The minerals at the heart of the next world crisis
As tensions between China and the West rise, rare earths have become the new battleground for global dominance, fueling weapons production, environmental impacts and international power struggles, writes Melanie McCartney.
RARE EARTH ELEMENTS (REE) has since become a hot topic of discussion Embers 2.0 has started. Even more since then Chinese Set export limits on REE, rare earth magnets, and semiconductor materials containing 0.1% REE.
China first discovered REE in Inner Mongolia in 1927 and has invested heavily in the research and development of rare earth technologies since then. Therefore, today they can successfully carry out large-scale transactions.
American policy turned its back on them
The export mechanism China uses is actually an American policy called the foreign direct product rule (FDPR). America used the FDPR as a tool to restrict its sales. Huawei products It has been used in the West for years to restrict semiconductor exports to China. America also uses it to control other transactions between other countries and China.
China’s international obligations
When China made the REE announcement, it said it had already had export controls in place for more than 20 years. The increased controls are to combat the use of REE to make dangerous weapons and prevent dual use.
The use of REE for civilian and military use is dual use. This is not only about China’s national security and interests, but also about fulfilling its international obligations to China. Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
There are currently four countries that have not signed the agreement: India, Israel, Pakistan and South Sudan. Responsible oversight of the REE global supply chain is needed more than ever in these times.
Any company linked to foreign militaries will be denied export licenses. China’s Ministry of Commerce emphasized that any request to use REE for military purposes will be rejected. This is a major disruption to America’s weapons production capacity, especially at a time when stockpiles are low. Restrictions on semiconductors are also bad news for the artificial intelligence (AI) industry.
REE used for warmongering
Last year NATO published a list of critical raw materials for defence.
- aluminum;
- beryllium;
- cobalt;
- gallium;
- germanium;
- graphite;
- lithium;
- manganese;
- platinum;
- rare earth elements;
- titanium; And
- tungsten.
REE, F-35 fighter jets, Virginia and Columbia class submarines, Tomahawk missiles, radar systems, Predator unmanned aerial vehicles and Joint Direct Attack Munition a series of smart bombs.
Australia’s role in aiding America
The recent “critical mineral agreement“The agreement signed by Australia and America is not only about REE supplies, but also about Australia’s development of a bauxite-to-gallium refinery pipeline. The Pentagon will finance the construction of the gallium refinery in Western Australia.
Gallium can only be produced as a byproduct of bauxite mining, and Australia has the second largest reserves of bauxite, the main ore of aluminium. Gallium is a byproduct of aluminum. Australia has eight of the REEs that NATO lists above as defense important in the recently signed agreement.
Australian Ambassador to America, Kevin Ruddemphasized in some way report earlier this year Center for Strategic and International Studiesthat critical minerals are defensive assets.
Rudd also said:
“Geology has been kind to us. It’s an ancient continent, eroded and flattened, the matter closer to the surface.”
First Nations People left out of the picture
Kevin Rudd is right, Australia is an ancient continent so shouldn’t First Nations people be part of the REE debate? The Mirrar people have struggled with uranium mining on their land for decades; They won their fight last year. Traditional landowners not only take responsibility for the land, but they also care about the impact activities such as mining on their land have on others.
in 2011 Yvonne MargarulaPeople of Mirrar wrote a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban-ki AyHe expressed regret at the effects of radiation on the lives of Japanese people. He noted: ‘The radiation problems at Fukushima are likely to be caused at least in part by uranium obtained from our traditional lands. This makes us very sad.’
Can China be surpassed??
Arnaud Bertrand one wrote excellent article worth reading. It summarizes the impossibility of other countries catching up with China in judicial terms. This isn’t just about building a refinery infrastructure to rival China; Workers have specialized skills and intense energy requirements that need to be taken into account. There is also the fact that an ecosystem and logistics network that China has been building for decades needs to be built.
There is also the issue of purity; REE must be at least 99.9% to be suitable for use.
Extraction and dangers of radioactive waste
Australia is a major producer of aluminum, so it was chosen by America to refine aluminum for its byproduct gallium. Melting aluminum is bad enough for the environment. You need to process the alumina to even get to the point of extracting gallium, then you need to refine the aluminum before you can extract the REE.
All of these processes lead to a form of radiation called technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials.TENORM).
According to USA Environmental Protection Agency:
‘Naturally occurring radioactive substances that have been concentrated or exposed to the accessible environment as a result of human activities such as manufacturing, mining or water processing.’
What to do with all the excess aluminum
As Arnaud explains, to produce 100 tons of gallium per year, you need to produce 12 million tons of alumina and 4.7 million tons of aluminum. You only need a small amount of REE to produce something, but it’s an extremely intensive extraction process. There is also the oversupply factor; There has been a global aluminum oversupply for years.
It’s not just about oil in Venezuela
It should be noted that Venezuela not only has a lot of oil, but also a bauxite mine and is a major producer and exporter of this mineral. Greenland also has a lot of REEs, but they are extremely difficult to get to and they have no mines for them.
Give peace a chance
Providing America with REEs for nuclear weapons to potentially be used against China is an existential threat to its existence. It’s important to know that China’s export controls are not intended to hurt America economically. Simply apply for a license by letting them know what you are using the REE for. If bomb etc. Because they do not want their products to be used in their production. If it’s for humanitarian reasons, that’s okay.
We’ll see what happens next, but it’s good to take a breather as America considers its next move.
This article originally published Originally published on MelMacPolitics and republished with permission.
You can read more about her from Melanie McCartney blog or you can follow him on Twitter @CartwheelPrint.
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