What if there were rare minerals so valuable to many of the United States’ most advanced weapons systems that their disappearance from the marketplace could threaten America’s national security interests—and those rare minerals were, in fact, almost solely in the hands of the country’s fiercest global economic competitor who held a monopoly over them?
Well, this isn’t a “what if” game, it’s true.
Despite years of concern in the U.S. and around the world, China still controls a monopoly on Rare Earth Elements (REEs) that are critical to a number of advanced weapons systems, mobile devices and emerging green technologies. And the situation isn’t likely to change any time soon.
“China holds a commanding monopoly over world REE supplies, controlling about 95 percent of mined production and refining,” James Clapper, U.S. director of national intelligence, told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence recently. “China’s dominance and policies on pricing and exports are leading other countries to pursue mitigation strategies, but those strategies probably will have only limited impact within the next five years and will almost certainly not end Chinese REE dominance.”
Source: U.S. News & World Report
By Jeff Nesbit