Not sure if there is an updated number, but clearly this has some geopolitical implications if many countries are relying on these to make wind turbines and electric vehicles. How come other rich countries can’t match it?
In: 8
There are 2 big reasons.
1. Rare earth mining and refining is toxic as hell. Rare earth minerals are everywhere. They’re actually more common than a lot of other metals we use everyday like copper. It’s just that they don’t occur in concentrated ores. Rather, they tend to be found in small amounts in a lot of rocks alongside a lot of toxic or radioactive elements like thorium. It’s expensive as hell to treat the waste so that it’s “safe” and Western countries like the US have environmental regulations in place to make sure that it’s properly mitigated. China does not have these regulations (or if they do, they are not enforced) and the mining operations they have are an ecological disaster.
2. The CCP has engaged in market manipulation to control rare earth mining/refining. A few years ago a US company tried to restart a rare earth operation in the Western parts of the country (California if I remember right). The CCP proceeded to crash prices by flooding the market. This forced the mining operation to shut down because they could not operate with a profit when prices crashed. This is classic monopolistic behavior.
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