Rare earths supply chain: "China has a strong lion share of mining"

CGTN Europe interviewed Dr David Gwyn, historian and heritage consultant

Transcript

00:00And well, France is at the forefront of the EU's efforts to diversify its rare earth mineral supply.

00:06Let's talk to Dr. Gavin Mudd, Director of the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre.

00:11Gavin, welcome. Diversification is perhaps easier said than done.

00:15I mean, China's long dominated both mining and processing.

00:19Just how far behind is Europe and the US come to that when it comes to refining and technical know-how?

00:27I think we have to be honest with ourselves, as we are behind.

00:32China has really grabbed a strong lion's share of mining and especially smelting and refining.

00:40For rare earth minerals, their mining has sort of reduced a bit.

00:44They're only about 70% now of world mining of rare earths.

00:48But for processing and refining, remembering the rare earths are a family of 15 different elements,

00:53it can range from 90% to 99% share by China for refining.

00:59And that's one of the most important stages.

01:02How long would it take from this decision being made to actually coming up with the goods?

01:09Develop a rare earth mine and then build a new smelter and refinery.

01:13We are talking some years.

01:14We can build things pretty quickly.

01:17I mean, there is know-how out there.

01:19But some of the really specialist technology, especially around things like permanent magnets and other technologies,

01:27China has really advanced that sort of technology.

01:31So it's part of the reason they're so dominant.

01:33So we're talking about a much longer term sort of process here.

01:37Some years to really start to affect that.

01:40So that's what we need to be thinking through.

01:42We've seen this temporary agreement between the United States and China on rare earth shipments

01:47with this six-month export license being issued by Beijing.

01:52What might happen, do you think, when those six months have expired?

01:59To be honest, I don't think anyone really knows with certainty.

02:02I think there's a lot of volatility out there at the moment.

02:05But I suppose what we would like to see is more normal international trade that supports things

02:13like the automotive sector with the transition for electric vehicles, the renewable energy sector,

02:18which is obviously important for climate action and net zero.

02:22So I think that's what we would hope for.

02:24But I guess at the end of the day, who really knows?

02:28It's really hard to predict at the moment.

02:30Gavin, good to talk to you.

02:31Thanks so much for coming on the program.

02:32I'm Dr. Gavin Mudd, Director of the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre.