According to Nikkei, as part of the new restrictions, which will be in place until the end of October of 2025, the commerce department has added rare earths, including compounds and alloys to its “list of mineral resources and other items requiring disclosure of information such as material type and export destinations.”

The move ties into an overall context of export controls are gaining in popularity as the global race for resources heats up. India joined the ranks of countries considering export restrictions this August, and Kenya made similar headlines in October.  Zimbabwe banned lithium ore exports last December, and Namibia recently banned the export of unprocessed lithium and other critical minerals.

All these announcement tie into a larger trend, which has been noticeable particularly in Latin America, a region with a historic penchant for nationalism, but also elsewhere. ARPN has featured recent nationalist moves in Chile, Mexico and Bolivia, as well as in Myanmar, Indonesia, and China, and has showcased that even in the Western world, government involvement in the critical minerals sector is on the rise.

Of course, in light of Beijing’s dominating role in critical mineral supply chains and the current state of global affairs, China’s announcements relating to critical mineral export restrictions are not only highly consequential for U.S. domestic industry stakeholders, but must also be viewed through the prism of geopolitics, and as such U.S. national and economic security.

As Nikkei outlines, the U.S. has in recent years worked with Western allies to tighten exports of top-end semiconductors and chipmaking equipment to China, prompting Beijing to respond by considering banning “exports of manufacturing technology for high-performance magnets and other products that use rare earths” at the end of 2022.

Earlier this summer, China announced export restrictions on gallium and germanium, followed by controls on certain drones and drone-related equipment.  On October 20th, Beijing tightened the export control ratchet further – this time by announcing that to protect national security, the country require export permits for certain graphite products – a move analysts see as a play “to control supplies of critical minerals in response to challenges over its global manufacturing dominance.”

From a functional perspective, Chinese restrictions now extend to three of the key tech building blocs of the 21^st century:

-       Semiconductors (gallium/germanium)

-       Lithium-ion battery technology (graphite)

-       Permanent magnets (REEs)

As geopolitical tensions soar, this may not be the end of it. As ARPN stated before:

“As China ratchets up its export control regime (…) U.S. stakeholders would be well-advised to kick their efforts to bolster U.S. critical mineral supply chains into high gear.   For China – a ‘country of concern’ as per an August 9, 2023 Executive Order - it may be a short step from export controls to export embargoes.”

The post Gallium, Germanium, Graphite… and Now REEs – China Further Tightens Critical Mineral Export Restriction Ratchet appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

Citing people involved in a government consultation, the Financial Times reports that Beijing is gauging exactly how badly companies in the United States and Europe, including U.S. defense contractors, would be affected by plans to restrict exports of rare earth elements.

According to Chinese media, REE exports had already dropped by more than 20 percent following the passage of a new broad export control law restricting sales of items relating to Chinese national security that went into effect on December 1, 2020. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has since proposed more specific language to impose controls on REE production and exports.

The development ties into the overall context of a deterioration of Chinese-American diplomatic and trade relations against the backdrop of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, with the buildout of 5G technology having emerged as a new frontier in the deepening tech war between the two global players.

With China controlling more than 70% of global REE output, the specter of China weaponizing its position — yet again — is a serious threat to our national security and economic wellbeing. This is especially true when one considers that, while crucial, rare earths are only the tip of the proverbial iceberg when considering our overall critical mineral resource dependencies — a fact for which USGS has just provided the annual reminder with the release of its Mineral Commodity Summaries 2021, which lists China 24 times as one of the major import sources of metals and minerals for which our net import reliance is 50% or greater.

2020 has underscored the urgency of shoring up our domestic critical mineral resource supply chains, and has yielded important progress with regards to policies aimed at reducing our over-reliance on foreign, and especially Chinese metals and minerals.

While the Biden Administration is — understandably — reviewing the preceding Administration’s policies, it is important that stakeholders realize that “we can’t admire the problem anymore. We don’t have the luxury of time.”

The post China’s Saber-Rattling over Rare Earths Card Getting Louder appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

The executive order is a direct response to an inconvenient truth the current pandemic has brought to the forefront — our over-reliance on foreign (and especially Chinese) critical minerals, and China’s penchant for playing politics when holding leverage over its adversaries, indications for which have been mounting over the last few months amidst growing trade tensions between the United States and China.

News coming out of China this weekend point to China’s readiness to escalate tensions with the United States and its allies and underscore the need for action.

According to Nikkei Asia, the Chinese legislature on Saturday passed export control legislation China to “take countermeasures against any country or region that abuses export-control measures and poses a threat to China’s national security interests,” and effectively allows the “government to ban exports of strategic materials and advanced technology to specific foreign companies.”

