Omaha, Neb. – The only rare land mine in the United States heard from anxious companies shortly after China responded To President Donald Trump rates This month limiting exports of minerals used for military applications and on many high -tech devices.
“According to the amount of phone calls we receive, the effects have been immediate,” said Matt Sloustcher, a spokesman for MP materialsThe company that directs the Mountain Pass mine in the Mojave desert in California.
The commercial war between the two largest economies in the world could lead to a critical shortage of rare earth elements if China maintains its long -term export controls or expands them to seek an advantage in any commercial negotiation. The California mine cannot meet all US land demand, so Trump is trying to clear the way for new mines.
Rare earth elements are important ingredients in electric vehicles, powerful magnets, advanced combat aircraft, submarines, smartphones, television screens and many other products. Despite their name, the 17 elements are not really rare, but it is difficult to find them in a concentration high enough for a mine to be worth it.
MP Materials, which acquired the Ide Mountain Pass site in 2017, said Thursday that it would stop sending its mineral to China for processing due to export restrictions and 125% of rates on US imports imposed by China. The company said it would continue to process almost half of what it extracts on the site and store the rest while it works to expand its processing capacity.
“Selling our valuable critical minerals of less than 125% is not commercially rational or aligned with the national interests of the United States,” MP Materials said in a statement.
Experts say that manufacturers that depend on rare earth elements and other critical minerals will see price increases, but there is probable that there is sufficient global supply available to maintain operational factories for now.
The California mine produces neodimium and proseodymium, the light rare earths that are the main components of permanent rare earth magnets in electric vehicles and wind turbines. But the small amounts of some of the heavy lands that China has restricted, such as terbio and disposium are key to helping magnets to resist high temperatures.
The Terbium price has already increased by 24% since the end of March to reach $ 933 per kilogram.
“Our estimate suggests that there is enough reservation in the market to maintain demand for now,” said Benchmark analyst Mineral Intelligence Rare Tarths Neha Mukherjee, adding that shortage can arise later this year.
China has tremendous power over the rare earth market. The country has the largest mines, which produces 270,000 metric tons (297,624 tons) of minerals last year compared to the 45,000 tons (40,823 metric tons) extracted in the China of the United States supplies almost 90% of the rare lands of the world because it is also home to most of the processing capacity.
The restrictions Beijing established on April 4 requires that Chinese exporters of seven heavy rare earths and some magnets obtain special licenses. Repurposition controls reinforced what the administration and manufacturers of Trump see as a great need to build additional American mines and reduce the dependence of the Nation of China.
Trump has tried, so far without success, to a strong arm Green Earth and Ukraine in providing more of their rare earths and other critical materials to the United States. Last month, he signed an executive order that requested that the federal government rationalize permits for new mines and encourages investments in the projects.
Two companies are trying to develop mines in Nebraska and Montana. The Niocorp authorities and the Critical Minerals of the United States. Niocorp has worked for years to raise $ 1.1 billion to build a mine in southeast Nebraska.
“While I feel and think about how we can deal with this huge leverage that China has about these minerals that nobody knows how to pronounce mostly, we have to deal with this a leverage situation,” said the CEO of Niocorp, Mark Smith. “And the best way, I think, we need to make our own rare earth here in the United States. And we can do it.”
MP Materials is working to quickly expand its processing capacity, partly with the help of about $ 45 million that the company received leaving the first Trump administration. But after investing almost $ 1 billion since 2020, the company currently does not have the ability to process the heavy rare earths that China is restricting. MP Materials said I was working quickly to change that.
Automobile manufacturers of the great Americans refused to comment on What dependent They are on rare earths and the impact of China’s export curbs. The main defense contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, who were specifically attacked in China’s restrictions along with more than a dozen other defense and aerospace companies, also remained circumstance.
Military technology is a smaller but important user of rare earths. Trump issued an executive order on Tuesday asking for an investigation into national security implications to depend on both China for the elements.
A Lockheed spokesman, who manufactures the F-22 combat plane, said the company continuously evaluates “the global rare earth supply chain to guarantee access to critical materials that support our clients’ missions.”
Some battery manufacturers could begin to overcome the key elements in a few weeks, according to Steve Christensen, executive director of the responsible battery coalition, an association that represents the batteries and automobile manufacturers and batteries vendors.
Already, manufacturers have seen the price of antimony, an element used to extend the life of traditional lead-acid batteries, more than double since China restricted last year’s exports. The element is not one of the 17 rare earths, but is among the critical minerals that Trump wants to see nationally produced.
Initially, car manufacturers will probably try to absorb any increase in the cost of their batteries without raising vehicle prices, but that may not be sustainable if China’s restrictions remain in place, said Christensen. A 25% tariff that Trump put in all imported cars and auto parts cars was already expected to increase the costs, although the president hinted this week that he could give to the industry A temporary respite.
The United States satisfied its rare earth needs with national sources until the end of the 1990s. Production ended largely after low -cost minerals flooded global markets. Robots, drones and other new technologies have quickly increased the demand for raw materials.
Niocorp recently signed a contract to make more exploratory drilling in its site this summer to help try the Export Export Bank That sufficient rare earth minerals rest under ground near Elk Creek, Nebraska, to justify a loan of $ 800 million to help finance the project.
But a new rare earth mine is years of operating in the EEOcorp estimates. UU. If everything goes well with its fundraising, the site where it hopes to extract and process Niobium, Scandium, Titanium and a variety of rare earth possibly working at the end of Trump’s presidency.
The critical minerals of the United States plan to dig up several tons of mineral in Montana this summer so that you can prove the processing methods you have been developing. The Sheep Creek project is not as advanced as the Nebraska project, but the director of critical minerals of the United States, Harvey Kaye, said the site has promising mineral deposits with high rare earth concentrations.
