China controls more than half the global reserves and production for rare earths, giving them considerable leverage. After an incident in disputed waters in 2010, for instance, they temporarily banned rare-earth exports to Japan and restricted their supply for export purposes.
Rare earth elements may not be that rare in nature, but extracting and isolating them from it is often difficult.
Rare earth elements are 17 chemicals located near the bottom of the periodic table that possess unique fluorescent, conductive, and magnetic properties that combine with other metals or alloys to produce materials used in technologies, consumer products, and industrial processes ranging from electric motors and Tesla electric car batteries to consumer electronics applications and production processes. These elements play an integral part in many electric motors as well as being essential in producing powerful magnets within battery systems for production processes like battery management systems.
Rare earths are relatively abundant in Earth's crust but difficult to extract and purify. Their existence in nature means they must be extracted using complex chemical processes in large, liquid-filled chambers which separate elements out one from another.
China controls all stages of rare earth production and holds almost 40 percent of global reserves, dominating each stage from production to reserve management. China has used rare earths as a diplomatic leverage in the past; for example, by restricting exports to Japan after one of their fishing trawlers collided with a Japanese coast guard ship near disputed islands and US defense contractors after similar incidents; therefore establishing domestic supplies could help buffer against further tensions with China.
Light rare earths (lanthanum, praseodymium and neodymium) are used in products like magnets, lasers and glasses; heavy ones (dysprosium and terbium) play an integral part in products like motors, turbines and electric cars. Recently they have become integral parts of numerous technologies as consumer electronics companies rushed to develop smaller, lighter batteries.
As demand for rare earth metals increased, companies like MP Materials attempted to increase domestic production. Unfortunately, numerous obstacles prevented their success, such as difficulty extracting rare earths and processing them into magnets. Although previous attempts at reclaiming our place within the global rare earth supply chain had been made by both China and America respectively, the latter gained much more ground due to government investment, training programs, and cheap labor resources; both countries quickly established themselves as global leaders over recent decades.
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Rare Earth elements are essential in our fight to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and prevent climate collapse, and as a result the Biden administration is conducting an in-depth assessment on how we can regain our position as major suppliers to this vital supply chain and increase manufacturing of high tech products like batteries and electric cars.
Though rare earth metals are technically more abundant than their name suggests, extracting, processing and refining them remains challenging for technical and environmental reasons. 17 elements make up this class; light rare earths consist of those with lower atomic weights while heavy rare earths contain heavier ones that occur naturally across various mineral deposits around the world.
Many mining deposits are surrounded by toxic leaching ponds that, if mismanaged, could pollute local waterways and ultimately affect ecosystems and release radioactive materials into the atmosphere. Mining operations can also damage ecosystems while discharging radioactive material into the air.
At the dawn of the 19th century, discovering and naming new elements was both an honorable and contentious pursuit among European chemists. Jons Jacob Berzelius isolated cerium and thorium independently in 1803 and 1828 respectively, and Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley pioneered X-ray spectroscopy early in the 20th century to identify 17 nearly indistinguishable lustrous silvery white soft heavy metals known as rare earths (although technically also including yttrium and scandium).
Neodymium and praseodymium rare earths are vital ingredients in producing strong magnets for electric vehicles, wind turbine motors and medical devices. Demand is expected to increase as economies transition away from fossil fuels towards lower-carbon technologies.
Companies such as Lynas and MP Materials are working to increase domestic production of rare earths. Extraction may prove challenging due to environmental and technical considerations; developing an entire domestic production chain may take years of work, according to Nakano.
Though demand for high-tech gadgets keeps rising despite an ever-increasing mountain of electronic waste, demand remains strong. Many such gadgets contain rare earth metals which must be extracted from the ground - often ending up as landfill or polluting water supplies - but clean technology solutions have recently gained ground due to lower energy costs; some require no rare earths at all while others lessen reliance on platinum, an essential material in zero emission fuel cells. A survey conducted by MIT Technology Review Insights involved 350 C-suite executives as well as interviews with nine companies/experts who conducted interviews for research sponsored by Shell; see here the full report for details.