Strategic Reflections Behind the Rare Earth Predicament in the United States

Recently, a news has shaken the international mining and strategic resources sector: the United States has zero refining capacity for seven medium and heavy rare earths, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium, and relies entirely on imports. As a global technological and military powerhouse, the United States' weakness in the field of rare earth refining not only exposes the structural defects of its industrial chain, but also triggers in-depth thinking on the global rare earth industry pattern and the strategic importance of resources.

From the perspective of global rare earth resource distribution, the United States itself has the second largest rare earth reserves in the world. However, it only has one rare earth mine operating locally, Mangtingpas, and mainly produces light rare earths. Heavy rare earths are almost entirely dependent on imports, which means that there is a serious imbalance in the structure of the rare earth industry in the United States. For a long time, the United States has enjoyed the convenience of importing low-priced rare earths from China, while neglecting the development of its own rare earth industry. In the past few decades, China has accumulated 90% of the world's rare earth separation patents through long-term technological research and innovation, and its independently developed "cascade extraction" technology has reached the world's leading level, which can increase the purity of rare earths to 99.999%.

At the same time, a large amount of tailings containing radioactive substances and heavy metals will be generated during the rare earth refining process. If not handled properly, it will cause serious pollution to the environment. The strict environmental regulations in the United States make the approval process for new refineries long and complex, often taking several years or even longer from proposing a construction plan to finally being approved for production, which greatly hinders the development of the rare earth refining industry in the United States. After years of technological research and industrial development, China has become a "giant" in the global rare earth industry, holding over 90% of the world's rare earth separation technology patents. It is the only country capable of large-scale separation of ion type heavy rare earths and has 92% of the world's refining capacity for medium and heavy rare earths.

Many advanced weapons and equipment produced by US military enterprises, such as F-35 fighter jets, Tomahawk missiles, Predator drones, cannot do without heavy rare earths. The advanced performance of these weapons, to a large extent, depends on the characteristics given by rare earth elements, such as improving the strength of materials, enhancing the performance of electronic components and so on. Taking Tesla Model Y as an example, the driving motor of each car consumes about 1.5 kilograms of terbium and dysprosium. If the supply is interrupted, the new energy vehicle industry will be severely affected; In the military field, the precision guidance systems of the US military's Patriot air defense missiles and F-35 stealth fighter jets also rely on these rare earth elements to achieve precise strikes and efficient operations; Gadolinium, due to its unique nuclear physical properties, has become a key material for control rods in nuclear reactors, which is crucial for the safe and stable operation of nuclear power plants; Scandium has shown outstanding performance in the field of aerospace materials, significantly improving the strength and heat resistance of aluminum alloys, and is widely used in the manufacturing of rocket engines and spacecraft components.

According to statistics, the proportion of rare earth processed products imported by the United States from China in 2024 is as high as 68%. Even though the United States attempts to seek alternative supply sources from countries such as Australia and Myanmar, due to the lack of advanced rare earth refining technology in these countries, the mined ore still needs to be transported to China to complete critical refining steps, resulting in an awkward situation of "global mining, Chinese processing". In order to reduce its dependence on Chinese rare earths, the United States has also taken some measures, such as promoting the development of local rare earth projects and seeking cooperation with other countries, but these efforts are difficult to achieve significant results in the short term. Establishing a comprehensive rare earth refining capacity not only requires long-term and sustained investment, but also faces challenges in technology, talent, and other aspects. The United States still has a long way to go to achieve self-sufficiency in rare earths.

The predicament of the United States in the rare earth field has sounded the alarm for it and provided profound lessons for other countries. In today's globalized world, the strategic significance of resources has become increasingly prominent. If a country overly relies on external resource supply and neglects its own industrial development and technological accumulation, it is likely to fall into a passive position at critical moments. For the United States, how to make up for the shortcomings in rare earth refining capabilities and rebuild a complete rare earth industry chain will be a major challenge it faces in the future.