposed massive rare-earth restrictions earlier this month. The move had prompted the United States to retaliate with 100 percent tariffs.
Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources held a forum on Oct. 22 to discuss how President Biden’s exit from Afghanistan left massive, untapped reserves of rareearth metals, lithium, and other vital minerals in the Taliban's hands, potentially
Minerals that fall under this label actually aren’t that rare. In fact, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) described rareearths as "relatively abundant."
"It's just that they're present in [the] soil at very low concentrations.