Monday, October 20, 2025

Rare Earths: Not so rare!

 One of the largest deposits of the rare earths is in the US. Namely California. Some fifteen years ago I wrote a long note regarding this issue. The only reason the US relied upon China is that California closed the rare earth mines due to environmental concerns. 

So what do we do. We go to Australia. As DW notes:

 US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Monday signed an agreement on Australia's rare earth minerals. The agreement comes as China puts new restrictions on rare earth exports, prompting Trump to impose an additional 100% tariff on imports from China from next month. "In about a year from now, we'll have so much critical mineral and rare earths that you won't know what to do with them," Trump told reporters at the White House. Trump was hosting Albanese this morning at the White House and the leaders signed the document before the media. Albanese described the deal as an $8.5 billion pipeline "that we have ready to go."

 We end up paying Australia to dig holes in their land, leaving California untouched. Think about it.