EIn 1992, at the end of his political career, Deng Xiaoping, the modernizer of China, visited the Jiangxi region and gave a speech that will remain in the annals for these three sentences: “The Middle East has the oil, China has the rare earths. Just like oil is for the Middle East, rare earths are of the highest strategic importance for China. We must take advantage of this.” Since then, his successors have been inspired to cultivate this advantage. China represents 60% of global extraction and more than 90% of the sale of refined products, essential to the energy transition. This Saturday, June 29, the government published a new development plan that amounts to increasing the nationalization of this highly strategic sector.
The entire production, refining and sales chain is declared state property, and penalties are increased for offenders who try to produce it on the sly. A decision that should lead to a rise in prices and a tightening of export quotas set by the government.
Considerable pollution
The seventeen metals grouped under this name of rare earths have learned or mythological names, such as promethium, lanthanum, cerium or neodymium. They are found in batteries, in permanent magnets of electric motors, in wind turbines or in lasers. They are not rare, but difficult to purify. Also, Westerners, Americans in the lead, but also the French, have stopped production, gradually monopolized by China. The latter has sacrificed entire regions, notably in Inner Mongolia, to establish its monopoly at the cost of considerable pollution. As the Chinese government itself points out, eight tons of ammonium sulfate must be injected into the ground to extract one ton of rare earth oxide. Radioactive pollution in the vicinity of the Baotu site is twice as strong as that of Chernobyl. Its lake is filled with toxic effluents.
This does not prevent Westerners from restarting production and refining on their territory to reduce their dependence on Chinese products. Especially since Beijing has brandished the weapon of export restrictions. The United States is subsidizing the opening or expansion of mines in California or Texas. Europe has supported the construction of a large refinery in Estonia. Norwegians and Swedes are considering opening mines. With the dual challenge of competitiveness and the fight against pollution. The imperative of sovereignty complicates the economy, but sheds light on the consequences, once distant, of its modernization.