Beijing has suspended exports of certain rare earth minerals and magnets that are crucial for the world’s car, semiconductor and aerospace industries.

Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while the Chinese government drafts a new regulatory system. Once in place, the new system could permanently prevent supplies from reaching certain companies, including American military contractors.

https://archive.ph/Gt15t

  • setsubyou@lemmy.worldEnglish
    23·
    6 days ago

    The amount of raw ore is not actually the problem. The US is already the second largest producer of rare earths after China. They can’t process all of the ore though so it gets shipped to China for that. The other thing is all of the US rare earths basically come from one mine, which is partially owned by a Chinese company. No amount of blackmailing random countries for mining rights will fix this.