geopolitics

The New York Times’ Keith Bradshear has taken a closer look at foreign manufacturers moving their production sites into China in an effort to mitigate reduced access to and increased cost for REEs – a development we covered on our blog here and here.

The article underscores that rather than acting out of environmental concerns, which has become the official rationale touted by Chinese officials defending the country’s restrictive rare earths policies, China, which controls 97% of the world’s REE output, is deliberately using its REE stranglehold to lure business it otherwise would not be able to attract.

In the mid-to long run, the days of China’s REE power play are numbered as other countries are finally stepping up production efforts.   For now, however, our own failure to read the writing on the wall early on, and our abandoning of U.S. domestic production efforts have enabled China to leverage its near-monopoly position as a tactical geopolitical weapon.

Overall, China’s rare earths tactics hold an important lesson to be factored into our overall mineral strategy, as our unnecessary and harmful dependence on foreign mineral resources stretches far beyond rare earths.

Chinadaily.com.cn reports that China has discovered its largest molybdenum deposit to-date in the East-Chinese province of Anhui.   At 2.2 million tons, the discovered deposits have a mining life of more than one hundred years and constitute the second largest known quantity of minable molybdenum with the world’s largest mine being the Climax Mine in Colorado.

A boon to the rural county in which the deposit was discovered, the find also bears testimony to the fact that resource-rich China’s dominant position in the strategic metals sector and the geopolitical and economic challenges that come with it won’t simply expire anytime soon.  It is time for other nations (including our own) to reassess their mineral policies and make the exploration and development of their domestic natural resources a priority.

As you vacuum your house, you’re probably not thinking too much about the United States’ over-reliance on foreign mineral resources.  Here’s why maybe you should: Ever wonder what makes your Dyson DC 31 handheld vacuum cleaner whirl? You may be surprised to hear that the answer is rare earths. Five times faster than a racing [...]

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Globe Metals and Mining has discovered significant rare earths deposits at its exploration site Mount Muambe in Mozambique. This positive exploration result will likely further strengthen China’s quasi-monopoly position when it comes to rare earths, as the Chinese state-owned East China Minerals Exploration and Development Bureau only two months [...]