What Are Rare Earth Metals, and Why Should We Care?

Rare earth elements are metals in the periodic table that exhibit certain properties that make them unique for specific applications. Their “unique characteristics allow them to enhance the performance of other metals and, in most cases, result in a reduction of the amount of metal necessary for an application, allowing things to be smaller and lighter,” according to Rare Earth Resources. “They are used in everyday technologies like cellphones and computers. They are also used in advanced medical technologies like MRIs, laser scalpels and even some cancer drugs. In defense applications, they are used in satellite communications, guidance systems, and aircraft structures. With rare earths, a little goes a long way. The amount of rare earths used in high-tech equipment is small but almost always critical to the unit’s performance. For example, a smartphone uses seven rare earths — for everything from its colored screen, to its speakers, to the miniaturization of the phone’s circuitry.”

According to ThoughtCo.com, rare earth metals are:

Scandium: Use to make light alloys for the aerospace industry, as a radioactive tracer, and in lamps
Yttrium: Used in yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) lasers, as a red phosphor, in superconductors, in fluorescent tubes, in LEDs, and as a cancer treatment
Lanthanum: Use to make high refractive index glass, camera lenses, and catalysts
Cerium: Use to impart a yellow color to glass, as a catalyst, as a polishing powder, and to make flints
Praseodymium: Used in lasers, arc lighting, magnets, flint steel, and as a glass colorant
Neodymium: Used to impart violet color to glass and ceramics, in lasers, magnets, capacitors, and electric motors
Promethium: Used in luminous paint and nuclear batteries
Samarium: Used in lasers, rare earth magnets, masers, nuclear reactor control rods
Europium: Used to prepare red and blue phosphors, in lasers, in fluorescent lamps, and as an NMR relaxant
Gadolinium: Used in lasers, x-ray tubes, computer memory, high refractive index glass, NMR relaxation, neutron capture, MRI contrast
Terbium: Use in green phosphors, magnets, lasers, fluorescent lamps, magnetostrictive alloys, and sonar systems
Dysprosium: Used in hard drive disks, magnetostrictive alloys, lasers, and magnets
Holmium: Use in lasers, magnets, and calibration of spectrophotometers
Erbium: Used in vanadium steel, infrared lasers, and fiber optics
Thulium: Used in lasers, metal halide lamps, and portable x-ray machines
Ytterbium: Used in infrared lasers, stainless steel, and nuclear medicine
Lutetium: Used in positron emission tomography (PET) scans, high refractive index glass, catalysts, and LEDs

Who controls the market for rare earths? You guessed it — the People’s Republic of China! According to the Baker Institute, China dominates the world in rare earth mining, separation, refining, and production.

If you conduct a cursory search on the Internet, you can find dozens of similar charts depicting China’s dominance of rare earths in all industry segments.

Our Defense Department depends on rare earths for its weapons systems. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, “Rare earth elements (REEs), which comprise of only 17 elements from the entire periodic table, play a critical role to our national security, energy independence, environmental future, and economic growth. Many advanced technologies have components made from REEs such as magnets, batteries, phosphors, and catalysts. These components are used in various sectors of the U.S. economy including health care, transportation, power generation, petroleum refining, and consumer electronics.” Without rare earths, the U.S. would be hard-pressed to field the advanced computer, electronic, communications, and control systems in countless weapons systems.

Why has China cornered the market on rare earths, and what are the implications of its monopoly over those commodities on the U.S. and the rest of the free world? According to The Wall Street Journal, “The American war machine depends on tiny bits of metal, some as small as dimes. Rare earth magnets are needed for F-35 jet fighters, missile-guidance systems, Predator drones and nuclear submarines.” Moreover, “Other defense applications include electronic displays, guidance systems, lasers, and radar and sonar systems.”

The Journal continues, “Rare earths such as neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium are used in permanent magnets that are needed to help drive motors in electric vehicles, offshore wind turbines and increasingly within robotics. According to experts, they are going to become more crucial as the drive to adopt clean-energy technology grows. Wood Mackenzie’s Rare Earths Market Service estimates demand for rare-earth oxides stood at 171,300 metric tons in 2022 and projects it to grow to 238,700 tons by 2030.”

And here’s why that matters: “According to the International Energy Agency, China controls 61% of global production of rare earth elements (REEs), a group of 17 minerals critical to manufacturing a range of high-tech applications. The U.S. controls only 9%.”

REEs are also used in many components in the commercial sector across a wide range of devices, especially high-tech consumer products, such as cellular telephones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles, and flat-screen monitors and televisions.

The 2023 U.S. China Economic and Security Review Commission report documents U.S. dependence on China for certain rare earths. The report says that 74% of U.S. imports of rare earths from China are for important applications such as magnets, catalysts, metallurgical, and battery alloys. Both parties have supported legislation to reduce U.S. dependence on rare earths, and both Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden have signed executive orders to improve research and domestic production of rare earths.

With China controlling virtually every aspect of rare earths, it’s obvious that, once again, the Chinese have the U.S. over a barrel. At any time, they can restrict U.S. access to rare earths needed to build aircraft, missiles, and other defense weapons systems used to defend America. With seemingly obscure commodities, China once again has outsmarted the West in dominating a key industry and the materials used in it. REE dominance is just one more thing that supports China’s plan to rule the world.

The key question for the concerned citizen is, “What are you going to do about it?”

The Patriot Post® · What Are Rare Earth Metals, and Why Should We Care?