Industry Urges U.S. to Rebuild Rare Earth Supply Chain

For economic and strategic reasons, the U.S. must rebuild its rare earth minerals supply chain, Senate staffers were told by the United States Magnetic Materials Association.

Representing distinct segments of the rare earth magnetics supply chain, participating members in the workshops included Ed Richardson, President USMMA/Vice President, Thomas & Skinner; Jack Lifton, Technology Metals Research; Peter Dent, Vice-President Electron Energy Corporation; Jim McKenzie, Chief Executive Officer Ucore Rare Metals; and Rob Strahs, Vice-President Arnold Magnetic Technologies.

Rather than focusing on "rebuilding" the U.S. rare earth supply chain, the panelists urged staff to consider "restarting" this network of companies, as it was the United States that pioneered many aspects of early rare earth production and manufacture.

In particular, it was noted that many of the critical rare earth supply chain technologies that originated in the United States could be returned to production under proper market conditions.

The tenor and topics of discussion emphasized the separation between more academic interest in rare earths and the real-world pressures on the gamut of businesses from small miners to prime contractors.

More specifically, these discussions addressed the dominance and manipulation of the market by state-sponsored capitalism in China, the effect on the market of a defense or a U.S. industrial stockpile/virtual inventory, the need for multiple sources of domestic supply, the intellectual capital required to sustain downstream manufacturing, and the impediments to business development from permitting delays and intellectual property restrictions.

Describing larger market dynamics, the panelists were unanimous in their assessment that the U.S. and any end-user must confront extraordinary supply-side manipulation from China, in the form of the present shut-down of some production in China and the specter of even tighter production limits in future.

Further compounding this problem, the demand for rare earth-intensive products is only expected to grow as next generation military equipment, like the Joint Strike Fighter, come online and industrialized and emerging economies look to field clean technologies-hybrid vehicles, wind turbines, etc.

During consideration of this subset of the manufacturing base, contributors also reminded staffers that owning equipment or facilities does not equal capability. Though many companies possess the equipment necessary to carry out various stages of rare earth magnet manufacture, the foundation of the industry is a pool of talented physicists, geologists, and materials and chemical engineers.

The panelists also noted the complexity of these distinct segments of the supply chain and that a "one-size-fits-all" approach might not be the most efficient solution. Finally, they noted that continuing to work with our allied partners to allow domestic manufacture of magnets is essential to ensuring that future U.S. mining projects do not become entangled in the supply chain of considerably less amenable states. (Contact the reporter and editor: c.jared@ibtimes.com.au)