To compete with China, US needs to rebuild rare earth talent from the ground up
Washington’s mining ambitions may be complicated by the erosion of industrial know-how and a weak education pipeline, experts say
Eroding industrial know-how, a weak education pipeline, and the lack of a consistent long-term strategy could complicate US ambitions to become a mining powerhouse and rival or even surpass China, they warned.
Rare earths are a critical component in many advanced weapons systems. Observers said China’s dominance in rare earths stemmed not only from its industrial scale but also from decades of accumulated engineering expertise, which the United States was struggling to rebuild after decades of decline.
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According to Marina Zhang, associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney’s Australia-China Relations Institute, “rebuilding a rare earth supply chain is fundamentally a human capital challenge”.