The rare production of the earth and the domination of China has been overcome, it has been put on paper

The rare earth metals They are necessary in many modern industries. Even in politics because of the importance almost every industryespecially technological, industrial, medical, aerospace and military. China has dominated its production in recent decades and there is no doubt about it use your power in current trade war against the West, but the rest of the regions are drawn together.

And that rare earth lady can be seen in this reve- graph Visual Capitalist in which, moreover, we can see how the demand for these rock minerals has.

The essentials. We have already said several times that “rare earths” is the name we use to describe a range of similar chemical elements that are essential to today’s technology. Neodymium, for example, is one of the fundamentals, because it is used in the magnet of the device, but also in batteries, something that resonates with devices and demands. electric cars.

And in the graph we see how these new energy needs led to the production of 75.7 kilotons in 1995 to more than 350 kilotons in 2023. Just in 30 years, the production multiplied by more than four and a half, a reflection of that. increasing demand for metals.

Things about China. And if there is a definite leader, it is China. For more than two decades, China has been the dominant producer of rare earths. Reason? Basically, Westerners have elegantly cultivated the Asian giant for two reasons: cheap labor and, above all, relaxed environmental laws.

China has enormous deposits of rare earths (and more and more), but what it really dominates is their refining and production. Rare earths are not rare, but smelting them to extract minerals is a very polluting process that Westerners have traditionally tried to avoid. This is a table of the main rare earth producers if we look at it figures from the Statistical Review of World Energy 2024:

For clarification, one kiloton is one thousand metric tons, which is equal to one million kilos. The unit in mining is the simpler quantities because of their size.

Buy from the west. What brought the Chinese monopoly, not so long ago, and now that we want to produce rare countries, the situation is complicated. In 2023, China is estimated to produce more than two-thirds of that rare metal, and the country is currently estimated to processing more than 80% of all rare earth metals, as well as 99.9% of the rare earth heavy metals, so it buys rare earths from the West to emit them.

Yes, it is allowed rarely do these land prices collapse To eliminate Western competition. It is something that has happened recently and is controversial because of the state of the Chinese economy, but it is the object of attack in the West.

The United States is getting its act together. But not only China continues to dominate, the annual production has an increase of 9.9%. In addition, we can see in the graph that this production remained stable until 2017, but since that year the production has fluctuated around the world. Then he realized the United States I have something about that too.

We have seen an increase in production from 15.4 kilotons in 2017 to 43 kilotons in 2023 and, although it is complicated because of that environmental regulation, the United States is on the way to becoming more independent from China. It is something that they desperately seek because of the consequences of continued interventions and tariffs on Chinese technology and products in the North American region.

“The rest of the world”. The production of the countries and regions that we have not mentioned is so small that the graphs should add their own data to express something significant. Australia is a country that is heavily involved in the production of rare earths, with a good leap since 1995. Something similar, but not significant, happened with Thailand. Europe is gone for the side where many were deposited great rare metals of the earth, but what is lacking? be able to start producing regularly. AND’ Japan is in a very similar situation..

We will see what happens in the future now that many countries are looking for ways to be more independent from China in rare countries, but it will not be easy because, as we said at the beginning of this article, there is something. a weapon used in the running trade of war. Until December 2023, China has banned the export of technology the extraction and separation of rare earth metals to strengthen the dominant production.

Europe to control, start and produce and in the meantime rare countries recycle something that is already done in increased centers, as one. just opened in Spain.

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