this post was submitted on 26 Apr 2025
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Didn't China halt all exports of rare earth minerals to the whole world?
The minerals aren't actually rare, they're just in low concentrations and difficult to extract. It's just a matter of time before thet set up mining and precessing somewhere else. It won't be in the US though. It'll be somewhere with super cheap labor and no regulations or environmental protections. Which is why it was in China in the first place.
We‘ll see who folds first, the global export halt is to stop leakage via third countries, thus the question is: can the US set up a parallel mining industry before the stockpiles run out.
Many other countries use them too, although the US does use a lot. It does concern me that China might be wanting to use this to accelerate war, seize Taiwan etc before there are alternate sources available.