The Clock Is Ticking on Britain’s Rare Earth Dependence
Last week, the United States learned its lesson — don’t become over-reliant on strategic competitors for crucial mining capacity. The UK should act before this Chinese trap strangles it too.
Britain relies on rare earth elements (REEs) for a large variety of goods—from advanced technologies to the mundane. RAF F-35’s require REEs, as do iphones, electric vehicles, and computer hard drives. Rare earths are also widely used in semiconductors, a recent pawn in the simmering conflict with China. As for goods manufactured in the UK, Jaguar requires neodymium for the magnets in its electric motors, wind turbine producers require dysprosium for their generators, and GE Healthcare UK requires gadolinium to produce MRI machines. The supply of rare earth elements is intertwined with the security of the British state, as well as with the bottom line of companies crucial to Britain's economy.
Despite the name, rare earth elements are not actually that ‘rare.’ They are abundant in deposits across the globe—from Australia to Sweden—yet the elements are challenging to mine and refine as they rarely come in pure form. As a result, most of the world exclusively relies on China for rare earth procurement. To date, China mines 70% and refines 90% of global REEs. Even the rare earths that are mined in countries like Myanmar and Australia are shipped to China for processing.
With China’s tightening restrictions on rare earth exports, the UK ought to join its Western peers and examine the vulnerability of its rare earth supply chains.
But while the UK has acknowledged its dependence, it has not yet reckoned with its full vulnerability. Three major obstacles stand in the way of any meaningful diversification. First, most concerningly, is the limited time frame western countries have to adjust their supply chains. REE mining operations take years to establish, which leaves the UK and greater West largely vulnerable to Chinese Communist Party gambits for years to come. If China invades Taiwan in the coming two to five years, current REE supply chain development rates suggest the UK will be unprepared for a strangled REE supply.
Second, is concern about refining capacity. Most rare earths are refined in China not only because it is cheaper—but because the rest of the world doesn’t know how. China has developed rare earth processing knowledge far beyond what is accessible to the rest of the world. To date, 39 Chinese universities have rare earth training programs, while the US, UK, and EU have none. From 1950 to 2018, Chinese engineers have received 25,000 patents for REE refining technologies, while the US only filed 10,000 and Europe was responsible for far less. The world’s two largest rare earth refining companies outside of China, Lynas and MP Materials, have faced delays and setbacks related to rare earth production, largely due to technical complexities. REE deposits may exist across the planet, but technological know-how must be cultivated in order to develop strong industries beyond China.
Thirdly, much of the West is unprepared for the environmental impact of rare earth mining and processing. As an authoritarian state, China’s government has permitted the environmental damage of rare earth production in order to capture the world’s appetite and consolidate control over the industry. EURare, an EU organization focused on sustainable exploitation of REEs, describes the environmental impact of the Chinese mining schemes:
After 40 years of operation, the Bayan Obo mine has an 11 km2 tailings impoundment that has radioactively contaminated the soil, groundwater and vegetation of the surrounding area. According to the Chinese Society of Rare Earths, every ton of rare earth produced generates approximately 8.5 kg of fluorine and 13 kg of dust. The use of concentrated sulfuric acid during high-temperature calcinations produces 9 600 to 12 000 m3 of waste gas containing dust concentrate, hydrofluoric acid, and sulfur dioxide, and approximately 75 m3 of acidic wastewater, as well as 1 ton of radioactive waste residue. Additionally, the REE separation and refining process known as saponification had been used extensively in China until recently, generating harmful wastewater.
Many Western governments, including the UK, are unprepared for this environmental cost.
In a 2023 policy paper published by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, rare earths were categorized as a critical mineral, meaning that they are of high economic vulnerability and high global supply risk. The report suggested potential for rare earth recycling facilities in the UK and proposed furthering research into rare earth mining at the University of Birmingham and Camborne School of the Mines’. Labour’s Sarah Jones, Minister of State for Industry of the United Kingdom, announced last December that the ministry is developing an updated Critical Minerals strategy to be published in Spring 2025. As summer quickly approaches and China appears increasingly likely to cut off REE supply to the West, the report, and genuine government action on rare earths, can’t come soon enough.
Joshua Danzinger