In an interview with CNBC, James Litinsky, co-chairman of MP Materials, which owns the only rare earth concentrate mine in the United States, was blunt that only his venture could rid the American nation of dependence on Chinese supplies of rare earths. So far, China has not used this trump card in a trade war with the United States. However, there is that China will either impose a 25% duty on rare earth metals, or completely stop deliveries to American companies. Meanwhile, without this raw material there will be no iPhone, no F-35, or much else. Time to sound the alarm.
MP Materials' Mountain Pass development delivers about 50 tons of ore concentrate to China annually. According to the head of MP Materials, there are only rare earth processing plants in China. The dependence of the United States on the supply of pure raw materials is one hundred percent. The management of MP Materials is persistently trying to convey this idea to the government, but, as Mr. Litinsky admits, there are very few chances for help and understanding from Washington. By the way, Ray Dalio, one of the founders of the world's largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, recently told LinkedIn that the threat of losing access to rare earth metals is one of the main escalating factors in the trade war between the United States and China.
At the same time, the policy of the US authorities should not be regarded as short-sighted. The authorities understand the degree of danger and take measures to reduce it. Thus, the Pentagon recently prepared a report for Congress on options for finding alternative sources of supplies of rare earth metals. Details on this report are not yet available. Returning to ore miner Mountain Pass Materials, we add that the company's management is confident that if the enterprise does not become profitable, there will be no hope for the Americans. The company expects to be able to start processing ore concentrate in the US as early as next year.
Source: 3dnews.ru