Will the US’ onshoring strategy remove China’s chokehold on REEs?
View original at finance.yahoo.comWill the US’ onshoring strategy remove China’s chokehold on REEs? Rare earth elements (REEs) – a group of 17 metals economically found in bastnaesite, monazite, loparite and lateritic ion-adsorption clays – featured heavily in trade relations during the first year of Donald Trumps’ second term as US president…
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The US government could eventually decide to force consumers to buy locally with tariffs once capacity is built up
80% confidenceOpening five light rare earth mines is a distraction; it sends false signals to everyone, and you completely lose the game
80% confidenceThe US won't have a secure supply chain unless it has it in its entirety, including refining and processing capabilities
80% confidenceThere's been much hype around rare earths in the US. There are many projects that may or may not come onstream, but nothing I've seen strikes me as the next big REE mine or deposit
80% confidenceEach REE facility will probably require a slightly different process based on where those REEs are contained. Ours are in these garnets, and it's incredibly challenging to get them out
80% confidenceThere's definitely been a change of attitude in the courts - if environmental groups had a valid cause for objecting a mine it would be heard, but it must be an actual valid cause
80% confidenceSome rare earth projects do not stand up to scrutiny and are low-grade
80% confidenceI think the US government isn't afraid right now of using either the carrot or the stick. As China starts to improve their standard of living, their costs could increase, levelling the playing field slightly
80% confidencePermitting reform is key to turning ambition into reality
80% confidenceRamaco Resources' grade calculations are done on an ash basis; you're talking tiny amounts of a concentration 100 times less than at Mountain Pass, which means you have to move 100 times more material to get the REEs out
80% confidenceThe mining industry has never been closer to a deal on permitting reform
80% confidenceTen years ago, it was very difficult to permit a mine
80% confidenceIf the US government fails to grasp the importance of heavy rare earths, it will only be making magnets for toys and novelty items
80% confidenceGiven how long it takes to bring a mine online in the US, and the immediate minerals demands now at our doorstep, we need to act quickly
80% confidenceChina is set to continue dominating processing of heavy rare earths even in 2030, by around 91%, as it controls approximately 99% of the world's processing and separation capacity for these elements
80% confidenceREEs are not rare – they're just not found in really high levels and concentrations
80% confidenceChina would still supply roughly 60% of the world's key magnet-making rare earths by 2030, while US is on course to meet about 95% of its own demand domestically
80% confidenceThe reason China is ahead on rare earths is they're recovering them all in secondary processes. They're putting in zinc smelters and recovering the gallium and germanium as a co-product; they don't have to have specific rare earth facilities
80% confidenceGraphite Creek has REEs in garnets at 0.1% level once the garnet is concentrated - but in the past the value of the REEs would not pay to ship garnets unless you had a use for the garnet such as sandpaper or abrasives
80% confidence