China has just announced that it will open the doors of the “rare earth vault,” its own personal Pandora’s box, a place where it is estimated there are more than 100 million tons of rare materials that will be strategic for the energy future. Said like that it sounds very mysterious, but the reality is that it is a clear demonstration that the technological future of the planet will be Made in China.
Electric cars, renewable energy, defense, artificial intelligence, advanced electronics, all of that needs rare earths, not to mention the things that are still to come. And not only does China have them, it also manages them, extracts them, refines them, and processes them, and now with an even larger reserve than was previously thought.
The treasure is in Inner Mongolia
We are talking about Bayan Obo, in Inner Mongolia, an area that was already well known for being one of the largest rare earth deposits in the world. That much we knew. What we did not know is that Bayan Obo was not just another mine, it is the hidden pillar of modern technology.
Researchers estimate that 50 percent of the technologies we use every day depend on rare earths and minerals that come from here, and it has reserves of about 470 million tons, even though it extracts 15,000 tons of iron per day from its main deposit. It is crazy.
What are rare earths?
A group of 17 chemical elements that are key to the world. They are used to manufacture modern technology, batteries, magnets, wind turbines, solar panels, chips, and many other things, including the most advanced military systems, and they are essential for the future we are building. They are not called “rare” because they are scarce, but because they are very difficult to extract and very polluting.
Among the 17 elements are neodymium, lanthanum, cerium, and yttrium, and as we said, extracting and processing them in a profitable way is dirty and very expensive. That is why it is important that China has now found even more reserves of these materials.
China does not only extract
Today, China produces close to 60 percent of the world’s rare earths and processes almost 90 percent of them, and with this newly discovered Pandora’s box it has just reinforced its dominance even more. It is not only about how much it has, but about how it controls the entire chain, from the mine to the final product. While other countries depend on importing these same materials, China can decide pace, prices, and availability, and now that geopolitics are quite heated, that is powerful.
And the West?
The United States and the European Union have spent years trying to reduce their dependence on China in this area. There has been talk of new mines, recycling, and strategic agreements, but replicating China’s industrial infrastructure and scale is not possible at the moment for either market.
And the environmental impact?
Bayan Obo is also one of the most polluted places on the planet. Mining these rare earths generates toxic waste and contaminates soil and water, so it is a price they pay in order to mine these deposits.
And yes, they promise to invest in cleaner technologies, but it is something that never arrives, and while progress is made toward cleaner technology, dirtier resources continue to be used.
Can it be done another way?
For now, no. It is in China’s hands to try in some way, to lead technology and also the ecological transition. It is certainly not within everyone’s reach.
Rare earths are the oil of the 21st century, and whoever controls them has enormous influence over how the world moves forward.