Asia Mining

https://www.cnbc.com/

China’s dominance of the global rare earths supply chain won’t dwindle easily, even if Beijing decides to approve more export licenses through deals with Europe and the U.S. Three Shenzhen-listed Chinese companies this month said that Beijing approved their exports of magnets with rare earths — metals critical for cars, defense, semiconductors and other industrial products.

But another firm, Baotou INST Magnetic New Materials, said last month the export licenses can only be used for one shipment. In Europe, automotive industry groups have said that, in the case of magnets and heavy rare earths, long-term export licenses from China were only valid for a maximum of six months.

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https://www.reuters.com/

BANGKOK, June 12 (Reuters) – A Chinese-backed militia is protecting new rare earth mines in eastern Myanmar, according to four people familiar with the matter, as Beijing moves to secure control of the minerals it is wielding as a bargaining chip in its trade war with Washington.

China has a near-monopoly over the processing of heavy rare earths into magnets that power critical goods like wind turbines, medical devices and electric vehicles. But Beijing is heavily reliant on Myanmar for the rare earth metals and oxides needed to produce them: the war-torn country was the source of nearly half those imports in the first four months of this year, Chinese customs data show.

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https://www.ft.com/

Beijing’s success in snarling supply chains with rare earths has shifted the balance of power in trade talks

China’s success in snarling global supply chains by stemming the flow of rare earths has piled pressure on Washington and made clear Beijing’s power to weaponise export controls on a wider range of critical goods, analysts and businesspeople say.

China dominates the supply chain for key minerals and its commerce ministry started requiring licences for exports of rare earths and related magnets in early April. The slow approval process has rocked global supply chains and given Beijing leverage over the US after Donald Trump’s sweeping “liberation day” tariffs.

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https://www.nytimes.com/

Since early April, China has stopped almost all shipments of critical minerals that are needed for cars, robots, wind turbines, jet fighters and other technologies.

China has suspended almost all exports since April 4 of seven kinds of rare earth metals, as well as very powerful magnets made from three of them. The halt has caused increasingly severe shortages that threaten to close many factories in the United States and Europe. Why are these metals so needed, why has China stopped exporting them and, crucially, what happens next?

What are rare earths?

There are 17 types of metals known as rare earths, which are found near the bottom of the periodic table. Most of them are not actually very rare — they are all over the world, though seldom in large enough ore deposits to be mined efficiently.

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Atlantic Council – Shaping the global future together

The rare-earth supply crunch underscores a critical lesson: The United States cannot afford to rely on China’s goodwill for minerals essential to its economy and security. China dominates the rare-earth supply chain, with Beijing supplying about 60 percent of global rare-earths output and controlling up to 90 percent of refining capacity.

For the United States, which needs neodymium and dysprosium for F‑35 fighter jet engines as badly as it needs lithium for electric vehicles, continued dependence on Beijing is impossible. The solution is not wishful “onshoring” to the United States alone; it is establishing a portfolio of reliable partners. Kazakhstan, already the world’s leading uranium producer and a top‑ten copper and zinc exporter, is a prime candidate for such a partnership.

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https://www.reuters.com/

Alarm over China’s stranglehold on critical minerals grew on Tuesday as global automakers joined their US counterparts to complain that restrictions by China on exports of rare earth alloys, mixtures and magnets could cause production delays and outages without a quick solution.

German automakers became the latest to warn that China’s export restrictions threaten to shut down production and rattle their local economies, following a similar complaint from an Indian EV maker last week.

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https://www.cnn.com/

Despite a 90-day truce in its trade war with the United States, China appears to be maintaining tight control over its rare earth exports – preserving a key source of leverage in future negotiations amid intensifying strategic rivalry with Washington.

As part of last week’s trade agreement in Geneva to temporarily roll back tariffs, China pledged to suspend or remove the “non-tariff” countermeasures it imposed on the US since April 2. That has left businesses scrambling to find out whether that promise applies to China’s export controls on seven rare earth minerals and associated products, which were imposed on April 4 as part of its retaliation against US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs on Chinese goods.

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