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TOKYO—The U.S. found out this year that China could use its chokehold on rare-earth minerals as a coercive tool when Beijing imposed export controls. For Japan, it was déjà vu: It had been the victim 15 years earlier.

Tokyo vowed in 2010 to be ready for next time and over the years put hundreds of millions of dollars into Australian supplies. Yet as of last year, it was still relying on China for some 70% of its imports of rare earths, which are widely used in electronics, cars and weapons, according to the government-owned Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security. When China restricted rare-earth exports in April, some of Japan’s automakers again got hit.

Japan’s experience drives home lessons for the U.S., where the Pentagon recently agreed to take a stake in Las Vegas-based MP Materials so it can mine and refine rare earths on American soil.

Tokyo found that partially reducing dependence still leaves Beijing with plenty of leverage. At the same time, complete independence costs billions of dollars, not millions. After the crisis passed and China resumed exports to Japan, the urgency to diversify supplies waned.

Why #Greenland? not #Mountainpass, #California for #RareEarth elements?

Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/china-strong-armed-japan-over-rare-earths-it-s-a-lesson-for-the-u-s/ar-AA1JmhzG

In an era where Africa seeks to unlock its full potential, few relationships better illustrate the power of regional cooperation than that between Tanzania and Burundi. Once defined primarily by shared history and border proximity, our partnership has evolved into a strategic alliance driving industrial growth, trade integration, and inclusive development.

A landmark example is the $2.15 billion Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project signed earlier this year. Once completed, the 282-kilometre line connecting Uvinza in Tanzania to Musongati in Burundi will open a critical trade gateway to the Indian Ocean. It is expected to lower transport costs, expand market access, and boost industrialisation in both countries and beyond.

Despite abundant minerals, timber, and agricultural resources on the DRC side, trade flows remain imbalanced, with imports far exceeding exports. Addressing this mismatch ensures that regional integration is inclusive and equitable.

Read more at: https://dailynews.co.tz/burundi-and-tanzania-building-africas-future-through-partnership/

Yes, and the U.S. has abundant quantities of them also, but keeps them untapped subject to environmental opposition to mining them resulting in a regulatory minefield of local, state, and federal rules that has turned permitting into a costly decadeslong process.

In addition, many of the rare earths mined in the U.S. continue to be processed in China because it’s cheaper than having to pay American regulatory environmental and workplace safety costs.

One of the U.S. casualties was Molycorp, a. company that owned a Mountain Pass rare earth mine in California’s Mojave Desert that filed for bankruptcy in June 2015 after the surge in Chinese rare earth exports tanked prices.

Meanwhile, MP Materials is now gearing up to go toe-to-toe with China on commercial scale magnet production.

Make America Mine Again – #MAMA – Nationally or Internationally

Why #Greenland? not #Mountainpass, #California for #RareEarth elements?

Biden must embrace domestic mining. #MAMA

#MAMA: #Trump to fast-track permitting for 10 mining projects across #US

Why #Greenland? not #Mountainpass, #California for #RareEarth elements?

Read more at: https://www.newsmax.com/larrybell/nickel-lithium-cobalt/2025/07/25/id/1220148/

Apple’s plan to make AirPods in India has hit a speed bump, and it has to do with a key material that’s mostly controlled by China. According to a report by Moneycontrol, the issue lies in the supply of dysprosium, a rare earth metal used in tiny magnets that help AirPods work the way they do. Foxconn, the company making these AirPods in India at its Telangana factory, has been struggling to get enough of this material. And it’s not because of internal mismanagement. The problem is bigger, and it’s political. China recently tightened export rules on dysprosium and other rare earth materials, and that’s made things difficult for companies operating outside the country.

Read more at: https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/apple-airpods-india-production-faces-setback-as-china-tightens-rare-earth-material-supply-2759579-2025-07-22

In April, President Donald Trump issued an executive order expediting U.S. licensing of seabed mining, departing from international law to unleash what the administration called a “gold rush” to “counter China’s growing influence.” The country is set to conduct ISA-sanctioned tests of two seabed mining machines in the Pacific over the next year.

Within days of Trump’s order, Canadian-registered TMC’s U.S. subsidiary filed the world’s first application to mine the seabed in international waters, including an area it licenses from the ISA. An $85 million investment from a leading Korean metals processor soon followed. 

Read more at: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/07/22/world/politics/trump-minerals-deep-sea-mining/