Rare Earth Minerals, etc. from China … or the USA?

[Elderberry]

The Post & Email

US defense, security, industry should not be held hostage to China, when we could mine here

You’d be crazy to buy a car based on its shiny exterior, dazzling instruments and gorgeous leather interior – but without examining the engine or taking a test drive.

And yet that’s how America has handled the metals and minerals that are vital to our defense, medical, communication, automotive, aerospace, lasers, computer/AI/data centers and every other sector of our economy. They’s worth multi-trillions of dollars and are the foundation for jobs, living standards, national security, “green” energy and more.

In the Stone Age, humans relied on flint and obsidian. The Bronze Age utilized copper, tin and lead, plus gold and silver. The Iron Age prioritized iron and carbon. Today, we need almost every element in the Periodic Table, plus countless non-metallic minerals.

However, without any attempt to determine what deposits might lie beneath, decisionmakers have made hundreds of millions of acres of America’s “public lands” off limits to exploration and mining, primarily in Alaska and the eleven states west of the Dakotas. They’re managed by federal agencies for nearly every activity and value except potential subsurface treasures.

In fact, well over two-thirds of those lands have been effectively placed under lock and key: an area larger than Arizona, Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming combined!

Of course, some places are so unique, magnificent or ecologically priceless that they should be off limits to resource extraction – from Arches to Zion National Park. But America cannot afford wide buffer zones around them, much less buffer zones around the buffer zones.

Moreover, countless other areas have also been closed off – some by acts of Congress, others by presidential or bureaucratic decree, or unending wilderness and wildlife studies. All with virtually no consideration of subsurface values. Sometimes federal officials even refuse to follow the law, because they “don’t think Congress should have enacted laws allowing exploration.”

More: https://www.thepostemail.com/2025/11/02/rare-earth-minerals-etc-from-china-or-the-usa/

[Smokin Joe]

Even worse, there seems to be a prevailing train of thought that an acre here is the same as an acre over there, and that a one for one exchange leads to the same mineral wealth. It simply does not, and as a geologist, I can definitively say so.

Like with real estate, location matters. Minerals are where you find them. I know of a rare earth rutile mineralization (Niobium/Tantalum), but it likely won't ever be developed. It's on the shores of a major city water reservoir.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

The thing is, rare earth minerals aren't really rare, they're found all over the place, in limited quantities. China owns them because they basically have cornered refining them. It has destroyed some of their inland cities environment, they don't care. We basically offshored their refinement in the early 90's, despite some convincing warnings from the time about it.

[libertybele]

New Arctic discovery could deal massive blow to Chinese dominance of rare earth minerals

A project heralded by Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and accelerated by President Donald Trump stands to deal a huge blow to China’s dominance in the nanotechnology, energy and automotive sectors as the GraphiteOne site near Nome uncovered vast reserves — for which Beijing previously accounted for 90% of production.

As of 2024, the U.S. was at least 93% import-dependent on both rare earth elements (REEs) and graphite itself, according to the International Energy Agency, and the Graphite Creek deposit has already been dubbed the largest such tranche in the U.S.

But, this week’s announcement that REEs were discovered in addition to the graphite lode portends a step-up that the U.S. can take against the CCP through Trump’s "American energy dominance" agenda, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Batteries, renewable energy technology, fiberoptics, lights, magnets and consumer electronics like phones and tablets rely on REEs, which often places the U.S. at a manufacturing disadvantage — accentuated by China’s 2024 export limits on magnet-related REEs, according to PRNewswire.

GraphiteOne President Anthony Huston said the Nome discovery is proof of a "truly generational deposit" at the Graphite Creek site. Some of the materials from the site will be shipped to an advanced graphite and battery anode material plant in Ohio.........

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/new-arctic-discovery-could-deal-massive-blow-chinese-dominance-rare-earth-minerals