Listing some of the ramifications of the new law, which is set to go into effect on December 1, 2020, Nikkei Asia writes that “[c]oncerns have been raised that rare-earth metals, for which China’s market share exceeds 60%, may be included in the restricted items. Such a ban would have broad implications worldwide.”

Aside from also affecting companies that import export-controlled items from China, and not only end users, the law can also “be enforced over acts committed outside Chinese borders,” and employees of foreign companies without offices in China could be arrested upon entering the country.

The move comes on the heels of ministerial meetings of the Australia-India-Japan-United States Quadrilateral or Quad in Tokyo earlier this month — which had prompted the Chinese Communist Party to dub the Quad an “anti-China coalition” and an “exclusive clique.”

During the Quad meetings, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had called for the four-nation grouping to “collaborate” on countering China, stating that “[a]s partners in this Quad, it is more critical now than ever that we collaborate to protect our people and partners from the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) exploitation, corruption, and coercion.”

With tensions escalating, it is encouraging to see that stakeholders have begun to realize the urgency of the situation and there are indications that the new executive order is (finally) setting off a flurry of activity in the U.S. critical minerals space — along all links of the supply chain. As ARPN’s Daniel McGroarty has stated:

“[W]e’ve spent enough time admiring this problem. The question now will be whether this EO triggers an immediate and active response on the part of the U.S. Government – one that will encourage American ingenuity, innovation and investment to bring new sources of supply into production.”

The post China’s New Export Control Legislation Raises Specter of REE Ban appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

In the mid-to long run, the Chinese geopolitical rare earths power play will undoubtedly accelerate efforts to develop rare earths outside of China (see for example our recent posts about the Alaska priority permits or the promising REE prospecting site in Nebraska).  In the short term, however, we’ll likely see more manufacturers follow the rationale of “if the metals won’t come to you, you’ll have to go to the metals.”

U.S. policy makers should see Intemax’s decision for what it is – a bellwether move for other critical metals and minerals, many of which we could source at home but currently fail to develop, thus perpetuating our dependence on foreign resources. Once again, one need to look no further than page six of the USGS Mineral Commodities Summaries – it sure isn’t a pleasant story, but it should be required reading.

The post Company “Solves” REE Shortage… By Moving Manufacturing to China appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

The U.S. Administration has been advocating for greener technologies in the automotive industry over the past few years, encouraging American consumers to do their part by purchasing plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles.  During his State of the Union speech in January, President Obama announced that he wants 1 million of these alternative cars on our roads by 2015.

What does the U.S. auto industry have to do with Rare Earth Elements? The current grip-hold China has on the REE market could easily impact the cost of the products the President is urging American manufacturers to make more of and asking consumers to purchase. Rare Earth elements essentially make all of these emerging technologies work.

Rare Earths are used in a number of automotive applications such as catalytic converters and other auto parts. The batteries that power plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles (such as the Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf) require some REEs in combination with Neodymium permanent magnets, which is a light Rare Earth element. However, manganese (not a REE but 100 percent imported by the U.S. due to lack of our own deposits) is most commonly found in newer lithium-ion batteries.

Right now, China provides 97 percent of global Rare Earths production.  The U.S. provides a fraction of one percent.  But shift to known reserves – the potential to provide future supply – and the numbers tell a different story:  China has 36 percent of known reserves, with the U.S. accounting for 13 to 15 percent.

With China keeping more and more of its Rare Earth elements off of the world market, how does the Administration expect the automotive industry to reach its goal in four years without exploring the resources available to us in America?

The post What the Auto Industry, Rare Earth Elements have in Common appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

The announcement comes only days after China once again tightened its rare earths export controls, and a few weeks after Molycorp acquired a majority share in the Estonian company Silmet (the other European rare earths producer besides Rhodia).  Once more, this collaboration illustrates that this isn’t your grandfather’s rare earths sector anymore, as companies and nations will look for innovative ways to react to new economic and geopolitical realities.

The post Rhodia, Areva team up to develop REE and Uranium appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

In light of last week’s news that China is tightening its rare earths exports yet again, I find it encouraging to see that academia is also raising concerns over the issue.

The post Video: An academic perspective on rare earths appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

If reports are true – and we’ll be watching for more detailed assessments – this latest tightening by China, which accounts for more than 95 percent of the world’s rare earths supply, could cause prices for these critical materials to soar even higher, and underscores the urgency of the situation. It is time for import-dependent nations including our own to rethink our mineral policies and end dependencies that are politically and economically unhealthy – and more than that, unnecessary.

The post China tightens rare earths export quotas appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.

In the United States, policy initiatives aimed at securing an ongoing supply of these mineral materials are being introduced at the federal and state levels, with Alaska, as Petroleum News reports, especially likely to play a key role.

The post Is Alaska the key to solve U.S. Rare Earths crisis? appeared first on American Resources Policy Network.