Dr Luisa Moreno is president of Vancouver-based rare earth miner Defense Metals Corp.
With the electric vehicle market expected to drive demand for 200,000 tons of rare earth elements in North America through 2030, work is being put in by industry and policy makers to restore the region’s rare earth element supply chain.
Efforts are being made in Canada and the US to shift dependency away from Chinese rare earth element reserves. There are many reasons why North America is looking to onshore its processes, one of the biggest being concern around potential supply chain choke points in the event China decides to cut off rare earth element supply due to geopolitical wrangles.
Demand for the material is expected to skyrocket, with an estimated 315,000 tons of rare earth elements needed by 2030, most of them for EVs.
What is being done by North American mines to ensure they can keep up with demand without needing to rely on Chinese rare earth element supply and Far Eastern separation facilities? What type of government policy needs to be implemented to help speed the onshoring process along?
For the rest of this article: https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/03/07/north-americas-bid-to-onshore-rare-earth-supply/