Rare earth minerals dictate world order

In the ongoing tariff war with the United States, China has imposed export controls on several rare-earth elements — including dysprosium, neodymium, dysprosium, and yttrium — which are critical for technological advancements. This is a powerful tool, and China could use it to strengthen its position in trade negotiations with the US.

Neodymium, iron, and boron are combined to form magnets that can withstand temperatures up to 2,800 degrees Celsius. These magnets have a wide range of applications across emerging technologies like drones, robots, missiles, aerospace, defence equipment, electric vehicles, semiconductors, computers, mobiles, and wind turbines. Dysprosium can sometimes replace neodymium in magnets. These magnets are 12 times stronger than ferrite magnets, which are commonly used in household refrigerators. Their use in drones, robots and other equipment is essential for improving torque and speed, thereby enhancing precision and efficiency. Another category of samarium cobalt magnets are eight times more powerful than ferrite magnets.

To counter China’s dominance over rare and critical earth minerals, Washington has been actively sourcing supplies from across the globe—from the Arctic and Greenland to Ukraine. Even amid the ongoing war with Russia, Ukraine was pressed to sign a mineral deal with the US. Washington has reduced its rare-earth imports from China from 80% in 2017 to around 70% today.

India’s State-owned Rare Earths Limited was under US sanctions for nearly a decade. These were lifted by President Biden shortly before he left office. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington during Trump’s second term, the administration announced the US-India ‘strategic mineral recovery’ initiative to jointly mine and process critical minerals. 

Meanwhile, China has made significant advances in drone technology, including the ability to transport goods weighing up to one ton.

The traditional approach to goods transportation and highway development is becoming outdated. Increasingly, road widening proposals threaten large-scale deforestation in ecologically sensitive zones such as the Western and Eastern Ghats and the Northeast and Himalayas. Drone-based transport can help avoid such ecological damage, preserving forests’ carbon sequestration potential — a crucial buffer against climate change. 

Drones have also become weapons of choice, as seen recently in Operation Sindoor. These drones evaded radar detection by flying at low altitudes and destroyed terrorist infrastructure.

Every nation now has to innovate and upgrade drone electronics. Initially, Russian forces jammed Ukrainian drones. In response, Ukraine developed cable drones that transmitted signals via optic fibre instead of electromagnetic waves, rendering them immune to jamming. Such skills are also developed in India, which has helped in dismantling terror infrastructures in Pakistan as well as hitting air bases deep inside during Operation Sindoor. 

China’s own domestic drone manufacturing faced significant setbacks when Beijing imposed restrictions on rare-earth extraction and separation. These restrictions extended to finished products like neodymium-iron-boron magnets, which impacted domestic manufacturing of semiconductors, automobiles and drones. To overcome this, China has revoked the restrictions. After recent action by armed forces, China has sought assurance from India that the magnets will not be used for defence manufacturing and will not be re-exported to the US. However, after the Director General of Foreign Trades, India issued a certificate for each consignment, the import of magnets has resumed. Maruti Suzuki had to delay the production schedule for the e-Vitara and has sought the government’s permission to import a complete assembly of components from China in relaxation of the domestic value addition norm.

The advancement in green technology is key for bringing down fossil fuel consumption and arresting further warming of the planet. The International Energy Agency has recently cautioned against the concentration of critical minerals’ mining and processing in a few hands, as it not only can affect global pricing and supply but can also impact green energy transition. Diversification of mining, refining and processing of key critical minerals is essential for preventing any supply chain disruption.   

(The writer is a retired principal chief conservator of forests , Karnataka)