Trump’s military rare earths drive opens doors for new US mines amid threats of China supply cut
- US president trying to cut heavy reliance of country on China’s rare earths for military equipment
- Rare earths have become a flashpoint in the US-China trade war
The move could spur the re-establishment of an integrated supply chain for the extraction and processing of rare earth metals and their utilisation to make magnets used not only in fighter jets and tanks, but also electric vehicles, wind turbines and many smart electronic gadgets.
“We think our deposit can satisfy to a significant degree defence needs that would involve rare earths,” said Dan McGroarty, head of government affairs of USA Rare Earth – one of the firms vying for government orders and potential funding – in a phone interview.
“You will see in the US other companies working to reconstitute [the US’s rare earth] metals making capability.”
His company is developing a mining and ore processing project called Round Top in the state of Texas that could produce 15 of the 17 rare earth elements besides almost 9,000 tonnes of lithium a year, according to a preliminary economic study.