What are rare earth minerals and why does Trump want them?

The Manila Times

What are rare earth minerals and why does Trump want them?  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pores over a once-classified map of vast deposits of rare earths and other critical minerals during an interview with Reuters on Feb. 7, 2025, part of a push to appeal to Donald Trump's penchant for a deal. The US president, whose administration is pressing for a rapid end to Ukraine's war with Russia, said on Feb. 3 he wanted Ukraine to supply the US with rare earths and other minerals in return for financially supporting its war effort. Rare earths are important in the manufacture of high-performance magnets, electric motors and consumer electronics; Zelenskyy said Moscow could open those resources to its allies North Korea and Iran.  REUTERS VIDEO  Subscribe to The Manila Times Channel - https://tmt.ph/YTSubscribe   Visit our website at https://www.manilatimes.net   Follow us:  Facebook - https://tmt.ph/facebook  Instagram - https://tmt.ph/instagram  Twitter - https://tmt.ph/twitter  DailyMotion - https://tmt.ph/dailymotion   Subscribe to our Digital Edition - https://tmt.ph/digital   Check out our Podcasts:  Spotify - https://tmt.ph/spotify  Apple Podcasts - https://tmt.ph/applepodcasts  Amazon Music - https://tmt.ph/amazonmusic  Deezer: https://tmt.ph/deezer  Tune In: https://tmt.ph/tunein  #TheManilaTimes #worldnews  #earth  #minerals

Transcript

00:00ridiculous war. Very talented guy. Very talented people working for us.

00:09So we're looking to do a deal with Ukraine where they're going to secure what we're giving them

00:14with their rare earth and other things. Trump wants rare earths because the American economy

00:21is highly dependent on Chinese sources and it's an economic and national security risk.

00:28So reason number one. Reason number two is that there are not so many American companies who are

00:35able to mine and produce rare earths within the US. Reason number two. And reason number three

00:43is that, I mean, there is Ukraine and we have these commodities right there. And in order to

00:48avoid that the Chinese will take over Ukrainian rare earths commodities and build up potential

00:54mines there. It's an option for the Americans. And reason number four is to make the Ukrainians

01:02pay for the American military support. So you see a couple of reasons why Trump wants them. But

01:13again, we have to wait. What does it really mean on the ground?

01:17Rare earth elements are not actually rare. They've held on to that name since the late 1700s.

01:25They're used in all manner of electronics technologies and high performance alloys.

01:31They're often described as the vitamins or the spice of industry because they have over the

01:37past several decades, they've enabled through advances in material science, our technologies

01:42to get smaller and faster and stronger and more resilient. Now, because the term rare earth elements

01:50refers to 17 chemically similar elements that are one right next to the other on the periodic

01:56table, that means they're actually very difficult to break apart, to separate, so that you can have

02:02a higher concentration pure form of praseodymium or neodymium, for example, which are two elements

02:08that are used in high powered magnets that are used in everything from maglev trains to wind

02:12turbines to missiles. So it's really because of the challenges, the heavy energy and resource and

02:20pollution risks that are associated with refining rare earth elements that production has concentrated

02:27historically in so few places. A couple of issues. First of all, our knowledge base on the Ukrainian

02:36resources, rare earths, titanium, manganese and others is not sufficient. So we need more

02:42information about the commodities which are located in Ukraine first. Second, a huge problem for the

02:50U.S. is that there are not so many American companies who are able to mine and to process

02:58these rare earth elements because since almost two decades, Chinese companies dominate this

03:06sector. So it's easy to say on a political level, let's get these critical elements from Ukraine.

03:12But on a practical level, it's not so far clear which companies, Americans, British or German or

03:19whatever companies will be able to do this right now when the war continues. Because even though

03:26the global rare earth supply continues to be relatively stable with a few exceptions,

03:31rare earth elements, because of their strategic significance, do unfortunately tend to feature

03:38in broader geopolitical disputes. And so the elements that are under question with respect

03:46to Ukraine are currently located in areas that are Russia controlled. And so gaining or regaining

03:56access to those deposits, not only for the U.S., for Ukraine and Western allies, that is something

04:04that has larger geopolitical significance. We know so far that Greenland is also very rich,

04:10but still mining hasn't started because the government in Greenland is very hesitant about

04:19this and sees not only economic potentials, but also risks for their environment there.

04:27But it's a similar discussion like in Ukraine, but without war. Main question is who will be first

04:33to get access and mine these critical elements, especially rare earths, also uranium and a couple

04:41of other elements.

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