Why rare earth minerals are so crucial to US-China trade deal

00:00 Speaker A

The US and China reached an agreement this week, once again opened access to rare land minerals that are very needed for China’s American companies. China dominates global mining and the production of important materials, UH, which means that the US may face a problem once again if Beijing interrupts access. Now there is David Clanaski, CEO of Cirba Solutions, a lithium battery recycling company that joins me to dive deeper into this rare mineral supply chain. It’s nice to be with us today. First, David is the importance of China’s dominance with rare worlds, and what an agreement will ultimately make an agreement with the United States.

01:49 David Clanaski

Yeah, good morning, Brad. Thank you for having me. Em, yes, that’s an interesting opportunity. Obviously, the United States and China are trying to try to make a kind of trade agreement there. As you mentioned, more than 70% of rare earth minerals are actually processed and produced in China, in fact, 90% of the rare worlds used in China are processed, but China can reach most of these minerals. So you know, you know, I think it is a short -term solution that slightly alleviates the tension there in things that are used by these critical minerals and rare worlds. So it is called critical minerals. UM, but longer term, you know, I think the country continues, domestic supply chain, domestic production and continues to think about how to reduce our dependence on other countries that supply these minerals.

03:17 Speaker A

Knowing how critical this part of the agreement is to the rest of an agreement between the United States and China, and where the technological purchases are too much, in a multi -faceted approach, to know where the two largest countries of the world in the world by GDP will want to make a checklist at such a broad stage.

04:17 David Clanaski

Yes. Yes. I mean, this is a great success to make a kind of agreement there at least there. If you look at where critical minerals are used, where are they not used, aren’t they? Almost every day, everything we touch has a critical mineral, whether something, a vehicle, can be something in our home, in our kitchen, but you know, our defense systems and our defense industry are based on rare soil and critical minerals. When you think of this in a wider picture, this has a great impact on everyone in the United States. And I think, why something is very remarkable, because it’s quite big, quite big agreement. And this is something we need these critical minerals. We need access to them. UM, today, in our country, there are many recycling and many to heal. This is another critical thing. I guess as you think and when I talk to the administration, this is something that is in mind with them, how can we be sure how to continue to recycle and save them when we have these minerals and and rare worlds? And this is a big game right now, you know, working on the Cirba Solutions, and other companies in the United States, to try to domesticate and localize this supply chain for the country.

06:15 Speaker A

And so Bloomberg said that the management is currently prioritizing Trump administration prioritizing rare land projects. This is the plan. What is the typical timeline to run and operate these projects?

06:51 David Clanaski

Yes. I mean, I think it is connected to the scale, frankly, um, but often, you know, you are talking about a process that you recycle, saved or commit these minerals from the ground, for example, it depends on where you get these timetables. If you recover and recycle materials, it’s a little easier, because you don’t have to get a permission for mining and such things. In fact, you should build a facility. And typically, the construction of these facilities is between 18 months and two years. UM, that’s why it takes some time because you need to create a production plan. If you are talking about mining things, frankly, management is really focused on regulating the process of receiving mining permits and such things, I think it will help, but they may take a little longer. I mean, you know, my kind, you know, my expression about most of them, most of these minerals are on the road, now or in our homes. Let us be sure that we have saved them now and that we put these plants into operation to use critical minerals that are currently in use and not in the place to be saved.

08:27 Speaker A

These minerals are often used more? Some kind of secondary market for them?

08:45 David Clanaski

What is good is about these minerals, after healing and recycling them, isn’t it? In other words, you save them to a quality like the beginning of life again. So, you know, when you think about electric vehicles, you have things like nickel and cobalt, lithium. When these materials are recovered from a battery or may be a mobile phone or laptop, no matter what, these minerals are recovered and basically back to the original state of their purity, so that another battery, another phone, another laptop can return to the computer, no matter what. But then there are other applications that they use for pipes and such things. We must build a lot of plants, many production facilities. So you have the opportunity to use it in secondary applications.

09:51 Speaker A

David, thank you very much for your time with us today.

10:00 David Clanaski

Thanks Brad. Appreciate time.